//------------------------------// // Home again // Story: The coming of the Shade // by Salizar65 //------------------------------// To the groups surprise the whole town was just outside the castle waiting to see what was going on. Princess Twilight had made her announcement to the town. Apparently a strange alicorn showing up in town and being escorted to the castle followed by the hasty joining of the six members of the Council of Harmony and then the two former rulers of Equestria showing up and going straight to the castle caused more of a commotion than Twilight expected. Her surprise was evident if you knew what to look for. The others were less skilled at hiding they’re emotions. The speech pacified the town for the moment and they slowly drifted away to go about the daily routines of they’re lives. His leaving was met with many different responses from the towns’ folk; some were relieved to see him leaving others where in awe of him all-together. And yet some others saw him coming down the street and ran away in fear of him. Several shop owners shut the doors or drew the curtains as he passed by. It didn’t matter he had seven guards with him at the moment. None of them armed that anypony could see but all of them where unicorns. And several Pegasi were visible off to the sides just far enough away to look like they were just doing their rounds but they were just close enough that if they were needed they could get there in mere seconds. Camo knew he was being followed by rainbow dash from the start, but he decided to look as if he didn’t know. She took her role as the First Captain of the royal guard and the head of Equestrian domestic defense very serious. He looked back at Ponyville from the hill he decided to take a short break for lunch atop. So he let her do her thing and follow him. She had turned back just before he reached the hill. Most ponies wouldn’t dare stop and stay in one spot long enough to do anything in the Everfree if they were alone, but he was no ordinary pony. Most species that lived in the Everfree learned to be wary of him over the centuries. Some still had enough courage to chalange him but they were few. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Twilight watched as Camopony walked away from the castle with the guards she had asked to escort him to the edge of the Everfree. She didn’t trust him as of yet but something in the way he said he wanted to spend time with her first made her feel a little less wary around him and slightly intrigued. She wasn’t quite sure what it was but something about how he acted towards her was different from the rest but she just couldn’t put her hoof on it. It was obvious that his alter ego Diamondfire liked Rarity in a special kind of way. But that was none of her concern. Rarity could make decisions for herself. After all she was a little older than Twilight was and it wasn’t the first time a mare had shown affection for her. Over the years stallions and mares alike have fawned over her and only a few had succeded in having those feelings returned. Her concern was for all of her ponies, every last stallion, mare and fowl was her responsibility to keep safe. She just wasn’t sure how to feel about having a male alicorn in Equestria. The likes of him have never been seen or heard of in this part of the world before. That was her biggest problem at the moment, gaining knowledge about something that has never been known, and he was her only resource. He could feed her false information and she would never know until it was too late, a disturbing thought. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Rarity was the first to leave the castle after Twilight made her announcement. She had many orders to fill and this little incident had put her behind a full mornings work. She would have to ask her great granddaughter to help her catch up. She already had her great grandniece employed at the shop. Unlike her late sister Sweetie belle, Sweetie belle’s great granddaughter was very much a designer like Rarity. Only four out of the nine great grandchildren (3 of the nine were Rarity’s) had taken to fashion and had studied under Rarity. The other six took up various other skills; two were teachers of music like her sister had been. One had become an acto0,r one had joined a traveling circus and the other two had moved to the big cities and did some sort of banking stuff that Rarity never really understood. Camo was a very strange pony, but he seemed relatively pleasant. His coat was a rather unfortunate combination of colors that made her rather uneasy, but he was charming and polite. Diamondfire on the other hand… that pony was magnificent. She was sweet and charming and absolutely gorgeous, her coat sparkled like a thousand diamonds were powdered and spread all across her body, and even the fire of her mane and tail sparkled. And that cutie mark, a blue diamond on fire… oh she was just divine. What is with you Rarity? You don’t have time to be thinking about her you need to focus and get back to your Boutique and get those orders done. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Apple Jack waited for Camo to leave before Excusing herself to get back the farm. It was apple bucking season and she couldn’t afford to waste any more time than necessary. The other Apples were waiting for her to return; after all she was the best of the six at apple bucking. After 500 years you become really good at it. As she headed back to Sweet Apple Acres her mind was turning, her first impression of Camo was that he was a completely honest and open pony yet something seemed a little off. She wasn’t sure what it was but he was not telling everything. He was holding something back but she wasn’t sure what it was. This bothered her, she was going to have to ask him about it when he got back from where ever his home was. No point in worrying about it. If Luna wasn’t concerned then why should she be? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Rainbow dash followed this Camopony all the way to the Everfree forest and into it for a good ways to make sure he didn’t turn around and sneak back into Equestria. She had stayed just far enough back from him so he didn’t see her but not far enough that she would lose sight of him. She was satisfied after a fashion and headed back to the castle. She didn’t trust him any further than she could throw him with magic and being a Pegasus that meant not at all. She knew he was not telling everything, and neither was Luna. Both of them were hiding something, something they both knew about. She could tell by the way they looked at each other, like they were worried that the other would say something that neither of them wanted said. She needed to talk to Luna about this and she wanted Twilight there to observe and if necessary protect her from Luna. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Pinkie Pie was already planning a welcome to Equestria party for Camopony seeing as how no pony knew him she didn’t know how to theme the party. She didn’t know if he had any favorite songs or games he liked to play or even if he liked parties. She just didn’t know enough to throw the most awesome party ever. She could only throw a great party. What a shame. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Fluttershy thought he seemed really nice but he looked terrifying. She knew deep down she should give him a chance but she was just too scared. No pony with a look like his has ever turned out to be good. Everypony seems to have faith in him not to cause trouble but she wasn’t so sure. Granted she had been wrong about Luna and discord at first but they were different weren’t they? Maybe she was just being a scaredy pony; she was after all the most gentle and weakest pony around. She would have to talk with some of her animal friends from the Everfree Forest to see if they had encountered him before and find out what they knew about him. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ After Camo had finished eating his lunch (consisting of a few dandelions, some grass, and a few apples) he decided he should fly the rest of the way back to his house. Hopefully for one of the last times. He liked the quaintness of his home town but he didn’t feel welcome there. No pony did. In the lands beyond the Everfree (no official names had been given to the individual areas just the cities and the surrounding land) there was no harmony. No pony would stick up for somepony they didn’t know, it was every pony for them self. He grew tired of being by himself. No pony had ever become fond of him, he had no friends just a lot of acquaintances. Every pony knew him and respected him but never truly liked him. He had little to no possessions of value, shortly after his parents had died and he sold the house and had moved into a cabin he had built a little ways out of town in the mountain forest a group of thugs tried to rob him thinking he had stuff of value being an alicorn and having just sold his old home. They found out really fast that not only did he have nothing worth stealing they also found out he should not be messed with. It was the first time his alter ego Dark Fire had surfaced. The thugs had tied him up and gaged him while they ransacked his home. He became so distraught that Dark Fire was born. The heat from his mane had burned away his bindings, the rage he felt for these thugs he unleashed on them. When he was done they were all lucky to be alive. Badly injured, but alive. After that no pony tried anything of the like again, the thugs soon spread word that he could have massacred them all in mere seconds but held back. In truth Dark Fire didn’t know how to control the full potential of his powers and because he couldn’t use them to their fullest, the thugs had escaped with their lives. He had taken to helping those who didn’t possess magic or couldn’t fly by offering his skills in both fields for hire he didn’t ask much and everypony was willing to pay the small amounts he asked for. But because of the environment and the creatures that lived in the area no pony really wanted to get close to anypony else. Ponies disappeared every now and then because of that ponies were afraid that if they got close to too many ponies somepony they knew would eventually disappeared. It had been this way for longer than Camo had been alive. His home was small seeing as he was the only one that ever went there. He had been fond of a mare once, when he was very young, he had dabbled with the idea of engaging in a relationship with her but he couldn’t find the courage to ask her. So over the years they flirted and hung out, but never did anything really serious. She passed long ago; so long he couldn’t picture her face. It was just about sunset when he reached the wild edge of the Everfree. He was getting exhausted so he decided to land and find a place to stop for dinner. He was only a few hours from his home town. He found a nice alcove just below the top of a cliff so he flew up and started to assemble what was left of the food he had from twilight and settled in to eat. He finished his meal and started on his way again. When he finally reached his cabin he noticed that something was amiss. His front door hung at an odd angle and there were gouges straight through the door that looked like axe marks from this distance. When he got close they turned out to be really large claw marks. That’s strange what creature would attack his home? Nothing in these parts ever bothered him. The Ursa where all in the Everfree along with the Timberwolves. No cat in this regain was big enough to leave marks of that size let alone yank the door off of its top hinges. He prepared a spell just in case the creature that had wrecked his door was still inside.