//------------------------------// // [Chapter Two: Darkness Rising] // Story: Tale of the Shadow Pony // by AtomicShockwave //------------------------------// I stared at Twilight, completely confused on the situation. I went to turn my head to look back into the house but before I could even move an inch Twilight pushed me to the side and due to my injuries I fell over like it was nothing. "Get out of here!" Twilight said as she rushed into the house and upstairs. I got up and I thought of what I should do.... If I should really leave... or if I should stay... Before I could make a choice she showed up... the cyan one, Rainbow Dash. "There you are!" She said as she stood in front of the door. "Now is not the time!" I said in anger as I decided to push through the pain and head up the stairs after Twilight, or at least one of them... "Hey! Don't you go away from me!" Rainbow said as she flew into the house and got in my way. "Move!" I said rudely as I pushed past her to find a room, it seemed like a robber rummaged through everything in a hurry. I noticed a broken window at the back of the room. "Great..." I said as I rushed to it and looked out it to see the two Twilights fighting. I ease myself out the window and fell to the ground. I grit my teeth in pain and got up. I looked down to see a large shard of glass, easy to pick up as well... Of course I picked it up and I went towards the two who were at this point hoof-fighting... It seemed that both of them were in a state where their magic seemed useless... I did my best to hold myself up. I held onto the shard and stepped close. "Enough..." I said sternly enough for the both to notice me and stop. I focused and I noticed that there was only one Twilight covered in debris... I sighed. "H-hey! B-before you do anything hast-" I stabbed the obvious fake before they could finish talking. "AHHGG!" The fake groaned out as a strange black liquid flowed from the wound. "Shut it." I said as I twisted the shard and the fake burst into a black cloud and there ended up being nothing but some of the black liquid and a small black crystal. The real Twilight watched in slight horror, but more in confusion. "How'd you... How'd you know...?" Twilight said as she got up and went over to me. "I just did..." I said hiding the obvious fact as I throw the shard down and reached for the crystal. "I'll take it... I wanna run some tests... if nothing useful comes up... It's all yours." Twilight said as she placed her hoof on it. I gave her a glare and shrugged it off. "Thank you... so much for saving me..." Twilight said with a smile as she picked the strange crystal up. "Yeah yeah...." I said in response as I looked up at the broken window to see Rainbow Dash carefully fly out of it. "Wow... You really out done yourself there..." Rainbow Dash said. I scoffed as Twilight turned her head. "Do you two know eachother...?" "Unfortunately..." I said at the same time of Rainbow Dash saying "Sure do." "Wait? Unfortunately?? If it wasn't for me and my friend you would be dead right now!" Rainbow Dash said in anger. "Yeah... whatever..." I said rudely back. "Why I outta!" Rainbow Dash said as Twilight quickly intervened. "Hey! Both of you stop! We have bigger things to get down to.... Now... Mister would you like to come inside and get yourself patched up better...?" Twilight said as she started to trot around the house, and I sighed. "I guess so..." I said following straight behind her. Rainbow Dash sighed and followed right behind. We entered the house and Twilight placed the crystal on a desk in the main room. "Rainbow Dash, can you do me a huge favor and go get Applejack for help...? I would like you two to help fix the window, don't worry I'll clean inside." Twilight said as she looked at Rainbow Dash. "Fine... I'll be back..." Rainbow Dash said as she darted out of the house and headed out to get said Applejack. "Who's Applejack?" I said out of curiosity. "Applejack is one close friend out of 5 others, Rainbow Dash is obviously a close friend as well but Applejack is a farm girl, she helps the town with natural food and desserts and well lots of things apple related. She also helps with construction in many cases as to why I asked Rainbow Dash to get her for me." Twilight said as she left the room for a moment. "Hmm..." I muttered to myself. "Hey! Come back here... Mister...?" Twilight said unsure if she got my name correctly. "What...?" I said as I followed her into the room she entered. "I'm sorry, I don't think I caught your name yet..." Twilight said to me. "My name is none of your concern..." I said as I turned my head away. Twilight sighed. "Here... Take a seat." There was a stool in the middle of the room that Twilight motioned me towards. I rolled my eyes and eases myself onto the stool and sat there as Twilight came over and started to stitch my stitches tighter. She also wrapped bandage around my body and over the wound. "There... How do you feel?" Twilight said as I noticed she used magic through the quick almost painless procedure. "Better... You can use your magic now...?" I said in confusion. "Uhh... Oh yeah.... I'm not sure why but none of my magic would work on that... thing... and eventually it was just a waste of time to try anything else and what I went through before was tiring enough..." Twilight said with a sigh. "What do you mean when you say 'what I went through before'...?" I said still confused. "Well... I went into the Everfree Forest for an ingredient I needed for a potion and I got ambushed by... well... me.... I was unconscious for a bit and my first instinct was to rush home and it was a good thing for me to do... then again... if you weren't there I don't know what would've happened..." Twilight said with a strange tone to her voice. I roll my eyes as we hear a knock at the door. "I'll get it" Twilight says as she gets up and heads towards the front door. I look around the room and I see a small bottle of red liquid with a little tag on it. 'Anti-Injury Potion. [EXPERIMENTAL] Do Not Consume!' "Experimental... Huh.... Well here goes nothing..." I said with a grin. I dart my eyes towards the exit of the room and I quickly open the bottle and drink the potion. I felt a strange tingly feeling in my side where my wound was and within seconds the pain was no more. "Should I tell her that it works...." I say to myself as I laugh and set the bottle down. "She'll most likely get it sooner or later..." I say as I exit the room. I smiled, showing teeth and finally feeling good and strong. "Oh dontcha worry Twi, this is nothing compared to what I've done before alone... Having Dash here will simply just speed it up. No pun intended." I heard a country voice say as I headed up the stairs. My best guess is that it's Applejack. There was a brand new window, some support ropes, and some other construction supplies within the room. "Hey...." I said to the three. "Hey! This is Applejack." Twilight said as she pointed to the orange coated pony. I nod and don't say anything. "It's nice to meet you Sugarcube, I hear-" "Don't... call me sugarcube..." I said cutting off Applejack as the 'cute' nickname angered me. "Oh... kay... then...." She said in surprise. "See? Told you he was a douche..." Rainbow Dash whispered not-so quietly into Applejack's ear. I roll my eyes as shakes are felt and screams are heard from outside. "What is it this time..." I said in anger as I rushed down the stairs. "Hey! Wait!" Twilight said as she rushed after me. "What in tarnation...." Applejack said as she picked up one of the ropes and coiled it easily, rushing outside with it. "Hey! Wait up!" Rainbow Dash said as she rushed behind us. I opened the door to see a large dragon terrorizing the town, it was about the size of the average Ponyville house, and it was heading towards the library. Some other ponies were already trying to keep it at bay but with some odd... methods... A pony with a pink coat was firing a cannon at it, but the cannon shot nothing but streamers and confetti. The pony known as Fluttershy seemed to be trying to talk to it, and a pony in a white coat was trying to reason with it outside of what could only seem like a store of sorts. Soon enough the dragon was fed up with Fluttershy flying near him and bugging him and the dragon went to strike her but Rainbow Dash got Fluttershy out of the way, but only to be hit down with her as the dragon swung again. "Hey! You!" Applejack said as she rushed in and went to lasso the dragon. She lassoed him successfully but she soon learned the cost... The dragon violently struggled and only caused Applejack to be thrown into a nearby building. A white coated pony screamed and the dragon's attention was soon focused on her. "You leave my friends alone!!" Twilight yelled as she rushed at the dragon while charging a spell. She fired a bright beam at it and it seemed to do a good deal of damage to it's midsection but it only ended up putting the dragon into a rage, picking up Twilight and he started to squeeze her hard. I stood there in shock but then quickly there was a burst of adrenaline for me and I rushed at the dragon full on. I grabbed the rope hanging from it and planted my feet, I pulled as hard as I could and this irritated the dragon, causing it to drop Twilight to the ground. Twilight started to gasp for air as I pulled harder, only to be pulled off the ground, but not off the rope. I held onto the rope tightly as I was jostled around. Finally I saw my opportunity. The dragon swung its head back causing me to go straight up. I stretched my hind legs out and began to fell, the dragon made one motion to make my speed faster. I swung down and went right for the wound in its midsection and I hit it hard. So hard that the dragon fell and I landed upon it. Within moments the dragon burst. Just like the fake Twilight, but no black liquid and a different type of remains. I grunted as I went over to what was left, a large ruby colored heart. I picked it up and stared at it as the ponies who put any type of effort in against the dragon approached me. "I helped!" The pink pony yelled out as she rode her mobile cannon over to the get together. "I... I'm speechless Darling that was-" "No Darling.... No Sugarcube... No nothing.... My name... My Name is Leon..." I said rudely cutting off the pony in the white coat in the same fashion that I did to Applejack. "Leon... I am so grateful to you and all that you have done in your short time here..." Twilight said as she suddenly hugged me. "Thank you..." She said as I pushed her off of me. "Yeah... Yeah..." I said as I rolled my eyes. "Thank you Leon..." Rainbow Dash said. "Thank you so much!" The white pony said. "Much appreciated!" Applejack said. "T-thank you..." Fluttershy said. "Ohhh Super duper buper Thank you Leon!" The pink pony said. "Thank you... So much Leon..." Twilight said once more with a smile. "We need to have a party!! A party fit for a hero!!" The pink pony yelled out. "Umm... No..." I said rudely. "Oh come on! I insist! And by the way my name is Pinkie Pie! I'm the best party packing pony there is in Ponyville!" Pinkie said hyper-actively. "Come on Leon... It's the least we can do!" Twilight said. "Yeah, if a dragon can't kill you then neither will a party!" Rainbow Dash yelled out. I sighed and thought of my options... I had none.... "Fine..." I said irritated, wanting to just walk away. But where else would I start? All of them cheered and Pinkie Pie jumped high into the air with excitement. "Let's go!" Pinkie Pie yelled out as she grabbed me and started guiding me to where ever the party may be. "I'm gonna regret this..." I thought to myself. As I was dragged with the group, I continuously thought to myself. How did I remember my name? And who am I? Why don't I remember who I am or why I'm here? I wanted answers, and I planned to get them. [End Of Chapter]