Chapter 27
Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, bee… Shadow Breeze sleepily hit the off button on his alarm clock. Trotsworth had gotten him the clock when he had moved in so he wouldn’t be late for school. It took him a little while to get used to the clock. After the first week of school, Trotsworth ended up having to reinstall the light fixture in his bedroom; Shadow kept clinging to it after the alarm went off.
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Shadow was sleeping peacefully in his bed. The previous night he had spent hours studying for a history test he had the next day. History had never been his strong suit. He was always more of a math and science pony. Hoping he had prepared enough for it, he tried to make sure he got enough sleep. He had a slight smile on his face as he dreamed. He was dreaming that he was meeting his favorite baseball team, the Trottingham Titans. Baseball all star Strike Out was just extending his hoof for a hoof shake. With a giant smile on his face, Shadow lifted his hoof. They were mere inches from the hoofshake when…
Beep, beep, beep, beep…
“Eeeep!” Shadow leapt into the air, clinging onto the light fixture in the middle of the ceiling. His eyes were wide as he trembled.
A few seconds later Trotsworth came into the bedroom. His brother’s yelp of fear, combined with the still beeping alarm had woken him up…again. “Are we going to be doing this every morning?” He looked up at his brother with bloodshot eyes and sighed. “You know, if you keep hanging from it like that it’s eventually going to…” He was interrupted as the ceiling around the fixture gave way, sending Shadow, the light fixture, and a good amount of the ceiling to the ground in a loud crash. “Fall.”
A shaky, dark grey hoof slowly rose from the pile of debris. “I…I’m okay…ow.” The hoof fell limp as Shadow fell unconscious.
Trotsworth facehoofed. “This is going to be a long day.”
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Though while his intentions were good, Trotsworth had gotten the clock as more of a gift for himself. While he loves his little brother, unless there’s an emergency at the hospital, he doesn’t like getting up early.
Shadow lazily stretched his legs in the air before finally getting out of bed with a big yawn. He looked over to his night stand. On it sat two pictures and a baseball trophy. He walked over to the night stand and picked up the first picture. It was a picture of a junior baseball team. Of the entire team, there was only one pony he paid any attention to. One of the ponies in the picture was circled in red marker.
After setting down the first picture, he proceeded to pick up the second. In the second picture sat two smiling foals. The foal on the left was himself. He was hugging the other foal around the neck. She was an earth pony filly with a deep purple coat and purple eyes. Her normally straight, two tone violet and light pink mane and tail were both messy, and covered in dirt. On her head she wore her favorite Trottingham Titans baseball cap. She had a giant, ear to ear smile on her face as she held a trophy in her legs. The picture was taken five years ago.
Shadow put the picture down and lifted up the trophy. It was the same one that was in the picture. It had a pony pitching a ball as the figure head on top. It was approximately one foot tall. The plaque at the bottom read.
First place junior baseball league
Curveball
He gently placed the trophy back on the stand as a tear rolled down his cheek. His head held low, he slowly walked out the door of his room to get ready for school.
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The bell rang, signifying the end of the school day. Shadow went to his locker and packed everything he’d need for his homework in his bags before heading to the exit. “Shadow Breeze, could I speak to you for a minute?” came a voice to his side. Shadow looked over to see his history teacher, Mr. Pale, standing in the door. He was a dirt brown Earth pony with a grey mane. His cutie mark was a fossil.
Shadow made a detour into the room and followed Mr. Pale to his desk. “Is something wrong Mr. Pale?”
“I’m going to get right down to it Mr. Breeze.” He took out a small stack of papers and placed them in front of himself; making sure to cover up the top. “I believe you know what this is?”
Shadow quickly skimmed over the top page. “That’s my history report, isn’t it?”
“Yes, and I’m sure you know how much of an effect this has on your grade, right?” Shadow nodded his head. “Well…”
Shadow watched as he lifted his hoof from the top of the page. His eyes got wide. “An F?!” Mr. Pale nodded. “But…but I thought I did so good! I triple checked my facts and everything!”
“All the facts you had were right,” Mr. Pale said trying to calm Shadow down. “This was a very detailed paper on Griffon King Goldo the third. But your assignment was on Griffon King Goldo the second.” He watched as Shadow’s head fell, nearly hitting the desk in front of him, as he groaned. “As of now, you are barely passing my class. You can thank that impressive test score for that, so here’s what I’m going to do.” He took the paper and put it away again. “I’ll give you another week to re-write your report. If you do that, I’ll replace the old grade with the new one. Do we have a deal?”
Shadow’s eyes got wide as he lifted his head. “You’d let me do that?” Mr. Pale nodded. “Thank you so much!” Shadow picked up his bags and started running out the door. “I won’t let you down Mr. Pale!”
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Trotsworth looked towards the door when he heard it open. He got up off the couch and walked over to greet his brother. “Well you’re home later than usual. Something happen?”
“I had to make a quick stop at the library,” Shadow said as he placed his bags next to the door. “I needed to pick up some books about the griffon wars.”
Trotsworth looked confused. “The griffon wars? I thought you finished that paper already?”
“I-uh, I kinda failed the paper.”
“What?! But I even read over everything myself. How did you fail it?”
Shadow scratched the back of his head. “I wrote about the wrong King Goldo. I was supposed to write about King Goldo the second, not the third.” Trotsworth facehoofed. “But don’t worry. Mr. Pale said he’d give me a week to redo the paper for a new grade.”
Trotsworth let out a relieved sigh. “At least you’re getting another chance.” His face turned stern. “You will work on it after dinner young stallion, and I expect you to quadruple check your facts, just to be certain. I will have you passing that class, even if I have to bribe an elected official!”
“Ummm I don’t think that will be necessary. I’ll just make sure I get all the facts…” Shadow was interrupted by a knock on the door. “Eeep!” He leapt into a coat that was hanging by the door.
Trotsworth walked over and answered the door. “Hey, Dr. Whooves,” said AJ. He and Ditzy were standing at the door.
“Hello you two. What can I do for you?”
“We were wondering if you were coming to Pinkie’s party this afternoon,” Ditzy said as she pulled an invitation out from under her wing. “It says that everypony’s invited.”
Trotsworth quickly scanned the invitation. “Well I’ll be. There is a party tonight. You bet we’re going!”
“B-but what about my paper?” Shadow asked as he poked his head out from the jacket.
“To hell with the paper!” Shouted Trotsworth. “You still have a week to finish it. I’m sure mother will understand.” He reached in and fished Shadow out of the jacket. “Come brother! We have a party to attend! Allons-y!”
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All was quiet in the top secret wing of the castle. This wing of the castle was set aside for the most dangerous experiments. The technology in the lab there was far more advanced than at the Lunar Institute of Science’s technology. Celestia wanted that lab to be part of the castle. That way she would always be close incase of an emergency. Ever since Luna came back and learned of the wing from Celestia, she was put in charge of all the experiments that went on there. Celestia was more than happy to pass the responsibility of the wing to Luna when asked. Luna had always been the more sciencey one between the two of them anyway.
Two unicorns were diligently patrolling the hallways. They passed by the lab access doors, which were always guarded by two more unicorn guards, one of which was always a high ranking member of the guard. “Anything to report?”
“Everything’s quiet sir.”
“Good. Continue your patrol.” The two guards saluted before continuing their patrol.
As the two guards turned the corner, they passed a vending machine and a framed picture of a cute little kitten playing with a ball of yarn. When Luna came to be in charge of the wing, the first comment she had made was how boring the wing looked. She immediately put in an order for 50 potted plants, ten vending machines, 100 different pictures, and even a few water coolers here and there. She had made sure everything was set up to be aesthetically pleasing. ‘What if the guards get hungry or thirsty?’ questioned Luna when asked about the vending machines and water coolers by her sister. In reality only her and some of the scientists ever used the vending machines.
About a minute after the guards passed the vending machine, the slot opened up to reveal two purple, slightly swirly eyes. The eyes scanned the hallway; making sure nopony was there. Slowly squeezing her body out of the vending machine slot, the pony landed on the floor with a small thud. After making sure nopony had heard her landing, she quickly dashed over to the corner and peaked around. She saw the two guards that were guarding the lab doors and frowned. She didn’t know how she was going to get past two, always vigilant guards.
“Hey! What are you doing here?!” came a voice from behind her. She whipped her head around to see one of the scientists staring at her. “You?! How did you get out?! I’m going to call the…” She ended up knocking him out with a, strategically thrown, 40 pound water jug to the head. She quickly looked around the corner to make sure the guards weren’t alerted by all the noise. They still stood by the door. She sighed as she looked back to the scientist. She tried thinking of what to do with him. Then it hit her.
After stealing the scientist's lab coat and ID, she hid the body inside a potted plant. She nonchalantly walked up to the door. After scanning the ID, she was able to walk right in. After she walked into the lab, the younger unicorn guard looked to his officer. “Umm Sir, who was that?”
“Must have been a new scientist.”
The pony looked around in awe at all the things around her. All the scientists, all the machines, all those chemicals just asking to be randomly mixed with each other, and shiny buttons just waiting to be pressed. This was like a playground, and she couldn’t have been any happier. Remembering that she had to keep her disguise up, she regained her composure and started trotting in no particular direction. Not that it mattered if she blew her cover there for a moment. The rest of the scientists were all too indulged in their projects to pay any attention.
She decided to first try her hoof at the chemicals. She came up to the table and sat down. She took a few racks of test tubes filled with a full spectrum of different colors. With a bright smile on her face, she grabbed a few of the test tubes and took a closer look at them, making a silent ‘ooh’ as she did. The scientist across the table from her looked up at her briefly before going back to his work. He did a quick double take and got a better look at what was going on right in front of him. It wasn’t so much the two, highly dangerous chemicals that were being mixed together so carelessly, it was the pony who was doing the mixing that scared him. “Screwball?! How did you escape?!” The entire room stopped working and all turned their focus to the table. “GUARDS!!! GUARDS, HELP!!!”
Screwball put on a sheepish smile as she grabbed a few more test tubes and bolted. As she ran on her two hind legs, she continued to tear the rubber stoppers off the test tubes to continue mixing them. She could hear many sets of metal clad hooves behind her. After she had mixed all the test tubes together, she dumped all the empty tubes and put a rubber stopper on the filled tube before shaking it vigorously. It wasn’t until she looked up that she realized she had just put herself in a corner. She turned to see that she was surrounded by guards. “Give it up you freak! You’re going back where you belong!” shouted the officer.
Screwball looked around. She had nowhere to go. As she looked around, the test tube in her hoof caught her attention. She looked between it and the guards before smiling. She stood up on her hind legs once again, and stuck her tongue out as she measured the throw. She wound up her shot, and pitched the test tube at the officer as hard as she could.
Seeing the glowing red tube flying towards him, the officer quickly dodged to the side. He followed the tubes path as it shattered on the floor right behind him. The room became engulfed in a giant explosion, sending ponies in all directions. The guards that weren’t blown away by the explosion were quickly knocked out by the fumes that came with it. Seeing as that her fun was cut short, Screwball decided to go with her plan B. Holding her breath, she ran through the fumes and out the doors; searching for the nearest window to escape the castle.
Unfortunately for her the first window she found was locked shut, with no conceivable way to open it. She knew she didn’t have much time at all before more guards arrived. She looked around for the closest item, which just so happened to be a potted plant, and chucked it at the window as hard as she could; shattering a small portion of it. The plant wasn’t all that big, so the hole was just barley big enough for her to fit. She leaped through the hole, wincing as the glass cut into her flank. After she made it through the hole, she gave her propeller beanie a spin; flying off into the night sky.
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Luna came running into the Lab with a look of worry on her face. A staff of medical ponies followed behind her. “What happened in here?!”
One of the scientists ran up to her. “Princess, Screwball has escaped!”
“What?!” Luna looked around the room. She took note of the damage that had been to her lab. She also took note of the guards, both the unconscious, and the injured. The ventilation system had been turned on. “You’re telling me Screwball did all this?!”
“I’m afraid so. She managed to sneak in, and start mixing random chemicals together. She used the mixture like a bomb to dispatch the guards.” The scientist looked over. “It looks like Officer Stone Wall got the worst of it.”
The scientist led Luna over to where Stone Wall lay. He grunted in pain as the medical team tended to his wounds. He cracked an eye open to look at the princess. “Officer Stone Wall, are you okay?”
Stone Wall grunted before speaking. “Y-yes. I’ll be fine. I’ve had much worse than this. The explosion was big and flashy, but it wasn’t very powerful. It was those damn fumes that got my soldiers.”
Stone Wall tried standing up, but was held down by Luna. “Just rest Stone Wall. Take a few days off to recover.”
“But…” Stone Wall saw the look on Luna’s face and nodded. “Of course. Thank you Princess.”
Luna turned back to the scientist. “Where is Screwball now?”
“Well...we’re not entirely sure.”
“How can you not be sure?” asked Luna.
The scientist sighed. “After she caused all this havoc, she kind of…escaped the castle.”
“What?!” The scientist showed Luna to the window that Screwball had leapt out of. She saw the blood on the window and took a drop in her magic. Focusing her magic on the blood, she used a detection spell. She sighed as she let the blood drop to the floor. “The corruption’s still powerful enough to dampen my magic. I’m unable to find her exact position.”
“What are we going to do Princess?”
Luna sighed. “For now we make sure everypony is okay. Tomorrow I’ll take a team to go find her.”
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Shadow groaned as he lay there in bed. If he had to guess, it was probably around seven in the morning. This sucked because it was Saturday, and he felt like sleeping in today. He shifted around in his bed until he found a comfortable position. He let out a contented sigh as he waited for sleep to take him again.
Just before sleep was about to take hold of him, he felt something shift in his bed. His sleep addled mind didn’t really register this so he just tried to fall asleep once again. He felt the shifting in the bed once again. Groaning, he rolled over to look the other way. He slowly opened his eyes and found his sleep dulled vision filled with that of another pony. He was jolted awake almost immediately when he realized that there was indeed another pony in his bed. The other pony put on an ear to ear grin. “Hellooooo.”
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Trotsworth leapt out of his bed and dashed out of his room when a blood curdling scream filled the house. With a full body tackle, he burst into his brother’s room. “Shadow?! Is everything alright?! What’s…” His worry quickly turned to confusion at what he saw. On Shadow’s bed was a pastel violet Earth pony filly with a two tone purple and white mane. Her cutie mark was a screw and a base ball. She had a propeller beanie on her head. She looked no older than Shadow.
She was leaning on the edge of the bed, rump in the air, as she peaked under the bed. “Why are you under there?” she asked in an innocent voice.
Still confused, Trotsworth walked over to the bed and peaked underneath to find Shadow curled up in a ball; eyes wide as he shook like a leaf. “Uhhhh.” He looked back up at the filly on the bed. “Shadow, who’s your little friend here?”
“I don’t know!” shouted Shadow from under the bed. “I just woke up and she was lying next to me!”
Trotsworth’s eyes got wide before a smile grew on his face. “Looks like my little brother’s a full grown stallion now.” He wiped a fake tear from his eye. “Can’t say I’m to happy about it being with some filly you don’t even know, but I’m sure we can change that. We should also go and get you some condoms. Don’t want any unwanted surprises, now do we.”
Shadow’s head shot out from under the bed. His face was crimson. “W-W-WHAT?!?!?! N-no! We didn’t do anything!”
Trotsworth grabbed Shadow out from under the bed and put a leg around his withers. “Oh no need to be ashamed. You’re a teenage colt. I know personally how your raging hormones can get out of control. Can’t tell you how many times mother walked in on me clo…”
“BROTHER!!!”
Trotsworth looked down to Shadow. “Yes?”
Shadow broke free from his brother’s hold. “Nothing happened. When I went to bed I was alone. I woke up and there she was.”
Trotsworth blinked a few times. “Oh. Well I’m still going to get you those condoms. You never know when you’ll need them.” He looked back to the filly. “As for you, what’s your name?”
Screwball sat upright on the bed and gave a big smile. “I’m Screwball!”
“Nice to meet you Miss Screwball. Now if you’ll come with me, I’d like to check out that nasty looking cut on your flank there,” Trotsworth said as he pointed to her flank.
Screwball followed his hoof to the deep cut on her flank. She looked back at to him and smiled. “Okay!”
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After Trotsworth was finished cleaning, disinfecting, and dressing Screwballs cut, he invited her to breakfast. He had made a traditional Trottingham breakfast, and while he wasn’t the best of cooks, it was at least passable. “So tell me Screwball, how did you get in here anyway?”
After stuffing an entire hard boiled egg in her mouth, she smiled and pointed to the kitchen window. “Da wighoh!” Bits of egg flew from her mouth as she spoke.
“That explains why it’s open. I knew I closed it when I went to bed last night,” Trotsworth said before taking a bite of an English muffin. “And tell me, what’s your relationship with my brother. You seem quite…” He took note of how Screwball stayed as close to Shadow as she could. “Fond of him.”
Screwball swallowed the egg with an audible swallow before throwing her legs around Shadow’s neck in a hug. Shadow tensed up and eeped at the unexpected contact. “He’s my friend!”
“I-I-I don’t even know you,” Shadow said in a low, fearful voice. “P-please let go of me.”
Trotsworth put a hoof to his chin. He was still trying to make heads or tails of this situation. Yes this pony did break into his house at some point during the night, but she doesn’t seem to be dangerous. Quite the opposite in fact. She seems completely harmless. He took another bite of his muffin before speaking. “I feel I must ask, why did you come to this house in particular?” He watched as Screwball pointed to Shadow. “Mmhm. Does you family know where you are?”
Screwballs face became sad. “I don’t know where my family is.”
“Well…that is troubling,” Trotsworth said with a hoof to his chin. “I suppose you could always stay here until we’re able to locate your family.”
A bright smile grew on her face. “Really?! Can I sleep with him?!” she asked as she pointed Shadow.
“W-w-what?!” shouted Shadow; his face was crimson.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea. I’m not so sure Shadow could handle any more heart attacks today.” He finished up his meal and got up from the table; taking his plate to the sink. “We can just convert my study into a bedroom or something. Unless there’s an emergency at the hospital I don’t really have any plans today. I could go shopping for a mattress and put it on the floor for now or something. Wouldn’t be a glorious bed, but it would work until we could get something better.”
“YAY!!!” cheered Screwball.
“Alright, now that we have that all settled, why don’t the two of you go play or something. I have a busy day today.”
“But…but I was going to work on my paper today,” pleaded Shadow. He really didn’t want to fail that class. “I told Mr. Pale I’d…”
“Don’t worry,” Trotsworth said as he waved his hoof at Shadow. “You still have most of the week to work on it. Just go have some fun.”
Screwball was beaming. She quickly shoved the rest of her food in her mouth and chewed as quickly as she could. After swallowing, she grabbed Shadow by one of his legs and started dragging him out the door. “Wait! I-I don’t wanna go! Brother, help me! Heeeee…” Shadow’s last pleas were cut off as the door was closed.
Trotsworth chuckled. “I’m sure he’ll be fine,” he said before turning to go clean out Screwballs new room.
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Shadow hung his head as he followed Screwball down the street. He was being forced to hang out with this strange pony against his will. All he wanted was a nice, relaxing day at home so he could work on his paper. ‘At this rate I’ll never finish my report. I’ll never be able to…’ His thoughts were interrupted when he ran head first into Screwball’s backside. Blushing a little bit, he looked up. “Uhh, what’s wrong?”
He saw Screwball staring straight ahead at Sugarcube Corner. Her eyes were shimmering as she took in the giant gingerbread house shaped building. “Gingerbread house,” moaned Screwball before she dashed ahead.
“Gingerbread house?” It took him a second to figure out what was going through her mind. His eyes got wide. “Oh no. Screwball, wait!”
Screwball got up to the building and stopped; licking her lips as she looked it over. It just looked so delicious. “Okay, where should I start?” She looked over and smiled. “Of course! I’ll start with the corner!” She happily trotted over to the corner of the building.
“Screwball, don’t eat that…” Shadow was too late.
Screwball opened her mouth and chomped down on the corner of the building. She just stood motionless for a moment; her teeth embedded in the wood. Her eyes suddenly got wide as she released the building. Tears started welling up in her eyes as she stuck her tongue out. “This gingerbread house tastes terrible! And it’s too stale!”
Shadow sighed. “That’s because it’s not a gingerbread house.”
“Wouldn’t it be so super awesome if it was though?!” came an overly exited voice from behind Shadow.
“Eeep!” Shadow leapt up and hid behind the roof of the building. When he peeked out, he saw none other than Pinkie Pie bouncing in place.
“It would be sooooo yummy! I would love to work in a gingerbread house. If I ever got hungry I could just eat the building.” She stopped bouncing and put a hoof to her chin. “But then I would eat my room, and I wouldn’t have any where to live. I would have to live on the streets. I’d be a homeless pony. I’d have to sleep under the park bench, hoping a bird doesn’t poop on me while I sleep. Speaking of bird poop, never lick the white stuff off of the park benches. As much as it looks like it, it is not cake frosting.”
Screwball looked at Pinkie with intrigue. She cocked her head to the side as if she was trying to figure out what made Pinkie tick. “Can you make a gingerbread house?”
“Can I?!” Pinkie said with a beaming smile.
“Can you?”
“Can I?!”
“Can you?”
“Can I?!”
“Can you?”
Pinkie blinked. “Can I what?”
“Make a ginger bread house?” Screwball said with a smile.
Pinkie gasped. “A gingerbread house?! I’d love one! Come on, let’s go make one!” She grabbed Screwball and ran into Sugarcube corner.
Shadow slowly landed on the ground and looked through the open door. “But…but what about me? I’d like a gingerbread house too,” whimpered Shadow.
“Well why didn’t you say so?!” Pinke said as the upper half of her body stretched out of the door. She grabbed Shadow by the body and pulled him in, ignoring the yelp of fear as she did.
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Luna paced endlessly around her room. She had been a nervous wreck ever since she learned of Screwball’s escape. She would have gladly gone after Screwball herself if she could. As it stands, she knew she wouldn’t be able to touch Screwball’s corrupted body with her alicorn magic. The outcome could potentially be disastrous. She could only wait for her guards to be ready. She dreaded every hour that passed. It was another hour that Screwball could hurt not only herself, but other ponies.
“Princess.” Luna nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the voice behind her. She was so lost in her thoughts she never even heard the pony walk in.
From her hiding spot under her bed, she could see Vengeance, the head of her specially trained task force standing at attention. “Why did you just barge into my room like that?! What if I was naked or something like that?!” It wasn’t until after she was finished speaking that she realized just how stupid that sounded. Aside from her royal vestments, she almost never wore clothes anyway.
“I...apologize Princess,” Vengeance said awkwardly. “I tried knocking, but got no response. I thought something may have been wrong.”
Luna extracted herself from under her bed and brushed her coat off. “No, I apologize. I’ve been on edge all morning.”
“Understandable your majesty.”
Luna straightened her crown. “So, what is it you wanted to tell me?”
Vengeance saluted. “Your majesty. The team is assembled in the courtyard and is awaiting further instruction.”
“That’s great,” Luna said as she breathed a sigh of relief. “Go inform my sister of my leave. Meet me in the courtyard afterwards.” Vengeance saluted before he flew off.
Luna made her way to the courtyard where she found her five other specially trained, bat winged guards, two stallion and three mares, standing at the ready. She waited for Vengeance to return before speaking. “As I’m sure you all know by now, a potentially dangerous pony escaped from the castle last night. In the process she managed to destroy half of my lab and left multiple guards wounded.” The six night guards started murmuring between themselves. “It is our job to locate this pony and bring her back to the castle before any harm can come to anypony. Do you all understand?”
“But Princess, we don’t even know where to start looking,” said the shortest of the three mares.
Luna sighed. “The only clue we have is the window she jumped out of. The most notable land mark in the distance was Ponyville. I believe our best bet would be to start there. Once there, we will split into teams. Ask the residents and see if they’ve seen any strange ponies around town.” The guards saluted. “Let’s go! We have no more time to waste!” Luna lifted off into the air. The night guards followed right behind her.
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Screwball happily licked her lips as she sat at the table. After Pinkie made the gingerbread houses, Screwball scarfed hers down as quickly as she could. Shadow ate his a bit more slowly. He smiled with every bite of the sugary house he took. It tasted even better considering he wasn’t able to finish his breakfast before Screwball forced him out the door.
“How are they?” Pinkie asked as she came out from the kitchen. “Are they yummy? I’m sure they are! They looked really yummy! I made sure I added extra sugar to make them super duper delicious! And that frosting is Mrs. Cakes super special recipe. It’s the most delicious, most bestest frosting I’ve ever tasted. Just thinking about it makes me…” Pinkie stops talking and sticks her tongue out; licking at the air as if there was frosting right in front of her.
Seeing that Pinkie was done with her incomprehensible rant, Shadow turned his attention back to his treat. He broke off another chunk of gingerbread and bit down into it. As he chewed, he noticed Screwball looking at his gingerbread house. She was drooling slightly. He looked between Screwball and his house until he swallowed his mouthful. “Umm, would you like some of my gingerbread house? I don’t think I’ll be able to finish it all.”
“Yay!” Screwball grabbed the gingerbread house and managed to break it perfectly in half. The two of them happily finished the house before leaving the shop.
Shadow let out a contented sigh as they walked. “That really hit the spot.”
“Mmhm!”
The two of them just continued walking for a bit. The silence was awkward, and Shadow didn’t like it. “Soo, uhh, what do you want to do now?”
A big smile on her face, Screwball turned to him. “I don’t know, what do you want to do?”
“Well, I’d like to…” Shadow was cut off when the sound of crying filled the air. “Huh?” They followed the crying to a small unicorn filly crying by a tree. Shadow walked up to her. “What’s wrong little filly?”
“M-m-m-m-my kite’s stuck in the treehehehehe,” she said before continuing to cry.
Shadow looked up to see a kite stuck near the top of the tree. He looked down at the filly and smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll…”
“I’ll get it!” interrupted Screwball.
Shadow looked at Screwball and blinked. “Uhh Screwball, I don’t think you’ll be able to get up there. It’s pretty high up there, and there's no good hoofholds near the bottom of the tree. Only a unicorn or a pegasus could…” He stopped when he saw Screwball reach up and spin her propeller beanie. She started lifting off the ground and into the sky. He was completely dumbfounded as Screwball lifted higher and higher until she reached out and grabbed the kite out of the tree.
She landed on the ground and handed the kite to the filly. “Here you go!”
The filly took the kite with a bright smile. “Thank you lady!” Screwball waved as the filly ran off.
Screwball looked back to Shadow. His eyes were wide, and his jaw hung open in shock. “She was a nice filly!”
“H-h-how did you…”
Shadow was interrupted as the sound of a baseball bat cracked through the air. Screwballs eyes grew wide and her smile grew even wider. “BASEBALL!!!” Before Shadow could react, Screwball grabbed him and dragged him away.
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Screwball had her smiling face pressed up against the fence as she watched the baseball game. It was nothing special, just some friends having some fun. It was clear to everypony that they either didn’t know, or care about some of the rules. As long as they all had fun they would let them slip. The game came to an abrupt end when the ball ended up hitting a colt in the head. He went down crying as the rest of the kids ran over to help him.
Screwball watched with sad eyes as the colt was lead home by his friends. She started absentmindedly rubbing the side of her head. Shadow watched as she slowly walked into the baseball diamond. He still couldn’t believe what he had witnessed before. ‘How in Celestia’s name was she able to fly like that? It shouldn’t have been possible.’ He looked back up at Screwball to see her sitting on the pitchers mound; a sad look on her face. He stood up and walked over. “Screwball, is everything alright?”
Screwball sadly bent down and picked up a ball one of the kids had left behind. “I haven’t played in so long.” She stood up on her hind legs. She measured her throw before letting the ball loose. It was a perfect pitch.
“Whoa, that was awesome. You’re really good at that.”
“I love baseball.” Screwball slowly got up went to go get the ball.
Shadow just continued to watch her as she walked back to the pitchers mound and threw, yet another, perfect pitch. “Well if you’d like, I have some catcher’s mitts at home. I could go get them and we could play some catch or something.” Screwball’s eyes got wide as she looked at him. A bright smile grew on her face as she nodded vigorously. “Alright, just stay here. I’ll be right back.” Shadow spread his wings and flew home; failing to notice the two armor clad ponies flying high above them.
********************
“Huh?” Trotsworth turned his head when he heard somepony come through the door. He poked his head out of his study and saw Shadow walking through the hall. “Where’s Screwball?”
“She’s at the baseball diamond,” Shadow said as he got to his room. “I just came home to get my catchers mitts so we can play some catch.” He went to his closet and started digging around in one of the boxes. “Aha, there you are.”
“Catch?” A soft smile grew on Trotsworth’s face. “Well look at that. I haven’t seen you pull those out since…”
“Please don’t mention her,” Shadow said as his expression became sad. “I don’t need anymore reminders of her disappearance.”
Trotsworth saw Shadow glance over at the night stand where the pictures and trophy sat. “I’m sorry. I’m just happy to see you enjoying something you used to love again.”
“Yea.” Shadow placed the mitts in his bags and slung them over his back. He walked over to his desk and grabbed his baseball cap; placing it on his head. “I should get back to Screwball.” He walked past Trotsworth and started towards the door. “We’ll be back whenever.”
Trotsworth watched Shadow leave with sad eyes. He put a hoof to his chin. ‘I should have known better than to bring her up, but how do I make it up to him?’
********************
Shadow took a deep breath. He knew he couldn’t let Curveball’s disappearance control his life. He was about half way to the diamond and he didn’t want Screwball to see him acting all mopey. He closed his eyes and started thinking of the good times. A smile slowly grew on his face.
“EEEYAAAAHH!!!”
Shadow stopped dead in his tracks. “Th-that sounded like…” His eyes got wide. “Screwball!” Shadow took off into the air and flew towards the diamond.
He got there as fast as he could. From the sky he could see that Screwball, who had been backed up against the fence, was surrounded by five ponies. Behind them stood the regal figure of Princess Luna. Shadow landed and started running towards Screwball.
“I don’t think so kid!”
“Huh?” Shadow turned his head just as he was tackled to the ground by another pony.
Luna turned her head when she heard the commotion to the side. “Wrath? What’s going on?”
Wrath held Shadow down. “That kid who was with her came back.”
Shadow struggled against the night guard that as on top of him. “L-let me go!” He looked up and saw Luna walking towards him. “W-what’s going on?”
Luna stopped in front of Shadow and looked down. “Last night this pony escaped from the castle. She ended up making quite a mess of things as she did. We are here to apprehend her and return her to where she belongs.”
Shadow looked over to Screwball before looking back to Luna. “Why do you want Screwball? What did she do?”
Luna sighed. “I’m not so sure I should be telling you this, but…” She bit her lip as she looked over to Screwball. “It’s not what she did, it’s what happened to her.” She could see the confusion on Shadow’s face. “Do you remember a couple years ago when Discord escaped?” Shadow nodded. “He caused so much chaos, and corrupted a lot of ponies that day. When he was defeated, we thought the Elements of Harmony had reversed all the damage he had done.” Luna shook her head. “We were wrong.”
********************
It had been a day since Discord had been defeated. Luna, along with a good amount of the royal guard, were patrolling Equestria for any remainders of Discord’s magic. After finding nothing remaining in Canterlot, Luna had high hopes that the rest of Equestria would be the same. She had split her troops into two teams this day. Half of her guards would patrol through Manehattan, while her and the rest of the guards would look through Ponyville.
Her guards were everywhere in Ponyville; not that anypony minded. After the whole Discord fiasco, the Equestria Royal Guard was a welcome site. Luna was just meeting up with one of her sister’s most trusted officers, Sharp Mind. He was older, but he was still one of the brightest guards in the force. “Anything to report yet Sharp Mind?”
“Nothing yet Princess, but rest assure that we won’t rest until every last inch of this town has been looked over.”
Luna smiled. “Good. I knew it was a good idea to bring you with…”
“Sharp Mind sir!” shouted a guard from behind them.
Both Luna and Sharp Mind turned to the guard. “What is it? Did you find something?”
“In an alley on the other side of town.”
“Show us the way,” Luna said in a demanding tone. They followed the guard to the location. As they got close, Luna could feel that ever so familiar feeling of Discord’s magic. ‘How did I not feel this before?’ she wondered to herself. They stopped in front of the alley. Multiple guards were already waiting out front; just waiting for Luna to get there. “Why have the guards not started cleansing the area yet?” Luna asked when she noticed the unicorn guards just standing there.
One of the unicorn guards turned to Luna. “The source of the corruption is a pony your highness. We didn’t want to hurt her.”
Luna’s eyes got wide. “A pony?!” She quickly made her way into the alley. In the back of the alley way lie a pastel violet pony with curly purple and white hair. She was wearing a propeller beanie. She was shivering and Luna could even hear her whining slightly. Luna walked up to her and leaned in close. “Don’t worry, everything’s alright. Are you hurt?”
“D-d-d-discord. Need Discord.”
Luna’s features turned grim as she turned to her guards. “Get her to the castle immediately! It is imperative that we get her help!”
********************
“She had become so corrupted by Discord’s magic. It had become like a drug to her. Without it, her body practically started tearing itself apart.” Luna looked back to Screwball. “It’s been a slow process, but the corruption is slowly bleeding from her body. Though it looks like we still have a long way to go before she’s back to normal. Until that point, it is imperative that she stay at the castle. Both for her safety and the safety of others.”
Shadow looked over to Screwball. She looked absolutely horrified of the guards. Screwball looked over to him with big, pleading eyes. “Help me.”
“W-what?”
Screwball sniffled. “I don’t want to go back Breezey. It’s scary there.”
Shadow gasped as his eyes got wide. “B-b-breezey?” There was only one pony that ever called him Breezey.
********************
Shadow cheered as Curveball struck out the opposing team’s player. She had just won them the game. He watched as she jumped up and down in happiness. This was the happiest moment of her life. Shadow saw her start to walk off field and started following her.
As she happily trotted over to her family, she was suddenly tackled hugged to the ground. “Curveball, you did it!”
Curveball shifted around and smiled at Shadow. “I did, didn’t I!”
As the two of them happily chatted, Curveball’s mom came up behind them. “Curveball honey, look.”
Curveball looked over to her mom and her jaw dropped. Her mother was holding a big trophy. “Is…is that mine?” Her mom nodded. Curveball put on a beaming smile as she ran up and grabbed the trophy.
“Be careful now, it’s fragile,” her mom said with a giggle. She pulled a camera out of her bags. “Now before we go anywhere, I’d like to get a picture of this.” Curveball nodded as she posed for the picture. She felt Shadow hug her from the side. She looked over to him and smiled. “This way honey.”
Curveball quickly looked back at the camera and smiled as the picture was taken. As her mom was putting the camera away, she looked back over to Shadow. “Thanks for being here Breezey.”
********************
“C-c-curveball?” An unknown resolve quickly grew in Shadow. He began struggling in Wrath’s hold once again.
“Hey! Hold still kid! Don’t make this any harder than it has…” Wrath was cut off as Shadow swung his head up, connecting with his jaw.
Wrath reared up on his hind legs due to the unexpected attack. With the weight off of him, Shadow got up and readied his hind legs. “Sorry!” He kicked his legs back as hard as he could. One thing that should be noted about Luna’s specially trained team is that their armor is a lot lighter than your average guard. They make up for the lack of protection by being a lot faster and more agile than the others. This also means that certain parts of the body go…unprotected. Wrath wailed out in pain as he fell to the ground; clutching at his bucked apples. Luna could only watch as Shadow leapt over the guards and landed in front of Screwball. He turned around to face the guards; leaning down to make his posture threatening. “Nopony’s going near Curveball!”
Luna, after finally realizing what had just happened, walked up Shadow. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but I must ask you to move. We have to isolate her.”
“She hasn’t done anything to deserve this!”
“You don’t understand. Who knows what will happen if we can’t remove the corruption from her body.”
“I DON’T CARE!!!” Shadow shouted with tears in his eyes. “I already lost her once, I won’t lose her again!”
Luna sighed. “So you leave me with no choice. Restrain him.”
The guards started closing in on Shadow and Screwball. “What in Celestia’s name is going on here?!” Everypony turned to the voice. Trotsworth was standing there, a catchers mitt on his back, with a dumbfounded look on his face. “Shadow, what happened?!”
“Trotsworth? What are you doing here?”
“I figured I’d come down and play catch with you and Screwball.” He looked at the guards. “Why is the Royal guard here?”
“Do you know this pony?” asked Luna to Trotsworth.
“Yes, this is my brother. Look, would somepony just please tell me what’s going on?”
“They’re trying to take Curveball away!” yelled Shadow.
“Curveball?” He looked between Shadow and Screwball. “Don’t you mean Screwball?”
“Screwball IS Curveball.”
Confused, Trotsworth looked at Screwball a bit more closely. After examining her for a few seconds, he turned to Luna. “Uh huh. Princess, if you would, could you please inform me as to why you wish to take our little Screwball here?”
Luna told Trotsworth the entire story. “And that is why we must take her back to the castle. If she’s there, we’ll be able to stop her from accidentally harming anypony.”
Trotsworth sat there with a hoof to his chin. “That is quite the tale Princess.” He turned to Shadow, who was now sitting next to him along with Screwball. “And you’re absolutely sure that Screwball here is actually Curveball, correct?” Shadow nodded. “Well, this is quite the pickle we are in.” He was torn. On one hoof, he was basically ordered by Luna to turn over this strange pony that broke into his house this morning. On the other, Shadow was sure that this strange pony was his old friend who had mysteriously disappeared a couple years ago, and he didn’t want to take that away from him.
Luna sighed. “I’m truly sorry if Screwball here is truly your brother’s long, lost friend, but keeping her at the castle is the safest thing to do.”
“Now hold on Princess. The way you put it, the only way to cure her is to wait it out, am I right?” Trotsworth asked.
Luna slowly nodded her head, not knowing where he was coming from. “That’s correct.”
“If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be possible for her to stay in a different location for that period of time?”
Luna looked at him suspiciously. “I don’t understand. What are you getting at?”
Trotsworth smiled. “Why don’t you just allow me to watch over Screwball while she recovers.”
“What?! B-but what about the possible dangers?”
“She seems quite taken with my brother here. Besides, the two of them have been together all day and nothing bad has happened.”
To say Luna was apprehensive about this would be an understatement. “And why are you so sure that you would be a proper candidate to watch over her?”
“Well, I am the Chief of Staff over at Ponyville hospital,” Trotsworth said with pride. He could still see the uncertainty on Luna’s features. “Tell you what. If you allow me to watch over Screwball here, I’ll write you a weekly report, detailing everything that has happened over the week.”
“But…”
“And, you can come check on her at any point if you feel it is necessary.”
Luna thought for a minute. Technically everything he said was right. She didn’t need to stay at the castle, thought it would be the safest place for Screwball to stay. Then again he did claim to be a doctor. “Can you prove what you say about being a doctor?”
“Have a copy of my medical license at home if you’d like to see it.”
Luna thought for another minute. She let out a defeated sigh. “Alright. I’ll allow Screwball to stay here in Ponyville.” A bright smile grew on Shadow’s face. “IF, and only if, you promise to look after her and make sure she stays out of trouble. You are to send weekly reports of her progress. One of my scientists will be here tomorrow to make sure she has everything she needs.”
“Y-you mean you won’t try to take her away again?” Shadow asked with hope in his voice.
Luna shook her head. “Neither me nor my guards will come after, or harm you and Screwball.”
“I’LL KILL YOU KID!!!” shouted Wrath before crying out in pain once again.
“Try not to move, Wrath,” said the shortest mare guard. Out of the group she was the most qualified to handle injuries. “Oh wow, I think he may have crushed one of them.”
Luna looked back to Shadow with a sheepish grin. “Uhh, don’t worry about him, he won’t hurt you.”
“You hear that Screwball?! You can stay!”
A giant smile grew on Screwball’s face. “YIPPIE!!!” She threw her legs around Shadow’s neck in a big hug.
Trotsworth smiled at his brother and Screwball before turning to Luna. “Well, I believe we should be getting back to the house. I really should finish cleaning out Screwball’s new room.” He looked over to Wrath and winced. “Though if you’d like, I’d be happy to check him in to the hospital to make sure nothings…broken.”
“He’ll be fine,” Vengeance said as the mare helped get Wrath on his back for transport. “Once we get back to the castle we’ll get some ice on those balls of his.” Vengeance lifted into the air and started back to the castle, the rest of Luna’s team followed behind him. Before taking off, Luna took one last look at Screwball. She took off into the sky and flew off.
Trotsworth sighed. “Well, I believe we’ve had enough excitement for one day. Let’s get back home.”
********************
Almost a week had passed since Screwball started living with Trotsworth and Shadow. It was Friday and Shadow was looking forward to getting school over with today. Having an entire weekend to catch up with Screwball was looking pretty good. “I’ll see you after school Screwball.”
“Okies!” Screwball waved to Shadow as he walked towards the door.
“Just one moment young stallion,” said Trotsworth as Shadow was about to open the door.
“Yes?”
“I know just how happy you are to have your friend back again, but you did remember to redo that report of yours, right?”
“Report? What repor…” Shadow’s eyes got wide. He had completely forgotten to redo his report. “Eeep!”
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((I suppose you could call this the “AJ light chapter” as it really doesn’t have much to do with AJ at all.
This is what Shadow Breeze looks like if any of you wanted a hard picture to base him off of.
And this is Curveball
My little pony © Hasbro
Friendship is magic © Lauren Faust))