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Chapter 22,200 words
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Chapter 42,073 words
Chapter 52,020 words

Chapter 3

Night looked up at the banner that now hung in the library with all the other party decorations. How they had all fit into that cannon was beyond him, but Twilight had warned him not to think about it too much, or else he may end up going crazy.

Realizing he was getting distracted, he shook his head a bit before reading what was on the banner. "Welcome to Ponyville, and Congratulations on getting your Cutie Mark, Night Shadow!"

But…. Pinkie wasn't even there! Night thought to himself, feeling his eye twitch a bit. How did she know I recently got my cutie mark?!

Feeling someone bump their flank into him, he looked to the right and saw Twilight grinning impishly at him.

"I told you not to think about it too much." She reminded him. "I once tried to figure out how Pinkie does everything she does, and I nearly went crazy myself. At the end of the day, I had to give in and just accept it."

Night sighed before nodding and looking around the rest of the room. Tables were set up with food, cakes, and drinks, and, oddly enough, a bottle of hot sauce, much to his confusion. Games, like pin the tail on the dragon, some kind of spin the bottle game, and even twister were set up in different areas so that ponies could play different games at the same time.

"What do you think?" He heard asked directly in his ear, which caused him to yelp and activate his magic, sinking into his shadow again.

After the first time, he was a lot calmer, but he still needed to learn how to activate it at will.

"Pinkie!" He suddenly heard Twilight exclaim. "Stop scaring my brother!"

He could hear ponies while he's in his own shadow? That might be useful, but he still needed to learn how to activate it.

"Whoops, sorry, Twilight." Pinkie giggled, not sounding sorry at all.

Shaking his head, Night refocused before he came out of his shadow again, taking a deep calming breath when he did.

"You okay, Nighty?" Twilight asked, gently placing a hoof on his shoulder.

He smiled at her before nodding a bit. "I'll be fine. Just need to learn to control my magic better, is all." He assured.

"Wait, you can become a shadow?" Rainbow Dash suddenly asked, zipping towards him and hovering in the air as she looked down at him. "That is so awesome!" She exclaimed, doing a quick back flip in the air before landing before him.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure what I'm able to do yet." Night corrected. "That was only the second time I've used that magic, and both times were because I was startled by something."

"We know the Princesses called you a Shadow Mage." Twilight said, switching to her "thinking voice" as Night had affectionately called it when he was young. "But, we still have no clue what that means, nor who the previous Shadow Mage before you was."

Night thought back to what the Princesses had discussed when he first found out that he was a Shadow Mage. “Princess Celestia looked pretty scared when she found out.” He told Twilight. “I get the feeling that whoever was the Shadow Mage before me ended up going evil.”

Twilight looked deep in thought for a few moments before he felt somepony literally shove a cupcake down his throat.

“Enough of that thinking talk, it’s party time!” Pinkie exclaimed before opening the library door and letting several ponies in.

Night had just recovered from nearly choking on the pink mare’s hoof. Now he had to deal with even more ponies that could potentially judge him. Before he even knew it, he was hiding behind the couch, trying to stay out of sight of the other ponies. Of course, he was more worried about the older ponies, so he didn’t notice the three young fillies that managed to make their way next to him.

“Why are you hiding?” He heard a soft tomcolt-ish voice ask, which caused him to jump in surprise.

Swinging his head to the left, he spotted three young fillies looking right at him.

The middle filly was an earth pony with a soft orange coat that almost looked yellow, with a frizzy red mane and tail with a large pink bow in her mane. Her reddish-orange eyes looked up at him with a confused expression on her face.

The filly to the left of her was a unicorn with a snow white coat and a styled pink and purple mane and tail. Her green eyes seemed to be focused on his deep purple ones making him feel a little uncomfortable and not entirely sure how to handle the attention.

The third filly was a pegasus with an orange coat and a magenta-ish almost purple messy mane and tail. Her soft purple eyes looked at him with a questioning expression on her face, making him believe that he was the one who had asked him the question.
“Oh, um….” He tried to come up with some kind of excuse, but nothing seemed to be convincing enough. After a few moments of contemplating, he decided to just tell them the truth.

“I just got my cutie mark today, and I’ve been bullied my whole life because of being a blank flank, so, I’m a little afraid of how these ponies will react when they learn that I only just recently got one.” He told them after a sigh.

“Wait, fer real?” The middle filly asked him, eyes widening in surprise as the two other fillies beside her also looked surprised.

He sighed and nodded before pointing up to the party banner that was still on the walls.

After explaining how he got his cutie mark, the three young fillies’ expressions suddenly changed, as if they got an idea.

“Come on! Let’s go see if getting startled will give us our cutie marks!” The pegasus filly asked as they ran out of the library in a hurry.

He watched the three young fillies leave before he heard a hearty chuckle from behind him.

Turning around, saw Applejack making his way toward him. “Ah see y’all just met my little sister and her friends.” She said once she was close enough for him to hear her without shouting.

“Ah, I didn’t even know she was your sister, as none of them introduced themselves.” Night replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

She nodded in understanding. “My sister’s name is Apple Bloom, and her two friends are named Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.” She explained. “Sweetie Belle is actually Rarity’s younger sister.”

Night just stared at her in surprise for a few moments before finally shaking his head. “So, you and Rarity have little sisters. Good to know, now I have to watch what I say even more than usual.” He muttered. It was supposed to come out like a joke, but, he actually sounded a bit nervous about it.

“Nah, y’all got nothin’ ta worry ‘bout.” She told him with a soft chuckle. “You just need to make sure they don’t get any bad ideas about gettin’ their cutie marks from what you tell ‘em.”

“Well, that explains why they were suddenly so excited.” Night sighed. “I think they might try and get their cutie marks by being startled by something, the same way Twi and I were.”

They suddenly heard three screams and then a chorus of disappointed “Aw.”

Author's Note:

Sorry for the shorter chapter. I was just stuck on this one for way too long and needed to get it out soon. I'll try and go back to writing longer chapters soon, so, please bear with me. I hope you still enjoy my writing.