Shadow Men: Where Light Can't Touch

by DragonsHeart

Chapter 2 - Casting Shadows (Unedited)

Author's Note:

Like the last chapter this chapter is mostly talking.
The next chapter I promise will hopefully be more interesting.
Maybe you should wait until I write it before you read this chapter.
Anyway enjoy... plz don't hate me also give feedback
Also still looking for a semi-reliable editor to help me make this story.
Also this song makes me think about my story.

It has been a few weeks since the massacre at Stars Swirl the Bearded University and news of it has spread all over Equestria and the known world like wild fire. Somehow it leaked that the monster may still be about and the effects of that news can be seen everywhere. Ponies are too scared to go out at night and more guards have been posted to the smaller town to protect them. The mental health institute where Flickering Shadows is being taken care of has to have extra security to protect her from the press wanting to talk to her. In the meantime Twilight had spent the weeks trying to translate the two books… she hasn’t got far.

Twilight yells in frustration as she crumples up another attempt to translate one of the pages. She throws the paper on a large pile of other crumpled paper. It is quite high.

“Twilight, if you keep going at this rate we’re going to run out of paper again,” states the small dragon called Spike.

“Do YOU want to try and translate it?” she replies, irritably.

“No thanks,” he says, shaking his head, “Why don’t you just give up and use a translation spell.”

“Because, Spike, even translation spell would get confused by this language and most likely destroy the book,” growls Twilight.

“Well Celestia did tell you it would be better to let her scribes deal with it,” he says, placing more paper on Twilight’s desk.

“I wish I did,” agrees Twilight, “No wonder Celestia and Luna never bothered to learn it. It is nearly impossible!”

“Well duh. Any language that incorporates both the tone, mood and facial tones of the speaker is got to be hard,” Spike states.

“The race must not have been able convey emotion any other way,” guesses Twilight, “They must have been very bright.”

“Or possibly alien because only one place in all of Equus has this writing ever been found,” adds Spike, who looked this up, “Don’t you think that’s weird.”

“I don’t really have time to work out the origins of this language, Spike, I have translate this,” dismisses Twilight, “I believe this book is all about the monster’s kind.”

“Isn’t the other book Catalyst journal?” comments Spike.

“Yes, that’s right,” answers Twilight.

“And how much of the other book have you translated again?” asks Spike.

Twilight looks embarrassed. “Around twenty,” she says, sheepishly.

“Great, at this rate it will be years before you finish,” Spike says sarcastically, throwing up his hands in frustration.

“Hey, it is really hard!” pouts Twilight.

“Just suck up your pride and send them back to Celestia, so her scribes can do it,” states Spike, “It will be much faster if a bunch of ponies are doing it.”

Twilight has to agree with Spike. She never realized how hard this languages is to translate. It was supposed to have taken Catalyst five years of study before he could read it without help and another ten years to learn to write it. Before Twilight can doubt herself anymore her friends come in.

“Morning Twilight, you asked for us?” asks Pinkie.

“Yeah, good morning,” replies Twilight, who had asked them to come over yesterday.

“So what have you found out from the books?” asks Rainbow Dash.

“Not much,” Twilight answers, embarrassed.

“Well tell us what you found anyway, dear,” comments Rarity.

“Well… the monster comes from another plane of existence like the abyss, but parallel and mirroring our own. It mentions that a few races of creatures live there, but I believe I know which one was summoned,” explains Twilight.

“What is called?” asks Fluttershy.

“I haven’t been able to properly translate that yet,” answers Twilight, “Apparently the words used in its name has a lot of other meanings, I haven’t been able to guess the right one.”

“But how do you know which one was summoned?” asks Rarity.

“Because I believe that this book is mostly about this race,” explains Twilight, holding up the book, “The name is mentioned all the time.”

“So what do we know about them?” asks Applejack.

“Well that they have three levels of power, they are immune to magic and they can’t be killed, only be sent back to their own plane of existence,” runs off Twilight.

“So what’s with the three levels thing?” asks Rainbow Dash.

“I haven’t finished translating that part,” Twilight says, rubbing the back of her neck, “All I know is that the two highest levels have titles. The top one is an Aspect and the middle one is a Ghost.”

“So they are also immune to magic then?” asks Rarity.

“I think feeds on magic is a better word,” Twilight corrects, “They plane is full of unstable magic apparently and for most of the creatures that exist there magic is a small part of their diet and thus they are immune to it.”

“I see… what is the rest of their diet?” asks Rarity.

“I don’t know yet,” replies Twilight.

“You’re just full of answers,” comments Rainbow Dash, sarcastically, “What have been doing for the last few weeks?”

“Reading the translation guides actually,” snaps Twilight, putting her hoof on a large book on her desk.

“No offence Twilight, but you read books that big all the time, how come it took you so long?” asks Applejack.

Twilight frowns and places another book on top of the other one.

“That still not muc…” Rainbow Dash pause, as Twilight places another book on the pile, and another, and another. The girls watch as Twilight makes a huge pile of books, there seems to be nearly thirty of them.

“That what I spent most of the time reading,” pants Twilight, “All 28 volumes of it!”

“Sorry Twilight, I didn’t know,” replies Rainbow Dash, shocked, looking at the huge pile.

“I doesn’t matter anyway, that is not the reason I ask you all to come here last night,” explains Twilight.

“Then why did you call us?” asks Pinkie, curious.

“Yesterday I have just heard that homicide has sent back the dead bodies of the Flower family and I wanted to go attended their funeral,” states Twilight.

“Why would you want to go to their funeral?” asks Applejack, confused.

“Because I want to see if there was any special reason that they were used for the ritual,” explains Twilight, “Did you know their town is near the Unicorn Range. That is on the other side of Canterlot to Foal Mountain.”

“Your point is?” asks Rainbow Dash, not getting it.

“My point is that that is a long way to go just to get somepony to sacrifice and I wonder if there was some special reason why they were used,” answers Twilight, starting to remove the books from desk.

“So why call us?” Fluttershy asks, confused.

“I’m just telling you where I will be gone for the next few days,” Twilight explains, “I will be taking the overnight train this afternoon and tomorrow taking the afternoon train back.”

“Oh, oh, can I come too, I love train trips,” calls Pinkie, hopping on the spot excitably.

“I’m not frightfully busy either,” adds Rarity, “I could use the trip to gather inspiration for my next line up.”

“You do know you are going to funeral,” comments Applejack.

“I know and I have a wonderful black dress I’ve wanted to try out,” replies Rarity, happily. Applejack just rolls her eyes.

“You girls don’t have to come,” Twilight says, not wanting to bother them.

“Don’t worry about it, Twilight, we offered to,” reassure Rarity, Pinkie nodding in agreement.

Twilight smiles and looks at the rest of the girls.

“Sorry Twilight, but I will busy for the next few days with farm,” apologies Applejack.

“I will also be busy, Twilight… sorry,” apologies Fluttershy.

“Let see, going on a long and boring trip to watch a funeral isn’t my idea of fun, Twilight,” comments Rainbow Dash, “I will pass.”

“Don’t worry about it girls. I originally planned to go by myself anyway. I guess it will be just three of us,” Twilight says, looking at Pinkie and Rarity, “You can go home and pack, while I will organize two more tickets for this afternoon.”

“Will Spike be coming with us,” Rarity asks, noticing that the dragon must have left at one point during their conversation.

“No, he will stay here and hold the fort and relay any message that comes for me,” explains Twilight.

“From who, dear,” asks Rarity.

“I have asked Celestia, Hard Facts and Iron-Sight to inform me of any new developments that may appear,” explains Twilight.

“I see,” replies Rarity, “Well I better start packing. Come Pinkie, we need to find a black dress for you.”

“Okie dokie lokie,” Pinkie says, following Rarity as they leave the room.

Twilight turns towards the three remaining girls. “Please, you must send for me if the monster appears, I just have a feeling in my guts that it is still out there somewhere,” begs Twilight.

“Don’t worry, Twilight,” reassures Applejack, “Celestia placed guards around Ponyville to protect it, we will be fine.”

Twilight doesn’t feel reassured. They didn’t see how easily the monster cut down the guards.

“Well, we better get going now,” comments Applejack, “We will see you off at the station.”

“Ok, see you later,” Twilight says, smiling as her friends leave.

---

Twilight walks back and forth on the station, waiting for her friends and the train. Her friends arrived first. Pinkie first then Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and finally Spike carrying Rarity’s luggage. The trains also appears in the distance. Everything is on time.

“Jeez Rarity,” comments Applejack, looking at the pile of Rarity’s luggage, “Packed enough? I mean you will only be gone for two nights.”

“A lady must always be prepared,” Rarity replies.

“Thanks for coming to see us off,” Twilight thanks, as their train pulls in.

“What kind of friends would we be if we didn’t?” Rainbow Dash smiles.

“Bad ones,” answers Pinkie, with a goofy grin on her face.

“We better get on the train now,” suggests Rarity.

Twilight, Pinkie and Rarity climb on-board the train, Twilight taking the luggage off Spike. They wave goodbye to their friends who return it as the train leaves the station, soon they lose sight of them.

“So what is the plan, Twilight?” asks Pinkie.

“Well tomorrow morning we will reach their town and we will attend their funeral that starts at 10am, after it is over we will ask our questions,” explains Twilight.

The girls spend the following hours doing their own things. Pinkie goofs off, Rarity works on some black dresses and Twilight reads through one of the translation guides she brought.

“Listen to this. It says under here certain conditions one word in this languages can mean hate and love both at the same time,” Twilight explains.

“That sounds weird,” comments Rarity, putting down the dress she is working. “Did you manage to bring a black dress, Twilight?”

Twilight looks shocked. “I forgot all about that,” Twilight says, starting to panic.

“Don’t worry I brought a spare dress just in case,” states Rarity, holding up the dress she was working on. “Try it on so I can see if it fits.”

“What about Pinkie, does she have a dress?” Twilight asks, taking the dress.

“I have already fitted Pinkie this morning, now hurry up,” hurries Rarity.

The three girls spent the rest of the day, messing around with dresses until they went to bed.

---

The next morning is cloudy as they arrive in the large town of Grazing Hill and got off. After dropping off their luggage at a storages place at the station, they got dressed and headed to the funeral, which is being held at the Town Hall. The outside is quite crowded, it seems most of town has gathered. Ponies funnelled through the front door, paying respect to the two mares by the door, who must be the Flower families relatives. The girls wait at the back of the crowd and greet the two last.

“Hello,” says one of the mares next to the doors, “Thanks for coming and you are? I don’t recognizes you from town.”

“I’m Twilight Sparkle and these are my friends, Rarity and Pinkie Pie, we are taking part in the investigation into the families death, and we thought we might pay our respect, as well ask some questions,” explains Twilight.

“Princess Twilight!” she says, shocked, “Sorry I didn’t recognize you. I’m Gemma Flower, Ferrum’s older sister and this my wife Singing Grace Flower.”

The girls look at the two mares. Gemma is an earth-pony and looks good for somepony that must be in her fifties, her messy spiky mane is a ruby red with a sapphire blue coloured streak running down the middle, her coat is jet black and her eyes are an emerald green. Singing Grace is a pegasus and looks a lot younger and prettier then Gemma, she looks around the same age as Twilight, her long curly hair is a bright silver, her coat is snowy white and her eyes are a bright pink. She reminds the girls of a doll.

“And this is our daughter Sparkling-Diamond Flower,” says Singing Grace, in a beautiful silky voice, showing a young filly that is hiding behind her.

Sparkling Diamond is a unicorn and has Gemma’s coat and Singing Grace’s hair, but Gemma messy style and her eyes are an amethyst purple. She looks like she has been crying a lot.

“The deaths of her only cousins hit her pretty hard,” explains Singing Grace.

“I see,” replies Twilight.

“Doesn’t she have any more cousins?” asks Pinkie.

“No, we are the last of the Flowers,” states Singing Grace, “Gemma’s parents passed away four years ago peacefully and they had no brothers or sisters.”

“I will hopefully be able answer any questions you have,” Gemma says, “But it will have to wait until after the funeral.”

“We never wanted anymore,” replies Twilight.

They head inside the funeral followed by the last of the Flowers. The funeral starts. Pinkie cried through the whole thing. It seems like nearly everypony there went up to and said something nice about the family.

“They were a good neighbour.”

“They were good friends.”

“It won’t be the same without them.”

“We will miss them.”

They went on and on. Their deaths have really effected the town. It made the girls wonder if when they die, will it be the same for them? How does the remaining Flower family feel about this? Are they heart-broken like Sparkling Diamond is? And why would they be picked for this disaster to happen to them? Out of all the families in Equestria they sound one of least deserving of this.

Soon the two large coffins and the one small coffin are carried out and taken to the graveyard. As they walk to the graveyard, Rarity thought she sees somepony standing by the grave holes, but when she blinks it is gone. The three coffins are lowered into the holes, two big and one small. They throw dirt into the holes and then fill them up. The ponies all lay flowers on the three gravestones and a cenotaph dedicated to Joy Flower, whose body was never found. The final words are spoken, the final goodbyes. Tears are shed and as ponies share their woes. Then everypony leaves and goes back to their life, as best as they can. Soon only the girls and the Flower Family remain. Singing Grace is trying very hard to calm down the crying Sparkling Diamond, who bawling her eyes out, while Gemma places a picture on Joy Flowers cenotaph. It shows the whole Flower Family, all seven of them gathered together at a picnic, smiling.

“I see that they are really going to be missed,” Twilight says to Gemma, while wiping a tear out of her eye. Behind her Rarity tries to calm down their bawling Pinkie.

“They were good ponies and they are missed,” replies Gemma, angrily, obviously upset. She then pulls out a piece of paper and writes down an address on it and hands it to Twilight, “This is where we are staying. It is my late brother’s home. We will meet there, yes?”

Twilight nods. The two parties leave, both carrying off their respected bawling member, just as the havens start to cry.

After they leave a pony covered in totally black robes appears next to Joy’s cenotaph. Its face is covered by a curved mask with a sad face on it. The rain pours down the pony’s robes and mask, not able to wet it. It grabs the picture on the cenotaph before it can get wet and places it carefully into its robes. The robed pony then disappears, leaving four new flowers on the graves and cenotaph.

---

The girls walk through the town towards the Flower’s house, umbrellas overhead.

“I’m just singing in the rain, just singing in the rain…” sings Pinkie, skipping through the puddles.

“Nothing gets Pinkie down for long does it,” comments Twilight, sighing.

“You know Pinkie, dear,” replies Rarity.

There is a silence, besides Pinkie’s singing, until Rarity breaks it.

“I believe I recognized Gemma from a magazine I read awhile back,” comments Rarity.

“Really, who is she?” asks Twilight.

“I believe she’s a very important pony in the entertainment business in Manehattan,” answers Rarity, “I believe there was some sort of uproar at something she did in the last ten years, involving a relationship I believe.”

“Well there looks like there’s a pretty big age gap between the two,” comments Twilight.

“WE ARE HERE!” calls Pinkie, appearing behind them.

The house in front of them is a very simple two storey house with a well looked after garden. Twilight knocks on the door, which is answered by Singing Grace.

“Oh good you’re here,” she says, opening the door wider, “Please come in out of the rain.”

The girls walks in.

“It is nice to know that a Princess is looking into why my step-brother’s family was taken like this,” she says, taking their coats.

“Your welcome,” replies Twilight, “No pony deserved to be used like that.”

“Where you close to the Flower family, Singing Grace?” asks Rarity.

“They were the only one that accepted my relationship with Gemma,” she explains, smiling, “My family disinherited me, you know.”

“how dreadful,” says Rarity.

“It doesn’t really matter,” replies Singing Grace, “Ferrum also let me hide here while I was pregnant with Sparkling Diamond, until the press calmed down.”

“Ok, that’s enough,” says Gemma, walking in, “Can you check on our daughter, dear?”

Singing Grace gives the girls a parting smile and leaves the room. Kissing Gemma on the cheek on the way past.

“Sorry I couldn’t answer the door, I was dealing with Sparkling Diamond,” explains Gemma.

“It is ok, Singing Grace, was good company,” assures Rarity.

“How did you score someone so young?” asks Pinkie, earning a glare form both her friends.

Gemma just smiles. “I think she would say she scored me,” she explains, “I run a model and talent agency back in Manehattan…”

“That where I heard of you,” interrupts Rarity, “The Precious Gems model and talent agency, one of Manehatten’s best agencies. Famous not for following the trends, but making them!”

Gemma chuckles. “I see our reputation proceeds me,” Gemma says, walking into another room, followed by the girls, “Singing Grace was one of our singers and models. I became her agent to escape from all of the desk work. She was about fifteen when we first met. After a while she started to pursue me, but being totally ignorant to love I totally missed it. It wasn’t until we were stuck in a hotel together that I noticed that she had the hots for me…. now that was a shock I can tell you. I was in my mid-forties by then and was long out of my prime, but apparently she had liked me even before we meet and was inspired by me from a young age and always wanted to join my agency and was thrilled when she got in, even more so when I became her agent.” She pauses and looks embarrassed, “Sorry, I rambling.”

“No, don’t stop, it was getting interesting,” says Rarity, who loved a good romance story.

Gemma smiles and continues, “Well of course I refused her, there was nearly three decades of age different between us. But she didn’t stop and kept trying and eventually I gave in. That was the best and most stressful time of my life, dating a teenager in secret. It wasn’t until she was nineteen that she became more open with our relationship. The press of course found out and made a huge deal out of it, and then she was disinherited by her family. I then married her to help protect her. Then a year later she got pregnant and then the media was up our arses again and I had to send her away to protect her from them.”

“Yes, she told us about that. She stayed here, right?” comments Rarity.

“Yeah, well after it died down, I sent for her to come back and the rest is history,” finishes Gemma.

“How on earth did your agency survive through that?” asks Twilight.

“We have weathered far worst,” answers Gemma, “Some ponies left because they were disgusted, but more ponies joined. In the end it was all good publicity, everypony loves a good love story.”

“That is all very interesting,” comments Twilight, “But I want to hear about the other Flower family.”

“Sorry got distracted,” Gemma apologizes, “What do want to know?”

“Was there anything special about them?” asks Twilight.

“Not really. They were kind, good-natured and friendly, a typical earth-pony family,” answers Gemma, switching into a more professional tone.

“What were their professions?” asks Twilight.

“Ferrum was the town’s blacksmith and Fair Daisy was a florist,” answers Gemma.

“So there was nothing unusual about them?” asks Twilight.

“Nope, they were just a loving earth-pony couple,” explains Gemma.

“What about their kids?” asks Twilight.

“Quick-jump was just a normal nine-year old kid, nothing unusual about him,” answers Gemma.

“What about Joy?” asks Rarity, noticing she hasn’t mentioned her.

Gemma bites her lips and looks around nervously. “Well she was a bit special…” she concedes, nervously, looking like she wanted not to talk about her.

“In what way?” asks Twilight, hopeful.

“Well, she was very bright and attractive,” explains Gemma, “With her looks, brains and her voice she could have gotten a job nearly anywhere… beside an athletics career, she sucked at PE. She was considered perfect in every subject beside sports. She made friends where ever she went and she had a large group of ponies that loved her in a romantic way, although she turned them all down and always offered to be friends instead. I offered her a job at my agency for when she graduated, but she wanted to follow an academic career.”

“She sounds very special… and had a huge friend zone,” comments Pinkie.

“But why are you nervous about talking about her,” asks Twilight.

“Well…” Gemma starts and then sighs, “I will have to start at the beginning. When she was seven her pet bunny was eaten by a fox. My brother and his wife in panic hid this from her. Needless to say she got really upset and ran away from home. They later found her asleep with a fever, she had hidden in cave near the edge of town. When they carried her home and found out she had earned her cutie-mark… that was when all the trouble began.”

“What do you mean?” asks Twilight, confused, “What was her cutie-mark.”

“Follow me,” Gemma asks, walking into another room, it is somepony’s room. She opens a draw and pulls out a portfolio, “She didn’t know how she got her mark and her parents were baffled. When they asks what happened she explained that she meet a tall man in a black, white and grey world and it made her tears go away. They guessed that it was vison caused by her fever, but they still didn’t know what the mark meant.” She hands the girls the portfolio, “I offered to have experts in Manehattan look at the mark and they accepted. This the results.”

The girls look at the picture of the mark. It was a white oval and nothing else.

“There is quite a lot of reports here,” notes Rarity.

“I can give you a rundown of what they all said… they were just as baffled,” Gemma snorts, “The best excuse there is that it may be an incomplete cutie-mark and she hasn’t quite realized her true destiny yet.”

“I don’t think that how cutie-marks works,” comments Twilight, “Couldn’t you just see what she was good at and work it out from there?”

“That was the problem, she wasn’t very good at anything,” states Gemma.

“But you said she prefect in nearly every subject?” asks Pinkie, confused.

“Yeah, but she got there by studying and hard work,” dismisses Gemma, “A cutie mark can’t make you smart.”

“But you also said she was pretty and had a good voice,” counters Twilight.

“Fair Daisy’s family was full of gorgeous mares with beautiful voices,” states Gemma, “Joy was just one in a long line of knock outs. Actually I would have been more surprised if Joy wasn’t pretty. Still can’t work out how Ferrum managed to get her to marry him,” she mumbles the last part.

“That still doesn’t explain why she wasn’t good at anything,” Rarity says, confused.

“She could only cook at a home based level. Her art skills were nothing amazing. She wasn’t that amazing at gardening. And she didn’t have great crafting skills. She was mediocre at everything she did. She only got straight As because she worked very hard to get them. She hated her cutie-mark and lack of a special talent. She got teased a lot because of it. Fillies and colts called her a real blank flank, for being talentless and for only having a white oval for cutie mark,” Gemma says, angrily, “So she tried her hardest not to be talentless and studied hard and proved that she was smart. The teasing soon stopped and she moved on in life.”

“That sounds inspirational,” comments Rarity, admiring Joy a bit.

“But in the end it doesn’t matter anymore, she’s gone now… they all are,” Gemma say, sadly. “But the cutie mark wasn’t the only think that changed about her while she was in cave,” Gemma adds.

“What do you mean?” asks Twilight, now flicking through the papers in portfolio.

“When she was young she was a huge cry baby and threw huge tantrums when she was angry, sad or didn’t get her way, but after running away she never got sad or angry again,” Gemma explains.

“What happened?” asks Rarity.

“We don’t know. When she was young she always said that the tall men keep taking the feelings away. When they took her psychologist, he said she wasn’t suppressing her emotions and they shouldn’t worry and be happy that she was such a cheerful daughter,” Gemma explain, she then sighs, “But it just felt so unnatural, no matter what she would never cry or get upset and most angry she ever got was irritated. If when she was teased it didn’t bother her and never upset her.”

“What are these tall men you mentioned?” asks Twilight.

“They were just her imaginary friends, she may have just made them up to help deal with the loss of her bunny,” explains Gemma, “There is some pictures of them she drew when she was younger in the portfolio.”

The girls pulls out a few crayon drawings. They show tall figures, that stand on their hind legs and look to Twilight a lot like humans, only they had claws and are totally black. They heads are smudged by what looks like… coffee.

“Did anypony else know about this?” asks Twilight.

“Nope, it was kept among our family,” states Gemma.

Twilight thinks about this. If it was just kept just among the family, then the ponies that made the circle can’t have known about this. So even though it is weird it can’t be the reason why they were chosen… she was drawing a blank.

“Nothing else?” asks Twilight, hoping for more.

“Nothing else comes to mind… sorry,” replies Gemma.

Twilight sighs, “Thanks for the help, Gemma, you given us plenty to work on and we won’t trouble you further.”

“It is no problem. It is the least I can do for them now that they’re gone. I just hope I helped,” replies Gemma.

“You did, but can I have you address in case I need you to answer some more question or you find something else to tell me,” asks Twilight.

“Sure let me get my card,” Gemma says, grabbing her wallet.

They exchange address and leave, saying goodbye to the remaining members of the Flower family. They went to the station, picked up their luggage and waited for the train back to Ponyville. Soon they were aboard the train and heading home.

“Did you get anything from the trip, Twilight,” asks Rarity, laying on one of the seats.

“Not really,” sighs Twilight, pacing the up and down the carriage, “I believe they were just picked by random.”

“Oh yeah!” shouts Pinkie, appearing from the luggage’s rake, “What about this!” She then shoves two pictures into their faces.

“Pinkie, this the picture that Natural took at the University,” states Rarity, looking at the body of the pale pony.

“And this is the picture of Joy’s cutie-mark… you stole it!?” yells Twilight, shocked.

“Nope,” says Pinkie, shaking her head, “Made a copy.”

“Oh, that is all right then, but you should have asked for permission…” Twilight say, looking back at the picture. She then realized something, “Wait, how? When do you have the time to copy the picture?”

“Oh, I have my ways,” Pinkie says, smiling mysteriously.

“I don’t get what we are supposed to be seeing, dear,” asks Rarity, looking at the two pictures.

“Can’t you see the similarities in the cutie marks?” questions Pinkie.

“You mean beside they both have white ovals in their cutie marks,” asks Twilight.

“That’s it!” yells Pinkie, happily, “There the same oval in colour and shape.”

“Two problems, Pinkie,” states Twilight. “First, one has something else on it,” pointing towards the University picture and the sad face on the mark. “Second, their colours are different. Joy is very colourful and whatever jumped over the wall is not.”

“I never said it was Joy…” Pinkie says, defensibly, “But when we were discorded and the time when we lost are cutie marks we also lost our colours.”

“No we didn’t,” counters Twilight, “We only got slightly greyer, we still had our colours. For this to be Joy, she would of have to have all her colours bleached away and not aware of any magic that does that… beside a magic disguise spell and she would have to be a unicorn or at least have a unicorn nearby for that to be the case.”

“What about the cutie marks? Can they change?” asks Rarity.

“From what I know they don’t,” Twilight explains, “You get your cutie mark when you realize what you were meant to do. Not including Starlight Glimmer and her spell of course which simply removed the cutie-mark.”

“Joy didn’t know what her cutie mark meant,” states Pinkie.

“Maybe she did on a subconscious level,” guesses Twilight, “I have heard of cases where that’s the case and there are cases where ponies just forget what their cutie mark means because of a shock or a brain injury.”

“That is horrible,” comments Rarity, “What happens to them?”

“Even if they forgot I believe the magic of their cutie marks will guide them… or you could just go to a cutie mark specialist,” suggests Twilight.

“But you got to admit that the cutie marks are similar,” Pinkie says, holding the pictures up to Twilight’s face.

“I have to admit nothing,” Twilight says, pushing the pictures away, “Beside the similarities they are still different and cutie marks don’t change.”

“But…” Pinkies tries to say.

“Joy is dead, Pinkie!” growls Twilight, warning her not to continue, “They found her blood at the circle.”

Pinkie’s ears and head hang low. “I just wish one of them were alive, you know,” says Pinkie, sadly, “You didn’t see it but it hurt for Gemma to talk about Joy on a deep level.”

“I can understand that,” adds Rarity, “They never found her body and they can’t tell what happened to her. What happened to the rest of the family is horrible and would have hit them very hard, and not knowing what happened to her is even harder for it leaves it up to the imagination to guess.”

Both Twilight and Pinkie look shocked.

“That was pretty clever thing to say, Rarity,” comments Twilight.

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” huffs Rarity, glaring.

“No, what I mean to say it was clever for you,” Twilight corrects, regretting it instantly.

“Are you saying am not clever?” says the affronted unicorn.

“NO! I mean it was very deep and clever about how you understands how they must feel even though you just met them,” quickly explains Twilight.

Rarity glares at the alicorn giving an awkward smile. She then sighs and smiles back, forgiving Twilight.

“Maybe we would feel better after a night sleep,” suggests Rarity.

“Yeah I’m beat,” states Pinkie, “Going to funeral is tiring.”

Twilight just nods and heads to sleeping carriage, followed by her friends. It is getting late anyway.

As they reach the carriage, which they have all to themselves. They climb into bed and after saying good night they feel quickly to sleep.

---

The three awaken in total darkness.

“Where am I?” asks Twilight.

“Is that you, Twilight?” asks Rarity, peering into to the darkness.

“Yeah am right here,” replies Twilight.

“Is that Rarity?” asks Pinkie.

“Yes am right here,” replies Rarity, “Is that you Pinkie?”

“I don’t know, it is too dark to see,” Pinkie replies.

“That’s definitely Pinkie,” states Twilight.

“Who’s over there?” asks a familiar voice.

“Is that Rainbow Dash?” Pinkie says, recognizing the voice.

“Yeah, it’s me and I got Fluttershy and Applejack here as well,” Rainbow Dash yells, “Is Rarity and Twilight with you?”

“Yeah we are both here,” Twilight yells back, “Give me a minute.”

Twilight lights up the area around her with her horn, revealing the six friends.

“Yep, I’m here,” states Pinkie.

“How did we all get here?” asks Fluttershy.

“We just went to bed and here we are,” explains Twilight.

“Same here,” agrees Rainbow Dash. Applejack and Fluttershy nods their heads agreeing.

Suddenly the room is illuminated by many purple lights lining the walls and they found themselves in a long hallway. Behind them is a wall, there is no doors down this hallway making it a dead-end. At the other end of the long corridor it turns off to the right.

“Where are we?” Twilight asks, again.

“Maybe we are at the beginning of a maze,” suggests Pinkie.

“I hate mazes,” states Rainbow Dash, remembering their first time with Discord.

“These walls remind me of the University,” comments Applejack.

“I think it is because it’s the same sort of architecture,” states Twilight.

“Does that mean we are at the University?” Fluttershy says, scared.

“I don’t know yet, let’s found out,” Twilight says, starting out. She stops when she heard something coming from the end of the hallway. “What that..?”

Her question is answered as something huge shoots around the corner. It is black with lots of spikes, sharp teeth and claws. Twilight recognizes it.

“It’s the monster!!!” Twilight screams.

“That’s it?!?” questions Rainbow Dash, who have only heard of what it looks like by Twilight.

“What do we do??” asks Fluttershy, holding onto Rarity as the monster runs towards them.

Suddenly six bright flashes of light appears around their heads and now they wear the Elements of Harmony.

“Wait, where did they come from?” questions Twilight, confused by their sudden appearance.

“Who cares let’s use them!” yells Rainbow Dash, “Let’s see if can stand up to the power of our friendship!”

Twilight nods and closes her eyes. The rest of the girls do the same. The six start to float and streams of rainbows connect them. Twilight opens her eyes which glowed with a brilliant white light and a beam of rainbows shoots towards the monster. It disappears behind a tornado of rainbows.

“Yeah, we did it!” cheers Rainbow Dash.

“How on Equus did you manage to get our Elements of Harmony back?” Rarity asks a puzzled Twilight.

Twilight shakes her head. “I didn’t do anything, I don’t…” She gasps, a crack has appeared in Rarity necklace. “Rarity your Element is breaking!!”

Rarity looks shocked and looks down at her Element and then looks Twilight and gasps, “Your is too!!”

Twilight looks up and to her horror a bit of purple crystal falls on her nose.

“Are Elements are falling about!!!” screams Pinkie.

A voice is suddenly heard, “Magic used on one, is magic WASTED!!”

Just as the final word is spoken the Elements shatter and the tornado dissipate, revealing the monster standing there unharmed or changed. It starts moves towards them again. Its body absorbing the remaining tornado.

“It just absorbed the Elements!!” yells Rainbow Dash, realizing what happened.

“What are we going to do now, Twilight?!?” yells Applejack.

“I… I… I don’t know?” Twilight replies, losing hope. It is even immune to the powers of the Elements of Harmony, no wonder it could escape the circle.

“Getting closer!!” yells Pinkie.

The girls huddle together. Fear overtaken them. The monster now stands over them. Twilight can’t believe it will end like this, with so much question left to answer. It mouth lowers and moves towards them. The girls squeeze their eyes shut, expecting to be eaten.

“Help me…” it whispers, in a sad and nearly silent voice.

The girls open their eyes and sees the monster is gone and in it place a shadowy tall creature. It stretches a claw towards them.

“Help me…” it asks again. Its sadness pouring off its words. The girls found themselves stretching their hooves towards it, wanting to grab it.

Suddenly a chain wraps around its neck. Another went around its outstretched hand. More chains falls, trapping the creature. It tries to break the chains, but for every chain it breaks more falls. Suddenly the chain tighten and the creature is dragged backwards, towards a group of hooded ponies, who are pulling the chains.

“You’re ours!” they hiss, in an inpony voice, as they pull the creature towards them.

The creature stretches out its hand towards the girls. “Help me…” it calls to them, as it is dragged away.

The girls are about to react when the wall behind them collapses, showing a pathway hovering over an endless darkness. At the end an archway stands, a bright light glowing within it.

The voice is heard again, “Two paths. One leads down one way and one leads down the other. Both full of hardships and both have their own unique consequences. Choose one or the other before it is too late.”

The girls notice that the pathway and the hallway are starting to fall apart, falling into the Endless Darkness.

“What are we going to do?!?” yells Rainbow Dash, dodging a falling piece of stone.

“Are we going to save it or not!?” screams Pinkie, as the deafening noise of a building falling increases.

Twilight looks at the creature being dragged away and the pathway that is collapsing quickly. She takes a step on the pathway before turning around and heading towards the creature. The girls are quick to follow her. They run, jump and fly their way through the falling stones getting closer to it. They stretch out their hooves towards claw and grab it.

“Let it GO!” yells Twilight, trying to pull the creature back.

“IT IS OURS!!” they hiss back.

The creature stretches out a claw and touches Twilight’s forehead. There is a flash and the Element of Magic appears back on her head. The girls gasp as they ones return too.

“Magic unwanted is magic returned.”

“LET GO!!” warns Twilight, still holding onto the creature. Her eyes glowing white.

“NEVER!! IT IS OURS!!” they scream back.

Twilight warned them. With a blast of Rainbow she shatters the chains. The hallway behind it creature collapses and the hooded ponies fall with it. Letting off an unearthly scream as they do.

“What are going to do now?!!?” yells Rainbow Dash, looking back down the hallway which has mostly fallen away.

“We will never make it back!!” yells back Applejack, dodging a stone falling from the ceiling.

Before anypony can answer they are wrapped up in two long arms and picked up. They look up and see that the creature is holding them. Then like a bullet it shoots forwards. Leaping over holes, bouncing off walls and jumping off falling stones. The girls look behind them and to their horror see the hallway collapsing totally behind them. Up ahead the pathway that leaded to archway is gone. They are heading to a dead drop. They squeeze their eyes and wait. After the worst doesn’t happen they open them and see that they are gliding across the darkness, behind them the last of the hallway disappears.

“We are still not going to make it!!” yells Rainbow Dash. She is right. They have started to drop and the platform where the archway is still too far way.

Just then they are thrown forward. Hitting and rolling across the platform, stopping in the middle. The archways light starts to glow brighter and starts reaching out to them. The girls run to the edge to look for the creature. They find it hanging off the edge by one of its hands. It looks up at them.

“Save me…” it whispers, sadly.

“Here grab my hoof! We will pull you up!” offers Twilight urgently, stretching out a hoof.

The creature reaches out a claw, but then retracts it. It shakes its head. “No. Save me…”

“What do you mean?!” yells Twilight, “How can we save you?”

They look at the creature face and for a second they think they saw a sad pony’s face looking back.

“Save me from myself.”

With that it let go. Dropping. The darkness consuming it. Before the girls can do anything the light reaches them, dragging them back to the waking world.

---

Twilight shots up from her bed. Placing her hoof on her chest to calm her fast beating heart. She looks around and sees her friends in similar states.

“You had the dream too?” Twilight asks them.

“I think so,” replies Rarity. Pinkie nods.

“What was it about?” asks Rarity.

As is the way of dreams, they distort and disappear. Twilight is already forgetting things about it, but she remembers one thing.

“It was plea,” she states, “A plea for help.”

---

The wind flies through the robes of the hooded pony standing on the roof the train. The morning sun passing through her like a ghost, barely casting a shadow. She stands there unmoving, like a statue. She twitches slightly and then raises her head, showing her sad mask to world.

A Shadow Man have no brain and can’t sleep so dreaming is impossible for them. But Aspects can drive deep within their own thoughts and enter a dreamlike state. Totally stopping their awareness and movement, temporally deading themselves from the real world.

Sorrow likes that state. It helps her escape the problems of her own mind. The mask can only helps so much and you can only distance yourself so far from your own problems.

She notices the train is approaching a town and that means a stations. With that in mind she jumps off the train, landing lightly on her hooves. She then heads towards town. She doesn’t know what the town is called, but she doesn’t care. She needs to keep moving. She needs to keep running. She needs to escape… from herself.

Comments

[Cross Lament]

Stars Swirl the Breaded University

The tastiest of archmages.

[DragonsHeart]

6296043
Pardon me while I kill my proof-reader
Thanks for picking this up
Your profile picture really suits what you are saying.

[XYZDreadnought]

6296043 Huh, I didn't notice that

That's actually pretty funn-*gets shot*

[DragonsHeart]

6296065
Got him!
Now I need a new proof-reader

[DragonsHeart]

6372755
That is nice to know