A Shadowless Day

by Ko the Wolf

Anger

Equinox's eyes fluttered open as he lay in the hospital bed. "Sir?" Equinox took a moment to wake up, blinking a couple of more times before noticing the cup of water being held out to him. "Mr. Nox, it's time you woke up." A pleasent voice said. The dark stallion looked up and reached for the cup of water being held by the white mare with a pink mane. He just touched the cup when he noticed her cutiemark. His eyes opened wide and he smashed the cup bearing tray away from him, jumping out of bed and taking an offensive stance.

"Keep your filthy, dishonorable hooves off me!" His anger showed in his eyes as he glared menacingly at the nurse.

The door banged open and a startled Twilight and Rainbowdash stood in the opening. "What's going on here?"

Equinox pointed his hoof accusingly at Nurse Redheart, "That excuse for a mare tried to lay her filthly hooves on me!"

Twilight looked aghastly at Nurse Redheart, trying to wrap her mind around the white mare molesting one of her patients. Of course this was going right over the lavender mare's head. Redheart looked from Twilight to Equinox and back, her face frozen in shock and her hooves wet from the spilled cup at her feet. She tried to speak so that she could defend herself, but all that came out was a strangled vowel before she burst into tears and ran into the hallway.

As the crying swiftly faded from the open door, Equinox looked down at his hoof and scowled at the white band around it. "Equinox?" he looked up and saw Twilight looking at him with concern in her eyes, "Are you alright?" She walked up closer to him inspected him more closely.

"No, I'm as fine as I'll be while I'm still here. Tell me Twilight, why am I in this, this hospital?" he whispered the last word, ignoring Rainbowdash. Still seething, he tore the white hospital band from hoof with his teeth. "I demand that I be taken from this here at once. It's dishonorable and I'll have none of it." He marched past Twilight and made for the door.

Twilight took a moment to process what he meant before calling him back. "What do you mean? You're in the hospital because you were injured. When you teleported Big Mac, Sweetiebelle, and Scootaloo out of the forest fire you passed out. Dr. Stable said that you suffered a concussion." She reached out a hoof and turned him around by his shoulder in the middle of the hallway. "Equinox, you were out for quite a while, we were worried about you."

"Did I hear my name?" A butterscotch unicorn stallion with a brown mane wearing a doctor's coat and glasses appeared from around the corner. "Mr. Nox, would you mind explaining to me what happened between you and my nurse?"

Equinox felt his anger build up inside of him, turning his gaze at Dr. Stable. "You're a doctor?"

Dr. Stable regarded Equinox with questioning eyes, "Yes, I-"

Equinox glared at the doctor hard enough to kill a small animal, cutting the pony off. "Let me make this clear. I want nothing to do with you ever again. How dare you-" Equinox stopped talking as a cyan hoof cracked against his jaw.

"How dare you!" Rainbow finally spoke, recovering from her shock. She stared down at him, the dark colored stallion laying dazed on the floor. He blinked his eyes a couple of times in shock. Somepony had hit him. Somepony had hit him, and it hurt. "We brought you in here because you suffered an injury and we wanted to make sure you survived! Dr. Stable is treating you for free because you saved three ponies! He's only trying to help. And all you can do is whine about your 'honor' and abuse the staff!" Her eyes glowed, indignant and determined as he looked into his own eyes. She had grown to care for the staff here after they had helped her recover from her broken wing.

That look. Where do I know-Equinox's eyes widened as a flashback hit him. Mountain, fall, cave, dragon, healing, Amnesty. He looked down at his hooves, seriously contemplating why he hadn't objected to Amnesty healing him all those years ago, but always had a problem with other ponies caring for his physical well-being like that. He closed his eyes and slowly stood. His throat felt too big, his face felt hot. A tear almost escaped his right eye, but he inhaled deeply and managed to stop it before he could embarrass himself further. Softly, almost too quiet for anypony to hear, he said, "I'm sorry,"

Equinox walked back to his room and closed the door. He didn't bother looking back, knowing that he wouldn't be able to meet anypony's eyes. He turned off the light, and winced as he stepped in the puddle of water. His lip curled up and his breath hitched. Sobbing softly, the surface of the puddle rippled as his tears fell. He climbed into the bed and pulled the covers over him. Grabbing onto his pillow, he hugged it tightly, burying his face into it and sobbing quietly. Why was he thinking about Amnesty again? The memory of the kind dragon who had showed him no wrong had helped him so much, but Equinox had forgotten about him in the later years.

Eventually, after crying for hours, the unicorn accepted sleep's embrace, and nuzzled into her mane as he lost consciousness.

--

Equinox woke, light streaming in through the opening of the cave's mouth. He cracked his joints and breathed in the pristine mountain air. A small yelp escaped his lips as his side protested, his eyes squeezed shut and he groaned. "Ah, it's good to see that you're awake. How are you feeling?" Equinox looked up and saw Amnesty standing near his head, the dragon was considering his injury with focused eyes while finishing a topaz with a final crunch.

Equinox breathed a little to try and rid himself from his instinctual desire to flee. After a couple of breaths he had calmed and said, "I feel alright, it's just when I try to move, my side hurts really bad." The colt turned his head so that he could look at his side as well, his dark coat hiding any sort of bruising that was probably there.

The dragon nodded, moving around to Equinox's side. Laying down on his front legs so that his head was closer to the colt, Equinox felt another rush of fear go through him, but kept still. "W-what are you doing?"

Amnesty turned his green eyes on the pony,"Trust me, I won't hurt you." he smiled reassuringly and placed his long horn on Equinox lightly. Equinox flinched at the contact, but forced his breathing to slow and his body to lay flat. "Now, don't move." The frightened colt turned his eyes to the side, so that he could observe the dragon as he did whatever he did.

Equinox's eyes widened as he saw the first glimmer of golden magic. But, instead of coming from Amnesty's horn, it came from the two curled ones. They pulsated with the golden aura, the dragon's white mane lifting into the air as though it was underwater. Amnesty opened his eyes and they glowed with the gold energy. Equinox felt his nerves light up, goosebumps raising on his skin. The muscles in the back of his skull and neck clenched, he felt something deep inside of him respond. It surged and grew, awakening. But just as it had began, it ended.

Amnesty retreated and stood, giving him space. Equinox gasped, and took deep breaths. He felt utterly exhausted, exhausted and hungry. "What...what did...you do?" he said between breaths. The dark colored colt stood on shaking legs, every inch of his skin tingled and felt hot.

"That, was deer magic." Amnesty said, "I learned it during one of my trips in the country of White Hart. I used it to accelerate your body's healing process, you wouldn't want to be stuck in this cave for a week would you?" the dragon looked at him for another moment. "How do you feel?"

Equinox stretched his neck, and flexed every muscle he knew he could. His skin no longer felt hot, and just the barest of tingles danced over his coat. His legs felt strong, and his side didn't hurt any longer. His heart pumped strongly, and slowly; just like his breath. "I...I feel really good." he marveled at the state his body was in, but was distracted by a loud sound from his torso. Equinox clenched his eyes shut and held his stomach, "Oww...Do you have anything to eat?"

Amnesty levitated a couple of apples and carrots over to Equinox from somewhere behind him. Seeing the food, Equinox dug in, almost inhaling the fruits and vegetables. All the apples were gone and only a single carrot remained before an idea hit him. "Hey, Amnesty?"

The dragon had moved over to the mouth of the cave staring outward and giving Equinox some privacy so that the colt could eat in peace. He turned his head around and replied, "Yes little one?"

"C-could you teach me?" Equinox looked down at the carrot in his hooves, suddenly it was very interesting.

Amnesty stood and walked over to him slowly, "You mean, you want to know how to perform white hart magic?"

Equinox looked up, "A-actually, a-any magic." He stood then, his eyes hardened with determination.

Amnesty gazed into Equinox's eyes with his larger ones. "Only unicorn magic." he said, his resolve like iron in his voice.

Equinox bowed, "Then that will be more than enough. Please, help me."

"Help you?"

"I've never been able to do much more than lift a couple of pounds, I-" he gulped, "I'm not good at using magic...The inspectors say it's because I have something called aracanainhibitia...it means that-"

"You can't perform magic unless you can grasp nearly twenty times the amount of magic required and break the natural magical barrier in your mind." Amnesty finished, looking at Equinox with understanding. He turned his large head to the side, consulting his conscience and thinking deeply. "Fine, I'll teach you."

Equinox turned his head up to look at Amnesty, his eyes lighting up and his hooves wrapping around the dragon's foreleg. "Oh thank you! Thank you so much Amnesty!"

Amnesty chuckled, patting the colt's little head. "Okay, calm down. We should begin now, it's still the beginning of the day and you have a lot to learn."

The teacher and pupil stayed in the cave for a long time, discussing the inner workings of magic and its effects on ponykind. One subject in particular caught Equinox's attention. "What's a rageshift? I think I've read about them before while browsing the library back at home."

"A rage-shift is when a pony is so overcome with an emotion that the amount of magic in their body flows differently. It's wavelength changes and the amplitude increases exponentially. The pony's appearance also changes. Because of the magic flowing so violently through them, their mane appears to be made from fire and their coat shines brightly. Even their eye color can change. B-"

"So all I have to do is get really angry and I'll be able to do magic?" Equinox asked, excitedly.

"No, let me finish please. Contrary to popular belief, the rage-shift isn't only applicable to anger, but any emotion strong enough to ignite it. It could just as easily come into effect if you felt enough happiness. Any powerful emotion will do, but the only shifts recorded have been out of rage because those generally happen at major points in history. They're also the most common."

"But...if I managed to keep control...I would have enough magic to use it like a regular pony right?" He smiled, finally, something he could use.

"No, not regular." Equinox's face fell, so there wasn't any hope? "Much more than regular. Way more than regular." the colt's ears perked up and his mouth fell open. Amnesty smiled,"But we shouldn't dwell on that right now, let's try it out shall we? Just to see if it's possible." He winked.
--

The wind whipped Equinox's mane from where he stood out on the mountain. All around him, at an average distance of two miles, the mountain peaks shielded him from the view of anypony. Amnesty paced around him. "The easiest shift to perform is rage. So then, let's make you angry."

Lighting struck very close to his forehoof, and the colt leaped back and yelped."Hey!"

Amnesty growled back, "What are you going to do about it?" he shot a fireball this time, its green flame leaving a burn on Equinox's other hoof.

The little pony glared at the dragon, holding his stance. Good, the dragon thought, I've got him riled up. "Now, what makes you angry, angrier than anything else?"

Equinox spoke instantly, "Those who don't follow orders!"

Another fireball crashed in front of him, "Not good enough! Something personal!"

"My father is a bastard!"

Another bolt of electricity, "Why!?"

Amnesty silently groomed his pride as he goaded Equinox into a state where he finally spoke without thinking about what his response would sound like, a state in which the colt had to tell the truth. Of course the dragon knew who this was, this was the prince. This little colt would rule Progress one day, and it was Amnesty's duty to make sure he would be a good ruler. Now that Equinox was at his own mercy, and spoke clearly and from his heart rather than through his head where all his prejudices existed.

"He never listens to me!" the air around Equinox raised a couple of degrees in temperature.

"He doesn't?"

"No! He doesn't even notice me!" the air started to shimmer around the colt.

"Oh really!?"

"He hates me!"

"Doesn't that just burn you up!?"

"He hates everyone!" His eyes glowed bright green with the pent up magical energy in his mind trying to bypass the barrier.

"And who does he hate!?"

"Earthponies! Pegasi!"

"But that's not YOU!"

"He hates me because I-"

"Because WHY?!"

"I-"

"WHY?!"

"I L-"

"LOUDER! WHY ARE YOU SO ANGRY!?" Equinox's eyes widened so that they were almost perfect circles, his teeth bared and spittle flecked his lips. His coat and mane bristled and the air around him was distorted by the pent up might behind his horn. His head hurt terribly but that only made him more hostile. "TELL ME!"

"BECAUSE I LIKE COLTS!!!" A powerful pulse exploded from the dark colt, cracking the rock beneath him and blasting Amnesty off his feet. The dragon rolled for nearly fifty feet before he lifted his eyes to look at his pupil, his mouth hanging open in shock.

Where Equinox had stood previously there now stood a creature from the pits of hell. A solar flare from a red dwarf formed its tail and mane, and its coat was a hard, pulsing, crystalline white that sparked electricity. But it's crimson eyes were the worst, shining brighter than any other part of the pony. The light coming from them was so intense and concentrated that it was beginning to burn a hole in the melting rock twenty feet away from the pony. The waves of energy and heat blasted off of the colt and battered all the surrounding things that weren't directly part of the mountain. The ground cracked and popped as the ice inside the small holes exploded into steam and fissures opened up in the slab of stone.

Then, just as quickly as it had began, the fire died out and Equinox returned to his normal state. He almost collapsed onto the glowing ground but a light blue aura caught him before he could be burned. His white mane was darkened by soot and his breathing was shallow. "I...I like colts..." was the last thing that escaped his lips before he fell into unconsciousness.

Amnesty looked down at the colt in his arms, his face betraying his sadness to nobody in particular. "Oh Equinox...what have they said to you to make you so angry like that?" His eyes watered slightly, but only one tear fell before Amnesty wrapped his body around the shivering Equinox, making sure the pony could recover from the shock of his first rage-shift. Rage in every meaning of the word... Amnesty thought, looking over the decimated rock face.

Comments

[ShadowblazeAlchemy]

reading, reading, reading, get to the part with the epic magic, "because I like colts!" BOOM!!!!!!!!!
me, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Crap, my parents are asleep across the hall!

[Ko the Wolf]

1293343 Glad you like it

[Crisslunarflame]

heh heh heh... good... good...
And is it just me, or are all of the chapters begginning with "A"? Well, they all do, but is it intentional. Either way its cool, but it would be wierd if I was seeing something that's not there...

Good chapter!