//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 - Chasing a Shadow // Story: Shadow Men: Where Light Can't Touch // by DragonsHeart //------------------------------// The train pulls into the station. Ponies climb off it and onto the platform. Twilight, Pinkie and Rarity get off and meet the rest of their friends who are waiting for them on the platform. “Welcome back, girls!” greets Fluttershy, hugging Rarity. “It’s good to be back, dear,” replies Rarity, returning the hug. “How was the funeral?” asks Applejack. Tears suddenly appear in Pinkie’s eyes. “It was so sad!” she cries, “The poor family!” “Oh dear, she’s starting again,” comments Rarity, patting the crying Pinkie on the back. "Was it really that bad?" asks Rainbow Dash, watching the crying Pinkie. "Yes, it was," Twilight answers, "The town seemed very effected by their deaths. We can talk more about it later, maybe after we get something to eat." "I'm into that!" yells Pinkie, happily, acting like she never even cried in the first place. “Rarity, do you need me to take your luggage?” offers Spike, hearts in his eyes. “Oh, thank you Spikey Wikey,” coos Rarity. “It’s over there,” she says, pointing to the large pile. “How come it looks bigger than when you left?” asks Rainbow Dash, looking at the large pile. “You must be imagining it, Rainbow Dash dear,” comments Rarity. “Do you learn anything important when you were there, Twilight?” Applejack asks. “Mostly just more questions,” sighs Twilight. “I see,” says Applejack, disappointed. Twilight then remembers something, “Did you three have a dream last night?” Twilight quickly asks, to Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Applejack. The three mares look shocked. “What do you mean by dream?” asks Rainbow Dash, confused. “Does a shadowy creature come to mind?” suggests Rarity, thinking about the thing she remembers most about in the dream. "And the Elements of Harmony?" adds Applejack, surprise on her face. "With evil ponies and chains?" says Fluttershy, surprise on her face as well. "And a collapsing hallway?" says Rainbow Dash, equally surprised. “I see we all had it,” comments Twilight. "How weird…" mutters Rainbow Dash. “What dream?” asks Spike, who didn’t have the dream. “I will explain later, Spike,” dismisses Twilight. “What do you think it was about?” asks Fluttershy. “I believe it was a plea of help,” answers Twilight, the rest of the girls agree. It makes sense. “But from who?” asks Rarity. “I don’t know…” replies Twilight, “I think there is now more to this than just a summoned monster on a rampage.” Just then Pinkie’s Pinkie Sense acts up. “Oh a new soon to be friend has just entered town,” Pinkie states. “What does that Pinkie Sense mean?” asks Spike, nervously. “If I read it correctly, it means somepony new has entered town, but is not a pony… maybe a minotaur or a griffin or a donkey!” Pinkie answers, happily, “I’m going to meet him or her.” With that she dashes off. “Well, I'm going to check on the Elements of Harmony and see if they’re fine,” states Twilight, brushing off what Pinkie said. “Do you want us to come with?” asks Applejack. “No, it will be quicker to go myself,” states Twilight, with that she teleports away, proving her point. “Well, what do we do now?” asks Rainbow Dash, now bored. “Well I’m going to make sure Pinkie doesn’t do anything stupid... again,” suggests Applejack. “I’ll catch up with you all later then. And, Spikey Wikey, please drop off my luggage at my boutique,” Rarity says, walking off the platform to towards her house, followed by a laden Spike. Applejack gets off the platform and heads in the direction where Pinkie went, followed by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, who have nothing better to do. The hooded pony walks through town. Like usual most ponies avoid her. She doesn’t blame them, she would avoid her too if she saw a heavily robed and hooded pony in black. She must stand out like a touch in darkness(actually her robe is so black that it even stands out at night). Luckily no pony has seen her mask or the fact that she doesn’t cast much of a shadow(which is usual for Shadow Men), or she might have a problem. The town looks pretty nice, much like Joy’s hometown, only without the air of sadness that now hangs over Grazing Hill. She can see that plenty of Shadow Men do walk the streets, but they are very young, so it must be a rather young town. Most of them seem to be Shadow Men of Fear/Panic, but panicking is common among ponies so it makes sense. She can also see a large Shadow Man of Doom, standing over the town, so this town must really panic sometimes. “HI THERE,” yells a loud voice behind Sorrow, startling her. Sorrow didn’t hear anypony approach, which is weird. She casts her vision behind her without turning her head(A Shadow Man trick). She sees a smiling pink pony standing there, she must have been the one that greeted her. Sorrow decides to ignore her. A bad choice. “Hey, didn’t you hear me?” Pinkie says, hooping beside her. ‘That’s odd, I thought my Pinkie sense said it wasn’t a pony… Oh well, I guess I read it wrong,” she thinks. Sorrow speeds up her walking a bit, leaving Pinkie behind. “Maybe she can’t hear me?” wonders Pinkie. She has an idea, and she pulls out a megaphone. ‘Good, she seems to have given-’ but something interrupts Sorrow thoughts. “HEY THERE, CAN”T YOU HEAR ME?!?!?!” Pinkie yells into a megaphone beside her covered ear, stunning Sorrow and a few nearby ponies. Sorrow snaps, even though she doesn’t have eardrums anymore it still hurts. “WHY WON’T YOU LEAVE US ALONE?!” she yells. Shadow Men especially hate loud noises even more than they hate colourful things. She regrets it instantly, for now everypony is looking at her. Stunned and even that pink pony is shocked, for her voice must sounds like the wails of eternally damned, for when a Shadow Man speaks it is the sound closest to emotion or feeling that it was born of, which in her case is sadness. “Are you ok?” asks Pinkie, concerned. “We’re fine!” Sorrow snaps, back. Bad move, she now looks even more concerned. Damn ponies for being such an empathic race and damn Sorrow for sounding like this. She would sound normal without the mask, but… no she will not take the mask off, no matter what. “I can help you know,” states Pinkie, helpfully, “I was once the Element of Laughter and I’m good at making ponies happy.” “You want to make me happy? Then get lost!” she snaps back, shocking the pink pony. “What’s going on, Pinkie?” asks Applejack, walking up beside Pinkie, with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash behind her. “This pony sounds really sad,” explains Pinkie, pointing to the robed pony. Actually the identity which is Sorrow feels more annoyed then sad. She is also worried, more ponies are gathering and looking at her. How long until somepony notices that something is wrong about her… beside the obvious. She tries to leave. “Wait!” yells Pinkie, grabbing her robe, nearly causing her hood to fall off. Sorrow yanks the robe away from Pinkie. “Why won’t you just leave us alone!” she whines, but to everyone else it sounds like a wail. “Because it sounds like you need help,” comments Rainbow Dash, shocked by the pony's cry. Twilight and Rarity walk through town together with a pooped Spike on Twilight’s back. “So there was nothing wrong with the Elements?” asks Rarity. “Nope, they were fine,” replies Twilight, “I thought they would be, but I had to sure. I mean it was just a dream.” “Quite,” responds Rarity, “Do you think we will find the monster soon?” “I think so,” replies Twilight, “With that dream I believe we are getting close, it is just a matter of time.” “What’s that crowd doing?” asks Spike, noticing a large crowd of gathered ponies. “I don’t know?” comments Rarity. “But I can see Rainbow Dash,” pointing to the pegasus flying overhead. “We better see what’s happening,” suggests Twilight, dashing over followed by Rarity. Twilight and Rarity push their way through the crowd and reach the center, where Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Applejack and Fluttershy have cornered a totally robed and hooded pony in black, who head is casted down. “What are you doing?” asks Rarity. “Pinkie found this pony who sounds really sad,” explains Fluttershy, “We are trying to found out what is wrong.” Part of the identity which is Sorrow doesn’t like how this is going. More ponies have turned up and one is Princess Twilight, she can feel the remains of Joy Flower mentally curling up in fear within herself. She has got to escape. Sorrow tries to dash sideways. “Hey wait!” calls Applejack, grabbing the robe. This time the hood fell off. Everypony gasps. The pony in front of them didn’t have a face. Instead it has a mask which looks like it cuts off most of a pony's face, and on the mask is something the girls recognize. A familiar sad face with a tear. “Wait a minute,” exclaims Pinkie. “You’re not a pony,” realizing her Pinkie sense wasn’t wrong, “And I recognize that mask!” Pinkie starts circling the pony, trying to block off the pony's routes of escape. “It is the same face as on the circle,” adds Applejack, also circling the pony. “And on the pony cutie mark that jumped over the wall at the University,” adds Rarity, circling the pony. Soon all six of them are circling the pony. Sorrow quickly pulls up the hood and quickly looks around. She is surrounded. “We need to ask you some question,” orders Twilight. “NO, LEAVE US ALONE!!” Sorrow screams, quickly dashing between an opening, with lightning like speed. “SOMEPONY STOP IT!” yells Twilight. The crowd of ponies have no idea what's happening, but a bunch of them gather and stand in the way of the fleeing thing. It matters not, it leaps over them easily, landing on the other side before dashing off. “We got to get after it!” yells Rainbow Dash, zooming after it. Twilight drops off Spike. “Spike, send a letter to Celestia. Inform her that we may have found the monster and it is in Ponyville,” orders Twilight. Spike nods and dashes home. Twilight and the rest of the girls give chase. “It's getting away!” pants Rarity. The creature is slowly gaining distance as it keeps gaining speed. “Not if I can help it!” yells Rainbow Dash, bulleting towards it. “Be careful, Dash, it may be dangerous!” yells Fluttershy. But it is no use, as usual Rainbow Dash dashes into danger without a thought. Rainbow Dash tackles the creature, sending both of them rolling across the ground. Rainbow Dash now stands over the creature, pinning it to the ground. “Gotcha now!” pants Rainbow Dash. She looks over creature and sees that some of its robes have moved, showing its flank. Rainbow Dash gasps, its cutie mark and flank colour is the same as the pony that jumped over the wall at the university. “Hey, that’s… AGH!!” Just then the creature bucks Rainbow Dash off it, sending her flying away. She manages to right herself mid-air. The creature is running again, but the girls have managed to catch up a bit with it. “Are you alright, Dash?” yells Applejack. “I'm fine,” replies Rainbow Dash. “It is going down that alley!” states Pinkie. The girls rush down the alley after it. “HA! That alley is a dead end,” smirks Applejack, before a crashing sound is heard. “It was…” adds Rarity. The creature had smashed its way through the wall into somepony’s shop, and then out the other side onto the street. The shopkeeper stands stunned behind her counter. Each girl apologizes as they pass through the shop. “It just smashed it way through the shop without stopping!” yells Applejack, looking at the creature who hasn't shown any sign of slowing down. “It's very strong!” pants Fluttershy. “Can’t you use some magic, Twilight?” yells Rainbow Dash. “If it is the creature it will just absorb my magic, remember?” replies Twilight. “I just realized, dear. If it can absorbs magic then can it absorb our inner magic that makes us special?” asks Rarity. This revelation shocks Twilight. ‘Rarity may be right, if it can absorb magic what stops it from stealing our magic like Tirek did? It might be that this is a worst threat than Tirek ever was if it does devour our magic,” Twilight thinks. “Be careful girls this might be more dangerous than we thought!” Twilight warns. “Hey, I just remembered something!” yells Rainbow Dash. “It better be important, Dash, we kind of have a monster to chase!” replies Twilight. “It's the same thing that jumped over the wall at the university. It had the same cutie mark, coat colour and I think same mane colour of the pony in the picture!” explains Rainbow Dash. “Really? When did you see its cutie mark?” asks Twilight. “When I tackled it!” replies Rainbow Dash. “Why didn’t you tell us before?!” asks Twilight, annoyed. “I kinda forgot when it smashed through the wall,” explains Rainbow Dash, embarrassed. “Well it doesn’t matter now, we got to stop it before it escapes,” yells Twilight, looking at the creature in front of them, gaining distance as it runs at unnatural speeds, “and I have an idea. I will teleport us in front of it.” Twilight wraps her friends in her magic and teleports them in front of the creature. “Get ready to stop it!” The girls get for the creature as it heads towards them. Then it suddenly stops right in front of them, like it wasn’t just running at super natural speeds and was just walking. It then dashes to the side towards the Everfree Forest. “Oh no you don’t!” yells Applejack, swinging some robe that she acquired from somewhere above her head. She throws the lasso at the creature, landing it around its neck, causing it stop. “GOT IT!!” she yells, triumphantly. The creature starts to pulls at the lasso, managing to drag Applejack along. “Or not…” corrects Applejack. The girls all grab hold of the lasso and pull, managing to drag it back a bit. But the creature turns out to be stronger, it moves forward managing to drag all six girls along. “It’s so strong!” yells Rarity. “Like an elephant!” agrees Pinkie. The creature turns it head towards them. “WHY WON”T YOU LEAVE US ALONE!?!” it wails at them. Before Twilight can reply she notices the rope is slowly slipping through the creature’s neck and clothes like its body is made of liquid. Before Twilight can warn the rest of the girls the creature’s neck becomes free from the rope, the girls all fall backwards as the rope slacks. “What the buck?!” yells Applejack, getting back on her hooves. “It let the rope slip through its neck,” explains Twilight, also getting to her hooves, “I don’t believe that it is made of a solid matter!” “Like the Smooze?” asks Pinkie. “Yes, like the Smooze,” agrees Twilight. “Also have you noticed it speaks as if there are more than one of itself?” adds Fluttershy, remembering other times like it. “It is a mystery,” comments Twilight. “A mystery that we will never get to solve soon because it is getting away!” yells Rainbow Dash, pointing to the creature in the distance. “It is heading towards the forest,” notices Twilight, “I will teleport us over there!” With a flash they are gone. Sorrow seems to have lost her chasers at last. She sees a forest up ahead, she can lose any future chasers in there. She’s about to enter the forest when her limps stiffen, causing her to stop. The part of her identity which is the remains of Joy has stopped her. ‘Why have you stopped us?’ Sorrow asks the remains of Joy. ‘The forest is dangerous,’ Joy states weakly, clearly afraid. She has always had a fear of the Everfree Forest ever since her Grandma told her stories about it. ‘We cannot be harmed or hurt, there is nothing we need to be afraid of,’ Sorrow replies. ‘But we can get lost in there,’ states Joy. Joy finds it hard arguing with this Sorrow, for she knows that this Sorrow isn’t real, it is just personality that she wears like the mask and speaks for her, because she is too much of a coward to face the real world herself. It also speaks for the real Sorrow, but she has yet to see it speak. She knows that the only way to convince it is to order it and she hates that, she wishes that it would just see her side sometimes. ‘We just need to head in a straight line and…’ the mask Sorrow tries to say. ‘We are not going into the forest!’ orders Joy, having enough. The mask Sorrow doesn’t say anything else and just turns around, meeting the girls who have gathered behind her. The girls appear near the edge of the forest. “Give us some more warning next time, Twilight,” complains Applejack. “I did say I was teleporting us and we needed to hurry,” replies Twilight, irritated. “Look, there it is!” whispers Pinkie, pointing to the hooded pony standing next to the edge of the forest, looking into it. “What’s it doing?” asks Rarity, quietly. “It looks like it is hesitating,” comments Rainbow Dash. “I guess it is scared of the forest, too!” adds Fluttershy. Twilight thought that it is weird that something that might have killed everypony in a university is scared of the Everfree Forest, but she doesn’t dwell on it. “Ok. While it is not looking! Let’s surround it quick!” orders Twilight. The girls nod and start walking around it, surrounding it from the behind, but before they can do anything more it turns around. It stares dead at Twilight before it tries to go to the left, but finds Applejack, it tries the right and finds Pinkie there. It turns towards the forest and finds Rainbow Dash there. It is surrounded. “Leave us alone,” it whispers, sadly. “Not until you answer some questions!” replies Twilight, getting ready for anything. “We having nothing to say to you,” it replies. “Not good enough, we know you were at the University and we want to know what happened!” yells Twilight. The hooded thing pauses for a long while before speaking. “What you say causes her to retreat and leave me alone, she will replace her soon,” it speaks, making no sense. “What the buck are you talking about?” yells Rainbow Dash, annoyed. “Leave us now or…” it pauses, unsure what to say next. “Or what?” asks Applejack, tensing up, “Or… or… or…” it says, looking confused, her mask darkening slightly. “Or face the consequences!” it yells, its voice changing slightly. “We aren’t scared of you!” declares Rainbow Dash, proudly. “I am,” whispers Fluttershy, quietly, cowering a bit. The thing doesn’t say anything more, it just hangs it head. “What are you doing...?” Twilight starts to say. Suddenly it head shoots forward, heading towards Twilight, she manages to move out of the way before the head smashes into the ground sending up bits of earth. “What the buck?!” yells Twilight, picking herself off the ground. “It is changing shape!!” yells Pinkie. That it is. As its head pulls back it shows that it has become more snake like and the mask now sits on top like a hat. Two more heads slither out of the hood as its body expands and changes. Soon it towers over them. It now looks like a three head snake, it has no eyes only three giant mouths full of sharp teeth, its body and heads are covered in spikes and its tail is barbed. The three heads scream at them, as it tail fails around them. “Ok, now I am slightly scared!” admits Rainbow Dash. “WE GOT TO STOP IT!!” yells Twilight, ducking as the tail swings overhead. “HOW!?!” yells Rarity, moving out the way of the tail. “I DON”T KNOW!!” replies Twilight, “BUT WE GOT TO DO SOMETHING!!” “Take this, freak!!” yells Rainbow Dash, diving towards one of the heads. A tentacle shoots out and grabs Rainbow Dash mid-air, trapping her. “RAINBOW DASH!!” the girls yell in unison, as more tentacles bind her. “Damn it!” yells Rainbow Dash, trying to struggle free, as it slowly cocoons her. “I’ll get ya!!” yells Applejack, throwing her lasso at Rainbow Dash. It lands around her, but another tentacle climbs down the lasso, wrapping up Applejack and pinning her to the ground. “Let me help!” calls Fluttershy, rushing to Applejack’s side and trying to free her. Another tentacle shots out of the tentacle that holds Applejack trapping Fluttershy. “Nice try, Fluttershy,” comments Applejack, looking at the now trapped Fluttershy. “Sorry,” she replies. More tentacles shot out the monster and heads toward the remaining girls. Twilight takes to the air to avoid them. Pinkie leaps and jumps over them like a pro, she then leaps over the monsters tail swinged at her. But she bumps into Rarity who was doing the same. They land in a heap on the ground. Its tail starts to wraps around them, binding them together. “Sorry, Rarity,” whimpers Pinkies. “It’s all right Pinkie, not your fault,” Rarity wheezes, as the tail gets tighter. Twilight is alone now. Rainbow is getting wrapped in more tentacles and Twilight can barely see her anymore. The same thing is happening to Applejack and Fluttershy, a black cocoon is forming with them in it, and Pinkie and Rarity look very stuck. A head shoots towards Twilight. Twilight flies away from it. It follows, there seems to be no limit to how far it can grow. She looks behind her to see that it is gaining. When she looks back in front her she gasps. One of the heads is in front of her. She stops and tries a different way only to find another head, it is the same with the others directions. It had grown more head when she wasn't looking and now she is trapped. The head’s mouths open and black tentacles shoot out binding Twilight before she can do anything. They start wrapping her up. ‘I can’t move!’ thinks Twilight, as speaking is impossible, for a tentacles has warped around her mouth, she can’t even see anymore. ‘There is got to be something I can do? But I can feel my magic being drained away.’ The tentacles seem to draining the magic out of her body. With her remaining magic she reaches out and looks for something to use. A rock, a large branch, anything would. She can feel her magic being drained out of the air but she keeps searching. She finds something. ‘What is it?’ she thinks, as her magic touches it. It seems to resist her touch, like wet soap, the more she gripped it the more she loses grip. It also appears to be attached to something. ‘It doesn’t matter now,’ Twilight thinks, gripping onto it, ‘Please be able to help.’ With the last of her strength she pulls it off with her magic. There is an ear splitting scream and the tentacles disappear. Twilight falls, the thing clutched to her chest. She is too weak to stop herself from falling, she has used too much magic. Before she hits the ground she is picked out of the air by Rainbow Dash. “Twilight, are you ok?” she asks, hovering. “Rainbow Dash?” Twilight says, confused, “How did you get free?” “I didn’t,” Rainbow Dash states, “It is gone.” “What?” Twilight says, shocked. She looks around and sees that her friends are now free but no sign of the monster. “Where did it go?” “Beats me,” Rainbow Dash shrugs, confused, “One minute I'm stuck and the next there is a scream and it is gone.” She plants Twilight on the ground. “Are you alright, Twilight?” asks Rarity, steading Twilight, who is being placed back on the ground. “Yeah, I’m fine, just a bit drained,” Twilight replies, she can feel her magic returning quickly, like it was waiting for her to be free. “What about you guys?” “We are fine,” replies Applejack, “That monster didn’t hurt us.” “Yeah, that’s weird…” Rainbow Dash says, confused, “It killed everyone at the University, why not us?” “I’m just happy we are all safe,” adds Fluttershy, relived. “What are you holding, Twilight?” asks Pinkie, noticing the item clutched to Twilight’s chest. “Huh?” Twilight says, remembering it. She pulls it out and the girls gasps. It is the mask of the monster. The sad face stares back at Twilight. It is a very simple face, a downwards crescent shape for the mouth, two pairs of simple sad eyes and a little tear under the left eye. It eyes, mouth and tear are a dark blue, everything else is white. Twilight runs her hoof across it surface, it felt as smooth as polished wood and as heavy as stone. But to Twilight it feels heavier, like she is holding onto a very small mountain, it seems to call for her to release it and let it fall to the ground. In a moment of weakness she does. It falls and hits the ground. Pinkie picks it up and tries to put it on, but of course her snout gets in the way. “What kind of stupid mask is this?” pouts Pinkie, as she grabs the mask whilst it is slipping off her face. “It’s definitely not made for a pony to wear,” states Rarity. “Are you alright, Twilight?” asks Applejack, patting the side of the frozen alicorn. “What? Oh, yes. I am fine,” Twilight says, looking nervously at the mask. The mask feels powerful. Not itself specifically but whatever it represents. It doesn’t also feel evil, just feels sad, it seems to make Twilight think of the saddest moments of her life. “Do you feel it too, Twilight?” asks Fluttershy, noticing Twilight’s look. “Yes, you can too?” replies Twilight. “Yes, I can feel a great sadness coming from the mask,” explains Fluttershy, calmly. “What are you talking about?” asks Rainbow Dash, confused. “Look and concentrate on the mask if you want to feel it,” orders Fluttershy. Everypony does. After a while Pinkie shivered. “Spooky, I just remembered the time I thought you girls were not my friends anymore,” Pinkie says. “I’m remembering the time when our friendship was destroyed by Discord,” adds Twilight, picking up the mask. “What if the mask is really the monster, and the creature before was just its host, and when you took the mask it was destroyed?” suggests Pinkie. “Who’s crying?” asks Applejack, looking around. “No one is crying, Applejack,” replies Rainbow Dash. “But I can hear somepony crying, listen,” orders Applejack. Everypony does, she is right. Crying can be heard. “It is coming from that bush,” whispers Twilight, pointing to bush nearby. As the girls creep up to the bush, the crying gets louder. Twilight slowly parts the bush and reveals the back of the black hooded and robed creature, hooves covering her face as it cries its eyes out. “Umm, hello,” Twilight says, unsure. The figure goes quiet. A few seconds pass, then it suddenly leaps at Twilight. Twilight moves out of the way. The creature lands, tripping on its robe and landing on its face. “Damn it!” she cries, in a very female voice, it starts to cry again. “Are you ok?” asks Twilight, confused on how clumsy it is now. “NO, give me back my mask!!” she cries, getting up and trying to snatch the mask away from Twilight. Twilight moves the mask out of her reach. The creature’s hood falls down again and reveals a very familiar face. “JOY!?!” yells the girls.