//------------------------------// // Darken the Shades // Story: Stroke of a Digital Brush // by Graglithan The Greater //------------------------------// In the Golden Oaks, Twilight blearily trudged her way out of the dungeon she called a basement. Even after an entire day of examinations, looking through books, and researching the spell, she’d come up with nothing new on the Wandering Search, or any other changes in the two object’s magics. A groan escaped her as she climbed up to her bedroom and flopped into the soft mattress and overstuffed blanket. “Ugh.” Spike looked up at her in concern from his basket and frowned. “Is that painting really giving you such a hard time?” “I’ve looked through the entire library Spike.” Twilight sighed into her bedding and rolled over to look at her assistant. “There’s just not enough here to help understand what the spell’s purpose truly is, and I’m starting to get worried that something bad might happen soon because of it.” Rolling back over and looking up at the ceiling, she continued. “And to top it off, there was that mare from the hospital...” The young drake looked between his basket and Twilight for a moment before he hopped out and climbed up onto the bed next to her. “Hey, you’re like, the smartest pony I know Twilight. If anypony can figure all of this crazy out, it’s gonna be you.” A small smile crawled across the librarian’s face as she pulled Spike into a hug. “Thanks Spike. I needed to hear that.” A yawn echoed through the room, making the lavender mare blush a bit at Spike’s giggling. “Buuuut, I don’t think I’ll be much use if I’m asleep till noon.” Levitating Spike off of the bed, Twilight gave him a brief nuzzle before sending him back to his basket. “Goodnight Spike.” ~~~ I was dreaming again, yet it felt so different now. Resting against that tree in the middle of the field, the memory-time clouds floating above, the ever changing shape of my body; everything seemed in place but something was still off. Was it something in the air? I couldn’t quite place it. It was like something was missing and everything was feeling different. Something obvious enough that when it was gone it should have slapped me in the face. A glance down towards my lap reminded me quickly what was wrong though. The little filly from before was gone. Emi, was gone. ... “You know this was inevitable from the get go right?” “Wha?” I blinked in confusion for a moment before looking up. In front of me, was.... me, but not quite me. Instead of a body, it was a gold colored blob that was shaping itself to look just like me from before these changes started. It was almost the same shade of gold as my fur, but.... duller. It was as if it was made to radiate everything bad about myself, but still barely holding on to what made me, me. At least, if dream logic is anything to go by. For a while, we just stared at each other. Me, looking up in confusion, and him looking down as if disappointed, yet pleased at the same time. “You just kept ignoring what I said, over and over again, and look at you now.” The other “Me” stepped forward and stopped just short of stepping on me, before leaning down into my face. “I warned you that the convention wouldn’t be a magical cure all, but you just wouldn’t listen. And now your baby sister’s a fantasy land unicorn.” I almost had the chance to reply, but I was suddenly being lifted up by my throat. The gold ooze melted back from the copy’s face and I stared back into those yellow eyes in fear. “Something we both know, is that Fantasies don’t get to be in Reality. The world just doesn’t allow it. I mean really, if it was allowed, Imaginary friends would be popping into existence everywhere, and you would be living the life with the girl of your dreams.” A twisted grin crawled across my former face before he tossed me back into the tree where I had originally laid. The moment I landed, branches laced with thorns sprung out of the trunk and wrapped around me, pinning my body painfully to the tree and piercing my skin. I gasped in agony as I tried to breathe properly, only for the branches to tighten and dig into my flesh deeper. “At least the problem fixed itself though. Makes me wonder why none of the others chose to do this. It just makes so much sense.” Another branch wrapped around my head like a crown of thorns and slammed me back, forcing me to look back into those cold yellow eyes, even as blood started to drip into my own. “W-who are you? What are y-” A branch wrapped tightly around my neck, cutting off my air instantly. As I laid there slowly suffocating, he only chuckled and started to walk away from me. When he was far enough, the other me glanced over his shoulder and smiled. “You’ll find out soon enough.” With that last reply, the dream faded as what little energy was in me vanished into nothing. A single young man sat alone on a bench in a stark white hallway, resting his feathered head in his talons. The walls that surrounded him only breaking from the bland color where various arrows and directions were painted on in a navy blue that matched the benches and chairs perfectly. Earlier, he had hastily fought past a large mob of panicking ponies and people to try and find his friends. Shortly after, he had found two of his friends on the ground, both having been trampled by the panicked mob, and the third was missing. An ambulance was called for shortly afterwards, and they were all taken to the hospital that he now sat in; waiting to be allowed to see if his friends were alright. On the far wall, a television broadcast the very location they had just left from as a slender reporter stood at the convention center’s main entrance. His red tie blowing slightly in the breeze while people walked past. “Earlier today, the two individuals that had claimed responsibility for the incidents regarding the hundreds of people that were turning into ponies and other such creatures had gathered here, and began to explain the hows and whys of what had happened.” An image of a familiar face showed up on the screen, making the young man look up in surprise. “However, it seems that a strange creature referred to as “Discord” appeared seemingly out of nowhere and claimed that an otherworldly entity that has no name, was ultimately responsible for these supernatural occurrences. Upon talking with those that were here, Discord is one of the antagonists featured in the children’s show, My Little Pony.” The picture of Discord faded and was replaced by another picture of a young man, and a mare that was standing on the convention center’s stage. “On top of that, he seems to have taken Len Teles, one of the two students that had initially claimed responsibility for the incidents, with him as he disappeared.” A question mark took the images’ place. “Reports also say that another victim of the strange changes had vanished before the convention had even had a change to begin. The victim was described to be a small, red filly with a green mane. While the true identity of the second is still unknown, officials are currently looking into the situation and implore for anyone who sees these two, to report any information on their whereabouts as soon as possible.” The screen jumped to a split between the first and another newscaster before the young man turned away. A tall man in a white coat came out from one of the doorways to his right, drawing his attention. “Mr. Yellman?” The young man nodded. “Both of your friends suffered quite a bit of bruising and a few fractures, but otherwise appear to be fine physically to the extent of our knowledge. I’m not sure how wings are supposed to be held in order for proper healing, but we did our best for Mr. Isomeric. Also, from what we can tell, he went into shock before his injuries, so do be mindful when he wakes. Ms. Delmas however, is awake and said she wanted to speak with you over something in private.” Damien caught him sneaking a glance over at the television. “She refused to say what when I asked, but I have a feeling I already know what it concerns.” As Damien stood the doctor put a hand up and stopped him. “I should let you know. The police are waiting as well to speak with the three of you. It didn’t take them long to connect the dots between that stampede and people disappearing.” Damien nodded and gave the doctor a small smile. “Thank you, but I would like to just see my friends for right now and make sure they’re alright. No offense.” The doctor only nodded and frowned as he held the door open for Damien as the griffon walked in, before letting it shut behind him. Inside the room, both beds were occupied. In the bed on the far side of the room, Grent could be seen with his eyes closed, still lost in the world of unconsciousness. In the other, Crystina was sitting up and looking over at Grent until she noticed Damien enter. When she saw him, she smiled softly. “Hey Damien.” “Hey.” Damien looked over his friends and frowned. “So....fur?” “Yeah.” Crystina raised one of her hands and looked it over. “I see your head’s been changed completely, and Grent's eyes changed too.” “I heard about what happened.” Crystina stiffened for a moment until Damien raised his claw. “It was on the news. It wasn’t hard to gather that the second person to vanish was...” He glanced over at Grent before sighing. “Her.” Crystina also started to look over the unconscious form of their friend; her mind ablaze with worry and fear. “Is... Do you think he’ll be alright?” Damien walked over to the far side of the room and picked up a chair. “I hope so.” Moving over to the side of Crystina’s bed that was between her and Grent, Damien set the chair down and sighed as he got in. With is back to the young woman, Damien looked over his friend with concern. “This is the second time something like this has happened to the guy.” The crystal girl blinked in surprise before cocking her head in confusion. “Second? But, people don’t just disappear like this Damien.” “Tell me,” He looked over his shoulder at Crystina, “when you talked to him about his family, how many people did he say he could talk about?” Crystina was confused by the change in topic, but answered anyways. “Um... five, but what does that have to do wi-” Her eyes shot wide as she thought over her conversation with him. Grent had named off five people, yes, but he hadn’t mentioned one that anyone would think of. “He... didn’t mention one of his parents?” “That’s right. His dad, to be precise.” The griffon leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. “Back when we were younger, me and Grent were playing out in his front lawn. His mom was about four months pregnant with Emi, making us about seven or eight years old, give or take. I can’t really remember the exact day. It was getting cloudy and starting to drizzle, so we were planning on going inside when his dad pulled up in his truck.” Damien chuckled a bit. “That man was a freaking goliath compared to my dad. A full seven foot eleven inches tall, and a scraggly beard that felt like it was made from steel wool rather than hair.” “Wow.” Crystina looked over at Grent and shook her head. “You wouldn’t have thought he’d be related from just looking.” Damien shook his head with an amused smirk. “Not until you saw how paint splattered the both of them were, no, but that didn’t stop them from being as close as they were. Grent’s dad was the one who introduced him to art when he first showed any interest whatsoever. Heck, he even gave me my first painting pallet.” Damien’s smirk fell as he thought back once more. “But that just made everything worse after what happened.” The griffon looked at Grent once more as he continued. “The day I told you about? How it was starting to rain and he’d just got home? That was the last moment we ever saw him alive.” Crystina put a hand to her mouth in shock. “Grent was just about to go and give his dad a hug, when out of nowhere a bolt of lightning struck down right on his old man. Seeing a man that big and strong, just fall like that....” Damien closed his eyes and sighed. “It did a number on me, and an even worse one on Grent.” Damien stood up as he heard someone knocking on the door. “Anything else after that’s not my place to say, but please, don’t be too blunt. I’m pretty sure that the scars from that are more than just opened right now.” As Damien opened the door, the doctor from before was about to enter. “Oh, my apologies Mr. Yellman. I was about to let you know that are a few officers here that would like to speak with the three of you, or at least whoever is awake.” The gryphon nodded before he waved to Crystina and left the room. “I’ve actually been meaning to talk to the authorities about this.” Wordlessly, Damien and the doctor headed down the stairs one of the hospital’s private rooms. Twilight slept peacefully in her bed that night. The only sounds permeating the air around her and throughout the library were of the still night air, and crickets chirping outside. No, it couldn’t have been a more perfect night. That is until you got to the basement. Rattling on the table that it lay, the painting that had appeared three days ago for the lavender mare began to move closer to the edge. A soft yellow glow filled the room around it as a low hum filled the room. A bubble of magic began to spread from the surface of the artwork slowly growing in size until it was large enough to encompass the lavender mare had she been down in the basement that instant. With a pop not unlike a soap bubble, the magic dispelled and left two new occupants in the room. Both sleeping soundly on the hard floor. With a small groan, one of the two blearily raised her head and looked around in a daze. “Huh, wah?” The second figure perked it’s ears up and looked over at her, letting out a small bark. “Shhhh Cricket. We must be stealthy. The fate of the candy.... kingdom....” And like that, the first fell back to sleep. The second proceeded to get up and look around the room before claiming some of the various equipment as his own. Having spent a reasonable time doing so, the second figure ran back to his master and curled up next to the slumbering filly.