A Shadow of the Past Revealed

by Ironskull

Chapter 2: A Misunderstanding

"That is a really good plan," said Apple Bloom. "But... there's a couple of problems.

Apple Bloom looked toward her friends expectantly.

Scootaloo sighed. "I can't fly, and Sweetie Belle can't do much magic."

"Oh," said Shadow Shroud. Of course not! he shouted at himself in his head. It was foolish to assume!

"Don't worry Mister Shadow," said Apple Bloom excitedly. "We'll get your leg back one way or another!"

"Yeah..." said Scootaloo gloomily.

"Hey, Scootaloo."

Scootaloo looked up at Shadow Shroud expectantly.

He stretched out his skeletal wings and gave the fillies a moment to see. "I can't fly either."

"Whoa!" exclaimed Scootaloo. "You're just like Miss Twilight! Except... you can't fly. And now you can't walk very well either."

Scootaloo's expression changed to one of determination. "Come on, let's go get his leg!"

---

"Rainbow!" cried Twilight into the air, now standing outside the library. "Thank goodness you happen to be here! We might have a problem!"

Rainbow Dash was on the ground in front of Twilight in a moment with an expression of concern.

"What is it Twi?"

"Have you seen anypony... suspicious around the library?"

"Nope. Nopony has gone in or out ever since the mail pony brought you that door. Why were you getting a new door by the way?"

"Oh, you saw that? Well... I might have used some magic and now..."

Twilight paused. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "Now what? Something bad happened?"

"You're not going to believe this..."

"Twilight, this is serious. I'll believe anything that you tell me."

Twilight smiled weakly at Rainbow Dash. "Well... an evil skeleton pony came out of the door and I think he's somewhere in Ponyville!"

Rainbow looked into Twilight's eyes suspiciously. "You're absolutely sure?"

"Well... I didn't see him leave, but I am sure! But that's not all! The princess is coming to see me tomorrow! I can't be responsible for a skeleton pony on the loose!"

"So..." began Rainbow Dash. "What should we do?"

"Come inside. I have something to show you."

Twilight led Rainbow Dash into the library and up the stairs into her room. She levitated something off of a table and over to Rainbow Dash.

"Whoa!" Rainbow shouted. "What is that?" She had a feeling that she knew the answer already.

"It's a femur bone. It came from the skeleton pony! I think he might try to come back for it, so I am going to stay here. But I want you to fly around and see if you can find anything suspicious!"

Shadow Shroud was sitting inside the Crusader's tree house and feeling very bored. He had to stay out of sight in case other ponies came around, and he had nowhere to go and nothing to do until the fillies returned, hopefully with his missing femur. He would have to thank them somehow.

He looked around the interior of the tree house, hoping that there would be something of interest. The scribbles on the paper on the wall were slightly intriguing, but he could not make out what they mean. There was also a small box in the corner. It was not sealed.

Inside he found some paint brushes and small bottles of paint.

An idea occurred to him. "That's it!" he said to himself. He carefully hobbled over to the ladder and climbed down. Once he was on the ground, he began searching for suitably sized stones.

---

Shadow Shroud had just finished his work when he heard voices in the distance. It sounded like two fillies, but neither belonged to the Crusaders. He his creations down and walked toward a window, making sure that he would not be visible from the outside. He had put his robe back on, so if he did happen to be seen, the ponies would not know they were seeing.

He saw the two fillies. One was light grey and wore glasses. The other was a pink filly with a tiara in her mauve mane. He was confident that he knew who these fillies were.

"Hey, blank flanks!" shouted Diamond Tiara up at the tree house as the pair drew close.

She received no answer.

"Hello? Anypony home?"

No answer.

"Then you won't mind if we come up!" shouted Diamond Tiara defiantly. She began climbing the ladder and Silver Spoon followed close behind.

When she got to the top, Diamond Tiara saw that the tree house was abandoned. "They're not here, Silver Spoon."

Silver Spoon had reached the top of the ladder and climbed up. "Hmm," she said. "They're probably out trying another of their fail schemes to get a cutie mark. What should we do now?"

"Hey, let's see what they've been up to," said Diamond Tiara with a nasty grin.

The pair walked into the tree house and began looking around.

"Oh, wow. Come see this, Diamond Tiara."

The filly came to Silver Spoon's side and saw what she was referring to. There were three small figures on the floor. They looked exactly like each of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"These are... really good, actually," said Silver Spoon.

"They must have had them made to play some stupid game," said Diamond Tiara. "I'm surprised they could even afford that."

She began to stretch out a hoof to grab one of the figures.

"Don't touch those!" shouted a voice.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon both jumped, then whirled around. "Who's there?" demanded Diamond Tiara, angry. "Another blank flank? Where are the rest of your loser friends?"

Suddenly there was movement from the shadows where the sun did not shine through the window. A robed pony stepped forward.

"I don't even have a flank!" he shouted angrily.

"Oooohhh..." said Silver Spoon.

Diamond Tiara was taken aback. This was an adult pony, but he sure had a mouth on him.

"Are you implying that I'm fat?" she shouted.

The pony hesitated. Then he said "well, compared to me, yes, you are fat."

"You liar!"

Oh, here we go, thought Shadow Shroud, annoyed. For the second time that day, he threw off his robe.

The screaming fillies raced out of the tree house and did not bother to use the ladder. They leapt down and took off toward the middle of the town.

Shadow Shroud briefly wondered about what negative repercussions might result from this. He could have remained hidden and they would never have found him. But there was no telling what they might do with his latest creations. While it was true that he could make new ones, he felt obligated to protect them from the two fillies.

They might come back with other ponies at any moment. But he also had to remain in the area to wait for the Crusaders. He would have to find somewhere to hide other than inside the tree house.

---

"Twilight" shouted a worried Rainbow Dash, who had just burst into Twilight's room.

"Rainbow!" shouted Twilight in surprise. "Did you find something?"

"I saw Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon running through town looking like they had seen a ghost, so I stopped them and asked them what happened. They said that there was an evil monster pony in the Crusader's clubhouse and that they think something bad might have happened to Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom!"

Twilight gasped. "We need to get over there! Do you know where their clubhouse is?"

"Yeah, I do. Let's go!"

Twilight and Rainbow Dash hurried out the door and took off flying, completely unaware that the fillies that they were going to save were trying to sneak into the back of the very building that they had left.

"Look!" shouted Apple Bloom happily. "The window is wide open! This'll be easy!"

"Be quiet!" whispered Sweetie Belle. "We don't want them to hear us!"

"Okay," whispered Apple Bloom. "All we need is for somepony to give us a boost so we can climb in through the window!"

Her friends looked back at her. "Oh, alright. Ah'll do it."

She stood in front of the window and tried to hold still as Sweetie Belle climbed onto her back.

"OW! That hurts! Don't put your hooves there!"

"Shhh!" whispered Scootaloo.

"Ah can't help-"

A look from Scootaloo and Apple Bloom took the hint. She tried to keep quiet, but another "Ow!" managed to escape.

Once Sweetie Belle was through the window, it was Scootaloo's turn. Apple Bloom managed to keep quiet for the entire time.

"Okay Sweetie Belle," said Scootaloo from inside the library. "Now let me get up on your back so that I can help Apple Bloom in."

"Aw..."

A moment later, Apple Bloom heard Sweetie Belle shout "Ow! Be careful!"

"See, ah told you!" Apple Bloom shouted.

"Shhh!" whispered Scootaloo.

After a moment, Scootaloo had managed to pull Apple Bloom into the library and hopped off of Sweetie Belle's back.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps. They looked at each other in panic.

"Oh, hey you three!" said the cheerful voice of Spike. "I didn't hear you come in!"

The fillies didn't give a response, so Spike shrugged and walked away.

"That was too close," whispered Sweetie Belle. "Let's spread out!"

Scootaloo was searching the front of the library. Suddenly Spike walked into the room and saw this.

"Do you need help finding a book?" he asked.

"Oh! No, just- just looking."

Suddenly Apple Bloom's voice boomed through the library, coming from upstairs. "I found it! I found it!"

"Found what?" asked Spike, looking at Scootaloo.

"Nothing!" she said quickly before racing off.

"What are these?" asked Rainbow fearfully. She was in the Crusader's tree house with Twilight. "Did that pony turn Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle into tiny little statues?

"No, Rainbow," Twilight assured, but her mind was racing as quickly as her heart. She remembered that she had seen similar figurines inside the strange room.

"These are just stones with paint on them," she continued. "See?" she indicated the paint supplies that had been left out in the open.

"Oh," said Rainbow Dash in relief. "Wait, what? Why would he do that?"

"I think..."

"You think what Twilight?" asked Rainbow Dash urgently.

"I think they might be involved with some kind of voodoo magic!" Twilight finished.

Rainbow Dash did not like the way Twilight had said that. "What does that mean?" she asked.

"It mean's that he might be using evil magic to control the fillies!"

Before Rainbow Dash could reply to this, they heard a voice outside.

"Hello? Mister Shadow?"

"Scootaloo?" shouted Rainbow Dash in surprise. She stuck her head out of the window. "Where have you three been?" she demanded.

Before she could get an answer, Rainbow shouted "What is that?"

The crusaders took on a guilty look. "What is what?" asked Apple Bloom.

Twilight stepped outside and gasped. "What are you doing with Shadow Shroud's femur?"

"Uhm..."

"I asked them to retrieve it for me," said Shadow Shroud as he stepped out from under the shadow of the tree house. Rainbow Dash froze.

"There you are!" cried Apple Bloom. She ran up to Shadow Shroud.

The femur magically floated away from Apple Bloom and fell into place in Shadow Shroud's leg.

He looked up and saw the expression that the mares were giving him. He also realized that Twilight was holding his Crusader figurines in her magic.

"I'm sorry to have caused all of this trouble... I think I'll just be on my way now..."

He turned and began to run. He looked behind him and saw a confused Twilight. Suddenly, a bolt of magic shot from her horn, heading straight toward him.

He screamed and swung the shield off of his back, getting it into position just in time. The magic collided with it and faded without causing any effect.

"Rainbow!" cried Twilight. "My immobilization spell didn't work! Stop him!"

A moment later, an irate Rainbow Dash landed in front of Shadow Shroud. "Just where do you think you're going?" she demanded.

Shadow Shroud tried to run in another direction, but Rainbow Dash was too fast for him. He came to an abrupt stop.

"Okay, do whatever you want!" he cried, defeated. "Just don't send me back!"

Back near the tree house, Twilight had seen that Rainbow Dash had succeeded. She turned to the fillies.

"It's getting late, you three," she told them. "Go home and get to bed. Dash and I will take care of this."

Without another word, she glided down from the tree house to meet Dash. She landed and glared at Shadow Shroud suspiciously.

"What are you going to do with me?" he asked.

"You're going to come back to the library with us," said Twilight sternly. "And you're going to stay there until the princess arrives tomorrow. Then we'll decide what to do with you."

"Why are you bringing my figurines?" he asked as they began walking, confused.

"First, why don't you tell us what you're doing with them!" cried Rainbow Dash accusingly.

The Crusaders watched as Twilight and Rainbow Dash began walking away with Shadow Shroud between them.

"They think he's a bad pony!" said Apple Bloom in sympathy.

"What are we going to do?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"I know what we need to do!" exclaimed Scootaloo. "We have to help him!"

Comments

[Ironskull]

I just know that at least a few of you want the Crusaders to actually be under the control of some evil magic. An intriguing idea if you like dark stuff but... Nah.

[FinalFan]

Hmm, a nice start. I'm looking forward to future updates.

[Clockworklich]

Please don't be dead. Undead is fine but not dead.

[Ironskull]

5548500 This comment actually means a lot to me. And it made me laugh. No, I didn't die, but my old computer did. Have a new chapter.

[Emperor]

Twilight Sparkle getting into a panic, overreacting, and jumping to conclusions as always. Well, all that exercise will probably keep her from getting a fat flank, unlike say Diamond Tiara

4881445 Are you kidding me? If the Crusaders were under control of evil magic, it would be a good day for the insurance companies of Equestria. At least, that's what the fandom has taught me when it comes to the destructiveness of those three adorable silly fillies

[Kaiser change name]

Yay DT was insulted now all we need is a bonfire to burn her fatness away.

[Ironskull]

7042805 This is further confirmation of the fact that the community's views of characters almost never change. Lots of people still think of Twilight as the bookworm librarian instead of a princess (which she would probably appreciate actually, she doesn't like to flaunt her princess status), Celestia will always be considered manipulative and larger than life, and Diamond Tiara will always be thought of as the local bully, conveniently available to be the all too necessary evil that drives plots forward in our own works of fiction.
So, basically, first impressions really matter.
Come to think of it though, there is one exception. People changed their view of Discord after his reformation (unlike DT for the most part), but the only reason they did so was that the new Discord is just plain awesome.

[Kage no Brony]

7044949
I think people haven't really changed their opinions of DT, because after the episode where she was redeemed, we pretty much never saw her again.