Rise Of The Shadow Walkers

by Robobrony

Chapter Four: Love of Magic

Chapter 4: Love of Magic

Stardust stood where he was, frozen in uncertainty of what Sunflare may want to talk to him about. After a moment, he gave his answer to Sunflare’s question. “Uh, sure….what’s on your mind?”

This was it, now or never for Sunflare, this was the chance she’s been waiting for ever since she realized her feelings for Stardust. Despite that, she was still suffering uncertainty. “What if he doesn’t feel the same way? What if that kiss was just him being caught in the moment of his success at the meeting? If I share my feelings, it may just ruin things between us.” So many thoughts and scenarios raced through Sunflare’s mind that kept her from speaking right away.

She had to do this, if not now, then when? She may never get this opportunity again. “Stardust….I…” This was it, she was about to put her heart on the line. “For a long time now, I….I’ve had these….feelings for you. I know it sounds odd but….” She trailed off a moment.

Stardust just stood there staring at her. “Feelings for me? Really? She….does she…?” His thoughts were interrupted as Sunflare continued.

“We’ve known each other for a long time and been such good friends. But…as we got older and grew closer, I started seeing you in a whole new light. You are just so smart and fun and have a wonderful sense of humor. And the day you asked me to be your assistant was one of the happiest days of my life. It meant I would be working close with you. Part of why I was so happy about it was because I was hoping at some point, I could share my feelings with you and tell you how I feel.”

“She….is she saying what I think she is?” Stardust thought to himself.

“Stardust….I….I love you.” She said it, she finally let out her true feelings. She felt as if a weight had been lifted off her heart, it wasn’t over yet though. She still needed to know how Stardust felt. She stared at him intently, anxiously awaiting his response. Her heart was beating a mile a minute.

Stardust was stunned at Sunflare’s words. “She is….she….she loves me.” He thought to himself. For an agonizingly long time, silence filled the room.

“Stardust, I just poured my heart and soul here, I need to know you feel the same way, please don’t leave me in suspense.” Sunflare pleaded with a sad look.

Stardust looked to the side a moment, then back to Sunflare. “I….I….”

“Yes?”

“I….I’m sorry Sunflare, I have to go.” Stardust turned around and walked out.

Sunflare’s heart shattered. Time seemed to slow down as Stardust turned away from her and walked out the door. Those words sent daggers through her soul. Stardust finally disappeared from sight. As soon as he did, tears formed in Sunflare’s eyes. She hung her head and sat on her haunches as she let her tears fall.

Stardust had just stepped out of the room when he paused a moment and looked back over his shoulders. He could hear Sunflare weeping. The sound crushed his spirit. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her feelings. But like a total moron, the one thing he didn’t want to do, he went and did it. “What have I done? You moron, why? WHY?! She said she loves you and you turn your back on her? What is wrong with you?” He berated himself mentally. He faced forward again and started to walk away.

Sunflare continued to weep, her eyes flooding with tears. “Sunflare you idiot, you should have known better. He’ll never love you, he’ll just see you as nothing more than a friend and assistant. But after this, he probably won’t want to see you again.” She said to herself. She wiped her nose with a hoof and gave a sniffle. She stood up while keeping her head down. After a moment, she lifted her head to look forward and walk. When she did look up though, she saw Stardust standing there before her. “Stardust? Wha-mmf.” Her words were cut off as Stardust suddenly pressed his lips to hers. Her eyes widened in shock at first.

Stardust had his eyes clenched shut as he pressed his lips to Sunflare’s. He felt the moistness of her lips, the sweet taste of her was a wonderful thing for him. He started to relax as he kept the kiss going for as long as he could.

Sunflare was surprised by suddenly being kissed by Stardust like this. A second passed before she relaxed and enjoyed the contact. All her sadness and fears melted away in that one moment and was all replaced with joy and love. Her mind raced with so many emotions and thoughts, all of them good. It felt like an eternity for her before the kiss finally ended. Stardust and Sunflare gazed into each other’s eyes for a while with smiles. Sunflare’s cheeks were still a little damp from her tears before.

Stardust broke the silence. “Sunflare, I’m sorry, I’m sorry I made you think I didn’t feel the same way when I did what I did. The last thing I want to do is hurt you. I was just so surprised at how you confessed like that I…well I…”

“Oh shut up you idiot.” Sunflare cut him off with a smile before tackling Stardust and planting her lips onto his. They shared another long kiss with each other in the lab and enjoyed their loving embrace. From there on, their love would only grow, but they were also to face many hardships.

The next day, Stardust awoke in his bed with his forelegs around a mare with a light yellow coat and red mane and tail. He gazed upon her sleeping form with a smile as he watched her sleep and listened to her breathing peacefully.

Sunflare slowly opened her orange eyes and looked up at Stardust. “Hey there handsome, sleep well?” She asked.

“Great, you?”

“Best sleep in a long time.” Sunflare responded back with a warm smile.

“We should probably get up and get ready for the day.” Stardust suggested.

“Oh, but can’t we stay like this a little longer?” Sunflare gave a cute little pout.

Stardust leaned down and gave her a peck on the lips. “Come on Sunflare, we have work to do. We need to get started on figuring ways to help everypony have warm water for the baths.”

“Ooohhh, all right.” Sunflare removed herself from the bed and made her way to the bathroom. “Stardust, could you use that spell to make the water warm please.” She called.

Stardust called back. “All right, I’m coming.” He started to make his way to the bathroom as more feathers fell off….the last of his feathers. The two failed to notice all the blue feathers that littered the ground around the bed. “This is a good time for me to teach you that spell I’d say.” Stardust said as he walked in.

“Thanks Stardust, I’d….AH! Wh…what? Stardust, your wings!” Sunflare gazed at Stardust with a shocked expression.

Stardust looked at her with confusion. “My wings, what are you talking about?” Stardust looked to his side as he spread out a wing. “What’s wrong with….wh…what the? My…..my…..AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!” Stardust screamed out. “MY WINGS! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY WINGS?!”

“I don’t know?”

Stardust’s wings now resembled that of a bat’s wings. “Wh…what in heaven’s name happened to me?”

“What are we going to do?” Sunflare asked. She was worried for her new love as something odd was happening to him. Just when things seemed to be going so well, it looked like her whole world may shatter before her.

“I…I….I don’t know, I don’t know what to do, or what’s causing it.” Stardust was on the verge of panicking more. “I need to hide them.” He quickly said. He went over to a dresser cabinet and opened it up using his magic. He pulled out his cloak and placed it on himself so his wings would be hidden. “Okay, at least this way no pony will see my wings like they are.”

“But how did they get like that?” Sunflare asked. “That’s the question.”

“I know, we just need to calm down so we can think clearly.” Stardust stated. He started pacing as he thought. “Okay, now what could have caused my wings to change? What could have happened?” As he paced, he continued to rack his brain.

Sunflare thought as best she could too to help Stardust. Almost an hour passed before Sunflare came up with an idea. “Stardust, what if it has something to do with that new magic you gained access to?”

Stardust stopped pacing and looked up, his eyes wide with realization. “That’s it.” He said quietly before slowly turning his head to face Sunflare. “That’s it!” He declared. “It’s gotta be. This new magic must have changed my wings appearance. But why, I don’t understand.”

“Um, look, maybe we should try to figure this out later, we should probably get to work before others start to wonder where we are.” Sunflare pointed out.

No sooner had she said that when there was a knock on the door. “Hello? Stardust, are you in there?” A mare’s voice called out.

“That’s Rosy.” Stardust said in a panicked whisper. “Quick Sunflare, hide.” Sunflare nodded and hid in the bathroom. Stardust went to the door and opened it with his magic. “Council pony Rosey, good morning.” Stardust greeted.

“Hello Stardust, I’m glad I found you, I went by your lab to see you but you weren’t there. Is everything all right?” Rosy asked with concern.

“Yes yes, everything is fine, I was just….uh….I accidently slept in this morning, that’s it.” Stardust said with a nervous smile. Sweat was starting to form on his brow.

“Are you sure? You seem to be sweating.” Rosy raised a brow. “And why are you wearing your cloak?”

“Well….I just thought it would help to keep me warm in this cold season. It’s working great so far heh heh.” Stardust gave a nervous chuckle. “So, what did you need to see me for?” He asked, hoping to change the subject.

“Right, I wanted to see how that water heating spell of yours was coming along. How soon can we expect it to be ready?” Rosy asked.

“Oh, any day now I assure you. Don’t worry, soon everypony will be able to enjoy nice warm baths.”

Rosy gave a smile. “I’m glad to hear it, looking forward to it, but don’t work yourself too hard, okay?”

“You can count on me.” Stardust said with confidence.

Rosy gave one last smile before finally leaving. Stardust closed his door and dropped to his haunches with a sigh of relief. “Whew, that was close.”

Sunflare emerged from the bathroom and made her way over to Stardust. “So what now?”

Stardust looked up to Sunflare and stood up. “Now we should go to the lab and get to work, we can figure this problem of mine out later.”

Sunflare’s eyes looked on in concern. “Are you sure? I mean, what if something else of you changes?”

“Oh heavens above, I didn’t think about that.” Stardust shook his head. “Well, I already have the research for the heating spell so we can work on trying to figure this out. Let’s get to the lab and get to work.”

“Okay Stardust.” With that, the two made their way to Stardust’s lab to begin their work. The first thing Stardust figured he needed to do was figure how this new magic works.

Stardust had decided to call it shadow magic since it seemed to allow him control of his shadow. Stardust had laid out a few crystals to help with his analysis that would react in certain ways. Stardust started off with the first thing he discovered he could do with this new magic and summoned up a shadow tentacle. As his tests went on, he also discovered other things he was capable of, not just summoning shadow tentacles, but he had also soon found he could sink down into his own shadow and move across the ground. “This is so amazing!” Stardust exclaimed excitedly. “This new magic has such amazing properties.”

“I know, this is all so fascinating Stardust.” Sunflare stated with a smile. “But what about figuring out how you’re changing? Weren’t we trying to figure out how this shadow magic is affecting you?”

Stardust rubbed the back of his head with a hoof with a sheepish smile. “Oh right, I kind of forgot about that, I just got so interested in all this.”

Sunflare gave a light chuckle. “I figured.”

“Right, back to work.” Stardust continued practicing with this shadow magic and analyzed the reactions of the crystals carefully. After a while, he found other abilities he could do with it thanks to the crystals reactions. He found he could actually make the tentacles sharp like a blade, and create more than one of them. After a few hours, all these tests soon helped him come to a conclusion. “I think I figured it out.”

“Really?” Sunflare asked.

“From what I have gathered, I think this shadow magic is somehow affecting my body and changing it to adjust to this new power.” Stardust stated with no sign of worry.

“Changing it? Oh no, Stardust, this is bad.” Sunflare stated with worry. “Do you know how many changes will be made?”

“No, I don’t, oh wow.” Stardust seemed more fascinated than worried.

Sunflare grabbed Stardust’s face and made him look at her. “Stardust, this is bad, don’t you get it? If these changes keep happening, what do you think the council will do? They could find out about your experiments and you could get banished!” She declared.

Stardust’s face fell upon the realization. “Oh, right.” He seemed to start panicking. “Oh no, oh no, what am I going to do?”
Sunflare took to Stardust’s side. “What are we going to do?” She stated. “We’re in this together Stardust, I’m not about to leave you in your time of need. No matter what happens, I’ll stay with you.” She nuzzled Stardust as she closed her eyes.

Stardust closed his eyes as Sunflare nuzzled him, he grew a smile as he nuzzled her back. “Thank you Sunflare, I really appreciate that.” With Sunflare’s words and her act, Starburst felt he didn’t really care much what would happen after all as long as he could be with Sunflare. As the two nuzzled, a small crack started to form at the base of Stardust’s horn.

Comments

[Pyriel]

D'aaaw.