A guard reached through a hole in the wall, exchanging the torch inside a circular prison chamber at the scheduled interval. He stole a quick glance at the prisoner inside, noting with slight pity that she had barely moved since the torches had last been changed. They hadn’t been told much about their ward, only that she was extremely dangerous, and should never be left in the dark. Strict instructions were given about how often to change the torches, how to feed her, how to chain her (she had one chain attached to each limb, each mounting point equally distant from the next), how often to change the guard, how and when you should talk to her, etc. The list went of things to do and not to do on and on. And yet for all the drastic security measures, not a single one of them was told what it was they were dealing with. She was a unicorn, that much was obvious. Was she a dark wizard? That would explain her pitch-black color. What horrible crime did she commit to have an entire prison built for her, high up in the mountains?
“Nice weather today,” said the second guard, sidling up to the first. They had to work in pairs, with four guards to a shift. Each shift had two teams of two; both teams constantly patrolling around the cell of the prisoner.
“Sure is. Wish I could have the outdoor guard duty slot today. I’d throw so many snowballs.”
“All I want is my leave request to go through. I want to make sure I get home to the wife and kids for Hearth’s Warming Eve.”
“Lucky bastard. I wish I had a wife and kid I could use an excuse to get out of this cold, grey prison. It’s as much of a prison for us as it is for her.”
“Just focus on the positive. We get relieved in an hour.”
“Yeah, but the other team gets relieved now. Why focus on the positive when I can focus on the negative?” he said with a half-joking laugh. The main door opened into the snowy mountaintop as the new team traded places with the old. A frigid gust of the mountain air blew strongly into the cell.
“Shut the damn door!”
“Sweet Celestia that’s freezing cold!” The door boomed shut, and iron locks clicked shut from the outside.
“Well, damn. The wind blew out the torches.” One of the guards strode up to the cell, casting a quick ignition spell, relighting the torches one by one. The first guard did a double take.
“Hey, uh, where did the prisoner go?”
“She can’t have gotten out of the cell that quickly,” the first said. The two poked their heads inside, looking around for the prisoner. The two jumped as they heard a half strangled shout, abruptly ending with a cracking sound.
“Oh s-” The two cringed at the sound of a second snap. They galloped full speed for the second team, stopping after doing a half circuit without finding a soul.
“Hello? Hello? This isn’t funny, Blaze!” they called out to their backup. “Seriously guys, where are you?”
“What did I trip ov-Celestia!” The guard shouted in alarm, pointing to two bodies laying on the floor, their heads lolling about at angles impossible for an intact spine.
“What have we here, you,”
“Scared, afraid, terrified,”
“Vermin!” A voice spoke to them from the darkness. It changed its inflection and tone every few seconds. In the span of one sentence, it had gone from inquisitive, to mocking, to disgusted.
“You need not fear me, I don’t want, to kill you,”
“I just want your soul.”
“Dude, what did we get ourselves into?” One guard whispered.
“Speak not unless spoken to!” A rage filled voice quieted the others temporarily. “Insolent scum, I will devour you first!”
“But I thought we agreed no eating…”
“Shut up! This wretch deserves it!”
“No, we are correct. We did agree not to eat them this time.”
“Fine.”
“I think this is our cue to leave,” the other guard whispered back, and the two slowly began edging towards the door.
“Heh heh heh heh heh.”
“Ha ha ha ha ha!”
“Where are you going?”
“Come back, the fun is just beginning!”
“Stop them.”
“Eat them.”
“No eating!”
“Death!”
“Silence!”
“Yes… silencing is good. We’ll silence them.”
“It will be just like old times!”
“Back in my day, we didn’t need to reasons to kill, we just did.”
“That’s what we did to ma and pa!” The guards took off at a dead sprint for the door, and began pounding on it.
“Help! Let us out!”
“We?”
“Look around you, Mr. Guard.”
“There is no we.”
“There’s only you.”
“Your friend is silent.”
“Just like old times.”
“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. Open the door!” He pleaded again.
“Shush-sh-sh-sh.”
“Hush now.”
“No cause for alarm.”
“He does look delicious.”
“Mmm, so well toned,” He felt something prod his stomach.
“Just this once.” He could hear the locks on the gate starting to open.
“Ok.” The guard’s cry for help disintegrated into garbled noises as teeth tore at his throat, dragging him coughing and wheezing from the doorway. The outdoor guards poked their heads in.
“Hello? Are you ok? Holy hell, where did this blood come from?” Hoofs reached in from the darkness, snapping the neck of the guard. The second guard drew his nightstick, swinging it into the viciously towards the dark figure.
“What the hell is wrong with you, get back here, and fight me like a man!” The unicorn dodged the swing, sending a savage kick upwards, knocking the nightstick from the guard’s grip. The next blow crushed his skull against the door. The momentum from the killing blow carried the prisoner outside, into the sunlight. She recoiled in surprise from the sunlight. She threw up a leg, trying to shade her eyes. She blinked her eyes a few times in surprise.
“What the-, how did I get out here?” She turned around slowly, for the first time seeing some of the carnage. “Oh no, no no no no! I did it again! Those damn voices! I told them they have to keep me in the light, I can’t control them when I’m in the dark! I broke free and killed everypony! They’ll kill me for sure this time! What do I do, what do I do? I have to run, I have to leave! And stay in the light. I have to have a fire going or stay in the sunlight.” Murderer. Nopony likes you. You are a horrible pony. Kill yourself. “Shut up, shut up! Gotta keep moving. I have got to get out of here.”
*** *** *** *** ***
Ugh. Did nopony know proper library etiquette? I mean seriously, while the library is always open, if you’re going to come in at 3AM looking for a book, couldn’t you at least not slam the door? Twilight rolled over in her bed, opting to let the obnoxiously loud book-seeker below struggle to find the desired tome on their own. A few more crashes and thumps could be heard below; Twilight winced at each one, pulling the covers tighter over her head. After the fourth or fifth smash, Twilight could have sworn she heard a binding break on one of her precious books. There were some lines you just don’t cross, and rampant book desecration was one of them. Whoever was below was about to face the full wrath of an angry Twilight, woken from her slumber. And it wasn’t going to be pretty.
Twilight jumped from her bed, sprinting downstairs at lightning speeds, trailing blankets behind her in her mad rush to apprehend those who dare trash her library. She tore down the stairs, stopping abruptly, using her hooves to shield her eyes.
“Augh! Who turned on the lights?” Twilight rubbed her painful eyes, the brilliant lights shooting daggers into her skull. She stumbled across the floor, trying to shut her eyes against the brilliant onslaught. After a few seconds, she was able to crack one of them open wide enough to see what was going on. Somepony was standing on a heap of books, staring intently at a lamp fixture. “What the hay are you doing?”
“Nope. Can still hear them. Keep staring.”
“Hello! Strange black pony. Yoohoo. Over here.”
“Keep looking, they’ll go away.” Twilight put her hoof on the back of the intruder. The intruder fairly jumped to the ceiling.
“You’re real! You’re what I was hearing!”
“Um, yeah, what else were you hearing?”
“What? Oh, nothing. Nothing at all. It’s just been a strange day,” the intruder said edging towards the door.
“Are you ok? What’s your name?”
“I’m fine, nothing wrong with me.”
“Well, why are you trying to escape then? It’s not like you are being sneaky about trying to leave.”
“Oh, I, uh, am not trying to leave.”
“You sure look like it.”
“I can’t leave.”
“Why can’t you?”
“It’s dark outside.”
“So?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me,” Twilight was still very confused by everything that was going on. She was grasping for something—anything to make sense at this point.
“Bad things happen at night.”
“You’re scared of the dark.”
“No! Just of what happens in the dark.”
“So yeah, you’re scared of the dark.” Twilight looked this strange pony up and down. “You look like you’re my age. How old are you?”
“I don’t know, how old are you?”
“Of course you know, everypony knows. Fine, I’ll tell you mine then you tell me yours. Deal?”
“I don’t know,” she said, backing up a little. Seriously, who was this purple unicorn, and what was with all the questions? All she wanted was a place to sleep for the night… a place that was lit.
“Fine, I’m 22. How old are you?”
“I don’t know!”
“Where are you from?”
“I can’t remember.”
“What’s your name?”
“I don’t know!”
“Do you have amnesia?”
“What’s that?”
“It’s something that happens to make you forget everything. Something traumatic, usually.”
“Well, no, I remember. It’s just been so long since anyone has called me by name, I don’t remember.”
“Where have you been?”
“I can’t say.”
“You don’t remember?”
“No, I remember. I just need to stay somewhere lit until morning when I’ll move off on my own. But if I tell you, you’ll kick me out. And I just need to sleep somewhere very well lit tonight.”
“Well, ok I guess. Why come in here at 3 in the morning?”
“My lantern was running out. This was the closest building.”
“Fair enough. What should I call you?”
“I dunno. Nothing, I guess. I don’t plan on staying long.”
“Well, you’re all black… so how about Shadow?”
“Sure,” Shadow shrugged.
“See you in the morning, Shadow. You seem nice enough, I’ll have to introduce you to my friends,” Twilight trudged upstairs, almost flicking the lights off but remembering at the last second.
“Yeah, whatever.” Shadow glanced around the room, finding a couch in the corner. How long had it been since she had lay down on something soft? Oh. My. Celestia. This surely must be what heaven feels like. She was sound asleep before she could count to five.
*** *** *** *** ***
The door to the library opened ever so cautiously, making the tiniest creak is it slowly opened. A second or two later, a yellow head engulfed by a pink mane peeked into the room.
“Hello? Twilight? Are you awake? I don’t want to wake you…”
“Yeah, Fluttershy, I’m upstairs. Be quiet though, I have a guest who’s still asleep,” Twilight spoke in a low voice, just loud enough for Fluttershy to hear. Fluttershy closed the door silently and flew slowly across the room—the quietest mode of transport she knew of. Spotting the Shadow asleep on the couch, she lowered herself to the floor gently in front of the couch, looking at the sleeping pony.
“Who is she?”
“I honestly have no idea, she literally showed up this morning without warning.”
“What’s she doing here?”
“She said she just needed a place to sleep. But she didn’t want the lights off. Kind of odd, but if it helps her sleep well… I guess too each their own.” Fluttershy noted that the pony was balled up a little, looking a little cold. A rapid glance around the room revealed a blanket rack nearby. She quickly returned to the couch, holding a blanket in her mouth. She pulled the blanket forward, and over Shadow’s sleeping body.
“Sleep wel—Eep!” Shadow’s eyes shot open.
“What’s going on? What are you doing?”
“You looked cold, I’m sorry,” Fluttershy continued to express apologies, but her words trailed off into indistinguishable mumblings. Fortunately, Twilight intervened.
“Woah, relax Shadow. Fluttershy wasn’t doing anything to you, she just wanted to help.”
“That’s fine, I just thought…” Shadow eyed the blanket. “I’m just going to go back to sleep, now.”
“Are you sure? It’s Hearth’s Warming Day, and a bunch of friends are going to come over, and we’re going to give each other gifts to show how much our friendship means to each other! Don’t you want to get a gift?” Shadow looked at her strangely.
“We are not friends. Never will be.”
“Never say never. Besides, I think we are friends. At least, I consider you a friend.”
“You don’t know me,” Shadow said simply. “I could be a mass-murderer, for all you know,” Shadow blurted out, hoping that Twilight would dismiss it as ridiculous.
“I don’t need to. You’re nice enough. Come on, Shadow, the rest of the gang is upstairs. Why don’t you come join us?”
“When you are done, can I come back here and sleep some more?” This couch was amazingly comfortable. Shadow had forgotten about cushions during her stay in solitude.
“Yes,” Twilight said with a nod.
“Alright, deal.” Shadow had no idea what she had just agreed to. Pinkie had been chomping at the bit the whole time to say ‘hello’ to her new friend. And now she could. Twilight could have sworn she heard the Doppler Effect as Pinkie screamed from quiet upstairs celebration down to the couch where Shadow stood, unsuspecting.
“Welcome to Ponyville!” The pair skid a few feet on the floor, Shadow flat on her back, Pinkie wrapped up in enthusiastic embrace.
“Urk,” Shadow grunted in surprise.
“IsawthatyouwerehereandTwilightsaid“don’twakeher,sheneedssleep”andIwantedtosay“hi” soverymuchbutIdidn’tthenIrealizedthatyouwerenewandprobablynoponygotyouanypresentssoIsaid “Imustgetherpresents!”andIboughtyoupresentsbecauseIwanttobeyourfriend!” Pinkie produced a pair of perfectly wrapped gifts from seemingly nowhere, offering them with an extended hoof, a ridiculously large grin plastered on her face. Shadow stared at her for a few seconds, gears slowly clunking along in her head, trying to process the barrage of words after almost a lifetime of no contact with the outside world, let alone anypony to talk to. Thankfully, Twilight translated.
“She wants to give you gifts in hope that you would be friends with her,” she said with a roll of her eyes. Sometimes Pinkie’s ‘Pinkie-ness’ could be a little overbearing.
“Those are for me?” Shadow said, looking at the brightly colored boxes entangled in a complicated series of ribbons, all ending in one intricate knot.
“Yup! I picked it out just for you! I didn’t know what you wanted, but then I thought ‘Everypony likes cupcakes, so I bought you—Darn it! I ruined the surprise!” Pinkie said, looking distraught.
“No, no, it’s fine. What’s a cupcake?”
“You’ve never had one?”
“Should I have?” Shadow looked perplexed.
“Well, duh! How can you not have had a cupcake? It’s a tapestry!”
“You mean tragedy?” Twilight interrupted.
“Right. Trapeze-y.” Shadow reached out slowly for the parcel, expecting at any moment, Pinkie would withdraw the offer.
“Yo! What the hay is taking so long? We’ve got presents to unwrap! Get your flanks up here!” A cross Rainbow Dash called from upstairs.
“C’mon Shadow, why don’t you unwrap it upstairs with the rest of us?” Twilight offered.
“Rest of us?”
“Yeah, a couple of my friends are over for Hearth’s Warming Day.”
“Hearth’s What now?”
“You don’t know about Hearth’s Warming Day?” Pinkie said in horror.
“No, sorry. I have kind of been in away from everypony for the last,” Shadow paused, realizing she had no idea how much time had passed. “Since I was a filly.”
“Why?” Twilight asked. Shadow’s mind raced.
“I uh… the doctors said I was sleeping or something.”
“You were in a coma?”
“…Yes,” Shadow fibbed.
“Wow, that explains your blank flank.”
“My what?”
“Are you silly fillies coming or not?” Rainbow Dash called from upstairs.
“We’re on our way!” Pinkie bounced upstairs.
“I’ll tell you about it later. You should meet my friends now,” Twilight said, leading Shadow up the stairs.
Shadow crested the stairs behind Pinkie and Twilight, slumped down slightly as if she was trying to shrink away and hide from the gathering of ponies. She saw four sets of eyes looking eagerly at her the landing above. Last time anypony had given her this much attention she had hung a guard by the entrails. But that was when she was first imprisoned. Needless to say, she was still unnerved by the sudden attention.
“Everypony, this is Shadow. She’ll be joining us for Hearth’s Warming Day.”
“Howdy!”
“What’s up?”
“Hello.”
“Greetings and salutations, Shadow dear.”
“Um… Hi,” Shadow seemed more abash then Fluttershy. Shadow stopped at the top of the stairs, unwilling to go any further.
“C’mon Shadow, you need to meet everypony up here.”
“No, I think I should go,” Shadow started backing down the stairs.
“Nonsense!” Twilight said, trying to stop her with another offer. “If you come on up, you can stay here with the lights on for as long as you like.” Shadow halted, that was actually pretty tempting. Without a place to stay, eventually she would run out of oil for her lantern or something on the road, and her sanity and any chance of not being put in the electric chair would go straight out the window.
“As long as I want?”
“Yes.”
“Lights on?”
“Yes.”
“Well…,” Shadow paused, trying to figure out the best outcome of the two options before her. “Okay,” she relented.
“Great! Well, you already met Pinkie,” Shadow nodded timidly, still a little overwhelmed by the pink, energetic, greeting she had just received. “This here’s Applejack, she’s more or less in charge of the local apple orchard, and the most honest pony around.”
“Pleased t’ meetcha.” Shadow had to spend a few seconds processing Applejack’s southern drawl.
“Hi, I’m Shadow… I guess.”
“Ya guess?” AJ sounded slightly puzzled.
“Well, I don’t really remember my name. Sorry.”
“Why don’t you remember your name?” Rainbow Dash asked obtusely.
“Ya couldn’t have a little more tact?” AJ shot a glare at Dash.
“No, it’s fine,” Shadow said with soothing hoof gesture. “I just woke up from…” Shadow glanced up at the ceiling trying to remember the term Twilight had just used. “…a coma.”
“That sucks. I was laid up in a hospital for a week, and I thought I was going to die. How long were you out?”
“I… I dunno. Don’t remember. Don’t remember much of anything.”
“Well, where’s your family?” AJ shot another glare at Dash.
“Dash!” Rainbow Dash returned AJs glare with a ‘what?’ expression.
“They’re dead. That much I remember. Whoever murdered my family is responsible for my memory loss.” That technically wasn’t a lie.
“Oh… I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” Rainbow Dash said apologetically. She shot a sheepish smile to AJ who was still giving her a ‘are ya happy now’ stare.
“Well, now you know Applejack and Rainbow Dash, heh heh,” Twilight said, trying to break the awkward silence. This is Fluttershy.
“Hello, Shadow.”
“Fluttershy.” The two cautiously extended hooves for a shake.
“Never thought I’d meet someone who’s as much of a scaredypony as Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash muttered to AJ. AJ responded with a sharp elbow jab.
“And last but not least, the illustrious Rarity.”
“Hello Rarity, it’s a pleas-” Shadow extended her hoof needlessly as Rarity lunged past the extended courtesy, going straight for Shadow’s mane.
“Darling, your mane is fantastic!”
“Um, thanks? What’s special about it?”
“You don’t know?”
“Not really.”
“Well, you have an all black mane with white specks all throughout. It’s almost like it sparkles with white starlight in the light. But,” she said with a note of sadness in her voice. “But it appears when in the shadows the white specks aren’t visible. How sad, something this magnificent should never be hidden.” She waved her hoof over Shadow’s mane, noting the difference in her mane between the shadow-covered portions and those in the brilliant light.
“Well, thanks? What can I do with that?”
“Dear, when we’re done here come back to my boutique, and I will make you some dresses. I just simply can’t resist working on something to compliment that mane.”
“Ok…” Man, the ponies here sure were… overbearing. They were certainly open about their feelings and opinions.
“Well Shadow, you’ve now meet all my friends. Time to open presents,” Twilight added. Shadow opened her mouth to protest, but Pinkie’s squealing drowned out anything she might have had to say. Before she knew it, Pinkie had divided up the pile of presents, with each pony in possession of a small pile of colorfully wrapped packages. Even Shadow had some, undoubtedly all from Pinkie Pie and her uncanny ability to produce presents from thin air.
“All right everypony, open your first gift!” Shadow glanced around, noting that each pony was opening the top package of their pile. She did the same.
Shadow took the first present from the pile, noting a brilliant pink card attached to the front reading ‘From: Pinkie.’ Glancing up from the present, she saw Pinkie was watching Shadow intently, nodding her head slightly with a face of raucous glee planted firmly on her features. Shadow pulled the paper off, revealing a brown box. After a few seconds fidgeting with tape, the box opened to reveal a pink covered cylinder.
“Thanks, Pinkie…” She said, reaching for it, still trying to figure out what it was. Worthless. Pathetic. Shadow pushed the voices away from her mind, trying really hard not to mess up what was her first friendly encounter with another living soul for as long as she could remember. They hate you. They want to kill you. Kill them first.
“Don’t you like it?” Pinkie asked optimistically.
“I do, it’s a fantastic... um…”
“Cupcake,” Twilight whispered.
“Cupcake!” Shadow repeated.
“You at least know what a cupcake is, right?” Pinkie asked expectantly.
“Of course,” Shadow scoffed. “It’s, um, decorative?” She placed it on a nearby table, looking up with a hopeful smile.
From Pinkie’s reaction, you could have sworn she had just witnessed a gathering of infants being drawn and quartered. Which, Shadow had to admit, was something that she may have actually done while under their control.
Pinkie lunged across the room, shouting a whole lot of things at such a rapid velocity that Shadow could hardly understand a word. She heard the words ‘how, where, unimag-something, and horrible.’ At that point, Pinkie took a short break to catch her breath and must not have liked the blank stare she was getting in return, because Pinkie shouted ‘Open up, Sister,’ before yanking open Shadow’s jaw and cramming half of the cupcake in, forcing it to its closed position once again.
“Now, chew!” Shadow did as she was told, a little too scared by this obviously insane pony before her to really taste anything for the first two seconds. And then the years of prison rations realized that what she was eating had good flavor. And not a little bit of tastiness, a lot of deliciousness. Shadow stopped chewing, looked up towards the ceiling in a contemplative fashion. She started chewing again, a bit slower this time, savoring each bite. She finally swallowed, leaning forward for another bite of cupcake. She intended to take a smaller, more delicate, less obviously voracious bite, but ended up wolfing down the rest of it in a single chomp. She looked up towards Pinkie, raising her ears.
“Do you have any more cupcakes?” Shadow asked hopefully.
“So you like them?”
“Like them? They’re probably the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted!” Kill.
“I knew it!” Pinkie shouted again. Wouldn’t her head look great separated from her body?
“Argh!” Shadow exclaimed, clasping her hooves to her head.
“Are you ok?” Fluttershy asked, speaking for the first time since her cursory greeting.
“Uh, yeah, I’m fine. Just my head hurts.” Shadow scrambled for a reason why she was suddenly holding her head. “You know, headaches ‘n’ stuff. Must be a remainder from my stay with the doctor.”
“A headache? I can help you with that.”
“No, it’s quite alright, I don’t-”
“Nonsense, you come with me right now,” Fluttershy said, walking up to her, gesturing in a following motion.
“No seriously, I don’t—ok, I’ll come with you,” Shadow abruptly changed her mind after receiving a surprisingly stern look from somepony who otherwise seemed gentle and timid. Fluttershy led Shadow back to the couch she had been sleeping on earlier.
“Now lay down and get comfortable. I’ll be back with some tea in just a second.”
“You really don’t have to go to all this trouble. It’s not that big of a deal, just a headache.” Slit her throat.
“It’s all right, you need to get better. Here,” Fluttershy pulled a blanket over Shadow’s body, almost immediately after retrieving a cup of tea from nearby. Fluttershy pulled Shadow’s head up slightly, while tipping the teacup back, letting its warm nectar engulf Shadow in a fuzzy, sleepy sensation.
“Don’t turn off the lights…” The room became fuzzy, Shadow’s voice slurred, and the world fell into nothingness.
Shadow wandered listlessly through dimly lit streets, noting through the brownish fog that all the stores were closed. Since she wasn’t really interested in purchasing any wares, this didn’t faze her. She didn’t even know why she was walking, she just was. She just walked through the continuous fog, the only sound being her hoof impacting the cobblestone-paved road. Having nothing else to do she meandered up to the nearest store, cupping her hooves on the windowpane in order to see into the darkened interior better.
Inside, she saw a gathering of ponies. Sort of. Their shape resembled ponies, but it was in fact hard to narrow down what their exact dimensions were. Most of them appeared to be made up of some sort of black smoke, constantly changing in size and density as the smoke billowed in a wind that was unfelt by Shadow. Some of them had more or less solid bodies with faces she recognized, while others were completely unrecognizable.
The gathering dispersed, with the entities departing either solo or in small groups. Each group went to separate buildings, with Shadow watching on, intrigued. She ended up a group of six whom seemed the most recognizable. Where had she seen them before? They entered a large stone building with a singular pane of glass over the front. Shadow approached it, trying the doorknob. Locked. She was relegated to watching from the outside.
Inside, the group further split up into two groups, one of four and one of two. Shadow watched on, quite curious now. Slowly, she realized there was something wrong. There was a pack of pitch-black animals circling around the group of four. Shadow began shouting at the group inside, unable to gain their attention. The pack of animals closed in, swarming two of the group of four, dragging them into the darkness where their screaming abruptly ceased.
“No! Listen! You have to listen to me! Hey, why can’t you hear me? I can hear you!” Shadow shouted through the window, thrashing it with her hooves, unable to gain the attention of the ponies inside. She dropped back a second, pacing for a few furious moments, trying to think of a way to signal them. She set back into the strongest buck she could give, releasing a savage kick on the window pane. All she got for her trouble was a broken ankle. Shadow collapsed on the ground in pain, pulling herself upright to see into the window once again.
Only one of the original four remained, and the pack roamed all around him, poking and prodding. At the last second, one of the pack lunged forward, catching the victim by the throat and dragging it off into the darkness where the pack got down to its messy work. The two remaining went to investigate. Shadow pounded on the pane, trying one last time to warn them. No luck. Their fate met was met in a similarly grisly fashion as the previous victims. The pack shifted its gaze away from its victims. Shadow could feel their gaze lock on to her. She backed away from the window, noting that they had dropped their heads and begun charging towards her. Silent and swift, the black ponies charged forward, malice in their minds.
Shadow averted her face from flying glass shards as they smashed the pane from the inside, making a flying leap onto the pavement below. The one in the front shook itself off, sending bits of blood and intestine flying every which way. Shadow finally got a good, unobstructed look at it for the first time. It was her. They were all her. Jet black, same body, same facial structure. But yet, they were obviously malevolent. Shadow turned sharply on her hooves, trying to make a dash for an alleyway, but her broken ankle tripped her, causing her to fall flat on her face.
“Heh heh heh, what do we have here?” Said the first Shadow, the only one with red eyes. There were four of her, each one with a different eye color. Though they didn’t seem like eyes at all, more like lights. Each glowed with a fierce intensity that made it hard to look at steadily, as if somepony had kindled the hottest of fires behind the eyes of these shadows of Shadow. They circled her slowly, like wolves closing for the kill, heads lowered slightly in an aggressive posture. She looked at them all, noting a sort of pecking order. Yellow seemed to give way to Orange, who gave way to Red, who gave way to Black.
“Looks like mommy has decided to come and join us for the hunt,” Yellow said jokingly, baring its teeth in a savage smile. It sounded like Shadow, but it had its own distinct quality that was hard for Shadow to distinguish.
“As if. Precious mommy only lets us feed on the rarest of occasions. We’re usually subjugated to giving intermittent suggestions that you always ignore,” Black said with a snarl. Her eyes were different than the others. It was is as if they were simultaneously sucking in all light that went near them and spewing out your worst nightmares. The effect was emphasized by the seeping fog that crept from its eye sockets to taint the floor upon which it walked.
“I’m sorry, have we met?” Shadow said meekly.
“Don’t play with us. You are us. We are you. You know what we want,” Orange said with a growl, breathing heavily on her neck, gnashing its sharpened teeth.
“Wait,” Yellow said with a sniff. “There’s something different with her. Her sleep is aided by something she ate,” Yellow spat. The other ponies straightened up at Yellow’s words, their moods souring even further than their already less-than-amiable level.
“She may actually not remember who we are,” Red murmured to Black. Black responded with a hostile bite in Red’s direction, a reminder to the order of the pack and who told who what to do.
“So you say you don’t remember us. Very well, we shall re-introduce ourselves, just this once.” Black nodded to Yellow.
“I’m Contempt,” it said.
“Since when does contempt turn to violence?” Shadow ventured.
“On those glorious moments you let me run free. Remember fifteen years ago when you let me butcher those stupid fillies who thought they were better than us, but never came close to our grades? I remember. I remember they never found the bodies. But I remember where they are. I think about it every day as the proudest moment of my life.”
“And I’m Control,” said Orange. Seeing Shadow’s confused look, Control continued. “When you feel like you’re starting lose control of the situation, I take over. Like when those fillies made fun of you for not having a cutie mark. I dealt with them. They never insulted you again,” Control said with a sinister smile.
“I’m Rage,” Red seethed.
“No explanation necessary there,” Shadow said to herself. “And you?” she said to Black.
“I’m everything they try to be and fail. You can call on me whenever you want. I’m plentiful wherever you go, and I’m in every situation.” Shadow thought for a second.
“You’re the worst of their traits combined?” Black nodded. “You’re Pure Evil?” Evil nodded again, showing its razor sharp teeth through its sinister grin.
“We are you, we are the voices in your head. We are always there for you, and are in your dreams every night.” Evil nodded to her compatriots, they moved in a little closer than Shadow would have liked. “We’re here for you ever single night. Remember girls, we can’t kill her.” Shadow suddenly became very uneasy. Evil directed her attention back at Shadow. “This is for never using us, even though we are always ready.” A hoof smashed down on her broken ankle, twisting and grinding it into the ground. Shadow howled in pain, arching her back in agony. Rage set in, ripping her stomach wide open. Evil leaned over her head.
“Remember us,” gripping hold and removing an ear. Control lunged forward, tearing at her neck.
*** *** *** *** ***
“Yeaaargh!” Shadow leapt from the sofa, clutching her throat.
Shadow's blood-curdling scream woke up Twilight faster than if Spike had told her Celestia was coming over with a pop quiz. Even Spike sat upright in surprise. Once he deduced there was no immediate danger, he flopped back onto his bed, fast asleep. Twilight stumbled down the stairs, half asleep. Her words were slurred for the first few minutes from sleep.
"Shaduh, whaths wrong?" Shadow squirmed frantically, trying to push away the invisible jowls that clamped down on her throat. Her hooves flailed around before her neck, slapping away her unseen attacker. In an instant, the bite released. All was back to normal, except that she must have appeared epileptic to Twilight.
"Uh, nothing. Just a bad nightmare," She said bashfully, pushing her mane which had been whipped into a mess during her frenzy away from her face.
"You sthure?"
"I am sure," Shadow said. Twilight shook her head vigorously, creating a similarly disarrayed mane, but in the process clearing her mind from its sleepy stupor.
"Well, if you need me to, I can go into your mind with you and help you process some images. I learned that spell a while ago, while browsing the Starswirl the Bearded wing."
"No!" Shadow said, perhaps too harshly. "I mean, it's really not necessary. Just a silly dream." Twilight looked at her askance.
"You can never tell with dreams. Sometimes they mean more than you think."
"Well in this case, I can assure you it was harmless."
"Care to talk about it?"
"Oookay..." Shadow said slowly. She could discuss most of the dream without revealing too much.
"Great! I'll pour us some drinks!" Shadow sat down at the dining room table in the Library/House combination.
"So... why is there a kitchen in a library?" Shadow asked curiously.
"To be frank, I don't really know," Twilight responded. "I was given permission to live here, and all of these rooms and accommodations existed prior to my residence. My only theory is that it was a house converted into a library." Shadow nodded in agreement of her sensible conclusion. "So," Twilight said, sitting down with a pair of mugs with piping hot Chai tea. "Tell me about your dream."
“Well, ok.” Shadow took a sip of her tea before delving into her half-truths. “It started off in a fog. A dark fog. Not black, more of a brownish color I think. Anyways, I was walking down empty streets.”
“Of Ponyville?”
“No, not Ponyville. I don’t remember. It may not even be a real place, it was just a city. Or town. Something with lots of shops.” Twilight nodded, and Shadow continued. “Well, was walking here and there without purpose, just kind of… um…”
“Wandering listlessly?” Twilight suggested.
“Sure,” Shadow shrugged, not really sure what Twilight had said. “Anyways, I decided to walk up to one of the stores, and that’s when it got weird.”
“The fog or empty streets weren’t weird?”
“No… should they be?”
“It’s different for everypony.”
“Well, this wasn’t that bad. At least not yet.”
“So what happened next?”
“Well, then through the store window I saw a snowy place. And six stallions. Guards, maybe.” Why was she telling Twilight all this! Way too much detail! She had to dial it back a bit, hopefully she didn’t give away enough that Twilight would figure it out. She seemed smart enough to be able too.
“Why do you say that they were guards?”
“Well, they seemed to be walking around something. Like they were patrolling. Anyways, while they were patrolling, a pack of animals came and killed them all one by one.”
“How do you know they were killed?”
“Well, they were screaming for a while until a bone snapped, then the screaming stopped. Another time, they ripped out the throat of a guard. You see, they-” Shadow looked up from demonstrating with her hooves to see Twilight’s mortified expression. “The details aren’t important. But the guards were dead, no doubt about it.”
“And that’s your dream?”
“It’s some of it. Should I continue?”
“Yes, please.”
“Well, then they turned towards me. They looked at me through the glass, and started coming after me. They broke the glass and started circling around me. There were four of them, one with red, yellow, orange, and then one with black eyes.”
“They circled you? Did they attack you?”
“Eventually, yeah. For a bit, they talked to me.” Shadow yelled at herself internally. Twilight didn’t need to know that! Way too much detail! She was going to figure it out for sure, unless Shadow somehow fixed the situation! Kill her. Hide the body. Nopony can know. “But for the life of me, I can’t remember what they said. Then they attacked, and that’s when I woke up,” Shadow finished quickly with a strained grin. Twilight narrowed her eyes slightly.
“Are you sure that’s everything?”
“Yup!” Kill her!
“Well if you remember anything else, please let me know. I’ll see if I can do some research and figure out if those are recurring symbols or images that tend to mean something.”
“Oh, you don’t need to do that! It’s just a silly nightmare.”
“That was anything but silly. That would have been terrifying! I’ll see what I can do to help a friend.”
“It’s really not necessary.”
“Nonsense!”
“No seriously, please don’t.” Twilight stopped mid stride, suddenly perplexed and intensely curious.
“Um, ok, I guess...” Twilight said, relenting unwillingly. Shadow sighed.
“I have had a bad past. If you dig into that stuff, it might tell you some stuff you don’t want to know. Or at least I don’t want you… or anypony to know. Please don’t.” Twilight’s eyes narrowed.
“What kind of bad?”
“Lots of… pain?”
“Abuse?”
“What? I… uh…”
“Your Dad abused you!” Twilight exclaimed, before muttering a few choice words under her breath about the ‘kinds of stallions that would do such horrible things.’ Shadow breathed a sigh of relief.
“Look, just don’t tell anypony.”
“Shadow, you should know I would never do such a thing!”
“Twilight, we’ve known each other for less than a day!” Twilight raised a hoof before sighing in defeat.
“Point. But still, I would never do that. In fact, I’ve counseled many ponies with similar problems. She may not show it, but Rainbow Dash had a similar background.”
“I doubt it,” Shadow muttered.
“Well if you ever want to talk about it, I’m always available.”
“Thanks, but no thanks.” Shadow shook her head.
“Well, I’m going to guess you won’t be wanting to sleep again tonight,” Twilight said. Shadow nodded vigorously. “You can make yourself home, make whatever you want to eat. The girls and I are going out today at around 10:00. Do you want to come along?”
“I dunno, I really shouldn’t stay in the same place too long.”
“Shadow, don’t even try to pull that nomad crap on us. We’ll tie you down if it means helping a friend.”
“Well if you put it that way, then I guess I can hang out with you guys, for a few more days I mean.”
“That’s a start,” Twilight said with a yawn. “Well, I’m going to go back to bed until a reasonable hour. Don’t worry about making noises, Spike’s a solid sleeper, and I will be wearing earplugs.”
“Alright, goodnight! Er, morning…” Shadow said, her voice trailing off as she glanced at the clock on the wall, suddenly realizing how early it actually was. She looked at Twilight with grateful eyes for getting up at such an ungodly hour to help out—for all intents and purposes—a complete stranger.
*** *** *** *** ***
Shadow felt immensely out of place in the crowd. The throng of other ponies felt almost claustrophobic to her; immeasurably long solitary confinement had a way of forcing ponies to be less socially graceful. She hurried to keep up with her compatriots who were busy chatting and having a grand ol’ time. Well, to be fair, some were having a better time than others. For instance, Rarity seemed entirely in her element. While the colorful one—was it Rainbow Brash?—whatever her name was, she seemed to be enjoying the time only because she was with her friends and not because she was enjoying the shopping. Shadow bolted around a group standing stock still in one of the aisles, still trying desperately to keep up with the other ponies. Oddly enough, it was Rainbow Brash who noticed that Shadow was lagging behind.
“Hey guys, wait up! We’re leaving Shadow behind.”
“Excuse me, excuse me, pardon me,” Shadow muttered, timidly working her way through the crowd. Sweet Celestia, this was so uncomfortable.
“Oh! Shadow dear, I’m so sorry! I didn’t think that you haven’t been shopping here before!”
“Actually, I don’t remember ever shopping. I’ve kind of been in a…” Shadow looked to Twilight for guidance.
“A coma.”
“A coma,” Shadow copied before continuing, “for the last few years, and I don’t remember much of anything.”
“Never been shopping… ever?” By Rarity’s reaction, you could have sworn that Shadow had just said that genocide was her favorite pastime.
“Erm, yes?”
“What is wrong with me? I simply must show you the best places for everything, how, when, where, and why to shop, and how to get the best deals on the latest fashion. I can’t believe we just let you fall behind, an inexperienced shopper in this crowd would have been certainly eaten alive by the unscrupulous vendors.”
“Well then thank Rainbow Brash for noticing I was falling behind. I doubt I would have caught up to you otherwise.” Dash chuckled.
“It’s ‘Dash.’ Rainbow Dash. The one and only!” Dash struck a heroic pose.
“Oh Ah don’t know, Ah could get used t’ callin’ you Rainbow Brash. Seems t’ fit,” AJ cut in with a snicker.
“Don’t you even dare.”
“Or what? Ah control the cider ‘round here.” Dash opened her mouth but immediately snapped it shut, thinking it wiser not to protest but just suffer in silence lest her precious drink be stolen from her.
“New nickname! Brashie!” Pinkie Pie bounded in from nowhere, with a ridiculously happy grin on her face. New nicknames are always awesome.
“See what you’ve done?” Dash said at Shadow, hanging her head slightly and walking towards the nearest food stand.
“Wait! Dashie! I didn’t mean it!” Pinkie Pie looked crestfallen that she hurt her friend. Good-natured pranks are one thing, but when the other pony starts actually being hurt by it, it isn’t fun anymore.
“Should I…” Shadow asked the remaining four.
“Nah, they’ll be fine,” AJ said confidently.
“Are you sure?” Fluttershy’s soft voice poked into the conversation.
“Positive.” Shadow would have continued on about how she felt bad for what had happened to Rainbow Dash but Rarity had already moved on.
“Shadow, come on! I just found a gown for you that will be fantastic!” She hissed the last word hoping her emphasis would hurry the posse onwards. That essentially set the tone for the next three hours. Rarity dashed from stall to stall looking at various gowns, socks, hats, scarves, jewelry, and everything in between. By the time they were done and safely back at Rarity’s boutique, Shadow felt ready to collapse. But oh no. This was only the beginning. Now they had to try on everything. They had to match the best with the best and discard the rest. Shadow eyed the towering pile of clothes with a twinge of fear. Here we go.
“Shadow dear, I seem to have forgotten ribbon for your mane. Would you go grab it for me?”
“Sure. Where is it?”
“Upstairs closet, third door on the left.” She said rapidly, before returning to the pile of clothing through which she had to sort to find the perfect dress. And if she couldn’t find one, she might have to suffer through making a custom one. Shadow trotted upstairs, head bobbing from left to right counting doors.
“One, two, ah here we go.” She opened the door with a swipe of the hoof, allowing the light from the hallway to illuminate the otherwise unlit interior. She peered in cautiously, half expecting the darkness to come jumping out at her to consumer her. She cautiously stepped inside, careful to step only in the light. Shadow scanned the semi-organized shelves for the ribbon. She immediately cursed at herself for not asking her what color of ribbon to get. She turned to go back downstairs to gather the specifics, when a box caught her eye.
Shadow stopped, turning back towards the shelf, pushing her head a little closer to the box, trying to make out what it said.
“Ribbons,” She mouthed. She readied herself to plunge her head into darkness, but she couldn’t just back down. These ponies were actually being nice to her for a change. It was so weird that ponies were doing that to her. It just felt… normal. She had never been normal. She had never been in a situation where normal had been an option. Had it not been for the voices constantly whispering in her ear, she might have forgotten that she was a serial killer. She took a deep breath, reached her head in, snagging it with her mouth and then pulled it back rapidly. The voices rose to a shouting level, before reducing to whispers as she re-emerged. At least that was over.
The door swung shut with a clack.
Shadows head snapped to where the shut door with dread, her only link to sanity was cut off. The voices built inside her head at an alarming rate, within seconds her mouth began moving of its own accord.
“Yes, freedom. Now, who should we kill first?”
“The blue! She makes me so angry! I just want to rip her throat out and laugh as she gasps for a breath that will never come!”
“No, the purple. She is getting to close! She’ll discover us!” Shadow felt herself shrinking to the recesses of her mind. She spent all of her remaining energy in a desperate attempt.
“What are we doing?” Evil shouted. Shadow spun, sending a crushing blow to the door, breaking the locking mechanism and the upper hinge. One of Shadow’s legs stuck to the door, a black aura surrounding. As the door swung wildly, it pulled her upside down into the brightly lit hall. She lay stock still, fighting to regain her body.
“What’s going on up here?” Twilight bounded up the stairs, closely followed by all the others.
“What happened? Shadow, I asked you to get ribbon, not start a fight with my house! Though, it does appear that you won,” Rarity added.
“Why is your hoof stuck to the door?” Rainbow Dash said bluntly.
“Huh?” Shadow said, finally regaining her ability to talk.
“And did your eyes just change color?” Shadow frantically wiped her eyes.
“I don’t think so, see?” She fervently prayed her eyes were back to their normal blue.
“Weird, I must have imagined it.” Twilight went up to the hoof stuck to the door, covered in a black magical aura. Twilight examined it closely.
“Black, interesting…” she muttered. “Aren’t you going to release the magic?”
“I don’t know how. I never could figure it out before p—before the thing.” She cursed at herself for almost saying ‘before prison.’
“Hey! I was trying to do homework over here! Could you keep it down plea—what the-”
“Sweetie Belle, don’t you dare finish that sentence,” Rarity went from concerned friend to cross, older sister in a heartbeat.
“But seriously! What is going on out here?” Shadow let out a fake smile.
“Heh… hi! I’m Shadow, your sister is trying to help me out with dresses and stuff.”
“And you had to break the closet to do that?”
“Umm… yes?”
“Don’t lie,” chided Applejack.
“Ok, fine. The door closed, and I kind of… don’t like… the dark,” Shadow said, hanging her head. Rainbow Dash cut in, her ever-so-caring center shining brightly.
“Kind of? You broke a door to get out of it! I’m not sure if I should laugh or be impressed.”
“Don’t laugh at her, it’s obviously fairly serious,” said Fluttershy.
“To be scared of the dark? Only fillies are scared of the dark.”
“But Rainbow Dash, from her perspective, she was a filly, woke up, and is who she is now.”
“Oh. I didn’t really think about that.”
“Ya rarely do.”
“Thanks, AJ. Good to know I’m appreciated ‘round here.”
“Anytime.”
“The last thing she remembers is being a filly? Is that why she doesn’t have a cutie mark?” Asked Sweetie Belle.
“Wait, what?” Twilight’s attention was immediately pulled from the black aura to this new piece of information. She stared at Shadow’s flank for a few seconds before making a mental note that she had been remarkably unobservant of late. She might need to read a book on how to be more aware. Honestly, this was a bit much. How could she have not noticed that! “No cutie mark, black aura, possible eye color shift, interesting…” She knows. Kill her now. Shadow felt her hoof twitch toward Twilight’s throat. Shadow exploded off the ground in a burst of scrambling speed.
“Sorry, gotta go, bye!” She shouted over her shoulder, barreling downstairs and out into the streets. She glanced around the streets, trying to figure out which way was the fastest to the nearest sharp stick to impale herself with. She should just off herself now, save the Royal Guard the trouble of tracking her down and executing her for murdering an entire village.
“Shadow, wait!” Twilight hollered at the top of her lungs, sprinting out of the boutique and cutting off the road back into town. Well, time to go the other direction. Shadow took off at top speed, heading overland towards the mountains. Twilight took off in pursuit, quickly outpaced by Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Shadow sped into the hills, catching the faint sound of a river. Hopefully there was something to kill herself with there.
Shadow’s legs were killing her, she had never had the chance to run this far or this hard before in her life, but she somehow managed to keep a lead on the two athletes, but they were closing fast. She pushed herself up the next hill, her legs about to fail. Panting, she noticed a cliff just a little bit further. Giving her last bit of energy into a final sprint, she took off for the edge. Applejack was gaining, still just out of reach of Shadow’s hind legs.
“Shadow! What are ya doin’! Oh no, Shadow don’t!” AJ dove, tripping up her hind legs. Shadow stumbled, collapsing on her side, inches from the edge. AJ stood back up, making another lunge for Shadow as she rolled off the edge. “Drat! Dash! Catch her!”
Shadow had never felt so free. The wind whipped her mane about her face as she plummeted downwards, but the voices were gone. They had accepted their fate, and so had she. She closed her eyes in bliss.
“Got her!” Two strong hooves grab one of her limbs as she fell, halting her plunge.
“No! Let me fall!” She struggled, thrashing about violently. Her horn smacked one of Dash’s hooves, causing her to lose her grip.
“Argh!” Sweet freedom. This was what the voices inside her had always wanted. Freedom. Now that she tasted it, she understood their impassioned cries. Shadow frowned, the sensation of falling suddenly stopped. Was she dead? She hadn’t felt any pain. She opened her eyes. Her whole body was encased in a purple aura, just above the ground.
“No! No no no no no! I wanted this!” She floated to the top of the cliff, struggling in vain to break the aura about her. She reached the top, looking at an irate Twilight.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Please kill me!” She sobbed.
“Twi, take her back to the library and put in her magical cell or something, we obviously need to help her,” a tired AJ said.
“No! Not another prison!” Shadow protested.
“Another?” Twilight asked. Shadow hung her head. She had been caught in a lie.
