EoH Evolution: Season 2

by Bahamut0

Episode 4: A Little Compassion

It was a typical lazy Sunday for Arctic Ace and Dark Ice. Ever since the Nightmare Forces had been destroyed, and after the defeat of Discord, things had relatively calmed down. However, a sudden knock on the door would soon disrupt the brothers' peace. "I'll get it." Ice said as he put down his comic book. But the second he opened the door, he was greeted by an unexpected sight.

"Hi Ice!" Shadow Thunder greeted loudly! "What's up bro?"

"AH!" Ice stumbled backwards as he recoiled from his youngest brother's greeting. "Shadow?! What are you doing here?!"

Dark Ice and Arctic Ace's younger brother had black hair, navy blue skin and wings, and yellow eyes. His outfit consisted of black pants, yellow sneakers, a black beanie cap, and a t-shirt with a thunderbolt on it. "Well, I heard this voice sending out a message a few weeks back. I think your friend Burst Stream sent it out telling me to find you and the other Elements of Heroism. I also felt this weird tingling in my upper arm. So here I am. Does this mean I get to join you guys?"

"I thought Burst was just joking about that message. . ." Ice muttered to himself. "Shadow, I don't know if you can join me and the other Elements of Heroism." Ice then pulled up his left sleeve to reveal his hero crest. "Last I checked, you didn't have a mark on your arm like me or Ace and you don't have any weapons to rely on. But if you heard that call, it means you could potentially be an Element of Heroism. We just don't know which one yet. But it's not our call to say whether or not you join. That's up to Burst Stream. C'mon. We'd better see him. Ace? Could you call Burst?"

Arctic Ace nodded. "Sure thing." He then whipped out his phone, and dialed up Burst. "Hey, Burst? You know that message you sent out? Well, someone answered it. Yeah it turns out me and Ice's baby brother picked up on it. We meeting at the usual spot? Okay. See you in a few." And with that, the three brothers headed out to the town square. Sure enough, Burst Stream was waiting for them.

"So. This is your kid brother?" Burst asked as he directed his attention towards Shadow. "Honestly, I didn't think anyone would answer that call I sent out. Nice to meet you at last Shadow."

Shadow Thunder smiled. "Wow! So you're Burst Stream! You sure look like the big hero everyone's saying you are!"

"Wait. People are talking about us?" Burst asked.

Shadow Thunder nodded. "Yup! You and your team beat the Nightmare Forces and you all helped defeat Discord! Like it or not, everyone knows who you are now."

"Well, I guess that's tobe expected." Burst Stream said with a shrug. "So you're because of that message I sent out, right?"

"Sure did." Shadow Thunder said with an enthusiastic nod. "Does that mean I can join the team?"

Burst Stream sighed. "Well if you heard my message, that means you've got the potential to become an Element of Heroism. And I don't know how many others there are who heard my message. So the answer's a solid maybe."

"Okay then. What do I have to do to prove I'm worthy of joining?" Shadow Thunder asked. "Do I have to fight tons of enemies? Or do I need to pass some sort of trial or test?"

Burst Stream shook his head. "Shadow, you don't have to do anything like that. Being an Element of Heroism isn't something you can force or choose. It's something that chooses you. Each of us has proven ourselves in our own way. Just give it some time Shadow. Who knows? You might even find a way to prove yourself today."

"Okay. . ." Shadow said with a sigh. "But what're the odds of that happening? Well, thanks for telling me." He then looked to his brothers. "Oh! I thought you two should know. I'm moving in with you two regardless whether or not I join the team. Hope you've got an extra room."

Arctic Ace sighed. "Good thing I opted for two guest rooms in my house." He then looked to Dark Ice. "Good thing you're happy taking up the couch."

"Well, I should've seen this coming." Dark Ice said with a shrug. "It's been this way for the three of us since we were kids. Wherever we go, Shadow's usually not that far behind us." Ice then turned his attention to Shadow. "We'll unpack your things. In the meantime, why don't you explore Unityville? You might as well get to know your new home while you're out and about."

Shadow nodded. "Alright. See ya later." And with that, Shadow Thunder spread his wings and hovered around Unityville. Making note of places of interest as he flew around town. Hard to believe a little place like this has seen so much action. Everyone's going about their day like nothing major went down. Then again, they're probably used to all the craziness by now. Shadow was about to fly back home, but noticed Twilight lying on her side on a bench. She looked like she was a wreck. She doesn't look so good. Shadow landed, and took a seat next to Twilight. Who was talking to her own reflection in a puddle. "Excuse me? Is everything alright?"

Twilight snapped out of her conversation with her reflection, and scrambled to recover out of her panicked state. "Oh, yeah! Toootally fine! Not going crazy over nobody having problems today!" Her left eye twitched upon saying that.

". . . You're a terrible liar." Shadow said with a neutral expression. "You sure don't look like everything's alright. I don't know what's got you so manic right now, but maybe you can tell me." Shadow's mind then flashed back to when Dark Ice had returned home after defecting from the Nightmare Forces. "In my experience, problems are easier to solve when you're willing to talk about them. So fire away. I've got nothing but time."

Twilight sighed. "Well, I'm living her in Unityville to learn more about friendship. And Princess Celestia always expects me to write her a letter about the lesson in friendship I learned. Usually that gets done by me helping to solve problems that my friends have with their friendships. But that's the problem! None of them have had any problems today that I can help solve! There's nothing I can learn! Meaning I'll be tardy with my letter! Meaning that I'll be sent back to Magic Kindergarten and-" Twilight stopped when she felt Shadow clamp his hand on her shoulder.

"Calm. Down." Shadow said in a soothing tone. "I think I found the source of your issues." Shadow then pointed right at Twilight. "You're overthinking all of this."

Twilight blinked in confusion. ". . . What."

"You said that Princess Celestia expects a letter whenever you've learned a friendship lesson, right?" Shadow asked. "Well then if you haven't learned anything, there's no need to write her a letter. It's good that you pay attention to details, but that's not always the best way to look at things." Shadow took a deep breath. "If all you do is worry about all the little things, you're going to miss all the wonderful things that are staring you right in the face! Heck, your friends are probably all having a ton of fun right now and you've missed out on it with how much time you've spent worrying about one stupid letter!"

Twilight's eyes went wide with realization, and brightened up at the truth of Shadow's words. "Thank you. Oh! How rude of me! I forgot to introduce myself. I'm-"

"Twilight Sparkle." Shadow said with a smile. "Everyone knows who you and the other Elements of Harmony are. You've all become pretty famous. And it was my pleasure to help you out. Actually, I guess you could say it's an impulse of mine." Shadow then noticed his upper arm glowing! A mark of a dragon that looked like it dwelled in the heavens appeared as soon as the glow faded. "Mom always said a little compassion goes a long way." Shadow then saw his Duelist Arm materialize before him! It was a spear modeled after the very dragon that was his Hero Crest. "I guess it went farther for me than I thought it would. Name's Shadow Thunder by the way. And I'm pretty sure you have five friends in need of your presence?"

Twilight giggled. "Yeah. I guess so. And since I'm taking your advice, I also probably shouldn't have had all that frosting scrapped off the cupcakes I bought. Well, live and learn! Bye!" And with that, Twilight raced off to find the rest of the Main 6.

Shadow smiled as he watched Twilight run off. "Maybe I didn't become an Element of Heroism today, but I did some good by helping her. That's more than enough."

"Quite the opposite." Burst said as he approached Shadow. "You've become an Element of Heroism because you sought to help out another person from the goodness in your heart. Your compassion for others moved you to help Twilight. And you sure handled it more gently than I would have. So? Still eager to join our team?"

Shadow nodded excitedly! "You bet I am! So when do we start?!"

Burst chuckled. "Noon tomorrow." He then gestured to Shadow's Duelist Arm. "We've gotta make sure you can wield that thing properly. Steel is still out training, and we could use an extra member to fill his slot in the meantime. Something tells me that big changes are going to be coming soon. And we're going to need everyone we can get."

Comments

[Bahamut0]

8747642
Next chapter's up.

[ArcticAce01]

8753222
Oh yeah! This was so great Shadow Thunder finally joined the team AND is officially apart of the EoH and living with his brothers Aswell

[MasterPhoenix93]

Sometimes just talking things out can help you get forward. That's what happened with Shadow...being calm is the key to success.

Also...Twilight indeed worries too much about the little things (hit the nail with her personality btw, good job), so much that she forgets CONTEXT!!!

Great chapter