An Undertale of Equestria

by David Silver

20 - Facing into Shadows

She drew away from me and reached under her bed, groping blindly a moment before she pulled out a box in the crook of a leg. "Here."

"What is it?" I moved around her for a better look at the box, curiosity building.

She flipped it open with a nudge of her snout, revealing a portrait among many momentos. The picture was in black and white and a little faded. "We had this taken years ago." She put a hoof on it. "Look how small me and mah sibs are... It used to be hung up, but mom got mad one day and knocked it right down. Maybe she could remember somethin'." Carefully she lifted it and offered it to me, held in her mouth by the very edge.

I accepted the picture and looked at the smiling family within. She was right, the foals of the family looked tiny and even more adorable. All of them looked happy to be there, or at least actively content. It was better than where they were then... "Alright. I'll see if this can't help shake them out of it. Thank you. They're lucky to have a daughter as devoted as you."

She blushed a little and smiled. "Don't say that. I'm so scared. Can ya really brin' them back? Please, don't hurt them, even if they get really mad."

I wondered at that. "How mad have they ever gotten before?"

She shrank back. "I don't like ta think 'bout that... Used ta get mail every week, haven't for a long time." She swirled her forehooves about one another. "'Least he got away."

I winced and turned for the stairs. "I'll be careful." I'd win. Determination was strong in me. That little girl deserved her family back, and they deserved to be free of the shadow.

I descended the stairs to find Trixie and Sweet still at the table. They were eating, but it was quiet, too quiet. No small talk was had. Nobody asked to even pass things around. The colt coughed softly and both of his parents glared him into quick silence.

They noticed me and gestured to a seat without a word. Their forms were dimmed and grey. Noon was creeping closer. Was the shadow growing stronger? I hopped up where I was pointed to and the father set a place in front of me of hastily prepared goopy fruit stuff. It didn't taste bad, but I wasn't paying too much attention to that.

It was time to act, or never at all. "Excuse me." They all turned to me in unison, looking surprised that I'd even spoken. "You don't have to live like this. We're here to help."

The colt looked briefly hopeful, but the father slammed his hoof down on the table. "Who are ya to tell us what we need help wit? This is the thanks we get fer hospitality?"

The mother put a hoof in front of him. "Now now, dear. Maybe we're misunderstanding it. What do you mean, precisely?"

Trixie raised a brow high. "He means we are here to defeat the shadow."

All four of them pushed to their hooves. The mother frowned deeply. "I'm afraid you were right, dear. They're troublemakers, come to make a mess of things."

The colt turned around and grabbed a rifle off the wall before hurling it to his father, who reared up and caught it in his forehooves. How did a pony use a rifle? He looked ready to use it. "We don't take kindly ta troublemakers, so ya best git."

Sweet blinked cluelessly at the object. "What is that?"

Trixie knew what it was and with a sudden flick of a hoof, she threw the tip of it upwards just before it was fired, a loud bang announced the arrival of a new hole in the roof of the kitchen.

I quickly turned around the picture. "I found this. You were so happy back then. Don't you want to go back to that?"

The filly jumped at me suddenly, knocking me to the ground. "How dare ya!" She grabbed the photo away and stomped it to the ground, tears starting to stream in her eyes. "How dare ya!" she repeated. "Bringing back such awful things!"

Sweet slid to her own hooves, looking more perplexed than anything else. "The food was very nice. Thank you for sharing it with me."

The mother twitched suddenly. "Yer... Ah suppose yer welcome."

Trixie didn't have the luxury of conversation as the father swung his rifle at her like a club and sent her crashing out of chair to avoid being clobbered with the makeshift melee weapon. "Stop this at once! Trixie is here to help you, you ungrateful brute."

I grabbed the filly on top of me, putting a hand on either side of her barrel. "Your sister misses you so much. Don't you want to play with her like you used to?"

She wailed and thumped me right in the chest. "Why are ya saying such mean thin's?!" The shadow swirled angrily around her as she thrashed and squirmed. "Leave me alone! All of ya, leave me alone!" She staggered back off of me with a fresh shriek as the shadow exploded out of her into a mass that writhed in the air. "Alone..." She collapsed, unconscious.

Sweet gasped with alarm. "Your foal!" She moved over to help, and the mother looked all the more confused.

"Mah daughter..." She took a slow step forward, just for the last bits of color in her to start pulling away. Her face contorted with pain and defiance. "Mah daughter... Ah'm comin'. Just... wait..." She forced another slow step, sweat matting her entire body as she struggled against the fell influence in her.

The colt suddenly spun around and kicked Sweet with both hind legs in a great buck that sent her rolling away from the fallen filly. "Git away from mah sister!"

I rolled up to my feet where I could see Trixie more easily as she locked hooves with the father, but he was much stronger than she was, and was forcing her to the ground. A thought came to me, a wild hunch. "Hey, stop picking on a mare. What kind of stallion are you?"

The father hesitated. "What? Oh. Uh..."

Trixie squirmed out from under him quickly. "Trixie is a lady and has done nothing to deserve this rough treatment."

"Ah 'course... not." He scowled as his rifle fell to the ground and he fell with it back to all fours. He was trembling much like the mother, in an inner conflict with the influence burning inside of him. I turned to the colt, the only one we hadn't gotten at least into a real indecision.

He kicked Sweet again. "Don't touch her!" I had a feeling chivalrous entreaties might not work as well with him. What a time for the words to not appear!

Sweet's hat fell from her head as she tried to curl up and the room suddenly plunged into darkness, deep and full. There were two sounds of powerful suction followed by two pony bodies hitting the floor in a boneless slump.

I could hear the colt, but couldn't see him anymore. "W-what happened? Pa? Ma? Ah don't like tha dark..." He started to sniffle and cry, but he wasn't attacking anymore. I quickly moved to where I thought Sweet was last and pulled her away from the colt, in case he felt the urge to resume kicking her.

"Pa? Ah can hear them. They're still here! Ah can't see them... Please... Pa..." The suction rang out before the colt collapsed to the ground.

The light in the room suddenly returned as Trixie popped Sweet's hat back on her head, covering the beetle. Sweet's eyes were looking up, and I could see why quickly. The shadow of the entire family had gathered over our heads like an ominous storm cloud, little bolts of green and purple lightning running through it. That's what we had to defeat. But how? It looked a lot larger than the other shadow spots. Would staring into it work again?

It was worth a try. I stared into its undulating mass and felt myself being pulled in. Everything else vanished.

I was a pony, a stallion. He was sick, in bed. His friend was beside him, a mare. He reached for her and they held hooves. It hurt. It hurt everywhere. They never knew why. The fair was that day, but I wouldn't be attending. I couldn't attend. I was sick, just like every year. She was so nice to stay at my side despite it. I loved her so much...

I was in front of a crystal heart. I would destroy it, that source of my sickness. I would destroy it, my hated enemy. The ruiner of my life! Who was this mare? She was tall and stately. She was the ruler of the crystal ponies. How did she know of my sickness? Why did she do nothing? Why is she demanding I show patience now? I was sick my entire life, writhing in agony every year. She knew it. She knew it and did nothing! Shadow magic gathered in me powerfully, and I destroyed her. She deserved worse. She deserved to know pain for years on end, as she had subjected me to. She deserved so much worse.

Her ponies would suffer in her stead.

I awoke suddenly, but the cloud was still hovering over my head. Was there more to see?

Sweet had woken up and sat up on her haunches. "Are you alright? You look haunted."

Trixie nodded. "Is there something we can do to help?"

"Just keep it from leaving." I glared up at the cloud. I had more to see. It tried to hold back the sights, as if recoiling from me, but I sank in despite its wishes.

I felt I was in an alien body, but a familiar one. I was the dark pony from before, the one trying to reach outer space. I was in a capsule of some kind and found the door, pulling at the handles of the wheel and slowly unhinging the door. It popped in and I couldn't see anything. It burned. It burned so badly. I quickly yanked the door shut and collapsed against a wall panting.

Right! I remembered that I was given a thick suit to protect me, from the gasses. Right, the gasses that would burn anyone from our world. I slipped into the multiple layers of protective cloth and the heavy gauze and wraps for my head. Soon I was completely concealed, and I tried the door again. It stung, but it wasn't nearly as bad. I could stand it. I pushed out into that harsh brightness and began to explore as excitement built in my chest.

I did it! I was really in outer space! The ceiling here was so high overhead! I couldn't even really see it, just the blue color came to me. There were great white things that floated up above. What were those? What were these tall things. They felt rough to the touch. Everything was so amazing, alien, and new. I was the luckiest pony ever to see it all for the first time! Sure, it still stung, but it was so worth it...

A loud snap brought my attention around. A few other ponies were staring at me with wide eyes and trembling hooves. They were so brightly colored. Were they space ponies? Were they... friends? Or were they foes? My training said any animal in outer space could be very dangerous. What should I do?

One of them pulled out a long pole with a sharpened bit at the end. Perhaps they were not friends...

I awoke suddenly in the farm house. The shadow was gone. The family was asleep on the ground, but it looked like a more peaceful rest. Their color had returned.

Trixie smiled at me. "Half way done, familiar. What did you see? Tell Trixie everything."

Author's Note:

We officially reach the halfway point of this quest!

How's my driving? Er, writing. I'm driving a plot, I think?

The typos insist driving is a fine term to use.

Comments

[Tonto the Trotter]

Halfway there woohoo!

And I'd say you're driving the plot well, you get these updates out so quickly, it's really impressive. This bit of backstory only continues to expand and unravel the mysteries of the Crystal Empire's past and the Shadow Ponies. I look forward to reading more. ^=^

[shinigamisparda]

Ah, looks like we're heading into Sombra's backstory.

[TheShippingJR]

This really helped me. Helped me rid off of some of my stress after making a chapter for my new story thanks.

[Booster Spice]

Yaay, Shadowie made it to Outside.

We come in Peace, Shoot To Kill.

Why is it always Kirk Of Th Paranoid Mind?

Well, thats me not solving that problem without reading through the walkthrough multiple times.

[Xenolis]

The typos are wrong with driving. Also, great chapter.

[MTDragonslayer7]

The shadow of the entire family had gathered over our heads like am ominous storm cloud,

It should be 'an'.

[David Silver]

6669769 There, fixed!

[Shadow Lance]

6669797 Idk what to eving say with how you use the same line for sombreas thoughts of how the heart was hurting him

[Andy Ray]

The colt turned around and grabbed a rifle off the wall before hurling it to his father, who reared up and caught it in his forehooves.

Tun-du-u-un !

And then the father shot the "MERCY" button !