My Little Pony: The Guardians of Harmony

by The Eternal Dragon

Light and Dark

“He sizes him up, looking at his competition. Then he pulls up a shot and bang! He sinks the game winning shot and the crowd goes wild.” Kendall does a celebratory dance, enjoying his victory.

“Yeah, maybe you should save that for a real game.” Zack said. The two just finished up a pick-up game of basketball. “You beat me 21 to nothing. I don’t even play outside, the only reason I’m even here is because you promised free lunch.”

“And do I ever break my promises?” He gave him a friendly grab around the neck and messed his hair up.

“Hey! That hurts.” Kendall let go of him and they made their way to Sugarcube Corner. “You know I wouldn't exactly call this a good place for lunch. Most of the stuff they got here are for desserts.”

“Now who said you can't have dessert for lunch. And besides this is pretty much Pinkie Pie’s entire diet and I don’t see her having any health issues.” When they got inside, they could smell the warm baked goods set up for display. They picked out a muffin and cupcake, paid for the treats and sat down at one of the tables. “Why’d you get a cupcake, you know how unhealthy that is?”

“Well excuse me for not being boring and getting a muffin like you. You know it wouldn't kill you to live a little.” The pair munched on their pastries in very different manners. Kendall scarfed it down, while Zack took clean bites.

“Would it kill you to at least not make a mess? I can live with it when it’s at our house, but let’s be nice to the owners.”

“Okay mom.” Kendall cleaned up the crumbs that were left behind. “I don't know why you're so boring sometimes. You’re cool, but you really need to not hold back.”

“Maybe you're just being too energetic. You're always the one that’s just going to jump into anything if it sounds like fun. You don’t think about the consequences.”

“Like they say, just do it. You could use that advice sometime.”

“Do what?” Pinkie suddenly appeared before them sending them into shock.

“Ahh! Bryson may have got it down, but I cannot get used to that to save my life.” Zack took deep breaths to calm his nerves.

“Looks like that one thing we can agree on.” Kendall was sent flying off his seat and was getting back up. Once he got his composure back he was able to answer Pinkie’s question. “It’s just an expression from where we’re from. It’s supposed to mean to do something without any reservations.”

“Really?! Well I guess I should be fine, everything I do is like that.”

“I think we noticed. Well I guess we should be heading back now.” Zack got up from his seat before Kendall stopped him.

“Wait, I just got an idea.”

“Something tells me I’m not going to like this.”

“Being scared off my seat reminded me of when we were first here and Timmy spent that day in that haunted castle.”

“And you’re going to say that we should spend the night there.”

“You know me too well.” He grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the store.

“Whoa there. What makes you think that I even want to go, I’m also going to add that Timmy said it was really dangerous and he almost got killed there, or did you forget?”

“I know. But what if we defeat this supposedly shadow pony, then everyone will consider us heroes and we don’t have to be worried about anything attacking.” Zack only gave him a blank stare. “Fine then I’ll just go by myself”

“What?! No don’t. Fine I’ll go hold on.”

“Finally got some courage?”

“More like stupidity, and I can’t just let you go into danger by yourself.” The two walked across town to enter the Everfree forest. Right before they entered Rainbow Dash saw them go in. Knowing that the guys generally avoided the place she asked Andrew, who was watching her clear the clouds.

“Hey Andrew, are you guys cool with the Everfree forest now?” Andrew didn’t hear her as he lay asleep on a bale of hay. Upset that he apparently got bored with her she was about to yell at him to wake up. Then a devious idea popped into her mind. She flew off and got a bucket of ice cold water, carefully got close to him and dumped it on him. “Surprise!”

“Ahh.” He yelled out in shock and the cold. “Not cool Rainbow.”

“Well maybe that should teach you not to fall asleep when you’re with me.” She fell to the ground laughing and nearly forgot why she had awoken him. “Oh yeah, are you guys cool with going into the Everfree forest.”

“What? No why?”

“Well I just saw two of your friends walk in. I think it was Zack and Kendall.”

“That doesn’t sound good. We need to stop them.” He got up, but then remembered how wet and cold he was. “Right after I get a change of clothes.”

***

“Well, here it is.” Zack and Kendall stood before the castle doors “It doesn’t look that scary.”

“It’s not the castle that Timmy was worried about.” They pushed open the doors and entered the hallway. An empty air greeted them as there was an eerie feeling from the silence. “So where do we find it?”

“Beats me, it almost feels like it already knows we’re here.”

“Are you backing out?”

“Please, I never back down.” From there they began their search for the pony of shadows. Since they had never been inside the castle itself and only had to rely on their memory of Timmy story. Most of the time it seemed as though they hit dead end after dead end. “How are we supposed to find something if we can’t even find where we are in this place?” In frustration, Kendall kicked a wall. However he ended up kicking a switch which opened a trap door causing the two to fall down into the unknown.

***

“Alright, since Zecora said she didn’t see either of them, that means they must’ve went in here” The two stood outside the doors which posed a big presence that they both felt.

“You’re not scared are you Rainbow?” Andrew asked.

“What me, scared? Please I live for this stuff.”

“I’m just saying you don’t have to come with me. There my friends and I don’t want anything to happen to you because…”

“Yeah yeah, because you’re my guardian. I swear none of your friends take that serious. And why are you wearing that ridiculous ‘battle armor’.”

“Hey I have a practical reason for that. Who knows what’s in here, I don’t want any of my cloths to get damaged or destroyed. I happen to like my shirts a lot. And besides, these things are really comfortable.” With that, he pushed open the doors to let themselves in. The light shone in where the roof had been broken off, but the tone of the place still felt dark. “Come on, the faster we find them the faster we can get out.

“You don’t need to tell me twice.” They entered into the deeper areas of the castle, to the point where there was nearly no light and visibility was extremely low. “How sure are we that they even are in here?

“I know Kendall, the unknown excites him. Out of all of us he’s the risk taker. Zack confuses me though, this is certainly not something he’d do. Are you sure it was him that you saw.”

“Are you calling me blind?! I know who I saw, those two look very distinct from the rest of you.

“I guess, well I’ll just ask when I get a chance.” Suddenly a loud sound pierced the air scaring the two into each other. “What was that?!”

“I don’t know.” They then noticed they were hugging the other and quickly let go. “It sounded like it came from there.” Rainbow Dash pointed at the stairway that lead down to below ground.

“Well that figures.” Andrew responded. He went towards it and looked down. The pitch black darkness was all he could see. He reached into his suits belt and pulled out a flare. “I told you this would come in handy. And thank you Zack for reinventing the flare for us.” He lit it and threw it down the shaft. It didn’t go far and soon it the ground. “Well that’s not too bad.” He walked down the stairs while Rainbow Dash hovered down.

“My wings are what you would call practical.” She smirked at him as he just rolled his eyes. When they got down he picked the flare back up and used it to light their way. They walked through a long hallway when it went out.

“Well I hope I got another one.” He then felt something wrap around his body. “Ha, you know Rainbow if you’re scared you could just tell me, but you’re grabbing me a bit tight.

“Um, I’m right in front of you.” She got closer so that he could see. “Wait but if you’re there then who’s…” He looked down to see two arms wrapped around him.

“Ahh! Get them off get them off.” He forcefully pushed out the arms and fell forward. Rainbow Dash quickly grabbed him and pulled him back.

“You alright?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Those looked an awful lot like human… wait a second. Kendall! Zack! Is that you?”

“What the?” Kendall said. “Andrew?”

“Oh good it just you guys. What were you thinking?! Don’t you remember that we agreed never to go in here until we knew more about the threats?” He began to scold the two.

“Hold on there, maybe you should let us out.” Kendall stopped him from having a rant.

“How? There’s a wall between us.”

“I don’t know, there should be a switch somewhere near.” Zack said. Andrew tried to see in the darkness, without good lighting he couldn’t tell what anything was.

“Well I can see anything.” He leaned on a wall, which pressed in a hidden button that opened up the wall. “Why does that always happen?”

“I don’t care as long as we get out of there. That was starting to feel a little cramped.” Kendall said as the two stumbled out. “Now back to the job at hand.”

“Whoa there, we really should just get out of here. This castles dangerous on its own.” Zack countered. Before the two could continue their argument Andrew sensed a disturbance in the air. He quickly grabbed out another flare, but before he had a chance to light it, a shot of dark magic hit it out of his hand.

“Watch out!” He dove and brought the other down to the ground. “I guess you can stop looking for him now.” He scanned the area, but without any light his vision was limited. “Alright, I can’t use any light or else he’ll know here we are. Got any ideas?”

“How about we charge him?” Kendall offered.

“Yeah, if the plan was to get us killed.” Zack argued. “I got a better idea, so listen up.” He explained his plan to the group and they all agreed that it could work. Then they went to set it in motion. Rainbow rushed out and drew the figures attention, allowing Andrew to sneak around to get a better look.

When he was able to get behind it, he saw that it was a pony that seemed to be made of pure darkness, like a literal shadow. He pulled out his last flare and hoped for the best and started it. The pony of shadows turned around to see him throw it directly at it, causing it to scream out in pain and retreat.

“Quick Rainbow we’re getting out now!” She came from her hidden spot and grabbed him to fly out of the dark basement as fast as possible. “I guess Zack was right, light is his weakness.” She flew them straight up the stairwell where Zack and Kendall was waiting for them.

“Took you long enough, I guess it’s over then?” Zack asked.

“It’s not over until we get out of this place, now come on.” They were able to get out into the main hallway of the castle where the sun was about to set.

“That looks like a pretty good sunset, I guess we can literally thank Celestia for that.” Zack joked.

“Yeah it does look nice.” Kendall responded. “I always preferred the night, when it gets.” He quickly realized what the darkness would also bring. “Watch out!” Two shots of magic came out from the shadows knocking Andrew out and clipping Rainbows wing.

“Ow!” Rainbow attempted to move, but a whip grabbed her by the tail. “Ahh.” It started to pull her into the shadows, but Zack grabbed her hoof and Kendall was able to get the whip to release her from its grip.

“Zack what do we do?!” Kendall asked.

“I don’t know, but what I do know is if we don’t get out of here before the darkness covers this entire place, we’re dead.” Kendall went to check on Andrew’s unconscious body.

“Andrew?! Wake up! Please don't tell me I got my best friend’s brother get killed.” The shadows began to begin covering the leaving the small area they were in. “It’s all my fault, if I wasn't being dumb we wouldn't be in this situation. I was selfish, all I wanted was to have some fun and play the hero and what did that get me.”

“Hey man, don’t be too hard on yourself. I’m not mad at you, and I’m sure Andrew’s not either. Even if we don’t get out of here we forgive you.”

“What about you Rainbow, all of you are the reason we’re here.”

“It’s fine, I always stick up for my friends. That includes you guys too.”

“I guess it doesn’t matter now.” The darkness was about to cover them, its evil presence was could be felt by everyone. “It’s been a good run, I enjoyed every moment of it.”

“Wait a second.” Zack went to Andrew and looked through his suit. “Where is it?”

“What are you looking for?” Asked Rainbow Dash.

“There may be one last trick up my sleeve. Here.” He pulled out smoke bomb.

“What goods that going to be? It’s weak against light not smoke.”

“Just trust me, Pick Andrew up and when I say run, go straight for the door and out of here.” The other two worked together to get Andrew’s limp body off the ground and onto Rainbow’s back. When they got ready the darkness engulfed their location. They waited for a few tense moments when Zack gave the signal. “Now!” They ran right for the exit without looking behind them.

“What do you think his plan is?” Kendall asked.

“You’re the one who’s known him for years, you tell me.” She answered. When they got outside they waited in fear of what may have happened to their friend. Then suddenly they heard the smoke bomb go off and Zack appeared, jumping through one of the front windows.

“What are you doing, keep running!” He yelled and they all ran until they were out of the forest. Out of energy, they went to Fluttershy’s cottage. Kendall strongly knocked on the door and she answered.

“Oh my, what happened to all of you?” She asked.

“It’s a long story.” Zack answered.

***

“Oh my head.” Andrew said as he awoke. “Ah, what happened, did we make it!?”

“Relax, we got out of there ok, we’re at Fluttershy’s place.” Kendall answered. “I think it might be best to avoid moving too quickly, your head took quite a hit there.”

“We’ll be fine, I don’t think this Pony of Shadows goes beyond the Everfree forest.”

“Speaking of which, how did you even get out?” Rainbow Dash asked, Fluttershy was bandaging her injured wing.

“Simply, I simply ran a different way from you. I figured he’d go for an easier lone target than a group. Then I got next to that window and when he got close, blind him and made a break for it.”

“What if he didn’t go for you?”

“Well that was just a risk I had to take, got to take some when that’s the best you can get.” He looked over to Kendall, “That’s usually how I live.”

“Alright I got you, it’s not smart to take unnecessary risks, especially when others can get hurt from it.”

“One things for sure, though.” Andrew added. “I don’t think this will be the last time any of us face danger.” They all looked out the window to the Everfree forest.

Well, I guess I really learned a lesson the hard way this time. A quest for glory turned into a horrible nightmare and I almost couldn’t take it back. But this won’t be the last time any of our lives are at stake. Next time I will be ready to answer that call, no matter what.