//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Light's Shadow // by Jorofrarie //------------------------------// My friends are all gone, but that is in the past now. I have unfinished business... -Light Chapter 6 Night Light Twilight 'What the hay is going on in there?!' Twilight watched in awe and fear as the dust cloud in front of her lit up time and time again, accompanied by the sound of muffled thunderclaps. The Elements were spread out around the dust cloud in a vigil to prevent this new creature from escaping unseen, but from the looks of things, there was little chance of this thing emerging at all. FWOOSH! The purple unicorn jumped as the loud sound reverberated around the clearing. A deathly silence fell upon the watchers, and nothing could be heard from within the dust. Twilight glanced around to her friends, who all looked equally confused. Twilight edged closer to the ominous cloud to attempt to see what was happening. Then came the scream. The sudden loud sound pierced the silence. It was full of pain and anguish, but also anger. As they heard this, the six friends darted into the dust cloud to investigate. There they found Luna. Luna Celestia lay on the ground near the Princess of the Night, smouldering slightly and covered in cuts and bruises. Her ethereal mane had become subdued and lay almost limp against the white alicorn. The cause of her sister's pain was standing about 10 hoofs away, seemingly calm and undisturbed. The dark blob had reformed and the dark fire that had once covered it had been extinguished. It was near impossible to properly see the actual form of the creature, but the Princess could make out the rough silhouette of it as it stood there, flickering and unstable. Luna grew angry seeing this thing that had just attacked her sister so nonchalant. She attacked. Luna ran at the thing at a speed that was near impossible, trying to get close enough to attack with her horn. She lowered her head to gore it and almost managed this feat. Almost. Just as she was about to impale this creature on her horn, it vanished. Luna stopped and observed her surroundings. As she did so, it reappeared behind her. It rushed at her, knocking the dark alicorn over, but before it could follow through she rolled over and righted herself. It had changed again, back to it's shadow form. The flames had appeared around it. Luna could feel the heat waves emanating from it as it drifted over the grass, scorching the earth. And then, without warning, it slammed into Luna again and pinned her to the ground, burning her coat slightly on contact, causing Luna to scream in pain as she felt the fire licking at her body. It prepared to deliver the fatal blow. And then it paused. Light 'God Dammit! Why does every single fucking thing in this place have to try and attack me!' That was the only thing that I could think as another pony tried to kill me. It had come running into the dust cloud and seen the white pony lying prone on the ground. I was getting a little pissed off at being attacked constantly by all of the furry bastards, But this one looked like it wanted to kill me. Something connected in my mind as a brief memory linked this furious pony with the one lying on the ground, especially since the two of them attacked me together. 'Ahhhhh, okay... Now I think I kinda understand...' I didn't have time to finish this thought as the new arrival snapped out of its trance and charged at me, its horn pointed directly at my chest. I phased out almost instantly and flitted to the side, flanking the angry pony. It looked around, curious as to where I'd had suddenly disappeared to. I decided to help her answer this and so flew at my attacked from behind, barrelling into it and knocking it over, but before I could follow this up it rolled over and stood up, ready for me. I had to admit, she did have some fighting skills. Still, wouldn't stop me from trying to kill her. I coated my form with flames made of darkness (Which would have made Physics cry out in anger) and rushed at my attacker again... Somewhere in the Slipstream Nexus... Physics looked up from the hand he had been dealt by Fate and scowled across the table at the other players. Irony looked particularly smug, while Surprise looked like she wanted to kill herself. Order looked away from the novel he was reading just long enough to look at his hand, grunt disappointedly, and return to the story he was reading. Fate, who was 'sitting' to Physics' right, leaned over and nudged him. "Hey, P... You know how we said that we couldn't cheat?" "Ummm, yeah." "Well, I think that I dealt myself possibly the most shit hand ever..." Irony let out a small chuckle and leaned across the table. "Hey Fate..." "What." "Remember how you asked me what the definition of my name was, and I said-" Physics lost interest in the discussion and looked back around the table to see who would bid first. Surprise looked at Irony's cards, which were clearly visible as he leaned across the table, and sat back. "All in..." Order had seen Surprise cheat and glared at her. Physics chuckled to himself, but then stopped. His irises widened and he started shivering. The other exchanged worried looks with each other as Physics fell off his chair and started to have a breakdown. Fate shook his head dejectedly and sighed. "He never has been the same since Pinkie..." The other players all nodded. Irony got up and walked out of the room, Surprise taking the opportunity to sneak a look at Physics' cards. "Awwww crap, does that mean the game is over?" Fate nodded, and Surprise slammed her fist into the table, "Fuck! I finally got a good hand." Irony could be heard laughing hysterically from outside. Light I pinned the strange blue pony to the ground. From somewhere hysterical laughter could be heard, but I chose to ignore this. I stretched part of my form back to deliver the finishing blow. But then I stopped. The pony beneath me was quivering in fear, but this wasn’t what stopped me. No. I stopped because of what this pony resembled. This pony looked like Water. And there was no way that I would finish off an animal that was so broken, shivering as she was. Especially since she looked the way she did... I leaped off of her, completely stunned. This pony seemed to be as confused as I was as she watched me from her position on the ground. I reformed in a small spiral, extinguishing the flames on me in the process, and walked towards her to investigate. I neared the pony and looked at her. Her hair was an incredibly deep violet while her coat was almost black. The exact same colours as Water’s hair and eyes. I hastily looked away after I realized that I was staring at her. I stood, dumbstruck. The pony became nervous as I looked at her intensely. This was too weird... Luna Luna rose unsteadily to her hooves under the harsh gaze of the strange creature. It was just standing there, watching her, not making any move to attack. It lifted one of its limbs and seemed to be about to do something. It cleared its throat as if about to speak. “Umm-“ The thing was interrupted by a small groan coming from Celestia, who was at this moment lucid and in pain. Luna ran to her Sister’s side to help. Light just stood still, watching. Luna returned her attention to Celestia. “Tia, are you okay?” She whispered, shaking her sister, “Please Tia, please be okay. You need to be okay!” Celestia opened an eye and coughed weakly. “Luna, you need to get the Elements… This Light creature needs to be stopp-“ Celestia froze as she saw Light standing near her, not moving, only observing. The Princess of the Sun struggled to her hoofs to face their adversary. He appeared lost in thought. Light I watched as the blue pony, Luna, rushed to the aid of her sister. She looked so much like Water. She even acted the same as my companion… I sat on the couch of Fire’s old apartment. Earth was looking out the window in silence, while Air stood in the bathroom crying. Water was hugging Air, trying to comfort her. It had only been two days since the death of Fire, and the grief still hung on all of our minds, dampening our moods. After the fight I had regrouped with the others and brought them here to tell them the news. This was what we had been doing since. Earth, as usual, was the first one to recover from the apathy that had fallen over the group. He walked over to me slowly and put a hand on my shoulder, “Light, we need to move on. We need to do something, anything!” I gave a non-committal grunt and shrugged him off. He shook his head, “Seriously, I really mean it. We need to get over this. Do you think that this is what Fire would have wanted?” I looked around the room, and then back to Earth. I sighed. “I guess... I don't even know any more... I’ll go talk to the others.” Earth gave a small nod and walked back to the window while I gathered myself and retreated into the bathroom. Inside, Air was sitting on the side of the toilet, sniffing and trying to hold back tears, while Water leaned against the sink, a blank look on her face. They both turned to face me as I walked in. I motioned for both of them, and with great effort they lazily wandered in my direction. As they reached me, I put one hand on each of their shoulders. Air flinched at the contact. I sighed again. “Guys, I was just talking to Earth...” I paused again, struggling to continue, "And, and he said that we should try and do... something, just to move one..." I raised a hand, "I may not entirely agree with him, but he's right..." "He wouldn't want us to act like this..." Air looked at me in despair. Water still had that blank look on her face. I continued, “I know that he meant a lot to us, hell, I've known him for most of my life... But we can't spend all of our time like this. We have to keep making progress." Air couldn’t hold out any longer and burst into tears, leaving shining trails down her cheeks. Water turned and gave her a small hug, murmuring in her ear. I stood there awkwardly, I had never gotten the hand of this touchy feely stuff… I gave one last look at Water, “Join Me and Earth when you two are done here.” Water gave me a small nod. I walked back out to the living room and joined Earth by the window. I don’t even remember how long we stood there, side by side, just looking out the window as the civilians on the street went about their day, completely oblivious to the darker side of the world that they lived in. There was some sort of stamping noise growing louder, but neither of us paid any attention to it. Eventually, after what felt like hours, I spoke. “I just can’t believe that he’s gone.” Seconds passed, which then turned to minutes. “Yep.” I looked at Earth. My stoic friend always knew the right answer… “So, what now?” “It’s up to you now Light, you’re the planner.” At this moment, Air and Water made their way over to join us by the window. Air’s eyes were red and puffed. Water was hugging her friend in an attempt to cheer her up. Although I had been the closest to Fire due to Me and Him being the first to join forces, Air was the one that he had forged the real relationship with. I on the other hand, I had my eyes set on one person in particular. Water. Kinda funny that I travel with Fire and fall in love with the opposite. As I turned back to face the window, hysterical laughter could be heard faintly as if it was traveling over a great distance to reach me. Just I wondered what to do next, it became apparent that there was some sort of commotion occurring on the street level. The pedestrians had stopped to watch some sort of procession on the street. A phalanx of Peacekeepers was proceeding along the road, the only sounds being their heavy footsteps impacting on the hard tarmac surface beneath their feet. As the phalanx passed on, an open topped car trundled along, easily keeping pace. All of us in our tiny apartment gasped as we saw who was being escorted in this car. The Warden. The Warden was undisputedly one of the most evil men to have ever set foot upon the earth. He was the co-ruler and was second in command only to the Operator. He could do literally anything he wanted to. He was also in charge of all military and Peacekeeper activities. I exchanged a look with the others. All of them looked furious, except for Earth who never showed any expression at all. Air’s hair was starting to blow in an invisible wind, Water’s skin started to turn slightly blue while her hair drifted as though she was underwater. Earth just stood as still as before, but I could tell that he was incredibly angry, I knew what to look for with him. I tapped his shoulder to gain his attention, noticing that my hand had become a violently flickering mess, small wisps of darkness radiating from it. I was angry, and ready for something to happen. He looked at me. “Well Earth, I know something that we can do…” Earth smiled subtly. I stepped away from the window, almost to the kitchen, before running back at the group and flinging myself out of the apartment. The others just shook their heads in exasperation before following me. We landed in the midst of the bystanders, and went straight to work. Air brought out her trademark tornadoes and caused havoc among the civilians, while Water broke the Mains pipes, causing huge eruptions of liquid everywhere. Earth had torn up the pavement and road around the soldiers, slamming them into the sky as the road surface flung them upwards. I went straight for the Warden. I phased and flew directly at him as he tried to figure out just what was happening around him. As I drew closer, he noticed me and sent his two bodyguards that were in the car with him to intercept. I flew past them almost faster than the eye could see, whipping two shadows downwards over both of the attackers. I looked back around at the bodyguards. They had surprised looks on their faces. The looks stayed there even as they split into halves and fell to the group, blood erupting from their corpses. I looked back at the Warden. He was pointing a small cannon at me. This was a bit unrealistic but somehow he managed it with ease, his heavy muscles heaving with the strain. I barely had time to register this new appearance before he fired it, a cloud of smoke shooting from the barrel, along with something else. I flew to the side, narrowly missing the somehow flaming projectile that had been fired from the cannon. Even so I still felt the heat radiating from it. I flitted over to the evil Commander of the Military. He had a look of pure, unadulterated terror in his eyes, as if I was going to do the most terrible things imaginable to him. I really didn’t like to let people down. I started with his fingers, my rage burning brightly as I remembered all of the atrocities that the Warden, no, this thing had done. I sliced off his hands next, leaving only bloodied stumps in their places. I then went for the feet, removing them slowly and painfully. He was screaming in pain, begging for mercy. Begging for the thing that he hadn’t given the rest of my family. I phased to my human form, and kicked him out of the car. I jumped out and watched as he struggled pathetically to crawl away, leaving a trail of blood where his arms and feet touched the ground. I leaned over him and slammed his head repeatedly into the road until he was barely recognizable. Then, and only then, did I slit his throat. I gave my left hand a razor sharp edge of darkness and, while holding up with my right hand, slowly drew it across his neck. I watched as his lifeblood spurted out of the wound, perfectly in tune with his heartbeat. Slowly, ever so slowly, the bleeding slowed as his heart stopped. It started to rain. I threw the worthless corpse into the gutter and watched as the rainwater carried along until it fell through a grate and into the storm water system, never to be seen again, just another piece of debris to be cleansed from the streets. I breathed in slowly as the red haze that had been covering my vision faded away and my breathing returned to normal. I turned to check on the others. And then my blood froze. Water and Earth were crouched over the unmistakable figure of Air. I sprinted towards the trio and span Earth around, “What the fuck happened?!” “Air got shot,” Earth retorted bluntly. I looked over at my friend. She lay on the ground, a small trickle of blood slipping out of her mouth. I looked for the projectile and noticed something. It looked at hell of a lot like… A miniature cannonball. The Warden's gun, the piece of equipment that had been pointed at me earlier, had missed its mark. But it had hit something else in the process. The projectile had lost most of its energy through the flight, but it had still packed a punch when it hit Air, possible breaking her ribs, maybe compacting something vital... Water was running liquid along Air’s body in an attempt to soothe the pain. She was whispering to her friend. “Please Air, please be okay. You have to be okay…” “Please Tia, please be okay. You have to be okay!” I froze and looked at the blue pony. She had said the exact words said by Water so long ago. I let out a small whimper as a tear that I didn’t even know existed fell from my face, making a loud noise as it impacted the dirt below. The white pony next to the blue one stood up. And she looked angry. At this moment, shouting could be heard from around me. I watched as six more ponies emerged from the cloud and took up positions near the white and blue pony. One of the six was Fluttershy. As I watched her, her expression turned from one of fear and sympathy, to one of confusion, to one of anger as she saw what I had done to the white pony. Obviously a VIP (Fits perfectly…). The odds were way out of my favor, being me against eight pissed off ponies, two of which evidently had a lot of power at their disposal. I prepared to make a break for it, but found that I couldn’t move. I was stuck. I watched in horror as the six newcomers rose into the air and, in a flash of light, suddenly had strange jewelry appear on them. Five of the ponies, Fluttershy included, wore strange necklaces, while the one at the front of the formation wore a small tiara. I could feel the raw power from where I was standing. Whatever was about to happen, it wasn’t going to be good. Twilight The purple unicorn ran through the dust, calling for her mentor and Princess Luna. Her friends galloped alongside. As one they emerged into a small area void of any dust. As one, they noticed the strange creature. As one, they saw the injured Princess and Luna. And as one, they called upon their respective Elements. They Elements rose into the air as their jewelry appeared in their rightful places. They all knew what they must do. They reached the summit of their ascent and stopped. Twilight opened her eyes, revealing only whiteness. Five beams of light shot from her friends towards the tiara resting on her head. As the light reached the tiara, it joined and arched upwards in a rainbow. Right towards the creature. The creature itself couldn’t move due to the effects of the Elements, which prevented the subject of their power from escaping. It could only stand there and wait for it’s impending doom. The rainbow hit the creature right in the chest. An explosion occurred, along with a blinding flash as the raw magic of the Elements impacted. The Elements were thrown to the ground, their jewelry vanishing, their job done. Twilight was the first to rise, shortly followed by the others. She rushed over to assist her injured mentor who was at this point leaning heavily on Luna. Upon reaching the Princess, she stopped unsure of what to say in the situation. Luckily, Celestia spoke first. “My faithful student, I am so proud of what you have done here today. Without you and your friends, I would have surely been defeated by this creature.” She coughed slightly and winced but kept her composure. The other looked at their hooves, embarrassed at the compliment. Applejack spoke. “Awww shucks Princess, we were jus’ doin’ our duty…” The other nodded, but the Princess just shook her head. “Nonetheless, you have all achieved a great feat of courage here,” She smiled at the Elements, "And I am grateful for the six of you, and the bonds you hold." She looked around confused for a moment before speaking again. “Wait, where is your friend, Pinkie Pie?” Applejack just sighed. “Princess, don’t bother questioning Pinkie. It’s for the best…” Celestia shook her head slowly and motioned for the group to move. Luna set off, followed by a slightly limping Celestia and the Elements. They approached the crater as one, stopping at the rim. Twilight’s horn glowed slightly and the dust parted. Inside the smoking crater lay a statue of Light. Ohhhh, this doesn't look good! What will happen to Light now? Will Physics ever recover from Pinkie Pie? These questi- "Hellooooooo again! Did ya miss me?" ... "..." Honestly? "Yep" No Cras, I did not miss you. I'm very happy that you left on 'vacation' long enough for me to finish this chapter... "Hey, I had to leave. That Pinkie scares me..." Well, you did say that you didn't want a party... "Well, yeah. But I-" "PROCRASTINATION!" ... Dude you should run. Like, right now. "Point taken." Goooodbya Cras! Oh, he's gone... "Good, I don't like that guy! He's a big meanie!" Yeah, he is to- HEY! Pinkie get back in the story! "But I just wanna-" PINKIE! "Fine fine..." Phew. Anyway readers, Cras appears to have suddenly opted for another... 'vacation'... So I might be able to write the story properly. God have mercy on his soul if Pinkie finds him...