Practice Run
Two days after she woke up, the doctors released Swirling from the hospital, instructing her not to do anything too strenuous, and advising against flying for a while so that her wing could properly recover. She was just glad to finally be out of that place, a certain peace of mind coming over her as she trotted down the street to her home. When she arrived, she immediately headed to her bedroom and plopped onto her bed.
‘This has been the most hectic week of my life,’ she thought with a sigh.
Her stomach grumbled, as if in agreement, demanding nourishment. Reluctantly, she climbed out of bed and headed to her tiny kitchen, opening the small pantry near the fridge to find something quick and easy to make. Settling on ramen noodles, she filled a bowl with water, put the dried noodles in the bowl with it, and set the microwave for two minutes.
She decided to take the time to check her mane in the bathroom mirror. She was sure it was probably a mess right now. Entering the bathroom, she sighed when she was proven right. It’d probably take a while to get her hair back how she liked it, with all those knots and what looked like a few split ends. The fire also seemed to have singed her mane and tail in places.
‘Oh, well. I can fix this simple enough.’
She opened the cabinet beneath the sink, taking out a brush and starting to run it through her mane even before looking in the mirror again. When saw her reflection again, she froze. There, perched on the towel rack on the wall behind her, was a yellow-eyed raven, watching her quietly. She turned sharply, ready to shoo the bird away but stopped when she no longer saw the feathered creature.
She looked around the room, trying to find it again, but there wasn’t even a feather left of it. Was she just seeing things? Probably. She did remember having a weird dream that featured a raven. She hadn’t brought it up to anypony, mostly because she just didn’t often talk about her dreams. They were often weird and abstract; it was hard to make sense of them.
She shrugged and faced the mirror again, only to jump with a yelp when she spotted the black bird sitting upon the sink’s faucet. She pointed her brush at it like a weapon, eyes wide in shock.
Then she realized something; the bird wasn’t just standing on the faucet.
It was standing on the faucet’s reflection.
“What in the world?” Swirling stood, staring at the raven with a mix of shock, awe, and curiosity. She approached the mirror, reaching toward it.
“Don’t touch me,” the raven said suddenly, making the mare jump back again.
“What the…? What are you?”
The raven rolled its eyes, shaking its head at the same time. “It always amazes me how forgetful you ponies can be.”
Swirling was to ask what the bird meant, but stopped herself. She thought back, remembering the dream she had with the strange raven. She stared at the bird in the mirror for a moment before it suddenly clicked with her: a talking raven, the derisive, cynical tone, the sense of slight superiority.
“You’re that bird from my dream!” she said in realization. “Never… something…”
“Nevermore,” the raven answered. “And yes. You’re half right. It was no dream. You really were dead.”
“B-but… but I…” She stumbled across her words for a moment before a coherent sentence formed in her mind. “But… how? If I really was dead… what was that place? What are you?”
Nevermore groaned and rolled his eyes once more. He grumbled something under his breath. “Okay, fine. Let’s go over this again. I’m a shadow spirit, and you came back to life when I bonded my soul to yours. We were in Asphodel, the realm between life and death, where the souls of the unjudged dead wander until their turn to be judged comes. You’re lucky I found you when I did. It’s not easy to find something in Asphodel.”
“Okay…” Swirling replied slowly. “Why did you want to us to… bond souls, or… whatever? And why are you in my bathroom mirror?”
The raven tilted his head slightly, as if in thought, before answering. “Well, first off, I’m not actually in your mirror. You and others will only be able to see me through reflective surfaces. However, you can hear me anywhere. As for the soul bonding… well…” He trailed for a few moments. “Look, a shadow spirit can’t survive long in the mortal realm. We need hosts, and you’re mine.”
“Why can’t you survive in our world, though?”
“The mortal realm is a world of Light,” Nevermore explained. “Mortal souls, however, tend to be… darker.”
“Darker?”
“Well… maybe that’s not quite the right word. Too many implications. ‘Shadowy’ would work better, I suppose.” The ebony bird shook his head. “Anyway, the Light takes its toll on any shadow spirits who enter its domain.”
Swirling cocked her head in confusion. “Then why didn’t you just go home? There must some place you can go.” To the mare’s surprise, Nevermore laughed. Not for long, though, and it was more mocking than happy.
“I can’t go home,” he said bluntly. “I was banished.”
“What? Why?”
He waved a wing as if brushing away the question. “A long series of events that I’d rather not recite.” Swirling gave him a nervous look. “Relax. I’m no lawbreaker, if that’s what you’re worried about. I just don’t have the best reputation among my people.”
Swirling nodded. She still didn’t fully trust Nevermore, but he seemed more or less harmless. Cynical and blunt in his opinions, maybe, but otherwise apparently non-threatening.
A sudden beeping from the kitchen made her jump. Nevermore sighed and muttered something about a mistake under his breath, but said nothing otherwise. Swirling looked to the bird in her mirror, but he was out of sight now. She didn’t know whether she would be happier if he was real, or if she just had a conversation with her reflection. Either possibility was disturbing.
She headed back to her kitchen and got her bowl of ramen out of the microwave, setting the food on the table. As she was getting a fork to eat with-
‘Ponies eat the weirdest things.’
The sudden voice from nowhere made the pegasus jump for the umpteenth time that day, throwing a number of spoons and forks out onto the floor as a result. She groaned as she began picking up the dropped silverware.
“Either this is real,” she mumbled to herself, “or I took way more head trauma than the doctors said I did.”
‘Or both,’ came what was clearly Nevermore’s voice. ‘Look, neither of us are dead, so that’s a win for the both of us. And by the way, you don’t need to talk out loud to talk to me. All of your thoughts are closed off to me unless they’re specifically related to me.’
Swirling sighed and sat down in front of her bowl of noodles, a clean fork ready, and she started eating.
‘So… no more questions?’
“Hungry,” Swirling answered between bites. “Questions can wait until I’m finished.”
‘Fair enough. Besides, it’s probably best to wait until nightfall anyway.’
“What?”
‘You’ll see.’
Swirling rolled her eyes and continued eating. Nevermore’s attitude and cryptic words were starting to get on her nerves, but there wasn’t much she could do about that. She’d just have to wait.
-o-
Mafioso liked to think himself a patient stallion. He was willing to give second chances. He was willing to listen to his underlings’ excuses whenever they bucked up a job. He was even willing to do favors for anyone who asked, for a price, of course. He liked to think of himself as a decent boss in regards to his organization. He was always ready to listen.
In this case, however, his patience had been worn so thin, one could’ve used it to make stitches.
“How could you screw up such a simple job!?” he screamed at the goon in front of him, the stallion trembling as he was held down in a chair by Mafioso’s two top enforcers/bodyguards. “All you had to do was make sure that the landlord of that apartment complex didn’t make it out of that fire! Instead, I find out in the papers that you not only let that schuck get away - even let him hitch a train ride! - but now some mare’s being hailed as a hero! This is the complete opposite of what I told you to do!”
“B-b-boss, please, I’m sorry!” the panicking stallion begged as one of Mafioso’s enforcers held a knife to his throat in a bright, green-hued aura. “I just thought that-”
“There’s your first problem!” the outraged earth pony shouted into the stallion’s face. The gang leader’s dark blue eyes glowered angrily at the buck-up before him, trying to decide exactly what to do with him. “You thought you could just start the fire and walk away. You thought he wouldn’t get out. You thought.” The slate gray stallion sighed, rubbing a hoof down his face in an attempt to calm himself.
“Boss?” said one of his enforcers, a large, brown pegasus stallion with a sloppy yellow mane and a cutie mark of a what minotaurs called brass knuckles.
“What is it, Brawn?”
“Just a suggestion, but maybe me and Knives can… make an example of him for ya.” The dark red, orange-maned unicorn standing next to the held-down stallion grinned, sadistic thoughts running through his bright green eyes. Mafioso always thought that Knives lived up to his name and cutie mark a little too well; he loved cutting things just a bit too much.
Mafioso thought on Brawn’s suggestion for several, tense moments, the seated stallion shivering in fear. Soon, much to the trapped stallion’s horror, the earth pony nodded and turned toward his desk. He hated having to dirty his private study, but sacrifices had to be made sometimes.
“Just try not to leave too much of a mess,” he instructed as he took his seat behind his desk.
Knives grinned malevolently, lightly brushing his favorite weapon across the seated stallion’s neck, drawing a light trickle of blood, but not enough to kill. “You hear that?” he said tauntingly in a cold tone that was somehow a mix of glee and derision. “We’re gonna have some fun!”
“N-n-n-no! No!” the stallion cried desperately as Knives and Brawn began dragging him away, kicking and screaming. “Boss, please! Gimme another chance! Please!”
“I don’t do third chances,” Mafioso said simply as he turned in his seat, looking out the window that overlooked the Manehattan skyline, while his top henchmen took the buck-up goon out of his study. When he could no longer hear those screams, he picked up the newspaper that was lying on his desk, rereading the headline that had set him off in the first place:
APARTMENT FIRE TRAGEDY AVERTED, PEGASUS MARE SWIRLING LINE LAUDED AS HERO
The story below, written by some guy called Page something-or-other, detailed how this Swirling Line broad saved a foal from the fire, nearly dying herself in the process. Privately he admired such heroics. He preferred that children not get involved in this business in any way whatsoever. No reason to ruin such sincere innocence so quickly, he believed. Still, he couldn’t allow a so-called “hero” in his town. Ponies like that tended to get in the way of business. However, it’d look suspicious right now no matter how she died. He’d have to wait for her fame to blow over. Her fifteen minutes were already ticking down.
And Mafioso was nothing if not patient.
-o-
Swirling sat in front of her easel, brush in her mouth, her hoof tapping against the floor, her eyes set on the blank canvas in front of her. She leaned forward slightly, thinking an idea had come to her, but that idea vanished as quickly as it had come. She sighed through her nose and leaned back again, tilting her brush around in thought.
‘Just paint a tree and be done with it already,’ she heard Nevermore say in her head. ‘We’ve got things to do, you know.’
Rolling her eyes, Swirling set her brush down and huffed. “Look, I’m an artist, okay? I need to make something unique. Something new.”
‘Fascinating. Don’t care.’ Nevermore’s attitude was really starting to irk her. ‘Listen, you wanted me to explain what I’m doing here, and I’m going to show you.’
Swirling quirked an eyebrow at that. “Show me?”
‘Yes. Now, find a mirror, and you’ll see what I’m talking about.’
With an irritated sigh, the mare complied and went back into her bathroom (it was the only mirror that she had in her apartment) and waited for Nevermore’s supposed demonstration. For a little while, nothing happened. She just watched in the mirror, waiting. She noticed her mane was still a little scruffy, but other than that, there was nothing really…
“What the…?” she muttered to herself, running a hoof through her mane. Where there was once one of her many white stripes, there was a stripe of black. Then, before her eyes, her whole mane started turning black, along with her tail, her coat, and even her wings. She started hyperventilating at the sight, panic suddenly overtaking her as she stumbled around in her bathroom, trying in vain to wipe the blackness off of her, but it kept spreading and spreading until it consumed even her vision.
All she could hear was her own panicked breaths. It was slightly cold, but not so cold as to be uncomfortable, only noticeable.
‘Open your eyes,’ she heard Nevermore say. ‘I assure you, you’re fine. Open your eyes.’
Reluctantly, and mumbling incoherently under her breath, Swirling opened her eyes. First, she saw what must’ve been her hooves, swathed in black, just like the rest of her body, she assumed. Slowly, she stood back up, climbing back to her hooves. She turned to the mirror. The being looking back through the mirror was completely black, its mane and tail almost ethereal. Their ends broke off and floated until they faded into nothing, like black fire that flickered and burned unnaturally slow. She unfolded her wings, which seemed to bear the same effect, looking as though they were only half-there. The most unnerving feature, however, was the eyes. Her eyes were a solid golden hue. No whites, no pupils, just a complete yellow shade.
She looked closer into the mirror, noticing that she couldn’t see her mouth, or nose, or any other of her own physical traits. She looked around the mirror until she found Nevermore perched the sink faucet again.
“Wh-what did you do to me!?” she demanded. She slapped a hoof over her mouth. Even her voice sounded different. It sounded like a mash-up of her own voice with Nevermore’s, though it was difficult for her to tell.
“Nothing that’ll hurt you,” the raven replied simply. “It’s not permanent, if that’s what you’re worried about. This form will only last about five hours at a time, and you can go back to normal anytime you want with a thought.” Swirling’s eagerness to return to her usual appearance must’ve been obvious, because Nevermore raised a wing before she spoke. “Before you do, though, take us up to the roof. When we get there, I’ll tell you about the abilities that this form grants you.”
“But what if somepony sees me? I’m not the only pony who lives in this building, you know!”
Nevermore nodded. “Yeah. You ponies are like cockroaches. You’re everywhere a non-pony looks.” Swirling glared at the bird, who merely waved a wing dismissively. “Up to the roof you go, pegasus.”
With a huff, Swirling turned to leave her apartment. ‘Jerk,’ she thought to herself in irritation.
‘I heard that,’ came Nevermore’s response.
She ignored him (she felt like she was probably going to be doing a lot of that in the future) and made her way out of her home and into the hall. She took a quick, surveying look to make sure nopony else was out and about right now. Thankfully, there wasn’t. The last thing she needed was somepony freaking out at the sight of what was essentially a living shadow. She tentatively trotted out of her apartment and down the hall, toward the stairs that would lead her to the roof.
As she climbed the stairs, the thought crossed her mind that she could’ve probably just flown out the window to get to the roof, she quickly dismissed that. Manehattan ponies were always walking around, and would definitely notice her if at least one of them bothered to look up. Plus, with the way her wings are now - like they were only half-existent - she was afraid she might not be able to fly properly with them. She’d need to experiment with them first, at the very least.
Finally, she arrived at the rooftop, and was met with the gorgeous, starry night sky. A lot of it was fairly difficult to make out, unfortunately, thanks to the ever-present city lights and whatnot. She smiled up at the sky (or it felt like she was, considering her mouth was invisible at the moment), remembering with fondness the days of her foalhood, when she would stay up late against her parents’ wishes to stargaze.
Her nostalgia was interrupted, however, when Nevermore said, ‘First thing’s first. This form, again, only works efficiently for about five hours. After that, it’ll start to eat away at your very being.’ Swirling’s eyes went wide as she stared at the inky blackness that covered her. She made a mental note to never stay like this for long periods of time.
‘When you shut it off,’ Nevermore continued, ‘it’ll need time to recharge. Max charge time is around ten hours.’
“Ten hours?” Swirling parroted. “Why so long?”
‘Because it can’t recharge any faster than that. Believe me, I’ve tried to find ways to improve it. Anyway, moving on.
‘While you’re in this form, you have a vulnerability to light. Artificial light, like a lightbulb, or a unicorn’s illumination spell, is mostly harmless, just uncomfortable. Natural light, like fire or sunlight - especially sunlight - can cause you physical harm, and could even kill you if you’re exposed long enough, which is why I said it was best we wait until nightfall to do this.’
“Don’t change around any natural light,” the pegasus concluded. “Okay. Makes sense, I guess. You’re a… shadow… thing… so I guess you naturally don’t like light.”
‘Shadow spirit,’ the spirit replied with indignation. He sighed. Or… he made a sound like sighing. ‘Moving on. While in this form, my power makes you much faster, and much stronger. Around ten times each, if I had to put a number to it. You’re also more resistant to physical damage. The shadows around your body protect you from all but the heaviest of blows. Keep in mind, you’re not invincible.’
Swirling was a bit taken aback by that reveal. Ten times faster and stronger? She was never the fastest pony, nor the strongest. And now, suddenly, she was probably one of the fastest and strongest ponies in Equestria. That is, if Nevermore was being honest.
She looked over to the edge of the roof, tilting her head curiously. She then looked to her partially ethereal wings, watching as the ‘feathers’ broke apart and drifted into oblivion. She was going to experiment with this form’s version of her wings later. Perhaps ‘later’ could be ‘now?’
Carefully, she stretched out her wings, noticing that her wingspan was broader than before, each wing easily a foot longer. She flapped them as a test. They seemed to function normally, not taking much longer to flap than usual. Then, she leaped up off the roof, and began hovering, using the same, inborn pegasus magic she always did. There didn’t seem to be much of a difference to her flying ability.
“Are you sure I’m faster?” she asked the spirit living inside her head. “I don’t really feel any different.”
‘You shouldn’t. My power protects your body from any strain caused by the drastic increase in physical ability, provided we haven’t gone past the time limit. Otherwise, you’d be in immense, crippling pain that would leave you bedridden for months.’
The mare physically cringed at that thought. Being in that hospital for the last two days was bad enough. Having to spend months in bed would be murder on her. She flapped her near-ethereal wings harder, lifting herself higher off of the roof.
She took in a calming breath. “All right... time to see what I can do.” She thought to start with an easy pace. Perhaps a gentle glide to get a feel for her new body.
With a single beat of her wings, she took off like a shot.
“WHOAH!” she screamed as she tried frantically to stop herself. Her desperate movements only sped her flight in haphazard way. If any had seen her flying right now, they would have thought her drunk.
As she flew she noticed she was heading straight for the side of a tall skyscraper. “No, no, nonononono!” She held her forelegs up over her face.
On instinct her wings adjusted and she shot straight up the tall building. She was close enough that she could feel the surface of the glass brushing against her shadowy fur. As she cleared the building, she tried desperately to land. However, she realized that she was still coming in too fast and she flailed her legs to try to stop herself. She hit the top of the roof and went tumbling across its rough surface before finally coming to a stop.
She groaned as she got back to her hooves. “That could have gone better,” she muttered, then slapped her hoof over her muzzle as she spoke aloud, still shocked at hearing her voice distorted with Nevermore’s.
‘And you were born a pegasus?’ she heard Nevermore’s sarcastic question in her head.
“Hey! This is a lot harder than I’d thought it would be.”
‘Did you think adjusting to a tenfold increase in your speed would be easy? Take it slow, until you get at least some understanding of what you’re capable of.’
She stamped a hoof to the ground irritably. “I did take it slow!”
‘Then take it slower. Also, watch what you’re doing, stomping around and all that. Look below you.’
She looked down where she had stomped her hoof on the roof, and her jaw dropped as she realized that there was now a sizable depression in the surface, with cracks had spider-webbed out from it.
Slumping to her haunches, she looked at her front hooves in near horror. “D-did I do that?”.
‘Ten fold strength increase, remember?’ Nevermore said dryly. ‘Remember, when in this form, you're no ordinary pony. What was a gentle pat would now be a heavy punch. What was once a casual flight, is now the speed of a racing pony. You have to learn to adjust.’
She settled her hooves to the roof again and slumped. “It… it’s a lot to take in…”
‘It is, I admit, but it’s the deal we made. It’s beneficial to both of us.’
She looked up to the nighttime sky, her pure-yellow eyes searching the dark canvas above. “Am I really all that powerful?”
‘To a degree. Those that have spent their lives towards working their strength and speed likely still outmatch you, even with my help. And your nation's princesses are a class of their own. You’d be no match for them…’
She lowered her head, trying to focus on Nevermore’s presence. “Did you just hesitate?”
‘It’s nothing. You still have hours yet in this form, and the more practice you get in, the better. Let’s get above these buildings so we don’t have to worry about any more structural damage.’
She looked towards the depression again and stood. “Yeah, you’re right.” She spread her wings out again to take off.
‘Softly!’ he said intently.
Mumbling in irritation at the nagging voice, she gave her wings the softest of beats she could muster.
She barely got more than a few inches off the ceiling.
He sighed in exasperation. ‘A bit more than that.’
She muttered a curse at him and flapped her wings a bit harder. She found that given minimal effort, she had gotten a few feet off the ground.
This time, when she flapped her wings, she found that it only took minor shifts in balance to keep herself steady. She was happy to still feel the wind shift through her fur and mane as she flew, it was a feeling that she and all pegasi loved. It reminded her of the days she and her—
‘Quit daydreaming and pay attention!’
She gasped and tilted her wings, narrowly avoiding a building at the last moment. “Can’t I at least think for myself?” she snapped at the spirit.
‘Not while in this form. All it takes is one incident, and something, or someone, could get hurt. This isn’t a simple glide around the park.’
She snorted indignantly. “It could be.”
‘Ponies…’
Before she could retort, a scream caught her attention. She looked below and saw a mare fleeing from a group of larger ponies down an alleyway. As gloomy as it was, her eyes were able to see quickly that the thugs had red bandannas on their brows or around their legs.
“The Reds,” she hissed.
‘The who?’
“The Reds. They’re a gang of street thugs who hurt others for fun. They’re everywhere in Manehattan.”
‘And this concerns us… how?’
She was taken aback by the callousness in his tone. “We can’t leave her to those thugs! They’ll hurt her, or worse!”
‘Not our problem. I’ve still got a number of things to teach you about these powers.’
She banked sharply, swooping down towards the ponies below her. “I’m not leaving her!”
‘You’ll get yourself killed,’ Nevermore said flatly.
“It wouldn’t be the first time!” She tucked her wings in and dove down at the thugs.
The mare was screaming for help, knocking aside trash cans in her desperate attempt to escape, and just as one of the thugs was about to bring a knife to bear, a sudden crash from behind, followed by the banging of trash cans rolling around, caused him to whirl to face it. Where a collection of garbage cans had been standing, a weird, black thing was sitting, rubbing its head and groaning.
“Okay… bad idea…” Swirling mumbled to herself.
‘I warned you,’ said Nevermore.
“What the buck are you supposed to be?” the thug demanded, brandishing his knife at her.
Swirling looked to the thugs, who were all glaring at her, blades and improvised weapons at the ready. “Uh…” She looked down at herself for a moment, then back at the thugs. “Good question…”
The thugs jumped back at the sound of her otherworldly voice. “It’s a freak! Kill it!”
One thug rushed forward, bringing a lead pipe above his head, and brought it down at her. She gasped and rolled away, the pipe sending bits of trash everywhere.
“Okay, first off, rude!” she shouted at the Reds as she got back to her hooves. “Second, I’m a pony! I just… look… weird right now.”
‘Why are you trying to reason with them?’
“Because—”
Another of the thugs jumped her from behind, wrapping his forelegs around her and lifting her up. “I got it! Kill it now!”
The Red with the knife brought his blade to bear and stabbed her in the chest. She screamed in fear as the blade plunged down. She was just as shocked as the Red was when the blade was turned aside; she felt only the smallest of pricks to her skin. The shadows swirled around the blade, taking it and tossing it away, much to the shock of Swirling Line and the Reds.
“What the?!” they said in unison.
‘I am not about to let you die that easily.’
“Thank you, Nevermore…” Swirling said under her breath.
‘Now quit playing and do something.’
Not having to be told twice, she kicked her hind leg upward, catching the blade wielder in the stomach. The blow sent the stocky pony flying down the alleyway, he landed hard and groaned in pain as he held his barrel, gasping for breath.
Before the Red holding her could react, she smacked the back of her head into his muzzle. While she felt only a slight tap, his nose was crushed under the blow, eliciting a shriek of pain from him.
The third Red, who had been keeping his distance after Swirling’s dramatic arrival, braced himself as she made her way to him. Swirling had to admit, she felt good doing this. Releasing a lot of pent-up aggression on thugs like this was one heck of a stress reliever! Without thinking twice about it, she charged at the third Red.
Suddenly, the world turned upside down as she saw a rotten old banana peel fly up into her vision, and she fell flat on her back, looking up at the cloudy night sky above.
She heard what sounded like snickering. ‘Did you just get outsmarted by a banana peel?’
“Shut up, Nevermore,” she muttered.
The third Red wasted no time in pouncing on her and landing a blow to her face with his hoof. While Nevermore’s power did protect her from feeling too much pain, it still stung considerably. And he kept wailing on her, looking to make sure this freak didn’t get back up.
‘All right, this is just getting embarrassing,’ the shadow spirit complained. ‘Hang on.’ Without warning, Swirling’s body suddenly sank into the ground, completely vanishing from sight. The Red gasped in surprise as the thing he was beating on just disappeared.
“What? Where did it go?”
As if to answer, the black, pony-shaped creature flew out of a wall, pouncing on him and bashing his head against the opposite wall, knocking him out cold.
The final Red looked to his downed companions and back at the shadowy freak with fear. With a scream, he turned and tore back down the alleyway and into the streets.
‘That was probably the smartest one of the bunch.’
Swirling ignored the dry comment and turned towards the cowering mare. The pony was looking at her with wide, terrified eyes, shaking uncontrollably
Swirling offered her a hoof up. “Are you all right? You’re not hurt ar—”
“Stay away from me!” The mare scrambled backwards, knocking aside trash cans and other refuse.
Swirling’s eyes went wide in shock. “Wait! I-I’m not going to hurt you!”
“Help! Guards! Someone!” The mare scrambled back to her hooves and ran away as fast as her legs could carry her.
‘That went well, all things considered.’
“Do you ever shut up!?” she shouted angrily at the birdlike spirit. She was about to go after the mare, but stopped when she heard one of the thugs groan. She turned to him, seeing that it was the one whose nose she had broken.
“Wha… what are you?” he asked, his voice broken and nasally.
She stared at the Red for a few moments, honestly not sure how to answer that. She looked away for a moment, thinking to herself for a while. Just then, an idea came to mind. One she hadn’t had since she was just a little filly playing pretend in the schoolyard. She looked back at the Red, narrowing her featureless yellow eyes in what she hoped would be an intimidating manner.
“If the police or the guards don’t get you, then let all your friends know about what happened here tonight.” She hoped her voice was intimidating enough to make the Red more frightened than he already was. “This city doesn’t belong to you anymore. From now on, Manehattan has a new protector. Tell all your friends my name. I am… uh…” She trailed off. What should she call herself? She looked over her appearance again, then back at the thug, who was now more confused than afraid.
‘Just tell him your name and get it over with.’
“I can’t do that! He’d get more Reds and try to beat me senseless in my own home!”
The thug stared at her with a raised eyebrow. “Are… you… talking to yourself?”
“No!” She snapped at the Red, who stepped back in surprise. Swirling ran a hoof over her face, cursing the stupid raven spirit thing now living in her skull. At that thought, she perked up, an idea finally coming to mind. “I’ve got it!” She quickly returned to the stoic pose she had before getting sidetracked. “I am the Raven. Let all your criminal pals know that I’m watching these streets from here on out.”
With that, she rapidly took off into the sky, shooting through the air like a bullet, leaving a very confused Red with his unconscious companions.
“What the buck just happened?” he asked himself, as he clutched at his broken nose. He growled angrily. “Freak is gonna pay for this.”
-o-
‘You’re an idiot.’
Swirling was taken aback by Nevermore’s sudden comment as she returned home through her window. She hadn’t expected such an instant insult.
“What? I beat those jerks, and that mare got away safely, albeit she was terrified. I think that went well.”
‘You were outsmarted by a banana peel,’ he said bluntly, making the mare physically flinch. ‘Keep up crap like that, and you’re going to die again. And this time, I won’t be able to bring you back.’
“So I’ll be more careful next time,” she replied as she made her way to her bathroom, looking into the mirror to see her shadowy, yellow-eyed form once again. She closed her eyes, and, as Nevermore had instructed earlier, willed away the shadow form. When opened her eyes again, she was back to her bright, two-toned self again, much to her great relief.
“By the way,” she said, finding the image of Nevermore in her mirror again, perched atop the faucet like before. “How did you do that… thing earlier? Making me disappear like that?”
“Shadow travel,” the black bird answered. “All shadow spirits are capable of traveling through shadows at blinding speeds. We can give the same ability to our hosts. Be warned, if you use it yourself, you’ll only able to travel through shadows that are connected to each other. If two shadows aren’t connected, you’ll need to hop out of one to get to the other.”
“Okay, rapid travel through shadows and junk. Got it. Add that to the ever-growing list of powers that you’ve given me.”
The spirit nodded. “There’s still more where that came from, but we’ve done enough for tonight. Go to bed, get some sleep, and be ready for long nights in the near future.”
Her shoulders slumped at his words. Long nights meant for less sleep and less time with her art, but when she reflected back on the mare she saved, she realized that it had felt good to have rescued her. Even with how the mare had reacted, she still felt pleased with herself. As she readied herself for bed, she felt bone tired from the exertion. When she settled into her bed, a slow smile crossed her face as she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
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AWESOME!!!
5247463 Thanks!
Chapter three is well underway, expect it soon!
Might or might not?
Really, ramen and microwaves?
5321177 First, thanks for bringing that mistake to my attention.
Second, yes, ramen and microwaves. Come on, the technology of Equestria has always been inconsistent. They have arcade cabinets (confirmed by the episode "Hearts and Hooves Day"), but no cars or even washing machines, for crying out loud. Plus, I'm pretty sure that they at least have a variant of ramen noodles, even if it's not made with the same ingredients.
5322143
You're welcome.
I tend to think that authors ought to stick to a degree of consistency. That consistency should not be maintaining existing inconsistency. It's especially frustrating when fanfic writers in this fandom seem to ignore obvious problems that would make it hard for ponies, who have hooves, to create or operate human technology. Admittedly, some degree of rug sweeping is necessary to make almost any story work because, aside any other issues, a real horse or pony's hoof offers none of the dexterity of the human hand.
For what it's worth, I don't recall the arcade cabinet and that seems a bit ridiculous too. A particular problem that I see, beyond electricity is sophisticated technology of any sort. Considering that only unicorns, and probably only a percentage thereof could aspire to real dexterity of a sort I imagine that certain things are unlikely to be invented and, for other reasons, including manufacturing difficulties, would be unlikely to be common and widespread. Pre-made, pre-packaged ramen noodles would be vastly unlikely because of the need of machinery to mass produce the noodles in the first place much less the preparation and packaging steps. I doubt a microwave would even exist and would be costly to install/setup/operate for a non-unicorn, particularly one of limited means.
That said, any other unlikely technology that you deem to be present?
5324134 I'll just say that we won't be seeing TVs or computers in this story anytime soon, unless their existence is also confirmed by the show or comics. Honestly, though, I can't argue with your logic
(mostly because I'm lazy), but for the sake of consistency - at least, in this story - we're assuming they have ramen and microwaves, albeit, less advanced, and likely powered by something other than electricity - not necessarily magic, though it's a possibility, I suppose.5324160
I would like to point out that it's unlikely that anything other than magic will be capable of emitting precisely controlled microwave pulses. A different, non-magical, repeatable method of reheating might work, but it wouldn't be a microwave. Otherwise electricity would have to exist to allow a microwave to work.
I assume you have taken at least high-school physics, but I could be wrong. This -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave is important information.
P.S.
When we say 'microwave' it's an abbreviation of 'microwave oven'.
5324592 Fine. It's magic, then. And yes, I'm aware of what we're talking about.
5324134 I do have to ask, you are trying to apply logic in a world of pastel-colored ponies, in a magical land of impossibilities, whose jobs range from farming, to construction (with heavy machinery) to controlling the weather and raising the sun and the idea of a microwave is too much?
I'm not sure how to process that.
5324592
5327577 THANK YOU.
5324134
5324592
As far as I've been able to tell, they're around the Atomic Age in terms of technology. Twilight's computer from "Feeling Pinkie Keen" Seems to be the sort that would be used by high-profile scientists around the late '60's and early '70's, which is also when the first arcade machines were being introduced. I'm also fairly certain they have electricity; the dam from "Mysterious Mare-Do-Well" seemed to be the hydroelectric sort. I think that the reason they don't drive around cars or fly jets is because of their strong connection to nature. The effects of pollution would be far more noticeable to them, and there are more ponies whose livelihoods rely on a clean environment. The only inconsistency with this theory is the train. Coal-fired steam trains are more environmentally harmful than diesel, and with less power to boot.
What bothers me the most is actually the use of utensils. So far as I've seen, ponies either use magic to eat or simply reach forward and take a bite. For instance, in "A Bird in the Hoof," Applejack fretted over proper behavior at a formal meal. Although she was very concerned about what order in which to eat (eventually deciding not to eat at all), she has no concern whatsoever about using utensils, as she indecisively reaches for the food with her mouth. If they wouldn't use forks and knives around royalty, I can't imagine when they'd ever use cutlery.
I can see him reporting to his boss: "There is a crazy mare with superpowers out in the street! Seriously! She even talks to herself!"
