"Anger begins with folly, and ends with repentance." ― Beverly Sills

"It's easy to be angry, but it's impossible to forgive as long as we believe we are in the right all the time." ― Devourlord

"You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger." ― Buddha

The inside of the throne room was silent, the only sounds that could be heard were the soft whimpers of Twilight Sparkle. After admitting her defeat, she started sobbing. The thought of defeat was more painful to her than her physical injuries. It was more painful for her knowing that this was all her fault to begin with. If I hadn’t tried to prove Shadow wrong none of this would have ever happened. This was Twilight’s flaw, she always had to prove that she was right about everything. Ever since she was a filly attending at Celestia’s School of Gifted Unicorns, she was always studying, always raising her hoof up to answer every question. Since she had read so much about everything she needed to know, she always tried to show that she did. There were times that she even proved her teachers wrong whenever they made a mistake. Showing how much she knew made her feel happy, she loved it when she was right all time, and eventually this road led her to develop a superiority complex. Now it’s because of that is the reason she’s on the floor in a torn up castle in Canterlot.

She looked back up to the one who proved her wrong as he stood in front of her with a smile on his face. What’s he going to do now? Is he going to kill me? Will he take over Canterlot? From the looks on his face, he too was thinking about what he’s going to do too. Her concentration was broken when she noticed something going on above him. It started small but started to grow, soon the ceiling was covered by a storm cloud. So he’s going to electrocute us to death Twilight determined as she watched the clouds moving around. But then she looked at Shadow’s face and saw that he was looking up and had a look of confusion on his face. He turned his attention back to Twilight, “And what do you think you’re doing?”

Now Twilight was the one that had confusion all over her face, “What are you talking about?”

“I’m up to something? It’s you that’s up to something, I’m not the one with weather powers.”

As if on cue a loud *BOOM* came from the other side of the room. Then a lightning bolt struck down causing a bright light to fill the room. Twilight and Shadow had to close their eyes from the intensity of the light. Once the light had vanished, they both opened their eyes and saw somepony standing where the lightning bolt struck. Twilight eyes widened to see that it was none other than Princess Luna.

Before anyone could say or do anything, the princess of the night looked at Shadow Bolt and shouted in her royal Canterlot voice, “BE STILL FOUL BEAST!” she immediately charged her horn, shot a lightning bolt at Shadow Bolt, and electrocuted him. Since Twilight was too close to Shadow Bolt, the brightness of his body being electrocuted was too bright for Twilight’s eyes that she had to cover them with her hooves. She could still hear the sounds of electrocution continuing for a few moments before the sound died out. Twilight kept her eyes closed as she debated whether to open them or not. The thought of opening her eyes to see a burned corpse lying right in front of her made her nauseous. But in the end curiosity won again as always and she opened her eyes…...to see Shadow Bolt still standing completely unharmed.

Princess Luna couldn’t believe it, after returning from her royal duties with the ambassadors of Saddle Arabia, she couldn’t believe in what she saw. Her home of Canterlot was almost in ruins. She rushed to the castle to see it was also in the same state. As she hurried to find her sister, she sensed a powerful dark aura coming from the throne room. She used her weather powers to conceal herself from whatever was responsible for this. She arrived ready to strike whatever evil was responsible to see a sight she never thought she would ever witness. Her sister was severely injured and she saw the element bearers were also sharing the same fate. She saw the one called Twilight Sparkle on the ground where a stallion was standing over her. Once her eyes focused on the mysterious stallion she felt the same dark presence coming from inside him, she knew that he was responsible for all this destruction. She was so angry that she didn’t want to give this stallion the opportunity to attack. She made her presence known to her opponent, catching him off guard. She summoned her magic, launched a preemptive strike, and electrocuted the stallion before he realized what was going on.

She watched as his body was consumed by intensity of her lightning attack, the electrocution was so powerful that she could see the stallions skeleton before a cloud of smoke erupted covering the stallions smoldering corpse. She smirked seeing that she was able to prevent anymore destruction. With the menace out of the way, she could now focus on getting her sister and the element bearers the medical attention they so desperately needed and to get the answers she wanted. Since it looked liked Twilight was the only one who could provide the answers, she would attend to her first. But before she could take her first step, the smoke cleared to reveal the dark stallion had survived her assault with no signs of injuries. That’s impossible, nopony could have survived that. They stared at each other in silence until the red pegasus started walking towards her.

“WE COMMAND THEE TO HALT, OR FACE OUR WRATH!” she warned him, but her threat was ignored once again as the stallion kept walking. She charged her horn and launched another lightning bolt, this attack more powerful than her previous one. The bolt hit its target as she watched his body light up. She ended the attack and witnessed that once again the stallion was alive and unharmed. He resumed his advance towards her.

After two failed attempts to stop this stallion, Princess Luna was starting to get nervous. She called on her powers again and launched the most powerful lightning bolt she’s ever used at the stallion. An attack this powerful would turn anypony into ash, she was stunned when that wasn’t the result as the stallion was still standing and continued walking towards her. The princess of the night was getting worried as she kept her attack going while the used the storm clouds above her to strike down her foe. A barrage of lightning bolts struck the stallion turning him into a lightning rod as every bolt hit him. However, even with the extra power he continued his advanced. To him it was as if nothing was happening to him. Nevertheless, Princess Luna was determined to stop this beast as she continued the assault hoping that her enemy would finally fall. But no matter how much power she used, nothing was working, as the stallion was now only a few feet in front of her. She kept her attack going until the strain of using too much power took its toll and she stopped the attack right when the stallion was standing right in front of her.

The princess was breathing heavily as she looked down at the stallion in front of her. Even though she was slightly higher than he was, she felt slightly intimidated and frightened as he was staring at her in silence. She waited to see what the pegasus would do to retaliate, after a few moments the stallion broke the silence and said three words that surprised her,

“You were right, Hate…..hate truly is more powerful than…...friendship.”

Hearing those words made Shadow Bolt extremely happy as he stood there basking in his victory. He could feel his nose snapping back in place but still didn’t feel any pain I finally did it, I proved her wrong he had a big grin on his face. After enjoying the moment Shadow had a question that he hadn’t thought of since this whole thing started What do I do now? This question had stumped as what he should do Well I proved my point. Maybe I could stay and rule Equestria, or I could get revenge on all those who tormented me? That would take a long time or I could just leave and find another home? Home? Shadow was reminded that he no longer had a home to go back to, since Princess Celestia had destroyed it. Even though he could make another one, he felt it wouldn’t be the same. His home was probably to only thing closest to a friend. It was always there, it was his sanctuary, a place he could always return to, and it provided a roof over his head to protect him from the weather. His thoughts were interrupted when something was sparkling in front of him. He looked down and eyes were focused on the piece of jewelry on top of Twilights head. Oh right, the elements. I totally forgot about them. He remembered the reason why he came to Canterlot, before he have any thoughts of leaving and trying to find another home he had to destroy the one thing that could kill him. Even though he defeated the bearers, he had to make sure that, the elements were destroyed or they would hunt him down and the whole process would start all over again.

Before he could start with Twilights crown thingy element, he was interrupted when storm clouds appeared over his head. This confused him since he knew that he wasn’t responsible, and he told Twilight when she accused him. Then he turned around to see a mare standing in front of the step to the podium. Who is that? He wondered but before he could find out she shouted and hit him with a lightning bolt and he was consumed in a cloud of smoke. His couldn’t see through the cloud and stood there until it was cleared. Once it did, he looked at his body to notice that he didn’t suffer any injuries. I didn’t even feel anything, not so much as a tickle he determined that the mares attack must have been a very weak attack. For some reason since the attack didn’t hurt him, he wasn’t feeling any anger towards the mare. He was curious to find out who this mare was, so he started walking towards her. She shouted telling him to stop but he didn’t, when he ignored her threat she attacked him again and like last time he didn’t feel anything or sustain any injuries. He continued walking at a slow pace as the dark blue-coated mare continued attacking him, she even used the storm clouds above them to strike him down, but her attacks weren’t very effective as he kept walking all the way until he was standing in front of her. He didn’t retaliate for her weak attacks, something was telling him that she wasn’t a threat or maybe it was his curiosity that kept him from attacking. He stared at the mare in silence now that he was closer he got a good look at her. She was a little bit taller than him, which for a stallion made them feel uncomfortable. She was wearing jewelry similar to Princess Celestia, her mane and tail looked like it was made out the night sky, but the one thing that boggled his mind was he noticed that she had both wings and a horn.

Two of them? I thought that Princess Celestia was the only one of her kind. Since Shadow traveled all over Equestria and since he wasn’t treated well in anyplace, he mostly lived in isolation. So because of that, he never heard the news of Princess Luna’s return. Therefore, he decided to get answers for his curiosity and asked who this mystery mare was. When he asked her, the look on her face showed that she didn’t expect a question like that.

Now Shadow had a look on his face from her response. The way she spoke to him was strange, and he wondered why she talked like that. After figuring out what she said he responded, “Uh….no, I’m not joking here. Why do you think I’m playing with you?”

By this time neither of them noticed that Princess Celestia had awakened, her eyes widened when she saw her little sister standing in front of Shadow. She tried to get up but she found that she didn’t have any strength to move. She tried calling out to her sister, “Luna, get away from him. Run away before it’s too late,” but her voice wasn’t loud enough for Luna to hear her. So now, all she could do was lie there and watch.

She started hovering and spoke in her loud voice from earlier, “I AM PRINCESS LUNA, SISTER OF CELESTIA AND PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT!” After introducing herself, she floated back down to the ground.

After Shadow’s ears had recovered from the loudness of the mares voice he responded, “Sorry, never heard of you.”

“I didn’t know there was another princess, I always thought that Princess Celestia was the only princess in Equestria. So now, I’m curious as to how I never heard from you?”

Twilight who was still lying on the ground on the other side of the room was watching the whole time and decided to answer Shadow’s question, “That because she was imprisoned for a thousand years.”

“A thousand years?” Why does that sound familiar? He looked back at Twilight then back to Luna then to Twilight again, “how can she lock up for a thousand years and still be alive? She doesn’t even look that old to be a thousand years old.”

Since Shadow was looking at Twilight, he didn’t notice the slight blush Luna was giving off from Shadows comment.

“The Princesses are immortal so they can live for thousands of years,” said Twilight, “as to how you don’t know her, she went by another name that you might know.”

Shadows eyes widened after hearing the name, he turned back to Luna, “Is that true?”

Luna looked at him seeing that hearing her other name affected him. She nodded and said, “Tis true, Nightmare Moon was me.”

Shadow backed away a few feet after confirming his answer. Princess Luna was a bit saddened in seeing him back away from her. She still didn’t like it seeing ponies fear her even though she was no longer evil.

She’s real? She really does exist Shadow mind was going into overdrive after hearing that Nightmare Moon. I thought she was just a made up story to tell young ponies so they would behave, but that’s no longer the case. Sure I knew about the Elements of Harmony being real awhile back, but I didn’t think that part of the story was true as well. She’s real and is standing in front of me. heh…heh…hehehe..hehehehehehehe he started laughing in his head after finally coming to terms to what he heard. She’s real. SHE’S REAL! Then Shadow did something that nopony expected of him doing……he lowered himself and bowed down to Princess Luna.

Twilight, Princess Celestia, and Luna couldn’t believe what they just witnessed. To think that someone who didn’t show that he cared about Celestia’s authority and the horrible things he did to everypony would bow down to the princess of the night. Luna was more surprised than the others, usually when ponies bowed down to her they did it out of fear. However, as she looked at the stallion in front of her, she could see that he was bowing not out of fear of her but out of respect.

“I can’t believe it, to think I never would have thought in my life that I would ever meet the princess that became Nightmare Moon. This day just keeps getting better and better.”

Princess Luna couldn’t believe to what she was hearing, somepony who wasn’t afraid of her but excited to see her. Even though she knew that the stallion was a threat, she decided to keep him in a good mood since she could tell that he was more powerful than he looked and most likely would be able to beat her if it came down to a fight.

He got up and introduced himself, “My name is Shadow Bolt and it is an honor to meet you.”

“Well it’s not every day that I get to meet my idol, especially when I find out that she’s real and not make believe.”

“Because were the same. You’re the only one who knows how bad it is to be alone, ignored, and hated.”

“You know, I have been insulted all my life. Any insult you could think of, I’ve been called. Lately, everypony has been calling me a changeling, whatever that is. Anyway, I remember a couple of years ago when I was once called the Spawn of Nightmare Moon. At the time, I didn’t know what that meant so I didn’t understand the insult. Therefore, I decided to find out what that meant so I read the story of Nightmare Moon. The story about the princess of the night from a long time ago. Who was lonely and underappreciated by her talent of raising the moon. How all the ponies worshipped and loved her older sister who raised the sun and was ignored by everypony. Who only wanted the respect and love that her sister got, that she decided to do something about it by using the power of her jealously and hatred, but in the end she was defeated and banished to the moon for all of eternity. After reading the story, I realized how we were alike. I was lonely, ignored, and hated my whole life and even though I thought it was just a story, finding out there was someone who had felt what that was like too, kind of made me feel happy. Sure, the only difference between us was that I was constantly beaten and you weren’t. However, it was unfair on how we were treated, when we didn’t do anything to deserve it. That’s when I learned how powerful hate can be and with its power could make me stronger that I wouldn’t need anypony. And it’s all because you were an inspiration to me.”

Princess Luna was shocked at what Shadow said. She was surprised about hearing how he was treated. She did feel some sympathy for this poor soul since she did know what it felt like to be lonely and she knew that she was still hated and feared when she returned from the moon. Even though Shadow had respected her for this, she wasn’t proud of it. She didn’t expect that she would be an inspiration for hate because of her actions as Nightmare Moon and she knew that telling him that he’s wrong would likely set him off.

“We-I want to say that even though I’m happy that thou respects me, I’m not proud that you misinterpret my actions when I was Nightmare Moon.”

She could already see it was starting as Shadow’s smile disappeared but she had to set the record straight.

“Even though at the time I felt justified and we did gain power from our-my hatred, afterwards I knew that what I did was wrong and I have regretted it ever since. In the end I’m grateful that Nightmare Moon was purged from me thanks to the Elements of Harmony which shows that what they represent, the power of friendship is more powerful than anything.”

“Well I beg to differ, Princess. In fact if you had shown up five minutes earlier, then you would have heard miss know it all over there,” he titled his head towards Twilight, “saying that she was wrong and I was right. I’m pretty sure the rest of her element friends would agree with her…..if they were conscious to admit it,” he looked around to see the rest of the element bearers still indisposed.

“Your sister had that coming, so she deserved it,” he glared at Celestia. Luna started feeling a surge of power coming from him, more specifically she was sensing that it was coming from the necklace that was around his neck, and she noticed something was going on with his eyes. After a few seconds, they returned to normal, “As for Canterlot, that was more about making a point.”

“That I wasn’t going to be Equestria’s punching bag anymore. Everywhere I go, everpony treated me cruelly without any reason. In addition, anypony who has gone to Canterlot knows how the residents treat themselves all high and mighty and treated anypony that wasn’t born of high class as somepony beneath them. Basically, I was treated like a nopony in Canterlot everywhere. So imagine how I would be treated here if normal everyday ponies treated me badly, how would the so called higher class treat me? By taking them down off their mighty pedestal and treated them as somepony beneath me, everypony will now think twice about messing with me ever again.”

Princess Luna didn’t like what she was hearing. How could somepony attack a city of innocent ponies because of the actions of others? She could see in Shadow’s eyes that in his mind he truly believed that he did the right thing. She was beginning to wonder if he was acting on his own or from the influence of the necklace.

“Well they provoke me into fighting with them, I told them to leave me be but they wouldn’t listen. So I had to defend myself, I fought and defeated them. They threatened to end me by using their elements, so I had to do everything I could to stop them. I flew here to Canterlot to destroy the elements so they couldn’t kill me. Of course things didn’t go quite as according to plan, but nevertheless I stop them and proved my point at the same time.”

“And why would they try to end thee?” while Luna hasn’t spent much time with the element bearers, she knew that they wouldn’t be like this. There was more to this and she wanted to know more.

“Because of this,” he pointed to the necklace he was wearing, “they thought I was too dangerous to have this. They actually thought I would go around and attacking ponies like some kind of rabid animal.”

“Isn’t that what thou did?” she gesture her hoof around the room to prove her point.

“No, that was different. I did this to prove a point, I wanted to show that I wasn’t going to let nopony push me around anymore. To prove that I wasn’t some kind of weak creature but somepony strong enough to defend himself should the situation rises. I brought Canterlot, Celestia, and the so-called Elements of Harmony down to their knees. I’m tired of being treated different, I am just like everypony else no matter what they believe. They treated me like I’m some kind of monster, I AM NOT A MONSTER!”

In the heat of the moment, Shadow stomped his hoof down hard on the ground, *CRACK* which resulted with a sharp pain in his hoof. OW! The pain caused his aura to burst out of his body. Luna watched as Shadow’s body was covered by crimson fire and his eyes glowed red. She charged her horn in preparation to defend herself if Shadow was going to attack her.

Shadow raised his hoof to see what the cause of piercing pain in his hoof was. He looked to see what looked like a piece of glass sticking out of his hoof. He looked down to see the floor covered by shards of glass. Stupid glass! I’ll smash it into dust. He pulled the piece out of his hoof with his mouth and saw how deep the glass went through, he glared at the pieces as he was about to get his revenge when he saw something that caused him to suddenly stop. He looked at the glass pieces and stared at the thing that made his blood turn cold…..his own reflection.

Is that…me? He stared at his reflection. He saw how the aura was covering his body giving the illusion that he was on fire. Next he saw his eyes, the way they glowed as he stared at them while they stared back made him uncomfortable. He continued to stare in silence not paying attention to anypony around him.

Princess Luna watched as Shadow was looking at his reflection. Seeing an opportunity, Luna used her magic and cast a spell on the distracted pegasus. Out of the storm clouds above them, small particles that looked liked tiny stars flowed down and landed on top of Shadow’s head. As he continued staring, his aura was slowly fading away. What is this? He asked himself. I don’t look like this, I look like….a monster. He backed away from his reflection as if it was going to attack him, his aura had completely vanished and his eyes returned to normal. He raised his head and looked around the room. Then as if his eyes were opened for the first time, he saw how the room was in ruins and saw the lying beaten bodies of the elements bearers.

Did I really do all this? He already knew the answer to the question but he couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t stand the look of the room, he turned his head down, and stared at the floor. He stood in there in silence for what seemed liked minutes before he spoke. His voice was like a whisper, but anypony conscious could still hear him, “I really am a monster.”

After standing for a few more moments, he walked away towards one of the smashed windows and looked at the scenery. As he sat down, he could see the city of Canterlot in smoke and flames. He could only imagine what was going on to the residents of the burning city. For a moment, he thought he could hear the sounds of screams off in the distance.

But this? I didn’t have to do that. All those poor ponies. Their homes destroyed because of me.

Don’t give me that, they weren’t exactly innocent upstanding citizens. You know how they treated outsiders. They deserved it!

Who am I to judge and punish them for something they didn’t do to me and did to others?

You wanted to wait until they did something to you and then punish them. haven’t you suffered enough?

What were you expecting? You think if you walked in through the gates they would welcome you in open hooves.

You see, you know the truth. So what’s the problem, wasn’t it the idea to knock them off their shiny pedestal and show them that their not as perfect as they think they are?

Shadow continued arguing with himself while watching the city of Canterlot burn. He didn’t even pay attention to what was going on behind him.

Twlight watched as Shadow walked off with a somber look on his face. She watched as he sat down looking at the rubble that was once her old home in flames. As she tried to figure what made Shadow turn a 180, Princess Luna walked up to her, “Are thou well, Twilight Sparkle?”

“I think so,” she tried standing up, but she was still feeling the pain from earlier and was struggling. Princess Luna saw this and used her magic to lift Twilight back on her hooves. Twilight stood wobbling for a moment before she was able to stand just fine, “Thank you, Princess Luna.”

She smiled at the princess, and then turned her attention to Shadow who was still sitting in silence. Twilight remembered what happened earlier and asked Princess Luna, “What did you do to him, Princess? I saw you cast a spell on him, what was it?”

She nodded, “Indeed, I’ve learned that one cannot reason with somepony that is full of anger. They are clouded by their rage that they cannot see the errors they make while under its influence. It’s something I learned through experience,” she finished with a sad look on her face.

Twilight knew what she meant and chose to end it there. She looked at Shadow once again, “What’s going to happen next?”

“Not sure, right now he is most likely battling with himself. Trying to understand the actions, he took. I have no idea who will win in the end, which is why we must prepare for what arrives.”

Twilight understood what could happen and she knew that if it came down to another fight she would be defeated again. She didn’t want to give him the chance, she looked around and saw Pinkie Pie slowly waking up and walked over to her.

“What happ-” before Pinkie could finish her question, her mouth was covered by a lavender hoof. She looked to see Twilight with her other hoof up to her mouth, “shh,” she pointed Pinkie towards where Shadow Bolt was sitting. Pinkie nodded her head and Twilight removed her hoof from her mouth.

Twilight and Pinkie walked quietly towards Princess Luna and Twilight asked her, “Can you bring the others over here quietly, Princess Luna?”

She nodded, “I can,” she used her magic to levitate Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity towards their position without Shadow Bolt noticing. Twilight and Pinkie started waking them up one by one. Fluttershy was the first to wake up, followed by Rarity. Twilight covered Rarity’s mouth before she made any noise seeing that she was in pain. It was harder for Rainbow Dash and Applejack since their injuries were the most severe of them all. It took all four of them to keep them from making any noise and longer for them to stop crying out in pain.”

“Listen I know you girls are in pain, but I need all of you to keep quiet,” said Twilight, her friends nodded and she continued, “alright, right now thanks to Luna, Shadow Bolt is distracted. We need to strike while his guard is down, so we need to use the elements on him one last time. I know we already used them twice and they didn’t work, but I think that if we use them now before he has the chance to counter its power, then we should finally be able to end this once and for all.”

They all nodded again, “Alright, let’s get into positions,” they got into their positions. Luna assisted Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity in getting to their positions since they were not able to move while they were still in pain. Once everyone was in their place, Twilight closed her eyes and started the process of activating the elements. Each of their elements started glowing as one by one they started hovering in the air. Twilight then opened her eyes as they glowed white, and the power of the elements shot out above them once again in the form of a rainbow. It rose in the air and descended towards Shadow Bolt, who right before the rainbow hit him, he turned his head facing the others.

It’s not yours, it’s theirs. They kept pushing you and pushing you until you finally said enough was enough. What happened to them was their own fault.

And what did that get you? You became a walking punching bag for everypony to use. The fact you didn’t do anything gave them more reason to torture you, knowing you wouldn’t lift a hoof against them. You might as well have been wearing a sign that says 'BEAT ME'. So you have nopony but yourself to blame for that. You should be proud that you finally got your revenge.

Shadow then heard something coming from behind them, he turned his to see the Elements of Harmony bearers using their power against him. As the rainbow was coming at him, it was as if time had slowed down as he watched. He looked right at Twilight and their eyes locked at each other. Shadow was wondering whether he should fight back or accept his fate. He knew that if he resisted, he would be able to stop whatever was going to happen to him and defeat them. And from looking at Twilights eyes, it was as if she knew the same thing too.

The rainbow had hit the ground and started spinning around forming the tornado. Shadow continued staring at Twilight’s eyes as he was still considering his options. He kept staring at her until the tornado had blocked his vision. He made his choice.

It took a lot of concentration, but Twilight was able to succeed in using the elements magic. At this point all Twilight had to do was watch the elements power at work. With her eyes opened, Twilight saw that Shadow was staring at her. Suddenly Twilight felt as if she and Shadow were all alone as they stared at each other. She could see from his eyes, he was thinking about something. She was hoping that he wouldn’t resist Please, don’t fight back. Just….stop she prayed to Celestia that Shadow wouldn’t retaliate, and then she saw something. Right at that moment Shadow’s face turned from uncertainty to sadness. Then the world faded back in as the rainbow tornado had fully formed. Twilight waited to see what would happen, hoping that Shadow had made the right decision. The only answer towards her question was a red beam shooting out from the tornado to the night sky. The element bearer’s bodies were engulfed in a bright white light. The light faded and their bodies slowly floating back towards the ground. Twilight was feeling exhausted and was wondering what was that red light.

Twilight turned to see Rainbow Dash hovering in the air, “My wings are fully healed,” she started flying around and doing loop de loops before she landed back on the ground, “oh yeah! The Dash is back!”

“yur not tha only one,” said Applejack as she walking around with her back hooves completely healed. “Ma legs are back to their old selves.”

Twilight looked around to see all her friends injuries including her own were completely healed. Twilight knew that it was the power from the Elements of Harmony that they had to thank for this.

“It looks like it’s finally over,” Twilight turned to see Princess Celestia walking towards them. She was still injured and was being carried by her side with Luna helping her to walk.

“I’m alright, Twilight. I’ll be fine after a few days of resting. Alicorns bodies heal faster than the average pony.”

Twilight was glad to hear that her mentor was going to make a full recovery. Fluttershy walked up to Twilight and poked her to get her attention. “Yes, Fluttershy, what is it?”

“Um… I was just wondering. What are we going to do about…him?” she pointed her hoof and Twilight turned to see what she was pointing at. She saw the lying body of Shadow Bolt….and he was getting up.

I don’t feel good Shadow thought as he was slowly getting up. He felt his body was in complete pain, but he was able to sit back up. He was feeling extremely exhausted, as if all his energy was sapped away as he sat there in silence. He then looked down at the ground and saw the Element of Hate was no longer on him and was now on the ground. He noticed something different about it, the red gem that had a bright red glow was now a dull color of itself. He slowly backed away from the element, no longer wanting anything to do with it. As Shadow was backing away, he felt nauseous and stopped. Slowly he turned around and stopped when he was staring at the element bearers and the two princesses. He started feeling petrified. He knew that he was in no condition to fight. I have to get out of here as much as he wanted to fly away, Shadow couldn’t. It took all he had just to keep himself standing as his body was swaying back in forth.

Before anypony could do anything they heard the sounds of hooves coming. The eight mares turned to see a group of royal guards charging in. they quickly passed them as they set their sights on the red pegasus. Shadow was feeling a sense of déjà vu as the guards were coming at him. He noticed that all of them were unicorns.

Before he could think about was going to happen one of the guards shouted, “FIRE!”

Once the order was said, all the guards charged their horns and fired. Shadow felt extreme pain as the first beam hit him…and went right through his body. After the first shot, a barrage of energy beams hit him, each one hit its target and went through him. The sounds of the beams were loud as he couldn’t hear the screams coming from the mares.

“CEASE FIRE!” shouted both Princess Celestia and Luna. Hearing the orders, the guards stopped firing. Everypony looked at Shadow Bolt and were surprised that he was still standing.

The fact that Shadow was already in pain and defenseless before he was shot multiple times, the pain he felt was now ten times greater. Shadow was having trouble breathing as he felt his lungs being clogged up by his own blood. He opened his mouth and blood was pouring out as he was choking. He stared at the ponies as he kept trying to stay standing up, “D-D-Didn’t…..Didn’t hurt.” His body then collapsed on the floor in a puddle of his own blood. He started feeling lightheaded and tired as he was starting to lose consciousness. He watched as somepony was walking up to him, but he couldn’t tell who it was as his eye sight was starting to get fuzzy. Soon the fuzziness was replaced by darkness and then Shadow Bolt lost consciousness.

The Element of Hate

by Shadow Bolt

BE STILL, Thy Hating Heart!