Shadow Seeds

by Orsuros

Chapter 6

The two princess left Orsuros, Rainbow Dash, and Spike with a mission to visit the changelings while they went back to Canterlot to research about types of magic that might help in the coming battle. They had agreed to meet at the castle in evening, and that left only a single day to get help from the changelings. Orsuros looked forward to seeing the changelings. What the others said about their magic sounded fascinating.

The journey to the hive had been long. Orsuros looked over the twisting passages and spires as they circled to land at the top. As soon as they reached the ground, Orsuros could smell the strange scent of the changelings all over this place. He could sense powerful transformation magic all around him.

Spike hopped off Orsuros’s back and stood in front. “Okay. I think I can handle most the talking. Thorax is a good friend of mine. I might need your help to explain just what it is we’re fighting.”

“It shouldn’t be hard to convince them if they are your allies. I think their magic sounds very promising.”

“They aren’t as good at fighting as they used to be,” Rainbow Dash said.

A crowd of changelings emerged from the tunnels nearby. Leading them was one that was taller and had a larger set of horns. His carapace glistened like colored jewels. He quickly smiled and ran up to give Spike a hug.

“Spike! I wasn’t expecting a visit from you and Rainbow Dash. And who is this other dragon you brought with you?”

Spike did a quick little bow and gestured grandly with his hand. “Allow me to present Orsuros. We’re on a special mission for Equestria and need your help.” Spike looked pleased with himself as he began to explain why they had come to seek the changelings aid.

Thorax listened carefully to the entire story. He frowned as he thought it over.

“Those shadow beasts sound pretty scary. We don’t really have cutie marks for them to steal, but it sounds awful that they’re stealing them from ponies. And you said that it might be safer for us to fight against them?”

“I’ll have to see about that,” Orsuros said. “Show me this changeling magic everyone has been talking about. I need to see it up close.”

“Oh, of course.” Thorax’s horns glowed. An instant later, he looked like a normal pony.

“This will be easiest if I can touch you. Is that okay?”

Orsuros stepped up and put his front paw on Thorax. He could sense the magic. It was strong enough to have built an entirely new layer over the changeling’s soul. He smiled and took his paw off.

“So, will this work?” Thorax asked.

Orsuros nodded. “I think it definitely will. Your transformations won’t last forever, but they’ll protect you from at least a few attacks.”

Orsuros was unsure what might happen after the shadow beasts stole enough of the transformation to break it, but having a small army that wouldn’t go down easily would be necessary to fight the shadow beasts. He wasn’t even sure how many shadow beasts there were yet. Luna’s report had made it sound like there was only a small group, but they could multiply quickly.

“It’s the least we could do,” Thorax said. “The ponies of Equestria have already sent us so much to help us rebuild. We’ll meet you at Canterlot as soon as we get all the changelings who can come. But while we prepare, do you want to stay for lunch?”

“That’d be awesome!” Spike said.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “I’d like that, but we can’t stay. We’ll be eating while flying today. Twilight said to take Orsuros straight to where the attacks have been happening.”

Orsuros nodded. “Yes, I can try to sense how many of them we’re dealing with from there.”

Thorax looked a little disappointed. “Another time then. I kept meaning to invite you to come visit. But maybe you can do that once we’re done rebuilding.”

“Really, you should come with us if you can have anyone else gather up your army. If you’re to lead them in battle, you should see what you’ll be facing.”

“That sounds like a good idea. I’ll have my brother gather up everyone who is willing to fight. Go on ahead. I’ll catch up.” Thorax trotted away.

Orsuros bent low so that Spike could climb up on his back. Rainbow Dash jumped up into the sky to lead the way, and they followed after her. Once they were circling to gain some more height, Rainbow Dash pulled out some sandwiches and handed them to everyone.

“Gotta eat if we want to keep flying all day,” she said between bites. “And we better not go too fast so that Thorax can catch up. You did well there. I guess it’s easy to command respect now that you’re a dragon.”

Orsuros chuckled and quickly gulped down the sandwich. “I would hope to be respected more for what I’m trying to do than because of what I am. Back in my world, I could barely get any dragons to listen to me. I like to equally help anyone, regardless of what species they might be.”

“Ponies tend to stick together, but I also like to be a bit more open-minded. For example, I know a few griffons.”

“This world has griffons?” Orsuros thought of his good friends he had left back in his world. “Had I known that, I would have brought along Obby, Juniper, and Cedar. They’re all griffons and friends of mine. But they do all have a habit of getting into trouble, so maybe it’s better that I didn’t bring them along.”

“Yeah, griffons can be difficult sometimes. Oh, there’s Thorax!”

The changeling leader flitted up to meet them. With his unusual wings, his style of flying was a bit different than a pegasus or dragon, but he didn’t seem to have trouble keeping up.

“My brother is organizing the changelings for battle. I haven’t seen him this excited in a while.”

“As leader, shouldn’t you already have guards or military ready?” Orsuros asked.

“I have my brother for that. I’m still new to leading everyone. I’m trying my best, but it feels like I have a lot to learn before I’ll be a good leader like any of the princesses.”

“You seem nice enough to be a good leader. I’m sure the rest will come with experience. I see a lot of potential in your soul.”

Thorax stammered. “Thank you. I’m just trying my best. We had the same leader for so long that everyone is having a little difficulty adjusting.”

“What happened to the previous leader?”

“She… wasn’t very nice and tried to take over Equestria. But I stopped her with some help from my friends.”

“I’d like to hear that story when there’s more time. For now, we all face a common enemy.”

Orsuros flew faster to catch up to Rainbow Dash.

“How much further until we get there?”

Rainbow Dash looked back at him. “It’s just over that next set of mountains. I know Twilight said to take you there, but what’s the plan once we get there?”

Orsuros flexed his muscles and grinned. “I’ll show you how to tear those things apart. I know some magic that can draw them out during the day.”

“Awesome! I look forward to kicking some butt!”

“Wait, we’re going to be fighting?” Spike asked.

“Of course. If we find any, we should pick them off and weaken our enemy. You and Thorax look so nervous.”

Thorax rubbed a hoof against the side of his neck. “Uh, I guess I can fight. I don’t like to.”

“You’ll need to be ready. In a real battle, there won’t be time for hesitation against the shadow beasts.”

Rainbow Dash began a slow dive and everyone followed. They came in low over the mountains and glided over what looked to be a string of abandoned farms. On the mountainside in the distance, Canterlot loomed over the valley. Rainbow Dash bent her wings and came down softly in the fields outside of a destroyed farmhouse. They each looked around a bit. Some little tents had been set up over something. Rainbow Dash walked over to them and held up the flap.

“This is where the thing Luna followed crashed. And those are the only footprints near it that Twilight found.”

Rainbow Dash pointed out a small impact crater and a print in the dirt. Orsuros sniffed them both. He held out his front foot. It seemed like an exact match to his own foot. Somehow a dragon very similar in size to him had been here. The scent and magic had faded too much for it to be of much use. He’d need something more fresh to track anything.

Orsuros looked at the others. “It’s definitely something like me, like Princess Luna said. Last time I fought these things, they were also led by a mysterious and shadowy dragon. It tried to avoid being seen, so we only saw it a few times. The magic is so faint, but I sense a few traces of the spell that brought me here along with traces of the shadow beast’s magic. I’ll need something fresher to really say where they’ve gone, though.”

“I guess your world has good and bad dragons, too,” Spike said.

Rainbow Dash was getting impatient and started toward the farm. They all followed while Orsuros thought over his response.

“I’d like to think the dragons there are mostly good. They’ve worked harder than anyone to stop the twisted creatures and spread of corruption, but even they succumb to it with time. Part of why I came here was a hope to be able to return and fix some of that with what I learn in other worlds. Dragons can be prideful and narrow-minded, but I’m sure everyone can be that way at times.”

“Yeah, most dragons here aren’t very friendly to… anyone really. There’s a few very nice ones, though. Like Ember.” The little dragon seemed to almost blush as he remembered something.

Orsuros let him be and followed Rainbow Dash toward the ruined building.

He could sense the faint traces of some powerful magic. It explained why the house was little more than rubble. He sniffed around and couldn’t help but growl as he smelled the familiar scent of the shadow beasts. But this scent was stronger. This must be the dragon leading the shadow beasts. The scent led outside the house then vanished near a broken fence.

“Find anything?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“This was definitely the shadow beasts or whatever is leading them. There must be more places they attacked. Take me somewhere more recent.”

“Yeah, that’s the spirit! Let’s take this fight to them!”

Rainbow Dash seemed energized by his resolve. Spike let out a surprised exclamation as Rainbow Dash tossed him onto Orsuros’s back before grabbing Thorax. They raced off toward a small collection of farms in the distance. They landed and looked around. A few of the windows or doors were broken, but these houses seemed mostly untouched.

Orsuros sniffed around and tried to sense what magic he could. This time the scent of the shadow beasts was fresher and stronger. There had definitely been a lot of them here in the recent past. Orsuros stepped into the first house and immediately froze. A group of souls floated here, unseeable with normal eyes.

“They took everything from these ponies,” Orsuros muttered.

“Really? All the normal stuff is still here.” Thorax pointed around.

“No. That’s not what I meant. None of you can sense or see it?”

The other three all looked at Orsuros with confused expressions.

“I’ll just have to show you. I can only do this sort of magic a short time, though.” Orsuros gathered his power. His blue lines glowed as he did. He reached out to one of the souls that was stuck in the room and willed his magic to replace the missing pieces of the soul.

An middle-aged stallion appeared. He was blue with lots of white speckles. He gasped and looked around. “Where was I? Oh Celestia! My family… they’re…”

“They’re still here, unseen.” Orsuros interrupted the stallion’s rambling.

The stallion jumped back. “A dragon! What’re you doing here? I won’t let you steal food from my farm! Or any of my gems!”

Rainbow Dash walked out. “Let me handle him.” She stepped up to the stallion. “This dragon’s on our side. He brought you back from… wherever you were.”

“He did? Then my family… Can he bring them back, too?”

Orsuros’s blue lines were still glowing bright. He wasn’t using enough magic to quite wear himself out, but he wouldn’t be saving up much magic at this rate, either. “I wish I could, but it would just be a waste of magic right now. Once my spell ends, you’ll fade back to nothing more than a lost soul once again.”

“No! Please! Don’t let me go back to that shadowy place. It’s…”

“Unsettling? Terrifying? I know. I was stuck there for a long time once. But you’ll need to return there. The only way we can really bring you back with what we have here is by defeating the shadow beasts made from the parts of your soul that they took away. Can you tell us what happened?”

The earth pony was silent for a moment after hearing his current situation, but finally he looked up. “That’s the best way to get what they took back, right? Well, there’s not a ton to tell. It was night and we had finished dinner. A bunch of shadows that looked like ponies suddenly burst in through the door and windows. They grabbed me and my family and that’s the last I remember.”

“That is what I expected.” Orsuros released his magic and stopped glowing. “I wish I had the power to keep you like this, but I’ll need my magic to fight those things. Be strong. We’ll save you and your family.”

The stallion faded away. The other three all seemed rather unsettled. Orsuros poked around the house quietly for a few moments, but there weren’t any other clues that would tell him any more than he already knew. They stepped back outside into the sunlight.

Thorax cleared his throat with a quiet cough. “I… that pony reminds me of the time I saw Chrysalis drain all the love from a pony. That pony… wasn’t ever the same after and just wandered off without any happiness or hope. That was terrible. I wasn’t sure if we should fight, but now, I’m certain. These things have to be stopped.”

Orsuros placed his front paw on Thorax’s shoulder. “That’s exactly how I felt the first time I saw what they could do. I still feel the same. With a little luck, I’ll show you how I hunted them. We’re close to where some of them are hiding.”

“Are you sure it’s safe?” Spike clung to Orsuros.

“I have some magic that can reveal them during the day. As long as we don’t reveal more than a few at once, we can take them down easily. Unfortunately, it’s also too slow of a method to deal with large groups of them. Once I cast the spell, be ready to fight. Thorax can use his magic. I have my claws. Rainbow Dash can give them a strong kick.”

“But what about me?” Spike asked.

“For now, you can watch. I may have a way for you to fight them, but I’m still working it out.”

“I hope it’s good. Just imagine if Rarity could see me saving everypony.”

Orsuros sniffed around, trying to sense where the shadow beasts had been most recently. He followed the trail through the farmhouses to the farm that was on the other edge of the small village. Once the trail was strong enough he signaled for everyone to stop.

“Now it’s time to see what we’re up against. My magic should be able to draw out one of these things. Unfortunately, this is the most tiring way to hunt them. It takes a lot of magic. Be ready to fight. They won’t go down easily. There could be more than one if they’re grouped up. Spike, Rainbow Dash, let me give you all a little protection.”

Orsuros glowed again as he called forth his magic. He touched Spike and Rainbow Dash on their heads and added just enough to their aspects to shield them from a simple attack. He did the same for himself. Thorax transformed into a pony but still looked nervous. With everything in place, Orsuros began the more complex spell. He etched the symbols into the ground with his claws then places his front foot in the center of them. A wave of magic shot out around them and created a zone where the sunlight was dimmer.

“Under those trees!” Rainbow Dash whispered.

Orsuros looked to where she had pointed. Three of the shadow beasts were there. Three dark figures, like shadows made solid, stood under the tree. They glanced around. They or whoever was controlling them could sense the magic. Orsuros expected them to attack, but they ran the other direction.

“Stop them from escaping the spell or they’ll disappear!” Orsuros shouted.

Spike was left on the ground as the three of them took to the sky. Rainbow Dash was going full speed and tripped the one in front with a swift kick. The other two shadow beasts had to slow to not run into it. Thorax joined a moment later, cutting them off from fleeing.

Orsuros dove onto the fallen one, smashing it beneath his claws. At first there was a slight resistance then nothing as the shadow beast burst into the energy it was made from. A little flicker of light zipped away, hopefully returning something to whichever pony it had been taken from. Some shouts and the thuds of kicks brought Orsuros back to the present.

Rainbow Dash was standing over the shadow beast she had knocked over.

“The other one is getting away!” She shouted.

Thorax was by her side and helping to keep their enemy from rising with well-timed hits. That meant the other one was up to Orsuros to catch. It had already reached the trees again and was headed directly for Spike.

The shadow beast hunched down and dove at Spike. The little dragon cried out as he was tackled. The shadow beast tried to hold him down with a hoof. Orsuros could feel his protective spell break. The beast was now draining Spike. Orsuros flapped his wings harder to help the little dragon.

Spike growled and bit the shadowy leg holding down. He took a deep breath and a gout of flame burst from his mouth. He scorched the shadow beast and vanished.

Orsuros breathed a sigh of relief and looked behind him. Rainbow Dash finished off the other with a hard stomp.

All four of them were breathing hard as they gathered under the trees. Orsuros dismissed the spell. Shadow beasts weren’t smart, but they weren’t dumb enough to wander into traps like his spell unless they got caught in it when it was cast. It was a little worrying the beasts had tried to run rather than fight. It meant whoever was controlling them was trying hard to lose as few of them as possible.

“Oh man! It’s good I’ve been practicing with my flame,” Spike said. “That felt… odd. Like I was suddenly forgetting important things about myself.”

Orsuros smiled. “You all did well. When they drain you, it’s hard to remember much about what they take. It seemed like Rainbow Dash and Thorax were holding back a little. In a tougher battle, that could mean disaster.”

Thorax kicked at a pebble on the ground. “Ah… it’s just that I… haven’t fought like that much.”

“Yeah, that wasn’t my best,” Rainbow Dash said. “I was just a little surprised. I’ll go all-out next time!”

Some faint yells from the nearby houses caught their attention.

Orsuros led the group toward the farms. “Well, it looks like we have a few confused ponies to help. After that, we need to warn ponies away from this area and go back to help the changelings prepare.”

“Should I make a list?” Spike asked.

Rainbow Dash chuckled. “He’s not Twilight. We won’t need a list. Let’s get to work.”

Author's Note:

If I were to rewrite the story, this is another chapter that would probably be redone and expanded a lot. It's very rushed.