The Shadows Saga

by Tagshadow

Shadows Ch. 21 The Truth

Tor slowly regained consciousness, his entire body ached and he struggled to get into a sitting position. Waves of pain went through him from his flank area.

Silver? Are you there? Silver didn’t answer; Tor felt his side and froze; Torais was not there. He examined surroundings and found that he was in what appeared to be a storage area. The room was dim but he could still make out individual objects. He got to his hooves slowly to make sure he didn’t hurt himself again and took a shaky step forward. He felt something soft under his hoof and looked down; he standing on sompony’s tail but in the darkness he couldn’t tell whom it was. He stepped carefully to the still body behind a barrel and poked it. The pony stirred and put up its head. He recognized Fluttershy. She looked at him with wide eyes.

“Tor? What happened?” She asked fearfully. Tor gave her room to stand up.

“I’m not entirely sure myself but I’m sure that I can safely say that we’re being held here against our will.” He said. Fluttershy looked around.

“Where are we?”

“Looks like a storage room, what happened to you?” He asked. Fluttershy paused.

“I remember looking for Rarity… I heard crying… there was a door… then it opened really quickly and scared me. That’s all I remember.” She said shivering at the memory. Tor shifted his weight to the other side.

“Well, we might be here for a while.” He said and sat down slowly. Just then he saw a black spot on the far wall of the room that grew large enough that a pony could fit through, then Pinkie Pie flew threw it and landed in a pile of boxes. She stood up and shook her head; looking around she saw Tor and Fluttershy.

“Hey guys!” She called out trotting up to them. “What’s up?”

“Being held against our will. Nothing new.” Tor said dryly.

“That’s weird.” Pinkie thought. “All I remember is exploring with Applejack and then BAM I’m in here.” She said. Tor sighed.

“I think it’s safe to assume that we’ll all end up here eventually. Let’s just wait until we’re all present before doing anything.” He declared.

I hope Rainbow Dash made it out. He thought.

The next pony to appear was Twilight followed closely by Applejack, Rarity, and Spike. Tor was unfazed when the wall spat out Rainbow Dash.

“Darn it!” She shouted.

“Look’s like the gang’s all here.” Tor muttered to himself. Twilight looked around.

“Now what are we supposed to do?” She asked the group. Rarity was busy sitting to one side and Spike to the other. Fluttershy had huddled in the corner beside Pinkie who had started to praise the god of barrels. Applejack was bucking the door repeatedly trying to get it to break.

“I don’t know.” Tor said simply. “Maybe we should try to figure out what was doing this.” He suggested.

“Iron Hoof obviously.” Twilight responded. Tor shook his head.

“Think about it; the ways that we were captured required the use of very powerful magic. Iron Hoof is an earthpony so he is physically incapable of doing it.” Tor explained but Twilight still looked doubtful.

“But he’s an agent of Discord, Discord is the spirit of chaos!” She said.

“I’m just saying. We should look at things from a different angle.” Tor said. There was a loud noise from the door.

“Ah think ah got it!” Applejack cried. Twilight stood up followed by Tor who fell over. Twilight trotted over to him.

“Tor? Come on!” She said trying desperately to get him up.

“… How long have we been down here?” Tor asked weakly. Pinkie turned around.

“Exactly 1 hour 11 minutes and 3 seconds.” She said. Applejack kicked the door again.

“Get over here y’all!” She said. Tor stumbled over followed by the rest of them. Applejack turned around to kick but missed, the door had opened. Rainbow Dash jumped in front of the rest of them.

“Iron Hoof! What are YOU doing here?” She demanded looking at the earthpony.

“Saving your lives!” He hissed. “Come on!” He motioned with his hoof but nopony moved.

“Why should we trust you?” Twilight asked. “We know you’re an agent of Discord!” Iron Hoof looked at her like she was crazy.

“What are you talking about? I wouldn’t EVER betray Equestria to join that clown!” He said.

“But I saw you in front of the statue… talking to him.” Tor said weakly. Iron Hoof looked at him in annoyance.

“I was making sure he was staying in place, ‘talking trash’ as I’m sure you would call it.” He explained. “Now come on! We have to get going if we want to-“

“Want to what?” Came a light voice from behind Iron Hoof. He froze and slowly turned around to reveal Tac standing behind him holding Torais with his magic. “Avoid me? Not likely. I’m Equestria’s greatest tactician Iron! Did you really think that you would succeed?” he asked laughing. Iron Hoof bared his teeth.

“I knew you were the spy!” He said.

“Tac? A spy?” Twilight asked in disbelief.

“Ah don’t believe it…” Applejack trailed off. Rainbow Dash glared at Tac angrily.

“I do!” She prepared to attack only to be held back by Twilight’s magic.

“Don’t, he has Torais.” She said and released Rainbow Dash. Tac grinned.

“Thank you for understanding, my dear. Now if you would please step out here I think our guest of honour should be arriving any minute now.” He said and motioned for them to go ahead of him. Iron Hoof led the group and Tac took up the rear leaving Tor and his friends in the middle. Tor could barely walk and had to be supported by Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Twilight was right behind Iron Hoof and Pinkie was helping Fluttershy behind them leaving Rarity and Spike to themselves.

“Spike-“ Rarity started.

“No, I should be the one apologizing, I was jealous, I was acting jealous. I should have acted more my age and I’m really sorry. If Tag is the colt for you then who am I to say no?” Spike cut her off. Rarity sniffed lightly.

“I’m sorry too, I still should have taken your feelings into account.” She said offering him a small hug. Tac coughed from right behind them.

“As wonderful as this all is I need you to move it.” He said. Rarity glared at him and continued on. They were in the gardens and the gate was in sight. A pegasus guard flew over to Tac.

“Sir, Tag has arrived.” He reported.

“He has guards on his side too?” Twilight whispered in disbelief.

“Good, have him meet us in the throne room.” Tac said and marched them towards the castle again.

----

Tac led them through the now familiar hallways towards the throne room. Iron Hoof opened the doors and trotted in. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were discussing something beside the throne when Luna noticed Iron entering the room.

“What is the meaning of this General Iron?” She asked; then she saw the rest of them and then Tac. Princess Celestia was speechless.

“Good morning Princess Celestia, Luna.” He said bowing slightly to each in turn.

“Princess we were wrong about Iron Hoof! Tac is the agent!” Twilight called out. Tac brought them to a stop. Rainbow Dash and Applejack slowly lay Tor onto the floor. Tac pointed Torais at the Princesses.

“I’ll need you two over here as well.” He said motioning for them to join the others. They reluctantly stepped over to the group.

“Why Tac? You were our most trusted advisor…” Celestia trailed off weakly. Tac sneered at her.

“Really? Did you think I cared about any of this? Discord gave me a much better deal.” He said. The doors opened again and Tag entered flanked by two guards. Tac nodded to Tag then looked to the guards. “Bring me that bag of bones Tome.” He ordered and they rushed off. Tag trotted up to Tac.

“Good work.” He said; his voice was horrifyingly normal. Tac nodded.

“It was easy, when they suspected Iron Hoof I knew there was no way for me to get caught.” He said. The group of them watched Tag in stunned silence.

“Tag…” Rarity said almost to herself .

“What do you plan on doing now?” Celestia asked. Tag smiled.

“I’m going to kill every one of you with Tagia. It’ll absorb all the power and I’ll be ruler once again.” He said and drew Tagia. He trotted over to Iron Hoof. “Do you have any last prayers or words of some sort?” He asked grinning. Iron Hoof glared at him.

“Aside from the usual ‘I’m proud that I was able to serve’ nonsense I have five words. I’ll see you in hell.” Tag’s grin instantly disappeared only to be replaced with a frown.

“That’s not very nice. Oh well.” He struck like lightning; slicing Iron Hoof’s throat open spilling blood everywhere as he collapsed. Fluttershy let out a high-pitched whine. An aura emanated from Iron Hoof’s body and was sucked in by Tagia. Tag closed his eyes. “Oh… I can FEEL it!” He said smiling again. The group stared at him in shock while Tac smiled. Tag looked at the rest of them, he singled out Twilight and stepped over to her. She cringed as he drew near.

“Discord! Don’t do this!” Celestia cried. Tag only smiled.

“You make me want to do it even more!” He said excitedly; he loomed over Twilight. “Do you have any last words?” Twilight looked at him with terror filled eyes, she glanced quickly at Iron Hoof’s body before responding.

“Yes: I hope this works!” She jumped at him and smashed her head against his causing him to drop Tagia. Tac instantly had Torais aimed at Twilight. Rainbow Dash tackled him to the ground. Twilight closed her eyes and brought her head close to Tag’s her horn began to light up.

----

Tag turned another corner into an alleyway. Rarity passed by in the street waving a riding crop.

WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME??? He thought loudly not daring to yell lest Rarity hear him.

I don’t know. Book answered in a bored voice. Tag peered out into the deserted streets. A flash of light blinded him; when he could see again he saw his friends standing in the street.

“Tag, no time to explain. Come on!” Twilight yelled at him. Tag didn’t say a word but started to run in the opposite direction. “Tag! Get back here!” Twilight called and started to give chase with her friends. Tag stopped in the middle of the street. He hung his head and turned around.

“Fine! Take me! Do whatever you want to me!” he cried laughing madly. Twilight hesitated but grabbed him and tapped his head with her horn.

----

Twilight fell backward and rubbed her head.

“Ow…” She mumbled. She looked up and saw Tag looking at her with an expressionless look on his face; the grayness had drained from his coat. “Oh no…” She whispered. Tag turned around and looked toward Tac who was still struggling with Rainbow Dash. He stepped toward the fighting pair and as Tac threw Rainbow Dash aside he looked at Tag.

“Sir?” He asked uncertainly. Tag gave him a confused look.

“Tag?” Twilight whispered. Tac seemed to realize what had happened and readied Torais aiming right at Tag. Tag recoiled in horror at the sight of the black weapon. It was black just like the riding crop that now haunted him.

In a screech of rage Tag drew Tagia and jumped on Tac stabbing him repeatedly. He stabbed every part of Tac that was exposed causing deep wounds; but that didn’t matter, Tac had been killed in the first stab. The aura emanated from Tac and entered Tagia while Tag stabbed Tac again and again. The rest of the group watched in stunned horror until Tag had finally stopped. He stepped off of Tac’s corpse and dropped Tagia; he looked at his hooves covered in blood and started to giggle slightly eventually turning into deep laughter.

“Dear Celestia…” Twilight breathed. Tag’s laughter turned into sobs as he collapsed to the floor and held his head. Rainbow Dash quickly pulled Torais off of Tac’s body and placed onto Tor; his breathing was shallow and his eyes were closed. Tag’s sobs had turned to laughter again and he jumped around the room.

“FREEEEE!!!!!” He exclaimed laughing. “I’M FREEEEE!!!” Twilight looked at Celestia.

“What should we do?” She asked desperately.

“We should sedate him, then we can examine him.” She said. Tor had regained enough energy to look around; when he saw Tag he closed his eyes.

Please… no… he thought weakly. Tag continued to prance around the room; he stopped with a goofy grin on his face.

“No more riding crops!” he said excitedly. “No more incest!” he started to jump up and down. “ No more textbook of the day!” he laughed again until he saw his friends. His smile disappeared instantly. His face became one of horror and he started to bawl again. “NO! NONONONONONONO! NOT AGAIN!” He cried spilling tears onto the floor. Twilight took a step towards him. She lit up her horn and closed her eyes.

Tag was out cold. Twilight sighed as she looked at him on the floor. Celestia stepped up beside her.

“Will Tag be all right?” Twilight asked hesitantly.

“I don’t know Twilight, I just don’t know.”