Chapter 100
I had been rather downtrodden since the second 'dream'. Skies was worried and still told me to tell her what was wrong, but I couldn't tell her what I had seen. I didn't want her to know either of the things that I saw. It became even more stressful for me after Daring left. She had decided to stop at her home and try to see if any of her books said anything that could help. She promised to contact me if she found anything. It was difficult after Daring left, she was the one distraction Skies had from me. Now that she left Skies had been trying much harder to find out the truth. Eventually after a day and a half of asking she fell silent.
It was the second day of our fight now. We had had little rest time since we started night flying. I was looking forward, trying to purge the memory of the 'dreams', while Skies flew to my side. I as we came around a bend I saw a large mountain on the horizon.
"There's Canterlot, we're close." I said.
"...Yeah." Skies responded not really looking.
It hurt to see her like this. "I'm sorry Skies, I really am." I told her. She looked at me now. "I'm just...The things I saw...I don't want those weighing on you as well." I told her.
"I know, you're just trying to protect me." Skies said.
I sighed. "We've got just over an hour of flight left, we can take a break if you want." I said to her.
"...That sounds nice." Skies told me.
The two of us landed on the ground. Skies walked over and laid down under a tree. I followed behind and sat down next to her. The two of us sat there quietly for some time.
Skies sighed. "Things were so much simpler before we found Ponyville." She said.
"...Yeah, but would you really want to go back to that?" I responded.
Skies smiled slightly. "No, I like it in Ponyville." She said.
I smiled as well. "So do I." Skies scooted up next to me and rested her head against my side. For the first time since the first prophecy I truly felt at peace again. I wasn't thinking of what might happen, just what was happening now. Sadly, it couldn't last too long. "Come on, we should get to Canterlot. I need to make sure the princesses know what's coming." I said with some reluctance.
"Alright." Skies said standing up.
The two of us took off again, flying towards Canterlot. We landed in front of the castle and approached on foot. As we came towards the main gates there were two guards there. They seemed like they were about to ask me to turn around, but then as I got close enough they seemed to recognize who I was. No doubt because I was the focus of their bets. I walked up to the gate.
"I need to talk to the princesses immediately." I said to them.
"They're all in the main hall right now." One of them answered.
'All...Ah, Cadence must be here too.'
"Thanks." I said as I walked past them to the door.
"Um, sir." I turned to face the other guard who had spoken. "You may want to clean yourself up first before you talk to the princesses." He told me.
I looked confused for a moment, until I heard Skies giggling. I turned and saw her standing there her white coat sporting brown marks from sleeping on the ground, and twigs in her mane and tail, pieces of fur sticking up in random places. I looked back at my own coat and saw that I was in the same state. I started to laugh as well as I looked at the two of us. "Nah, I think I'm happy enough to see them like this." I said.
The guards exchanged looks and I saw them smirk slightly. We walked through and made our way to the main hall. We approached the door to the main hall. My horn lit up and I pushed open the door.
There were ten ponies standing in the main hall. Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Armor, and the girls. "I thought I requested no to be distur-" Celestia fell silent as she, as well as the others, saw that it was me who had walked in.
"Hey, I'm back." I said raising a hoof in greeting.
Rainbow was the first to respond. She flew over quickly and brought me into a hug. "I'm so glad your back." She said, suddenly she let go, landed, and coughed. "I mean, I knew you'd be okay."
I smiled and gave her a quick kiss. "I missed you too."
I looked back to the others. Celestia had a warm smile, Rarity was looking at my coat in disgust, Armor was chuckling, Twilight was smiling her wings folded to her sides, Pinkie was...'...D-Did I just see what I think I saw?'
'Yeah...yeah, you did.'
My head suddenly snapped back to Twilight, and I started at her. "...What in the pits of Tartarus did I miss?" Twilight looked away from me with a slight blush.
"Well, Twilight's an alicorn now...Oh, and she's a newly crowned princess." Rainbow said from my side.
I looked back and forth between Twilight and Rainbow. "...Well, uh, I mean- congratulations." I said after a pause. "Damn."
"What?" Rainbow asked.
"Well if this happened while I was gone that means she's been an alicorn for, what, less than a week, and she's a princess now. I've been an alicorn for over twenty years and I'm still not a prince." I said with a slight smirk. Twilight blushed deeper, and everypony else just chuckled.
"Well, there was the first time Cadence and Armor met Erebus." Luna said.
"Well technically that wasn't me." I responded with a smile
My smile dropped after a moment. "What's wrong?" Celestia asked noticing that I had gotten serious.
"I learned something on my trip. Something that I really wish I didn't find out. There's something coming to Equestria...something evil." I told them. Causing them all to stare at me.
"Explain." Celestia told me.
"On my trip I went to a temple...It was built for one who bears the darkness." I had everypony's attention on me. "I got a message from the original builder. It spoke of a great evil approaching Equestria. I don't know specifics, but I know it's bad." I told them.
"How bad?" Luna asked.
"Discord and Nightmare Moon, don't even come close to it's power." I answered.
Everypony looked at each other with worry. "If it's alright with everypony, there's something's I need to discuss with just the princesses." I told them. "Could I ask you all to wait outside for a moment?" I asked to the others.
"You're going to tell them too?" Skies asked.
"Yeah...I need to." I answered.
Skies sighed and walked with the rest of the girls out of the main hall.
I turned back around and saw Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Twilight still standing there. I chuckled. "It's gonna take a little bit of effort to keep in mind that you're a princess now." I said to Twilight. My smile dropped soon after.
"Shadow, what's wrong, you're acting so different." Twilight told me.
"So I've heard from Skies as well." I sighed. "I've been seeing visions of the future." I told them. All four's eyes suddenly widened in surprise. "I haven't seen anything good. I've had two in the past week and the darkness and I have decided that they're the possibilities for how it will end up." I told them.
"So you believe that one of them will come true?" Celestia asked.
"I wish it wasn't, but that is what we believe." I answered.
"...What did you see?" Luna asked me.
"...I need you all to make me a promise." I responded.
"What promise?" Cadence asked.
"If this first prophecy starts to take shape...Please stop me, I don't care how, just don't let me become what I saw. Kill me if you have to I don't care, I can't let what I saw happen." I said my voice shaking.
The princesses eyes widened as I spoke. "Shadow, I- we...what did you see?" Celestia asked with worry.
"I became a monster." I told them. "I killed...I killed so many, destroyed so much." I looked up at the four of them. "Please don't let me become that."
Celestia came up and wrapped a wing around me. "We won't."
"What of the second prophecy, surely it can't be as bad as that?" Luna said.
My mind flashed to the second prophecy. I looked away from them and stared at the ground. "Maybe not for you." I said. They looked at me with confusion. "Equestria was fine, I didn't see any destruction really, but...but Skies-" My voice caught in my throat. I took a deep breath calming myself as best I could. "-She wasn't there."
The four mares understood what I meant. I could feel the tears forming in my eyes. "There has to be someway to get around this isn't there?" I asked. "There has to be someway to avoid both these prophecies."
Twilight came up and put her legs around me. "We'll find a way. We won't let either of those come to pass" She told me. I nodded weakly.
"What does Skies think of all this?" Celestia asked.
"I haven't told her." I answered. "I don't want her to have to bear this."
"If what your saying is true, then these prophecies affect her quite a bit. You should probably at least explain a few things to her." Cadence said to me.
"I would, but...Think of it this way. These are two possible outcomes. By that logic if one doesn't happen the other will. So if Skies lives I become a monster and destroy Equestria, and if she dies I don't. Do you really want me to tell her that?" I asked.
The four were silent.
I sighed and shook my head. "Either way, that's not what's important right now." I told them. "Right now we need to find out what the evil that's coming to Equestria is."
"Do you have anything to go off of?" Celestia asked.
I shook my head. "All I've seen are things that relate to me. I don't know anything else about what's coming." I answered. I began to ponder everything.
'How do we find out what's coming?'
'perhaps Daring will find something useful.'
'Will she find it in time though?' I asked him beginning to pace around the room.
'Do we have another choice?'
'Maybe we could-' My thought was cut off as my hoof caught on the flooring. I fell down face first onto the floor. "Ow." I said my face still connected to the floor. I heard the princesses chuckle slightly, then I heard a small cling of metal hitting something I looked up and saw the coin bounce past my head and start to roll towards the princesses. I scrambled to try and grab it, but it was surrounded in a golden aura and Celestia lifted the coin up to her face.
"What's this?" She asked. "I haven't seen a coin like this since...well, I don't think I've ever seen a coin like this actually." She said.
"It-it's nothing. Just a small little souvenir I thought that looked nice." I lied.
"Hmm, It feels like it has some magic infused in it." Luna said as her horn lit up. "It seems it's warded though." Her horn glowed slightly brighter.
"What are you doing?" I asked with some worry.
"Don't worry, I'm just undoing the ward quickly. I'm sure the coin will be-" Luna was cut off as a wave of pressure suddenly enveloped everything in the room, causing it to shake. Celestia and Luna were pushed back slightly, Cadence and Twilight fell onto their knees, and I was laying on the floor struggling to stand up. I looked up towards the coin, feeling the power coming from it.
Celestia and Luna's horns suddenly lit up, brighter than I had seen then ever before. The pressure slowly lessened until the coin was warded again. Twilight and Cadence stood up straight again staring at the coin with surprise and awe. Celestia and Luna were taking more interest in me though.
"...Where did you get this?" Celestia asked, I could tell she was extremely serious.
"I-I told you, I-" I started.
"Don't give us the same lie you just used on us." Luna told me. "There is no way, We can believe that you just randomly bought something like this."
I grimaced. "Well- I- I mean I-" I stammered panicking. 'What do I do?'
'Why would I have the answer?'
"Shadowmere, tell us now." Celestia ordered me. "Why do you have a coin, that possesses our mother's magic?"
'Gaia's magic? That's what's in the coin?'
'Apparently.'
Twilight and Cadence stood that staring at me with surprise. I was looking at the ground trying to decide what to do. I sighed. "...Because she gave it to me." I told them.
"She? Who is this she that gave you the coin?" Luna asked.
"Gaia." I answered. Now it was Celestia and Luna's turn to be surprised. "The temple that I went to...Gaia was the one who had it built. She was the one who gave me the message of the great evil coming, and gave me the coin." I told them.
Celestia and Luna were staring at me. "She left a message for you...in the temple?" Celestia asked.
I shook my head. "No...she had her mind magically sealed inside the temple. She was in the temple in all, but physical form." I said.
The four mares' eyes widened. "She...she was in the temple?" Luna said.
"...Why didn't you tell us this?!" Celestia asked with a slight hint of anger in her voice.
"Because she told me to." I answered. "She said the keep the coin and such things a secret as best I could."
Celestia and Luna were silent. "...Why did she give you the coin?" Celestia asked, her tone less angry.
"She said it would help, She didn't say how, but that I would be able to use it when the time came." I told her.
Celestia sighed. "Yes, that does seem like the type of thing mother would say." She said with the smallest hint of a smile.
"Can't say I agree with it though." I said. "That coin has brought me nothing but pain."
"How so?" Luna asked.
"Because, it's the reason I had those prophecies." I answered, the four looked at the coin in surprise. "I respect Gaia, I really do, and I want to beleive her when she says the coin will help....I don't know if I can though. That coin has only shown me terrible things."
The room was silent for a time.
Celestia walked forward and lowered the coin in front of me.
"Shadow, I know my mother. If she says it will help you it will. It may take time, and it may be painful to get there, but it will help you in the end." Celestia told me.
After a moment I reached out and took the coin, putting it back in my bag. "Gaia...She was very happy to hear that you two were doing well." I said looking up at Celestia and Luna, with small hint of a smile.
Celestia and Luna smiled. "Our mother...is she still in this temple?" Luna asked.
I shook my head. "I don't think so, before I left she said that she wouldn't be able to stay in the temple anymore. By the time I left, I couldn't see any evidence of her anymore." I answered.
Both Celestia and Luna sighed. "I wonder if-" Celestia started.
"Princesses!" A guard said as he rushed into the throne room. The others who had been waiting outside rushed in a little after him wondering what was happening.
"What is it?" Celestia asked.
"The chariot facilitating the prisoner transfer was attacked!" The guard told her.
"Wait what's happening?" I asked confused.
"Many crimes are brought before our court. We keep some of the guilty in the dungeon below the castle for a time, and then transfer them to a prison in the city at a later time." Celestia explained to me. "What is the situation with the prisoners?"
"Ma'am, all prisoners were accounted for with the exception of one." The guard answered.
"Who was it?" Luna asked.
"His name was Perfect Tally." The guard said. Almost instantly everypony else's' eyes were staring at me.
As he spoke the name I felt my eyes widen and pupils shrink. "Who did this? Why did they attack the transfer?" I asked, my voice having hints of the darkness in it.
"Well that's a simple answer to give." I heard from the doorway. I turned and looked at the door. I could make out the silhouettes of six figures standing there. "We needed to retrieve something of ours." One of the figures said.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Well we're-"