Rise Of The Shadow Walkers

by Robobrony

Chapter Six: Into Exile

Into Exile

Stardust and Sunflare were escorted out of Trottingsdale and to the edge of the dark forest ponies feared to enter for the dangers it could hold. Once the chains on Stardust was released, the guards gestured for him and Sunflare to go. Together, they took one last glance at the town, and trudged on into the dark forest where the unknown lie in wait.

Sunflare pressed her side to Stardust as they walked with Stardust hanging his head. He still wore his cloak but had the hood down. “Sunflare, I’m so sorry I got you into this mess. I never should have looked into that magic I found out about.”

Sunflare looked to Stardust. “Don’t say that. You were just trying to learn about something new. There’s nothing wrong with seeking knowledge.” She nuzzled his neck to try and comfort him. “You did what you thought was right, nothing more.”

“And look where it got us. Banished to this dark forest where who knows what will most likely turn us into lunch.” Stardust said back. “I should have listened, I should have just followed the rules.”

Sunflare got in front of Stardust and stopped him in his tracks. She lifted his head with a hoof to look in his slit irises. “Will you stop it already! It doesn’t matter what could have been done or should have been done! The fact is you did what you did and now we’re facing the consequences. All we can do now is do our best to just survive and try to make the best of our situation together. I promised I wouldn’t leave you and I meant it.” To punctuate this, she pressed her lips to his in a loving kiss and held it for a few seconds before breaking it apart.

Stardust looked Sunflare in the eyes. “You’re right Sunflare, I’m sorry. I…”

Sunflare shoved a hoof to his mouth to cut him off. “Enough with the apologizing already, I get it. Now come on, let’s see about finding a spot to at least build a shelter or something.”

Stardust gave a small smile. “Yeah, okay.” The two resumed their walk through the forest side by side. The trees were at least two feet wide and immeasurably tall as it was hard to see in the forest. The light from the sun barely shone through at all in just a few places. Vines hung loosely from branches and the sounds of many animals and birds sounded off around them. Their hooves shuffling about the dirt under them and kicking a few leaves once in a while as they walked, unaware of where they were going or even where they were. They walked for what seemed like hours before they finally stopped to rest. “By the heavens, how big is this forest?” Stardust asked. They found a large rock to sit on for a bit to rest their hooves.

“Who knows, no pony has ever come out of this forest when they were sent in.” Sunflare said.

“Well, they were banished from the town. Since that meant they couldn’t come back, that doesn’t necessarily mean this forest is dangerous, right?” Stardust reasoned.

“I sure hope so.” Sunflare responded. “But if that’s true, where did they go? Are they even still alive? Maybe we should…WHOA!” Before she could finish her sentence, the rock under them started to shift and move.

“What the hay is going on here?!” Stardust asked. The two were flung from the rock and fell to their backs next to each other. The large rock they were on suddenly sprouted six legs, three on each side, a pair of large crab like claws, a pair of large beady black eyes, and a mouth with many teeth. Together, Stardust and Sunflare screamed in fear of this rock creature. “AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!”

The rock beast raised its claws and let out a monstrous hiss back at them before scuttling away as fast as it could from the two.

The two alicorns sat there stunned for almost a minute in silence before Sunflare broke it. “Um….what just happened? What was that?”

“I have no idea.” Stardust replied. “Maybe…we should…watch our step from now on.”

“Good idea.” Sunflare agreed. Ignoring how tired they were before, they thought it best to keep moving for a bit longer.

The two kept their eyes and ears open as they walked, keeping themselves aware of anything that may pop out at them. Suddenly, Stardust’s left back hoof got snagged on a vine and his whole world turned upside down. “WHOA!”

“Stardust!” Sunflare called in fear.

“What is this? What’s going on?!” Stardust asked in fear as he swung about.

“Oh no, just hang on, I’ll get you down!” Sunflare called. She was about to fly up, but before she could, there was rustling in the bushes around them. “Uh oh.”

“Sunflare, what’s going on? Are you okay?” Stardust asked from his position.

“Um…I think we have company!” Sunflare called back up. She quickly spread her wings and flew up to Stardust’s level. “Just hold on and get ready to use your wings.” She instructed.

“Okay.” Stardust replied.

Sunflare bit the vine holding Stardust and did her best to chew through it. As she did, the things causing the rustling jumped out of the bushes and into the open Stardust hung over.

Stardust looked down and grew worried at what he saw. Odd bi-pedal creatures with green skin and wearing large leaves for clothes appeared. They were holding sticks with sharpened narrowed stones at the end. Makeshift spears were being brandished by the creatures. They had unusually large heads, big pointy ears and sharp teeth with flat noses. They were jumping and speaking in a strange language. “What in the heavens are those things?!” Stardust cried out.

“Hold on…almost through!” Sunflare said, her voice muffled by the vine. One of the creatures started saying something in their strange language and pointed up at the two ponies, then threw a spear up at them. This got the others to start tossing their spears. It wasn’t until this moment, Stardust thought to actually use his wings and fly in place so he wouldn’t be upside down. The spears just barely missed Stardust.

Finally, Sunflare managed to chew through the vine and set Stardust free. “Come on, let’s get out of here before they make soup out of us.” Sunflare declared.

Stardust took Sunflare by the hoof and flew off practically dragging her along. The small creatures began giving chase after the two at ridiculous speed. “Wow, they just don’t give up.” Stardust commented. “I think I have a plan, hopefully this will drive them off. Just stay up here.” Stardust instructed.

“What are you going to do?” Sunflare asked in worry.

“I’m gonna try and scare them off with the shadow magic. Time to make good use out of it.” Stardust said with a confident smile.

“Please be careful.” Sunflare said.

Stardust just gave a confident smile, then turned and flew down to the ground to meet the creatures half way. He stood firm with his wings flared, determination burning in his eyes to protect the one he loves. “All right you little green monsters, let’s see how you deal with shadow magic.” The group of monsters stopped in their tracks and some of them quickly threw their spears at Stardust. Stardust summoned a black wall of shadow to rise up and blocked the spear. It then shifted and turned into multiple tentacles that spread out and swarmed the creatures.

Stardust managed to catch some of them with the tentacles and tossed them around while others were knocked away. This was enough to finally scare off the rest of them and ran. With the threat gone, Stardust relaxed his stance with a smile. “HAH! How about that, I did it.”

Sunflare flew down and tackled Stardust in a grateful hug. “That was amazing Stardust, I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“You and me both.” Stardust replied as he nuzzled into Sunflare.

Sunflare then followed up with a kiss to his cheek. “Come on, let’s get out of here in case they decide to try again.”

“Yeah.” The two decided to fly through the forest this time in order to hopefully avoid more traps. “What were those things anyway, I’ve never seen anything like them before.” Stardust questioned. “So much for thinking the forest wasn’t dangerous.”

“Tell me about it. First that rock crab thing, then those little green monsters. What’s next, giant spiders?” Sunflare asked.

“Please don’t jinx us.” Stardust begged lightly.

“Sorry, it’s just…are we really supposed to just make a life for ourselves in this place?” Sunflare asked sadly. “How can we even do that? This place is so dangerous.”

Stardust looked ahead sadly. “I don’t know, but I swear I will do whatever I can to keep you safe at least.” He turned to look Sunflare in the eyes. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

Sunflare stared back with a smile as they looked into each other’s eyes. “And I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“And how are you going to do that? You don’t know how to fight. Then again, neither do I. It was just luck I was able to chase off those things with the shadow magic.” Stardust pointed out.

“That’s it! The shadow magic.” Sunflare cheered.

Stardust looked back at Sunflare with a cocked brow. “What? What is it?”

“Don’t you realize what you did with it back there?” Sunflare asked. “If you weren’t completely sure what you were doing with it when you chased those things off, imagine what you could do if you did know what you were doing. You already know what it’s capable of. You just need to learn how to fight with it.”

“Oh right, of course. I’m such an idiot.” Stardust said with a hoof to the face. “And Sunflare, you could…” He paused mid-sentence and thought about what he was about to suggest. Deciding against it, he backtracked. “Uh, never mind.”

Sunflare looked to Stardust with a worried expression. “What, what is it?”

“It’s nothing, forget it.” Stardust tried to let it slide.

Sunflare wasn’t about to let the subject drop. She gave a pout and spoke demandingly. “Stardust, you tell me right now what is on your mind.”

Stardust looked to Sunflare a little fearfully. “Okay, okay, I’ll tell you. It’s just….what I was going to say was….I….I could…cast the spell that gave me access to this shadow magic again and make it so you could use it too. But then you’d end up looking like me. And…I doubt you’d want that.” He looked away sadly. Sunflare gave Stardust a whack on the head. “OW! What was that for?”

“For being stupid, what else?” Sunflare retorted. “Haven’t I told you before I don’t care about looks? If I had, I would have dumped you the second you started changing, but I didn’t. I stayed by your side, I tried to stand up for you, I allowed myself to be banished along with you just to be with you! Would I really go through everything I’ve been through if I cared only for looks?!”
Stardust gave a nervous chuckle. “Heh heh, good point, sorry Sunflare, thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Now, you were saying you could cast the spell that gave you this shadow magic so I could use it too?” Sunflare questioned.

“I could. I still remember exactly how it went. Do you want to go through it?”

“I would. If you can do it, so can I. It might make things easier if we both had that kind of power.” Sunflare suggested.

“All right, let’s find another place to rest that hopefully won’t be a trap or some other creature and catch our breath.” Stardust suggested.

“Good idea.” Sunflare agreed with a nod. They flew on for a few more minutes to put as much distance between them and those strange green creatures they ran into as possible. They soon managed to come to a clearing with a small lake with crystal clear water and a small waterfall as its source. “Looks like as good a place as any to rest, but now I’m getting hungry.” Sunflare rubbed her belly.

“Yeah, me too. Let’s see what there is to eat if anything.” Stardust said. “You stay put and I’ll look around.”

“Be careful, and don’t go too far okay?” Sunfalre said with a hint of worry.

Stardust gave a smile as he responded. “Don’t worry, I won’t go too far, I’ll stay within eye sight, deal?”

Sunflare smiled back. “Deal.”

Stardust got up and walked to some of the trees that surrounded the clearing. He looked up first and smiled as he saw what looked like some kind of fruit growing from them. They were green with blue stripes and were round and plump looking. “HAH! Now if that isn’t food, I don’t know what is.” He said with a smile. Stardust flew up to the fruit to get a better look at it. Upon closer inspection, the surface of the strange looking item had small bumps covering it. “Hmm, it does look like food, but it could be poisonous.” His stomach growled as if to say ‘so what’. Stardust slumped in mid-air at that and gave in. “All right, but I better eat it first to make sure it’s safe. Wouldn’t want to accidently poison Sunflare.” He carefully took the fruit in both hooves and yanked it off the branch.

He then used his magic to pull three more off and hovered back down. First, Stardust used his shadow magic to cut the first fruit in half to examine it to make sure there weren’t any parasites or bugs inside. The inside of the fruit was orange and the juices from it flowed down and dripped onto the forest floor. “Wow, certainly is juicy at least.” He commented. The inside was also colored a lime green and there was what looked like a giant seed in the middle.

After the inspection, it finally came time for the taste test. Stardust took one half of the fruit he cut and slowly brought it to his mouth. “Here goes nothing.” He sank his teeth into it with a resounding crunch that caused more juices to jump out. Right away, Stardust’s taste buds were treated to a delightful taste of sweetness with a hint of tang. “Oh heavens this is delicious.” After enjoying the taste a bit longer, he swallowed and waited a while to see if there would be any side effects. It was pointless though as if there were any side effects signs of it being poison, it wouldn’t show up right away. “Guess it’s safe.”

Stardust collected the two halves and the rest of the fruits and made his way back to Sunflare who was waiting patiently. “What was all that about?” She asked.

“Oh right, you could see me couldn’t you?” He asked with a sheepish smile. “Sorry, I just wanted to make sure these were safe. So far, I think they are. And oh wow are they good. Go ahead and try it.” Stardust offered the other half of the fruit he cut to Sunflare.

She took it in her hooves and looked at it curiously at first. Together, they both opened their mouths to take a bit when suddenly a large aquatic creature resembling a fish jumped up out of the lake with a splash. Time seemed to slow down as the two alicorn’s watched in awe at the sight. Its body was silvery and shimmered with a rainbow color. The creature also gave off a wail of some kind in the air before splashing back down into the water.

Sunflare and Stardust just sat there with their mouths agape at what they just saw. Finally, Stardust broke the silence. “What…was…that?”

Sunflare was just as confused. “I have no idea.” Finally, she shook off her initial shock and looked to Stardust. “And are we going to keep asking that every time we see something we’ve never seen before?”

Stardust managed to shake off his shock as well as he responded. “Probably.” They were silent for a second before laughing with each other. “I suppose we should start coming up with names every time we see something we’ve never seen before.”

“Good idea, and I say we start with that.” Sunflare pointed a hoof at the lake, signaling she meant the fish thing. “I say we call it…..” She tapped her hoof to her chin in thought. “…A giant sea bass.”

Stardust gave a credulous look. “What? But it didn’t look anything like a sea bass. I’d say it was more of a….rainbow trout.”

Sunflare put her hooves to her hips with narrowed eyes. “How do you know, have you ever seen a rainbow trout before?”

“Well….no, but have you ever seen a sea bass before? How do you know that’s what it looked like?” Stardust shot back with narrowed eyes of his own.

They stared at each other for a moment before smiles crept onto their faces, then they burst out laughing. Once they calmed down, they remembered their hunger and began eating. As soon as Sunflare took a bite of the fruit Stardust gathered, she moaned in pleasure at the taste. “Oh wow these are good.” She said with a mouthful.

“Tell me about it.” Stardust replied. “At least we have one food source.” And some of these plants do look edible too. So I think we found a good place to try and set up a shelter. Maybe this could be our new home.”

“It is a nice spot.” Sunflare said as she looked around. A thought soon came to her mind. “Hey, and look at it this way. Now we have the freedom to experiment with our magic all we want to see what we’re capable of.”

Stardust smiled at that. “Oh yeah, that’s right. Who knows what we could do with our magic. I think this whole thing might just be a blessing in disguise.”

“That’s the attitude I like to hear.” Sunflare said. “Now I say once we’re done, you get to work on setting up that spell that will give me shadow magic too, okay?”

“Sure, if I’m going to look like a freak, I’m not going to do it alone.” Stardust said jokingly. The two continued their meal in higher spirits than what it was before upon their banishment.

Once they finished their meal, Stardust set to work drawing some markings in the dirt with a stick to make out the spell he used before that gave him the shadow magic. He finished and instructed Sunflare to enter the ring. “Okay Sunflare, it’s ready. Now, are you really sure about this?”

Sunflare gave a fearful look and was shaking. “Um….actually, no, I’m not. I don’t want to look like a freak.”

Stardust broke into laughter that Sunflare soon joined in on. She took her place in the circle and prepared herself. “All right, just stay there and don’t move.” Stardust instructed. “You may feel funny at first, but that’s part of the spell.”

“Just do it already.” Sunflare said with a smirk.

Stardust lit up his horns and they began to glow with his light blue aura. The wind in the area began to pick up and blow stray leaves about. A clear dome of wind began to form that soon turned dark with purple and black swirling about. It grew more and more in intensity with each passing second. At the peak, there was a bright flash of black and a force knocked Stardust backwards on his back.

A few second passed before Stardust got up and saw Sunflare laying on her belly in the circle he made. He rushed over to her to check on her. “Sunflare, Sunflare, are you okay?”

A groan signaled she was alive and still breathing which let Stardust sigh in relief. “Ugh, my head, you didn’t warn me about the headache.” She groaned out.

“Sorry about that, I kind of forgot about that part.” Stardust said with a smile. He helped Sunfalre to her hooves and held her up until she could stand on her own. “So other than the pounding head ache, how are you?”

“I don’t feel any different.” Sunflare responded.

“You won’t really, but do you feel all right? Sick, dizzy, nauseous?” Stardust asked.

Sunflare gave a weak smile. “I’m fine Stardust, really.”

Stardust smiled in return. “If you’re sure then. Just rest a bit more and I’ll get to work on some kind of shelter for us before the sun sets. Then once you feel up to it, I’ll start showing you how to use the shadow magic.” Thus began the two alicorn’s lives in exile.