The Shadow Stallion

by Ephraim Blue

Prologue - A Vanishing Act

The Shadow Stallion

By: Ephraim Blue

Prologue - A Vanishing Act

Ponyville Streets June 19th 4:30 AM

Pitch Black loved to roam the streets. They were always quiet... and relaxing... and did I mention quiet? Well, that was to be expected. The streets were always quiet at 4:30 in the morning.

What was even better than roaming the quiet streets, was finally being able to stretch his legs. He had been cooped up on his house all day, he hadn't gotten to exercise like everypony else did.

Actually, he never did. While everypony is usually up and about in the morning, he was always hiding in his house next to the old library. That place wasn't really the best place to be. The library was always dusty, old, and definitely needed new books. He should know. He's only been there about three times in the past week.

He was, as you might say, a caretaker of sorts for that old place. Since nopony actually lived there, he was asked by the mayor one day to make sure that it was kept in top position. He went over every other day to dust, check the books had been left around carelessly by others, and reshelf them if necessary.

It wasn't a bad job at all. He loved to have something to occupy his time. It wasn't low paying either. He was just lonely doing it. Sometimes, he wished that somepony would enjoy doing what he did all the time. But then again, who would want to stay up every night just to reshelf books? Nopony in this small town, that's for sure.

The streets remained quiet. They always have been quiet to him. If there was one pony in the entire land of Equestria that wanted to stay up all night and just roam the streets, he would be glad to meet that pony. But, there was nopony quite like Pitch Black. For he had a secret.

It wasn't a life threatening secret. Nothing like that. It was a secret that he kept hidden because nopony would truly understand what he would be talking about. The secret?

He vanished at the sight of day.

I don't mean he skedaddled out from where he was. Nor do I mean that he was simply afraid of the light. I mean that he literally vanishes when sunlight touches him.

That's how his life had been ever since he was a filly. His parents had found out about this 'power' shortly after he was born. Whenever the sunlight touched him, he vanished instantly. Both of his parents obviously freaked out over what had happened. He reappeared that very night, right in the exact spot he vanished.

His parents had cried their eyes out when they found him again. They were so relieved about what happened, that they sobbed all throughout the night. The next day, as soon as the sunlight touched him again, he vanished. Once again, his parents freaked out. They didn't calm down until he reappeared again that night.

After this happened the second time, they maser sure to keep me out of the light from then on out. They got a new house on the countryside, staying out of big cities and other towns. The house was kept nice and dark, preventing most of the sunlight from entering the house.

He still accidentally wandered into a small patch of light every once in a while, but still reappeared that night. They kept him out of schools because of this. Instead, they homeschooled him for his education. He didn't mind being taught by his parents. He eventually learned about him being able to disappear as soon as the light touched him. Sometimes, his parents used that as a form of punishment if he did something really bad. He got used to it... eventually.

Life went on fine until the tragic event that happened to him recently. When he was staying hidden during the day, like he always did, a fire started in his old house. He tried to get to the sink to collect water, but the flames had blocked his path. They had also blocked all of the entrances and exits of the house.

His parents came up with a plan. They certainly weren't happy about it, but it was the only thing they could do. They led Pitch to a small, wooden room with a retractable roof. They told him to stay in the middle of the room, and walked toward a button on the wall.

Pitch realized what was happening too late. His parents pushed the button, allowing sunlight to enter. He vanished. When he reappeared that night, everything was burnt down. There were other ponies there as well. They almost immediately noticed him and asked if he knew what happened. He told them about the fire, as well as how his parents had 'hidden' him, allowing him to survive.

Ever since that day, he had lived in the closest town there was. Ponyville. It was a nice, relatively quiet town. Especially at night. He wandered the streets frequently, hoping he would forget about that day. But he could never forget the look on his parent's faces right before he vanished. The look of sorrow mixed with happiness.

Is my secret a gift... Pitch thought as he continued to walk down the street. ...or a curse? Whatever it is, its my special talent. He looked down at his back, not realizing that he was wearing a cape. He lifted his cape to reveal a clouded sun, symbolizing him vanishing as soon as the sun touched him.

Most ponies who visited him during the day and saw his cutie mark, usually thought that he was good at cloudy days, or adjusting the weather to be a cloudy day. He was a pegasus after all. He just went along with what they thought. They wouldn't believe him if he told them what it really meant.

Sighing, he lowered his cape to its original position. Some might think that a cape would get in the way of flying, but it really doesn't. It helped him keep warm at night, as well as make him look at least 20% cooler while flying, by Rainbow Dash's standards.

He had never met this Rainbow pegasus. He had heard of her miraculous Sonic Rainboom as a filly, as well as leader of the weather team, but never actually met her. He had heard from his friends, that visited every once in a while, tell him that she said it a lot.

He glanced at the horizon, seeing the tiniest batch of sunlight. On instinct, he ran toward his house. Just as the sun lit up the town with its light, he had closed the door to his home. The house was relatively dark. It made total sense, since he couldn't be seen during the day. He had kept all of the blinds closed, windows tightly shut, and door locked almost all of the time.

That was how he lived. That is how he must live.

And that is how he liked it.

Comments

[Ephraim Blue]

4169574 Well, you found the story. I sorta got the name from the story you wrote. Its very similar, but not the same.

Oh, and thanks for liking this story.

[Smoker]

I admit, for a story whose title pic was created in pony creator, this is actually interesting.

[Ephraim Blue]

4169644 Well, I thought a good pic of the OC in the story would give people a more detailed description of him.

Also, I couldn't think of anything else. I only came up with this story today.

[EndlessHarmony]

I like it, dose he work in golden oaks library? And if so...will twi be coming in?

[Ephraim Blue]

4170098 He takes care of it every other night. This is set before the beginning of season 1.