Something Hateful This Way Comes

"There's a storm coming." ― Sarah Conner

“It is when you are angry that you must watch how you talk.” ― Chaim Potok

"Events will take their course, it is no good of being angry at them." ― Euripides

Chapter 1: Something Hateful This Way Comes

Twilight Sparkle was trotting through Ponyville, enjoying the fresh air on a bright sunny morning. After a long night of studying Twilight decided to take a break from reading to see what her friends were up to. Earlier she had already visited Rarity to see if she wanted to hang out, but she was too busy with a big order that she regrettably declined. She then went to see her good friend Pinkie Pie who was also too busy because she was helping out with the Cakes for a party.

“I’m sooo very sorry, Twilight,” she said. “I really want to hang out, but the Cakes are a little behind because the babies were keeping them up all night so they’re a little exhausted. That’s why I’m helping them out by making some delicious sweets for the party the Cakes are going to."

Twilight was feeling a little sad from hearing this, but Pinkie said, “Come by later today and we’ll have such a fun time.”

So now Twilight is walking around thinking of what to do next, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were both too busy to hang out. I guess it can’t always be as slow at their jobs as it is at the library. She then thinks about whom she should see next.

Knowing the time, Applejack would be hard at work on the farm so I doubt she’ll be available and nopony has seen Rainbow Dash so most likely she is probably taking a nap somewhere in the clouds like she always does.

Running down the names on her mental list there was only one pony left that she hasn’t tried yet Fluttershy. Now with a destination in mind Twilight hurried to Fluttershy’s cottage near the edge of the Everfree Forest to see her kind friend and see how’s she’s been.

Upon arriving at Fluttershy’s cottage she noticed that none of Fluttershy's animal friends were seen.

“That’s weird, usually whenever I come by to see Fluttershy, her animals are always around.” As Twilight looks around she noticed that she couldn’t see one animal, she also noticed how quiet it was. There were no birds singing, no squirrels running through the trees, no bunnies hopping around, no chickens pecking, it was as if there was not one living thing around. Feeling cautious Twilight walked up to Fluttershy’s door wondering if maybe she knew what was going on with the animals. Upon knocking the door Twilight heard a quiet shriek from the inside of the cottage. She knocked again this time she called out to her friend.

“Fluttershy, it's me, Twilight,” she said. Then she waited for a reply which only took a few seconds.

“Twilight….. Is it really you?” Her voice was so quiet that Twilight could only hear her with her ear pressed on the door.

“Yes it’s me Fluttershy, why don’t you open the door so we can talk.”

Upon hearing her response, Fluttershy opened the door to greet her friend. Once the door was open, Twilight walked into the cottage and closed the door behind her. Twilight looked at Fluttershy and noticed that she was shaking. "Fluttershy are you alright? You seem to be shaking quite a lot.”

“Oh…. I’m fine really, nothing to be worry about.” Her shaking was slowly going away.

“Are you sure? Is there is anything I can do to help?”

“Oh yes, I am perfectly fine, no need to be concern,” she replied with a kind smile.

Twilight decided not to pursue further now that it seems that whatever was going on with Fluttershy is gone for the moment. She then asked her another question, “I noticed when I got to your house that none of your animal friends were around and I was wondering if you knew what was going on with that?”

Fluttershy’s smile faded and she gave the concerned unicorn a sad look before responding, “They're gone now, but they’ll be back………. eventually.”

“Why did they leave? I thought they were happy here, did they all move away? ”

Fluttershy shook her head, “Oh no no no, they didn’t move away at all. They’re really happy living here, it’s just... now they're just scared and that’s why they all left but they’ll come back in time.”

Twilight now curious said, “What do you mean scared? What scared them away?”

“Because of the-”

Before she had time to finish her sentence a loud BOOM that sounded like thunder came out of nowhere and caught the two mares off guard. Fluttershy gave out a loud scream and hid under a table shaking just as she was when Twilight first saw her. The boom only lasted a few seconds before fading out, Twilight walked over to the table where Fluttershy was cowering, patted her head, and gave her a look that was saying don’t worry everything is going to be alright.

Once Fluttershy was feeling fine she crawled out from under the table and said to Twilight with a smile, “Thank you Twilight, I’m feeling a lot better now.”

Twilight now feeling happy that she was able to cheer up her friend. “It was nothing, I’m guessing your animal friends ran away because of that loud boom, am I right?”

Fluttershy simply looked down and nodded.

“I’m also guessing that the loud boom was the reason why you were shaking when I got here too?”

Again Fluttershy gave a simple nod and then replied in a soft voice, “I’m afraid of thunder.”

Twilight gave out a sigh knowing that practically anything scares Fluttershy, but she’d be lying if she said that the sound of thunder doesn’t scare her every once in a while. Upon realizing the thought Twilight gave a puzzled look and said, “That’s weird I could have sworn that I didn’t see any thunder clouds when I walked over here.”

To confirm her suspicions she looked out the window and saw nothing but blue skies. To get a better look Twilight went outside to see where in the sky the sound could be coming from, upon looking at the sky all around her Twilight saw that not one cloud was seen. Now confused Twilight couldn’t understand what was going on, she was lost in thought that she didn’t noticed that Fluttershy was standing next to her until she spoke.

“The thunder isn’t coming from here, it’s coming from there,” her hoof pointing to the Everfree Forest.

Twilight looked above the Everfree Forest to see the source of the loud boom, but because Fluttershy’s cottage was too close to the forest and Twilight was at ground level she couldn’t see much. Disappointed Twilight groaned and said, “I can’t see anything from here. I wish I could see from a higher angle.”

Fluttershy hearing Twilights request responded, “Um... I know I’m not that strong, but if you want I could fly you up there so you can get a better look? If you don’t want to that’s fine.”

Hearing her response Twilight said, “Fluttershy you’re a genius, let’s do it.” Fluttershy flew above Twilight; she then grabbed her by the waist and said, “Hold on,” followed by grunt.

As Fluttershy started flapping her wings harder the two ponies were lifted off the ground. Finally we're getting somewhere as the two ponies were getting higher and higher from the ground. Twilight then noticed how slow they were going and she also saw how hard Fluttershy’s wings were flapping and the look on her face was showing exhaustion. Twilight then made a mental note for herself to read later, the note said: After this is all over I’m going on a diet. Eventually the two ponies were finally high enough to get a better view of the Everfree Forest, that was when Twilight saw what the cause of the loud boom was. The source was coming from a big storm cloud hovering above a clearing deep in the Everfree Forest. As if to confirm her mental statement a lightning bolt struck from the cloud followed by a loud boom. The sound startled Fluttershy, which caused her to stop flapping her wings and soon the two ponies started falling back towards earth.

About halfway down Fluttershy realized what had happened and started flapping her wings harder than ever before. Eventually they started falling slower and slower until they safely landed back on the ground. Afterwards Fluttershy continuously apologized for what happened, Twilight forgave her thanking Celestia that no one got hurt. Now that the source of the thunder had been found Twilights next step is to investigate this storm cloud to get more information about it.

“Stay here I’ll be right back.” said Twilight to Fluttershy “I’ll come back as soon as I find out more about this mysterious cloud.”

Fluttershy gave out a simple “okay” before Twilight headed into the Everfree Forest.

The Everfree Forest is a mysterious place filled with danger around every corner. Nopony ever goes there because of the numerous strange creatures that lived there, the only reason Twilight ever goes was to visit her friend Zecora who lives in the forest. As Twilight kept walking deeper and deeper to the forest she lost track of time, since because the trees block out the sun there was no way to tell how much time has passed. What might have been hours could only have been a few minutes. Twilight knew she was getting closer because the sound of thunder was getting louder and louder, she kept walking until finally she reached the clearing to which she looked up and now got a better look at the mysterious cloud.

It was a lot bigger than it was when she saw it from the edge of the Everfree Forest, she also noticed that the cloud hadn’t moved from its spot since it was still over the clearing. Unlike the clouds in Ponyville the clouds of the Everfree Forest didn’t need a pegasus to move around since they can move on their own which was not natural at all. Upon looking more into the detail of the cloud Twilight realized something, This isn’t just a cloud, it’s a house!

Sure enough with careful examination Twilight was positive that the mysterious cloud was really a house. Just like how Rainbow Dash's home is made of white clouds this house seems to be made of storm clouds. With that statement Twilight concluded that whoever lives in that house must be a pegasus. Twilight called out to whoever was up there hoping to have a talk with whomever lived there.

“Hello, is anypony up there?” she waited for a response but after a while no one answered. She called out again this time with a louder voice. “Anypony there?” again no answer, she tried again even louder than before, “I’m sorry to disturb you but I was hoping if you can maybe come down here so I can have a nice friendly chat with you.”

Once again no answer, Twilight was starting to wonder that maybe there was nopony home and was thinking of giving up. If only I could get up there just to make sure that no one’s home. She did remember that there was a spell that can get non flying ponies the ability to walk on clouds and with her teleportation spell she would be able to get up there too. Twilight thought that was a wonderful idea, unfortunately she couldn’t remember the spell at the moment which frustrated her even more to the point she shouted, “HEY YOU, I’M TALKING TO YOU. GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW, I WILL NOT BE IGNORED!” As soon as she said that Twilight covered her mouth embarrassed that she lost her temper which seemed totally out of character and shouted at whoever was in that house. What seemed like minutes in Twilights mind which was only seconds she waited to see what was going to happen next. When nothing happened she sighed deeply thanking Celestia that whoever was living at that house was not home.

Twilight decided to call it a day and that she will try again another day, still embarrassed about losing her temper Twilight turned around and started walking back the way she came. The thought of her not being able to continue her investigation and that she would have to return again, caused her temper to return. She stopped and yelled at the house knowing that no one was home, “I’LL BE BACK, THANKS FOR NOTHING….. JERK!” After letting out her anger, Twilight was feeling better and continued walking.

She only took a few steps before a lightning bolt struck just a few feet in front her which caused to Twilight to jump back, she jumped again when the thunder struck as well. Twilight was now shaking as much as Fluttershy was earlier, before Twilight could think about what was happening a loud angry voice from behind her shouted, “WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!” Twilight now started shaking ever harder after she realized that somepony was home, as she turned around and looked up to the source of the voice. When she looked up all she saw was a pony’s head poking out from the cloud house, upon meeting eye contact with the head, the pony jump down from the house and landed on the ground hard a few feet in front her that caused her to take a few steps back. Twilight was now looking at a red pegasus with red eyes and had an angry face. The storm cloud house continued shooting lightning above them followed by the sounds of thunder, the red pegasus started walking towards Twilight with his hooves stomping the ground at the same time as the thunder from above. He stop a few feet from Twilight and, “WELL I’M RIGHT HERE, SO WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU WANT?!

Equestria's Most Hated

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"We hate some persons because we do not know them, and will not know them because we hate them." ~ Charles Caleb Colton

"They judge me before they even know me. That's why I'm better off alone." ~ Shrek

“Before you hate something you should try to understand it.” ~ Martha Grimes

Chapter 2: Equestria’s Most Hated

Twilight stood silently, still in shock over what has happened in just the past few seconds. The pegasus still waiting for her reply stood there, with his patience wearing thin. When he finally got tired of waiting he said, “Well? First you order me to come down here, then you insult me, and now here I am waiting for you to tell me who you are and what you want and you’re just standing there refusing to answer my question?” Twilight still didn’t answer, the pegasus got angry and raised his hoof and stomp it on the ground and yelled, “WELL ANSWER ME!” A sound of thunder from his house struck which brought Twilight back to her senses.

Now that she was out of her trance she cleared her throat and said, “I’m very sorry for insulting you and ordering you around like that. I really didn’t mean to insult you, I just got a little frustrated because I called out to you but there was no answer, and after a few tries I sort of lost my temper and I shouted thinking there was nopony home. As it turns out, you were home and I regret shouting at you like that. If I had known you were inside, I wouldn't have shouted at you. I hope you can forgive me.” Twilight then bowed her head as she finished speaking hoping that the pegasus would accept her apology.

The pegasus stood there silently as Twilight was waiting for his response, a few seconds passed by before the pegasus responded in a calmer but still mean tone, “Fine, apology accepted.”

Twilight raised her head now relieved that the pegasus accepted her apology. She decided to answer the pegasus’s question so she walked a few steps toward him and introduced herself. “My name is Twilight Sparkle and I’m from the town of Ponyville. What is your name?”

“I’m Shadow Bolt and I’m from up there.” he pointed to his cloud house, the house gave out a small rumble, as if it was introducing itself.

Trying to make sure she was on Shadow Bolts good side she complimented his house. “It’s a very nice house, it’s so big and …….. unique.” The house was about three stories high but only had two openings. One at the bottom which she assumed was the front door and the other was up at the top floor which she also assumed was a window.

Shadow took the compliment well and responded, “Thank you, I made it myself.” He looked up at his house somehow taking pride of his work. He looked back at Twilight with a curious look, “Anyway what are you doing here?”

Twilight stood there trying to remember why she was here in the first place but it only took a few seconds before she remembered. “I came here to investigate your house because it was making a lot of loud sounds which is scaring my friend and is causing her animal friends to run from her house which is outside of the forest.”

Shadow just stood not saying a word until he started chuckling. Twilight feeling offended from his laughter said in a mad tone, “And just what are you laughing about?”

Shadow chuckled for a few more seconds before stopping immediately. It seemed his laugh was fake but Twilight mistook it for real laughter. He responded for in an annoyed tone, “It seems your manners haven’t improved much in the short time you’ve been here.”

I’m really not doing a good job at making a good first impression here, Feeling ashamed from his statement, Twilight was reminded of losing her temper earlier. She apologized again, “I’m sorry again I didn’t mean to talk to you like that. I thought you were laughing at me and I felt offended.”

Shadow stared at her coldly and said, “Fine apology accepted again. The reason I was laughing was the thought that I just moved here and I haven’t been here for a few hours and it seems I’m already getting kicked out of one of the most dangerous places in Equestria.”

Twilight curious from his response asked, “Wait you just moved here?”

“Yes that’s right,” he said. “I spent all night moving my house here and I finally went to sleep until SOMEPONY woke me up.” His eyes shooting daggers at Twilight.

“Again sorry about that. Anyway why did you move here to the Everfree Forest?”

“Because my little pony I heard that nopony ever goes to the Everfree Forest, so I moved here so I could be left alone.”

He moved here so he could be left alone? Twilight repeating what he said in her mind. “Why do you want to be left alone?”

“Because I got tired of being hated by everypony, wherever I go.” was his response now sounding a little angry with that remark.

“Why does everypony hate you?”

“I don’t know, everywhere I go everypony gives me a hateful look. Some ignore me, some run away from me, once a family of four even threw rocks at me. I remember the father was an earth pony with muttonchops and he wore a pilgrim hat, he called me a demon. It seems ponies take one look at me and they instantly hate or scared of me.” he said in a sad but still angry tone.

Twilight realized she never paid attention to what Shadow Bolt looks like and took a good look at him. He was a tall pegasus, his hair was spiky, the front and back of his mane was red while the middle was black. His wings were bigger than the average pegasus. His hooves were black and she noticed that he wore bracelets around his hooves, they were sliver and had a round red gem in the center. The inside of his tail was red while the outside was black. She then noticed that his flank had no cutie mark.

Shadow noticed that Twilight was staring at him and got angry thinking she was judging him just like everyone else did when they first saw him. He raised his hoof and shouted, “STOP STARING AT ME!” his hoof stomped the ground.

That was when Twilight noticed something, as his hoof stomped the ground a red aura started covering his body and then disappeared. What was that? For a moment she felt something she couldn't explain. She felt angry, power, and loneliness coming from the aura. She didn’t understand what she just saw it must have been swamp gas or the forest playing tricks on me was her excuse to herself.

Putting her attention back to the angry pegasus she said, “Sorry didn’t mean to stare at you.” She quickly changed the subject, “So you live all by yourself? You don’t have any friends?”

He didn’t reply right away because he was still angry at the lavender unicorn constantly offending him, but he was able to cool down before he answered her question. “I never had friends and I don’t need any.”

“Don’t you get very lonely without anypony to keep you company,” she asked.

He responded, The only company I need is my hate.”

“Hate?” she said.

He replied, “Yes hate, It's kept me company over the years and made me strong. I liked to think it's the most powerful thing in Equestria.”

Twilight shocked from his response, his words repeating in her head. Hate…. Most powerful thing….. in Equestria? Now it was Twilights turn to be angry, What makes him think that? I know for a fact that’s not true, friendship is the most powerful thing in Equestria and I should know since I’m one of the Elements of Harmony and my friends and I have saved Equestria many times because we had the power of friendship by our side.

Twilight said to Shadow Bolt in a disagreeing tone, “Hate is not the most powerful thing in Equestria.”

“Oh it’s not? Then tell me what is the most powerful thing in Equestria?”

“It’s friendship,” was her response.

He replied, “Should have known you would say that. Everypony thinks that something like friendship or love is the most powerful thing in Equestria. Well I hate to disappoint you sweetie but it’s not, hate is more powerful than love and friendship combine.”

Twilight responded, “Well I respectively disagree with you sir, because I know what I’m talking about because I’m one of The Elements of Harmony.”

“Oh really now, you’re one of The Elements of Harmony?” he asked not believing her.

“Yes I am,” she replied. “I, Twilight Sparkle, represent The Element of Magic, the most powerful Element of Harmony.” She stood on her hind legs as she said this with a hoof over her chest. She continued, “And that’s why I know that hate is not more powerful than friendship, it’s because of friendship that my friends and I were able to save Equestria multiple times.”

After Twilight finished her statement she stood there waiting for Shadow Bolt to admit that he was wrong about hate being more powerful than friendship but Shadow simply smirked and said, “Well it might be true, from what I heard that you saved Equestria with the power of friendship, but I’m pretty sure that with the power of hate you and your so called friends would have saved Equestria faster than you did with the power of friendship by your side.”

It seems that both ponies were at a stalemate when it came with this argument and neither one was backing down. Twilight saying that friendship is more powerful since she has witnessed firsthand what the power of friendship can do. Shadow saying that hate is more powerful since he’s has lived his whole life with hate which made him have no need for anything insignificant like friends and claims it made him stronger than before.

They both stood there staring at each not saying one word until Twilight finally broke the silence, “I’ll prove to you that friendship is more powerful than hate. I know that once you experience its magic you will no longer think that hate is the most powerful thing in Equestria.”

“Fine, I accept your challenge,” was Shadow’s response.

Twilight thinking This is going to be a piece of cake. Once he finally makes some friends he’ll thank me for changing his mind. She smiled as she headed towards the entrance of the Everfree Forest with Shadow Bolt following right behind her in the air. Her smile got even bigger with the thought of writing to Princess Celestia about this assignment. Once I write to the princess about what I’m doing and when I succeed she is going to be so proud of me.

Would You Kindly LEAVE ME ALONE?!

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“Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais

"If a small thing has the power to make you angry, does that not indicate something about your size?" ― Sydney J. Harris

Chapter 3: Would You Kindly LEAVE ME ALONE?!

As Twilight was getting closer to the entrance of the Everfree Forest she started thinking of what was the game plan for this assignment she took upon herself to succeed in. First off I will go back to the library and write to the princess about what I’m currently doing and how I will update her while I’m making progress. Then after that I will introduce Shadow Bolt to my friends and once he sees first hand of what our friendship is like and sees the power its holds he’ll abandon his silly notion and admit that friendship is more powerful than hate. By the time she finished her mental list they were standing outside of the Everfree Forest.

Shadow Bolt stood by the entrance next to Twilight Sparkle his mind thinking about what’s happened over the last few moments. Let’s see, moved my house to the Everfree Forest so I can be left alone, picked the spot of where I should put my house, as the sun started to rise I went inside to finally get some sleep, an hour later get wakened up by a bossy unicorn, constantly get offended by said unicorn, then she starts arguing me about hate, says friendship is more powerful than hate in a snooty way, then challenges me to prove me wrong. He stood there with his thoughts until Twilight pointed her hoof to the town in the distance and said, “Over there is Ponyville, my home. Once we get there I will introduce you to my friends and you’ll see that I’m right about friendship being more powerful than hate. Why did she have to say it in such a snooty way? She is so full of herself. Although maybe this might be somewhat entertaining since I don't go out much. If she didn't show up and challenged me I'd probably would have slept in all day he thought.

He then said to Twilight, "Alright, lets begin."

As they were about to head to town Twilight just remembered something. I told Fluttershy that I was going to come back as soon as I finished my investigation. If I don’t show up she'll think that something happened to me. Twilight decided that before they head to town she should visit Fluttershy to let her know that she’s alright. Then another thought pop into her mind, Not only will I let Fluttershy know that I’m okay, I can also introduce her to Shadow Bolt and be one step closer to proving my point about friendship being more powerful than hate. She turned to Shadow Bolt and said, “Before we head to town I want to introduce you to one of my friends”

“Okay” was all he said. With that Twilight started walking towards Fluttershy’s cottage.

It didn’t take long before the cottage was in their sights, Twilight saw Fluttershy was patiently sitting outside. She’s probably sitting there waiting for me to come back, she thought. Twilight called out to her, “Fluttershy it’s me, I’m back.

Fluttershy heard her and started walking towards Twilight, as she walked up she said, “Thank goodness your'e back Twilight, I was starting to get worried.” Then she stopped when she saw Shadow Bolt behind Twilight.

Shadow watched as a yellow pegasus with a long pink mane and tail walked up to them. She had blue eyes and had three pink butterflies for her cutie mark. She walked up to them and then stopped when she saw him. She looks familiar.

Twilight walked next to her and said, “Fluttershy this is Shadow Bolt. Shadow, this is Fluttershy, one of my dear friends and one of The Elements of Harmony, she represents The Element of Kindness.”

Shadow looked at the so called Element of Kindness and said to her, “So I take it you’re the one who wants me gone because my house is scaring you, am I right?”

Fluttershy didn’t respond, instead she tried to hide her face behind her mane and looked away from Shadow. Look at her, first she doesn’t answer my question and now she is doing her best to avoid me he thought as his hate was starting to burn up inside him. She’s no different from everypony else, trying to avoid looking at me as if I’m some kind of monster. And I’m supposed to believe she’s the Element of Kindness, last time I checked doing your best at ignoring somepony isn’t an act of kindness. More like rudeness if you ask me.

Twilight started sensing something was wrong with the atmosphere around them and looked at Shadow and noticed something. The red aura was back and once again was covering Shadow Bolt’s body. She could feel the anger and pain behind the aura and that’s when she realized something, The aura wasn’t coming from the forest, it's coming from HIM. I cant really explain it, but it's as if this red aura is some sort of manifestation of his hate. She turned to Fluttershy to see if she noticed the red aura too and saw that Fluttershy wasn’t even looking at him.

Twilight figured out what was going on since she understood Fluttershy more than Shadow did, she quickly tried to defuse the situation and said to Shadow, “Please forgive Fluttershy’s actions, she’s always shy when it comes to meeting new ponies.”

“She’s shy?” was Shadows response, his anger started going down from Twilight's reply.

“That’s right, when I moved to Ponyville I met Fluttershy and she did the same thing to me as she’s doing to you right now.”

Shyness isn’t an excuse for rudeness if you ask me was what he was thinking of saying but decided against it.

Twilight saw the red aura disappearing while she was explaining to Shadow about Fluttershy’s actions, when she finished talking the red aura was gone. Okay this is interesting, it seems when he gets angry the red aura appears, Twilight makes a mental note of this for further study.

She turns to Fluttershy, still avoiding looking at Shadow Bolt and said, “Shadow Bolt isn’t gonna hurt you, I’ve brought him here so I can show him how wonderful our friendship is. Why don’t you tell him a little bit about yourself?”

Fluttershy turned to Twilight and said, “Okay... I will.” She then turned to Shadow and said in a kind voice, “I’m Fluttershy, and I love to take care of my animal friends.”

Shadow was starting to feel a bit better now that the yellow pegasus wasn’t ignoring him and now is speaking to him. He decided to try start up a conversation with her and asked her, “What kind of animals do take care of?”

Fluttershy responded, “Oh, lots of animals. I take care of squirrels, bunnies, birds, mice, bats, and even a bear.”

And I take it they're very happy with you?” he asked.

“Oh my yes, I am very kind to them and in return they're kind to me,” She responded. “I have so many friends because I’m so kind to them. I believe if your kind to everypony they will be kind to you.”

How naive she is, he thought. He didn’t agree to her last comment because he knew that’s not true. He cleared his throat and said, “I hate to burst your bubble but I don’t agree with what you just said.”

Twilight curious responded, “Why is that?”

“Because I’ve already tried using kindness to make friends and that didn’t work.” He said.

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“During my travels I settled down in the city of Baltimare where I thought that if I tried to be kind to the townsponies maybe that wouldn’t hate me, boy was I wrong.” He said, “It took me awhile before I found some ponies that wouldn’t run away or ignore me, and that's when I tried kindness to win them over. At first I thought it was working, I was kind to them and they were kind to me. Soon they started being cruel to me, but I didn’t say anything since I was trying not to be rude to them since I still thought that kindness would work like it did last time. It wasn’t until one day when I was flying around that I overheard them talking about me from a distance. It seems that the only reason they hung out with me was so they could make fun of me afterwards. Apparently they thought that my kindness was a weakness and that's why they treated me bad. They thought that they could treat me in whatever way they wanted thinking that I wouldn’t mind because of my kindness." Afterwards I returned to my house and moved away, I swore that I would never show kindness to anypony ever again.”

Twilight felt sad when he finished his story thinking Why anypony would do that to someone who was trying to make friends. “I’m sorry that happened to you," she said.

He looked at her and said, “It’s fine, no use thinking about it.” He turned to Fluttershy, "My kindness made them think that I was weak and helpless.”

Fluttershy said, “But I am weak and helpless.”

So she admits it he thought, his hate was starting to burn up again. Kindness is a sign of weakness, those ponies really thought I was weak because I tried to be nice to them. He looked at Fluttershy and said in an intimidating tone, “And do I look weak and helpless to you?”

Fluttershy shaken from the tone of his question once again tried hiding behind her mane which again made Shadow angrier even more.

Twilight once again saw the red aura and knew that this wasn’t good.

Shadow repeated the question in an angry tone, “You didn’t answer my question, do I look weak and helpless to you?” Fluttershy still refused to answer and started cowering and avoided eye contact from Shadow. This made him even furious which made the red aura grow bigger his raised his hoof and shouted, “ANSWER ME!” his hoof stomped the ground. The loud noise from his hoof stomping the ground made Fluttershy screamed and in an instant she flew back to her cottage slamming the door behind her and locking it.

Twilight saw that there was nothing more she can do and decided that they were finished talking to Fluttershy and should move on. Twilight said to the angry pegasus, “Since it seems that Fluttershy is…….. indisposed at the moment we should probably move on to our next destination.”

Shadow stood there still a bit angry and took some deep breaths, the aura slowly disappeared “Fine let’s go!” he started walking towards Ponyville. Twilight starting walking right behind him trying to catch up thinking, Okay this is going to be a bit harder than I thought, but I’m positive that I can change his ways and soon everything will be alright.

Can I Get an Honest Opinion?

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"A town is a place where everyone hates you." ― Joe Dirt

"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." ― Proverbs 15:1

“The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.” ― Gloria Steinem

Chapter 4: Can I Get an Honest Opinion?

As they headed towards Ponyville Twilight started thinking, Okay seems this assignment has gotten off to a rocky start, but just a minor hiccup. I bet it will be smooth sailing from here on out. They finally arrived at Ponyville, She turned to Shadow and said, “Welcome to Ponyville, I’m sure you’re gonna have wonderful time here.”

Shadow wasn’t showing any happiness to Twilights comment and said, “So where are we going now?”

Twilight responded, “First where gonna stop by my place, I’ve got something important to do. Then afterwards I will introduce you to the rest of my friends, okay?”

Shadow replied in a sarcastic tone, “Oh goody I can’t wait to meet your friends, I bet they're swell.” He didn’t like the idea of meeting more of Twilights friends after his experience with Fluttershy.

Twilight ignoring his sarcasm said, “Okay follow me” she started walking towards the library. Twilight greeted the town’s ponies as she passed them by, and they returned the greeting by smiling at her. Twilight feeling confident that her mission was going to be a success kept trotting towards the library without a care in the world. Unfortunately the same could not be said for her companion.

Shadow noticed how the ponies smiled at Twilight and then they looked at him, giving him a hateful look. Just like in every town, they take one look at me and BAM instant hate. Who are they to judge me? They don’t know me, they never wanted to get to know me. Well fine who needs them I don’t need anypony. His hate was burning up again from his mental rant, the aura returned once again, but neither he nor anypony else noticed it. It wasn’t until Twilight spoke to him that his concentration was broken and the aura vanished, “We’re here, this is the Golden Oaks Library, this also my home.”

Shadow looked and noticed that the library is housed in a large, hollowed-out tree.There was a large beehive hanging from a branch, a candlestick emblem on the front door, a sign that pictures an open book located out in front, and two balconies, one with a telescope. Twilight noticed how he was looking at her house and said, “I know it’s amazing, wait right here I just have to do something real quick, and then will be on our way.” She used her magic to open the door and walked in closing it behind her. Shadow now stood there alone, in a town that was slowly starting to hate him.

Twilight walked into the library, she noticed how clean it was and called out to her assistant, “Spike, you in here?”

She heard a reply from upstairs, “Up here Twilight,” As she looked up she saw the purple dragon coming down the stairs with a feather duster in his hand.

“Wow Spike the library looks so clean, I’m so proud of you,” as Twilight was complimenting the dragon’s handy work.

Spike blushing while rubbing the back of his head with his free hand said, “Thanks Twilight, it was nothing.”

“Anything happened while I was gone?”

“Sweetie Belle stopped by earlier,” he said. “Rarity asked her to come over to see if I was busy and wanted to know if I could help her out with a few things at the shop. Apparently Rarity has this big order that she’s got to finish by tonight.”

“Well I guess after you finish cleaning you can go over to Rarity’s, I’m sure she’ll be grateful that she has someone like you to help her out,”

Spike gave Twilight a big hug from hearing this saying “Thank you,” again and again.

Spike quickly ran upstairs to finish cleaning, while he was busy at that Twilight got a quill and paper and started writing her letter to the princess explaining the situation. The letter said:

Dear Princess Celestia,

I am writing to you because I’ve met a peculiar pony named Shadow Bolt. He’s a very lonely pegasus that has no friends. He has this silly notion saying that he doesn’t need friends because he has his hate to keep him company, and that hate is the most powerful thing in Equestria. Of course you and I both know that’s not true, so I’m taking it upon myself to prove him wrong by showing him that the magic of friendship is more powerful than hate. I have the utmost confidence that I will succeed and I will write to you to give you an update of my progress. On a side note, I’ve noticed that every once in a while a red aura appears over his body when he gets angry. I believe it’s a manifestation of his hate and I want to know if you heard anything similar to this.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle.

As Twilight finished her letter Spike came running down the stairs now that he finished cleaning, “Alright Twilight, I’m off to Rarity’s,” as he was about to open the door.

Twilight called out to him, “Spike wait, before you go, could you mail this letter to the princess?”

“Sure thing,” he said as Twilight handed the letter and watched Spike using his magical fire breath to send the letter to Princess Celestia. Afterwards Spike waved to Twilight and left the library.

“Now that that’s out of the way it’s time to figure out what my next step is,” talking to herself again. “Rarity is still busy so I can’t take Shadow to meet her yet, I’m guessing Pinkie is busy as well, and I still haven’t seen Rainbow Dash. Twilight kept thinking of what to do next and decided who Shadow should meet next. “Perhaps Applejack isn’t too busy that she can spare some time to talk to Shadow.” Her mind made up, she walked to the door deciding that she will take Shadow Bolt to Sweet Apple Acres so he can meet Applejack. She opened the door with her magic walked outside and closed it, as she walked out she noticed that Shadow was sitting down, fast asleep.

Shadow noticed that Twilight was taking a long time that he decided to take a nap for two reasons. Reason 1: I’m still very tired since I haven’t had any sleep since I move to the Everfree Forest. Reason 2: By going to sleep I don’t have to stand there watching ponies giving hateful stares at me. He was enjoying his sleep until he heard a voice that could only have come from Twilight Sparkle, since he couldn’t stand her bossy snooty voice.

“Shadow Bolt, are you asleep?” he heard the voice say as he kept his eyes closed not wanting to wake up. If I’m asleep how am I supposed to answer you, he thought as he was trying to go back to sleep.

Twilight tried waking him up again, “Shadow would you please wake up?”

His mental reply was, No, leave me alone.

Twilight tried one more time her face was really close to Shadow’s so that her voice would be louder without having to shout at him, “Shadow please wake up.”

He heard how louder her voice was getting and decided that if he didn’t wake up then she would keep trying. With that he immediately opened his eyes.

Twilight got a little startled when Shadow opened his eyes quite fast, she noticed that even when he wakes up he looked angry. “Sorry for taking so long, but now I’m taking you to meet another of my friends,” she said.

Shadow responded, “Very well, lead the way” and soon they were off to Sweet Apple Acres.

As they were walking Twilight decided to pass the time by engaging in a conversation with Shadow Bolt so she could learn more about him “It’s a beautiful sunny day isn’t it?

My beautiful day is a dark cloudy day with rain.”

Twilight tried again, “So it must be fun being able to fly and all is it?”

He responded, “It’s alright, it gets me from A to B, especially when I’m moving from town to town.

“Do you always fly to move around?”

“Well, I’m not exactly welcomed on trains. They take one look at me and stop me from getting on.”

Twilight decided to change the subject, “You must be pretty fast at flying huh?”

“I liked to think so, I want to be the fastest in Equestria.”

Twilight seeing that now they were off to a good start said, “You know I know a friend and she’s says she’s the fastest in Equestria.”

“Really now?” he said with a curious look on his face. Twilight continued

“Oh yes, I’ve seen her fly myself and I got to say she is really fast. Maybe you know her; she used to live in Cloudsdale.”

As soon as she mentioned Cloudsdale, Shadow got angry and once again the red aura came back. Since they were walking so close to each other Twilight could feel the hate coming from the aura. She tried to figure out why he got angry when she realized that they had arrived at Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight quickly said, “We’re here, welcome to Sweet Apple Acres.”

Shadow was busy looking at all the apple trees there were that he forgot why he got angry and then the red aura vanished once again. They kept walking until Twilight spotted an orange earth pony wearing a cowboy hat, she called out to the pony, “Hey A.J. over here,” she waved her hoof to get the pony’s attention. Sure enough the earth pony heard her and started walking towards them. The closer the pony got the more Shadow Bolt was able to get a good look at the pony. The pony was female, her mane and tail were blonde and both had them styled in a ponytail. She has green eyes and freckles on her face, her cutie mark were three red apples.

Twilight introduced him to her friend, “A.J. this is Shadow Bolt, he just moved here and I’m showing him to all my friends so he can see what the power of our friendship is like.”

The earth pony gave a good look at him and then introduced herself, “Well howdy partner, da names Applejack, happy to make yer acquaintance.”

Shadow responded, “uh… happy to meet you too. I take it since your friends with Twilight, you’re also an Element of Harmony.”

Applejack replied, “Why yes suree bob, ah represent The Element of Honesty."

Shadow noticed Applejacks accent and said, “You wouldn’t happened to be from Appleloosa would you?”

“No ah’m not, ya from Appleloosa?” she asked

“Well before I moved here I spent some time in Appleloosa and I noticed that you have the same accent as the ones who lived there,” he replied.

“Did ya happen to know ma cousin Braeburn while you were over there?”

“I didn’t know anypony there since none of them wanted to talk to me.”

Applejack seemed confused from his response that she didn’t know what to say next. Twilight turned Applejack around and told her about Shadow Bolt and his situation quietly so he wouldn’t hear her. After she was finished explaining they both turned around and Applejack said, “Ah’m mighty sorry for what’s happened to ya. Ah know it’s not right to treat another pony like that, Ah know there are still many good honest ponyfolk out there.”

“It doesn’t matter, not like we can change anything. Anyway Appleloosa wasn’t that bad except for the heat and the constant stampeding of buffalo's. I decided to move away to somewhere less humid and then I heard of the Everfree Forest and soon I made my way over here.”

“Well at least yer honest wit yer feelings, as ah always say honesty leads to happiness.” she said

“You really think that?” he asked not believing her statement

“Why sure Ah think that, they don’t call me The Element of Honesty for nuthin,” she said in a confident voice.

“Okay let’s put it to the test then shall we?” he said. “I’m going to ask you one question and since you’re The Element of Honesty I expect an honest answer from you. Is that all right with you?”

“Why sure it is partner, go ahead and fire yer question away,” said Applejack believing that she can answer truthfully without problems.

“Okay here comes the question,” he took a deep breath and asked, “What did you think of me when you first saw me?”

Applejack started sweating, she knew the answer but she didn’t want to tell him. She wanted to lie to him but she knew that it wasn’t right to lie, and he asked her to answer honestly. She wouldn’t be The Element of Honesty if she told him a lie no matter how hurtful the truth would be.

She struggled for a few moments before she answered his question. She took a deep breath and said, “Ya look like yer trouble mister. The way ya look makes me want to avoid eye contact with ya and ah don’t even want to speak to ya either, ah’m wondering what Twilight is even doing with a guy like ya?” She looked down ashamed of what she had just said.

Twilight was shocked over what Applejack said, she spoke the truth and it seems like it confirmed Shadow’s statement from earlier, “It seems ponies take one look at me and they instantly hate or scared of me.”

Twilight said to Applejack, “I’m surprised at you Applejack, I thought we learned our lesson about not judging a book by its cover when we found out that Zecora wasn’t some evil enchantress.”

“Ah’m sorry Twilight, but he asked for my honest opinion and Ah had to answer him truthfully,” she said still looking down.

Twilight, thinking that Shadow would be furious from Applejacks answer. She turned to him expecting him to be angry and see the red aura come back, but when she looked at him he wasn’t angry nor was the red aura there.

He smirked and said to Applejack, “Thank you for your honest opinion. I would be furious from this answer, but I already knew this. I just needed somepony to confirm it and what do you know I was right.”

Applejack looked at him still ashamed and said, “Yer welcome….. I guess?”

He turned to Twilight and said, “See it just goes to show you that friendship is weak. If you don’t have friends then you won’t be disappointed when someone says something like your honest friend just did.

Before Twilight could reply Applejack said, “Now hold on their partner, our friendship is not weak. Ah’m grateful to have friends just like Twilight here and our friendship gives us all strength. If ah didn’t have friends like Twilight I wouldn’t have the strength to do my work here on the farm.” She demonstrates by walking up to an apple tree, she turned around lifting her hind legs and gave the tree a good bucking. The tree shook and all the apples flew to the ground, Applejack held her hoof up as an apple was falling and landed on her hoof, then she took a bite out of it. “Ya see what ah mean,” she said.

Shadow Bolt not impressed said, “That’s nothing, allow me to demonstrate the strength one gets from hate. He walks up to a tree and got into applebucking position. He stood there deep in thought. The red aura returned as he was concentrating. He raised his hind legs and gave the tree a good buck. The tree broke from the impact and collided with another tree which caused it to break which also crashed into another tree and so on and so on. By the time the trees stopped falling like dominoes, five trees had fallen. Applejack was so much in shock with her mouth hanging opened, that she didn’t even feel the apple that landed on her head.

Twilight tried her best to snap Applejack out of it but it seemed that only time would snap her out of it. Twilight knowing that there was nothing she could do she decided that it was time to leave. She said to Shadow Bolt, “Okay, since Applejack is unavailable, let’s move on to our next destination.” She started walking back towards Ponyville.

Shadow said, “Okay,” and started walking behind her, the aura already gone.

He walked next to Twilight and said, “Well that was strange.”

“You knocked down five apple trees with one kick, of course that’s strange,” she said still shocked from the experience.

Shadow said, “I wasn’t talking about the trees when I said that.”

Twilight then asked, “Then what did you mean when you said that was strange?”

He replied, “It’s strange because I was holding back.”

When I Look Bad, I Feel Good

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"When hatred judges, the verdict is just guilty.”― Toba Beta

"If there's no hatred in your heart, then your mind won't find fault with others." ― Toba Beta

Chapter 5: When I Look Bad I Feel Good

Once again they were walking through Ponyville, Twilight still in shock over what happened moments ago. She was starting to have doubts about her mission in proving Shadow Bolt wrong. I can’t believe he did that, he knocked down five trees like it was nothing. Then he said that HE WAS HOLDING BACK, Twilight gulped at the thought of his strength being at full power. Twilight started getting depressed over the lack of progress of her assignment. So far nothing is going the way I planned it would. As they were walking through town Twilight noticed the glares coming from the townsponies as they passed by. I wonder what’s up with them as she looked around she noticed that she was walking side by side with Shadow, so far she was always in front of him while they were walking, but now that they were right next to each other she realized something. They’re not glaring at me, their glaring at him.

After she realized that thought Twilight was reminded about what Applejack said earlier, “Ya look like yer trouble mister. The way ya look makes me want avoid to eye contact with ya and I don’t even want to speak to ya either.” Twilight looked at Shadow Bolt and saw that he was looking straight, he wasn’t even looking around and the red aura appeared very faintly, she looked around to see what the reaction of the townsponies would be when they saw the aura but it looks like no one sees it but her. Twilight noticed the frown he had on his face. Even though he’s not looking, he’s knows that everyone is staring at him with hateful glares. This must be how it is for him in every place he’s been. Twilight now knowing what it was like to be in his position made her sad, Applejacks words repeated in her head once again.“Ya look like yer trouble mister.” Twilight came to a realization, There must something about his appearance that’s making ponies hate him, maybe if we changed his appearance somehow ponies will have a different opinion about him. With that in mind Twilight knew the only pony that could help with that. Rarity, if anyone can help us in this situation it’s her. Twilight said to Shadow, “Follow me, I know where we should go next.”

Shadow didn’t say anything but nodded, and soon they were off to their next destination, Carousel Boutique.

It didn’t take long before they arrived at Carousel Boutique, Twilight hoping that Rarity wasn’t still too busy with her work to help Twilight. she opened the door which ranged the bell attached to it and they both walked in. Twilight said to Shadow, “This is Carousel Boutique, this is where my dear friend Rarity lives and works. She designs dresses and such. She also represents the Element of Generosity."

Shadow looked around and saw his surroundings, the room was stocked with materials and supplies such as mirrors, mannequins, and movable screens for privacy for when a client is trying on an outfit. He noticed some of the dresses hanging from a clothing rack, some dresses were on the mannequins, he also noticed how pink the curtains that hanged all around the room were. He only had two words to describe this place, Too girly.

They both stood there until the white unicorn that Twilight knew was Rarity entered from another room. She started walking towards Twilight and said, “Hello Twilight it’s good to see you again.”

“It’s good to see you too Rarity,” Twilight responded.

“Thanks to Spike I got a little free time to spend. So what can I do for you my dear frie-,” she stopped speaking when she noticed Shadow Bolt. She took one looked at him and gasp.

Twilight shut her eyes, already regretting bringing Shadow here. She’s gonna say something insulting about him I just know it and then he’s going to get furious. Twilight with her eyes still closed stood there waiting for Rarity to say something that will set off the picture in her head, soon she heard Rarity’s voice and she said, “Who is this fascinating stallion you brought here Twilight?” Twilight surprised from Rarity’s question opened her eyes and said, “Huh?”

Even Shadow wasn’t prepared for Rarity’s comment and stood there stunned. Rarity levitated a pair of glasses from a nearby table and put them on. She then started looking at Shadow Bolt real close up as if she was inspecting him. He’s never had anypony take such an interest in his appearance that wasn’t negative, he also didn’t like someone being so close to him. He started feeling very uncomfortable from the purple curled mane unicorn that was inspecting him like his was a dress or a piece of art. “Would you look at the symmetry of the colors of his mane and the color style of his tail, oh my, he’s almost taller than Big Mac, look at how big his wings are, and would you look at his bracelets, they are simply dazzling,” she said walking around Shadow in circles. “Hmm, no cutie mark, but that makes you more mysterious. You my fellow pegasus have such a look that only be described with two words, Bad Boy. Oh how you must have the mares running head over hooves for you.”

Shadow stood there totally speechless from Rarity’s comment, never has anyone ever gave him a compliment about his appearance that wasn’t insulting. He looked at Twilight and noticed that she too was just as surprised as he was.

Twilight stood there her mouth hanging opened, she too was totally surprised over what Rarity had said. She quickly snapped out of it and said to Rarity, “You're sure about that Rarity? He hasn’t had a positive feedback when it comes to his appearance. That's I why I brought him to you so that maybe you can do something that won’t have ponies give him such negative looks.”

Rarity put a hoof on her chin and started thinking while she was looking at Shadow’s face real close. Twilight was guessing that he didn’t like having anypony real close to him since he started backing his head away from Rarity. Rarity kept staring at him deep in thought, until she backed up with a look of inspiration, “Maybe we can put on a hat, no that won’t work with that mane. Maybe a snazzy suit, no no that won’t do, Hmmmm.”

Rarity stood there once again in deep thought “Idea,” she said in a sing-song voice. “Oh I know, wait right here,” she then left the room. She returned and with a pair of sunglasses that she was levitating with her magic. They were round and the lenses were red. They had no sides which looking at it would make it look like they would be constantly falling off. “I think these would look great on you,” she used her magic and placed the glasses on Shadows head. Sure enough they fit and as he moved his head he noticed that they didn’t fall off.

“They look wonderful on you, I knew they would,” she said. “Consider them a gift,” she turned to Twilight, “Oh would you look at the time I really have to get back to work if I’m going to have this order done by tonight.” After that she left the room to get back to work on her order.

Shadow looked at Twilight, it took him awhile before he said, “Your friend is…..different from anypony I’ve met before.” He looked at himself in a nearby mirror, “Nopony has ever given me something before that wasn’t hate.”

Twilight hearing the sadness in his voice said, “Well they don’t call her The Element of Generosity for nothing.”

He looked away from the mirror and turned to Twilight, “Generosity isn’t always a good thing for some. That’s a lesson I learned the hard way when I was in Manehatten.”

Twilight curious asked, “What happened?”

Shadow took off his glasses and put them on a nearby table, “As you already know I move around a lot. I spent some time in Manehatten trying another attempt to make friends. Kindness didn’t work so I thought about being generous was the key to friendship. I got a job doing weather control at night, which was fine by me since working at night I wouldn’t be bothered by anyone. I was in charge of bringing rain clouds to the city so it can rain while all the ponies were sleeping. It didn’t take long before I started chatting with my fellow coworkers, and it seemed that we were hitting it off. Soon they started asking for favors and I thought why not since that what friends are for. So once and awhile they would ask for some bits or for favors and I trying to be a generous friend gave them, but soon they would start asking for more and more that in the end I didn’t have anything left for myself. Then when it came time that I would ask them for favors such as bits so I could at least have some for myself to get things such as food, but in the end they refused my requests saying that they don’t owe me anything. Later I found out that my so called friends were really using me so they could have a few extra bits for themselves without having to do any extra work. Once again I got into my home and moved away cursing myself for being such a fool.”

When Shadow finished his story Twilight felt sad once again wondering why in Equestria someponies would treat someone so cruelly. “In the end ponies that are generous will always be taken advantage from others. It’s only a matter of time before your friend will also be taken advantage of.”

“No one’s gonna take advantage of Rarity while I’m around,” said a voice.

Shadow looked around trying to figure out where the source of the voice was coming from.

The voice said, “Down here,” Shadow looked down and in front of him was a baby dragon. He was purple, his eyes were green, and had spikes growing from his head to his tail which were also green. Shadow was curious as to see a dragon standing inside a building since dragons were always hated and feared, just like himself. What was more curious to him was the fact there were pins and needles sticking to his back.

“And who are you?” Shadow asked the baby dragon.

Twilight stood next to the dragon and said, “Allow me. This is Spike, he’s my friend and number one assistant.”

Spike blushed a little from Twilights compliment. Twilight then said to Spike, “Spike this is Shadow Bolt, he’s new so I’m showing him around and introducing him to our friends.”

“Nice to meet you,” he said with a smile then his face turned serious, “Now what were you saying about Rarity being taken advantage of?”

Shadow looked at the dragon and said, “I’m just saying that when ponies become generous, others will take advantage of them, and since Rarity is The Element of Generosity it will only be a matter of time before it happens to her too. I’m not saying that I want it to happen to her but it’s inevitable. Some will just take and take and take until there is nothing left to take and then they’ll move on to the next sap leaving the giver left with nothing. Its pony nature, can’t do anything to stop it”

“Well no one’s going to take advantage of Rarity, if they do they will have to answer to me,” Spike said while flexing his arms trying to act tough.

Shadow curious of Spike’s dedication towards Rarity asked, “Why do you care about what happens to Rarity?”

“Because,” he said, “Rarity is one my deepest, kindness, and most beautiful friends and I will do anything to protect her.”

“You really care about her?” Shadow asked.

“Y-Y-Yes I do care,” he said with his eyes looking away from Shadow Bolt.

Why does he care so much about Rarity? Shadow wondered. He noticed how Spike was looking nervous and how his eyes moved away when he said that he cared for Rarity. That’s when he figured out the reason for his dedication for Rarity.

The thought made him smirk and then he said to Spike, “You have a crush on Rarity don’t you?”

Spike was in shock that someone found out about his secret crush for Rarity that he could barely speak. “H-H-H-How did y-y-you f-f-find out about that?”

“My eyes see everything my little dragon,” he said. “I take it that Rarity knows about your feelings towards her?”

Spike didn’t say anything, “She does,” said Shadow. “And does she have the same feelings towards you?” he asked.

Spike looked down refusing to answer his question. Shadow then said, “I’ll take your silence as a no.” he then walked closer to Spike and asked, “And yet you’ll do anything for her?”

Spike looked up and said, “Yes I would do anything for her, whenever she needs me I’ll be there. I’ll always assist her when she needs help for her work and I enjoy helping her out in anyway I can.”

After that statement Shadow just stood there looking at the little dragon. His thoughts running through his mind, she knows his feelings towards her but she doesn’t have the same feelings towards him. And yet she lets him do anything for her even though he knows that she doesn’t like him the same way he does. Shadow continued with his thought until he came to a realization. The thought of it caused him to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Twilight asked.

Shadow stopped laughing and said, “Because I was wrong, at first I thought that Rarity was going to be taken advantage of because of her generosity. Now I see that’s not the case, on the contrary it’s the opposite. Rarity is taking advantage of Spikes generosity.

Both Spike’s and Twilight’s eyes open wide from Shadow’s comment. Spike quickly went on the defense, “Rarity would never do that. She’s not that kind of pony.”

“Oh no,” he said, “You basically do anything for her, you worship the ground she walks on but she doesn’t have the same feelings towards you as you do towards her, and yet she allows you to keep doing favors for her knowing this. I mean look at your back, she is basically using you as a slave or a piece of equipment. She takes and takes from you and she doesn’t give anything for you in return. She’s toying with you, she’s probably laughing at the thought of you two together. I mean a pony and a dragon, how ridiculous is that. I bet once you get big and ferocious she will have no need for you anymore since you won’t be able to fit inside her home. She might even start fearing or hating you just like everypony else does with dragons and then you’ll be all alone and your heart broken.”

Spike was getting furious from Shadow’s statement, Who does this guy think he is insulting Rarity like that. He doesn’t know her like I do or the ponies of this town. They would never fear or hate me just because I get bigger….. right?

Spike then remembered what happened to him after his birthday when he grew fifty feet and everypony was screaming and running away from him. He remembered when the Wonderbolts appeared and tried to take him down. He even remembered Rarity screaming when he grabbed her from her home.

Spike shivered at the thought of that happening again. Part of him was starting to believe that Shadow Bolt might be right from his statement. Then he started thinking about what he said about Rarity. There is no way that Rarity’s taking advantage of me, I do favors for her because I want to.

The thought of what Shadow said about Rarity repeating in his mind. It made him even angrier than he already was. In the heat of the moment Spike closed his eyes and shouted, “YOU'RE WRONG,” and punched Shadow in the chest.

Shadow saw how his statement had affected the baby dragon’s head that he sort of felt sorry for him, he didn’t expect what happened next. Spike in a fit of rage punched in him in the chest.

The punch obviously didn’t hurt him but the thought that Spike did that really surprised him. Spike opened his eyes and saw what he did and started backing away panicking. Shadow stared at Spike with a menacing look, then sensing the awkwardness of the atmosphere he said, “I think I’ll go wait outside.”

As he headed towards the door he stopped and turned around, he went to the table where he left the glasses that Rarity gave him and stared at them. After sometime he grabbed the glasses and said, “Tell Rarity I said….thanks,” he then walked out the door and went outside.

Twilight was in total shock over what had happened. She walked up to Spike who was feeling sad and comforted him. “Don’t pay any attention to what he said, we both know what kind of pony Rarity is. She would never take advantage of your emotions, and you know that. And you know that when you do grow up we will still love you as much as we always have.”

Twilight now started thinking of how her assignment has been one failure after the other. It’s no use, no matter what I try to do I can’t get through to him. Maybe I should just give up.

Twilight then noticed that Spike had a sick look on his face. Concerned of her friend she asked him, “Spike, are you alright.” She’s now worried that Shadow’s comment must have really affected Spike that she quickly hugged him hoping to make him feel better, “It’s going to be alright Spike, don’t worry it all be fine.”

Spike then let out a flaming burp which then a scroll appeared, that could only mean that it’s a letter from Princess Celestia. Twilight now relieved that Spike’s sickness was the result of the letter had let him go. She then asks Spike, “What does the letter say?”

Before Spike had the chance to read the letter out loud Rarity’s voice was heard, “Where are you my little Spikey-wikey? I could really use your help if you please darling.” In an instant Spike gave Twilight the letter and ran off to help Rarity, apparently Shadow’s comment barely affected him. Twilight then used her magic to open the letter and raised it to her eye level so she could read it. The letter said:

My Dearest Twilight,

I would like to say that I’m proud of you for taking an interest to someone less fortunate than yourself. I could only think that you’re the right mare for the job, if anyone can show Shadow Bolt the magic of friendship it’s you. As for this hateful red aura you’re seeing I have to say that I’ve never seen or heard anything about this ever before. I feel that it’s you're utmost importance that you succeed in your mission as I believe that this aura might be dangerous. I have faith in you Twilight and I await for your successful progress.

Yours truly,

Princess Celestia.

Twilight felt wonderful that Princess Celestia has absolute faith in her and that she’s confident that Twilight will succeed in her mission. She has total faith in me and I can’t let her down, Twilight thinking with total confidence now. Don’t worry Princess Celestia I won’t let you down, I’m not gonna stop until Shadow’s hate is gone and is replaced with friendship and happiness. Twilight then told Rarity that she was leaving and that Shadow said thanks for the gift. She then left and went outside where she saw Shadow just standing around wearing the glasses Rarity gave him.

“You ready to go to our next stop?” Twilight asked.

“Very well, lead the way,” was his response.

“Alright follow me,” she said. And soon they were off to their next destination.

For He’s a Hateful Bad Fellow, That Nopony Can Deny

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"People won't have time for you if you are always angry or complaining." ~ Stephen Hawking

"For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Chapter 6: For He’s a Hateful Bad Fellow, That Nopony Can Deny

Twilight now with confidence started thinking of what to do next. Okay so far Fluttershy and Applejack didn’t work out as far as I hoped, and with Rarity I would say it was a failure as well. Twilight started looking towards the sky hoping that she would happen to see Rainbow Dash up there. She looked around and noticed what Shadow was doing. While they were walking Shadow was looking at himself through his reflection from windows as they were passing them by. His face was no longer angry nor has the red aura appeared since they arrived at Rarity’s. It looks like there was a bit of success from Rarity’s experience after all, but I have to keep trying as she stared at his face she realized something. Ever since I met him he hasn’t smiled once. I mean sure he gave a smirk here and there but not a real smile, a smile of happiness. She then realized that there was only one pony that can be able to cheer up Shadow Bolt and put a smile on his face. Pinkie Pie, she loves making ponies smile, if anyone can make Shadow smile its Pinkie Pie. She did say that I could come back later so we could have a fun time and it’s been sometime since then so she’s probably not busy anymore. Twilight now made up her mind decided that she will take Shadow to Sugarcube Corner.

As Shadow was walking with Twilight he started thinking of his experience with Rarity, about what she said about him and how she gave him a gift out the generosity of her heart. “You my fellow pegasus have such a look that only be described with two words: Bad Boy, oh how you must have the mares running head over hooves for you.” That comment really stuck with him since they left. Every now and then while they passed by a window Shadow would look at his reflection thinking about Rarity’s comment, every time he looked at himself wearing the sunglasses that Rarity gave him, “oh how you must have the mares running head over hooves for you.”

He thought about that comment most of all. mare’s running head over hooves for me, more like head for the hills if you ask me. He knew that he wasn’t the type of stallion that mares would introduce to their parents and he knew that mares weren’t interested in him at all. He saw their faces: disgusted, hateful, and scared. He remembered that even a few ran away when they first laid eyes on him. Now he was looking at the ponies that were passing by. Some were still giving hateful looks, some were giving curious looks, and some didn’t even notice him as if he was just a normal pony. He even saw a few mares staring at him. He noticed the three closest to him.

They were earth ponies and they all had flower cutie marks. One of them was a mare with a lime green mane, a pinkish purple coat, and her cutie mark was two daisies. The look she was giving him was a disgusted look. The second one had a pink coat and blonde mane, her cutie mark was three lilies which she also had one in her hair. Her look to him was a scared look and when he looked at her she simply fainted. So far nothing’s changed he thought but then he noticed the look from the last one. She had a pale yellow coat with a light red mane with pink streaks, her cutie mark was a rose. The look she was giving to his surprise was a look of attraction. He looked at a few other mares and saw the same look. Maybe Rarity was right about these glasses, they seem to be getting some better attention than I ever had without them.

His concentration was broken by Twilights voice, “I’m taking you see another one of my friends and I know that she will be happy to see you.”

Somepony who’s happy to see me? Now that I find hard to believe he thought as they changed directions towards their next stop.

They soon stopped at a peculiar building. The building's roof was styled to resemble that of a gingerbread house. Above the roof was a pair of stacked cupcakes, with candles on the upper one. Posts on either side of the door have red and white candy-cane stripes, a purple rock-candy projection stands up from the roof, and a picture-sign of a cupcake hangs at one corner.

As Shadow Bolt stared at this interesting building Twilight said, “This is Sugarcube Corner, it’s the best bakery and confectionery in Ponyville. My friend works here and also lives in the cupcake shaped house on top of this one. Why don’t we go inside and see what she’s up to?”

As soon as they entered a few cupcakes started flying towards them, Shadow having good eyes was able to dodge the one that was coming at him. Unfortunately she same could not be said for Twilight as the cupcake hurling towards her hits her in the face which resulted in her face being covered in cake frosting. He lifted his glasses as he saw a pink mare bouncing towards them with a big smile on her face.

Twilight now wiping the frosting off her face sees Pinkie Pie in front of them in her outgoing, energetic, and hyperactive self. She giggled and said to Twilight, “Silly Twilight, you were supposed to catch the cupcakes with your mouth not your face.”

“Pinkie, why are you throwing cupcakes at us?” Twilight asked.

“I was trying out my new idea for giving out free samples.” She said, “I thought what a good way to give out free samples than when ponies walk right in, they instantly get a taste of our delicious snacks.”

Twilight facehoofed from Pinkie’s idea, “I don’t think that it’s a good idea for customers to get attacked by cupcakes as soon as they walk in. Unless you give them a heads up so they know that it’s coming or they’ll get taken by surprise just like me.

“Okey-dokey-lokey!” was all she said.

Twilight sighed as how sometimes being around Pinkie was exhausting. Distracted by the cupcake incident she forgot why she came here and quickly remembered. She then said, “Anyway Pinkie, I brought someone who I would like you to meet.” She pointed to Shadow Bolt.

Shadow watched as the hyper pony started staring really close to him, what’s with these ponies that they have to stare at me at real close distance was what he was thinking as Pinkie stared real closely with one eye popping out. He didn’t like how his personal space keeps getting violated, especially after Rarity did it only a short while ago.

Then the mare with the poofy raspberry mane stepped back and said in a rapid pace, “I've never seen you before. What’s your name? My name is Pinkie Pie but my friends call me Pinkie and everypony is my friend. I like your spiky mane, I think I’ll call you Spike. Oh but wait, I already know someone named Spike and I don’t want to confuse you two. Especially if one day you’re both were walking together and then I say Hey Spike? Then you’ll both turn around not knowing which Spike I called and then that will get really awkward.”

It wasn’t until Twilight shoved her hoof into Pinkies mouth that she stopped talking. Then she said to Shadow, “I’m sorry about that, Pinkie is a little bit hyperactive.” She then said in a whisper so Pinkie couldn’t hear, “I think it’s because she eats way too many sweets.”

Shadow didn’t know what to think of Pinkie Pie, she was nothing like Twilights previous friends. Either way Shadow decided to introduce himself. “Hello Pinkie Pie, I’m Shadow Bolt. It’s a………. pleasure to meet you?”

Pinkie replied, “Pleasure to meet too Shadow, I’m Pinkie Pie. Oh wait I already told you my name. So I never seen you before, did you just move here?”

“Yes, I just arrived here this morning,” he said.

Pinkie seemed excited and said, “You just here that’s great, wait right here I’ll be right back.” She then zoomed out of the room in a flash. She quickly came back with what appeared to be a wagon. She then pressed a button and out popped up with some flags, a few horns, what appeared to be an oven and some tubes that were painted with candy cane stripes. Then a tune started playing and Pinkie danced around singing:

Welcome welcome welcome
A fine welcome to you
Welcome welcome welcome
I say how do you do?
Welcome welcome welcome
I say hip hip hurray
Welcome welcome welcome
To Ponyville today

There was a pause then Pinkie said, “Wait for it!”

Then the oven ding and opened to reveal a cake that had the word welcome in pink frosting over it, then confetti popped out of the candy cane tubes. She then said, “Yippee I didn’t screw it up this time.”

Shadow started wondering what she meant by that but decided it wasn’t important. He then said, “What was that?”

Pinkie replied, “That’s my special welcome wagon, I use it when someone moves here in Ponyville. Did you like it?”

Shadow thought hard at the question, what a strange way to greet someone, but at least this welcome is better than any welcome I’ve ever gotten before. He then said, “That was probably the best welcome I’ve ever gotten in my life.”

Pinkie then had a big smile on her face from his compliment. She then once again got real close to Shadows face and stared at his mouth. Again with the invasion of my space he thought, why is she staring at my mouth? Is there something stuck between my teeth or something?

After some time Pinkie backed up and walked towards Twilight and said, “He said he liked my welcome song but he’s not smiling, did I do something wrong?”

Twilight answered, “No you didn’t do anything wrong, I been with him all day and he hasn’t smiled. That’s why I brought him to you so you could cheer him up.”

Pinkie smiled when she heard that it wasn’t because of her that Shadow Bolt didn’t smile. She then said, “Don’t worry Twilight, if I made Cranky smile then I’ll be able to make Shadow smile too. Your auntie Pinkie Pie is on the case.”

She walked to Shadow and said, “Since you just moved here you know what this calls for? A PARTY!"

Shadow was surprised by what Pinkie said. He said, “A party….. for me?”

Pinkie Pie said, “Well of course a party for you silly who else? Don’t tell me who never had a party before?”

Shadow with a sad look replied, “I’ve never even been invited to a party before.”

Twilight and Pinkie got sad from Shadows comment, Pinkie had a sad puppy dog look in her eyes.

Shadow was lost in thought, and then all of a sudden in an instant Pinkie Pie gave Shadow a big hug.

Shadow was completely speechless, he had a surprised face. It happened so fast that he didn’t see it coming. Space, Space, why has my space been invaded? Since Shadow had never received any type of physical contact like this he had no way to process this experience. What is she doing? Why is she hugging me? Why do I feel warm all of a sudden? What seemed like an eternity was only seconds before Pinkie let go. Shadow couldn’t control the rush of feelings inside and just stood there while Pinkie Pie started decorating the bakery with what seemed to be a cannon. In an instant the room was full of decorations, a table with cookies, cakes, cupcakes, and punch were set up. Then Pinkie rushed out the door and shouted, “PARTY!”

As soon as she shouted a stampede of ponies walked right in. Twilight walked next to Shadow who was still processing what was going on, he then turned to her and said, “Why is she doing this for me?”

Twilight simply replied with a smile, “Because that’s Pinkie Pie. All she wants is to make ponies happy and smile. That’s why she’s The Element of Laughter. She likes to think that laughter is the best medicine when it comes to sadness.”

“Not unless laughter causes sadness,” he said. “I’m pretty sure you remember my experiences in Baltimare and Manehatten, the way I was treated there? What was already a bad experience for me with the way they treated me, it was worse when they were laughing behind my back. The thought of them laughing at me really made me furious. It also didn’t help with the fact that I’m a blank flank. You’d think that the teasing will end when were kids, but it only get worse when you’re older. Hey everypony, look at that. A grown stallion who still hasn’t gotten his cutie mark. What a loser, he must be completely worthless, let’s all laugh at him.”

As he said this the red aura was slowly reappearing. The laughter, oh how I hate it so. Those jerks from Manehatten and Baltimare how they made fun of me, and especially HER!

His concentration was broken by Pinkie Pie appearing out of nowhere giving him another hug.

Twilight watched as the red aura disappeared instantly when Pinkie hugged him. He had a shocked look on his face that showed how unexpected it was for him.

Pinkie started giggling then said, “Don’t worry your silly willy head, nopony’s going to laugh at you here.”

She turned him around so that he was facing the ponies that arrived for the party. She then said, “Everyone, I'd like you all to meet Shadow Bolt. He has just moved here, so let's honor him and welcome him to Ponyville.”

The ponies started cheering, then Pinkie walked to a nearby record player and turned it on and with that the party officially started.

Twilight was enjoying the party, she only wished that all her friends were here to be with her. At least she had Pinkie Pie, by her side and she noticed how Shadow was standing next to a table enjoying Pinkie Pie’s sweets. It seems that the party was starting to warm up to him since he had an interesting look on his face.

These sweets are delicious was what Shadow was thinking as he was enjoying the party treats, he couldn’t remember when was the last time he had food this sweet. He looked around the room and saw all the ponies enjoying the party that was made for him. Over time a few walked up him to introduce themselves, he was really surprised that ponies wanted to talk to him. Others were talking with the other partygoers. There were two mares, one an earth pony with a pale cream coat. She had dark blue mane and tail with pink highlights, her cutie mark was 3 pieces of blue and green wrapped candy. Her companion was a unicorn with an aqua coat. Her mane and tail were a light grayish cyan with a white stripe. Her cutie mark was a musical instrument that was called a lyre.

Shadow noticed that the unicorn was constantly staring at her hooves in a trance like state.

He looked at the concession table and saw one mare talking to another. The one talking was an earth pony with a light yellow coat with an orange mane and tail, three carrots were her cutie mark. Earlier she introduced herself to Shadow. She said her name was Golden Harvest, but someponies call her Carrot Top. She was talking to a light purple earth pony with a darkish purple mane and she had a strawberry and a grape for a cutie mark. She’s getting a little friendly with that fruit punch bowl Shadow noticed as she kept eyeing it and drinking from it.

He was so distracted that he didn’t notice the brown earth pony that walked up to him until he coughed. Shadow out of his trance, looked at the pony with blue eyes and spiked up brown mane, “Sorry about that,” Shadow said.

“It’s quite alright,” he said with an accent. The brown pony stared at Shadow with curiosity and then he said, “There’s something different about you old chap.”

“What you mean?” he asked wondering if that comment was supposed to be offensive or not.

He said, “I can’t really put my hoof on it but your special, yup that’s it your special.”

“Special how exactly?” Shadow asked.

The brown stallion pulled out a long metal tube and put it in his mouth. A blue light lit up at the end of the tube and it made buzzing noise. He then took the tube out of his mouth and held the end with the light up to his eye.

“I’ve never seen these readings before, that’s fantastic!”

“What does it mean?”

“Don’t know, I just know your special,” he said.

“Your accent, are you from Trottingham? Shadow asked.

“Oh no no, I’m from somewhere far, far away, you’ve never heard of it,” was his response. The pony deciding to change the topic said, “Anyway what’s your name stranger?”

Shadow replied, “I’m Shadow Bolt, and you are?”

“Oh, I’m the Doctor.”

“Doctor who?”

“Just the Doctor.”

What kind of name is the Doctor? He asked himself.

“Maybe one of these days we might have time to get to know each other more, would you like that?” The Doctor said.

Shadow was little confused that someone wanted to hang out with him said, “Sure…. that would be just great.”

“Fantastic, well I should be on my way then,” the Doctor said with a grin and then he turned around and walked away. Shadow saw the hourglass cutie mark the Doctor had and thought, why would he have an hourglass for a cutie mark if he’s a doctor? Shadow kept wondering about this until he came to a conclusion. He must be a clock repairman, he fixes clocks like he’s a doctor. Still I don’t think you can call a repairman a doctor.

He saw the Doctor walked to a table where a gray pegasus was standing and started talking to her. Her mane was blonde and she had bubbles for her cutie mark, Shadow noticed that her yellow eyes were crossed and her plate was stacked with muffins. Seeing the ponies around the room Shadow came to a conclusion, there are some interesting ponies living in this town. I think I might like it here. The thought that there were someponies that didn’t hate him and some would even want to hang out with him made him smile.

Once Pinkie Pie saw Shadow smiling she had a big grin on her face. She said to herself, “Mission accomplished,” she hoof pump to congratulate her success.

Twilight was now feeling good about herself. Seeing Shadow Bolt smile made her confident that she was finally doing something right. My mission is now succeeding, this is so wonderful Twilight thought with a smile. I knew I could do it he is now seeing the magic of friendship. He’s now feeling the wonders that the power holds. Princess Celestia was right about me. I can’t wait to write to her about my success.

All Dreams of Success Have Been Dashed

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"How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it." - Marcus Aurelius

"Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything onto which it is poured." - Anon

"Where there is anger, there is always pain underneath." - Eckhart Tolle

Chapter 7: All Dreams of Success Have Been Dashed

After a few hours of partying everypony was getting tired and started leaving one by one until it was just Twilight, Pinkie, and Shadow. Twilight decided to call it a day and Shadow agreed saying he was starting to get exhausted and wanted to return home. Twilight and Shadow thanked Pinkie for the party and started their way back to the Everfree Forest. Shadow’s thoughts were filled with the events of today’s experience. So much as happened today, it’s hard to process everything. Met some interesting ponies, had a party in my honor. And I even got a present from someone. He rubbed the top of his head when he realized that his glasses were gone. I must have left them at Sugar Cube Corner. I'll have to go back tomorrow and get them.

They were now in the outskirts of Ponyville almost close to the entrance of the Everfree Forest, his thoughts were interrupted when Twilight asked, “Did you have a good time today?”

Shadow thought about it for a moment and then said, “I can honestly say, that today was the best day I’ve ever had in a very long time.”

Twilight smiled from Shadow’s response and said, “I'm glad you had a great time."

“I usually don’t go out much since nopony likes me, so I just spend my days at home. But today was different, I don’t think I’ve never felt this kind of happiness in a long time.

Twilight was now feeling good about herself. Her plan had gone off with a rocky start but now it seems that she has succeeded with her mission. “Tomorrow I’ll show you the sights, give you a tour of the library, and maybe find a better place for you to put your house besides in the Everfree Forest.

Tomorrow? She’s already making plans for tomorrow? Shadow wasn’t prepared for the thought of doing anymore plans. I thought this was just a onetime thing, I didn’t think that we were doing anything more. He once again processed over what he experience today. Although, maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all. Ponyville is different from all the places I’ve been, sure there are some ponies who still judge me like the others have, but there are some who actually are nice and treat me just like everyone else.

Shadow decided that he will go along with Twilights plans, “You know that sounds like a goo-”

He was interrupted by a voice, “Hey Twi, what’s up?”

He looked around but he didn’t see anypony until he saw Twilight looking up and saw a pegasus in the air. He couldn’t get a good look because the pegasus was in front of the sun. I wish I had those glasses right now.

Twilight responded, “Hey Rainbow, I’ve been looking for you. Come down here, I got someone here I want you to meet."

“Be right down,” she said as she was floating down to the ground.

Her voice… why does it sound so… familiar? He still couldn’t see her well until she had landed on the ground. His eyes now focused on the pegasus standing in front of them. He saw a female with a cyan coat and a short rainbow mane, her cutie mark was a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt.

Wait a minute. That voice, her mane, that cutie mark. Why do I feel like I’ve seen her before? Shadow thoughts kept processing on where he knew this mare, until finally he remembered. The realization of how he knew her brought great anger within him. He said only one thing towards the pegasus in an angry tone, “YOU!”

In an instant the red aura returned bigger and brighter than before. Twilight was surprised by its sudden appearance, what’s going on? Why is the aura back again? Twilight was so close to Shadow Bolt, that she could feel heat coming from the aura causing her to take a step away from him. I don’t know what went wrong, he was just fine a minute ago. What could’ve have set him off?

Twilight looked at him and noticed how he was staring at Rainbow Dash. How can Rainbow Dash be the cause of this? She hasn’t even done anything yet, why would he be angry to somepony that he hasn’t even met yet? Wait unless... Twilight turned to Shadow Bolt and asked him a question that she hoped was wrong, “Do you know her?”

He stood there still staring at Rainbow Dash as she started walking towards them. After a few deep breaths he replied with a harsh voice, “Yes.”

Rainbow Dash was now in front of them when she said not noticing Shadow Bolt, “So Twilight who did you want me to meet.”

Rainbow then turned to look at the pegasus that was standing right next to Twilight. She looked at him for a few seconds before she started laughing, “So it’s you? I haven’t seen you in years, small world I guess. I can see you still don’t have cutie mark. I never thought I’d see you again after what happened.”

“Rainbow, do you know him?”

“Of course I know him. He’s used to live in Cloudsdale until he ran away from embarrassment. I guess I shouldn’t blame him after what he did.”

“What did he do?”

“He didn’t tell you? Only that he caused the worst racing accident in Cloudsdale history.”

“He did that?” Twilight looked at Shadow who still hasn’t said anything. He kept staring at Rainbow Dash with fiery eyes, while the aura was slowing growing and heating up around him. “Did you do that?” Once again he didn’t say anything.

“Sure did, it was his fault that 15 racers almost fell to their death.”

“It was your fault and you know it!” Shadow finally broke his silence and responded towards Rainbows accusation.

“You’re still going on with that after all these years? Just let it go and admit it. You’ll feel better about in the long run, after all look at me. I got over that incident, if I didn’t I wouldn’t be talking to you.”

“Of course you would feel better about it since the blame for your actions was placed on someone else.”

“As I said years ago, noponys going to believe you, you don’t exactly look like an upstanding honest pony.”

“WHY YOU LYING LITTLE -”

“ENOUGH!” Twilight tried to get the situation under control, especially with Shadows aura glowing brighter and brighter. She looks at Rainbow Dash who wasn’t showing any sense of concern. Why can’t she see the aura? It still seems like I’m the only one who can see it. “Okay, would someone please tell me what you two are arguing about?”

“I’ll tell you the story,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Oh no you don’t, you’ll just change it to make it sound like it was my fault. I’ll tell you the honest truth about what happened.”

"Whatever, go ahead and tell your version. Twilight won’t believe you anyway once you finished.”

“Fine, this is what happened.”

Years ago, in the city of Cloudsdale, was once home to the young pegasus, Shadow Bolt. He was a very lonely pegasus, never had any friends. Nopony seemed to even notice him, acting as if he didn’t exist, but today that was going to change. One of the most popular things to do in Cloudsdale was racing. It was a chance for pegasi to show their flying skills and everypony wanted to show off their skills, especially the pegasus with the rainbow mane known as Rainbow Dash.

To her, racing was her passion, it was the very reason of how she got her cutie mark. Her dream like many pegais one point in their life is to be a member of The Wonderbolts and today was a step for both of them to reach that dream. The Wonderbolts were stopping by Cloudsdale for a visit and the city decided to put on a race in their honor.

Since so many wanted to race, contestants went through qualifying rounds to see who would participate in the big race. In the end 20 pegasi were selected to compete, two of them being Shadow Bolt and Rainbow Dash. Both were excited that they would be in the race, especially Rainbow Dash.

To her this would be a huge step in her dream of becoming a Wonderbolt. “Once they see my awesome moves as well as me winning this race, they will be so impressed with me that they’ll make me a Wonderbolt on the spot. I can be the youngest mare to ever join the Wonderbolts. I can hear it now, Rainbow Dash, the youngest Wonderbolt in Equestria! This is going to be so awesome.”

For Shadow Bolt, this race was the opportunity to finally be noticed. This would also be his first race, since nopony would ever let him race with them. Because of this he always practiced alone, “This is my shot to show what I can do. After this race nopony will treat me like I don’t exist. Once I win this race and The Wonderbolts congratulate me, everypony will be talking about me and they’ll be lining up just begging to be my friend.”

They walked with confidence and determination as all the racers arrived to the starting line. In front of them was a yellow pegasus with a long pink mane standing on top of a little cloud with a checkered flag in her mouth. Spectators were sitting in their cloud bleachers as well as The Wonderbolts in their own private seats.

The yellow pegasus was feeling nervous with all the racers and spectators watching her, waiting for her to wave the flag that would start the race. She raised the flag, all racers started getting ready. Every racer was mentally preparing themselves. Rainbow Dash looked at the private seats where The Wonderbolts were sitting and saw the Wonderbolt Spitfire, looking at her. The thought that the captain of The Wonderbolts was looking at her gave her a big boost of confidence as she faced Fluttershy waiting for her to wave the flag.

Shadow Bolt felt he was being watched and looked around to see and noticed one of the Wonderbolts seemed to be staring at him. Is she looking at me? With that look his determination to win was raised, his eyes now focused on the yellow pegasus. What’s taking her so long, hurry up and start the race.

The nervous Fluttershy was feeling the pressure, Come on Fluttershy, you can do this. She started raising the flag, as the flag was up, both Rainbow Dash and Shadow Bolt had the same thought in their heads. This is it, time to prove myself! Fluttershy lowered the flag and the race had begun.

All racers took off at incredible speed that as they passed her by, Fluttershy was spinning out of control. It took some time but she finally stopped spinning before it caused her to fall off the cloud like the last time.

Rainbow Dash didn’t waste any time as she flew past the other racers with all her might to first place.

“This is such a breeze, there’s nopony that can catch up to me. That winning spot is as good as mine.”

She kept flying fast to keep anypony from catching up to her.

While she was keeping her first place spot another racer was using a different strategy. Shadow Bolt instead of trying to fly to first place, he stayed behind in last place. Even though this was his first race, he’s watched others race before and noticed something. All the racers go all out in the beginning of the race. Then later on when the race is almost over, they start getting tired. The flaw is that the racers use a lot of energy trying to get first place that they run out of energy when their in the final laps. So Shadow Bolts strategy was simple. Stay behind while saving my energy, then during the final laps past them all while their all running out of energy. He had a smirk in his face as he watched the others try to get to first place using up all their energy so early in the race. He had a bigger smirk for the one in first place trying to keep her place. This is going to be a long race.

The race track was big and long, the starting/finish line was the only place for spectators to see. There were clouds lined up to the sides to show where the boundaries are. In some parts of the track were clouds that were placed to be obstacles for the racers. Some were small and some were big. The racers could go under, over, around, or even through them. This would be a test for precision and agility. By the 7th lap some were feeling the effects of flying too fast too soon and one by one Shadow Bolt passed them without having to speed up, his tank still full.

For Rainbow she was still keeping her first place spot, she still had plenty of energy in her tank. Every once in a while she would look back and see how some of the racers were falling back. This is almost too easy. To keep the spectators especially The Wonderbolts entertained, she would perform tricks as she passed them. Tricks such as loop de loops, twirling, zigzags, she even flew backwards to impress everypony, and the crowd ate it up. She was oozing with confidence.

Shadow watched as the cyan mare in first place was showing off to the crowd with her moves, by the 10th lap he was already in 12th place. Look at her, she’s so full of herself. She doesn’t realize how much energy she’s using entertaining the crowd. That’s going to bite her in the flank later on.

By the 15th lap Rainbow Dash was starting to feel the effects of her excessive flying as she maneuvered around the clouds. She was breathing hard and she felt that she was flying slower, the gap between her and the second place pony was getting closer. There’s no way I’m letting anypony take my spot! With that thought she flapped her wings harder as she was slowly speeding up.

Looks like that mare is finally paying for her mistakes. With the beginning of the 17th lap, Shadow Bolt was already in 6th place. He saw how the mare was struggling with keeping her first place spot. Looks like it’s time for me to make my move. Shadow with plenty of energy sped up passing the other racers who were feeling the effects of the lack of energy they had. In no time he was already in 2nd place as he tried to close the gap between him and the cyan pegasus.

Rainbow turned back and was shocked to see a red pegasus quickly gaining up on her. Whoa! Where did this guy come from? He wasn’t there a second ago, and now he’s catching up. Rainbow flapped harder knowing that this guy was closing in on her tail in a matter of seconds if she didn’t go any faster. But she was almost out of energy and trying to speed up caused her more difficulty to breathe. In a matter of time Shadow Bolt was flying side by side with her.

Shadow looked at the shocked expression on the mares face as he flew right next her with ease. They were side by side with the beginning of the 19th lap, the crowd was at an uproar as the two racers competing for 1st place flew past them. Once they passed the first cloud field Shadow finally thought that the right time was now,Okay enough playing around. Shadow Bolt gave Rainbow Dash a wink, which gave her a surprised look on her face.

What does that mean? She wondered why Shadow Bolt winked at her. It didn’t take long to figure it out what it meant as he passed her with little effort taking 1st place from her. Rainbow Dash was shocked as this pegasus left her in the dust. The shock caused her to slow down, other racers saw this as an opportunity as they used up whatever energy they had left to speed up. Rainbow Dash was able to snap out of her daze and sped up trying to reclaim the spot that was hers since the beginning of the race.

Shadow didn’t look back as he kept his mind on winning as he maneuvered around the clouds ahead of him. He went around, over, and under the small ones. Then he saw a big one in front of him, it would take a little bit more time maneuvering in any direction from it. He didn’t want to use up the time and energy to do this, so he decided, I’m going through it. He closed his eyes and sped up to get the momentum he needed to go through the cloud without any difficulty. In an instant he went through it with incredible speed that it caused the cloud to disperse in multiple directions. He opened his eyes knowing that he went through the cloud with ease, well that was easy.

It took awhile, but Rainbow Dash was finally catching up to Shadow Bolt. Think you could get rid of me that easily? Guess again. She was right on his tail, until they entered the cloud field. Rainbows greatest strength is speed, but her weakest was agility. All that maneuvering slowed her down and once again Shadow Bolt was getting away.

Come on Rainbow, Focus. She tried her best to maneuver around the clouds as quickly as she could. Eventually there was a bit of clearing in the field that she was able to use her speed to finally catch up to Shadow Bolt. She was catching up on his tail that she could touch it. Now all I got to do is simply pass him once we get out of the field, and it will be smooth sailing from here on ou- before she finished her thought, Shadow Bolt sped up leaving her in the dust. He must have known that I was behind him and he’s trying to lose me again. Not this time, she quickly gave chase.

She was trying too hard to catch up that she didn’t noticed the big cloud in front of Shadow. She wasn’t prepared as Shadow blasted through the cloud leaving bits of it all over the place. A piece of the cloud hit her in the face that blinded her that caused her to spinout. She tried to recover which took her a few seconds before she was able to see again.

That jerk! He did that on purpose. He knew that I was behind him. Well fine, two can play that game. She once again gave chase, with the rest of the racers not far behind.

Shadow Bolt had just crossed the line that would be the start of the final lap. Okay, this is it, one lap to go. Got to give it all I got. Shadow was feeling a little drained after using the energy to burst through the cloud. He also felt that he was slowing down a bit. I guess I must have overdid it with that cloud, but it worked and I’m still in first place. He kept his speed at a pace that wouldn’t burn up his remaining energy. This gave Rainbow Dash the opportunity she needed to catch up. In a matter of time she was flying side by side with Shadow Bolt.

Well what do you know, she’s back. Got to say I respect her perseverance, she doesn’t give up. Got to admire that, but that doesn’t change a thing, I’m winning this race. The crowd cheered as they watched as the two ponies were neck and neck until they were out of their sight.

They kept both their eyes on the track as they entered the first cloud field. They carefully maneuvered around the clouds as quickly they could, waiting for the other to screw up and give them the edge they needed to get ahead of the other. Unfortunately neither of them screwed up or slowed down as they both came out of the cloud field stilled tied for 1st.

Well that was fun. She is putting up a good fight, this race is getting more exciting and challenging by the second. Shadow Bolt had a smile on his face as they both dashed ahead trying to pass the other before the next cloud field came around.

Look at him smirking, he think he’s better than me. I’m gonna smack that smirk off his face when I win. Rainbow Dash was trying to get ahead of Shadow as they came to the final turn which the only thing between her and the finish line was another cloud field. The same cloud field that cost her 1st place spot. This is it, if I don’t stop him here, then I won’t be able to win. Just got to wait for the opportunity to pass him and this race is mine to win. They once again entered the cloud field.

About halfway through the field they came across a large cloud. Shadow thought about what to do this time. I don’t think I have enough energy to burst through this one, and I can’t take any more risks or it could cost me the race. With that in mind Shadow decided what to do and flew under the cloud.

Rainbow saw this as an opportunity and flew over the cloud. This is it, the moment I’ve been waiting for. She flew faster hoping to cut off Shadow Bolt when she got to the other side. She picked up speed going down as she came to the end of the cloud.

Shadow picked up his pace knowing that Rainbow Dash would try the same. As he came to the end of the cloud, Rainbow Dash quickly appeared in front of him, which caused him to suddenly stop so he wouldn’t crash into her. Rainbow Dash saw this and quickly flew ahead taking her 1st place spot once again and leaving distance between her and Shadow Bolt. Oh, no you don’t. Not letting you get away. He quickly gave chase.

Rainbow saw that Shadow was catching up and thought of what to do. Got to do something or he’ll take my spot again. She then noticed a small cloud coming close in front of her and got an idea. Heh, it’s payback time. She flew over the cloud with ease, as she passed the cloud she turned to see Shadow Bolt coming up fast and smiled. She gave the cloud a small buck, not strong enough to dissipate it but only to give it some momentum.

Shadow was closing the distance between him and Rainbow. Almost there, just a few more seconds and I’ll be close to pass her. He picked up speed as he saw Rainbow Dash flew over a small cloud. He saw Rainbow turning back to see him catching up and he saw the smile she gave him. Why is she smiling? It didn’t take long for the answer as he saw Rainbow kicked the cloud at him. The momentum of Shadow and the cloud were too fast for him to dodge it and the cloud hit him right in the face blinding him in the process.

“My eyes! I can’t see!” He wiped his eyes as he kept flying at a slower pace, but without being able to see he couldn’t control his direction. That mare! She did that on purpose, She’s gonna pay for that as soon as I can see again! By this time a few of the other racers passed him, not knowing what happened to him. Still blinded he heard the sound of wings passing him by, he also heard the sound of the crowd meaning he was close to the finish line. I can’t let her get away with that, I have to keep going. My sight will return eventually just have to keep flying forward and hope I recover quickly so I can catch up to that cheating mare. He tried as he might to fly straight, but he couldn’t without being able to see and fly at his rapid pace at the same time.

It was only a matter of time before disaster happened. With his out of control flying he accidently crashed into another racer that caused that racer to collide with another racer. One racer tried to avoid the crash, but he didn’t pay attention to where he was maneuvering and caused him to hit another racer who spun out and caused the racers behind him to crash into him. This started a chain reaction as racers crashed with other racers trying to avoid the racers in front of them. This caused some racers to get knocked out or lose their balance which resulted with them falling without being able to recover.

The crowd was shocked as they saw all the racers falling. Rainbow Dash was wondering why she heard screams instead of cheers as she was getting close to the finish line. Why aren’t they cheering? I’m about to win this race, and those don’t sound like screams of excitement? She turned and saw the chaos behind her, which caused her to stop in her tracks. Oh my Celestia! What happened? The emergency pegasi rushed in to rescue the falling racers.

What’s going on? Why does my head hurt? What happened to me? So many questions in Shadow Bolts head as the last few moments were a blur. Okay so I was hit by a cloud, lost my sight, I tried to keep going, then I remember crashing into something, and then I felt a blow to the head. I guess I was knocked out a bit. I wonder how the race is going. THE RACE!? Shadow Bolt realized what was happening and immediately opened his eyes. What he saw was the sky and it was getting farther and farther away. He realized that he was falling, I got to do something. He tried to control himself but he was in a free fall spin to which he couldn’t get himself out of it. The next few seconds went by quickly as one second Shadow was falling, and in the next second he was rising again. He turned to see a pegasus pushing him back to Cloudsdale. He looked around and saw other pegasi were also being lifted towards Cloudsdale, some were unconscious.

Soon all the racers were back on solid cloud as the officials were looking into what happened. The incident caused the race to be called off without naming a winner. Shadow was lost in thoughts processing what happened moments ago. His thoughts were interrupted with someone saying, “That’s him, he’s the one responsible for all this.” He turned to see a pony pointing at him, next to him was one of the racing officials.

“Me? Why are you saying this is my fault?”

“Because I was flying and then all of a sudden you crashed into me. You made me crash into someone else and that started a chain reaction.”

By now there was a crowd of racers and spectators surrounding them. The official asked, “Is this true? Did you cause this to happen?”

“No I didn’t.”

“Yes you did, you purposely crashed into me.”

“That not true, it wasn’t my fault, it was an accident.”

“How wasn’t it your fault?"

“I couldn’t see, I was blinded by a cloud that hit me in the face.”

“How did this cloud hit you?” the official asked.

“It hit me because somepony kicked it at me on purpose.”

Rainbow Dash was walking off her frustration, the incident cause the race to be called off without declaring a winner. “If that thing didn’t happen I would have won. Now how am I supposed to become a Wonderbolt?”

Her walking led her to a huge crowd, “What’s all the commotion here?” She entered the crowd to get a better look of what was going on. As she got closer she could hear arguing going on between three pegasi. It sounded like they found out how the incident happened, she was now at the front of the crowd, and she could now hear what was going on.

“How did this cloud hit you?”

Someone got hit by cloud.

“It hit me because somepony kicked it at me on purpose.”

Someone kicked it? Wait a minute. She now had a look at the pegasus that seemed to be defending himself. She recognized the pony, Uh-oh.

“And who was the one that kicked it?"

I got to get out of here. She started backing up, trying her best not catch attention.

Unfortunately Shadow Bolt noticed her in the crowd trying to back away. He pointed his hoof at the crowd and said, “It was her!”

Upon his accusation the crowd backed away from Rainbow Dash, all eyes were on her. Even though she loved to be the center of attention, this wasn’t the case as she wished that she was invisible right now.

The racing official walked up to her, “Is this true? Did you kick a cloud at him on purpose?”

She didn’t speak at first, as she tried to think of what to say. She was about to say that he cheated first, but if I say that then I’ll be admitting that I cheated. She kept her mouth shut.

The official was getting impatient for her answer and said, “I take it by your silence that what this guy said is the truth?”

She was trying to think of an excuse, but she couldn’t. She was about to admit until she saw that The Wonderbolts were standing in front of the group looking at her. If I tell the truth they’ll never let me join. Quickly she thought of something and started laughing, “Yeah right, this guy is making it up. I never did anything to him.”

“You Liar, you know you that you’re responsible and now you’re just trying to save yourself by denying it.”

“Don’t listen to him sir, He’s just angry that I was beating him and now he’s making excuses. I bet there was never a cloud in the first place.”

“Of course your gonna deny it, you’re just covering for yourself. You know I’m telling the truth, just admit it.”

“Don’t tell me your gonna listen to him. I mean come on, look at him, he doesn’t exactly look trustworthy.”

“You got a problem with my appearance?!”

“I’m just saying who’s he going to believe a colt that looks like a thug or me?”

The official stood there listening to the two pegasi arguing with each other. He couldn’t decide who was telling the truth, but after Rainbow Dash’s comment he was leaning that she was telling the truth. He decided to see if there was any truth the colt’s story. He turned to the group of spectators and racers surrounding them, “Did anypony see what happened? Did anyone see this mare kick a cloud to this colt?

There was discussion within the group, a racer said, “I was in third place but they were too far ahead of me that I couldn’t see them."

Most of the spectators said they couldn’t see that far, but one said, “I was able to see with my binoculars.” She lifted her hoof showing them.

“And what did you see ma’am?”

“All I saw was the rainbow mare was far ahead and the other was flying then all of a sudden he collided with another racer.”

With that testimony everyone stared at Shadow Bolt with anger. He could hear what some of them were saying.

“The nerve of him lying to save himself.”

“I knew that guy wasn’t being honest.”

“Of course you could tell he was lying, just look at him.”

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing, I can’t believe that they would rather believe her than me just because of what I look like.

He looked at the official, “I’m telling the truth, you got to believe me.”

But the official didn’t listen to him, “The jig is up kid, you got caught. Now you got to own up for it.”

Two security guards stood next to Shadow and carried him away. He kept pleading his innocence, “I swear I’m telling the truth, she’s the liar. You got to believe me, SOMEPONY BELIEVE ME, PLEASE BELIEVE ME!”

Twilight was sitting down as listened to his story, his aura slowly disappeared when he started, but now that he was finished it was back and growing. She stood up once he finished, her thoughts were in a spin processing his story, she looked at Rainbow Dash to see that she was yawning.

He didn’t say anything for a few moments with his eyes closed. He opened his eyes with the looks of anger and sadness behind them and said, “After that I was banned to ever race again in Cloudsdale as punishment. He gave a light chuckle, “It’s pretty funny, my first race was also my last race.”

All she could muster to say was, “I’m sorry.”

She wasn’t sure if he heard her as he continued, “What made it worse was after that everypony in Cloudsdale knew me and hated me. Some started rumors about me such as assaulting ponies, robbery, breaking and entering, and selling drugs to kids. They were all false of course, but everypony believed them. I couldn’t even walk around without being confronted by somepony thinking that these were all true and wanted to bring me to justice.”

Twilight stood there not sure what to say to him after that, she turned to Rainbow Dash and saw her snoring. “RAINBOW!”

She woke up and said, “Is he finished yet? His boring sob story was putting me to sleep.”

“Rainbow Dash, didn’t you listen to what happened to him?”

“You know what I heard? I heard a story about a guy who couldn’t handle a little bullying and because he was such a wuss is the reason he ran away.”

Her comment seemed to struck a nerve at Shadow Bolt as he stared at her with anger in his eyes and said, “Is that what you think happened to me? That I just ran away? Well let me tell you something Skittles, I didn’t run away from Cloudsdale, I was kicked out!”

Twilight was shocked about he just said, “You were kicked out?”

“Yes, apparently everyone got fed up with me and decided to take action. I remember that rainy day when I was flying to get away from the mob as they ran me out of town. They told me to never come back or face the consequences.” That was the first day when I realized how cruel the world is. Afterwards I tried to settle down somewhere but once again I was shown the cruelty of the world. Like the others, everyone assumed that I was some sort of monster, even the rumors spread out of Cloudsdale as I heard about that fateful day from ponies that couldn’t have been there. You already know the rest of what I learned from my travels.

“That’s terrible. I’m very sorry for the hardships you’ve suffered.”

His eyes were filled with sadness. “I only wished that someone took the chance to get to know me before judging me.” The sadness in his eyes were replaced by anger, “And it’s all because of you!” his hoof pointing at Rainbow Dash.

“Rainbow, is what he saying true? Did you really do that to him?”

“Come on Twilight, you know me. Do you think I would do that? You’ve known me way longer than him, don’t tell me you believe him?”

She does have a point, Rainbow’s been one of her dearest friends. They shared multiple adventures and saved Equestria more than once. But what if Shadow’s telling the truth? She knew how competitive Rainbow is and also add that with impressing The Wonderbolts for a chance to join, she would do anything to win.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Rainbow Dash, “I can’t believe your even thinking about this. After all I’m The Element of Loyalty remember?

“You’re one of The Elements of Harmony too?” Shadow asked after hearing her.

“Yup, The Element of Loyalty. I’m the most awesomeness and loyalist pony there is.”

“Ha, your loyal alright, loyal to yourself is more like it.”

Apparently Shadows comment seemed to have offended Rainbow Dash. Her face was in a state of anger, she responded in a threatening tone, “Take that back!”

“I will, but first I want you to admit that you lied all those years ago.”

“I don’t have to admit nothing. You should be the one fessing up.”

“I’m not the liar here, you are.”

Rainbow scoffed at his comment, “Too bad your special talent isn’t lying, cause you seem to be the master of lies.”

“ENOUGH!” shouted Twilight, she had enough of their arguing and wanted it to end. Too bad Applejack isn’t here, she would be able to tell who's the liar here.

“Come on Twilight, let’s leave this loser with his delusions.”

“Don’t listen to her Twilight, she just doesn’t want to admit the truth.”

“No you should just admit it, you have no one to blame for the misfortunes of your miserable life but yourself. After all these years not one pony has believed you. You’re in denial, WAKE UP! As I mentioned before, no one is gonna believe a word from a stallion like you.”

Shadow didn’t say a word, he just stood there with his hate boiling and his eyes closed. The aura was getting brighter and hotter with each passing second that Twilight slowly step off to the side to get away from the heat. This is bad, its seems like he’s about to explode in his anger. I don’t know what to do, what can I do?

Her thoughts were interrupted by Rainbow Dash, “Um, Twilight?”

“Yes?”

“What’s going on with him?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well it looks like he’s covered in some red light.”

Twilight was now in a state of shock from Rainbow’s comment. “You mean you can see it too?”

“Well duh, of course I can see it. What pony isn’t gonna see a guy covered in a red light.”

“I’ve been with him all day and nopony has been able to see it but me.”

“What do you think it means?”

Trouble “Nothing good.”

After all these years she still denies it. What’s worse is now she’s putting the blame of what’s happen to my life because of her on me. It’s all her fault, It’s because of her my life has been disaster. His head was now filled with the memories of all the ponies that treated him bad over the years. His hate kept growing and growing with each passing second and insult.

“Scum!”

“Ugly!”

“Demon!”

“Criminal!”

“Loser!”

“Blank Flank Freak!”

“Filthy Creature!”

“Monster!”

The insults kept repeating in his head over and over, faster and faster. He couldn’t stop it, the flood gates of his mind were fully opened and there was no way to close it. The insults kept going and going, till the point that he swore he heard something snap and he opened his eyes.

There was a bright flash that Twilight covered her eyes to shield them, she also heard what sounded like an explosion. After a few seconds she opened her eyes and was surprised of what she saw. Shadow Bolt was standing there his body was covered by what looked like red fire, his eyes were glowing, and where his flank was blank now had a cutie mark. It had three storm clouds combined with two red lightning bolts striking from two of the clouds. Then she saw his neck, he was wearing what seems to be a necklace. Further looking at the necklace left her speechless, it looks just like one of The Elements of Harmony. The only difference between the elements and Shadow’s necklace was that his necklace was black instead of gold. In the center was a red lightning bolt gem similar to his cutie mark and Rainbow Dash’s Element of Loyalty.

The gem was now glowing and a ball of red energy was now forming. Just what in Celestia’s name is going on here? Where did that necklace come from? Why does it look like one of The Elements of Harmony?

“Twilight, what’s going on?” Rainbow was in a state of confusion and concern just like Twilight. The ball of energy was getting bigger.

Twilight, turned to Shadow and asked him, “Shadow, are you alright?”

It seemed he didn’t hear her since he didn’t respond, he just stood there staring at Dash with hate in his eyes. The energy ball was now glowing bright.

What going on with that ball? It looks like it charging for something, but what? Oh no, “DASH, GET OUT OF THE WAY!”

Shadow finally spoke, “It’s your fault, it’s all your fault.” The ball seemed to be fully charged.”

“DASH, MOVE NOW!”

“YOU RUINED MY LIFE!”

He released the charge and an energy beam was heading towards Rainbow Dash. Rainbow froze, the beam was too fast and before she could move the beam hit her. The beam blasted her a few feet away, her body skidding to the ground collecting dirt from behind until the pile of dirt stop her. The blast left her unconscious.

Twilight couldn’t believe what just happened. She stood there in shock, she looked at Shadow Bolt. He was breathing heavy for a few seconds and after he was breathing returned to normal he looked at Twilight with a grin on his face and said, “That felt good.”

The Magic of Hatred

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“To truly hate is an art one learns with time.” - Carlos Ruiz Zafón

"Anger is a wind which blows out the lamp of the mind." - Robert Green Ingersoll

“Most hatred is based on fear, one way or another. Yeah. I wrapped myself in anger, with a dash of hate, and at the bottom of it all was an icy center of pure terror.” - Laurell K. Hamilton

Chapter 8: The Magic of Hatred

“RAINBOW DASH!” Twilight ran towards her unconscious friend. She looked at her, she had a few scratches on her body.

“Rainbow Dash, are you okay?” no response.

“Speak to me.”

When Rainbow didn’t respond Twilight thought the worse. She checked her heart to hear that it was still beating, she also saw her chest heaving slowly showing that she was breathing.

Thank Celestia, she’s alright. She’s just knocked out. Twilight's worries were put at ease. She then put her attention from her friend to the stallion that walked up behind her.

“Well that was therapeutic, I feel better already.”

She turned to him with a face of confusion and anger. “JUST WHAT THE HAY IS YOUR PROBLEM? YOU JUST TRIED TO KILL RAINBOW DASH!”

“I wasn’t trying to kill her, to be honest I have no idea how that happened.” The fiery aura slowly disappeared.

“What do you mean you don’t know how this happened? You shot her with that energy blast.”

“I know what happened, I mean I’m not sure how I was able to do that.”

“You did it because of that,” she pointed at the necklace.”

He looked down and saw the necklace, “What is that?”

“You tell me, that’s what I want to know.”

“I have no idea what this is, where did this thing come from?”

“You mean you’re telling me you don’t know what that is or where it came from?”

“Bingo, your guess is as good as mine.”

Twilight put her anger in check as she inspected the necklace. Sure enough to Twilight’s eyes the necklace looked like one of The Elements of Harmony.

“That’s not possible, your necklace looks like one of The Elements of Harmony?”

“It does? Does that mean I’m an Element of Harmony too?”

“No, for one thing there are only six Elements of Harmony. Two there is nothing to state that there are other elements, and three yours is different from ours?

“How so?” his curiosity wanted to know more about this element on his neck.

“So far our Elements necklaces are gold while yours is black, although besides that your necklace looks just like Rainbow Dash’s Element of Loyalty.”

“I guess that’s ironic, I use my element for the first time on the element that has a necklace that looks like mine,” he chuckled at his statement.

*SLAP*

Neither one expected what just happened. Twilight in a fit of rage from Shadow’s comment, how dare he laugh at what he did to Rainbow Dash, she thought as she slapped him.

In an instant his smile was replaced with a frown as he stared daggers at Twilight, the red fire returned creating a small blast that pushed Twilight back a few feet.

“That was uncalled for,” he said.

“How was that uncalled for? You shot my friend and then you laughed about it!”

“HEY, she deserved that! If you had experienced only half of what I’ve been through because of her, you would see that she had it coming.”

“There is now way that Rainbow deserved that and even if she did, that’s no excuse to attack her.”

“All I wanted was an apology from her. It’s the least she could have done, but no instead she still denies her actions after all these years and then makes fun of my life.”

Twilight didn’t respond.

“Wait a minute, don’t tell me you believed her?”

Again she didn’t respond.

“That’s it isn’t it? You believe her more than me, your just like everypony else.” He turned around and started walking.

“Wait, where are you going?”

“I’m going home, I’m tired and there’s nothing left for me here.”

Before Twilight could speak he took off and headed towards the Everfree Forest, leaving behind a red lightning trail.

Twilight stood there trying to figure out what to do. What am I suppose to do now? Go after him and then what? I still don’t know anything about that necklace or how he got it. Was he telling the truth about Rainbow Dash? He obviously knew her, did she really do that to him or is he lying? I doubt he would keep up this act after all these years if he was the one lying, so does that make Rainbow Dash the liar?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a groan behind her. Twilight turned to see Rainbow Dash waking up.

“Rainbow Dash, are you all right?” she reach out her hoof to help Rainbow up.

“Of course I’m alright Twilight, after all I’m Rainbow Dash.” She grabbed her hoof and got up.

“Are you sure you’re alright?”

“I’m fine, it will take more than a puny energy blast to hurt me.” she pounded her chest to show how tough she was. Unfortunately her cover wasn’t good enough since she was grunting and her face showed she was in pain each time her hoof hit her chest.

“No you’re not, you can’t fool me. I’m taking you to the hospital.”

Not wanting to go to the hospital after her last visit, she pleaded to Twilight, “For the last time Twilight I’m fine, just a little sore is all. Please don’t take me to the hospital.” She gave her that sad pouty face.

“Alright fine, but I’m taking you to Fluttershy’s so she can take a look at you. You may act like your fine, but I can see that you’re in pain.”

“Okay fine, just don’t take me to the hospital. I’m pretty sure what happened to me wasn’t a big deal.”

They started walking towards Fluttershy’s cottage which wasn’t far from where they were. Twilight noticed that Rainbow was slightly limping as they walked.

She was trying to think about how bad were her injuries when Rainbow spoke, “By the way, what happened to that no good jerk that shot me?”

“He left, he said he was going home.”

“Good riddance, If I ever see him again I’ll make him pay for trying to hurt me.”

“You’re not doing anything of the sort, unless you want to go to the hospital after he’s through with you.”

“He only hit me because he surprised me with that cheap shot, how was I supposed to know that he could use magic.”

“It wasn’t because of him, it was that necklace that gave him that power to shoot a energy beam at you.”

“Any idea about what that necklace is?”

“Not a clue, only that it looks just like your Element of Loyalty.”

“Oh great, first he accuses me of ruining his life, then he gets a necklace that looks just like my element, and then he shoots me with it.”

Twilight stopped and turned around staring face to face with Rainbow Dash. “Dash tell me the truth, did you really do what he said you did?”

Rainbow looked at her with a face of confidence, “Of course not, how long have you’ve known me Twilight? Do you really believe a guy that you’ve only known for a few hours?”

“If he was lying then why would he bring it up all of a sudden?”

“Beats me,” they continued walking.

In no time they trotted up to Fluttershy’s door and Twilight started knocking, “Fluttershy it’s me.”

A few seconds later she responded, “Are you alone?”

“No, I’ve got Rainbow Dash with me.”

“Is… he still with you?”

“No, he’s not. Open the door.”

Rainbow asked, “She met him too?”

“She was the first one I introduced to him, unfortunately it didn’t end peacefully.”

“Who else did you take him to meet?”

“Everyone, you were the last one to meet him.”

“And how did that go with the others?”

Before Twilight could respond the door opened and Fluttershy greeted them. “Hello Twilight, it’s good to see you again. Hello Rainbow Da-”

Fluttershy stopped as soon as she saw the condition Rainbow Dash was in.

“Oh my goodness, what happened to you Rainbow Dash?”

“Twilight’s new friend did this to me.”

“You mean Shadow Bolt, he did this to you?”

“That’s him, he tried to kill me.”

“Oh dear.”

“Rainbow Dash, he wasn’t trying to kill you, he said so himself.”

“So? Just because he said that doesn’t make it true, whose side are you on anyway?

“Can we talk about this later? Fluttershy can you take a look at Rainbow Dash’s injuries? I need to do head back into town for a few minutes.

“Yes, of course I can look after her… if that’s alright with you Rainbow Dash?”

“Yeah it’s cool, what are you going to do Twilight?”

“I need to get the rest of our friends.”

“Why?”

“Because, when I get back with our friends were going to the Everfree Forest to confront Shadow Bolt.”

“W-W-Why would you do that Twilight?” asked Fluttershy.

“Because Fluttershy, there’s something going on with him and he might be a danger to everyone, including himself.” Twilight turned and ran off towards Ponyville. I can’t just leave him alone with that thing around his neck. That thing is dangerous and can cause some serious damage.

Soon Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie were running towards the entrance to the Everfree Forest with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flying behind them. When Twilight went to Carousel Boutique to get Rarity, she was already gone. Spike said that she went to deliver her dresses and wouldn’t be back for some time. She then told Spike that when Rarity comes back to send her to the library and wait for when she returns. Before Spike could respond, Twilight dashed away to get the rest of her friends.

In no time all five were standing in front of the Everfree Forest entrance. Twilight turned to her friends and said, “Alright listen up, I don’t know exactly what were going up against but be ready for anything.” They all nodded, “And remember were not here to hurt him we are just going to have a conversation with him first. There’s no need for violence, unless it’s necessary,” She looked at Rainbow Dash and Applejack as she said this.

“No promises,” said Applejack carrying her lasso.

“Yeah, what she said. Don’t think that I’m going to let him get away with blasting me.”

“I mean it! We have no idea what that necklace can do. So until we know what were dealing with nopony provoke him understand?”

Rainbow simply crossed her hooves, “hmmph.”

“Alright everypony lets go.”

For Shadow Bolt, he couldn’t get any rest. He had a feeling of power flowing through him, like he had the power to do anything. He also felt a burning sensation on his neck and chest, his head were filled with memories of that fateful day in Cloudsdale and the events that happened because of it. He started dreaming of the last day he was in Cloudsdale:

He was running through the streets of Cloudsdale, the rain was pouring hard, soaking his coat. How hard he ran fleeing the mob of angry ponies behind him. Some were throwing garbage at him as they chased him. It seemed the city had enough of him walking around in their presence, thinking he should be imprisoned from all the rumors they believed he caused. They didn’t even bother to get the facts from him as they believed that somepony that looked like him would lie through his teeth. He kept running until he reached the edge of the city where the clouds stopped, the crowd was getting closer. With no other alternative he took off, leaving his home behind.

He looked to see if anypony was still following him. To his surprise no one was, he saw the mob standing on the edge of town yelling at him. He could only hear what a few were shouting, “And stay out!”

“Don’t come back!”

“If you’ve ever show your face around here again will send you straight to the Rainbow Factory!”

He kept flying with the rain continuing to pour down on him, he couldn’t tell if the water flowing down his eyes where from the rain or from his own tears.

He kept tossing and turning in his restless slumber, until he heard a familiar voice calling out to him, “Shadow, are you up there?”

He opened his eyes.

Minutes Earlier:

As they walked through the Everfree Forest, Twilight told Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie about what had happened since their meeting with Shadow Bolt. She left out his story for the moment until she found out more about whether he was telling the truth or not. When Twilight finished with what happened to Rainbow Dash, they were shocked.

“Ah said that he looked like trouble and ah was right. Ah knew that there was somethin off about him after he broke ma trees.”

“Oh my goodness, are you sure that your alright Rainbow Dash?”

“Of course I’m sure, even better now thanks to your help Fluttershy.”

“So you’re saying that he got a necklace like our elements and his cutie mark at the same time? We should throw a party after this, it will be a Congratulations on getting your cutie mark/element party.” Pinkie was already thinking about preparations before Rainbow cut her train of thought.

“Excuse me, he shot me with that element and you want to give him a party? He’s not getting anything except my hoof in his face!” Rainbow punched her hoof to prove her point.”

“Rainbow Dash, I thought I told you that were not going to fight him but talk to him. The last thing we need right now is provoking him into a fight when it’s not necessary.”

“And what makes you think that he’ll want to talk to us Twilight? What if he sees us and just starts blasting us with that element of his?”

“Then we will just simply have to defend ourselves, but until then nopony attacks him.”

In no time they came to the clearing that Shadow’s house floated above from.

Twilight looked at the house and noticed something off, that’s strange the house looks bigger than last time and it seems darker too.

“Well what are waiting for Twilight? Go ahead and call him to come outside,” said Rainbow Dash as she motioned her hooves to the house.”

Well here goes nothing, Twilight took a deep breath and called out to Shadow, “Shadow, are you up there?”

No response, she tried again, “Don’t pretend that you didn’t hear me, I know you’re up there.”

Few seconds passed before they heard his voice but he didn’t appear, “Leave me alone.”

“Shadow, will you please come out?”

“What do you want?”

“We just want to talk.”

“Who’s we?”

“My friends are here with me.”

After a few seconds of silence, “Is SHE with you?” he asked.

Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash and waited a few seconds before she responded, “Yes, Rainbow Dash is with me.”

Silence again before he responded, “Has she come to apologize?”

Before Twilight could speak Rainbow Dash cut her off and said, “I’ve got nothing to apologize to the likes of you!”

“Then you know the way out, NOW GO!”

“Shadow please? Just come out and we can discuss this nice and simple.”

“If she’s not here to apologize then I have nothing to say to you girls.”

Rainbow Dash was getting impatient that Twilights idea wasn’t working, “You see Twilight, he doesn’t want to come out. I say we go up there and make him come out.”

Apparently Rainbow didn’t keep her voice down when she said that since Shadow said, “I heard that, if you so even come in two feet of my house, you’ll regret it.”

“Are you threatening me?” she asked.

“You’re the one whose threatening to break into my house and drag me out, I’m simply defending myself.”

“Rainbow Dash stop trying to provoke him,” said Twilight. “We all just need to take a deep breath and calm down before somepony does something they’ll regret.”

“No Twilight, we tried it your way and that didn’t work, so now were doing things my way.” Rainbow flew toward Shadow’s house.

“RAINBOW DASH STOP!” she screamed, but Rainbow didn’t listen and kept going.

“I warned you,” he said.

All of a sudden a red lightning bolt shot out and electrocuted Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow fell to the ground, Twilight was able to use her levitation spell to stop Rainbow from crashing into the ground.

“RAINBOW DASH!” everypony screamed and ran towards her.

Rainbow slowly started getting up, “I’m fine, we pegasi are able to take a few shots of lightning. Still that did hurt more than the average lightning bolt.”

“One of the advantages of having a house made of storm clouds is a built-in security defense system,” Shadow stated not caring about Rainbow Dash’s condition.

His lightning bolts are now red? That wasn’t the case when I first met him. That element must be the cause of it. Twilight feeling angry said to him, “You could have seriously injured her!”

“I already warned her about what would happen if she tried to pull that stunt, not my fault that she didn’t listen. Besides as I mentioned before she deserved it and much more.”

“What’s he talkin about Twilight?” asked Applejack.

“It’s a long story, I’ll tell you about it later.”

“Ooh I love a good story, I’ll bring some popcorn,” said Pinkie Pie.

“Can we focus on the current situation here?” said Rainbow Dash. “So Twilight what’s your next big idea on how we get that jerk down here.”

“I heard that.”

“Good, I wanted you to hear it, you freak.”

His response was another bolt of lightning striking Rainbow Dash, but she was able to dodge it.”

“Rainbow stop it, do you want him to kill you or something?” asked Twilight.

“Maybe we should just leave him alone like he said,” said Fluttershy.

“We can’t just leave him alone with that thing on his neck Fluttershy,” stated Twilight. “That necklace is dangerous and he could hurt somepony if we just leave him alone.”

“Alright, then what the plan?” asked Applejack. “He won’t come out and if we go near his house he’ll shoot us with that freaky lightning.”

“I have an idea but it won’t be pretty, everypony back up.”

At her request they all backed away from the house. She sighed, Celestia forgive me for what I’m about to do. She took a huge breath and shouted, “I SAID GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW! WE ARE NOT LEAVING UNTIL YOU COME DOWN AND TALKS TO US, SO I’M ORDERING YOU TO GET DOWN NOW, YOU JERK!”

Everything went silent, as if someone turned off all the sound in the forest. Then a big bolt of lightning struck directly under the house blinding everypony except for Pinkie Pie, who pulled out some sunglasses out of nowhere. Once their vision returned they saw where the lightning stuck now stood the pegasus Shadow Bolt. His eyes were full of rage and the fiery aura surrounding him. Fluttershy was cowering behind Pinkie Pie who was still wearing her sunglasses watching in awe at the colorful aura around Shadow.

His hateful eyes were staring at Twilight as he started walking slowly towards her. “What did you say to me? Did you just order me? NOPONY ORDERS ME AROUND!”

Twilight quickly tried to calm him down, “I’m sorry, I just wanted you to come down so we could talk. It seemed like it was the only way for it to work.”

“If I said to leave me alone you should respect my wishes and just go.”

“Again I’m sorry, we would have, but we have something important to discuss with you.”

“Don’t go apologizing to him Twilight,” said Rainbow Dash.

“You stay out of this, I’ll deal with you later, liar.”

Rainbow was about to charge, but Applejack stopped her, “Now hold on their sugar cube. Twilight said not to attack him and we should listen to her.”

Twilight turned to Applejack and said, “Thanks, Applejack.” She turned to face Shadow and was surprised that Pinkie Pie was standing next to him.

It seemed he didn’t notice her until she started poking his flank. He turned to see her and jumped back, his aura disappeared. Whoa! When did she show up right next to me? He still didn’t feel comfortable when ponies invaded his personal space and this was the fifth time today, and three of them were by the pink pony standing next to him right now.

“Oops, sorry for spooking you, I was just admiring your cutie mark.”

“My what?” he turned to see the storm cloud lightning bolt on his flank. He smiled, “Well what do you know, I finally got my cutie mark. I’m just like everypony else when did that show up?”

“About the same time as that,” said Twilight pointing at his necklace.

“So I got an element and my cutie mark on the same day, this was a good day. Well except for running into her,” his hoof pointing at Rainbow Dash.

“Bite me!”

“See what I mean?” he sighed.

“Anyway, the reason why we’re here is to talk about that element on your neck.”

“What about it?”

“Well, we think it’s dangerous and we would like if you kindly hand it over to us.”

“And why would I want to do that?” his face turned serious.

“We just think that it’s not safe for you to have it.”

“And what makes you say that?” he frowned.

“An element is a powerful item, and it can be dangerous if it fell into the wrong hooves.”

“LIKE YOURS,” yelled Rainbow Dash.

“Like your one to talk, you don’t even deserve yours.”

*SMACK*

Nopony saw it coming as Rainbow Dash threw a rock and hit Shadow Bolt on his forehead, his head started bleeding.

“RAINBOW!” shouted Twilight.

“Rainbow, what in tarnation did you do that for?”

“He asked for it! That’s what he gets for insulting me.”

“Oh dear, is… he alright?” asked Fluttershy.

Twilight turned to see Shadow shaking with his eyes closed.

“Oh Celestia, this is not good,” said Twilight as she slowly backed away, strangely Pinkie was already behind her. “Shadow, are you alright?”

No response.

“You know that she didn’t mean that, why don’t we just calm down and talk about this?” Twilight was trying hard to defuse the situation, but nothing was working.

Even after all these years, she’s still causing me pain. He could feel the pain on his forehead and the blood flowing down his head. His hatred was surfacing and with it he felt that unstoppable power from before.

He opened his eyes and his fiery red aura burst out creating a small blast that pushed everypony back.

Not again was all that was going in her mind as she stared at Shadow, waiting to see what he would do. She noticed that the bleeding stopped and the cut was healing, The element can heal too? Just what is this thing? His eyes were now focusing on Rainbow Dash as he started walking towards her.

“It seems you still haven’t learned your lesson after what happened last time. Maybe I need to try harder,” he threatened.

“You just try it, this time I’m ready for you,” she said as she started walking towards him, but Applejack kept holding her back.

“Settle down Rainbow, no good can come from the two of ya fighting.”

“Don’t worry AJ, I can take him.”

“I don’t think you should,” said Fluttershy. “You haven’t fully recovered from your injuries.”

“I’m fine, besides it’s him that’s going to be a world of hurt after I’m done with him.”

“You see, it’s because of that overconfidence was the reason that you were losing the race,” he said, “It’s seems your just as overconfident as you were back then if not more so.”

“Come on guys, you don’t have to fight,” said Pinkie Pie trying to defuse the situation, “Why don’t you just make up and then will have We Made Up party. They’ll be balloons and music and cake.”

“First she has to apologize before any notion of making up can ever happen.”

“I am not apologizing, get it through your head.”

“You know what I’ve had enough of this,” he turned his back on Rainbow Dash and started walking away, the aura disappearing.

“And where do you think you’re going?” she asked slightly irritated that he was turning his back on her.

“I’m leaving,” he said.

“So you’re not going to fight?”

“You’re not worth it.”

*WHAM*

In an instant Shadow Bolt was tackled to the ground by Rainbow Dash. She turned him around and started punching him in the face.

“NOPONY *punch* SAYS *punch* THAT *punch* TO *punch* ME!

“RAINBOW, STOP THAT!” shouted Twilight, but her shouting fell on deaf ears. This isn’t what I wanted to happen.

Every hit Rainbows of punches, caused Shadow pain and he would see flashes for every punch she gave to his face. His hatred growing from each punch, the aura returning as well as the feeling of power he had when he first got his element.

He finally had it and shouted, “THAT’S ENOUGH!” with his hind legs he bucked Rainbow Dash in the stomach. Rainbow stopped as she was gasping for air leaning over Shadow, who then gave her a head butt knocking her off of him.

“I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!” he stood on his hind legs, getting ready to stomp on Rainbow Dash, who was on the ground still gasping for air.

Before he was able to bring down his hooves he was tackled by Applejack, “Stay away from her, ya no good varmint,” she turned around and bucked him with her powerful legs sending him in the air.

He crashed his back into a tree, letting out a pained scream. My back, she’s gonna pay for that. He saw her charging for another attack, he was able to stand up but was too injured to move. Applejack was getting closer towards him, he then concentrated on his element like last time and started charging for another energy blast. Once Applejack got within tackle distance, she leap to the air to pounce Shadow Bolt before he had time to get away. Unfortunately she didn’t see the glowing energy ball until it was too late.

Shadow Bolt gave her a smirk, gotcha he released his blast. All Applejack could do was watch as the energy blast was heading towards her at a rapid pace. The beam hit her in the chest, knocking her unconscious body high in the air.

“APPLEJACK!” Twilight shouted as Applejack flew over her head coming down to the ground.

Pinkie Pie was on her hind legs where Applejack was going to land, she was wearing a really big baseball glove, “I got her, I got her,” she kept saying.

Pinkie Pie successfully caught her with her glove, how she was able to hold her with one hoof was beyond Shadow Bolts comprehension, That one is the strangest pony I’ve ever met. He felt the pain in his back slowly going away as he was able to take flight. He was about to leave, but when he turned he saw Fluttershy, in front of him with an angry look on her face.

“How dare you hurt my friends! Apologize now!”

She has got to be kidding me he couldn’t believe that she thought that he would apologize just because she told him to. He gave her a smirk and said, “Make me.”

“You asked for it,” she closed her eyes for a few seconds, and then she gave him ‘The Stare’. For some reason Shadow felt some sort of feeling of fear from looking at her eyes. “Apologize now!”

He hovered there in fear…… for about 5 seconds she thinks that by giving me some type of look I’ll obey? I’ve dealt with hundreds of hateful stares and this one is no different. He closed his eyes, I think it’s time for somepony else to be on the receiving end this time. He opened his eyes and gave her the meanest, scariest stare he could make.

It seemed his stare worked as Fluttershy had a frightened look on her face, then she flew away and landed next to Pinkie in a fetal position.

“Doesn’t feel good when you’re on the receiving end, does it?” he said.

*WHAM*

He saw stars blinding his vision and he had a headache. When his sight returned he saw Rainbow Dash coming at him for another attack. Oh no, you don’t!

Twilight watched as Rainbow Dash charging at Shadow Bolt for another attack. She saw as Shadow charged his element for another energy blast and fired. Rainbow stopped her attack and avoided his blast. She tried to attack again, but every time she got close, Shadow would fire another blast stopping her approach.

“Twilight, I can’t do anything with that necklace on his neck. Use your magic and take it off him,” she said avoiding another energy blast.

She concentrated on her magic and saw her magic aura covering Shadow’s necklace. She started pulling on it with her magic, she saw Shadow struggling as he resisted her magical pull.

“Stop that,” he said.

She kept pulling.

“I SAID STOP THAT,” he shouted as he started charging his energy blast, but Rainbow punched him, stopping his concentration. He couldn’t move out of the way because of Twilight pulling on his element.

Every time he charged for another attack, Rainbow would swoop down and punched him in the head, keeping him from concentrating. He kept resisting Twilight’s pull.

Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated harder. She could feel her magic working as she felt the element moving towards her. She could hear Shadow groaning as she could feel him pulling back, but she kept reeling him in, waiting for the element to come off.

She felt her horn touch something, I must have finally gotten the element off. She opened her eyes to see that the element was still on Shadow Bolt who was now hovering in front of her. The element was right in front of her eyes still in her magical aura. She looked at it and had a look of shock on her face and gasped. The element was burned into Shadow Bolts skin. That’s why it didn’t come off as soon as I pulled it. Even if he wanted to, Shadow wouldn’t be able to take it off.

She then looked up to Shadows face and was shocked again when she saw his expression. His face was combination of anger and pain. She realized that pulling on his element was causing him great pain.

He looked at her and said in a low but threatening tone, “Let….Go!”

Realizing what she was doing she released her hold. Shadow landed in front of her and started rubbing his chest. He rubbed the element which caused him pain, she could see his pain through his facial expressions.

He looked at her and said, “That…hurt.”

“I didn’t know that the element was fused to your skin, otherwise I wouldn’t have pulled on it.”

He kept rubbing it hoping to get rid of the pain.

“Now do you see how dangerous it is? That element is causing you great pain, please let us help you. We can figure out a way to take it off if you let us help.”

Maybe she has a point he could still feel the never ending burning pain around his neck.

“I guess you have a po-”

*WHACK*

Before he could finish his sentence, he felt a blow to the back of his head, which caused him to lose balance and fell face first to the ground.

“Thanks for keeping him off guard, Twilight,” said Rainbow Dash as she circled for another attack.

Shadow slowly got up, Twilight could see the anger in his face. I’m going to KILL HER!

He listened to the air as Rainbow was getting close towards him, readying for another attack. He kept his back turned to avoid suspicion that he knew she was coming. Wait for it.

She was getting closer.

Wait for it.

Getting closer.

Almost there.

She was readying her attack.

Almost.

He could hear her wings flapping from behind him.

Now!

He quickly lifted his back hooves and kicked Rainbow Dash in the face. The kick sent her flying in the air.

Pinkie was able to catch her just like she did with Applejack. Just what is with her? He turned around and was surprised that she was now standing in front of him, very closely. Once again he jumped back I can’t stand it he stood there waiting for her to make her move.

Pinkie simply stood there.

He waited.

No movement.

He kept waiting.

She didn’t move.

Is she messing with me or something? Still waiting to see what she would do.

But no matter how much time passed, Pinkie simply stood there not doing anything.

Finally he ran out of patience and said, “Well, what are you waiting for?”

“Waiting?”

“Aren’t you going to attack me like the others?”

“Nope,” she simply said with a smile.

Shadow was simply confused, “Why not?”

“Because I don’t hit my friends.”

“You don’t hit you’re….friends?”

“Yup”

Now I’m really confused, wait a minute “Are you saying you’re not going to attack me because you considered me as your friend?”

“Exactomundo,” she said smiling.

She still considers me as a friend “Even though I hurt your friends, I’m still your friend?”

She nodded.

“Why?”

“Because I know that you’re a good pony and not the meanie you’re acting right now.”

He couldn’t think of a response.

“You don’t want to be a meanie weenie, do you?”

She’s right, I’ve never acted like this before no matter how angry I’ve gotten.

Before he could respond, a lasso appeared and wrapped tightly around his neck.

“Ah got him,” said Applejack with the rope in her mouth, she started pulling.

The rope was choking him as she pulled him. His eyes switched from Applejack to Pinkie Pie. She tricked me, she was just a distraction.

“Traitor,” he said to Pinkie Pie as he started fighting Applejacks tugging.

“No, it’s not what you think,” but he ignored her.

The two were locked in their tug of war. No matter how much it hurt or how much the rope was choking him, Shadow kept resisting while Applejack kept pulling with her teeth with all her might. She’s not letting go, even with all my might she won’t let go.

“Let…..go,” he said in a strained voice.

“Ahm not letting go, no matta what,” she said with the rope in her mouth.

He smirked as an idea popped into his head. “Then you better hold on tight, because we’re going for a ride.”

He opened his wings and flew straight up at incredible speed that Applejack was lifted right off the ground. Applejack bit the rope in her mouth on tight as she held on for dear life as Shadow Bolt kept going higher and higher.

Shadow kept going faster and higher until he came to a complete stop. The rope kept going until Applejack was hovering right in front of him. Applejacks eyes widened as Shadow was giving her a menacing smile, he grab the rope between them with his mouth and bit down hard and pulled it until it snapped.

“Enjoy your trip,” he said.

Applejack was now falling at incredible speed.

Rainbow Dash was now waking up after being knocked out by Shadow’s kick. She rubbed her nose and saw that she was bleeding. She quickly looked around to find the pony that did this to her, but she couldn’t find him.

She kept looking until she heard somepony screaming from above. She looked up and was shock to see Applejack falling from the sky.

“SOMEPONY SAVE ME!” she shouted.

“I’LL SAVE YOU, A.J.!” she took off.

The space between them was getting thinner as Rainbow prepared to catch Applejack. Unfortunately Applejack was falling at a greater speed than Rainbow Dash was. So when Rainbow finally caught Applejack, they both were sent falling to the ground.

Twilight tried to use her magic to slow them down, but even with her magic, they were going too fast and both of them crashed into the ground.

“RAINBOW DASH! APPLEJACK!” she ran to see if they were OK.

She was getting close until Shadow Bolt landed furiously between her and her friends. His back was turned to Twilight as he stood there, looking at Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

He looked at them to see that they were still breathing, simply knocked out. Well have to fix that he started walking towards their unconscious bodies.

He was getting closer and closer, until something stopped him. He felt frozen What’s going on? Why can’t I move? No matter how hard he tried, he wasn’t able to move. Then he noticed the purple aura covering him TWILIGHT!

His hateful aura was building up between him and Twilight’s magic, it kept growing until his aura blasted Twilight spell off him. As soon as he felt that he could move again, he turned his head and gave the lavender unicorn an angry look that would scare off an army of dragons.

“TWILIGHT!” he shouted as he started charging towards her.

Twilight could see the extreme hatred in his eyes as he was getting closer. She quickly created a force field around her, just as he about to pounce on her he hit the force field with his front hooves. He then started pounding on the force field. Twilight kept concentrating on holding up the force field as Shadow was continuously pounding the force field.

“YOU’RE JUST LIKE THE OTHERS!” he shouted as he kept on pounding.

Others? What is he talking about?

“You’re just like all the other unicorns I’ve met! Just because you can use magic you all think your better than everypony else. You’re not better than me!”

Okay, now what is this all about?

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“It’s because of unicorns like you that I could never stay in any place for a long time.”

“What about all those other ponies you mentioned before?”

“You think I would leave every time somepony laughed, insulted, or stolen from me? That did happen those times, but I left before it got worse. To others that’s just wasn’t enough for them. Sometimes things got physical.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do I have to spell it out for you? They beat me!” he was breathing hard from his continuous pounding on the force field.

“You’re saying that they attacked you?”

“That’s right! After all, it’s so much easier when your prey can’t defend himself thanks to unicorn magic,” he finally tired out from his failed attack on the force field, his aura vanishing.

“They used that same spell you just used on me every time before every fight. I stood there frozen watching as they walked up to me and they knew that I couldn’t do anything to stop them.”

His mind was suddenly filled with memories of those instances, he remembered every beating, every magic spell a unicorn used on him for practice, and he remembered being covered in more colorful auras than in Rainbow Dash’s mane. How the unicorns used so many spells on him for target practice. He felt every punch he ever received, the stares, and the smiles of his attackers as they assaulted him knowing he couldn’t fight back. He always felt a sense of fear every time he was covered in a unicorn’s magic aura. His fear intensified as the ponies walked up close to him in his frozen state. It’s because of these experiences was the reason why he always felt uncomfortable when somepony was invading his personal space, it’s why he always jump back when some was so close that they could touch him.

If unicorns didn’t use their magic to harm him, they would use it to humiliate him. All those cruel pranks they used to pull on him, how they laughed at him. He remembered one time when a mare with a matching cape and hat used her magic to humiliate him in front of a crowd.

The memories and the pain repeated over again and again in his head and he couldn’t stop him. No matter how hard he tried to concentrate, the memories kept going and going.

Twilight watched as Shadow stood perfectly still in silence outside her force field.

What’s going on with him? First he was talking, then he just stopped, and now he’s just standing there.

Twilight looked at the red gem of his element that was glowing. She then looked at his face and noticed his eyes. His eyes looked like he was in a trance like state.

“Shadow?” she called to see if she could get him out of his trance, but he didn’t respond.

“Hello, Shadow, can you hear me?”

Again he didn’t respond.

The element must have done something to him. It must have put him in a trance. Twilight kept watching him to see if anything happened from her force field. It seemed no noise snapped him out of it. Twilight then saw how he didn’t seem to notice that a few tears were running down his cheeks.

He then closed his eyes, and when he opened them his eyes were no longer in trance but were replaced with his hateful glowing eyes and his aura was back. He looked at Twilight and immediately started pounding on her force field again. His blows were harder and stronger than last time.

Twilight was now having trouble concentrating with Shadow’s powerful blows putting a strain in her concentration. Not sure how much more I can hold it.

“You unicorns think you’re so superior to the rest of us and you don’t care how your actions hurt us in the process.”

“I’m not like those unicorns.”

“Oh no? I remember how you introduced yourself earlier, the way you said it in a snooty tone,” he said. “Ooh I’m Twilight Sparkle, I represent The Element of Magic, the most powerful Element of Harmony,” in a mocking tone.

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Spare me your excuses,” he continued pounding on the force field. “You’re just like the rest of them.”

His pounding was starting to crack her force field, I can’t hold it any longer.

“After spending the day with you, I can say that you’re the snootiest unicorn I’ve ever met. You’re probably more snootier than Princess Celestia herself.”

How dare he say that about Princess Celestia! Now Twilight was getting angry herself. Her horn started charging as the force field was starting fall apart.

With one last blow Shadow shattered Twilghts force field. As soon as it shattered, Twilight shot Shadow with her energy blast. The blast sent him skidding through the ground until he stopped. He slowly got up and stared at the furious Twilight.

“NOPONY SAYS ANTHING BAD ABOUT PRINCESS CELESTIA,” she shouted.

Shadow had a smirk on his face, “So you don’t like it when someone insults the princess huh? I bet that it makes your blood boil thinking about it. What you’re feeling right there is hate, and that’s what you used to blast me.”

Twilight didn’t say anything.

“You probably felt powerful from that. Just admit that hate is more powerful than friendship and we can be done here.”

“Never,” she said.

“Oh what’s wrong? You don’t want to disappoint your princess by admitting that you’re wrong. I bet if she found out what you did, she’d probably lock you up or something. Probably doesn’t want someone stronger than her walking around freely.”

Twilight was fuming as he insulted her mentor, “HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT, YOU DON’T TALK ABOUT PRINCESS CELESTIA THAT WAY YOU… YOU MONSTER!

Monster

Shadow had been called many names over the years. After being insulted for so long he stopped caring, but the one thing he couldn’t stand, was when someone called him a monster. Out of all the insults he’s been called, monster was the one that he hated the most.

His hatred burning from Twilight’s insult, he charged at her with incredible speed, “NO ONE CALLS ME A MONSTER!” he shouted.

Twilight saw him coming too fast for her to launch another attack, she quickly summoned another force field just as Shadow was about to pounce on her. Unfortunately for Twilight, as soon as Shadow’s hooves hit the force field, the force field shattered upon impact. The blow caused an extreme headache for Twilight, as she was now defenseless.

Shadow was once again about to launch another attack and because of her headache, Twilight couldn’t concentrate on her magic to defend herself. Without any alternative, she quickly did the only thing she could think of, she closed her eyes and charged right at Shadow.

Her head collided with his chest, stopping his attack. They held their positions for sometime before Twilight, felt something running through her mane and she could hear what sounded like groaning, this caused her to open her eyes. She looked up and her eyes opened wide as she saw what she did. Her horn was impaled in Shadows chest. She quickly backed up, pulling her blood covered horn out of his chest. With Twilight’s body no longer in the way, Shadow was able to lower his front hooves to the ground. The blood from his wound was flowing out.

Twilight could see the pain Shadow was feeling from his face. His face showed even more pain as she saw his wound was closing up. From the looks of it, the elements healing ability causes pain as her eyes was inspecting the now closed wound. Then she looked back at Shadows face and saw the hate on his face as he was staring at her.

“You stabbed me?”

“I was just trying to defend myself, I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

“If that horn was any longer, you would have killed me.”

Twilight didn’t respond to his comment.

“After all my years of traveling, nopony has ever tried to kill me before.”

“It was an accident, I swear.”

Shadow was now fuming with rage, steam was coming out of his nostrils. The element was glowing again. Twilight looked down and saw what looked like smokes coming from his hooves. In a few seconds the smoke was slowing forming into a cloud. Soon the cloud was rising with Shadow standing on top of it, the cloud rose a few feet before stopping.

“This will teach you for trying to kill me,” he said. Shadow stood on his hind legs, then he brought his fore hooves down hard on the cloud, the result caused a bolt of red lighting coming out of the cloud electrocuting Twilight.

Twilight felt the electricity throughout her body and fell to the ground. She didn’t feel pain exactly the she had when she had been struck by lightning from the results of a few pranks caused by Rainbow Dash before. She felt like her body was on fire. It took sometime before the burning sensation started fading and she slowly got up.

“Tell me how did that feel?” he asked.

The burning effect finally wore off before she responded, “It felt like my body was on fire. My body was burning and I couldn’t stop it.”

“That feeling was the burning sensation of hatred. A never ending burn that nothing can extinguish,” he said as he was slowly rubbing his neck where the element was fused to his skin. “Now that you felt the power of hatred, are you ready to admit that you’re wrong?”

“NEVER,” she shouted.

“Then it looks like you need another dose,” he then got on his hind legs again and stomped his hooves on the cloud, releasing another bolt of lightning.

Twilight quickly rolled out of the way as the lightning struck where she was standing not a moment ago. Seeing that he missed, Shadow released another bolt, Twilight was able to jumped out of the way. He then started releasing more bolts at Twilight, each one she was barely able to dodge.

“Come on, and hold still,” he said as he continued firing lightning bolts at Twilight, “Feel the hate and admit your wrong.”

Twilight started charging her horn while dodging Shadow’s attacks. Once her horn was fully charged, Twilight ran under the cloud and blasted the cloud. The beam went straight through the cloud causing it to dissipate, blasting Shadow Bolt in the chest. The blast sent him straight up, until the beam wore off.

Both ponies were staring at each other, both of them breathing heavy from the exhaustion of the fight.

“Just admit it, your friends have been defeated and it’s just you left.”

“We’ve been defeated before, but in the end our friendship has always pulled us through.”

The rest of Twilights friends had finally recovered and were standing right beside her.

“Ya tell him Twilight,” said Applejack.

“Besides the only reason your winning is because you have your stinking element and we don’t,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Is that so?”

“Of course, if we had our elements you’d be toast in ten seconds flat,” she said. “Shame we don’t have them here instead of Canterlot.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?”

“Let’s just say, nopony will be missing you.”

“But it doesn’t have to come to that,” said Twilight. “We only do that for whoever tries to endanger everypony in Equestria.”

“Like you,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Rainbow, stop that.”

“Aw come on Twilight, your thinking the same thing we all are. If we don’t stop him, then he’ll just go blasting at anypony that pisses him off. This would mean everypony he comes across.”

“Is that what you really think of me?” he said, still hovering in the air. “You think that I’m some type of rabid animal that needs to be put down?”

Nopony responded.

He looked at Applejack, “Tell me the truth. Is that what you think of me?!”

He stared at her eyes as she was sweating. She broke eye contact, which was basically a nonverbal confirmation.

“So, that’s how it is,” he said with a hint of sadness, a tear rolled down his face. “Well if you think, I’m going to let you kill me, then you’re sorely mistaken,” he said in an angry tone as he started flying towards his house.

“Where do ya think yur goin?” asked Applejack.

“Why to Canterlot of course, I’ve got some elements to destroy. That way, not only do I prevent you girls from putting me down like a some kind of monster, but I’ll also prove my point about hate being powerful than friendship,” he started pushing his house towards the direction of Canterlot.

“Oh, no you’re not,” said Rainbow Dash as she started going after Shadow. He simply punched his house and a bolt of lightning struck Rainbow Dash. Twilight and the rest were able to catch her before she hit the ground.

Shadow simply smiled and took off at a fast pace with his house, leaving only a trail of black smoke and red lightning.

“What do we do now, Twilight?” asked Fluttershy.

“We have to warn the Princess and then we have to go to Canterlot and stop him.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Applejack.

“Alright then everypony, let get out of here and save Canterlot,” said Rainbow Dash as she started flying towards Ponyville.

“And after that we can have a We Save Canterlot Again Party,” said Pinkie Pie.

Everyone started running back to the Everfree’s entrance.

Twilight was thinking as she was running, this wasn’t the way it was supposed to happen. Why did have to be this way? I don’t want to hurt him, but now we have no choice. Celestia, forgive me.

Today’s Forecast: 100% Chance of Hate with Scattered Rage

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"Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.” ― Maya Angelou

"To be angry is easy. But to be angry with the right man at the right time and in the right manner, that is not easy." ― Aristotle

"Anger is one letter short of danger." ― Eleanor Roosevelt

Chapter 9: Today’s Forecast: 100% Chance of Hate with Scattered Rage

While waiting for her friends to return, Rarity was sitting in the library sipping some tea that Spike had made for her.

“Spike, this tea is simply marvelous, you’ve really outdone yourself.”

“Aw geez Rarity, it was nothing,” said Spike as he was blushing with one claw scratching the back of his head.

“This is exactly what I needed after finishing that order. You must give me the recipe, this will help me relax the next time I’m up to my horn in orders.

“I’ve got some cookies to go with your tea, if you want some.”

“That would be splendid Spike, I would love to try one of your cookies.”

“Be right back,” he said as he dashed away to the kitchen and back in less than five seconds with a tray of cookies.

“Here you go.”

“Thank you my little Spikey-Wikey,” as she levitated a cookie.

She was about to take a bite when she heard the door slammed opened, breaking her concentration causing the cookie to fall on the ground.

“Don’t you know it’s rude to barge into somepony’s home like that?” as she turned to see the perpetrator.

Her eyes were open wide when she saw who it was. It was none other than her friends, and from the looks of them, they weren’t in good condition.

“Oh dear heavens, what happened to you girls?”

“It’s a long story,” said Twilight as she started towards her stairs.

“Twilight, what is that’s covering your horn and mane?” she looked closer at Twilight’s horn and mane. “If didn’t know any better, I’d say that was…..blood?! Twilight what happened?”

“There’s no time, I have to send a letter to the princess,” she ran up the stairs to her room.

“Will somepony tell me what is going on?”

“I tell you what’s going on,” said Rainbow Dash, “did Twilight introduce you to someone today?”

“Why yes, his name was Shadow Bolt. He was kind of shy and a bit handsome if I do say so myself.”

“Yeah well, that shy handsome pony did this to us,” she pointed her hoof at her blood cover muzzle.

“What?!”

Twilight was now staring in front of her desk with her quill hovering above the piece of parchment that she would send to Princess Celestia. She concentrated on what to write exactly to her, the events in the Everfree Forest still fresh in her mind. After much time staring at the blank parchment, she began writing, starting with the words that she hoped she would never have to write in her life.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I’ve failed. I failed at showing Shadow Bolt the magic of friendship. At first, I wasn’t getting through to him, but then it seemed like it was working on him. Then through events that I couldn’t have predicted, it all went horribly wrong. I found out that the mysterious aura he was emitting was coming from a necklace that looks like our Elements of Harmony. I gathered my friends to confront him and tried to persuade him into handing it over. After some arguing and one of my friends attacked him, we were forced to engage him in combat. We weren’t able to stop him, as it showed that his element was too powerful for us. In addition, he is now heading towards Canterlot to destroy the elements. I urge you to make whatever preparations you need to defend Canterlot, I know that it might seem a bit extreme, but since I have no way of knowing how powerful he is, I wouldn’t take any chances. My friends and I will be on the first train to Canterlot, hopefully will be there before he arrives. I’m sorry that this is happening, I feel that it’s my fault for putting everypony in danger like this. I will see you as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Twilight Sparkle

Twilight let out a big sigh. She hated the fact that not only she failed at showing Shadow Bolt how wonderful the magic of friendship is, but now Canterlot is in danger because of her failure. She rolled up the parchment and started walking towards her door. She stopped and looked at herself in the mirror, she was shock at her reflection. She was covered in dirt, she had a few bruises, her mane was a mess, and her horn was blood red, with a dark stream of it running down her mane. She remembered where the blood came from.

“You stabbed me?”

“I was just trying to defend myself, I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

“If that horn was any longer, you would have killed me. After all my years of traveling, nopony has ever tried to kill me before.”

“It was an accident, I swear.”

The thought of what she did caused her to gag, she quickly ran to the bathroom to clean herself up. After washing out the blood from her horn and mane, Twilight went downstairs to get her friends ready to depart for Canterlot.”

As she was walking down the stairs, she could hear Rainbow Dash’s voice, “Then afterwards, he headed towards Canterlot, saying that he was going to destroy the elements. I tried to stop him, but I got hit by another one of his lightning bolts.”

“Oh my, I can’t believe that he did all this to you,” said Rarity.

“Ya better believe it Rarity, he almost killed us,” said Applejack.

“So what happens now?”

“I’ll tell what happens next,” said Twilight as she walked up to her friends. “We’re going to Canterlot and stop him before anypony gets hurt. I already inform the princess of the situation, so we need to head towards the train station.”

“But Twilight,” said Spike, “the train to Canterlot won’t be leaving for another hour.”

“Then we’ll just have to wait then.”

“Twilight?” started Rarity, “Can you tell me why he did all this? He wasn’t behaving like that when I met him?”

“I know, he was starting to feel fine after we left the boutique. Afterwards I took him to Sugarcube Corner.”

“Then I put on a Welcome to Ponyville Party for him,” said Pinkie Pie, “There was music, cake, and games. It was so much fun, wished you guys were there.”

“Yes, thank you, Pinkie,” said Twilight as she continued, “and it seemed that Pinkies party really helped him, he was smiling, talking to anypony that walked up to him. He was having a great time, he even said that today was the best day he’s ever had in a very long time.”

“If he was so happy, then where did it go wrong?”

“Well we were walking back to his place, I was discussing what we could tomorrow. That’s when Rainbow Dash showed up and everything went all wrong.”

“What does Rainbow Dash have to do with this?”

“Apparently they knew each other a long time ago, and it wasn’t a pleasant experience.”

“That’s right, ah remembered from da way they were talkin,” said Applejack, “It did sound like they knew each other. He kept tellin Dash to apologize for sumthin.”

“Apologize for what?”

“Does this have to do wit that long story that ya mentioned, Twilight?”

“Yes it does.”

“Well since were waiting for da train, why don’t ya go ahead and tell this story.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, clearly she didn’t want to hear the story again.

“Okay, it all started years ago in Cloudsdale.”

“I’ll show them, nopony tries to kill me and gets away with it,” as Shadow Bolt was pushing his home towards Canterlot. He knew that he should never go there. From what he heard in his travels, the citizens treated everypony badly that wasn’t a resident. The city was full of rich snobs, that believed that they were better than everypony else. Anypony that wasn’t in their class was treated like they were beneath them. Shadow was already treated like that wherever he went, he couldn’t imagine how he would have been treated if he were to walk those streets. If it wasn’t for the current circumstance he wouldn’t even bother going. But now he was in a race for his own life, trying to prevent those who would try to destroy him. The element around his neck was glowing as his head was flooded with the memory that was the reason why he was flying to Canterlot in the first place.

“If we had our elements you’d be toast in ten seconds flat.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?”

“Let’s just say, nopony will be missing you.”

“We only do that for whoever tries to endanger everypony in Equestria.”

“Like you.”

“If we don’t stop him, then he’ll just go blasting at anypony that pisses him off.”

“Is that what you really think of me? You think that I’m some type of rabid animal that needs to be put down?”

He never thought that when he woke up this morning that he would be defending his life from the Elements of Harmony. All his life ponies thought of him as weak and defenseless, which seemed to give them the reason to treat him badly. How they would chase him around, throw garbage at him, sometimes even rocks or whatever they could get their hooves on, and of course the beatings he suffered. They thought that because he was weak, they could walk all over him and wouldn’t worry about the consequences.

Well no more! It’s time to show Equestria that nopony will walk all over me and get away with it ever again. No more will they think that I’m weak, no more being the outcast, no more being treated like scum, and no more being treated like a monster. It’s time to put them in their place, and what better example than the ponies of Canterlot. Once I put those rich snobs in their place nopony will think I’m weak ever again!

He started flying faster, as the power of the element powered by his hate was making his home bigger and bigger.

“And that’s when he was kicked out of Cloudsdale,” said Twilight, as she was finishing telling the story that Shadow told her earlier.

Everypony else was silent, except for Pinkie and Spike who were both eating popcorn.

“Since then, he’s been traveling Equestria trying to find a place for him to settle down.”

“Oh dear, it must have been terrible for him to be on his own for long,” said Rarity.

“And from what’s he’s been telling me, he hasn’t been treated well no matter where he goes.”

“Goodness.”

“He just recently told me during the fight that he was beaten multiple times from his travels.”

“If… I was… treated like that, I would live in isolation too,” said Fluttershy.

“And because of this, he blames Rainbow Dash for what’s happened to his life.”

All eyes were on Rainbow Dash from Twilight’s remark.

“For the last time, I didn’t cheat! You guys know me more than you know him. You should be defending me instead of the other way around. And besides, I’m Rainbow Dash. I don’t need to cheat to win, that’s how awesome I am.”

Twilight turned to Applejack and gave her a nod. Applejack knew what Twilight was asking and nodded in return. She then walked right up to Rainbow Dash.

“Alright Dash, ya look me in the eye an tell me that ya didn’t cheat.”

“I already said that I didn’t cheat,” she said not even looking at Applejack.

“An ah said ta look me in da eye an say it.”

She turned her head facing Applejack and said, “I… didn’t… cheat!”

Their eyes were locked staring at each other. The others could feel the tension between the two ponies. Applejack being the Element of Honesty, has the ability to tell if anypony is lying. As if her eyes could dig deep down a pony’s soul and find out the truth. At least that was what Rainbow Dash was feeling with Applejack staring at her with those eyes. She started sweating as she was losing her confidence and her poker face was starting to crack. In the end she couldn’t take it anymore and took her eyes off Applejack.

“Oh my Celestia,” said Applejack in disbelief, “Ya did cheat!”

Everypony gasped at Applejacks statement. All eyes were now glaring at Rainbow Dash’s dishonesty.

“ALRIGHT FINE, I ADMIT IT!” she shouted, “I cheated, but I only did because he cheated first.”

“Rainbow Dash, I’m very disappointed in you,” said Rarity, “I thought you were better than that.”

“I can’t believe it,” said Pinkie Pie with a shocked look on her face, “you were being a cheater mccheaterson.”

“As I already said, I only cheated because he cheated first,”

“That’s no excuse,” said Applejack, “just because somepony cheats, doesn’t mean ya have ta stoop down ta their level.”

“Um…. I didn’t hear anything about him cheating,” said Fluttershy.

“Oh please, you think he’s going to admit that he cheated, Fluttershy,” said Rainbow Dash. She couldn’t even believe that even Fluttershy was on everypony’s side.

“I don’t know if he cheated or not,” started Twilight, “but when it came time to confess, instead of telling everypony the truth, you denied it and put all the blame on him.”

“Hey, I was going to tell the truth,” she said defensively, “but once the Wonderbolts showed up, I couldn’t do it. If they found out I cheated, then they would never let me become a Wonderbolt.”

“So you let an innocent pony take the blame for your actions, all because of your pride?” asked Twilight, “does that seem right to you?”

Rainbow was about to say something, but stopped after letting Twilights question sink in her head. She looked down in defeat and said, “No, it doesn’t seem right saying it like that.”

“When we get ta Canterlot, yur gonna apologize to him just like he wanted,” said Applejack. “Maybe wit that, he won’t try ta destroy Canterlot if he accepts yur apology.”

“Alright fine, I’ll apologize.”

Pinkie Pie started bouncing around, “And then, when he accepts your apology, well have an I’m Sorry Party to celebrate. Then you two will make up and then be the bestest of friends.”

“Before you start making the preparations, we first need to get to Canterlot and hope that he’ll accept Rainbow’s apology,” said Twilight.

“Can’t you teleport us to Canterlot?” asked Rarity.

“To teleport all of six of us would take too much magic, and I haven’t practiced teleporting long distances enough for all of us. I don’t want to you girls teleported in random locations.”

“Well… I guess we should head to the train station then,” said Fluttershy, “unless… you want to stay here a bit longer I understand.”

“No your right, Fluttershy,” said Twilight, “Let’s go girls.”

Before the girls were able to walk out the door a blinding white light appeared blinding the girls and Spike. Then the light dimmed down and vanished as quickly as it came. Spike opened his eyes and saw that he was alone. The girls vanished out of thin air. Where did everpony go?

At first Twilight couldn’t see anything but a bright blinding light. Once the light disappeared she noticed that she wasn’t in the library anymore, but in Canterlot, more specifically she’s in the castles throne room. She turned around and saw that her friends were with her.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash were rubbing their eyes, Fluttershy was shaking a bit, Rarity was looking at her surroundings, and Pinkie Pie was removing a pair of sunglasses from her face.

Applejack asked still rubbing her eyes, “What happened? What’s going?”

“We were teleported, we’re in Canterlot,” Twilight replied.

“How did we get here?” asked Rainbow Dash, “I thought you said you couldn’t teleport us all to Canterlot.”

“I didn’t do this, It must have been somepony else.”

“If you didn’t do this… then who did?” asked Fluttershy still shaking from the unexpected experience of teleporting.

As if on cue, the doors opened and a familiar voice said, “It was me,” everypony turned to see that the voice belonged to none other than Princess Celestia.

Everypony bowed, except for Twilight, who ran up to her mentor and nuzzled her chest. “It’s great to see you again, Princess.”

“It’s great to see you too, Twilight,” she returned Twilight’s nuzzle, “although I wished it was under different circumstances.

She walked towards Twilights friends, “You don’t have to bow for me,” after hearing that, the rest of the girls stood up.

Celestia gave them a simple smile and faced Twilight, “Now what can you tell me about this threat that you mentioned in your letter, Twilight?”

“Yes Princess, as I mentioned in the letter, Shadow Bolt, the pony I tried to show the magic of friendship, is on his way to Canterlot and he is wearing a necklace that looks like one of the Elements of Harmony. This element of his has a lot of power. It’s because I don’t know how powerful it is, is the reason why I think we should prepare to defend the city. I know I’m asking a lot to put Canterlot on high alert on the account of one pegasus, but there’s no telling the type of damage that he can do with that necklace.”

“I do admit, it does seem a lot for one pony, but I’ve come to always trust your instincts, Twilight. I have already made the preparations for Shadow’s arrival.”

Twilight looked out the window and saw the guards patrolling the castle, the pegasi guards were flying over the city. She can see that everything was as if it was when she and her friends arrived to Canterlot for Shining Armors wedding. Speaking of whom, Twilight noticed that something was missing.

“Where’s my brother? Why hasn’t he put the barrier up?”

“Shining Armor, isn’t here Twilight,” replied Celestia, “he’s still on his honeymoon with Cadance.”

“Oh, well what do we do? Without a barrier who knows the damage Shadow can do to the city.”

“Those innocent ponies,” said Fluttershy, “They’ll be helpless against him.”

“Not to worry my little ponies,” said Princess Celestia, “before Shining Armor left, he taught me the barrier spell in case he wasn’t around or if he wasn’t able to perform his duties. He wanted to make sure that he didn’t want a repeat of what happened during the invasion.

To prove this Celestia walked out to a nearby balcony. Her horn started glowing, and then a gold beam shot out of her horn towards the sky. Once the beam was high in the sky, it spread out covering the city of Canterlot in a golden bubble. Twilight was amazed seeing once again, the power that her mentor wields.

Princess Celestia then walked back towards the others. She was breathing a bit heavy, “I haven’t had much time to get used to the spell, so it takes a bit out of me, especially since I must maintain perfect concentration or else the barrier will weaken.”

“I know what you mean princess, said Twilight, “I know the amount of magic and concentration its takes to put up a barrier. I get a little tired just making a barrier for myself. I can’t imagine the strain it must take to put a barrier over an entire city. Hopefully this will keep Shadow from getting inside and terrorizing the city.”

“Speaking of which, I also have brought you girls something to help. Her horn started glowing once again, and a small light appeared in front of her. When the light vanished there was a small blue chest covered in gems levitating in front of the princess. “I believe these belong to you,” she opened the chest, revealing the Elements of Harmony to the six.

“Thank you, Princess Celestia,” said Twilight using her magic to give the elements to her friends.

Now that the elements were worn by their rightful bearers, the mane six were ready for whatever Shadow has planned.

“So tell me Twilight, what is your plan for stopping Shadow Bolt?” asked Princess Celestia.

“Well princess, we want to avoid a fight with him, unless we have to. So my plan is that we wait for him to arrive, he’ll see the barrier and most likely will try to break it. Since you’re more powerful than me Princess, the barrier will hold off his attacks. Doing this will most likely tire him out, and once that happens we will try to talk him into stopping his attack and try to persuade him into giving up his element.”

“You mentioned in your letter that you tried this already, but you weren’t able to get through to him. What makes you think that it will work this time?”

“Well, this time he’ll be more persuasive once Rainbow Dash talks to him,” she pointed to Dash, “once she tells him what he wants to hear, I believe that he’ll be more cooperative with us.”

“Why is it going to be Rainbow Dash that will persuade him to cooperate?”

“They seem to have history when they were younger,” she said. Her face showing signs of concern, “she did something that resulted in something bad that happened to him. Once she apologizes to him, he should more cooperative.”

“And what if he isn’t?” she asked.

“Then if that doesn’t work,” her face showing sadness, “we’ll have no choice but to use the Elements of Harmony on him.”

“Why do you look so sad Twilight?”

“It’s just…I don’t really want to harm him more than I have already done.”

“You’ve defeated others before, what is the problem? He’s on his way to destroy the elements and from what I’m hearing about him, he doesn’t care who gets in his way.”

“But he’s different from the others, Princess Celestia. He’s nothing like Nightmare Moon, Discord, or Queen Chrysalis. He’s just an angry pegasus who’s just lashing out. I believe his element is responsible for that.”

“That reminds,” spoke Rarity, “Where did he get an element of his own?”

“That’s what I’m wondering too,” said Twilight, “there’s nothing that I read that mentioned any other elements but the Elements of Harmony.”

She looked to Princess Celestia, “Have you heard of any other elements before, Princess?”

“A long time ago, when my sister and I discovered the Elements of Harmony, we found legends of the possibility of there being other elements. But we never found any proof that these other elements existed. In the end we dismissed the possibility that these other elements where nothing more than a myth.”

“Well it looks like them legends were true all along,” said Applejack, “cause one of em is coming this way.”

“It still doesn’t answer the question, where he got it?” said Rarity.

“Actually Rarity,” said Twilight, “from what he told me, he didn’t even know he had it. It’s as if it just appeared out of nowhere. That element has so much power, there’s no telling what else it could do.”

“Wouldn’t it be simple to just remove the element from him by force?” asked Princess Celestia.

“I already tried that Princess,” Twilight lowered her head as she said this, “but I found out that his element is actually burned into his skin.

“It’s burned into his skin?!” Celestia was shocked from hearing this.

“Yes, I saw it up close with my own eyes. Trying to remove it by force will only caused him great pain. From what I’m able to determine from observing him, the more pain he’s in the more his hate builds up, and the more hate he has the stronger he gets.”

“I see, while it’s terrible for him to have that thing around his neck, we can’t allow him to cause any havoc towards Canterlot. I hope that your idea works Twilight, the fate of Equestria lies in your and your friend’s hooves.”

“Don’t worry Princess, we won’t let you down.” All her friends were now standing beside her, “As long as we have each other and the power of friendship by our side, nothing will stop us in bringing harmony all over Equestria.”

“You said it Twilight,” said Rarity.

“Yuperuni,” Pinkie Pie was bouncing excitably.

“Way to go girl,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Woo hoo,” whispered Fluttershy.

“We’re behind ya all the way,” said Applejack.

Twilight blushed a bit from her friend’s confidence in her, “Thanks girls,” then they all shared a big group hug. “All long as were together, there’s nothing that can stop us.”

*BOOM*

Everypony was slightly startled over the loud noise, except for Fluttershy. She let out a loud scream and tightened her grip around Pinkie Pie and Rarity, squeezing them in the process. Strangely, Pinkie Pie started squeaking like a rubber duck.

“F-Fluttershy…. Darling…. Cant…. Breathe,” Rarity tried to escape from Fluttershy’s killer grip.

Fluttershy then realized what she was doing and quickly released her grip, letting Rarity and Pinkie Pie go.

“Oops…. sorry Rarity,” she looked down in embarrassment. “I hope you can forgive me.”

“Of course I forgive you Fluttershy,” Rarity said trying to cheer Fluttershy up. “I know that didn’t mean to, it was just an accident.”

“Thank you,” was all she said.

*BOOM*

“What in tarnation was that?” asked Applejack.

“If you ask me,” started Rainbow Dash, “it sounds like… thunder?”

*BOOM*

“Oh dear, if I knew that it was going to be raining I would have brought my parka,” said Rarity. “Now my mane is going to be wet after all this,” everypony rolled their eyes from Rarity’s comment.

“Did you schedule for rain today, Princess Celestia?” asked Twilight.

“No I did not, Twilight.”

*BOOM*

“Then if you didn’t schedule for rain today, then…..” Twilight couldn’t finish her sentence when the gears in her head started turning. After a few seconds of concentration, her face bore one of fear. Oh no!

“Twilight, are you alright?” asked Rarity.

Twilight looked over at Fluttershy. She only had to nod to confirm what Twilight was thinking.

*BOOM*

She started running towards the balcony to confirm her assumption. Once she was outside she looked over the horizon. “Oh no, it can’t be! This is not good."

“What is it Twilight?” asked Princess Celestia.

She turned to face her mentor and friends and said two words that sent a shiver down their spines, “He’s here!”

Coming towards Canterlot, was an enormous storm cloud. But this was no ordinary storm cloud, it was a storm cloud made entirely of hate. And inside was the pegasus who created it.

Shadow Bolt poked his head out to see the glorious city of Canterlot for the first time in his life, “Finally here.” He then noticed that the city was covered by a large golden globe. “Twilight must have warned the princess of my arrival and put up a barrier to keep me out,” He smirked at their attempt.

“No matter, with my power, it will be like breaking through glass.”

Everyone was now standing outside the balcony as Celestia’s sun was slowly gobbled up, covering Canterlot in darkness. Then bolts of red lightning started striking the force field trying to penetrate through.

Celestia kept her concentration up from the barrage of lightning bolts. “I can feel this power. It’s nothing I’ve ever felt before, but I should be able to keep the barrier up.”

“If anypony can do it, it’s you, Princess Celestia,” said Twilight.

Celestia didn’t respond due to her concentration, but gave Twilight a comforting smile for her praise. I wonder how much longer I’m able to keep the barrier up.

What’s taking so long? Shadow kept shooting lightning at the force field. Maybe it’s time for a direct approach. He flew out of the cloud and headed towards the barrier.

Twilight could see something coming out of the storm cloud. “There he is!” she pointed to him.

Everypony now could see him hovering in front of the force field.

He started punching and bucking the barrier. When that didn’t work he blasted it with his elements energy beam. He started attacking from different points hoping to find a weak spot, only to meet with failure, causing his hatred to boil hotter and hotter. THAT’S IT! TIME TO FINISH THIS! He flew high into the sky with a new strategy.

“He’s leaving?” said Twilight.

“Well that was easier than I thought,” said Rainbow Dash.

Princess Celestia was happy hearing this, her breathing was slightly hard and she was sweating a little bit. I don’t know how much longer I could have lasted.

“Even though he broke ma trees with all his strength, there’s no way he could break the Princess’s force field,” said Applejack proudly.

“Uh…. Applejack,” started Twilight, “he told me he was holding back.”

“HOLDING BACK?!” Applejack couldn’t believe her ears.

“Um, girls?” said Fluttershy.

“Twi, what if he was holding back this whole time?”

“Girls?”

Twilight was shocked. If he was holding back, then…

“GIRLS!” Fluttershy shouted.

“What is it, Fluttershy?”

“He’s coming back.”

Shadow flew up high until he reached enough altitude, and then nose-dived back to Canterlot. He concentrated his power to his hooves and angled himself so that his hind legs would impact the barrier. His hind legs landed so hard that he felt the vibration, then he immediately stomped his fore hooves on the force field. The combined impact caused a big crack in the barrier and was growing larger. Satisfied he flew back to the cloud blasting the cracked spot with his energy beam. That should do it.

The blow was too much for Celestia as Shadow’s attack knocked her out, breaking her concentration.

Without Princess Celestia, the barrier started breaking apart. Twilight and her friends watched in horror as cracks were appearing all over the force field, until finally the barrier protecting Canterlot shattered into pieces.

Immediately a barrage of lightning bolt struck the unprotected city, all Twilight could do was watch the devastation of Canterlot.

Lightning bolts were striking all over the city, the streets, the shops, and the home of its residents. Ponies were running all over the city, trying to escape the chaos. The residents outside were running for cover while dodging the red lightning bolts. Some of them were almost hit, but the bolts missed them at the last possible second. Others tried running towards the nearest building, finding sanctuary from the hate storm, only for the walls and roofs to be struck by the lightning making holes in the buildings.

This proved that no place was safe from Shadow Bolts wrath for the residents of Canterlot. He could see them all running in panic and he was enjoying every second of it. He saw a stallion all dressed up trip and landing in a puddle of mud, dirtying his expensive suit. He laughed at the stallion’s misfortune. It made feel so good knowing that this was happening all over the city.

“Not so high and mighty anymore, are you, you snobby stuck up rich scum?” he kept on laughing as he continued his assault on Canterlot.

Twilight could hear the screams all the way from the castle. See could also see the towers of smoke coming from the city. She looked to the sky as the pegasi guards were flying to launch a counterattack. Unfortunately they didn’t get far as one by one they were struck down by Shadow’s lightning attacks. The unicorn guards started blasting the cloud hoping their beams could stop the storms assault. Some were hoping that their beams would also hit the pegasus who was hiding in the cloud. Their attempts only awarded them with pain as lightning bolts struck them. One lucky guards beam seemed to hit his target. He wasn’t feeling so lucky anymore when he was hit by a red energy beam instead of a lightning bolt.

Twilight couldn’t stand it anymore, she needed to do something to stop this madness. She started nudging her mentor’s unconscious body, hoping to wake her up.

“Princess Celestia, you need to wake up! Canterlot is in danger and only you can protect it from this chaos.”

The princess started groaning as she was stirring. She slowly opened her eye, to see her student and friends standing in front of her.

“What happened?”

“You were knocked out Princess, the strain of the barrier was too much for you.”

She started remembering what happened before she lost consciousness. She stood up immediately, “What about Shadow Bolt?”

*BOOM*

That was all she needed to hear to know what was happening. She looked over the balcony and gasp as she saw the devastation of her city.

“This is terrible.”

Twilight walked next to her mentor, “Princess, you need to put up the barrier again. If the force field isn’t up, Shadow will destroy Canterlot.”

Princess started concentrating to put up another force field, but she was still feeling the fatigue from the last one, that she was having trouble with the spell.”

“LOOK OUT!” screamed Pinkie Pie as she was pointing up.

Everypony looked to see a lightning bolt coming right at them. They all quickly ran back inside the castle. As soon as they were inside, the lightning bolt struck the balcony they were standing just seconds ago, destroying it in the process.

“Oh my, that was a close one,” said Rarity.

“We need that barrier up now!” said Applejack.

Princess Celestia started concentrating again. Her horn started glowing as the spell was charging up. Almost there, I have to protect my little ponies.

*BOOM*

Her concentration was broken again when a lightning bolt struck the roof of the throne room, leaving a huge gaping hole. Before Celestia could start concentrating again, lightning started striking from the hole in the roof making everypony run to avoid them. Celestia saw Twilight and the rest of the element bearers running around the throne room, trying to avoid the lightning strikes. One lightning got too close to Twilight as it grazed her leg, causing her to fall to the ground.

“Twilight!” Celestia tried to get to her, but was stopped as a lightning bolt struck right in front of her. She looked at Twilight, she was still lying on the ground. She was pinned down by lightning bolts striking around her, preventing her from getting away. Celestia could see Twilight’s scared face, making her furious.

“ENOUGH!” she shouted in her Royal Equestrian voice. Her horn was charging as a gold globe was forming at the tip. It grew and grew until it was the size of a giant beach ball. She shot the globe to the sky and into the storm cloud. Once the energy ball entered the cloud, it started expanding and then blew up with the power of the sun burning away the cloud.

The cloud dissipated immediately causing the sun to break through blinding everypony, except for Pinkie Pie, who once again had her sunglasses on. With cloud destroyed Princess Celestia ran to Twilight, to check on her.

“Are you all right, Twilight?”

“I’m fine, Princess,” as she was slowly getting up, she winced in pain from the burn mark from her leg. “It’s just grazed me, nothing to worry about.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course, it’s nothing compared to getting hit by one of those bolts.”

“You were struck before?!” Celestia was showing concern for her student.

“Yes Princess, and let me tell you, it really hurts.”

“Wow, did you see that ball the Princess shot in the sky? It went up and then BOOM and then the clouds went POOF.” Pinkie was bouncing up and down from excitement.

“That was so AWESOME!” said Rainbow Dash, “I’ve never seen a storm cloud that big get taken out so quickly without a herd of pegasi.”

“Eeyup, only someone like Princess Celestia could do somethin like that,” said Applejack.

“Thank you, everypony. I’m just glad that everyone is alright.”

“Not that that’s over, we should clean this place up,” said Rarity observing the damage to the throne room. “This is no place for a princess of Equestria to be addressing her subjects.”

“G-G-Girls?” said Fluttershy, for some reason she was shaking.

“What wrong, sugar cube? You’re shakin like a rattlesnake on a hot date,” asked Applejack.

Fluttershy was looking up as she was pointing her shaking hoof to the sky.

Everypony looked up, and the fur on their necks was standing up. Because right above them was the pegasus Shadow Bolt and his face was showing nothing but pure rage.

Harmony vs. Hate

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“It is wise to direct your anger towards problems, not people. To focus your energies on answers, not excuses.”
― William Arthur Ward

"From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate." ― Socrates

"In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves." ― Buddha

Chapter 10: Harmony vs. Hate

It’s gone…..There’s nothing left that was all that Shadow Bolt was thinking after he saw a bright ball coming from what he guessed was the princesses castle and once the ball enter the cloud, the ball exploded taking the storm cloud with it. He looked around to see if any piece of the cloud remained, but saw nothing but clear blue skies.

“My home….it’s all gone,” Shadow couldn’t believe that as much as he kept looking around, hoping to see a part of his home still floating. But no matter how much he looked, there was nothing left of his home. He just hovered in the sky in sadness for a few moments. After some time had passed his sadness was replaced with rage. “They’ll pay…Whoever was responsible for that will pay!” he started flying towards the castle to find the source of that golden energy ball that took away everything he had.

After flying around the castle, he found one of the building’s roofs had a huge hole caused by his lightning attack. It must have come from there. Soon he was hovering over the hole, looking to see the pony responsible for his houses destruction. It surprised him at first to see that the ponies in the room were none other than Twilight Sparkle and the rest of her friends. His hate was burning up as well as his aura, now knowing who was responsible. She’ll pay…..THEY’LL ALL PAY!

Everyponies eyes were locked on the glowing red pegasus that was hovering above them. Twilight was trying to think of a plan now that Shadow was here. What to do? He’s here and I have no idea what to do. I guess the first thing to do is to get him to come down so we can talk. As soon as she thought that, Shadow was now lowering himself. Everypony started backing away as he was landing. Twilight and her friends were all standing together, their eyes were on Shadow as his eyes were on them. He landed a few feet in front of him. He didn’t even any pay attention to Princess Celestia, who was standing behind him. His only focus was on the six Elements of Harmony.

The throne room was in total silence as Twilight was wondering who should speak first. Her answer came when Shadow spoke, “So….You’re here. Didn’t think you would be here so quickly after our last encounter, he sighed, “and here I thought it was going to be so easy. Just come in, destroy the elements, and be on my merry way. Now I have to deal with you girls again.” He looked at the six and noticed that they were wearing jewelry around their necks and Twilight was wearing some type of crowny thing. “And by the looks of it you already have your elements.”

He then noticed Rainbow Dash’s element and face hoofed, “Just when I thought I couldn’t hate you more, you prove me wrong. I didn’t believe what Twilight said. But out of all the elements why did your element have to copy mine?”

“What?! I’m not copying you, I had my element long before you got yours. If anything it’s your element that copied mine.”

He huffed at her response, “Whatever, at least mine is cooler than yours.”

“Is not,” she quickly said.

“Yes it is and I’m pretty sure Rarity agrees with me,” he looked over at Rarity after noticing that she was in the room, “oh and nice that you made it to the party, Rarity. Well now that the gangs all here, why don’t we get this party started?” he lowered himself into a fighting stance, ready to see who would make the first move.

“Wait!” shouted Twilight. She wanted to stop this quickly before it actually begins. “Before, anything happens, Rainbow Dash has something important to say to you.”

Shadow seemed curious with what Twilight said and got out of his fighting stance. “Does she now? Well what is it?”

Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash, “Go on,” she said.

Rainbow Dash walked up and stopped a few feet in front of Shadow, her eyes were looking all around except on Shadow, “I’m sorry.”

“What was that?” he wasn’t able to hear her since she spoke real quietly.

“I said, I’m sorry.”

“Still didn’t get that,” he was starting to get a little annoyed by this. Just like when I met Fluttershy. “One more time,” he said.

“I’M SORRY, ALL RIGHT! THERE I SAID IT!”

Her shouting surprised him that he didn’t know how to react from her apology. “You’re sorry?”

“Yes, okay! I’m sorry.”

Shadow wasn’t feeling convinced, “Sorry for what exactly?”

“I’m sorry…..For what happened years ago back in Cloudsdale.”

“You mean you’re sorry for ruining my life? Sorry for cheating, making me crash into the racers, causing a massive accident, putting all the blame on me, which resulted me getting kicked out of Cloudsdale. And because of that my life has been a downward spiral full of hate, intolerance, and fear?” as he was going down the list his voice was getting angry and louder as well as his aura forming and growing that everypony could see, “IS THAT WHAT YOUR SORRY FOR?!” at this point he was shouting.

Rainbow was starting to feel a bit scared seeing Shadow anger rising, of course she didn’t show it. She didn’t want her friends to see that she was afraid, so she put on a brave face for everyone, “Yes, that’s what I’m saying. So do you accept my apology?”

Everypony waited to see what Shadow would do. Twilight hoped that Rainbow’s apology did the work into stopping this conflict before it got out of control. Shadow stood there in silence while everyone in the room waited to hear what he would say. His face showed no emotion, this made everypony wondering what he was thinking and feeling.

After sometime he finally spoke, “I’m not convinced.”

Everypony gasped, Twilight was now starting to panic, her plan that she hoped would work, had just failed.

Rainbow Dash gulped and was shaking a bit, she was concerned about what was going to happen to her, “What do you mean you’re not convinced?”

“I don’t think you’re really sorry for what happened,” his face was in a calm state, “If you were, you would have apologized the moment we met,” then his face changed into anger, “instead you started laughing at me and then you mocked me!”

Rainbow Dash no longer shaking decided to fight back, “Oh come on, why don’t you just get over it? It was just a stupid race and that was years ago. Stop living in the past and just let it go?”

“Stop living in the past and let it go? Did I hear just hear you say that to me?” his eyes were starting to glow. Rainbow was starting to regret arguing with him.

“WHO ARE YOU TO SAY THAT TO ME?!” his aura flared up for all to see. “How am I supposed to stop living in the past when I go through it everyday? Ever since that day, my life has been going through the same routine for years.”

“I…um,” she tried to respond, but Shadow Bolt didn’t let her.

“Everywhere I went, there were the stares, the disapproving glances, the insults, the BEATINGS! Nopony accepted me wherever I went, they either hated or feared me. I had to shut everything down just to keep me going. I was cast out, to the cold hard world with nothing but my hatred keeping me warm for all those years.”

Everyone stood silent while Shadow was talking, Rainbow Dash tried to talk him down, her face showing concern for first time to Shadow Bolt “But it’s over, it’s all in the past now.”

“FOR YOU!” he pointed at Dash, “For me nothing is over! NOTHING! YOU JUST DON’T LET IT GO! Who are you to say that to me? Let it go? What would you know? Unless you’ve been me and been where I’ve been and know what you’re asking of me!”

Shadow was breathing hard and started calming down, the aura shrinking until it faded. “I…. just wanted…to be accepted,” his voice had a sadness tone to it. “I just wanted to be treated just like everypony else. I was tired of being invisible to everyone, tired of being treated like scum. I just wanted respect and acceptance and I was so close to getting it. But you,” he was pointing at Rainbow Dash, “you took it all away. What I wanted, you gave me the complete opposite. I was finally noticed, but not in the way I wanted.”

He sighed and glared at Dash, “And that’s why I won’t accept your halfhearted apology.”

“It seems you have been through a lot in your life,” said a voice from behind Shadow Bolt.

He turned to the source and saw a white mare with both wings and a horn, her mane was flowing with a combination of colors. Isn’t that….Princess Celestia? Shadow couldn’t believe it, this whole time, Princess Celestia was standing behind him and he didn’t even know it. Shadow getting caught off guard started feeling small being in the princess’s presence, he slowly started backing away when she started walking towards him.

“Don’t be scared, I’m not going to hurt you.”

Still feeling unsure, Shadow stopped as Celestia was finally standing in front of him. She lowered her head to meet Shadow’s level.

“See, you have nothing to fear,” she said in a soothing motherly tone. She then lowered her head more to see the Shadow’s element. Even though Twilight told her that the element was burn into his skin, she was unprepared to actually see it with her own eyes.

She raised her head to Shadow’s level, “Doesn’t that hurt you?”

He hesitated before answering, “E-Excruciating… but I try to ignore it.”

“Does it help?”

“Little bit, I’m used to pain.”

“I take it from how you’ve been treated?”

He simply nodded.

“Your life hasn’t been fair, has it?”

He looked down from her gaze, “No, it hasn’t. It’s not fair! I never did anything to deserve this.”

“I believe you.”

He looked up from her response, “You do?”

She nodded, “As the princess, it pains me when one of my citizens has fallen under such suffering and from listening to your words, you’ve suffered too much. And I want to help you.”

“Y-Y-You do? But nopony wants to help me. Nopony cares about me,” his eyes were tearing up.

“Then allow me to be the first,” She spread her wings out as she was about to hug Shadow Bolt as a means of comfort.

The Mane Six was stunned to see how Celestia was able to calm Shadow down. Twilight felt proud seeing this, “Only Princess Celestia could do something like this. It looks like everything is going to be alright.”

They all watched with anticipation as Celestia was about to comfort Shadow with her hug that they were startled when the doors to the throne room slammed open behind them. Everypony turned to see a group of royal guards armed with spears burst into the room.

“There he is! And he’s attacking the Princess, STOP HIM!” shouted one of the guards. He was an earth pony with a scar down his right eye.

“No wait! It’s not what it looks like,” said Twilight, but the guards didn’t listen

All the guards aimed there spears and threw them at the red pegasus. Time seemed to slow down as everypony could only watched in shock as the spears were about to hit Shadow. The only thing on his mind before the spears struck him was, Why?

All the spears hit their mark as he felt every one pierce his body. The pain was more excruciating than when Twilight stabbed him with her horn earlier. His pain was replaced with hate as he felt the power of his element return.

Twilight and her friends saw how he stared at the guards standing behind them. His face was nothing but rage, his red eyes were glowing, he was snarling. Then in an instant, he vanished before their eyes. Then a powerful force knocked them all down. What was that? Everypony stood up and then heard a loud BANG coming from where the guards were standing. They turned to see and were shocked at what they saw. One of the guards was slammed into the wall and in front of him was Shadow Bolt, his right hoof was pressed at the guards stomach. The combined force of Shadow’s punch and the guard’s impact with the wall left him breathless. The only sounds the guard was able to make were painful groans. Shadow pulled his hoof back and the guard slumped down to the ground passing out.

Everponies jaw hit the floor after what they witnessed, Shadow took the opportunity of their shock that the next guard didn’t know what was coming. Shadow charged at him, he gave the guard an uppercut. The force of it had the guard standing on his hind hooves. Then immediately Shadow punched the guard in the stomach, causing the guard to clutch his stomach. The punched took the wind out of him, as he was unable to yell. Then Shadow finished him off a punch to the head, knocking him down to the ground and knocking him out.

By now the guards recovered from their state of shock and charged at him, Shadow was ready for this as he dodged one guards punch and punched him in the ribs. Everypony could hear the guards ribs CRACK from Shadow’s punch and he fell down clutching his sides, a pegasus guard tried to an aerial assault as he flew down, ready to attack the red pegasus that already took out three of his comrades. Shadow saw this as he rolled in front of the guard’s descent making the guard exposed. As soon as the guard was directly on top of Shadow, he bucked the guard in the stomach sending up in the air. With the wind knocked out of the guard, he couldn’t recover as he started falling back to the ground, head first. Thinking that his head would hit the ground, the guard didn’t expect what he saw next. Right before the guards head would impact the ground, he saw Shadow charging at him and then punched him right in the face. Although the punched knocked him out, the momentum behind the punch stopped his head from hitting the ground and instead caused him to land on his stomach.

Another guard was actually able to land a punch across Shadow’s face, This only resulted in infuriating him more. When the guard tried to punch him again, Shadow grabbed his hoof and twisted it until he heard the guards hoof SNAP. Afterwards he used his momentum and tossed the guard over his body and slammed his back on the ground, and then he finished him off with a kick to the face.

Only one guard remained, this was the same guard that ordered the attack and even after watching his comrades get defeated one by one, he wasn’t going to back down, “COME ON, TAKE YOUR BEST SHOT!”

Shadow gave the guard a smirk, “Challenge accepted,” he then charged at the guard. Shadow lunged at the guard, but the guard was able to dodge it at the last moment. The guard then counterattack with a punch on the side of Shadow’s head. Shadow tried to strike back, but the guard saw it coming and dodged it. Shadow tried to again, but everyone one of his punches, the guard successfully dodge them. The guard landed another blow to Shadow’s head, and then he grabbed one of the spears that was still impaled in Shadow’s body and pulled it out. Shadow let out a painful yell from the result of the spears removal HE’S GOING TO PAY FOR THAT! Before he had the chance to retaliate, the guard went on the offensive and started attacking Shadow with his spear. Shadow being on the defensive started dodging the guards spear thrusts, making sure that the spear didn’t stab him again. Shadow waited patiently for an opening to be exposed to launch a counter attack.

Then he saw his opportunity, one of the guards thrust went too far. This is it, got to strike now! Shadow closed his distance between himself and the guard and then he head butted the guard. The combined force of the blow and the fact that the guard was wearing his helmet, left both of them dazed. Shadow recovered quickly and started punching the guard in the face. Each punch left the guard dazed, being unable to counter. Then Shadow concentrated his power in his hoof and gave the guard one punch to the head that knocked his helmet off. Shadow then kneed the guards chin and immediately with a finishing blow knocked his head down to the ground, finally putting the guard out of commission.

Before Shadow could savor his victory, he heard the sound of hoof steps coming from down the hall. He looked through the doors of the throne room and saw a group of guards charging at him. Shadow simply smirked at them, unaware of what he was about to do to them. They're all cluster too close to each other. This will be easy as Shadow started charging his element. The gem glowed furiously as his energy kept charging, waiting for the right moment to release his blast. Almost he waited as the guards started getting closer, almost there, just a little bit more. Once the guards were closing in on the distance between each other NOW! He released his energy blast onto the unprepared guards. The blast hit the first two pushing them back. Shadow kept the blast going as the power of it pushed the guards away with its trajectory. The guards behind the first two couldn’t get away from the blast as they were pushed back while pushing the ones behind them too. This kept going until all the guards were pushed back with such speed that they didn’t stop until they all crashed into the wall at the end of the hall. The impact caused parts of the wall to fall on top of the guards rendering them unconscious and trapped under the rubble.

That should do it Shadow thought after seeing the guards all buried from all the concrete, I took on a group of guards all on my own and I feel great. Shadow was feeling such bliss that was coming from the power of his element. Now to finish some unfinished business he turned to face the seven ponies that were left in the room and enjoyed the looks on their faces after what they saw him do.

They could not believe what they just saw. Applejack and Rainbow Dash both had their jaws wide open, Fluttershy was on the ground cowering, Rarity had fainted after seeing such barbaric violence, Pinkie had caught her waving a hoof in front of her while she was staring at Shadow, Twilight eyes had shrunken back after witnessing his ferocity, even Princess Celestia had a look of shock on her face that nopony in history has ever seen. Celestia couldn’t believe how one pegasus was able to defeat a whole group of her guards, harden guards that have been through such intense training, that they have trained everyday to protect their country were taken down so quickly as if they were some colts losing in a schoolyard fight.

Seeing the looks on their faces brought such satisfaction to Shadow, soon he started feeling the returning pain that set him off. He realized that there were still some spears impaled in him. He started concentrating his power, as he did when Twilight had him trapped in her magic. He felt the power build up inside him, and then he released it. Everypony felt the power and heat coming from his blast as it caused all the remaining spears to fly out of his body. The process was painful for him as he felt the blood pouring out from the openings. Nopony stabs me and gets away with it soon the power of the element closed his wounds as he felt the burning sensation that came from healing his wounds.

“Now where we?” he asked the ponies in the room, “Oh wait, now I remember. Well as you can see, your plan failed!”

“What are you talking about?” asked Twilight, “What plan?”

“Why, you’re failed attempt to kill me. You tried to get me to lower my guard while biding your time for the guards to ambush me. You tricked me into actually thinking that you believed me and that you wanted to help me. You even got the Princess to help you out with your little plan,” he looked at Princess Celestia, clapping his hooves, “Bravo, Princess. You really had me fooled, You’d make a terrific actress.”

“But…” Celestia started to say.

“Your plan was absolutely perfect, except for one thing you didn’t take into account. You underestimated me and my power. So don’t think that you can get me to lower my guard down, because that will never happen again!”

He started walking towards them, they slowly started walking away from their fear as a result after what he did moments ago.

“Now why don’t you just hand over those elements of yours and this will all be over. I’ll even let you girls go free,” he said.

“Not a chance, will never give you the elements,” said Twilight.

Her comment seemed to snap everypony to their senses, as they stood next to Twilight, ready to fight.

Twilight turned to the Princess, “Princess Celestia, get somewhere safe. We can handle it from here.”

Princess Celestia seemed surprised from Twilights confidence, “Are you sure, Twilight?”

She simply nodded, “This fight is a personal matter that we have to take care of. Don’t worry about it, we’ll be fine.”

“Very well Twilight, I have confidence in you and your friends,” her horn started glowing and her golden aura started covering her guards, “I will take my guards to get medical attention. Good luck,” then in a flash of light, she and her guards vanished from sight.

The Mane Six now turned their focus on the red pegasus standing patiently in front of them.

“Let’s do this,” said Twilight.

Her friends gathered up and started channeling the power of the elements. A few seconds they were hovering in the air. Immediately they were hit by a energy beam. With the beam interrupting them, the girls landed on the ground hard. When they got up they looked at their assailant.

“You didn’t think that I would just stand there and let you use your elements to defeat me?” said Shadow Bolt. “I’m not sure what kind of villains you six fought. But if you think that I would allow you girl into using you’re elements, then you’re all complete idiots.”

Then he got into a fighting stance, “I’ll only say this once more,” he said, “surrender the elements or suffer my wrath!”

“Never!” said Twilight

“Yeah!” shouted Rainbow Dash, “if you want my element, you can have it over my dead body!”

He smirked at her, “Challenge accepted,” his aura appeared and then he vanished once again.

“Where he g-,” Dash started to say before Shadow appeared and punched her in face. The impact sent rolling back until she stopped when her back hit the stairs that led up to the princesses thrones, the result knocked her out.

“RAINBOW!” everypony screamed. They were just about to run to her when Shadow passed them, causing them to pause as he walked by ignoring them.

Shadow could feel the power flowing through him once again and he was savoring its power. He walked to Rainbow Dash at a slow pace I’m going to enjoy this as he was standing in front of her. Before he had a chance to finish her, he felt somepony on top of him. He turned his head to see none other than Applejack holding him back.

“Yur not gonna lay a hoof on Rainbow Dash on ma watch.”

“Get off!” he snarled.

“Make me!”

“I thought you never ask,” he smirked and started running.

At first he tried bouncing her off, but she held on without any problems.

“Yeehaw, it’s just like being in a rodeo,” she said, as his attempts weren’t affecting her.

“Woo Hoo, ride him A.J.!” shouted Pinkie Pie. Everypony else was cheering for Applejack

Shadow was getting mad as they treated him like a wild animal Time to show her how I’m not an animal he started running towards a wall. He jumped and quickly spun around, making Applejack slammed into the wall hard. All her friends cheering stopped immediately after witnessing Shadows comeback. Shadow got back on his hooves to see Applejack still holding onto him, except she wasn’t acting so cheerful anymore.

“Had enough?” he asked.

“It’s gonna take a lot more than that for me to let g-” Shadow slammed her back into the wall before she could finished. He got back on his hooves and immediately slammed Applejack again into the wall. After a few more attempts, Shadow stopped his assault, but Applejack was still holding onto him, although he could feel her grip wasn’t as strong as before.

“How about now?” he said.

“N-N-Never,” she struggled to say.

Shadow started attempting to bounce her off again, seeing her weaken a bit after his assault. He could fell her grip slipping but she held on with all her might. Even though she still held on, he knew it was only a matter of time before she would lose her grip. His attempts favored him as his wings were able to escape from Applejacks grasp Lets finish this with his wings ready, Shadow took flight. He flew around trying to get her off, but still she held on. Then he got an idea that would work. He flew to the ceiling at rapid speed and immediately slammed Applejack into the ceiling, which knocked her out and finally made her lose her grip and let him go.

As he started lowering himself, Applejack slid off his back and plummeted towards the ground. Everypony was stunned seeing Applejack falling, the first to take action was Fluttershy as she flew quickly and caught Applejack. But Applejack was too heavy for her that her landing wasn’t so pleasant. Shadow landed in front of them, ignoring Fluttershy, who was trying to wake Applejack up. He focused his attention towards Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity.

“So who’s next? I already took out both of your best fighters and neither of you stand a chance against me. So why don’t you just surrender now and nopony else gets hu-” Shadow was cut short when Rarity shot an energy blast that hit him in the eyes.

“OW, MY EYES! I CANT SEE!”

“Serves you right you… you… you ruffian!”

The energy blast was different from Twilights, the blast didn’t really hurt him, but the light from the blast that caused Shadow’s blindness to sting. After rubbing his eyes, his vision returned. His eyes glowed as he stared at the unicorn that threw a cheap shot at him.

“My turn,” he said as he was charging his energy beam. After a few seconds he fired his beam at Rarity. Rarity froze as the beam was coming at her, she closed her eyes and waited for the blast. But Twilight wouldn’t let that happen as she used her magic and put up a shield in front of Rarity right as the blast was about to hit her. Rarity opened her eyes and saw that she was protected by Twilight’s magic.

“Thank you so much, Twilight. You saved me.”

“Don’t mention it, but don’t lose focus here. I need all of you girls if we’re ever going to defeat him.”

“I can assure you Twilight that it will never happen again.”

“I got this,” said Pinkie Pie as out of nowhere she pulled out her party cannon.

“What? Where? How?” Rarity was stunned trying to figure out how she did that.

“I told you, I never leave home without it,” she said, and then she fired the cannon. The first thing that came out was a cake on a plate, which Shadow dodged it. Then she fired multiple times. The content ranged from cakes, presents, balls of confetti, and balloons which of course didn’t do anything since the floated up in the air as soon as they were shot out of the cannon. Shadow dodged the cannons attacks, sometimes he used his head to bounce the presents away from him, and use his elements to blast anything that was too fast for him to dodge.

“If you think you can stop me with party favors then you might as well give up.”

Then he felt something wrap around his neck, he looked down and saw that he was lassoed again. He immediately knew who was behind this as he turned to face his captor.

“You know that didn’t work last time.” He started taking flight but Applejack pulled him down.

“And that’s not goin to work this time either,” as she started pulling him down

“Fine, I’m not going anywhere,” he landed back on the ground, “but you are.”

He grabbed the rope with his teeth, “GET OVER HERE!” he pulled on the rope with all his might pulling Applejack towards him.

With Applejack no longer on the ground, she couldn’t do anything to stop herself from sailing towards her assailant. Her eyes widened as she saw that Shadow had his back turned to her as he was getting in position to buck her. Applejack did the only thing she could think of to prevent this from happening, she let go of the rope. By doing this, she fell to the ground hard and started rolling fast towards Shadow. Shadow tried to get away, but Applejack was too fast and she knocked his legs out from under him causing him to fall down.

Applejack kept rolling until Pinkie caught her with her giant glove and shouted, “STRIKE!”

Applejack slowly got up, her body was covered with dirt, scratches. “Thanks, Pinkie.”

“You’re welcome. And I say, you’d make a great bowling ball.”

“Pinkie, darling,” said Rarity, “can we get back to matters more important,” her hoof pointing to Shadow as he was getting back up.

Shadow could feel the pain in his legs as he was getting up, he decided to stay in the air while his legs healed. As soon as he got in the air he heard a voice coming behind him.

“HEY JERK!”

He turned in time to see Rainbow Dash flying at him. She was flying too close for him to do anything as she punched his face.

Despite the impact of the blow, Shadow Bolt was able to stay in the air. Rainbow Dash circled around for another strike. Shadow was able to recover in time to see what Rainbow Dash was doing and this time he was prepared. Right at the last second Shadow slightly dodged Rainbows punch and as soon as she missed, he punched her in the back of the head. The punch caused her to temporarily blackout as she lost control and crashed into her friends.

Seeing this Fluttershy tried to attempt Rainbows strategy as she charged at Shadow, but she was flying slower than Dash did. Shadow was able to see this and grabbed her hoof and flipped her over then kicked her in the back sending her flying at her friends as well. But Twilight was able to use her magic to stop Fluttershy from crashing into them.

“Th-Th-Thank you, Twilight,” she was shaking from her ordeal.

“It was nothing,” she said.

Shadow Bolt still in the air looked down at everyone, “You see? You can’t stop me. Now surrender!”

“Never! We will never surrender!” shouted Twilight.

“Fine, you asked for this,” he closed his eyes and started concentrating again. Seconds later smoke started appearing under Shadows hooves.

“He’s making another cloud,” said Twilight, “we can’t let him do this!”

“I’m on it,” said Rainbow Dash as she flew to stop Shadow Bolts next attack.

When Shadow saw Rainbow Dash coming right at him, he gave her a familiar smirk. It was the same type of smirk he gave her all those years ago during the race. What’s he up to? It didn’t matter she had to stop him no matter what as the smoke finally formed a small cloud.

As soon as Rainbow Dash was closer, he made his move. He turned around and softly bucked the cloud, sending it on a crash course to Rainbow Dash. Dash was going too fast to stop and the cloud hit her right in the face. Since it was a storm cloud not only did it blind her, but it also electrocuted her as she fell to the ground.

Rainbow Dash started to get up when Shadow landed in front of her, making her freeze.

He looked down on her and said, “How does it feel? Not much fun when you’re on the receiving end, is it?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You did the same thing to me, it was because of what you did that I was treated like scum. So tell me, how does it feel?”

“Alright I get it, I understand. It wasn’t right of me to do that to you and it wasn’t right for me to lie about it. I’m sorry, I really mean it! I’M SORRY!”

Shadow looked at Rainbow Dash to see if she was sincere about her apology this time. After a few seconds he responded, “You know what? I believe you this time.”

“Y-You do?” she replied.

“Yes, I really believe that you’re truly sorry.”

“So, do you forgive me?”

He thought about his answer for a few moments before answering, “You want to know something?” She nodded, “During my years of travel, I always dreamed about the day where the one who caused my misfortune would confessed the truth about what happened that day and apologize to me. And I would accept it and think that everything would turn out alright.”

Dash smiled from his response, seeing that he was accepting her apology, “But…” her smile faded, “after finally getting the apology that I been waiting so long for, do you know what I realized?”

“What?”

“It’s not enough!” he glared at her making her shrink back. “Your apology isn’t enough to make up all those years of loneliness, sadness, anger, and pain that I had to endure. No, the only way I’ll be able to get closure is if I make you suffer the same way I have. So after I’m done breaking your body and you’re on the ground writhing in extreme pain, that’s when I’ll accept you apology.”

He started charging his elements attack, Rainbow Dash was too close to be able to get away. Seeing the energy ball right in front of her face caused her to freeze up as his charge was almost done. But before he could finish, he was tackled to the ground by Applejack.

“There’s no way Ah’m letting ya hurt Rainbow Dash! Not while Ah’m around!” she said standing on top of him.

“Then I’ll take care of you first, and then it will be her turn.”

He swung his hoof, punching Applejack in the jaw, and then while she was distracted by the pain, he gave her an uppercut, knocking her off. Then he head butted her leaving in her in daze as she was defenseless by his blows. He finished her off with his energy blast, she was blasted back to where her friends were standing.

With Applejack down, Rarity charged at him. She started shooting him with her energy blast, preventing him from attacking. Once she was within distance, she leapt up and kicked Shadow in the head, knocking him down. He got up only for Rarity to give him a backhoof smack to the side of his head. He got back up and this time dodged her attacks. She kept on the offensive, preventing him to counterattack.

He lunged at her knocking her down as he was standing on top her. He raised his hooves to stomp her only to be hit in the chest by Twilights energy blast. This gave Rarity the opportunity to escape as she kicked Shadow in the jaw while she got up and ran back while Twilight was covering her. Angry he let out an energy blast of his own at Rarity. She tried to use her blast to stop it, but it was too close, so when she fired her own it backfired and sent her rolling back to her friends. Twilight used her magic to stop her as she stopped in front of them. She then focused on Shadow as he was preparing another attack. Then she saw Rainbow Dash getting up behind him. She took off in the air and started flying in a circle, Twilight decided to help her by distracting Shadow Bolt with her energy blasts.

Her plan was working as her blast kept Shadow from noticing what Rainbow Dash was doing behind him, as she kept flying in the circle going faster and faster in the process. Finally hitting her top speed, Rainbow Dash charged at Shadow, who was able to shoot off an energy beam that hit Twilight in the face, stopping her attack. He started walking towards her, charging another beam to hit her with. He then noticed that Twilight was looking at something behind him, he turned his head and his eyes widened seeing Rainbow Dash flying too fast at him to dodge.

She readied her hoof and shouted, “TAKE THIS!” with all her speed and might, Rainbow Dash gave one powerful punch to Shadows head.

*CRACK*

The power and velocity of her punch to his head knocked him down to the ground hard as he laid there motionless.

Rainbow Dash who was flying too fast had a hard time stopping, she was able to slow down when she reached her friends. At this point Rainbow was feeling unstoppable as she turned around to attach Shadow Bolt again, who was still lying on the ground.

She hovered over him, “How you like that? That’s what you get when you mess with the Dash and her friends.”

He didn’t respond.

She landed in front of him, “Come on, get up, I’m not finished with you yet!” Rainbow Dash was on fire with adrenaline that she so wanted to let out so much.

Once again he didn’t respond.

Feeling cocky she kicked him, trying to get him to respond, “I said GET UP! Come on, get up and fight! Don’t tell me that the all powerful Shadow Bolt is taking a little nap. Wake up already,” she kept kicking him trying to wake him up. Rainbow Dash was feeling so good about herself that she didn’t even noticed Shadow’s face. When she did she noticed, she saw that his eyes were wide open.

Frustrated thinking that he was ignoring her, Dash was getting furious, “Don’t you dare ignore me,” she grabbed him and picked him up. When she did, her eyes widened at what she was seeing. His head was titled on his left side and his upon further examination his eyes were glazed.

All that adrenaline and cockiness that Rainbow Dash was feeling went away immediately as she stared at Shadow Bolt, “Oh, my Celestia… I… killed him,” she dropped his body.

All her friends gasped after hearing what Rainbow Dash said. Twilight ran towards her. Once she was standing next to Rainbow Dash, she looked at Shadow Bolts body. From what she was able to gather from looking of his body, it seemed that when Rainbow Dash punched him, she broke his neck.

Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash, who was at the moment shaking in a panic. She could hear her mumbling “no” over and over again.

“I’m a murderer, I killed him. I didn’t mean to kill him, it was an accident. My Celestia, my life is over.”

Twilight tried to console her, “Rainbow Dash, It’s going to be okay.”

Rainbow suddenly grabbed Twilight by her shoulders, “I didn’t mean it Twilight. I was only trying to stop him, I know he was a bad guy, but I didn’t kill him on purpose. It was an accident, Twilight you got to help me!” her eyes were watering up.

“It’s going to be alright.”

“IS IT?!” she started shaking Twilight, “I killed someone Twilight, I’m a murderer! They’re going to arrest me. Forget about my dream in joining the Wonderbolts, they’ll never let a murderer like me join them even if it was self defense. Princess Celestia will banish me to the moon, or the sun, or worse I’ll be executed. Twilight, you’ll put in a good word for me with Princess Celestia won’t you? She might go easy on me if you speak on my behalf. Maybe you’ll be able to convince her into not banishing me, and maybe she’ll just put me in a dungeon for the rest of my life instead.”

*SLAP*

“CALM DOWN RAINBOW DASH!” she shouted as she slapped her to snap her out of it. “Listen, I know that it was an accident. You would never kill someone, no matter what. And don’t worry, I’ll do everything I can to help you.”

Twilight could see Rainbow Dash was calming down, “Thanks, Twilight.”

“It was nothing. Now come on, will go tell the Princess what happened and don’t worry, we’ll all be there for you. Princess Celestia will understand after we explain what happened,” They started walking back towards their friends as Twilight was giving Dash her moral support.

Rainbow Dash had her head down as she was walking, she still felt wrong about what she did and hoped that Twilight will be able to convince Princess Celestia that it was an accident.

Twilight wrapped her hoof around her friend to comfort her, “Relax, everything is going to be fine.”

“AHHHHHHH!!!” the combined screams from Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Fluttershy startled Twilight and Dash.

“What was that for?” asked Dash as she rubbed one of her ears.”

“What wrong girls? What is it?” said Twilight as she could see the looks of their faces, something terrified them.

All four of them were shaking, none of them said anything to answer their questions. The only answer came from Fluttershy, as she raised her shaking hoof and pointed behind them.

Both of them turned around to see what could have scared them, and even they screamed at what they saw.

For what was behind them was none other than Shadow Bolt, standing up. His head was still titled and his eyes were still glazed. Twilight then saw that Shadows element was glowing brightly. Then his head started tilting back up, they could hear the CRACKS that his neck was making from his movements.

Twilight could only stare in shock with her mouth hanging open from what she was witnessing. She could see how painful it must have been for Shadow from his facial expressions. Soon the crackling stopped as Shadows head was back in position, the glaze from his eyes were slowly disappearing.

“I- I can’t believe it,” said Rainbow Dash. She was absolutely stunned at what she was witnessing, no normal pony could survive that, “He really is a monster.”

Apparently Shadow heard her comment as he cracked his neck to relieve the strain it had build up.

“What did you say?” the glowing of his eyes returned.

“I said, you’re a monster,” she had found her courage once again.

“Take that back!” he threatened her.

“Never!” she wouldn’t back down to him.

“TAKE IT BACK!”

“NO!”

She was immediately tackled by Shadow as both of them were rolling on the ground. Shadow was on top of her as he started punching her in the face. You’re the monster, not me! She countered by kicking him in the gut, causing him to back away. Rainbow Dash was then able to get up, her right eye was black and she could taste the blood that was coming out of her nose.

“You!” she charged and tackled Shadow to nearby pillar. She was about to start punching him when he grabbed her right hoof and started twisting it causing her to cry out as he got back up.

“Let go of my hoof!”

He replied by swinging her by her hoof and slammed her back to the pillar as he let go. He started walking away as she got back up, as she ignored the pain coming from her hoof, she charged at him. He charged back as both their heads collided with each other. Soon they were pushing each other in a game of tug of war. They backed up and charged at each other again. Both were deadlocked, until Rainbow Dash punched Shadow Bolt in his right eye causing him to back away.

“TAKE THAT!” as she took the opportunity and charged at Shadow, knocking him to a wall. With his eye still closed, he got up and charged at her. She was about to throw a punch to his head, but he slid to the ground dodging her punch and kicked her other hoof, the same hoof he twisted.

She let out a painful yell as she fell to her knees. He turned around and ran back to the wall. He then bounced off the wall and charged at Rainbow Dash. He tackled her and sent her rolling back to where Twilight and the others were.

Shadow was breathing hard after his brawl with Rainbow Dash. He opened his eye that was bloodshot, and then his eye started healing. He felt invincible after beating Rainbow Dash up. He felt such satisfaction from punching her, and he grinned, thinking about when he heard her painful cries while he was twisting her hoof. Such power! And I feel like I’m getting stronger by the minute. For some reason he could feel the hate coming from all over the room. He could feel himself getting stronger because of it. It must be because of the element. It’s as if it’s feeding from all the hate here and somehow making me stronger. Feeling more powerful he took off in the air and started charging his beam. After a few seconds he fired it at the element bearers.

Twilight was able to put up a bubble shield over herself and her friends at the last second. Shadow kept the beam going, knowing that the shield wouldn’t last long. Twilight could already feel the strain from keeping the shield up, she needed to think of something fast but first she checked on Rainbow Dash, who was being taken care of by Fluttershy.

“How bad is it Fluttershy?”

“She has a few bruises on her face and a busted lip and nose, but nothing serious. Although it seems that, her hoof is sprained, so she won’t be able to walk well for awhile. Other than that, she’ll be fine.”

“How are you feeling, Dash?”

“I’m fine Twilight, It looks worse than it is.”

“Do you need to rest a bit?”

“No way! I’m ready for some payback.”

“Is anypony else feeling alright?”

Everyone nodded yes

“Alright then, everypony huddle up.”

Soon everyone was in a huddle as Twilight devised a plan while keeping the shield up.

“Alright, if we’re going to have a shot at this, were going to have to do it together. No more trying to taken him down one at a time, got it?

Everyone nodded, “Okay, now here’s the plan.”

Twilight started whispering to everyone about what each of them was suppose to do. After a few seconds, Twilight finished whispering her plan, “Does everyone know what to do?”

Again everyone nodded, “Alright, let’s do this. You ready Rarity?”

“I’m ready when you are, darling.”

“Get ready everypony, I’m lowering the shield in 3…2…1…Now!”

Once the shield came down, everyone rushed out of the way before Shadow’s beam hit any of them. Twilight and Rarity started

shooting energy beams at Shadow. He started dodging them and returned with a few beams of his own. He didn’t notice that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were sneaking up behind him, and then Twilight shouted, “Rainbow, Fluttershy your up.”

He turned around and was surprised to see Fluttershy charging at him. You have got to be kidding me, I can’t believe my eyes. She really thinks that she’ll be able to stop me. He readied his hoof as he was about to strike her, when at the last second she change course and flew away. Shadow was so confused that he didn’t noticed that Rainbow Dash was right behind her until it was too late, as she was able to punch him in the face. Frustrated he charged and fired a beam at Dash, which she was able to miss.

“What’s the matter? Am I too fast for you?” she gloated at him.

Shadow ignored her insult as he kept firing beams at her and Fluttershy when they got within his sights. He was too focused on them that he didn’t noticed what was going on below him.

“Alright, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are keeping him distracted,” said Twilight seeing that her plan was working, “Okay, Applejack and Pinkie Pie, get ready, it’s your turn”

“Gotcha,” responded Applejack.

“Okey dokey,” said Pinkie Pie as she readied her party cannon for the next part of the plan.

Once A.J. and Pinkie were ready, Twilight called out, “Okay, girls that’s enough. Get ready!”

Dash and Fluttershy then broke off their flight plan and got away from Shadow’s range.

Shadow then turned to the ground to see what was going on, when he looked down he was confused at what he was seeing.

He saw Pinkie Pie with half her body inside her party cannon while wearing a helmet and Applejack was standing on her hind hooves behind the cannon. What the?

“Ready, Twi,” said Applejack once she aimed the cannon at Shadow’s position.

“Fire!” she said.

“Yeehaw,” she fired the cannon, sending Pinkie in the air, right at Shadow Bolt.

Pinkie was moving so fast that Shadow couldn’t get away, and then he felt the impact of Pinkie Pies head hitting him in the chest.

*CRACK* *CRACK* *CRACK*

Shadow could hear and feel his ribs breaking from Pinkie’s attack. The blow knocked the wind out of him as it took all his concentration in his wings to keep himself from crashing to the ground. He had his hooves covering his chest were Pinkie hit him, as she fell to the ground. Luckily, Applejack was able to catch her without any problems.

“Dash and Fluttershy,” Twilight shouted, “Now while he’s distracted.”

On her command, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew behind Shadow and grabbed him by his wings. They kept a good grip on him to keep him from flying off. He tried to fight him off, but stopped when they started pulling on his wings. As everypony knows, a pegasus’s wings are very sensitive which makes them their weak spot. The combined pain from his chest and his wings kept Shadow from escaping their grasp.

“Alright, Twilight,” said Rainbow Dash, “We got a good grip on him. Let him have it!”

“Now Rarity,” as Twilight started charging her horn.

Rarity followed her order as she too started charging her horn, “Ready, Twilight.”

Once their horns were fully charged, Rarity and Twilight fired their beams at Shadow Bolt.

With Shadow Bolt defenseless, all he could do was watch as those two beams getting closer and closer, until finally both beams hit him right in the chest. The force sent him flying back as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy let go of his wings. He sailed across the room and stopped when his back hit the wall. He let out a silent scream as all the air was knocked out of him. He then fell to the floor and crashed on top of the Princesses podium where her throne rested. The impact sent him rolling down the steps until he landed hard on the floor below.

Shadow was under extreme pain from the combined attack of the Mane Six. His whole body hurt, his chest, wings, back, head, and hooves all were in pain. He had difficulty breathing, one of his broken ribs had punctured one of his lungs when he landed and rolled down the steps. He couldn’t even try to stand up under the pain he was in. The only the movement he was able to muster up was a slight twitching from his hooves. If it wasn’t for the excruciating pain he was feeling, he would have assumed that the attack had left him paralyzed.

“The plan worked, He’s down for the count,” said Applejack as everypony gathered together.

“Oh yeah!” said Rainbow Dash, “We're unstoppable.”

Twilight walked up to them, “It’s not over yet.”

“What are you talking about Twilight?” asked Rainbow Dash, “you’re plan worked. Look at him,” she pointed to Shadow Bolt as he was still lying on the ground in pain. “How can you say it’s no over?”

“The plan was to keep him from moving, and we have to hurry up because he won’t be lying still for long. Look,” she pointed at his element that was glowing brightly. “His element is already healing him, which means that he won’t be down for much longer,” Shadow was now able to move his hooves again. “Now is our chance to use the elements on him before he gets up. Everyone let’s do it.”

Everypony started concentrating on their elements as they started glowing. All six mares started hovering above the ground with Twilight in the middle with her eyes closed. When she opened them, her pupils were glowing white. Soon a powerful shockwave erupted over the six as a rainbow emerged above and started its course down on the recovering red pegasus.

Shadow's eyes widened at the rainbow coming down on him. He was finally able to move enough to start getting up as the rainbow hit him. Soon he was trapped in a rainbow tornado preventing him from escaping. Seeing this he wasn’t sure if he could escape from its power.

Twilight could see that the elements power at work as she and her friends kept concentrating. She could no longer see Shadow Bolts as the rainbow tornado blocked her vision. It won’t be long now, it’s finally over.

Unfortunately for Twilight, it wasn’t over as she saw something going wrong with the rainbow tornado. The tornado was spinning erratically and was starting to lose its shape. Then cracks of red light were shooting out of the tornado. Soon more cracks appeared until the tornado couldn’t hold its shape any longer. Then a powerful blast from inside caused the tornado to explode, the blast sent the six mares flying as their spell wore off. They kept flying until all six of them hit the doors to the throne room, they then crashed down to the ground hard.

“What the hay happened?” as Applejack slowly got up.

“That has never happened before,” said Rarity as she was rubbing her head.

Rainbow Dash was helping Fluttershy up, “All I saw was that the tornado blew up and sent us flying to the other side of the room.”

“But that’s impossible,” said Twilight, “Nothings that powerful to stop the Elements of Harmony… unless another element that is.”

They all looked back and saw where the tornado used to be, where it once was, now was the red pegasus standing in the middle. His body was covered in his red aura. Shadow Bolt was able to use his own element to stop the Elements of Harmony.

“That’s impossible!” said Twilight, she couldn’t believe her eyes. “How is it possible? There’s nothing powerful than the Elements of Harmony.”

“Except an Element of Hate,” said Shadow Bolt. “This element feeds on hate, which makes me stronger. At first I thought it just fed on my own, but that’s not the case. It feeds on all hate, even yours.”

He started charging his element, “This whole time my element was not only feeding on my own, but yours as well. Your hatred of me is actually making me stronger. Of course your hate is miniscule compared to my own.”

The energy ball was getting bigger than before, “and I’m not even using all my power. This is just at most half of it right here,” his hoof pointing at the energy ball. “So since you six had your shot, now it’s my turn!” he fired his beam.

Twilight had used up a lot of magic when using the power of the elements, that she didn’t have much power left. But she had to protect her friends, so she used what little magic she had left and summoned a shield wall between them and Shadow’s beam to protect them.

Unfortunately it wasn’t enough as the beam went straight through the wall with no resistance. There was nothing they could do as the beam hit all six of them. They all screamed out in pain from the power of the blast. Twilight felt like her whole body was on fire, she tried to use her magic but the pain was too much for her as it broke her concentration. The screaming continued until Shadow turned his beam off. Twilight and her friends all fell to ground in pain So much power. I’ve never felt anything like that in my life. Twilight tried to stand up but she was too much in pain to move, the only thing she and her friends could do was watch as Shadow started walking towards them as his aura was covering his body.

Each step of him getting closer increased Twilight’s fear, he’s getting closer and I can’t do anything to stop him. He’s going to kill us! Her eyes widened, as Shadow Bolt was getting closer and closer.

“It’s over Twilight, I told you that hate is more powerful, but of course you had to prove me wrong. Now you and your friends are beaten and there’s nothing that can stop me,” he said as he was charging another energy beam.

Twilight could feel the energy as he was getting closer. Her lavender coat was now red from the balls lighting.

“With you six gone, there’s nothing that can stand in my way,” He started laughing. “I… AM… VICTORIOUS!”

“Not quite yet,” said a voice coming from behind him.

Shadow stopped walking and canceled his energy ball as he turned to confront the source of the voice, keeping his guard and aura up, as he prepared for whatever awaits him. When he turned around he saw nothing, then all of a sudden there was a bright flash of light. The light was so bright that it caused him to cover his eyes with one of his wings. Once the light had vanished, Shadow moved his wing to see what the source of the light was.

What he saw was none other than Princess Celestia.

The Moon is Wonderful This Time of Year

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"He who angers you conquers you." ― Elizabeth Kenny

"Sometimes Hate and Anger can be your worst enemy." ― FoxfanMLP22

"Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate.. to suffering" ― Master Yoda

Chapter 11: The Moon is Wonderful This Time of Year

When Shadow Bolt first met Princess Celestia earlier, he felt small, weak, and afraid. Being in the presence of the ruler of Equestria made him cower from her untold power, but now that was no longer the case. Under the influence from the Element of Hate he felt big, strong, and powerful. As he and she were staring at each other intensely, in that moment he felt as powerful if not more than Princess Celestia herself. If it came down to a fight, he believed that he could take her and defeat the most powerful being in Equestria. And he could feel from the power of his element, that he really could do that. Although he still was having trouble breathing, the element was still taking longer in healing his punctured lung.

Princess Celestia didn’t hide her anger from Shadow Bolt. Thinking about the damage he’s done since he arrived made her infuriated. And now seeing the state of the bearers of harmony, only made her anger boil more. What sent her over the top was seeing her beloved student beaten up. The scratches and bruises on her body, her inability to stand up, and the way she was trembling from having Shadow Bolt standing in front of her was the last straw.

“You’ve come here, bringing destruction with you. You almost destroyed Canterlot, attack my castle, defeated my guards brutally, and beaten my beloved student and her friends.”

Shadow didn’t seem to mind what the Princess said. In his mind, Celestia was listing down his accomplishments rather than crimes.

“Just one these are grounds of treason,” she continued, “and should be met with the harshest punishment.”

Shadow simply smirked at her failed attempt of intimidating him. She can’t touch me. I’m more powerful than her. He started walking towards the Princess while the red aura was covering his body.

“Stop!” she said.

But he ignored her and continued walking.

“I SAID STOP!” she shouted.

Again he ignored her.

“I COMMAND YOU TO STOP!” she shouted.

Shadow simply gave her a smirk and said, “Make me.”

Celestia’s horn started glowing as she prepared her attack. A energy ball around the size of a volley ball was forming at the tip of her horn and then she fired the energy ball at him. Shadow didn’t show any reaction as the ball was closing in. Just as it was about to hit him, he slowly raised his hoof in preparation and then he swatted the ball away from him, it continued on it's new path until it hit a wall and exploded on impact. Everpony eyes we’re wide opened at what they witnessed. Even Princess Celestia couldn’t believe her eyes. That’s impossible! He just swatted my attack like it was a common house fly. The princess quickly recovered as she fired another ball, this time it was slightly bigger and more powerful. This time Shadow used his hoof and punched the ball. The explosion caused smoke to appear and covered the spot of detonation. Everypony waited for the smoke to clear, but didn’t have to wait long as they started hearing hoofsteps coming from the smoke. Shadow walked out of the smoke completely unharmed. Princess Celestia was getting furious and slightly frightened. She charged her horn and shot multiple energy balls at Shadow Bolt as he was continued walking.

Shadow used his hoof as he swatted the energy balls out of his way. He also used his element and fired energy beams at the energy balls, causing them to explode. This is nothing, if this is the best she’s got then she doesn’t stand a chance. Princess Celestia was starting to feel the strain of constantly firing her magic at Shadow. She charged her horn and made an energy ball that grew until it was the same size as the one she used to destroy Shadow’s storm cloud and fired.

Shadow could see that the ball would be too big for him to swat it away. He also knew that if he fired his own energy beam at it, the explosion would be too close that it might actually hurt him. I've got to get rid of this he waited for the ball to get closer to him. I have to time this just right as he prepared for the right moment. The ball was getting closer and closer, he waited and watched until it was time. As soon as the ball was inches from touching him he used his wing and smacked the energy ball up in the air. The ball went through a hole in the ceiling and flew into the sky. Once the ball was high, it detonated. The blast was so bright that everypony had to close their eyes to shield them from its brightness.

Princess Celestia couldn’t believe what she witnessed. Nopony could do that and live. Princess Celestia looked back down at Shadow who didn’t seem to be affected by his actions.

Shadow looked at his wing and noticed that he didn’t escape unharmed. Most of his feathers were burned off from contact of the Princess’s attack. The element was already healing his wing as he watched new feathers growing in place. As always, the process was painful for him as he winced from the burning irritation coming from his wings.

If I didn’t smack that ball into the sky, this whole castle would have blown up. What kind of crazy princess would resort to that? Wait a minute… Then Shadow remembered the attack from earlier, he remembered a big ball of energy in the sky. It looked just like the one that took….my home. Shadow finally connected the dots IT WAS HER! SHE’S THE ONE WHO DESTROYED MY HOME! Shadow was getting furious as he stared at the one responsible. My home was all I had and now it’s gone!

“You’re going to pay for what you’ve done,” he said as he started walking towards her. “You took the only thing I’ve ever had! You destroyed my home!”

Princess Celestia knew what he was talking about as she stood her ground, “You left me with no choice,” As she was talking, Celestia’s horn was glowing. I have no other choice She kept talking to distract Shadow Bolt, who was too furious to notice what Princess Celestia was about to do, “and I will do whatever it takes to defend my subjects.”

She won’t get away with this Shadow kept walking towards her, he was too distracted to noticed the Princess’s horn was glowing.

“You can’t stop me. I have bested your guards and defeated your six heroes,” he turned to see the six mares lying on the floor. Twilight was the only one watching him and the Princess as the others were still knocked out. Although he could see them stirring, so it would only be a matter of time before they too wake up. “Even you don’t have the power to stop me. Whatever you’ve thrown at me I have taken it without breaking a sweat. There’s nothing you can do.”

“Yes there is,” she said as she was still charging her horn, she continued to speak for more time, “you underestimate my power. I haven’t ruled and protected Equestria for over a thousand years just because of my looks. I have more power than any other being in this entire world. There is nothing more powerful than me, especially not some weak pegasus wearing a little trinket.”

“Your bluffs won’t work on me,” he said as stop a few feet in front of her. “You and I both know that you’re just trying to scare me into surrendering and beg for mercy. But I can see it in your eyes, you’re afraid. Afraid of my power, you’re afraid of me. So I’ll only say this once, stay out of this and I’ll let you continue your charade of being the most powerful being in Equestria.”

Almost done “No it is you who should be surrendering. I’ll only ask this once, stand down or I will use all my power in stopping you here and now.”

“Your empty threats don’t work on me, Princess. You don’t have the guts.”

“Don’t challenge me, Shadow Bolt.” She walked up to him and stopped when their faces where inches away from each other. “I could bring you down with a single word.”

“You might be the Princess, but I don’t think you’re quite capable of that.

“No, you’re right. Not a single word,” Just a little more “Just four.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Four words.”

“Stop it!”

“Four.”

“Say it then.”

She raised her head while she was still staring at him and walked back a few feet. She then let out a sigh and said,

“Do you like bananas?”

Huh? That was all Shadow could think after hearing what Princess Celestia asked him. What kind of a stupid question is that? The question was so unexpected that Shadow Bolt had lowered his guard as he tried to figure out why the Princess said that.

Princess Celestia could see the dumbfounded look on his face as he tried to process what just happened. The red aura covering Shadow Bolt vanished from him being caught off guard. This was what she’d been waiting for. In the back of her mind was just one word. Gotcha She gave him a smirked and caste her spell.

Shadow started feeling weird. Something’s wrong he looked down and noticed that he was floating off the ground without the use of his wings. He felt a gush of wind circling around him and saw his body was glowing white. He looked at Princess Celestia who was smirking at him and he noticed that her horn was glowing bright. It’s her! She’s doing this She was just distracting me this whole time. He saw his body glowing brighter and brighter. By now all, the rest of Twilights friends had woken up and all six of them stared at him not knowing what was happening to him. He tried to tap into his power but it was taking too much time. He looked at her with hatred all over his face and shouted, “OH! YOU BIT-” and suddenly he vanished in ball of light.

Twilight was shocked at what she just witnessed her teacher did what they couldn’t. She did it. She stopped him, it’s finally over. Twilight was so deep in her thoughts that she didn’t notice that Princess Celestia was standing in front of her until she cleared her throat.

“Are you alright, Twilight?”

Twilight shook her head as she snapped out of it, “Yes Princess, I’m alright.”

“Can you and your friends stand up?” she asked.

“I think so,” Twilight slowly got up, as did the rest of her friends. They all still felt weak and tired after their ordeal.

Fluttershy spoke up, “I-Is it o-o-over?”

“Yes, it’s over,” she said with a comforting smile.

“Woo-wee,” said Applejack, “It’s finally over.”

“Aw yeah!” shouted Rainbow Dash, “We did it, he’s finally gone for good.”

“I’m so exhausted,” sighed Rarity, “I’m going to need a week of relaxation at the spa to unwind after this whole ordeal.”

“I can’t believe my eyes,” said Pinkie Pie, “one second he was there, then he was all floaty and glowy, and then poof, he was gone.”

“W-What happened to him?” asked Fluttershy.

“I did what had to be done,” she said in a calm tone.

“Princess? Did you…” Twilight couldn’t finish her sentence thinking about what she thought what Princess Celestia did to Shadow.

Princess Celestia saw the look on her students face and figured out what she was going to ask her, “No I didn’t, Twilight. He's still alive.”

Twilight let out a whoosh of air that she had been holding. She looked at her mentor and asked, “If you didn’t kill him, then what did you do to him?”

“I simply put him somewhere where he couldn’t do any harm to anypony again.”

“Where?” she asked.

Instead of answering her, Princess Celestia simply looked up to the sky through one of the many holes in the ceiling.

Twilight also looked up trying to see what Celestia was looking at but saw nothing. After spending a few moments of thinking, Twilight figured it out.

“You sent him there?”

The Princess nodded her head, “Yes, I did.”

“Sent him where?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Yes, darling, where did the Princess send him? I’m curious as well,” said Rarity.

Twilight turned her head to face her friends and said, “She sent him to the moon.”

Everyponies eyes bugged out from Twilights answer and they also looked up to the sky.

“What a minute,” said Rainbow Dash, “I thought the Princess needed the Elements of Harmony to send anypony to the moon. So how did she send him there without them?”

“It is true that I used the power of the elements to send my sister to the moon a thousand years ago. Since then I was able to learn the spell myself without needing the elements power. Unfortunately the spell is a one way trip.”

“You mean,” started Twilight, “he’s stuck up there forever?”

“I’m afraid so.”

Everypony let out a big gulp. Thoughts of what would it be like if it happened to them. Their thoughts were interrupted when a piece of the ceiling fell to the ground. The sound snapped them out of it.

“I guess now that the threat is over, now’s the time to clean up and repair the castle as well as the city too,” said the Princess as she looked at all the damage around them.

“We’ll help clean up the castle,” said Twilight.

“I agree,” said Rarity, “A princess cannot live in a place so messy.”

“I guess it’s the least we can do after you saved us Princess,” said Applejack.

“YAY, CLEANING PARTY!” shouted Pinkie Pie.

“I guess we better get started,” said Rainbow Dash as she rolled up imaginary sleeves on her hooves. “Hey Applejack, I bet I can clean up more than you can.”

“You’re on,” she said as they both got started with their competition.

“Thank you very much my little ponies,” said Princess Celestia. “You know you all don’t have to anything, you’ve been through enough already.”

“We’re happy to do this for you Princess,” said Twilight, “You don’t have to thank us, it will be an honor helping you out.”

“Your too kind, Twilight. How about you assist me while you tell me about everything that happened from the beginning?”

Twilight smiled widely. She always loved being by her mentor side for anything and would jump at the opportunity to spend some personal time with the princess.

“Of course, Princess Celestia. It will be my pleasure,” Twilight started gathering pieces of debris with her magic as she started telling her about what happened earlier today. “You see, Princess, it started this morning when I was walking to Fluttershy’s cottage……..”

A flash of light appeared and then Shadow Bolt appeared from it. His eyes were shut from the brightness of the light. She’ll pay for that. Once the light disappeared, Shadow slowly opened his eyes and noticed his surroundings.

“Where am I?”

He looked around and saw a white barren wasteland.

“What is this place? Where’s the castle?”

He looked around and saw the wasteland continued for what seemed like miles and miles wherever he looked. He saw a few mountains and some craters, but no signs of plant life or any kind of life itself.

“Is this the Badlands?” he wondered. He heard about the Badlands from his travels. An almost endless desert with no signs of civilization in sight.

He then noticed that the sky was no longer sunny, but that it was night.

“How long was I gone?”

He looked around the sky and saw something that made his blood run cold. He saw the planet Earth in the sky instead of the moon.

“What is going on?!” he shouted. He looked around trying to find answers but found nothing but the wasteland that seemed to be made out of white rocks.

Wait a minute he begun to look carefully around his surroundings and the answer to his question became clear.

“I’m on the Moon!”

How did I get here? What’s going happen? What am I gonna do? Where am I going to find food? All these thoughts were running wild in his head that he couldn’t control them. He let out a few deep breaths to calm himself down. I’m on the Moon. Wait…. I’m….. on…… the …..Moon! Realizing the obvious, he stopped breathing out and instead took a deep breath and held it. He held his breath for awhile, but to him it felt like hours. He tried to hold, but the strain was taking its toll. In the end, he lost the battle and let out a big burst of air. After waiting some time for him to start suffocating, Shadow noticed that he was still alive and breathing. I guess there is oxygen on the moon after all. He started breathing normal after realizing that he wasn’t going to suffocate.

He once again looked out to the wasteland known as the moon and called out, “Hello, is anypony out there?” He noticed from shouting that his voice sounded different from before. His voiced sounded all muffled, but he kept calling out to whoever could be out there. “HELLO, CAN ANYPONY HEAR ME?”

Silence.

“Anypony there?”

Silence again.

He started running, “Is somepony there? Hello?” he kept running try to find anything that wasn’t just craters and rocks. But no matter how far he ran or how loud he shouted, there was nothing but the wasteland.

Feeling tired from running, Shadow sat down and rested for a bit. “Please, is anypony out there?”

But once again there was no reply. It was then Shadow noticed how cold and quiet it was. No wind, no sounds coming from his hooves when he ran. It was eerie on how truly quiet it was on the moon. It was almost as if silence had fallen all over the moon. The lack of noise showed Shadow how truly alone he was.

“It’s just me, I’m all alone on the moon.” He felt a shiver run up his spine from his statement. After some time sitting there, Shadow anger rose up. How dare she do this to me! Shadow got up as he felt his power returning. If she thinks that she can get away from this, she’s got another thing coming. I AM NOT STAYING HERE! He took flight as he flew in the direction of Earth.

“When I get back, I’ll make her pay for this and she will regret doing this to m-” his sentence ran short when Shadow felt like he collided with something with his head. He rubbed his forehead as he tried to figure out what happened. He looked around but found nothing that could be responsible for his headache. Shaking away the pain,

Shadow continued to fly to earth when his head hit something again, “Ow! Just what is going on here?”

Shadow raised his hoof and felt something solid in front of him, but saw nothing there. He tapped his hoof on the invisible spot a few times, and then he started hitting it. After a few failed attempts, Shadow’s used his power that was feeding off his hatred. With one powerful punch, Shadow struck the spot. The impact was so strong that something appeared in front of his eyes. He saw a force field that covered the whole moon in a gold aura.

“This is not going to stop me!” he started punching harder at the force field trying to break it. He tried blasting with his element but to no avail. With the lack of distance, Shadow couldn’t build up any momentum to try to break the force field like last time. Each attack that failed made him desperate nonononononononononoNONONONONONONO! He was getting so desperate about escaping he started using his own body to tackle the barrier in attempts to break it. “Bring me back,” he said as he continued pounding the barrier, “Bring me back, Bring me back, Bring me back, Bring me back, BRING ME BACK, BRING ME BACK, BRING ME BACK!” his eyes started tearing up from the thought of never returning. Until finally the strain of his body from his failed attempts was too much that he fell back to the moon’s surface. He looked at the planet that was his home, "PLEASE…. BRING ME BACK!” he shouted but the only response from his cry was silence.

After a few hours, the gang had finally finished cleaning the Princess’s throne room. While they were cleaning the throne room, all of the house cleaners were cleaning the damage from the rest of the castle. Celestia had instructed all the remaining guards to go to Canterlot and assist the civilians in damage control.

While they were cleaning, Twilight told the Princess her tale, how she met Shadow Bolt, introducing him to her friends, the stories about his past, the appearance of the Element of Hate, and finally their first fight that led him on his mission to Canterlot to destroy the elements.

“It seems all of you have been through so much today, but at least it’s finally over,” said the Princess.

Twilight noticed that after finishing her story, she saw that it was now night. She looked out through the window and stared at the moon.

“What’s wrong, Twilight?” asked Princess Celestia as she saw the sad look on her students face.

“I failed,” she said without turning away, “I feel like it’s all my fault that this all happened. This wouldn’t have happened if I just left him alone like he wanted. But I was too stubborn in proving him wrong that I almost got Canterlot destroyed.”

The Princess wrapped her wing around Twilight to comfort her, “It’s not your fault, Twilight. You did what you thought was right.”

“But I failed, Princess. I tried to show him the magic of friendship, and because of me, he is now trapped up there forever. Maybe I’m not good enough for this after all.”

“Twilight, you did everything you possibly could. Nopony could ask for more than what you can do. Just because you couldn’t show him the way, doesn’t make you a failure. You have to accept that you can’t save everypony. There some that they are too far gone for friendship to save them. He was one of those ponies.”

“It bothers me, Princess. It’s hard to believe that all those horrible things that somepony like him had to go through with life. I wouldn’t know what to do if that had happened to me. It makes me sad to think what would make ponies do something so mean to someone who didn’t deserve it.”

“It’s hard for me to believe that too, Twilight. Equestria has been known to be a land of peace and harmony. To hear such things like this is happening throughout the land makes me sad, knowing that I can’t do anything to stop it. But we have to accept that’s the way things are and we must do our best to help those who need it.”

Twilight let out a sigh, “Your right, Princess. It’s up to us to show everypony that we must treat others better and hope it all works out for everypony in the end.” Twilight nuzzled up to her mentor before leaving her embrace, “Thank you, Princess.”

“No need to thank me, Twilight. I’m happy to help you and if you need me, you only need to ask.”

“I will Princess,” Twilight started walking towards her friends. She took one last look at the moon. I’m sorry, Shadow. At least nopony will bother you ever again. She saw what seemed like a twinkle coming from the moon. Twilight turned away and walked up to her friends.

“I said that I finished first,” said Rainbow Dash.

“And ah said it was me,” said Applejack.

“You tied,” said Pinkie Pie.

“TIED!” shouted both of them.

“Yup, I watched really carefully.”

“We tied,” said Rainbow Dash glumly, “so what now?”

“Well I don’t know about you two, but I just want to go home and take a nice long warm bath,” said Rarity.

“I have to go back and feed the animals,” said Fluttershy, “Angel gets awfully cranky when he doesn’t get his dinner on time.”

“Is everypony ready to leave?” asked Twilight.

Everyone nodded, “Okay, let’s go home.”

As they were walking to the doors of the throne room, Pinkie Pie stopped and shouted, “OOH! OOH! TWITCHY TAIL!”

Everypony stopped in their track and turned to Pinkie Pie, “Twitch-a-twitch! Twitch-a-twitch!” and sure enough Pinkie Pie’s tail was twitching, which meant only one thing.

“Hit the deck!” shouted Rainbow Dash. Everypony huddle up together and kept their eyes out for anything to fall on top of them.

Princess Celestia was confused as to what she was seeing. She saw how everyone was acting and walked up to them, “What is going on?” she asked.

“Princess, watch out,” said Twilight, “it’s Pinkie Pie. Her Pinkie Sense is acting up.”

“Pinkie Sense?”

“Yes, it’s some ability that Pinkie Pie has. Right now her Pinkie Sense is saying that something is going to fall.”

Everypony stood still and waited for whatever was going to fall, “It’s most likely it’s a piece of the ceiling that’s going to fall,” said Twilight. They waited and waited, but nothing from the ceiling fell. Pinkies tail was still twitching which meant something was still going to fall.

All of a sudden Rairty said, “Do you hear something?”

“Like what?” asked Applejack.

“It sounds like a whistling noise.”

Everyone listened for the noise, “Yeah, I hear it too,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Where’s it coming from?” said Twilight.

“It sounds like its coming from above,” replied Pinkie Pie.

“WATCH OUT!” shouted Fluttershy as she was pointing to the sky. Everypony looked up and saw what looked like a ball of fire coming down from the sky and heading right towards them.

“It’s an asteroid,” said Twilight in amazement since she’s never seen an asteroid before.

“Leave this to me,” said Princess Celestia as she charged her horn and blasted the asteroid. But to her surprise, the fireball didn’t blow up and was still heading towards them. Princess Celestia used more power in her beam to stop the asteroid, but the only affect the beam had was slowing it down a little. Princess Celestia was still tired from using too much magic earlier that she couldn’t keep the beam going.

“I can’t stop it,” said the Princess. She stopped the beam and immediately all seven of them got out of the way from the fireballs path. The fireball crashed through one of the holes in the ceiling, making it bigger in the process, and finally crashed into the ground. The blast caused a gush of wind and dust that covered the room. Everypony was blinded and coughing from the dust. Princess Celestia used her wings and flapped the dust away.

Once the dust had settled, everypony looked to see a big crater where the asteroid hit. Before they could walk up to the crash site, something was rising from the crater. None of them could believe what they were seeing. From out of the crater was some kind of creature. It had the form of a pony, it had wings likes a pegasus, but the creature looked like it was made out of fire. The fiery red creature looked at the seven mares for a few seconds and then let out a vicious roar that seemed to shake the very castle itself.

Twilight then noticed something glowing on the creature’s chest, “Look at that,” she pointed. All eyes were on the source of the glow, what they saw looked like a black necklace. Their eyes widened and their jaws were wide open when they saw the red lightning bolt gem glowing in the center of the necklace.

“It couldn’t be, but that’s impossible,” said Twilight in a hushed tone. She couldn’t believe it, but sure enough it was true. Hovering in front of them was none other than the stallion Shadow Bolt.

Everypony was left speechless, the only thing that came out of anyponys mouth was Princess Celestia, who only said three words,

“Mother of me!”

"RRRWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR"

YOU’RE ALL BUCKED! (Mature Warning)

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WARNING: The following chapter contains scenes that might be too graphic for young readers.
Viewer discretion is advised.

P.S. Play songs till the end or until you reach the next one. Enjoy ;)

"Anger is a momentary madness, so control your passion or it will control you." ― Horace

"The fiercest fire is hatred." ― Buddha

"Good. Use your aggressive feelings, boy. Let the hate flow through you." ― Emperor Palpatine

Chapter 12: YOU’RE ALL BUCKED!

Everyone stared at the new Shadow Bolt, as he was staring at them as well. His body seemed to be made of fire, his eyes had no pupils similar to Twilight, when she used the elements and they were glowing yellow, he had sharp teeth that was made out of the fire. To everyone he looked like a monster. Shadow was staring at his enemies, those glowing yellow eyes staring with so much hate at them made everyone feeling scared. He focus his stare at Princess Celestia, “I…..BELONG!” he said in a voice that sounded similar to Queen Chrysalis.

Before anypony could figure out what he meant he seemed to have vanish in front of their eyes, only to appear in front of Princess Celestia as he punched her in the face. The force sent her body flying back, she stopped when she collided with the doors of the throne room, and the force tore the doors of their hinges and crashed down on top of Princess Celestia. Everypony’s eyes were wide open over the shock of what happened. A small blast broke out of the rubble as the Princess emerged. Her face had a look of rage as she charged at Shadow Bolt. Shadow charged at her and soon they collided. Each one was throwing punches at each other, but it seemed that Shadow was gaining the upper hoof as he blocked all of the Princess’s punches while his own hit her in the face, chest, and stomach. She charged at him only for him to dodge her, she turned around to attack only to be hit with Shadow’s energy beam, the blast shot her across the room and she crashed into the throne, knocking it over. She got up and shook her head, she looked to face her attacker only to see him right in front of her as he punched her again in the face. The punched knocked her down and before she could get up, Shadow kicked her in the stomach. The blow knocked the wind out of her as she laid there defenseless gasping.

Shadow stood on his hind legs getting ready to strike the defenseless Princess, “I…..HATE….BANANAS!”

As he was about to strike, he was hit in the back by an energy beam. He turned towards his attacker and saw Twilight’s horn glowing, “LEAVE THE PRINCESS ALONE!” she shouted as she shot another beam at him. The beam had no effect as Shadow stared at them, he roared at them before charging. He only got as far as halfway across the room before he felt something holding him. He saw that his body was covered in a gold aura, Shadow knew it was none other than Princess Celestia who was behind this. SHE’S GOING TO PAY! He tried to escape the hold but found that it was stronger than Twilights.

He could hear Princess Celestia groaning behind him, “I can’t hold him for much longer, he’s too strong,” she said, “Now is your chance, use The Elements of Harmony and finish him!”

Shadow saw the Twilight and her friends getting into position. Their elements started glowing, they all started floating with Twilight in the middle. Just like last time, a rainbow shot out over them and started coming down where Shadow was standing. The beam hit him as the rainbow turned into a tornado, This isn’t going to stop me. he felt his power rising as he let out a burst of energy that destroy Celestia’s spell. The attack took a lot of power out of Shadow as his body returned to normal Time to get out of here. he started flapping his wings to escape, but he wasn’t taking off. He felt something keeping his hind legs in place, he looked down and saw that his hind legs had been turned to stone. He saw that more of his body was turning to stone from the bottom to the top. He flapped harder but it was no use. He could feel his insides turning to stone the process was painful. It felt like someone had set his organs on fire.

“STOP… IT…. BURNS!” he called out. The pain made it harder for him to speak as he saw that his torso and wings were turning to stone. The only movement Shadow had left was his forelegs kicking around until they turned to stone as well. His head was the only thing he could move now that the spell had reached his neck.

“NO, NO, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooo-” he cried out until he couldn’t speak as his head turned to stone.

With the rainbow tornado, Twilight couldn’t see anything, but she could still hear Shadow’s cries of pain until it sounded like he was cut off from shouting. The rainbow tornado finally stopped and everypony could see what the elements did to Shadow. They saw him as a statue, standing on his hindlegs while his face had that angry look, but Twilight could see a bit of pain underneath his scowl. With the threat now defeated, everypony gave out a sigh of relief. All of them walked up to the statue as they tried to figure out what happened.

“How is this possible?” asked Twilight, “I thought he was trapped but he flew straight from the moon back here.”

“I am just as surprised as you are, Twilight,” said Princess Celestia as she walked down the steps slowly, still recovering from her injuries.

“And what was the deal with his body? He looked like a monster,” Rainbow Dash.

“I’m guessing that was the elements doing,” concluded Twilight, “it seemed to take him to a second stage of its power.”

“That element is truly powerful,” said Rarity.

“I have to agree,” said the Princess as she finally made it to the bottom, where she fell to the ground.

“PRINCESS!” shouted Twilight. She and the rest ran up to the injured princess. By the time they made it, Princess Celestia was able to stand up again.

“Are you okay, Princess Celestia?” asked Twilight.

“I’m fine, Twilight. Just a few minor injuries, but I’ll be just fine.”

Twilight let out a sigh of relief as she looked at the statue, “I didn’t know that the imprisoning somepony to stone was so….painful,” she could still hear Shadow’s cries of pain in her head, “So what do we do with Shadow now?”

“I’ll keep him here and put him somewhere where nopony will ever see him.

Rainbow Dash stretched as she sighed, “Well, at least it’s finally over.”

*CRACK*

“What was that?” she said.

*CRACK*

“It couldn’t be,” said Princess Celestia as she stared behind the Mane 6.

*CRACK*

Their heads turned to the statue of Shadow Bolt starting to crack.

*CRACK*

“THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE!” said Twilight.

*CRACK* *CRACK*

Soon more crack appeared over Shadow’s body. The first piece to breakout was the piece where his element was. The red gem glowed brightly, as stone around his eyes were the next to breakthrough. One of his eyes stared at them, it gave them a look of pure rage. Soon his whole body was shaking as more cracks were forming.

“RUN FOR COVER!” shouted Twlight, but it was too late. The statue exploded sending pieces of stone were flying everywhere at great speed. Twilight raised a shield in front of her, while Pinkie Pie, was able to hide behind a pillar. The others weren’t so lucky as Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash were all hit in the head by pieces of stone. The impact knocked them out as they fell to the ground. Soon the barrage of rocks ended, Twilight lowered her shield and looked to see Shadow Bolt freed from his stone prison. He was glaring at her with those red glowing eyes, and before he could do anything he then fell to the ground coughing.

Twilight could hear how hard Shadow was coughing, her eyes opened wide when she saw him coughing up blood. Soon he started vomiting blood and Twilight could see chunks of rocks coming out of his mouth. After a few seconds, Shadow stopped coughing, got to his hooves again, and glared at Twilight.

“That…hurt,” he said breathlessly as he started walking towards Twilight as his body was covered in his red aura. Twilight couldn’t think of what to do, she looked to see her friends still unconscious. Pinkie Pie was trying her best to wake them up, but nothing worked. Twilight knew that she didn’t stand a chance alone with Shadow Bolt. Before she could do anything, Princess Celestia walked by and stopped in front of her as she stared at Shadow.

“You’re fight is with me,” she said standing in attack position.

“You’re going to pay for what you did to me!”

“Maybe, but you’ll have to catch me first.” She flew at great speed as she passed Shadow Bolt and flew through the opened doorway.

Shadow turned grinding his teeth as the Princess gave him the slip, “If you think you can escape me,” his body then turned back into the fiery monster form from earlier, “THINK…..AGAIN!” he then took off after the fleeing princess as Twilight and Pinkie Pie were left to wake their friends up.

Shadow chased after Princess Celestia through the castle, it didn’t take long for him to catch up and was right behind her. Shadow started blasting her, but Princess Celestia dodged his attacks. The beams tore through walls, left scorch mark on the floor, and pieces of furniture was destroyed in the process. Princess Celestia led him through the long hallways and through the main gates and flew outside where she was no longer confined making her an easy target. Shadow flew after her with only one thing in mind REVENGE! His head was in great pain that it was all he could think about. He was going to make her pay for all she did to him and he was going to enjoy every second of it.

He kept blasting her, but she was able to dodge them easily in the air as she led him away from the castle. Her plan was simple, distract Shadow to buy time for Twilight and her friends to recover because they were the only ones who could stop him. She did her best in dodging Shadows attack, but she knew she couldn’t last much longer. She was still recovering from the fight earlier and the pain was taking its toll. Each dodge she could feel herself getting sluggish and more exhausted.

Shadow could see this and waited for the right moment. It didn’t take long before he saw his opportunity. With the right timing, he shot an energy beam that hit Princess Celestia right in the back where her wings were. The Princess let out a cry of pain and started falling towards the city of Canterlot Gotcha was all he thought as he nosedived after her.

Princess Celestia tried to stop herself from falling and flapped her wings, but each flap caused her great pain preventing her from flying, she looked down and saw the city of Canterlot getting closer and closer. She tried to teleport but she still felt drained from using so much magic from before, using what little she had she covered herself in a gold bubble to protect herself from the inevitable crash hoping that she wouldn’t crash into anypony.

The citizens of Canterlot still recovering from the attacks of the storm cloud watched as something fall from the sky and crashed into a vegetable cart. Once the dust settled the nearby civilians saw Princess Celestia rising from the wreckage. Before anyone could ask her anything, she immediately jumped out of the way in time to avoid an energy beam where she was just standing. She and the rest of them looked up to see what look like a fire monster. Princess Celestia started running away from the monster as it went after her, ignoring the others.

Shadow kept his attack going as Celestia could only run and dodge from his energy blasts. Seeing the all-powerful Celestia running from him made grin, as he kept firing. As Princess Celestia ran as she used her magic to grab whatever she could and threw them at Shadow to defend herself. Whether they were, garbage cans, chairs, or nearby pieces of debris she threw them at the fiery pegasus. Of course, they proved useless as he blasted everything that came in his path. She then grabbed a nearby wagon and hurled it at him, which he destroyed it easily. But the process caused him to be blinded by pieces of wood and lost control. He landed on the building’s rooftops and continued the chase on hoof.

Princess Celestia ran through the streets of Canterlot as she tried to put distance between herself and Shadow Bolt. He kept blasting her from the rooftops as she turned around street corners trying to lose him but it didn’t work since he could see her wherever she went. He jumped off the roofs and dived at her tackling her in the process, they traded punches at each other. The Princess was able to get a good punch at his face and ran away as he recovered. He let out a roar and continued chasing her.

As she got deeper into the city she saw the royal and night guards doing damage control. She would have stopped and warned them but she had to keep running as she saw Shadow getting closer. The guards saw their princess running very frantically. As she passed them, they could see her body had scratches and bruises all over. Before they could say anything to her as she ran off, they saw something that looked like a fiery pegasus chased after her. They saw the creature fire shoot some type of energy beam at the princess who was running away from it. They realized that their princess was in danger and went in pursuit after the fire monster.

Shadow’s only focus was on Princess Celestia as he was getting closer and closer. His thoughts were only filled with revenge towards the princess of the sun. She will pay, I’ll make her regret thinking she ever had a chance against me! He could feel his revenge almost arriving as he was close to her that he could hear the princess’s hard breaths. Her injuries and the exhaustion of the chase had finally caught up to her. It was only a matter of time when he would take care of her once and for all. He was so caught up in his thoughts of revenge that he didn’t see a guard tackle him from the side. The force had him rolling until he crashed into a nearby building.

Princess Celestia turned to see how close her attacker was and stopped to see that he was nowhere in sight. Soon she realized that groups of guards were standing all around of her. Before she could ask what was going on a small explosion of smoke erupted next to a building. Out of the smoke was Shadow Bolt as he stared at her.

“Battle positions!” shouted one of the guards. She saw all her guards get into battle stance waiting for orders. She saw that Shadow got into the same position waiting for whatever came at him.

“Fall back,” she shouted, “He’s too powerful.” She remembered what happened the last time her guards engaged in combat with Shadow Bolt and he was much stronger now than earlier. She didn’t want any more of her guards getting injured.

A nearby guard said, “With all due respect Princess Celestia, our primary duty is to protect the princesses no matter what.” She looked around and saw the look of determination in her guards faces. They would do anything to protect their princess even if they were overpowered. “Get to safety, Princess. Well handle this monster in the meantime.”

She was going to argue but realized that nothing she could say would stop them. With a nod she ran away from the upcoming battle, she only hoped that the guards would be alright.

Shadow watched as Princess Celestia ran away, the only thing stopping him were the guards that stood between him and his vengeance. He could see guards of all three races, some had white coats with blue eyes, like the ones he faced earlier while some had dark grey coats with brown eyes. Either way, they will all fall from my power. He waited to see who would throw the first punch. After what seemed like minutes he heard one guard say, “CHARGE!” then all the guards charged right at him Here we go his face gave a monstrous smirk and then he charged at the guards.

For some reason, ever since Shadow returned from the moon, he noticed that everything was moving slower than usual. This gave him an advantage as he charged at the slow moving guards. He tackled one guard in front of him and jumped to punch another in the face. Another guard was coming up from behind him, he kicked him with his hind legs and he flew back crashing into a group of guards behind of him. One guard threw a punch at Shadow and missed, to which he returned with one of his own knocking him out. He saw a unicorn charging at him with his horn ready to impale him, he dodge at the last second and punched him in the side of his face. More guards came in numbers charging at him, but he punched and kicked everyone that came at him. One guard was foolish to grab him from behind but Shadow’s body burned him and he let go. Shadow gave him a backhoof to the head knocking him away. He then felt his fore hooves being lifted as he stood up. He looked up to see his hooves were glowing by somepony’s magic. He looked to see a guards horn glowing holding him in place. Before he could do anything another guard ran up to him and punched in the stomach. As the guard was about to punch him again he head butted him then kicked his jaw. As the guard fell to the ground, Shadow grabbed his helmet with his mouth and threw it at the unicorn guards head breaking his concentration. Shadow flew right at him and punched him before he could use the spell again. He then he felt a sharp pain from his side, he looked to see a spear impaled him by a nearby guard. He smacked he guard with his wing. He grabbed the spear with his mouth and pulled it out and then swung the spear and hit a nearby guard that was charging at him.

This is a waste of time he knew that the more time he spent fighting the guards, the farther Princess Celestia was in getting away from him. He build up his power and let out a blast knocking any nearby guards away. The clearing allowed him to flap his wings and take to the skies as he flew in the direction he saw the Princess run off. Seeing how long fighting the guards took, he figured that Princess Celestia was able to get plenty of distance away from the battle. However, after a few seconds of flying he saw the Princess still running through the streets. He dive-bombed as he readies himself to crash into the Princess.

Princess Celestia kept running, her wings were still recovering preventing her from flying. She heard a whistle sound coming from above, she looked up to see Shadow flying right at her. Before Shadow was able to tackle her, a pegasi guard tackled him away from the Princess and both crashed to the ground. The Princess stopped to catch her breath and looked to see the crater where the two pegasi crashed. All of a sudden the guard was launched into the air with Shadow Bolt flying after him. Shadow was faster and in no time passed the guard, he then slammed his hooves down on the guard sending him back down to the ground. As turned his sights on the Princess and started charging his beam. However, before he could fire, he was hit by a beam and crashed back to the ground. He got up to see he was surrounded once again by a squadron of guards. Just like last time, they charged at him and he did as well. With his wings, he built up momentum to clothesline the guard in front of him. The guard spun in the air while Shadow bucked his back sending him to crash into his fellow colleagues. Still with momentum Shadow punched another guard in the face, and then he gave a roundhouse kick at another guard, and finished as he clothesline two guards standing next to each other. One guard threw a spear at Shadow, who rolled out of the way and then uppercut the guard who threw it. He then elbowed a charging guard’s snout who tried to tackle him from behind then back hoof a guard coming from his side. One guard tried to punch him but missed, Shadow with his fiery hooves grabbed the guards hoof and broke it with a loud *CRUNCH*. The guard screamed from the intense pain, Shadow still holding on spun him around and used the guard as a bat as he knocked three oncoming guards out. Afterwards Shadow tossed the guard into another group stopping their charge.

As he was about to charge, he suddenly felt frozen. He was once again caught in another immobilization spell. With his boost of power and hatred from this spell, he tore out of the spell like tissue paper. The spell was weak coming from the guard who casted it. He charged at the guard but was stopped before he could do anything, once again, he was caught in the same spell he broke out seconds ago. Only this time the spell was casted by multiple unicorns. Shadow concentrated as he build up his power, he could see the guards strained faces as they tried to keep him from escaping, but it wasn’t enough and Shadow broke out of the spell. Feeling much rage towards his failed captors, Shadow let out a roar and quickly fire multiple energy beams, each one hit all the guards that tried to trap him. He looked around to see more guards coming from all sides, he started firing from all directions, and each beam hit its target. Some unicorn guards used a shield spell to defend themselves, but the beam was more powerful and blasted through the shield and struck the guards. The earth pony guards had metal shields to protect themselves, even though the beam was not powerful enough to pierce the metal, it had enough power from its momentum to knock the guards back hitting nearby walls. Shadow started laughing as each guard fell helpless in his attacks. Weak! They’re all so weak!! He laughed harder as more guards dropped like flies. Shadow was too caught up in the moment to notice the group of pegasi guards dive-bombing on top of him. By the time he noticed it was too late and he was dog piled by the pegasi guards. All the rest of the standing guards saw this and they joined in the dog pile too make sure their enemy stayed down.

Princess Celestia watched everything that happened right before her eyes. After witnessing such brutality, it seemed that her guards had finally stopped Shadow Bolt. But before she could let out a sigh of relief she saw something going on with the pile of guards. The pile started shaking, the guards sensing something was wrong used all their strength to hold their positions. Soon red lights started shooting out from the pile, as the shaking was intensified. Then a loud explosion erupted from the pile and all the guards were flung in all directions. Celestia looked at the center of the explosion to see Shadow Bolt, still in his fiery form. He looked at her and their eyes were locked. Celestia couldn’t believe what was happening and for the first time in a long time, she was afraid. As soon as Shadow looked at her he flew right at her with so much speed that by the time she blinked, he was standing right in front of her.

Celestia stood paralyzed with fear, she let out small whimpers and gasps as she stared at the monster in front of her. His monstrous face had an evil smirk as his glowing yellow eyes were glaring at her.

“WHAT….WILL….YOU….DO….CELESTIA?” as one of his hoofs was slowly reaching towards her face.

All of a sudden a beam hit Shadow on the left side of his head, knocking him away from Princess Celestia who was still frozen in fear. Immediately Shadow was hit by multiple beams coming from the remaining unicorn guards who recovered from Shadows blast. Celestia quickly snap back to her senses and ran away from the range of fire and ran towards her guards.

“WE HAVE TO PROTECT THE PRINCESS!” shouted one of the guards. The guards looked to see that the beams had no effect on Shadow Bolt as he growled at them and started chuckling.

“SHOOT! SHOOT TILL YOU'RE EMPTY!” the guards started firing once again, “FULL POWER!” The guards used all their power and shot Shadow Bolt. The blast caused puffs of smoke to cover where he was standing. The guards stopped firing thinking they finally did it. The guard who was shouting the order gasp as the smoke finally cleared. Shadow Bolt was still standing completely unharmed, “IT’S A MONSTER!” said the guard. Shadow then let out an ear-piercing roar that sounded nothing that lived in Equestria, “Oh my Celestia.”

Shadow charged at great speeds and started attacking the guards from all sides. He was flying so fast that none of them could see him, all they could see was the red streak coming from his tail as he punched and kicked from all sides making the guards defenses. The lead guard could hear his fellow soldier’s screams as they were taken down one by one. In a panic he started firing from all sides, trying to hit his invisible target, “WHAT IN THE TARTARUS ARE YOU?!” he shouted before getting struck in the head by his attacker.

Soon all Celestia could see were her guards all unconscious with Shadow Bolt standing on top of the squad leader. He walked up to her where she stood frozen. Once he was standing in front of the Princess, Shadow punched Celestia on the left side of her face knocking her down. She looked up to see him towering over her. Before he could attack her again, something tackled him. The force knocked him into a building and caused the wall to collapse on top of him. Shadow quickly blasted himself out of the rubble WHO DID THAT? He thought as he shook all the gravel from his head.

“HEY FREAK, OVER HERE!” a voice shouted.

Shadow looked to see who shouted and looked to see a lone guard. The guard smirked at him and said, “Remember me?”

He looked at this guard that he didn’t recognize, he could tell he was a earth pony guard, but his armor was totally different from the others. The armor was more bulky than the others were and it covered the guard’s entire body. The only part that wasn’t covered was his face, Shadow looked to see that the guard had a scar going down on his right eye. Shadow immediately recognized the stallion, he was the one he fought earlier and defeated, “YOU!”

“That’s right, it’s me. You didn’t think you could beat me that easily? Well as you can see I’m back for round two and this time I came prepared,” he quickly charged and punched Shadow Bolt in the face. The force sent him back to the pile of rubble he broke out a few moments ago.

He turned to Princess Celestia, “Are you alright, princess?”

It took a moment for her senses to return as she stared at her savior, “Sergeant Solaris, what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be resting from your injuries.”

“I’m fine Princess, It will take more than that to stop me. Besides, I have a score to settle.”

Right as he said that, the pile of rubble exploded revealing a very pissed fiery Shadow Bolt. He got up and glared at the soon to be dead stallion.

“You like the new duds?” he asked, “This is a prototype of our new battle armor. This baby enhances the strength of its wearer.”

Shadow quickly charged and punched the guard in the chest. The force caused the guard to skid a few feet away before stopping, “The armor also has high endurance and can take a lot of damage without harming the wearer.”

If that’s the case then it’s time to see how strong I really am! Shadow Bolt hovered a few feet in the air. With a flick of his hooves, Shadow’s bracelet fell off and crashed to the ground. Each bracelet made a small crater as Shadow landed and started stretching his hooves. Alright, it finally time to see if these magically enhanced weight bracelets really do work or I just wasted my bits. Shadow could already feel himself getting lighter than he was just a few moments ago.

Shadow charged at the guard once again, he noticed that he was moving faster than before as he punched Sergeant Solaris once again in the chest. The force of the punch made the Solaris skid back farther than last time, but he was able to stop before he crashed into a nearby building. Although the attack didn’t hurt him thanks to his armor, Solaris did feel more power from that punch than before.

Shadow saw that the guard was still standing. He then blasted the sergeant with his element, only to see it had no effect. “This baby is also magic proof, making this the ultimate defense against monsters like you.

Frustrated with the fact the armor made him weak and the guard calling him a monster, Shadow charged again and both of them started a hoof fight. Punches flying all over, some were blocked while others hit their mark. But Shadow’s punches had no effect wherever he hit as he tried to find a weak point. In addition, with the armor enhancing the guards already high strength, the punches were hurting and disorienting him, Shadow tried a wide punch to the guards face only for the guard to dodge him and counter with a buck to the chest, sending him through another buildings wall.

Inside the building Shadow was slowly trying to get up, only for the guard to kick him making him roll on his back and then the guard stomp down on his element to keep him from getting up. The pain intensified him and made his hate grow. The guard raised his hoof to stomp down on Shadow’s head, Shadow countered by kicking his hind legs behind the knees. The guard lost his balance as Shadow pushed him away, he landed face first on the ground. Shadow quickly jumped up and elbow drop the guards back, then quickly punched the back of his head causing a small crater to form under it. Shadow grabbed the guards tail his teeth, lifted him up, then slammed him to the ground, then slammed him to a wall, and finally spun him around before letting go. The guard slammed through a wall and landed outside with his back skidding on the ground. The armor protected him from extensive damage, but he still felt injured after that attack.

Before he could get up, he saw Shadow standing on top of him. Shadow raised his right hoof and slammed it down on the guards exposed face. Shadow’s fiery hoof pressed hard on the guards face burning it in the process. The guard let out a muffled scream as his face was being burn. He raised his left hoof and started punching Shadow in the face. Shadow felt pain from the punch but kept pressing his hoof down on the guards face as he continued punching Shadow’s face again and again. After being punched multiple times, Shadow had enough. When the guards hoof came to punch him again, Shadow moved his head back as the punch missed him and immediately Shadow bit down hard on the guards hoof that his fiery teeth penetrated the armor. The guard cried out in pain from the combined pain of the Shadow’s teeth biting him as well as he could feel his wounds were burning from the inside. He could see blood flowing down as it stained the gold armor and he saw smoke coming from the entry wounds. The guard used all his strength and kicked Shadow Bolt in the stomach. The force finally knocked Shadow off the guard, but the force caused Shadow to bite down harder before letting go. The guard screamed again and saw that a few pieces of his flesh were ripped off when Shadow let go of his hoof. The guard got up with his remaining hooves but he couldn’t move much from the pain he was feeling. The pain made him lose focus, as he didn’t see Shadow charging at him.

Using his wings for more momentum, Shadow tackled the injured guard and slammed him sideways to a nearby wall. He then pressed his hoof on his enemy’s head. The heat from his hoof was causing the helmet to heat up, Shadow then started dragging the guard body down the wall with intense speed. The guard could feel his helmet breaking. From one side of the helmet was being scrapped by the concrete wall while the other was being heated up by Shadow’s hoof. It was only a matter of time from the combined force that the helmet started cracking up until the pressure was too much and the helmet broke into pieces. Shadow kept dragging the guard along the wall until he reached the end and finally let go. The guards face was a bloody bruised burned mess, but he tried to ignore the pain and tried to attack Shadow Bolt. But the guard was too injured and exhausted that Shadow had no trouble dodging the guards weak punch, he countered with a punch to the head. The blow made the guard start losing his balance, Shadow then punched him again. Shadow kept punching the guards head again and again, Not so tough now, are you? Shadow then gathered his strength and punched the guards chest, the impact was so powerful that it caused the rest of the armor to break apart, leaving the injured guard exposed.

“TIME….TO….FINISH!” he said as he charged up his element and blasted the guard in the chest. The force sent him crashing into a building, Shadow then blasted the small building causing it crumble down and bury his enemy.

“FELT….GOOD,” as he walked to the pile of rubble. Before he could walk away, the pile started to shift.

He looked back and saw something crawling out. It took time but the guard finally crawled out of the rubble. As soon as he was free, he passed out. Very impressive, he thought as he stood in front of the unconscious guard. Time to take care of you once and for all! He started charging his beam as he aim at the stallions head.

“ENOUGH!” shouted a voice. Shadow stopped the charge to see who shouted. He turned to see none other than Princess Celestia.

Princess Celestia who had stood frozen, witnessed Shadow’s brutality on Sergeant Solaris, the guard who defended her. She did nothing as Shadow pulverized him, and now Shadow was finished as he started charging his beam point blank at the unconscious guard. Seeing this, the Princess had enough of standing around and watching her guards get taken down one by one. It was her duty to protect Equestria and her subjects, but until now she had let her guards do her job while she stood by and did nothing. Now enough was enough, No More she called out to Shadow. She got his attention as he canceled his attack and started approaching her. Celestia now felt her power returning after she spent the time recovering from her injuries. Shadow stopped a few feet from the Princess and waited to see what she would do. She started charging her magic as her horn glowed with intensity. No More she charged it for a few more seconds as a small energy ball the size of a golf ball formed at the tip of her horn. Once her charging was done, Celestia took aim, NO MORE and fired her beam.

Shadow Bolt saw the tiny energy ball beam coming at him and stood his ground. She has got to be joking. This beam is nothing compared to the attacks she used earlier. She must be getting weaker or desperate if she thinks that little thing is going to do any damage to me. He grinned at the Princesses pitiful attack thinking it wouldn’t do anything to him. The beam moved at great velocity and hit Shadow on his left shoulder and went through it. OW! He felt the burning pain the beam caused as it went through him causing him to bleed. The impact sent him skidding a few feet before he stopped. Shadow was so shocked that the beam went right through him, he didn’t noticed the beam changed direction returning to hit him in the chest. The beam changed direction again and hit him on the left side of his body.

“Again,” said Princess Celestia.

The beam started hitting Shadow Bolt from all sides causing him to losing his footing and started skidding from the impact. Each hit caused him great burning pain and blood to shoot out of his wounds as each shot went through him.

“Again, again” she repeated.

The beam continued its command and hit Shadow continuously sending him skidding away from the Princess.

“AGAIN!”

The beam hit him again in the chest.

“AGAIN!”

The beam shot through his wings.

“DIE AND GO TO TARTARUS!” she shouted as the beam was about to go through his head.

Shadow saw it coming and at the last second, he caught the energy ball with his mouth.

Celestia gasped at what she just witness. But that’s impossible she couldn’t believe but there she saw it. She saw the energy ball stuck in Shadow’s teeth. The ball was still glowing and trying to move. She could see smoke coming from Shadow’s mouth as the ball continued to burn him with its intensity.

Shadow just looked at her surprised face and grinned, “GUESS….WHAT….I….CAUGHT?” he bit down and crushed the energy ball, causing a small explosion to go off, which didn’t affect Shadow Bolt at all.

Celestia’s confidence just went up in smoke as she was paralyzed with fear again. What am I going to do? Nothing I do works on him. Shadow started approaching her. He’s coming, I have to do something. I have to….get away, I have to get away, have to get away! She opened her wings and took off as she tried to escape from Shadow Bolt.

“NO….ESCAPING….ME!” he took off pursuing his prey.

Princess Celestia flapped harder as she headed back to her castle. Only the Elements of Harmony have any chance in stopping him. Her wings haven’t fully recovered as she could feel herself flying slower than normal. She turned back to see Shadow flying after her at great speed. She flapped harder as she tried to keep him from getting to her. But it was a losing battle as Shadow was getting closer and closer by the second.

“YOU’RE….MINE!” he said just as he was about to grab her by the tail

All of a sudden, something crashed into his stomach that pushed him away from Princess Celestia. Once he felt whatever pushed him away leave its spot, he looked to see a pegasi guard.

“That as far as you go,” he said, as Shadow looked around and saw that he was surrounded by pegasi guards. Shadow noticed that while all the pegasi he fought earlier had white coats, he saw some that had grey coats. What got his attention was that these grey pegasi wings were different from regular ones and wore different type of armor, he also saw that their eyes were more dragon like. It doesn’t matter what these new pegasi look like, THEY’LL ALL FALL! After a few seconds, they all charged at him at the same time he charged too. They all collided and started their dogfight.

Shadow wasted no time as he punched two guards the face, knocking them out. He used his wings the smack two guards coming from behind him. All of a sudden, one guard dashed by and struck him in the head. Before he could retaliate, another guard dashed by and hit the back of his head. Soon he was assaulted from all sides and the guards saw how their hit and run tactics were working.

“ENOUGH!” he shouted and let out a burst of his power blowing all the approaching guards away. Shadow quickly took off and struck the nearest guard. He flew and punched another in the stomach, he then flew above another guard and kick him in the back. Two guards were coming in by his sides, Shadow waited and as soon as they were about to collided with him, he flew up causing the two guards to crash into each other. He punched another guard in the face as he was charging right at him. Shadow was feeling the adrenaline going through him as he was enjoying the fight. These guards are dropping like flies. He saw once again that he was surrounded by guards. Shadow simple grinned at their feeble attempts of keeping him contained. He started spinning around at super speed. The guards were confused as they waited for whatever Shadow was planning. With Shadow spinning like a tornado, they couldn’t see that he was charging his element. Once fully charged, Shadow fired his beam, hitting all the guards that were surrounding him. He stopped spinning to see that his tactic worked as all the remaining guards were falling to the ground. His face had a little look of disappointment when he saw that what remaining unicorn guards that were still standing stopped the guard’s descent. The unicorns would be too busy tending to the wounds of their fellow comrades that Shadow used the opportunity to go after Princess Celestia without anymore interruptions.

Princess Celestia was almost at her castle when she heard something coming from behind.

“COMING….FOR….YOU!” Shadow Bolt was once again closing in on her. Enough running, its time I fight back! She turned around and in a flash of light, her body changed. Her mane and tail were no long in a multi colored state. Now they were flames giving her coat a light shade orange and yellow. Her eyes had no pupils as they glowed completely white with flames flowing out. Now that she was in her full power state, a state that she hasn’t used for thousands of years, Princess Celestia charged towards Shadow Bolt.

They clashed each other so hard that a bright light shined from the impact followed by a loud boom. Immediately they flew back from each other and collided again. As soon as they pulled back, Princess Celestia took on the offensive and started firing energy blasts at Shadow. Shadow dodged the blasts as he shot a few of his own at Celestia. The two danced in the sky as they tried to hit each other as they avoided each other’s blasts. Celestia released multiple beams that were homing in on Shadow, who quickly went on the defensive as he tried to outmaneuver the energy beams. However, no matter where or how fast he flew the beams were still locked on him. He tried to fire his energy beam at them but saw that the beams were able to dodge his own. He then tried to shoot the Princess thinking it if he could hit her, the beams of her attack would cancel out, but Celestia protected herself with a barrier that stopped his attack. Shadow kept flying to keep himself from getting hit, until he noticed that the beams were now coming at him from all sides. The only thing Shadow could think of was to build up his power and release it at the right moment.

Princess Celestia could see that all the beams hit their target right at the same time as a cloud of smoke replaced where Shadow Bolt was. Finally its over, she thought seeing what was left of the monster. A gust wind started blowing away the smoke of what remained of him, Soon the Princess was able to see something appearing from the smoke. Her eyes opened wide upon seeing Shadow Bolt still alive and unharmed.

He glared at her, "TIME....TO....TEACH....YOU....LESSON!" his red aura building up.

"I'm a bad student," she said defiantly as she was building up her golden aura.

They charged each other once again, they raised their hooves to give a powerful punch at each other. Their hooves turned into fireballs they collided with each other. The impact caused a bright flash with a loud boom. Celestia quickly cast a barrier around her, Shadow kicked it causing it to shatter. Immediately Shadow slammed both his hooves between Celestia’s head causing her to be disoriented. She quickly recovered as she raised her hooves and slammed them on top of Shadow's head sending him down. He shook it off, flew back up, and retaliated with an uppercut to the jaw. The Princess shot beams at him that were able to pierce him, Shadow started building up his power. Princess Celestia saw this and continued her attack, when she saw that her beams bounced of his aura she quickly put up another barrier to protect herself. Shadow’s power exploded causing the shield to shatter once again, with Celestia too close to Shadow the blast sent her flying back away from him. She quickly flew back while dodging Shadow’s energy beams. She tackled him and they quickly got into a hoof fight. This time they didn’t bother to block each other’s punches as they went all out as each punch hit their faces. At this point, they didn’t care about their injuries or the pain as their only goal was focused on defeating their opponent. They got so into the fight that they didn’t stop when they were punched in the face and blood was running down their snouts and mouths as they immediately retaliated with a punch of their own as if they didn’t get hit with anything at all. Each punch let out a bright flash followed by a boom, giving the illusion that a fierce storm was going on in the sky.

This kept going on for minutes until Celestia shot a beam at Shadow’s face blinding him. She was about to smack him with her powerful wing, but Shadow recovered quickly. As he saw the wing coming at him he retaliated by biting down her wing. Princess Celestia cried out as the sharp burning pain pierced her wing. Shadow continued his assault as repeatedly punch the incapacitated Princess in the gut and face. She then stabbed Shadow in the eye with her horn causing him to let go and she immediately shot him with a beam sending him spinning away from her. She had difficulty flying as she saw her wing was bleeding badly and each flap caused her to wince in pain. It took all she had to just hover in place, she knew that she couldn’t move around anymore. She looked up to see that Shadow had recovered from his spinout and was glaring at her with his one opened eye. She quickly summoned all her remaining power and let out a barrage of energy beams at Shadow. Shadow went into a nosedive as he set his one-way course at the Princess. His speed increased as he was getting closer, the beams hit him but had no effect on him, and they didn’t even slow down his descent. Celestia saw this and concentrated harder to make the beams more powerful, but it looked like it wasn’t working as Shadow kept descending faster and faster. The pain in her head was taking its toll from her intense concentration but she kept her attack going, the aura around Shadow was slowing turning him into a fireball, as he was only a few feet from his target.

The Princess saw this and used up whatever power she had left to stop him, “AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!”

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Shadow yelled as he crashed into Princess Celestia sending them down to castle. They crashed through the already crumbling roof of the throne room and crashed into the podium causing a big explosion, destroying the throne in the process.

During the time Shadow was fighting Princess Celestia in the city, Twilight was in the process of waking her friends. After many minutes of shaking them and shouting their names, they finally awakened.

“What happened?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Ah! Ma head,” said Applejack as she rubbed her head, “ma head hasn’t hurt this much since dat cider drinking contest with Dash last New Year’s Eve.”

“You girls were knocked out when Shadow broke out of his stone prison. The blast sent debris flying knocking you four out in the process,” said Twilight.

“WHAT?!” they all shouted from Twilights response.

“Y-Y-You m-mean he’s f-f-f-free?” asked Fluttershy.

Twilight nodded in response, the answer made Fluttershy quiver in fear. Pinkie walked over to comfort her.

“But dats impossible!” said Applejack, “It took Discord a thousand years before he broke free. How did he do in jus' a few minutes?”

“I’m not sure Applejack. The only thing that I can think of that explain it is that his element was able to break him out of his stone prison.”

“Well it doesn’t matter how he got out,” said Rainbow Dash as she punched her hooves together, “after I’m done with him he’ll wish he stayed a statue.”

“Speaking of which, where is he?” asked Rarity as she looked around and noticed that besides the six of them, the room was empty.

Twilight was about to respond before a loud *BOOM* coming from above stopped her.

They looked up through the holes in the ceiling and saw flashes of light. Whatever the cause of the flashes was moving so fast the six had a hard time focusing on it. After a few moments their eyes were able to see two ponies flying around attacking each other. Pinkie pulled out some binoculars out of her mane and looked to see who it was.

“It’s Princess Celestia……and it looks like she’s fighting Shadow Bolt.”

“What?!” shouted Twilight, “Let me see,” she grabbed the binoculars with her magic. She was too focused about seeing the battle that Twilight didn’t notice that she was choking Pinkie with the binoculars straps.

Twilight watched as she cheered for her mentor as she followed through their movements. She watched as Princess Celestia blasted Shadow away, Shadow then flew right at her as she shot multiple beams at him.

“Princess, move out of the way,” she said. Of course, Twilight was too far away for the Princess to hear her. She watched as Shadow collided with the Princess and they were falling…..right where they were standing.

“EVERYONE GET OUT OF THE WAY, THEY’RE HEADING RIGHT FOR US!”

All six mares ran for cover right when a fireball burst through the ceiling and crash-landed into the Princesses throne, destroying it in the process. The podium was covered in smoke as the girls gathered waiting for the smoke to clear. After a few seconds, they could see something through the smoke. Once the smoke cleared they saw a horrible site, they saw Shadow Bolt still in his fire monster form standing on top of Princess Celestia as her body was back to her old self, she was lying on the ground.

Princess…it can’t be! Twilight looked at her beloved teacher. Her body was bruised all over, her face was beaten and bloodied up, and her right wing was almost completely red. Twilight eyes tear up as seeing the Princess in this state hurt her on the inside. She saw that Princess Celestia was slowly trying to get up. Please get up, Princess. You can do this, stand up and fight back. Celestia was shaking as she rose, she was up to her knees before the pain was too much for her and she fell back to the ground unconscious.

“PRINCESS CELESTIA!” she cried out as she started running towards her. But she didn’t get far as Applejack grabbed her by the tail and stopped her.

“Applejack, what are you doing? Let me go.”

“Ah can’t do dat Twlight.”

“What are you talking about? Let go, she needs me,” she pleaded.

“Don’t be stupid, Twi. If you get up there, he’ll destroy you.”

“I don’t care, I need to help Princess Celestia.”

“Come to your senses, we need to do this together and with a clear head if we ever hope to defeat him.”

Twilight resisted for a few seconds before she was able to take deep breaths to calm down.

“Thanks, Applejack. I’m feeling calm now.” Applejack let go of her tail as Twilight was taking a few breaths.

“Okay, anypony got a plan?”

“I got one,” said Rainbow Dash, “beat him so bad that his red coat is black and blue and then we’ll use the elements while he’s passed out.”

“No, not that,” said Twilight but was too late as Rainbow Dash refused to listen and flew to attack Shadow Bolt.

Shadow stood there on top of the fallen princess of the sun as he enjoyed his victory. The sight in his right eye was still healing after the Princess stabbed it. He was also enjoying that he could relax and breathe since he’s been under constant attack throughout his chase in the city of Canterlot. He could see his breath as he was breathing. His body returned to normal as he was looking at Princess Celestia. He felt a burst of joy seeing her in this state. I guess she was not as powerful as they said she was. That will teach her to mess with me. He was too focused savoring his victory and lack of seeing from the right side of his face that he didn’t see the cyan hoof smashed into it.

Through his good eye it looked liked time had slowed down as his body was falling off the podium in slow motion towards the ground. He could see his blood moving slowly from his snout where Rainbow Dash had kicked him with her hoof. Then time sped up as his body crashed to the cold hard ground. Rainbow Dash landed a few feet away from him, his back facing her. She stood her ground waiting for whatever would happen next. She hoped that her kick had knocked him out when he hit the ground. However, unfortunately for her Shadow was still conscious, as he lay there waiting for the pain in his head to stop. Why is it that SHE keeps interfering? She always gets in my way! His head burned with all the memories of Rainbow Dash and all the things she did to him. His head started shaking from his hatred on the cyan pegasus that was the cause of all his misfortunes. I’VE HAD IT WITH HER! SHE IS NO LONGER GOING TO GET IN MY WAY EVER AGAIN! It seemed that something had snapped inside his head as Shadow started glowing and exploded, causing a tower of smoke to cover him. Rainbow Dash watched and gasped seeing Shadow standing, his body was back in his second stage form. The angry look on his face made Rainbow Dash’s blood run cold.

He started charging his beam as a red energy ball the same size as one of Princess Celestia’s energy attacks.

“BURN!” he fired the beam at Dash. The beam was moving so fast that she barely was able to jump out of its way. She didn’t know that the beam was now heading towards her friends. She turned in time to see the blast hit her friends causing an explosion and smoke to cover the site.

“NOOOOOO!” she cried as she watched her friends were blown up in front of her eyes. She then watched to see the smoke to disperse revealing a purple dome that had protected her friends. The dome vanished as Twilight fell to the ground exhausted at the power she had to use to keep the barrier from shattering.

Rainbow Dash was happy to see that her friends weren’t killed that she was too distracted to see Shadow charging at her from behind. By the time, she turned her head. Shadow gave her a powerful uppercut that sends her flying leaving a bloody trail from her broken snout. Shadow flew up and stopped as soon as he was above Rainbow Dash, then he gave a powerful buck to the stomach that send her crashing to the ground on her back as he dive-bombed after her. The combined impact left Dash gasping for air, as she couldn’t move. Her eyes widened to see Shadow coming right at her as she tried to recover. Just as Shadow was about to land on Rainbow Dash, a blue beam hit him in the face blinding him as his descent slowed down in the process. This gave Dash the moment as she was able to roll away, Shadow crashed where she was just laying a moment ago.

She looked to see that it was Rarity who shot him, “Now’s your chance, darling. Give him everything you got.”

Rainbow nodded as she charged at the blinded pegasus. Shadow sight returned to see Rainbow Dash coming right at him. She immediately started punching his face repeatedly as her hooves were covered in blood. The adrenaline was keeping her from feeling pain as she didn’t pull back from her punches or from the burns her hoofs were getting from coming into contact with Shadows fiery body. She then launched Shadow to the air where she attack Shadow from all sides. Shadow was able to hover in place as he looked to find his hated enemy. It didn’t take long before he was hit from behind, before he had chance to recover, he was attack from all his sides. Rainbow Dash was going too fast that he couldn’t see where she was coming from until it was too late. She was able to use the same tactic the pegasi guards used on him with the exception that she was doing it all by herself. He could tell that her speed was faster than any of the guards he fought, he tried to stand his ground from the assault but was failing miserably. The assault ended when Rainbow Dash slammed her hooves on the back of Shadow’s head causing him to crash to the ground face first.

“Time to finish this,” she said as she flew through one of the holes in the ceiling and kept going higher and higher to the sky.

“She’s not doing what ah think she’s doing, is she?” asked Applejack.

“I think she is,” responded Twilight, “She’s going to do a Sonic Rainboom.”

Rainbow Dash flew until she was high enough and dive-bombed back to earth. She kept her hooves in front of her as she pushed herself to fly harder.

“Come on faster,” her eyes were starting to water up from the wind. In a few seconds, she could see the cone of air forming in front of her. She could feel the force of the cone pushing her back but she kept going.

“NOW!” she used all her might and broke the sound barrier as a shockwave rainbow ring appeared over the skies of Canterlot.

Shadow, with both his eyes healed, looked up to see spectacle in the sky. He saw Rainbow Dash coming right at him like a rainbow missile. He tried getting up, but the pounding pain in his head made him too dizzy to get up. He looked around to notice that a purple dome was covering where he was laying and saw that it stopped when it touched the ceiling. It took a few seconds to figure out that Twilight had trapped him. He glared at the purple unicorn as she concentrated on keeping the barrier up to keep Shadow trapped as well to lessen the damage of the castle from the impeding explosion.

“YOUR….ALL….DEA-” he didn’t finish as Rainbow Dash landed on top of him causing a huge explosion as the inside of the dome was filled with the rainbow mushroom cloud that shot out of the only opening through the ceiling.

The explosion was getting too big for Twilight to contain, but she kept her spell up. She kept concentrating as the strain was becoming too much for her to handle as drops of sweat rolled down her head. She kept the spell going until she reached her limit and the dome shattered that sent a shockwave that pushed everypony back until they hit the wall. After a few seconds the blast finally stopped, everyone started walking towards the crash site that was still covered in cloud of rainbow smoke. Once the smoke had settled, they saw a big crater that was deep. They looked down to see two ponies, Rainbow Dash was standing while Shadow Bolt was lying on the ground in front of her, his coat had returned to its normal state.

Rainbow Dash stood triumphantly over Shadow’s body. She would see him twitch every now and then but it looked like he wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon. To add insult to injury she spit in his face, “That’ll teach you to mess with the Dash.”

Her friends started cheering over Rainbows victory. It looked liked it was finally over. Rainbow Dash called out to her friends, “It’s over girls, I did it. He’s finally been stopped once and for all,” her friends cheered harder from her statement. Rainbow smiled to cover her pain, “Ugh, I think I over did it,” she said to herself.” She looked up to her friends, “I’ll be right up in a minute,” she lowered her head and spoke in Shadow’s ear, “Now you stay down on the ground.”

“Now you stay down on the ground.”

The words echoed in Shadow’s head.

“Stay down on the ground.”

Why does that sound familiar? The words continued only the voice had changed.

“Stay down on the ground……….where you belong.”

“You don’t belong here.”

“Why don’t you crawl back to the cave you came from?”

“Sir, we ask you to leave this establishment. This place accommodates ponies, not……your kind.”

“Come on guys, let’s leave this freak in the dumpster, where he belongs with the rest of the garbage.”

“GET OUT OF HERE, YOU DON’T BELONG HERE!”

Shadow’s head were filled with voices of ponies that had treated him like dirt claiming he didn’t belong anywhere he went.

I…belong.

He could feel something light up inside him.

I belong.

The fire inside started to grow.

I BELONG!

He felt his power returning as the fire burned inside him.

“I….belong.”

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash looked down to see Shadow starting to move.

“I BELONG!” he started getting up.

“Impossible, why can’t you just stay down?” Rainbow Dash took to the skies once again. “Let’s see you get up from this,” as she prepared herself for another Sonic Rainboom.

After flying into the sky, Rainbow Dash was now higher than last time as she hovered getting ready to attack.

Shadow had finally gotten up and looked up to the skies, he looked at the small blue dot that was Rainbow Dash.

He looked with so much rage boiled inside him, “I BELONG!” he changed to his second form and launched himself into the night sky.

“What is that?” Rainbow Dash saw something red heading straight to the sky, more accurately it was heading straight at her. Soon the red dot became something more, she saw Shadow Bolt coming right at her. She could tell that he was flying at great speed that she could see the air cone in front of him.

“No way, there is no possible way he can do that.” Nevertheless it was, in only a few seconds Shadow burst through the cone breaking the sound barrier. Unlike Dash’s Rainboom his shockwave ring was completely red. Rainbow Dash was too stunned that somepony was able to do something that only she could do, she forgot that Shadow was coming right at her until it was too late. With the momentum he got from breaking the sound barrier, Shadow charged at Rainbow Dash. His hooves collided with her stomach, sending her higher into the sky. The blow took all the air out of Rainbow Dash’s lungs she couldn’t move or breathe as she sailed through the sky. The momentum caused her to spin around and she saw the sky instead of the ground. Her eyes open wider than ever before and her pupils shrink when she saw that Shadow Bolt was already hovering above her and she was getting closer.

He smirked at her and then he flew down and tackled Rainbow Dash. He immediately started punching her face repeatedly with such ferocity. It took only a few seconds before Dash’s face was completely bloodied up as they both were heading back down to the ground. He let all his anger with every punch that hit Rainbow Dash's face, as he was enjoying himself. After his barrage of punches, Shadow stopped and grabbed onto Rainbow Dash, his fiery coat already starting to burn her. While still holding onto her, Shadow kept going faster and soon the cone of air started forming in front of Dash’s head. After nose-diving a few more seconds, Shadow for the second time he broke the sound barrier, the red ring spread across the night sky. As soon as he broke the sound barrier, Shadow let go of Rainbow Dash sent her plummeting at super speed back to the castle.

Twilight looked to skies as she saw for the second time a red shockwave ring shot across the sky. Then she noticed something coming down at an extremely fast pace. She grabbed Pinkie’s binoculars that were on the ground and looked that the falling object. Her eyes opened wide when she saw that it was Rainbow Dash, who was falling to the ground at great speed.

At that speed, the crash will certainly kill her! Twilight immediately used her magic to stop Rainbow Dash from plummeting. However, Dash was falling too fast to stop her and Twilight was still recovering from protecting herself and her friends from Shadows last attack. Nevertheless, Twilight pushed it to her limits to save her friends from certain doom. She could see that Rainbow Dash was slowing down, but she was coming in too hot, Twilight concentrated harder to slow Dash’s descent even if it killed her. Rainbow Dash was slowing down but it wasn’t enough to stop her, in the end Rainbow Dash crashed into the crater that she created moments ago. Twilight rushed over the crash site and looked down, Rainbow Dash was lying on the ground belly down, her wings were spread out on the ground beside her, and she had some cuts, bruises, and burns all over her body.

However, Twilight saw that she was still alive as Rainbow Dash looked up to her smiling, “Wow…..you saved me Twilight, for a second there I thought I was a goner,” Rainbow Dash started laughing after coming so close to death and surviving.

Twilight smiled seeing Rainbow Dash safe and sound.

WHOOSH

*BOOM*

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

It had happened so fast that it took Twilight a few moments before she saw what happened. Shadow Bolt had landed on top of Rainbow Dash, more specifically he landed right on top of her wings, crushing them in the process.

Shadow got off Rainbow Dash as he savored the moment, he watched Rainbow Dash rolling on the ground crying out in pain. He saw her wings were completely bent out of shape as Dash painfully wrapped them around her body. With tear in her eyes, she cried out from the extreme pain she was feeling. Her cries were like music to his ears. This is wonderful. He was feeling so much satisfaction at seeing the mare that ruined his life groveling in pain right in front of him. It was the closure he was waiting after all those years during his travels trying to find a new home.

He leaned down to the sobbing mare, “APOLOGY….ACCEPTED,” he left her and started walking up the crater on the opposite side that Twilight was standing who was too shocked to do anything. Once he was out of the crater he looked back to see Rainbow Dash in a fetal position crying in pain. He then shot some spit down at her face. He turned his head, only to be greeted by two orange hooves that smashed into his face. The impact would have sent Shadow Bolt flying but he didn’t even budge, it was as if Applejack had bucked a mountain. Shadow noticed that he didn’t feel any pain from the kick. He knew that the kick did some damage as he felt the snap of his nose being broken and he could taste blood in his mouth. Applejack turned to see what her kick had done, her eyes widened when she saw that her kick did nothing to Shadow, as he stood there glaring at her. She quickly turned around to buck him again, at the same time Shadow did the same thing. Their hind hooves collided with such force that it made a loud boom that echoed throughout the throne room.

*SNAP*

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” a cry followed afterwards. Applejack was now lying on the ground in pain, she turned her head to see that her hind hooves were broken. The force from Shadow’s and her hooves collided was too much for Applejacks legs as they snapped like a twig. She was blubbering in pain looking at her broken hooves, she could see bone sticking out piercing her flesh. She continued sobbing and screaming from the intense pain, that she didn’t noticed that Shadow was now standing in front of her.

He returned to his normal self as he looked down at the sobbing earth pony. While he enjoyed Rainbow’s cries, Applejacks was a different story. Her screams were more like daggers to his ears than music. He raised one hoof and punched Applejack in the face, knocking her out in the process. It’s unknown whether Shadow knocked Applejack out so she wouldn’t be conscious anymore to feel the pain of her broken hooves or he just did it to shut her up. Three down, four to go.

He started walking away when Fluttershy flew at him and smack him in the face. He looked at the brave or stupid yellow pegasus, she then with all her might gave Shadow the most powerful Stare she’s ever done. Unfortunately, like last time the stare had no effect on him, he responded with a powerful head butt knocking her out instantly. Four down, three to go.

Then out of the corner of his eye, he saw something coming right at him. He turned to see Rarity charging at him, she leapt and extended her hoof to kick him, but he saw this coming and dodge at the last moment. Once Rarity had passed him, he grabbed her by the tail, swung her around, and let go. Her body flew through the air and stopped when her back hit one of the room’s pillars. She let out a painful gasp and fell to the ground unable to move.

Five down, two to go Shadow turned around to face the last two ponies standing, he saw Twilight standing outside of the crater completely paralyzed from shock. He then turned his sight on Pinkie Pie who had ran to where her party cannon was lying on its side. She turned it right side up and aimed it at Shadow Bolt, as she was getting ready to fire. However, before she could press the button, Shadow shot out a beam that went into the cannons barrel causing it to explode. The blast sent Pinkie flying back and she crashed into the wall behind her knocking her unconscious.

And then there was one, as he set his sights once again on Twilight.

Twilight couldn’t believe what she’s witnessed. She saw her mentor and friends get taken out one by one, and now she was alone with the monster responsible. She could still hear Rainbow Dash cries from inside the crater, Applejack and Fluttershy were both lying on the ground unconscious, Rarity was still awake but she wasn’t able to move, her face showed that she was in complete agony. Pinkie Pie was leaning against a wall with her eyes closed, and Princess Celestia was still lying on the podium where she crashed, she hasn’t move once since then. Now her eyes were on Shadow Bolt who was also staring at her.

Her body started shaking out of anger, it was burning up inside her and she wanted to let it out. I'll make him pay for all this! He wont get away with this, not while I'm still standing In an instant her purple coat had turned white, her eyes turned red, and her mane and tail turn into fire. THIS IS FOR MY FRIENDS!

What’s with everypony turning their manes and tails on fire? That was all Shadow could think about as he stared at the new Twilight Sparkle. Before he could start thinking on what to do, she immediate started firing energy blasts at him. He avoided the blasts and started flying around the room, blasting Twilight in the process. She would jump out of the way and immediately retaliate with her own beams. The kept this up for what seemed like hours, none of their blasts hit their target. Shadow would easily dodge them while in the air and Twilight would teleport to avoid his. It was harder for Shadow since he had to quickly look around to find the purple unicorn before he would get shot by one of her beams. This dance continued until one of Twilight beams grazed one of Shadow’s wings, causing him to fall to the ground. As soon as he got up, Twilight appeared right next to him and punched him right in the face. The impact knocked him down, as he was about to get up, Twilight bucked him and sent him rolling. Once he stopped, he got back up to fight back only to see that Twilight was nowhere to be found. In an instant she teleported right in front of him and smacked him, before he could retaliate she teleported away. Then she popped next to him and used her horn that was glowing as a sword as she slashed him across his side and then teleported again.

By now Shadow was getting fed up with her tactics, as soon as he heard her teleport right behind him he smacked her away with his wing. The force sent her rolling across the room, she teleport to avoid crashing to a nearby pillar and instead crashed into Shadow Bolt knocking him down. The impact was able to stop Twilight’s momentum as she got up. She could feel how much pain she was in from the blow she received. She determined not to risk herself anymore in hoof-to-hoof combat and returned to long-range attacks as she once again started shooting beams at Shadow. Shadow Bolt was able to roll away from incoming beams. Once he got up, he saw that Twilight shot a powerful beam at him. He defended himself by shooting a beam of his own. The beams sailed across the room and hit each other. Now the two were in a standoff as they put more power in their beams to see who would win.

“Why?” said Twilight as she concentrated her beam to push his back, “why did do you come back?! You would have been left alone like you wanted on the moon.”

“Oh sure, you would think that,” he said as he tried to push Twilights beam back, “what made you think that would make me happy? What she did to me was the worst thing ever. She made it look like I didn’t belong, but I DO BELONG!”

“Why do you keep saying that? Ever since you came back you keep saying that over and over,” she could feel that she was winning, as she saw that her beam was getting closer to Shadow.

“Because wherever I go I would always be told that I didn’t belong. Those ponies didn’t see me as one of their own, they saw something else. Everywhere I went they say that I didn’t belong with them and it made me feel like some kind of freak. Cloudsdale, Balitmare, Manehattan, Trottingham, Appleloosa, Fillydelphia, Van Hoover, Detrot, Hoofington, and Las Pegasus,” he pushed back Twilights beam as he named each city and town he visited the beam was now getting closer to Twilight. “Every one of them said I didn’t belong and then SHE did that,” he titled his head to the unconscious princess of the sun. “When she sent me to the moon, she was basically saying that I didn’t belong anywhere in the world. That I was so monstrous that I was not the same as everypony else, that I didn’t belong to live with any living thing! The thought of that made me furious, I belong on this world just as much as everypony else, and that’s why I couldn’t let her get away with that! But no more. Too long, I have stayed my hooves. No more. Today, this will end. No more. NO MORE!” his aura was growing, “I BELONG, I BELONG!” he changed once again. Changing made him more powerful as he beam was heading to Twilight at a fast pace. She concentrated harder and used all her power as she tried to push it back, but it wasn’t enough. All she could do was watch as the beam got closer until it finally hit its target. She screamed in pain as Twilights body vanished as the beam consumed her, it continued until it hit a wall causing a small explosion. When the dust settled, Shadow stared to see Twilight back to normal lying on the ground all bruised up. Twilight couldn’t move, she was too exhausted and in too much pain to move. All she could do was watch as the fiery monster started walking slowly towards her.

I’ve have to get out of here, I have to escape. she tried to get up but it was too much for her to move. Twilight watched, as Shadow Bolt was getting closer. He’s going to kill me. I’m going to die, I’m going to die. Oh Celestia, I’m going to die! She shut her eyes as she waited for what would end her fate. The clip clop sounds of Shadows hooves getting closer were the only thing she heard with her eyes closed. The sounds got closer and closer until it finally stopped meaning that Shadow Bolt was standing right in front of her. Twilight’s body started trembling as she waited for the end to come. The silence and waiting was making Twilight fear rise higher wondering what was taking so long. After waiting a few more moments, nothing happened. Twilight opened her eyes to find out what was going on. She looked up to see the fiery Pegasus staring at her, he then looked up to the night sky staring out into space through one of the many holes in the ceiling. After a few seconds, he let out a sigh and changed back to his normal self. He continued looking at the sky before he lowered his head and was looking at Twilight once again.

They stared at each other in silence until finally Twilight broke it, “Well, what are you waiting for?”

“I’m waiting for you to admit it.”

“Admit what?”

“You know what, I want to hear you say it.”

Twilight started thinking about what he was talking about, after spending a minute of thinking she figured out what he meant. She had a sad look on her face as she looked around the room seeing her friends and mentors battered bodies. Her eyes started tearing up as she lowered her head to avoid looking at him.

“You were right, I was wrong.”

“Huh? What was that?”

“I was wrong, I admit it.”

He brought a hoof under her chin and raised her head so that she was looking at his face, “You were wrong about what?”

“I was…..wrong about………friendship being more powerful than hate.” She continued to look at him as she eyes watered up. “You were right, Hate…..hate truly is more powerful than…...friendship.”

Shadow smiled after getting Twilight to admit that she was wrong. He removed his hoof from under Twilights chin, she quickly lowered her head to avoid his gaze as she started crying. My friends…..Princess Celestia, I’m so sorry. This was all my fault because…….because I wrong and you all paid the price for my failure. Her tears slid down her face and fell to the ground.

BE STILL, Thy Hating Heart!

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"Anger begins with folly, and ends with repentance." ― Beverly Sills

"It's easy to be angry, but it's impossible to forgive as long as we believe we are in the right all the time." ― Devourlord

"You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger." ― Buddha

Chapter 13: BE STILL, Thy Hating Heart!

The inside of the throne room was silent, the only sounds that could be heard were the soft whimpers of Twilight Sparkle. After admitting her defeat, she started sobbing. The thought of defeat was more painful to her than her physical injuries. It was more painful for her knowing that this was all her fault to begin with. If I hadn’t tried to prove Shadow wrong none of this would have ever happened. This was Twilight’s flaw, she always had to prove that she was right about everything. Ever since she was a filly attending at Celestia’s School of Gifted Unicorns, she was always studying, always raising her hoof up to answer every question. Since she had read so much about everything she needed to know, she always tried to show that she did. There were times that she even proved her teachers wrong whenever they made a mistake. Showing how much she knew made her feel happy, she loved it when she was right all time, and eventually this road led her to develop a superiority complex. Now it’s because of that is the reason she’s on the floor in a torn up castle in Canterlot.

She looked back up to the one who proved her wrong as he stood in front of her with a smile on his face. What’s he going to do now? Is he going to kill me? Will he take over Canterlot? From the looks on his face, he too was thinking about what he’s going to do too. Her concentration was broken when she noticed something going on above him. It started small but started to grow, soon the ceiling was covered by a storm cloud. So he’s going to electrocute us to death Twilight determined as she watched the clouds moving around. But then she looked at Shadow’s face and saw that he was looking up and had a look of confusion on his face. He turned his attention back to Twilight, “And what do you think you’re doing?”

Now Twilight was the one that had confusion all over her face, “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, I know you’re up to something.”

“I’m up to something? It’s you that’s up to something, I’m not the one with weather powers.”

“I’m not doing this,” he replied.

“If you’re not the one who’s doing this, then who is?”

As if on cue a loud *BOOM* came from the other side of the room. Then a lightning bolt struck down causing a bright light to fill the room. Twilight and Shadow had to close their eyes from the intensity of the light. Once the light had vanished, they both opened their eyes and saw somepony standing where the lightning bolt struck. Twilight eyes widened to see that it was none other than Princess Luna.

Before anyone could say or do anything, the princess of the night looked at Shadow Bolt and shouted in her royal Canterlot voice, “BE STILL FOUL BEAST!” she immediately charged her horn, shot a lightning bolt at Shadow Bolt, and electrocuted him. Since Twilight was too close to Shadow Bolt, the brightness of his body being electrocuted was too bright for Twilight’s eyes that she had to cover them with her hooves. She could still hear the sounds of electrocution continuing for a few moments before the sound died out. Twilight kept her eyes closed as she debated whether to open them or not. The thought of opening her eyes to see a burned corpse lying right in front of her made her nauseous. But in the end curiosity won again as always and she opened her eyes…...to see Shadow Bolt still standing completely unharmed.

Princess Luna couldn’t believe it, after returning from her royal duties with the ambassadors of Saddle Arabia, she couldn’t believe in what she saw. Her home of Canterlot was almost in ruins. She rushed to the castle to see it was also in the same state. As she hurried to find her sister, she sensed a powerful dark aura coming from the throne room. She used her weather powers to conceal herself from whatever was responsible for this. She arrived ready to strike whatever evil was responsible to see a sight she never thought she would ever witness. Her sister was severely injured and she saw the element bearers were also sharing the same fate. She saw the one called Twilight Sparkle on the ground where a stallion was standing over her. Once her eyes focused on the mysterious stallion she felt the same dark presence coming from inside him, she knew that he was responsible for all this destruction. She was so angry that she didn’t want to give this stallion the opportunity to attack. She made her presence known to her opponent, catching him off guard. She summoned her magic, launched a preemptive strike, and electrocuted the stallion before he realized what was going on.

She watched as his body was consumed by intensity of her lightning attack, the electrocution was so powerful that she could see the stallions skeleton before a cloud of smoke erupted covering the stallions smoldering corpse. She smirked seeing that she was able to prevent anymore destruction. With the menace out of the way, she could now focus on getting her sister and the element bearers the medical attention they so desperately needed and to get the answers she wanted. Since it looked liked Twilight was the only one who could provide the answers, she would attend to her first. But before she could take her first step, the smoke cleared to reveal the dark stallion had survived her assault with no signs of injuries. That’s impossible, nopony could have survived that. They stared at each other in silence until the red pegasus started walking towards her.

“HALT!” she shouted.

But the stallion kept walking.

“WE COMMAND THEE TO HALT, OR FACE OUR WRATH!” she warned him, but her threat was ignored once again as the stallion kept walking. She charged her horn and launched another lightning bolt, this attack more powerful than her previous one. The bolt hit its target as she watched his body light up. She ended the attack and witnessed that once again the stallion was alive and unharmed. He resumed his advance towards her.

After two failed attempts to stop this stallion, Princess Luna was starting to get nervous. She called on her powers again and launched the most powerful lightning bolt she’s ever used at the stallion. An attack this powerful would turn anypony into ash, she was stunned when that wasn’t the result as the stallion was still standing and continued walking towards her. The princess of the night was getting worried as she kept her attack going while the used the storm clouds above her to strike down her foe. A barrage of lightning bolts struck the stallion turning him into a lightning rod as every bolt hit him. However, even with the extra power he continued his advanced. To him it was as if nothing was happening to him. Nevertheless, Princess Luna was determined to stop this beast as she continued the assault hoping that her enemy would finally fall. But no matter how much power she used, nothing was working, as the stallion was now only a few feet in front of her. She kept her attack going until the strain of using too much power took its toll and she stopped the attack right when the stallion was standing right in front of her.

The princess was breathing heavily as she looked down at the stallion in front of her. Even though she was slightly higher than he was, she felt slightly intimidated and frightened as he was staring at her in silence. She waited to see what the pegasus would do to retaliate, after a few moments the stallion broke the silence and said three words that surprised her,

“Who are you?”

“You were right, Hate…..hate truly is more powerful than…...friendship.”

Hearing those words made Shadow Bolt extremely happy as he stood there basking in his victory. He could feel his nose snapping back in place but still didn’t feel any pain I finally did it, I proved her wrong he had a big grin on his face. After enjoying the moment Shadow had a question that he hadn’t thought of since this whole thing started What do I do now? This question had stumped as what he should do Well I proved my point. Maybe I could stay and rule Equestria, or I could get revenge on all those who tormented me? That would take a long time or I could just leave and find another home? Home? Shadow was reminded that he no longer had a home to go back to, since Princess Celestia had destroyed it. Even though he could make another one, he felt it wouldn’t be the same. His home was probably to only thing closest to a friend. It was always there, it was his sanctuary, a place he could always return to, and it provided a roof over his head to protect him from the weather. His thoughts were interrupted when something was sparkling in front of him. He looked down and eyes were focused on the piece of jewelry on top of Twilights head. Oh right, the elements. I totally forgot about them. He remembered the reason why he came to Canterlot, before he have any thoughts of leaving and trying to find another home he had to destroy the one thing that could kill him. Even though he defeated the bearers, he had to make sure that, the elements were destroyed or they would hunt him down and the whole process would start all over again.

Before he could start with Twilights crown thingy element, he was interrupted when storm clouds appeared over his head. This confused him since he knew that he wasn’t responsible, and he told Twilight when she accused him. Then he turned around to see a mare standing in front of the step to the podium. Who is that? He wondered but before he could find out she shouted and hit him with a lightning bolt and he was consumed in a cloud of smoke. His couldn’t see through the cloud and stood there until it was cleared. Once it did, he looked at his body to notice that he didn’t suffer any injuries. I didn’t even feel anything, not so much as a tickle he determined that the mares attack must have been a very weak attack. For some reason since the attack didn’t hurt him, he wasn’t feeling any anger towards the mare. He was curious to find out who this mare was, so he started walking towards her. She shouted telling him to stop but he didn’t, when he ignored her threat she attacked him again and like last time he didn’t feel anything or sustain any injuries. He continued walking at a slow pace as the dark blue-coated mare continued attacking him, she even used the storm clouds above them to strike him down, but her attacks weren’t very effective as he kept walking all the way until he was standing in front of her. He didn’t retaliate for her weak attacks, something was telling him that she wasn’t a threat or maybe it was his curiosity that kept him from attacking. He stared at the mare in silence now that he was closer he got a good look at her. She was a little bit taller than him, which for a stallion made them feel uncomfortable. She was wearing jewelry similar to Princess Celestia, her mane and tail looked like it was made out the night sky, but the one thing that boggled his mind was he noticed that she had both wings and a horn.

Two of them? I thought that Princess Celestia was the only one of her kind. Since Shadow traveled all over Equestria and since he wasn’t treated well in anyplace, he mostly lived in isolation. So because of that, he never heard the news of Princess Luna’s return. Therefore, he decided to get answers for his curiosity and asked who this mystery mare was. When he asked her, the look on her face showed that she didn’t expect a question like that.

After waiting a few seconds she said, “Dost thou joke with us?”

Now Shadow had a look on his face from her response. The way she spoke to him was strange, and he wondered why she talked like that. After figuring out what she said he responded, “Uh….no, I’m not joking here. Why do you think I’m playing with you?”

By this time neither of them noticed that Princess Celestia had awakened, her eyes widened when she saw her little sister standing in front of Shadow. She tried to get up but she found that she didn’t have any strength to move. She tried calling out to her sister, “Luna, get away from him. Run away before it’s too late,” but her voice wasn’t loud enough for Luna to hear her. So now, all she could do was lie there and watch.

“Thou can’t be serious, how could thou not know who we are?”

“I am serious, I really have no clue who you are.”

She started hovering and spoke in her loud voice from earlier, “I AM PRINCESS LUNA, SISTER OF CELESTIA AND PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT!” After introducing herself, she floated back down to the ground.

After Shadow’s ears had recovered from the loudness of the mares voice he responded, “Sorry, never heard of you.”

It seemed his word hurt the Princess as her face showed signs of sadness.

“I didn’t know there was another princess, I always thought that Princess Celestia was the only princess in Equestria. So now, I’m curious as to how I never heard from you?”

Twilight who was still lying on the ground on the other side of the room was watching the whole time and decided to answer Shadow’s question, “That because she was imprisoned for a thousand years.”

“A thousand years?” Why does that sound familiar? He looked back at Twilight then back to Luna then to Twilight again, “how can she lock up for a thousand years and still be alive? She doesn’t even look that old to be a thousand years old.”

Since Shadow was looking at Twilight, he didn’t notice the slight blush Luna was giving off from Shadows comment.

“The Princesses are immortal so they can live for thousands of years,” said Twilight, “as to how you don’t know her, she went by another name that you might know.”

“What name?”

“Nightmare Moon.”

Shadows eyes widened after hearing the name, he turned back to Luna, “Is that true?”

Luna looked at him seeing that hearing her other name affected him. She nodded and said, “Tis true, Nightmare Moon was me.”

Shadow backed away a few feet after confirming his answer. Princess Luna was a bit saddened in seeing him back away from her. She still didn’t like it seeing ponies fear her even though she was no longer evil.

She’s real? She really does exist Shadow mind was going into overdrive after hearing that Nightmare Moon. I thought she was just a made up story to tell young ponies so they would behave, but that’s no longer the case. Sure I knew about the Elements of Harmony being real awhile back, but I didn’t think that part of the story was true as well. She’s real and is standing in front of me. heh…heh…hehehe..hehehehehehehe he started laughing in his head after finally coming to terms to what he heard. She’s real. SHE’S REAL! Then Shadow did something that nopony expected of him doing……he lowered himself and bowed down to Princess Luna.

Twilight, Princess Celestia, and Luna couldn’t believe what they just witnessed. To think that someone who didn’t show that he cared about Celestia’s authority and the horrible things he did to everypony would bow down to the princess of the night. Luna was more surprised than the others, usually when ponies bowed down to her they did it out of fear. However, as she looked at the stallion in front of her, she could see that he was bowing not out of fear of her but out of respect.

“I can’t believe it, to think I never would have thought in my life that I would ever meet the princess that became Nightmare Moon. This day just keeps getting better and better.”

Princess Luna couldn’t believe to what she was hearing, somepony who wasn’t afraid of her but excited to see her. Even though she knew that the stallion was a threat, she decided to keep him in a good mood since she could tell that he was more powerful than he looked and most likely would be able to beat her if it came down to a fight.

“Rise my fellow subject and identify yourself.”

He got up and introduced himself, “My name is Shadow Bolt and it is an honor to meet you.”

“Why is that?” she said as everyone was wondering the same thing.

“Well it’s not every day that I get to meet my idol, especially when I find out that she’s real and not make believe.”

“I’m…your idol?”

He nodded.

“Why?”

“Because were the same. You’re the only one who knows how bad it is to be alone, ignored, and hated.”

Luna was stunned to what Shadow Bolt was saying.

“You know, I have been insulted all my life. Any insult you could think of, I’ve been called. Lately, everypony has been calling me a changeling, whatever that is. Anyway, I remember a couple of years ago when I was once called the Spawn of Nightmare Moon. At the time, I didn’t know what that meant so I didn’t understand the insult. Therefore, I decided to find out what that meant so I read the story of Nightmare Moon. The story about the princess of the night from a long time ago. Who was lonely and underappreciated by her talent of raising the moon. How all the ponies worshipped and loved her older sister who raised the sun and was ignored by everypony. Who only wanted the respect and love that her sister got, that she decided to do something about it by using the power of her jealously and hatred, but in the end she was defeated and banished to the moon for all of eternity. After reading the story, I realized how we were alike. I was lonely, ignored, and hated my whole life and even though I thought it was just a story, finding out there was someone who had felt what that was like too, kind of made me feel happy. Sure, the only difference between us was that I was constantly beaten and you weren’t. However, it was unfair on how we were treated, when we didn’t do anything to deserve it. That’s when I learned how powerful hate can be and with its power could make me stronger that I wouldn’t need anypony. And it’s all because you were an inspiration to me.”

Princess Luna was shocked at what Shadow said. She was surprised about hearing how he was treated. She did feel some sympathy for this poor soul since she did know what it felt like to be lonely and she knew that she was still hated and feared when she returned from the moon. Even though Shadow had respected her for this, she wasn’t proud of it. She didn’t expect that she would be an inspiration for hate because of her actions as Nightmare Moon and she knew that telling him that he’s wrong would likely set him off.

“We-I want to say that even though I’m happy that thou respects me, I’m not proud that you misinterpret my actions when I was Nightmare Moon.”

She could already see it was starting as Shadow’s smile disappeared but she had to set the record straight.

“Even though at the time I felt justified and we did gain power from our-my hatred, afterwards I knew that what I did was wrong and I have regretted it ever since. In the end I’m grateful that Nightmare Moon was purged from me thanks to the Elements of Harmony which shows that what they represent, the power of friendship is more powerful than anything.”

“Well I beg to differ, Princess. In fact if you had shown up five minutes earlier, then you would have heard miss know it all over there,” he titled his head towards Twilight, “saying that she was wrong and I was right. I’m pretty sure the rest of her element friends would agree with her…..if they were conscious to admit it,” he looked around to see the rest of the element bearers still indisposed.

“Is that why thou tried to destroy Canterlot and attacked my sister?”

“Your sister had that coming, so she deserved it,” he glared at Celestia. Luna started feeling a surge of power coming from him, more specifically she was sensing that it was coming from the necklace that was around his neck, and she noticed something was going on with his eyes. After a few seconds, they returned to normal, “As for Canterlot, that was more about making a point.”

“What point was that?”

“That I wasn’t going to be Equestria’s punching bag anymore. Everywhere I go, everpony treated me cruelly without any reason. In addition, anypony who has gone to Canterlot knows how the residents treat themselves all high and mighty and treated anypony that wasn’t born of high class as somepony beneath them. Basically, I was treated like a nopony in Canterlot everywhere. So imagine how I would be treated here if normal everyday ponies treated me badly, how would the so called higher class treat me? By taking them down off their mighty pedestal and treated them as somepony beneath me, everypony will now think twice about messing with me ever again.”

Princess Luna didn’t like what she was hearing. How could somepony attack a city of innocent ponies because of the actions of others? She could see in Shadow’s eyes that in his mind he truly believed that he did the right thing. She was beginning to wonder if he was acting on his own or from the influence of the necklace.

“And the Elements of Harmony bearers? What was their crime?”

“Besides proving Twilight wrong, that was about my survival.”

“Pray tell me what thou means?”

“Well they provoke me into fighting with them, I told them to leave me be but they wouldn’t listen. So I had to defend myself, I fought and defeated them. They threatened to end me by using their elements, so I had to do everything I could to stop them. I flew here to Canterlot to destroy the elements so they couldn’t kill me. Of course things didn’t go quite as according to plan, but nevertheless I stop them and proved my point at the same time.”

“And why would they try to end thee?” while Luna hasn’t spent much time with the element bearers, she knew that they wouldn’t be like this. There was more to this and she wanted to know more.

“Because of this,” he pointed to the necklace he was wearing, “they thought I was too dangerous to have this. They actually thought I would go around and attacking ponies like some kind of rabid animal.”

“Isn’t that what thou did?” she gesture her hoof around the room to prove her point.

“No, that was different. I did this to prove a point, I wanted to show that I wasn’t going to let nopony push me around anymore. To prove that I wasn’t some kind of weak creature but somepony strong enough to defend himself should the situation rises. I brought Canterlot, Celestia, and the so-called Elements of Harmony down to their knees. I’m tired of being treated different, I am just like everypony else no matter what they believe. They treated me like I’m some kind of monster, I AM NOT A MONSTER!”

In the heat of the moment, Shadow stomped his hoof down hard on the ground, *CRACK* which resulted with a sharp pain in his hoof. OW! The pain caused his aura to burst out of his body. Luna watched as Shadow’s body was covered by crimson fire and his eyes glowed red. She charged her horn in preparation to defend herself if Shadow was going to attack her.

Shadow raised his hoof to see what the cause of piercing pain in his hoof was. He looked to see what looked like a piece of glass sticking out of his hoof. He looked down to see the floor covered by shards of glass. Stupid glass! I’ll smash it into dust. He pulled the piece out of his hoof with his mouth and saw how deep the glass went through, he glared at the pieces as he was about to get his revenge when he saw something that caused him to suddenly stop. He looked at the glass pieces and stared at the thing that made his blood turn cold…..his own reflection.

Is that…me? He stared at his reflection. He saw how the aura was covering his body giving the illusion that he was on fire. Next he saw his eyes, the way they glowed as he stared at them while they stared back made him uncomfortable. He continued to stare in silence not paying attention to anypony around him.

Princess Luna watched as Shadow was looking at his reflection. Seeing an opportunity, Luna used her magic and cast a spell on the distracted pegasus. Out of the storm clouds above them, small particles that looked liked tiny stars flowed down and landed on top of Shadow’s head. As he continued staring, his aura was slowly fading away. What is this? He asked himself. I don’t look like this, I look like….a monster. He backed away from his reflection as if it was going to attack him, his aura had completely vanished and his eyes returned to normal. He raised his head and looked around the room. Then as if his eyes were opened for the first time, he saw how the room was in ruins and saw the lying beaten bodies of the elements bearers.

Did I really do all this? He already knew the answer to the question but he couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t stand the look of the room, he turned his head down, and stared at the floor. He stood in there in silence for what seemed liked minutes before he spoke. His voice was like a whisper, but anypony conscious could still hear him, “I really am a monster.”

After standing for a few more moments, he walked away towards one of the smashed windows and looked at the scenery. As he sat down, he could see the city of Canterlot in smoke and flames. He could only imagine what was going on to the residents of the burning city. For a moment, he thought he could hear the sounds of screams off in the distance.

What have I done? He asked himself.

You did what was necessary was the answer he gave himself.

But this? I didn’t have to do that. All those poor ponies. Their homes destroyed because of me.

They had it coming he tried to justify his actions.

How can you say that? They didn’t do anything to me.

Don’t give me that, they weren’t exactly innocent upstanding citizens. You know how they treated outsiders. They deserved it!

Who am I to judge and punish them for something they didn’t do to me and did to others?

You wanted to wait until they did something to you and then punish them. haven’t you suffered enough?

At least I would have been justified that way.

What were you expecting? You think if you walked in through the gates they would welcome you in open hooves.

No….they wouldn’t.

You see, you know the truth. So what’s the problem, wasn’t it the idea to knock them off their shiny pedestal and show them that their not as perfect as they think they are?

That was the plan, but it doesn’t mean it was the right thing to do.

Shadow continued arguing with himself while watching the city of Canterlot burn. He didn’t even pay attention to what was going on behind him.

Twlight watched as Shadow walked off with a somber look on his face. She watched as he sat down looking at the rubble that was once her old home in flames. As she tried to figure what made Shadow turn a 180, Princess Luna walked up to her, “Are thou well, Twilight Sparkle?”

“I’m fine, Princess Luna.”

“Can thou stand?”

“I think so,” she tried standing up, but she was still feeling the pain from earlier and was struggling. Princess Luna saw this and used her magic to lift Twilight back on her hooves. Twilight stood wobbling for a moment before she was able to stand just fine, “Thank you, Princess Luna.”

“Think nothing of it, Twilight Sparkle.”

She smiled at the princess, and then turned her attention to Shadow who was still sitting in silence. Twilight remembered what happened earlier and asked Princess Luna, “What did you do to him, Princess? I saw you cast a spell on him, what was it?”

“Tis nothing but a simple calming spell.”

“Calming spell?”

She nodded, “Indeed, I’ve learned that one cannot reason with somepony that is full of anger. They are clouded by their rage that they cannot see the errors they make while under its influence. It’s something I learned through experience,” she finished with a sad look on her face.

Twilight knew what she meant and chose to end it there. She looked at Shadow once again, “What’s going to happen next?”

“Not sure, right now he is most likely battling with himself. Trying to understand the actions, he took. I have no idea who will win in the end, which is why we must prepare for what arrives.”

Twilight understood what could happen and she knew that if it came down to another fight she would be defeated again. She didn’t want to give him the chance, she looked around and saw Pinkie Pie slowly waking up and walked over to her.

“What happ-” before Pinkie could finish her question, her mouth was covered by a lavender hoof. She looked to see Twilight with her other hoof up to her mouth, “shh,” she pointed Pinkie towards where Shadow Bolt was sitting. Pinkie nodded her head and Twilight removed her hoof from her mouth.

Twilight and Pinkie walked quietly towards Princess Luna and Twilight asked her, “Can you bring the others over here quietly, Princess Luna?”

She nodded, “I can,” she used her magic to levitate Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity towards their position without Shadow Bolt noticing. Twilight and Pinkie started waking them up one by one. Fluttershy was the first to wake up, followed by Rarity. Twilight covered Rarity’s mouth before she made any noise seeing that she was in pain. It was harder for Rainbow Dash and Applejack since their injuries were the most severe of them all. It took all four of them to keep them from making any noise and longer for them to stop crying out in pain.”

“Listen I know you girls are in pain, but I need all of you to keep quiet,” said Twilight, her friends nodded and she continued, “alright, right now thanks to Luna, Shadow Bolt is distracted. We need to strike while his guard is down, so we need to use the elements on him one last time. I know we already used them twice and they didn’t work, but I think that if we use them now before he has the chance to counter its power, then we should finally be able to end this once and for all.”

They all nodded again, “Alright, let’s get into positions,” they got into their positions. Luna assisted Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity in getting to their positions since they were not able to move while they were still in pain. Once everyone was in their place, Twilight closed her eyes and started the process of activating the elements. Each of their elements started glowing as one by one they started hovering in the air. Twilight then opened her eyes as they glowed white, and the power of the elements shot out above them once again in the form of a rainbow. It rose in the air and descended towards Shadow Bolt, who right before the rainbow hit him, he turned his head facing the others.

It’s all my fault. I’ve turned into what everypony thought I was.

It’s not yours, it’s theirs. They kept pushing you and pushing you until you finally said enough was enough. What happened to them was their own fault.

But I wasn’t suppose to fight back, I was trying to be the better pony.

And what did that get you? You became a walking punching bag for everypony to use. The fact you didn’t do anything gave them more reason to torture you, knowing you wouldn’t lift a hoof against them. You might as well have been wearing a sign that says 'BEAT ME'. So you have nopony but yourself to blame for that. You should be proud that you finally got your revenge.

I didn’t want revenge.

Yes you did, you wanted them pay and pay they did. What else do you want?

I just….dont want to be miserable and alone anymore.

Shadow then heard something coming from behind them, he turned his to see the Elements of Harmony bearers using their power against him. As the rainbow was coming at him, it was as if time had slowed down as he watched. He looked right at Twilight and their eyes locked at each other. Shadow was wondering whether he should fight back or accept his fate. He knew that if he resisted, he would be able to stop whatever was going to happen to him and defeat them. And from looking at Twilights eyes, it was as if she knew the same thing too.

The rainbow had hit the ground and started spinning around forming the tornado. Shadow continued staring at Twilight’s eyes as he was still considering his options. He kept staring at her until the tornado had blocked his vision. He made his choice.

It took a lot of concentration, but Twilight was able to succeed in using the elements magic. At this point all Twilight had to do was watch the elements power at work. With her eyes opened, Twilight saw that Shadow was staring at her. Suddenly Twilight felt as if she and Shadow were all alone as they stared at each other. She could see from his eyes, he was thinking about something. She was hoping that he wouldn’t resist Please, don’t fight back. Just….stop she prayed to Celestia that Shadow wouldn’t retaliate, and then she saw something. Right at that moment Shadow’s face turned from uncertainty to sadness. Then the world faded back in as the rainbow tornado had fully formed. Twilight waited to see what would happen, hoping that Shadow had made the right decision. The only answer towards her question was a red beam shooting out from the tornado to the night sky. The element bearer’s bodies were engulfed in a bright white light. The light faded and their bodies slowly floating back towards the ground. Twilight was feeling exhausted and was wondering what was that red light.

“Hey, look at me!”

Twilight turned to see Rainbow Dash hovering in the air, “My wings are fully healed,” she started flying around and doing loop de loops before she landed back on the ground, “oh yeah! The Dash is back!”

“yur not tha only one,” said Applejack as she walking around with her back hooves completely healed. “Ma legs are back to their old selves.”

Twilight looked around to see all her friends injuries including her own were completely healed. Twilight knew that it was the power from the Elements of Harmony that they had to thank for this.

“It looks like it’s finally over,” Twilight turned to see Princess Celestia walking towards them. She was still injured and was being carried by her side with Luna helping her to walk.

“Are you okay, Princess Celestia?”

“I’m alright, Twilight. I’ll be fine after a few days of resting. Alicorns bodies heal faster than the average pony.”

Twilight was glad to hear that her mentor was going to make a full recovery. Fluttershy walked up to Twilight and poked her to get her attention. “Yes, Fluttershy, what is it?”

“Um… I was just wondering. What are we going to do about…him?” she pointed her hoof and Twilight turned to see what she was pointing at. She saw the lying body of Shadow Bolt….and he was getting up.

I don’t feel good Shadow thought as he was slowly getting up. He felt his body was in complete pain, but he was able to sit back up. He was feeling extremely exhausted, as if all his energy was sapped away as he sat there in silence. He then looked down at the ground and saw the Element of Hate was no longer on him and was now on the ground. He noticed something different about it, the red gem that had a bright red glow was now a dull color of itself. He slowly backed away from the element, no longer wanting anything to do with it. As Shadow was backing away, he felt nauseous and stopped. Slowly he turned around and stopped when he was staring at the element bearers and the two princesses. He started feeling petrified. He knew that he was in no condition to fight. I have to get out of here as much as he wanted to fly away, Shadow couldn’t. It took all he had just to keep himself standing as his body was swaying back in forth.

Before anypony could do anything they heard the sounds of hooves coming. The eight mares turned to see a group of royal guards charging in. they quickly passed them as they set their sights on the red pegasus. Shadow was feeling a sense of déjà vu as the guards were coming at him. He noticed that all of them were unicorns.

Before he could think about was going to happen one of the guards shouted, “FIRE!”

Once the order was said, all the guards charged their horns and fired. Shadow felt extreme pain as the first beam hit him…and went right through his body. After the first shot, a barrage of energy beams hit him, each one hit its target and went through him. The sounds of the beams were loud as he couldn’t hear the screams coming from the mares.

“CEASE FIRE!” shouted both Princess Celestia and Luna. Hearing the orders, the guards stopped firing. Everypony looked at Shadow Bolt and were surprised that he was still standing.

The fact that Shadow was already in pain and defenseless before he was shot multiple times, the pain he felt was now ten times greater. Shadow was having trouble breathing as he felt his lungs being clogged up by his own blood. He opened his mouth and blood was pouring out as he was choking. He stared at the ponies as he kept trying to stay standing up, “D-D-Didn’t…..Didn’t hurt.” His body then collapsed on the floor in a puddle of his own blood. He started feeling lightheaded and tired as he was starting to lose consciousness. He watched as somepony was walking up to him, but he couldn’t tell who it was as his eye sight was starting to get fuzzy. Soon the fuzziness was replaced by darkness and then Shadow Bolt lost consciousness.

All Bad Things Must Come to an End

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"Genuine forgiveness does not deny anger but faces it head on." ― Alice Miller

“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.” ― James Baldwin

“We are all mistaken sometimes; sometimes we do wrong things, things that have bad consequences. But it does not mean we are evil, or that we cannot be trusted ever afterward.” ― Alison Croggon

“It is important that we forgive ourselves for making mistakes. We need to learn from our errors and move on.” ― Steve Maraboli

Chapter 14: All Bad Things Must Come to an End

Consciousness was slowly coming back to Shadow Bolt. He moaned in pain as he started waking up. He opened his eyes and looked around at his surroundings. He was lying in a bed, in a room he has never seen before. He looked to the side and saw another bed that was empty. He saw that a curtain was hanging around the bed that could give somepony some privacy. Next, he noticed was the sound of beeping coming from the other side of his bed. He turned his head to see a machine with a screen that had a line going up in down.

Am I in a hospital?

He looked through a nearby window, he was able see many buildings outside. Some of the buildings looked damaged that caught his attention.

I’m still in Canterlot. What happened to me?

He started thinking as he tried to remember what happened to him before he lost consciousness. It took him a minute before he went into his trance state as he remembered what had happened.

I was at the castle. I was hit by the Elements of Harmony, felt weak, noticed that my element was finally off my body, and then….and then…..I was shot!

His mind showed him the events he remembered and Shadow was getting a powerful headache.

My head! It hurts so much.

Shadow raised his hoof to rub the pain away, but he felt his hoof stopped moving, he tried to raise it again but his hoof wouldn’t go any further. He looked down to see what the problem was. That’s when he saw that his hoof was shackled to the beds railing.

What the?

He pulled on it, trying to break it off but it wouldn’t budge. Shadow raised his other hoof to help him break free. That’s when he felt his hoof stopped as well, he turned to see that his other hoof was also shackled. He noticed that his bracelets were back on his hooves. They were place above his shackles to prevent them from coming off.

What’s going on? Why am I chained to the bed?

He tried moving his body in the attempt of breaking his chains but nothing worked. He wasn’t able to move too much since he was still in pain, eventually he felt exhausted and stop trying to break free as he laid back on the bed. He stared at the ceiling in silence thinking of what he was going to do. After what seemed like minutes, he heard a door opening breaking his concentration. He looked to see someone walking in, and then he saw more coming in. He saw that it was none other than Twilight and her friends. He started feeling uneasy being chained in a room with the element bearers, and then he saw one more pony walking in. His eyes widened when he saw that the pony walking in was Princess Celestia. He started panicking, as the beeps from the machine were going faster. He started pulling on his chains again, and used his wings for more thrust in hoping for him to escape. He pulled and pulled using the adrenaline he was feeling to break out and escape the room.

“It’s no use,” said Princess Celestia, “Those chains are magically made to be unbreakable.”

He ignored her words as he continued to pull on the chains. However, it seemed that Celestia was right, as no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t break free. In the end, he gave up and laid back on the bed in defeat. He looked at the seven mares and noticed something. He saw that the element bearers were completely healed from the injuries he gave them while Celestia was badly bruised and had bandages all over her body. The room had fallen into silence as Shadow waited to see what they were going to do to him now that he was defenseless.

Twilight decided to break the silence, “How are you feeling?”

Shadow was slightly confused as to why she would ask such a question, “Why do you care?”

Twilight rub the back of her head, “Well, that is usually what you ask someone that’s in the hospital?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

She sighed, “I know, we just wanted to know how you were feeling? It was touch and go for a minute there.”

“You’ve been out for a whole day,” said Princess Celestia, “You are very lucky to still be alive with all the injuries you’ve suffered.”

“Well…I guess I’m lucky to survive after getting shot a thousand times.”

“True,” she said, “you did lose a lot of blood from that but that wasn’t all.”

Shadow raised his eyebrow at her statement, “What do you mean by that?”

“Well, it seems you were still healing when the power of the elements struck you and removed your element.”

“I did feel that something was wrong, but I thought that was just the effects of getting hit by the elements.”

Princess Celestia shook her head, “The elements had nothing to do with that. Do you remember when my sister attacked you?”

Shadow eyes once again went into its trance state as he remembered getting struck by Princess Luna’s lightning attacks. Everypony in the room noticed how his eyes have changed. After a few moments his eyes returned to normal, “I remember getting hit by her attacks. But her attacks were so weak, that I didn’t even feel a thing.”

Celestia shook her head again, “You might not have felt anything, but that doesn’t mean that you weren’t injured in the process. The doctors that treated you found out that your internal organs were severely burned. It seems my sister almost burned your insides to a crisp. Your element was under the process of healing your injuries when the Elements of Harmony removed it. It took a lot of healing spells but you should recover real soon.”

Shadow sat there in silence after hearing the news of his almost demise. His thoughts were interrupted when Princess Celestia spoke again, “While your organs will recover, I’m sad to say that you didn’t escape this unharmed.”

Shadow raised his eyebrow, “What do you mean by that?”

Princess Celestia walked up to the side of his bed, “I’m talking about this,” her horn glowed and pulled the bed covers down showing Shadow Bolt what she was talking about.

He looked down and saw it. Where the part of his body that the Element of Hate was, now the only thing that was there was a terrible burn mark across his chest and neck. He stared at the horrible burn until the Princess resumed talking, “We tried every healing spell known to ponykind but none of them were able to heal it. The doctors say that it might be permanent, most likely a side effect to wearing the element. It’s because of this burn mark is the reason we had you restrained.”

“Huh? How is this, the reason that I’m shackled to the bed?”

“This is the reason,” she raised her hoof and placed it on his burn mark. The result was instantaneous, Shadow shouted and started flaying his hooves around, and he could hear the beds railings creaking from the strain from him tugging the chains with much ferocity. The pain made his eyes watered up as he focused his gaze back on Princess Celestia and he could have sworn that she was giving a look of almost…satisfaction.

She then removed her hoof, “Even though you were unconscious, every time somepony would touch that mark you would lash out. By the time you were restrained, you had knocked out three doctors. We recovered your bracelets to keep yourself from using your full strength.”

As much as Shadow wanted to rub away the pain, his shackles prevented him from doing anything. It took some time for the pain to fade away, with the feeling still fresh in his mind he remembered something that hasn’t been answered, “Why am I here?”

“Didn’t we already go over this?” asked Twilight, “You were injured and we rushed you to the hospital. That’s what usually happens in situations like this.”

If Shadow could facehoof he would have, “I mean, why am I still alive?”

“Ugh, we just told you,” said Rainbow Dash, “we took you to the hospital and the doctors saved you.” She turned to Celestia, “I’m thinking Princess Luna must have fried his brain too much for them to heal.”

He glared at her, “You shut u-” he stopped himself when he felt something was wrong.

Everyone was now curious as to why he had gone silent all of a sudden. Twilight being concerned that something was wrong walked up to him, “What’s wrong? Are you feeling okay?

Shadow didn’t answer, the look on his face made it look like he was far away.

Twilight tried again to see what was wrong with him, “Shadow, is everything alright?”

While he didn’t answer her with his voice, he shook his head in a no fashion.

“Tell me, what are you feeling right now?”

He stared at her for a few seconds before answering, “Nothing.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean you feel nothing?”

“As in I feel nothing because it’s gone.”

“What’s gone? You’re not making any sense.”

“I….I don’t know how to explain it…but…my hate is gone.”

Everyone was silent, their brains processing what they just heard. When no one said anything he continued, “When I first saw Dash the other day…I felt such hatred towards her and every time I saw her afterwards, that feeling was always there. Now when I snapped at her, that feeling from before is….gone. Even all the hatred I had towards all of you is gone as well. The place where I felt my hatred was, now there is nothing there.”

Again, silence filled the room. After a few moments, Twilight broke it, “I think I have a theory,” everypony now focused their sights on the lavender unicorn, “I think that when you were hit by the Elements of Harmony, they must have removed all the hatred you’ve had from all these years. There is no way to know what the elements will do when they’re used. It’s almost as if they have mind of their own. Of course, this is just a theory since I have nothing to back up this claim…although it would explain the….other thing that happened to you.

Shadow ears flicked, “What are talking about? What other thing?” Shadow was now getting nervous I already got this…painful mark on my chest and now my all my hate is gone too. What else is there?

He sat there and waited to hear what Twilight was going to say what else is wrong with him. Twilight sigh, “I guess it’s better if I just show you,” her horn started glowing. Shadow looked down and saw that his blanket that was still on top of him started glowing the same aura as Twilight’s magic. She pulled the covers all the way off leaving Shadow Bolt completely exposed, he looked to see what was wrong. At first, he didn’t notice anything wrong with the rest of his body, until he noticed something about his flank. He looked at it and saw what was wrong….his flank was blank once again. No! It can’t be! I just finally got my cutie mark after all these years….and now it’s gone. I’m a…blank flank again, just when I thought that I was never going to be make fun of that anymore, it went away before I could enjoy it.

He stared at his flank in silence as everyone watched him. Everyone wondered what he was going to do after receiving all the news he was given in just the past five minutes. They could all see the sad look on his face as he looked at his markless flank without taking his eyes off it.

“W-Why?”

“Hm?” Twilight was curious as to what he was talking about, “Why what?”

“Why…did you save me?”

Nopony answered his question, they just stood there in silence.

“After everything I did to all of you, everything I did out there,” he titled his to the window showing the city of Canterlot, “after all that, why didn’t you just leave me there lying on the ground?”

It seemed that nopony wanted to answer his question as they evaded his gaze looking everywhere in the room as if there was something interesting going on that would keep them from answering his question.

Finally, after a minute of silence, it was Princess Celestia that decided to answer his question, “While it’s true that you’ve have done many terrible things that has never happened in Equestria in over a thousand years. It would be wrong if we had left you to die, No matter how evil, twisted, powerful the threats are, we never resort in killing. This is a peaceful nation that doesn’t approve killing, which is why we don’t have the death penalty.”

He look at the princess with some skepticism, “That’s strange, because I could have sworn that you were shouting at me to die last night.”

Princess Celestia could feel the awkwardness in the room as everyone had their eyes on her after hearing Shadow’s comment. She wanted to leave this room to get away from her embarrassment.

The thought of hearing the princess shouting something like that was mindboggling to everypony, even Twilight couldn’t believe her ears thinking those words would come out of her beloved mentor.

“Yes…that is true, I did say those words. I…after witnessing everything that was happening, I…lost control of myself and snapped. That has never happened to me in a long time. I am ashamed of myself for losing control, but you have to understand after seeing all the carnage, I had to do something.” The room was silent once again, the silence was making everypony uncomfortable.

“So what’s going to happen to me now?” he asked. He wondered what kind of punishment he was going to get. He had already been banished and imprisoned in stone. Of course, he was able to escape those punishments, he knew that he was only able to accomplish that because of his element and hate. And now that he didn’t have either, he knew that if they were to used those sentences again he wouldn’t be coming back.

The princess place he hoof under her chin as she started thinking, “Well, isn’t that is the one million bit question,” her hoof rubbing her chin, “you’ve caused a lot of damage to the city, you assaulted all my guards injuring a lot of them, and of course you attack a princess and the saviors of Equestria.” She stopped as she started thinking, “These types of charges haven’t happened in Equestria in over thousands of years. In addition, you’re attack on Canterlot is actually the second in the last couple of weeks. So you’re only the second individual that did the same charges as the last one who attack did, although you did more damage on your own than the army that invaded did.”

“Well, what did you do to them?” he wondered. He was surprised that someone else did the same thing he did just recently, Shadow thought whatever punishment those received before would be the same he would receive.”

“Well, I wasn’t the one who punished them, but they were blasted high in the sky that most likely meant that their landing wasn’t pleasant. Since then we have been keeping our eyes out searching for them, the orders are to arrest on sight so we can interrogate them.”

Even though Shadow Bolt is a pegasus, he didn’t like the idea of being launched into the sky and crashing back down. That kind of punishment would most likely break every bone in his body and in his current state, he didn’t think he would survive a fall like that.

“There are so many ideas to think of for your punishment that it’s difficult to decide.” Shadow didn’t like the sound of that, “Which is why I decided…………. to banish you to Ponyville.”

What?! Shadow couldn’t believe it, “I-I don’t understand, why would you do that?”

“It’s wasn’t my idea. If I wanted to, you’d be back on the moon before you could even blink. However, this was Twilight’s idea. I was skeptical at first over what Twilight was proposing but I learned recently that I should trust what my student says, even my sister approved of her idea,” she pointed at Twilight, who was standing beside her.

Shadow Bolt, raised an eyebrow, he was confused as to why would Twilight spare his life after everything he did or why Princess Celestia would even consider it. He looked at Twilight, “Why would you do that?”

“Well…after thinking about it, I realized that I’m partially to blame for everything that happened,” she gestured her hoof towards her friends, “we all are partially to blame. It was because of us that we drove you to attack Canterlot. If we had done things in a different way, then none of this would ever have happened. I also think that you weren’t thinking clearly during your attack, it’s my theory that the Element of Hate was greatly influencing you’re actions. How much I cannot say since the elements are still a mystery, including the fact that you’re element exists in the first place, we don’t know anything about it.”

“It’s because of this,” said Princess Celestia, “that you’ll be returning with Twilight and her friends back to Ponyville.”

“I thought you said that you didn’t have the death penalty,” said Shadow Bolt.

“I did say that, but what does that have to do with what I just said?” She was confused as to why he said that.

“Because what you’re talking about is going to get me killed. As soon as I walk out those doors, everypony out there will be wanting my head on a pike. How can I show my face back there after all the destruction I caused?”

“That’s been taken care of,” said Twilight, “you see besides the Princesses, the guards, my friends and myself, nopony knows that you were responsible. All the resident’s know and saw was a fire monster in the shape of a pegasus attacking the city. Therefore, as far as anypony knows, they don’t know that you were the one responsible. In addition, as far as they know, the fire monster Kain was destroyed. As for Ponyville, nopony ever saw what you did there since our fight took place in the Everfree Forest, so your secret is safe.”

“Kain?”

“Yes, I came up with the name that I read from an old story.”

Shadow processed everything Twilight said, he didn’t find anything missing. He could go outside without the fear of an angry mob demanding his head like they did back in Cloudsdale.

“I-I-I don’t understand, why would you do all this for me?”

“Because, I want to help you,” she said, “after everything that has happened to you, I think that it’s time that someone was there for you. If I turned my back on you, then I would be no different from all those who turned their backs on you in the past. We all are going to help you,” she gestured towards her friends, “You won’t have to be alone anymore, but that is of course you’re decision.”

“Do…you really mean that?” he asked. The fact that after all the pain he caused them, they still want to help him was something he would never have thought of in a million years. A thought then crossed his mind, he looked to Twilight and said, “This isn’t because you’ve made another bet, did you?”

“Not at all,” she said, “I think it was also because of the bet that things went bad. I was trying so hard in proving myself right that I started to lose focus on what was really important. I’m helping you not because of a bet, but because I want to help you.”

He then looked towards her friends and said, “And do you all feel the same way?”

He could see the looks on their faces. He noticed that Applejack and Rainbow Dash were once again looking around the room to avoid answering him. Fluttershy looked like she wanted to say something but when he looked at her she kept her mouth closed. He looked at Rarity, he wasn’t able to see what she was thinking as her face didn’t show anything that he could determine whether she was with Twilight or not. But he was able to get an answer from one of them as Pinkie walked up next to him and shouted in her happy go lucky tone, “Of course we all feel the same way, I know that we’ll get along just fine. You’re one of use now. We will all be known as the Mane 7. We’ll hang out, go to parties, and have exciting adventures resulting in lessons that will bring us all closer together.

He looked at Pinkie thinking about what she said. They way she described it sounded too good to be true. “Do you really mean that?”

“Of course I mean it. After all, we elements have to stick together,” she finished her statement with her hugging Shadow’s neck, she had her hooves wrapped just above his burn mark sparing him from the pain. Although she was starting to squeeze the air out of him, that he started choking.

“P-Pinkie….need...air.”

“Oopsie, sorry about that,” she let go and he started to breath in and out.

After he was breathing normally he asked, “So when can I get out of here?”

“The doctor’s said that you can leave tomorrow morning,” said Twilight, “he said that your body is still recovering and you’re going to be feeling sore for a couple of weeks. He said to take it easy and to get plenty of rest.”

“Which I believe it’s time to for us to leave,” said Princess Celestia, “I have duties to perform and I can’t have Luna do all the work by herself.” Princess Celestia started walking to the door and the others started following her one by one. He was able to see a couple guards posted outside his room.

Twilight being the last to leave grabbed the door with her magic and started closing it, “We’ll be back tomorrow morning to get you and then we’ll go to the train station so we can head back home.” Shadow nodded and Twilight closed the door.

Now that he was alone, he starting thinking about everything that’s happened since he woke up. It seemed that he was given another chance, which was something he was never given or thought he didn’t deserve. Part of him wondered if this was real and not just some dream. Speaking of dreaming, he was now started to feel tired and laid back down on the bed as he tried to adjust himself to the burn on the back of his neck didn’t touch anything. They could have at least removed the shackles from my hooves. Once he had gotten comfortable, his eyes started closing as he was slowly falling into sleep. The last thing that went through his mind before feel asleep was what Twilight said before she left. “We’ll be back tomorrow morning to get you and then we’ll go to the train station so we can head back home.”

“Go to the train station so we can head back home.”

“We can head back home.”

“Head back home.”

“Back home.”

“Home.”

The next morning true to her word, Twilight and her friends returned to pick Shadow up and then they went to the train station and purchased their tickets back to Ponyville. While they were all heading to the station, Shadow was having a hard time keeping up. Since he was still recovering from his injuries, he wasn’t walking as fast as the others. Walking at his pace, he looked around his surroundings. He saw plenty of buildings that were damaged and the streets had many potholes. He felt worse knowing that he was responsible for all the destruction. Shadow picked up his pace as he tried to get away from damage as he was feeling ashamed. It didn’t take long as they had arrived at the train station. Rarity being the Element of Generosity paid for Shadow’s ticket since he didn’t have any bits to pay for his own. As they got on the train, Twilight noticed that Shadow was still standing on the platform in front of the doors. He kept looking from one side of the platform to the other as he stood there. What is he doing? As she watched him as he kept standing there as he continued looking back and forth. Why does he keep standing there and just get on the train? It took her a few moments before she remembered something he said the day they met.

“Well, I’m not exactly welcomed on trains. They take one look at me and stop me from getting on.”

By this time, everyone was noticing that Shadow was still standing outside wondering why he didn’t get on. Twilight walked back standing outside of the doors.

“There’s nothing to worry about, nopony is going to stop you.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m positive, and if someone does try then they’ll have to take it up with us.”

While he wasn’t completely convinced, Shadow walked towards the door slowly. Once he able to get a hoof inside the door and no one stop him, his worries vanished. He walked to the nearest available seat which was on the other side where Twilight and her friends were sitting. It didn’t take before they heard the sound of the train whistle and the train started moving. When the food cart showed up, Rarity paid for everyone’s breakfast as they enjoyed the ride back to Ponyville. While they were talking about what they would do back home, Twilight noticed that Shadow Bolt wasn’t interacting with everyone and just sat in his seat staring out the window. I wonder what’s going on in his mind.

Shadow looked at the view outside. This was his first time on a train and he just watched at the scenery that was passing by. For him it felt good to able to travel without him having to fly everywhere the whole time. He started wondering what he was going to do once they arrived in Ponyville, probably the first thing he was going to do was find out was finding a place to live now that his house was destroyed. He was thinking of what kind of house to get Should I get a house, apartment, or maybe I could just make another cloud house. He continued to stare out the window with his thoughts. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t know how much time had passed until he heard the whistle and the conductor announced that they were arriving in Ponyville. The train came to a stop and everyone got up and headed to the doors.

While this was Shadow’s second time in Ponyville he felt as if this was the first time. Part of the reason he thought was that he felt like he was a different stallion than he was the first time he arrived. He looked at the town in a new light, it almost looked different most likely due to the fact that he no longer had hate inside his heart. He continued looking at the town until Twilight called out to him.

“Come on, let’s go.”

He looked and noticed that everyone else were already walking away, Twilight started following them and Shadow followed her.

He passed by a newsstand and looked at the headlines in all the papers in bold letters.

The Day of Unyielding Fury

The Marauding of Canterlot

The Desolation of Kain

Shadow was once again feeling ashamed of himself. They kept walking as Shadow wondered where they were going. It didn’t take long before he got his answered as he saw the others were entering Sugarcube Corner. Once Shadow, being the last got inside he noticed that the shop had decorations hanging all over the place, a buffet table with plenty of cakes, candy, and punch. He looked up and saw a banner that said, ‘WELCOME BACK HOME’

“Do you like it?” asked Pinkie Pie, “It was short notice but I was able to set everything up for your welcome back party. I thought this party would be just for the seven of us,” She walked away to start the party.

“When did you have the time to do this? You were only inside for a few seconds before I entered.”

Twilight walked beside him and said, “One thing you’re going to learn about living in Ponyville is don’t question how Pinkie Pie does things. You’ll only hurt yourself trying to figure things out. The sooner you accept this, the better off you’ll be. Believe me, I speak from experience.”

“Ooh, I almost forgot,” said Pinkie before she jumped in front of Shadow Bolt. Which caused him to jump back as it showed that he still didn’t like anypony getting to close him.

“I think these belong to you,” she held out her hooves revealing the sunglasses that Rarity gave him.

“My glasses…..Thanks Pinkie.”

“It’s nothing.”

He put on his glasses and turned to everyone, “How do I look?”

“I think you look really cool,” said Pinkie.

“Psh, it’s alright,” said Rainbow Dash as she avoided looking at him.

“Ya look different, but ah guess its looks fine,” said Applejack.

“As I said before, it looks wonderful on you,” replied Rarity.

“It’s….nice,” whispered Fluttershy.

“I think you look great,” said Twilight as she used her horn and started serving everyone a glasse of punch. “I like to say something,” once everyone had a glass, “I know that we all got off to a rocky start that caused things to spiral out of control. But now I feel we can put all this behind us and start over fresh. So, I want to be the first to welcome Shadow Bolt, our newest friend to our group. I know that in good time we will all be able to get along just fine and become the best of friends.”

“Hear, hear,” said Pinkie as they all raise and clang their glasses.

Shadow was thinking about what Twilight said and he started to believe her. He could tell that it was going to take time for him to make up for all he did. It would also take time before everyone forgave him, some he knew would take longer than others. He started wondering what his life was going to be like living in Ponyville. What awaited him, and what kind of things he’ll learn and experience? While he had traveled all across Equestria meeting similar results, he felt that maybe this time, living in Ponyville was going to be different from the rest. Especially now that he wasn’t alone anymore and now he has six mares that in time he would have the honor of calling them his friends. The road will be long, but he felt that he would reach the end, starting with that first step.

This looks like the beginning of something wonderful.

END

Author's Notes:

So my first story ever written has finally come to an end. Hard to believe that it’s been 2 years since I first posted this story. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. Since it’s over I’m asking for all my readers to leave a final review about the story. What did you think, what were your favorite parts, what did you like/dislike, and was I able to make you feel something, which parts made you smile, sad, mad, and excited? Let your thoughts out, I want to hear them.

I like to thank all my readers and supporters that have been with me.

Special Thanks to:

Devourlord and FoxfanMLP22 for helping in providing quotes and music.

Silerius for his critique and for coming up with Shadow Bolt’s stage two name.

Silentpegasus and WarriorSaint for their support and their names for Shadow’s invasion. They were so good that I couldn’t decide, so I used the best ones.

This whole experience has been a roller coaster of emotions. From happy, sad, anger, excitement, depression, and joy. But now the ride has come to an end and it’s time to get off. Once again, thank you all for reading.

The Element of Hate

by Shadow Bolt

Something Hateful This Way Comes

Equestria's Most Hated

Would You Kindly LEAVE ME ALONE?!

Can I Get an Honest Opinion?

When I Look Bad, I Feel Good

For He’s a Hateful Bad Fellow, That Nopony Can Deny

All Dreams of Success Have Been Dashed

The Magic of Hatred

Today’s Forecast: 100% Chance of Hate with Scattered Rage

Harmony vs. Hate

The Moon is Wonderful This Time of Year

YOU’RE ALL BUCKED! (Mature Warning)

BE STILL, Thy Hating Heart!

All Bad Things Must Come to an End