Shadow was seated in the all too familiar cold plastic chair of the Ponyville General Hospital’s waiting room. The clean, sterile air reeked of antiseptic spray and the fluorescents above glared harshly on the waxed tile floor. It was an atmosphere he had associated with horror for almost two years, and with very good reason…
He counted the chairs on either side of him, all totally empty. There came a mild start, restricted by the bandages on his midsection, as he realized it was precisely the same spot he had awoken to the life shattering revelation of mortality.
Green crossed his eyes as he shook his mane wildly, blotting out the memory that crashed in on the edges of consciousness like a bear intent on tearing down the door. For momentary distraction he cast his mind to the events prior, not a good thought, but a distraction nonetheless.
Celestia had met them at the foot of the golden stairway, aghast at the condition of the foals. The medical staff on hand at the castle had them in the infirmary within minutes of their arrival. Shadow rebuffed any offer of treatment until Lightning woke up, and with adrenaline and sheer willpower beating out pain no pony questioned him further.
Sabre had arrived within the hour, face gone redder than his fur. He was possessed with anger previously unknown, but held it with the patience of a saint. On his request Shadow had been ousted from the infirmary in order to “give her more space”.
As the sun broke over the horizon the next day Lightning still hadn’t come to and Sabre insisted that she be transferred to a legitimate medical facility, despite the assurances from Luna that the staff at the castle was totally professional. A train had been commissioned to transfer her back to Ponyville, a hefty blow that Sabre had not been simply content with Canterlot medical center, but the trip was paid in full by Luna.
Shadow had insisted on accompanying Lightning on the journey back and Sabre, feeling his hooves were tied with the train commission, reluctantly agreed. Luna was unable to join, as she and her sister were still attempting to contain the political fallout caused by the disappearance of Neverspring’s leader. She permitted the accompaniment, after all, it wasn’t as though it would be the first time he had fended for himself in Ponyville.
The journey had been tense and horrifying. Lightning was on a respirator, a great big breathing device the likes of which was intimidating to a pony his age, and was kept magically powered by three unicorn nurses who rotated hourly. Sabre sat firmly in one of the bolted down seats, glaring at Shadow whenever he took his eyes off his sister. Shadow, for his part, didn’t dare comment on the situational discomfort. After awhile he couldn’t even stand the silence, broken rhythmically by the pulse of the respirator, and put in his headphones, starting ponymon on his gamecolt to serve as a distraction.
The arrival in Ponyville had been somewhat hectic, with Lightning’s bed on the move the instant the train began to slow. Shadow’s sides had begun to ache as the wheeled her out at the station, an ambulance already waiting. Sabre had the staff load the bed quickly in the back, leaving Shadow, still wheezing, back at the station.
Shadow himself had been forced to walk for twenty minutes before he arrived at the infirmary, pack still on his back. He made it to the front counter on shaky hooves and managed to start asking about Lightning before fainting dead away.
He woke up ten minutes later with a huffy looking unicorn doctor presiding. The doctor explained, in the sort of annoyed tone that the staff of a learning hospital had for their penniless patients, that he had two broken ribs and a fractured wing bone. Both injuries had been agitated by physical exertion, which he emphasized would result in a much longer recovery period.
The bandages hadn’t really been optional, applied in his sleep, though he figured at this point there wasn’t much to be done. He had been informed by a pink-haired nurse that Lightning had been transferred to critical care and he was barred from visiting. It was drawing a ghastly, bloody parallel to…
“Stop thinking about it!” he cried aloud, holding his head in his hands. Several milling nurses started in fear towards him, afraid of an accident, but Shadow’s story had long ago fallen to popular gossip and it was quickly inferred that the violent outburst was attributed to the hellish memoirs of his previous encounter with the chromium halls.
Sabre emerged through the double doors at the back of the waiting room now, looking pale and haunted. His eyes alighted on Shadow and he started toward him, but was stopped by a Doctor nearby. Shadow looked up, ears twitching as he caught snippets of conversation.
“She’s declining…” the Doctor spoke in a voice hardly above a whisper “Sabre… I’m not going to waltz around it… we don’t think she’s going to make it through…”
Shadow’s chest hurt a little more as his heart started racing. Sabre looked destroyed, color draining from his face “I understand…” he spoke in an uncharacteristically dry tone.
“We’re ready to stop power to the respirator whenever you are,” said the doctor “we have the forms ready…”
Sabre shook his head, looking down at his hooves “Keep her going…” he said quietly so Shadow had to strain to hear “As bare as I ever may have been in combat… I will not have my sister’s blood on my hooves.”
The doctor nodded in understanding “We’ll call you back when she’s close to the end…” he said “I wouldn’t estimate her having more than another day… we don’t know if she can hear you, but you may want to say your goodbyes.”
Sabre nodded, seemingly afraid to speak. The doctor went off to attend to other business and Sabre started toward Shadow again. Pale green eyes connected to pained red ones, both holding back water.
“It’s not the first time for you… is it?” Sabre asked.
Shadow shook his head “Me either,” said Sabre “My parents went when I was sixteen… Light was still a baby… That was the hardest time I’ve ever lived through…”
A shared hollowness stole over them both, memory of loved ones plaguing the time leading up to the loss of another. They pitied each other silently, one for having lost both parents, the other for having lost his so young. For a full minute there was only the solemn silence.
“I thought I should tell you…” said Sabre “That when she makes it out of this…” he paused here, seeming to be searching for the correct words. Shadow knew somehow it wasn’t him Sabre was trying to fool with this… the captain of the guard was trying to delude himself…
“I don’t want you two hanging out anymore,” said Sabre, sounding forced “You always manage to get into some sort of trouble and this… this is just too far…”
Shadow’s stomach dropped away, disbelief rushed into him as he stared at Sabre. It was bad enough already, now Sabre was pinning this whole ordeal on him…
If it weren’t such a bleak moment Shadow might have been angry. Right now however, he couldn’t muster it. “Alright…” he managed to speak, but no more than that. It was bad enough to have resigned so heavily to the fate ahead… no need to make himself more of a fool…
“Glad we can understand each other…” said Sabre, his voice tinted with ice “Go home kid… there’s nothing left for you here…” the red coated pony turned without another word and walked back to the emergency room.
The colt in the chair sat in silence for a long time afterwards. He had yet to allow tears throughout the ordeal and he couldn’t bring himself to now. He felt numb, full of nothing as he heaved himself to his hooves and walked toward the door. No pony stopped him, and he didn’t look back.
It was still early evening when he turned and limped to the hospital courtyard and the wind carried an unusual chill as if summer was on break. The little coble circle was as far as Shadow dared go, his bandages would need to be changed out eventually, but right now he needed to be alone, and even more so, he needed the night air. He came to rest under a small oak tree as the first stars came alight above him, whispering quietly to one another in their silent twinkles.
The first tear fell here, as quiet as the night around him. His teeth clenched against sobs that could only make the pain in his ribs clench further, but none came. More tears fell, painting the dirt in a crystal wetness that reflected the stars before it was sucked into the ground. The pain that caused these tears was greater and more deep-set than anything the bandages could hide.
And yet, he didn’t release it. The tears fell down in a stream now but not a single cry came from his throat. Shadow Chaser was a scarce seven years of age but he was found grieving as a grown man would. But he could only be found blameless, for over the course of the last year he had been forced to mature more than many of the rich and privileged would throughout the whole of their lives.
And there he sat, and the pain of suffering that ought never to be known by a child was forced away and given as a silent entreaty to the unyielding night. An hour passed him by under the boughs of the young tree and the last of the stars twinkled to life around the orb of the lunar queen. The void between the lights resonated somewhere in Shadow’s soul, hollow, empty, and above all…alone.
A lone hooded figure watched from a bench nearby, silent in arrival and even more silent in presence. When the dark furred coat finally rose, the hooded figure called out to him.
“I see that you are somewhat troubled, young one, tell me, what’s on your mind?”
Shadow started, and turned to face the stranger, wincing as the pain in his chest flared up again “Who are you?” he shot off quickly “How long have you been there?”
“Not long, not more than the time I needed to learn your pain, come, and have a walk with me.”
Even though he’d never had the classic lessons of stranger avoidance, Shadow new instinctively that a hooded pony in a strange environment spelled bad news in capital letters. “I really can’t,” he spoke slowly, backing away “I’m a little beat up at the moment, I shouldn’t go walking too far, and I’ll have to get new band-aids soon…”
The hooded figure seemed to shift slightly, though no obvious magic was worked. With a startled cry Shadow realized the bandages around his midsection and on his wing had disappeared. He winced premeditatively, knowing there would be pain, but froze in shock as not so much as a twinge presented itself.
“There, now isn’t that better? Will you sit and have a talk with me now Prince Shadow?”
Shadow hesitated, stretching and testing his wing, leaning forward and backwards, assessing the change. Everything seemed fine, as if he had never been injured in the first place. “Who are you?” he posed the same question a second time.
“That is currently of no concern of yours, but I will tell you why I am here. I have an offer for you, a bargain so to speak, as in I want something, and you want something. Now it happens I know you can give me what I want, but what I have in return may not quite be adequate.”
That voice was perplexing and horrifying, yet it tugged in the back of Shadow’s mind, bringing the sneaking suspicion that he had heard it somewhere before. “I don’t make deals with strangers…” he said, injecting calm into his voice “Tell me who you are, and then we’ll see.”
“Amusing to say the least… I’m not sure it would make much difference to one such as yourself, but I might as well. Though I must have your solemn vow that my identity remains a secret…”
“Of course,” said Shadow, curiosity contending against fear now.
The hooded pony threw his head back, the cloak falling away in one fluid motion before vanishing as if it had never been. Shadow was surprised, for no nightmarish beast was beneath the cloaks, but a middle aged earth pony stallion with light cyan fur and a mane of charcoal black. His eyes were a light gray, and trained intently on Shadow in such a way that seemed to pierce. The cutie mark on his flank was a symbol that Shadow didn’t recognize, though he might in a few years time. The symbol was a square root, with negative one as the subject.
“My name is i, and I’m offering the life of your friend if you accept my bargain.”
Shadow recoiled, the slight safety afforded by the lack of barriers between them vanishing at the shock of the words. “Excuse me…?” he choked out in utter bewilderment.
“I will repeat myself more clearly. Lightning Strike, the young filly inside, is in great peril. On your own power neither you nor anyone else can save her. However, if you accept my offer I will give her back her life.”
A sick weight dropped into Shadow’s stomach, distrust of this stallion at the forefront of his mind, but the desperation toward the back was stronger “What do you want in return…?” he asked, trying and failing to keep his breathing even.
“Very little, prince Shadow. The only thing I require from you is an ally, not even a friend. I do not know of the things that are to occur, though I have reason to believe that at some point in the future it would be to my benefit to be well associated with the prince of Canterlot. I ask for your word, Shadow, your word that you will aid me unquestioningly should I ever find the reason to call on you.”
“Yes!” Shadow’s mouth spoke before his brain could catch up “Please… if you save her just…” he took a deep breath, steadying himself “You have my word. If you save her life, I’ll do whatever you ask, whenever you need me.”
“It is done”
Shadow didn’t even question it. If his own bones had been knit back together in the blink of an eye then this pony could surely heal Lightning as well… The sudden luminescence from the hospital only confirmed the fact. “How…?”
“My ways are my own. Your friend is cured of her afflictions, but I will do none else. You will stand by your word, Shadow Chaser, you will not speak of my presence, and you will be ready should I call for you, forever. I would not recommend returning to the infirmary, Sabre will keep you away. Your mother is planning to retrieve you in the morning.”
“How do you know that?” asked Shadow, daring one more question. The cloak reanimated and wrapped around i once again.
“I don’t know much of anything Shadow, but I am aware of events already in motion. Go home, rest, we’ll see one another again in all likelihood. I find myself, almost eager for it…”
Shadow didn’t even blink and i was gone. He swiveled around for any place nearby he might have moved to but there was nothing. There had been no teleportation either, he was just… gone.
The young pegasus cast his gaze mournfully back to the hospital. It was the graveyard shift so it could e assumed that if he left it would go unquestioned and unnoticed. The half imagined figure of Sabre and Lightning shadowed the window, reveling in the miracle. Shadow himself couldn’t bring his mind to the same state of bliss. Lightning would never see him again, but at least, at least now she would be alright. But at what cost?
Shadow turned to the old track down the forest road, en route to the cabin by the woods. He would stay the night there, one last night in Ponyville before he had to return to the mountain city. There was nothing left for him to do here, so maybe it was alright. The royal agenda would be worked with easily enough.
After all, what else was there for a pony who had sold his soul?
The stars blinked overhead as Shadow walked into the cabin for what would be the very last time. His old life, he realized, was ending here and now. The last page had been turned and it was time for a new chapter. And hey, how bad could it be?
Somewhere in the depths of the Everfree forest, at that exact moment, dark vines began to grow…