> Light and Shadow
>  by oop
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue: The End Of The Beginning (ReWrite)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It was a cold, wintry mix of snow, sleet and rain that bit down on the town of Ponyville the night following Hearth’s Warming Day. The doors and windows of every abode were shut protectively against the strong exterior chill, and most of the inhabitants were turning in for an early rest. It was a calm night, even with the eccentricities of the weather, and the key seemed to be a long awaited peace. It was two years after the harrowing events of Luna’s return and from the vantage of the townsfolk, it seemed as if disaster was folly.

Twilight Sparkle, a newer resident of the little town, was able to gladly share the sentiments of such during the day, but tonight seemed to her especially harsh. Under a more normal circumstance it could be assumed she would be in the library, blanketed against the chill, possibly with a good book open at her side to serve as a distraction until the quiet hooves of sleep embraced her. Tonight was not one of those nights.

Spike had been the one to alert her of the change in pace, halfway through a party as well. Seemingly out of the wild blue he had regurgitated a scroll, resplendent with Celestia’s royal emblem. Excusing herself, and the dragon in question, she had retreated to a back room in order to peruse the letter more closely.

There were instructions written there, simple and yet perplexing in nature, all in the familiar writing of the princess. The request was for a cabin to be built in a very secluded plot of land near the forest before the moon rose that night. It was confusing to say the least, a somewhat daunting challenge to say the most, but after all she was a mage, or she considered herself one by now, and could more than likely finish the job with a degree of excellence.

Applejack had brought the lumber, but not without a snippet at the unicorn’s unusual behavior, and left when requested. Twilight wasn't sure why but she had a nagging suspicion that the purpose of the project was it should be kept between herself and Celestia. With magical prowess unique to her tutelage she was able to raise a sturdy shack, but not without some difficulty. Snow had to be cleared, nails had to be manipulated with great accuracy, and the roof of the hovel seemed intent on blowing away in the direction of the forest. Her doubts of the princess’ motives strengthened with every mistake made, the absurdity of the situation frustrating and confusing her immensely.

As the sun came closer to the completion of its mission west Spike found her again. He had received a second note, this one with more direct orders to wait in the vicinity of the hovel until the princess herself arrived. This was no sure alleviation of her confusion, but Twilight thought she could piece together something from it. In her mind the simplest explanation was the princess was assessing her abilities, albeit in a somewhat unorthodox manner. It was characteristic of the spirit of Ponyville at least, and was probably meant to serve as a shelter for a homeless pony, or something along that train of thought.

With the idea of inspection in mind Twilight redoubled her efforts, sun setting on the finished work of a one room shanty. It was sizable enough, and parts of Ponyville certainly had more meager accommodations, but most importantly it was solid, at least enough to hold against the snowstorm beginning to brew.

But as the night drew onward and the stars were blotted out by the progression of a heavy front of clouds, the princess continued to show no sign of arrival. Twilight had taken refuge inside the little shack and illuminated the space with a ball of contained purple flame. It was still bitingly cold outside the sphere’s influence, and the space nearby was only so much help. The dark and the cold stretched on ceaselessly.

Just as Twilight decided the princess must have forgotten their meeting and she would be better off back at the library the sound of intense thunder came from outside. The unicorn released a startled squeak, the storm had not been scheduled to have lightning. She timidly trotted to the empty door-frame and peered outside. Her purple eyes widened in shock as the dark silhouette of a chariot sped down from the sky, pulled by two broad-shouldered ponies with the wings of bats. Twilight took a moment to compose herself, breathing rhythmically to steady herself before going out to meet with the princess .She bowed to the snow on instinct as the wide wheels hit the snow with a quiet turning stop.

“I did just as you wanted, princess,” she said in as reverent of a tone as she could muster above the raging wind “Its right over there if you want to assess…”

“Assess?” an unfamiliar voice sounded from above “What insanity is this Twilight?”

There was a low creak as a navy colored hoof landed on the carriage step then down into the snow. Twilight’s eyes jerked upward in surprise and terror, recognizing only vaguely the proud muzzle of Princess Luna.

“Your sister must’ve bid her come,” a deeper, stronger voice boomed from the chariot itself “I wouldn't trust her yet, question her.”

Luna nodded sagely, not turning back towards the voice “Why are you here, Twilight?” she asked, the intonation making the swirling snow seem warm in comparison.

“I got a letter,” Twilight stammered as she spoke “Princess Celestia called me out here to do a building project,” she raised a hoof in the direction of the shack “It’s right over there, have a look.”

A sort of realization flashed behind Luna’s deep blue eyes. She nodded in understanding, then turned back to the carriage, “It’s alright,” she said “I know this one.”

Whether prompted by the affirmation, or simply having finished some business aboard, at that moment a dark furred pegasus pony descended the single step down into the snow. He was tall, very nearly at even height with the towering alicorn beside him. The sword hung by a scabbard at his side looked as if it could be used as much to flatten a pony as it could to slash at them.

The towering size, however, was not enough to divert Twilight’s attention from a small bundle hung at the stallion’s side by a leather sling. The mass shifted fitfully against him as he turned up to Luna, the expression of total stiffness giving way to a look of love, and somewhere deeper, a kind of hurt.

“You’ll want to say your goodbyes then,” he said “I’ll talk to the unicorn then, she’ll need to be explained to.”

“Of course,” Luna stammered as she spoke, blue magic pulling the sling over the pony’s shoulders and close to her face. Twilight caught the briefest glimpse of a tiny black ear peeking out over the edge. A child?

Her curiosity was cut short by the sense of cold metal very near at hoof. The enormous pegasus was holding the edge of his blade a mere centimeter from her cheek. Twilight turned green, not daring to move a single step.

“My name is Umbra Chaser,” said the stallion “To be fair, only courtesy since I know yours. You will receive a very brief explanation of these events if you will swear on your life to hold your tongue.”

“You have my word,” Twilight rasped.

Much to her relief Umbra’s next motion was to return the blade to its scabbard. “The child is of great importance to Luna,” he said, curiously not using her title in reference, “As you are aware Equestria is currently in a state of mild turmoil. The current plan to keep the foal safe is to hide him here,” he gestured to the shack as she said this “For a few years, until the atmosphere up in Canterlot dies down.”

This seemed to be the end of his speech, as he didn't speak to her after, attention turned again to Luna, who seemed to be singing something. The melody was, unfortunately, lost to the raging winds. Umbra walked back over to her as it apparently drew to closure, placing a comforting hoof on her shoulder.

“It’ll be alright,” he said “The years will pass quickly for one such as yourself.”

Luna shook her head “No, it will be worse than all my years on the moon to be without…” she held the bundle close, reluctant to relinquish it.

“Come now,” said Umbra, the falter in his voice easy to catch, “He’ll come out safe and sound on the end of all this, I can promise you that.”

“You know it’s not just him,” said Luna, looking over Umbra desperately “I’ll never find a better captain…”

“Have your sister search for a candidate,” said Umbra “I’m thinking that kid, Shining Armor, he’d be a decent fill for those shoes I’m leaving behind, not as well of course, but decent enough.”

Twilight’s ears pricked up at the mention of her older brother, a slight memory of the gap between their last meetings stirred by the reference. The rest was impossible to guess at, but it seemed near to a close anyway. Luna slowly and reluctantly raised the bundle to face level once again, planting a tender kiss on the infant’s forehead.

“Good luck,” she said “My precious Shadow…”

A tiny hoof rose from the bundle, reaching toward the Lunar Princess with a muffled whimpering. Luna turned away, lowering the sling over Umbra’s shoulder again as the child started to cry.

“You should go,” said Umbra “There’s no point in staying here any longer. You’ll have to lower the moon in an hour or less.”

“Yes,” said Luna, all the strength seeming to be gone from her as she mounted back to the chariot “Five years then Umbra, I’ll be holding you to that promise.”

“Make it six,” said Umbra “After all, we can’t have coinciding ceremonies,” he seemed to be making light of something, but the humor evaded Twilight, and seemed only to make Luna slump further.

“Six it is,” she said “But not so much as a day later.”

“Then I give you my final oath,” said Umbra, pulling to an awkward salute around the sling “As captain of the royal guard, I will see you then.”

Twilight watched in quiet reverie as the chariot pulled out of the snow and away into the starry sky. Umbra made eye contact with her one last time as the last flash of the wheels vanished from sight.

“I have your word,” he said “On your life. And I will willingly collect it should your vow be broken.”






The introduction of a small new family to the town of Ponyville was not much of a stir in the gossip of the town. The mystique of the sudden appearance lost its novelty in the course of less than a week. The father, who had fled poverty in Manehatten from what could be gathered, had taken the graveyard shift for the weather team, and the child, while solitary, seemed normal enough. Any gossip in their direction was driven out completely after a year had passed, leaning in to favor of Discord, and of course cleaning up in his wake. By this time Umbra Chaser was able to form as a firm part of the Ponyville community.

The royal wedding came and went two years later, and the crystal empire made its startling return two years after that. Epic events of grand proportion flooded Ponyville gossip until it seemed the hub of information. And at the same time, with much less of a spectacular impact, the young Chaser came of school age.

It was early autumn that found the little colt aflutter at the door of his small house with a grubby pack on his back and a spring in his wings. The sole reason he hadn't already gone off at a sprint was that he was still lacking the brown paper bag which would provide him today’s sustenance.

“Come on dad!” the foal’s voice squeaked very slightly, still underdeveloped, as he shouted past the door-frame “Hurry it up already!”

“Well excuse me if it’s been years since I fixed anyone a sandwich,” the jocular voice of Umbra boomed from within “Hold your humans, Shadow, I’ll be there in a second.”
“It’s just bread, lettuce, tomatoes, bread,” said Shadow, rolling his eyes, the red of the iris glinting slightly in the sun. They hadn't always been that color, but he didn't entirely remember the injury which had caused them to change.

Umbra walked to him from inside, not even noticed by Shadow in the turmoil of his impatient antics. He deposited the back into the rucksack then patted him on the shoulder.

“You remember where the schoolhouse is, right?”

“Of course!”

“And you’re sure you can get yourself that far?”

“Yes!”

“You have all your supplies? Pencil, paper, crayons…”

“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!” Shadow actually began hopping on the spot with the excess energy provided by his overwhelming impatience.

Umbra sighed, involuntarily shrugging his shoulders as he patted Shadow’s head, giving a shake to his mane as a sort of sendoff. “Why don’t you see how high you can fly?”

Shadow took off like a rocket ship possessed by the devil, his wings hauling him into a low flight as his hooves pounded the ground, the dual propulsion pushing him forward at an impressive pace. Dirt sailed up in a cloud behind him, another sign of the new dawn approaching.

“Bye dad!” Shadow called over his shoulder, not so much as slowing down “Love you!”

“Love you too son,” said Umbra, more to himself than to the colt now far out of earshot. It was a slight strain to see Shadow springing up as fast as he was, it certainly made him feel very old, but in a way it was a relief. His thoughts turned almost too easily to the idea of being able to sleep on the couch until late afternoon, a boon after the recent years of exhaustion.

He flinched as a sudden bolt of pain crossed between his temples, bringing a hoof to the side of his head reflexively. The headaches had started a week ago, steadily growing into a migraine. It wasn't anything new, stress being the probable cause. Between a late night job and a foal he caught whatever snatches of sleep he could. Headaches? A common nuisance at this point. Though what he wouldn't give for them to stop…

“Um, excuse me,” a small voice came from his immediate left “Are you alright?”

Umbra looked up sharply, as if being woken quickly from sleep. A crème colored pegasus was looking up at him from behind a curtain of magenta mane.

“Fluttershy,” said Umbra, forcing a smile, half genuine “Odd seeing you here.”

“Sorry,” she said “I just thought I would come wish Shadow good luck on his first day of school. I hope I’m not being a bother.”

Umbra made his expression more natural, attempting to put the shy mare at ease. Fluttershy was in technicality the Chaser’s next door neighbor, as hers was the only house in town that could be seen from their front door. When Shadow was younger Umbra had occasionally hired her to foal-sit, but they rarely spoke casually unless they happened to be collecting the newspaper at the same time.

“You just missed him,” he said “Sorry about that. If you’d told me you wanted to see him off I’d have kept him.”

“I don’t think you could’ve stopped him,” said Fluttershy, a cheerful expression finally softening her features “He’s such an energetic little thing.”

“Not so little anymore,” said Umbra with a chuckle “That kid’s springing up like a weed. I've already got him on some basic flight drills, the kid’s a prodigy-Ow!”

Fluttershy tilted her head in concern “Are you alright?” she queried “I noticed that a minute ago, does your head hurt?”

“I’m fine,” said Umbra “Stress headaches, autumn thunderstorms are a pain in my-augh!” he flinched again “Ok, but seriously, my skull is throbbing, you wouldn't happen to have anything for that? Maybe your zebra friend?”

“I don’t think so,” said Fluttershy “We should go see Zecora, it sounds really bad…”

Umbra mulled that over for a moment, wondering if the notion was worth the jeopardy of his hard earned morning nap. The pain, of course, prevailed.

“Yeah, sure,” he grumbled “I’m gonna leave a note for Shadow in case this ends up taking all day…”

The dismissal bell at Ponyville Elementary rang at exactly three o’clock, heralding the return to their parents the dozens of foals in the schoolhouse. Quite a few would, on the special occasion of the first day, stay awhile afterward to catch up with friends on the playground. Ponyville wasn't a large town, but for the children two miles could still be separable distance during the summer months.

Shadow Chaser fit neither of these niches. The moment the freedom ring sounded he was gone like a jet black bolt from the blue, relieved to be out on his hooves again. It wasn't that the classes were boring, or that there wasn't a great deal of hooves on activity, but it was the first time, save sleeping, he had ever sat still for such a long time.

The sprint slowed to a smart trot as the well ploughed roads gave way to rougher paths closer to Everfree’s edge. Fluttershy’s cottage had been visible even from the schoolyard and he headed for it, mischief in mind. He had seen a frog hopping along the edge of the brook by her house on his way to school, and in his mind now seemed like a splendid opportunity to get on the hunt.

He stopped at the roots of a large, dark wood tree, setting his bag where it would be safely out of view. There were lots of important things in that bag after all, some action figures, a yo-yo, bubbles, and to a lesser extent, homework, none of which he would be fair to part with if some raccoon came sniffing about. He procured a handkerchief from a side pocket, creeping toward the creek in search of the elusive amphibian.

One eye was kept open in search of Fluttershy, who would surely end his expedition should she find out about it. Not that the threat held much weight in Shadow’s mind, slipping along the bank with the silence of his namesake. No toad yet, but he had a good feeling. The trickle of water over the shallow stones beneath seemed like the perfect setting to capture any variety of aquatic creatures. At least, to his mind it seemed that way.

The cobblestone bridge which heralded the way to the cottage seemed to materialize from thin air. Shadow, eyes focused intently on the bank, failed to notice it until his skull came in contact with it. He flinched, taking a quick step back and almost slipping on the rocks.

“Dang it!” he squeaked, catching his balance then bringing a hoof to his mouth. Fluttershy might have heard that, and the sort of trouble he would be in for using such language was a subject of which he did not like to think.

He crouched down on the bank, ears pricked up for sound of a peeved pink-haired pegasus pony. When nothing of the sort presented itself for the span of twenty seconds he stood again, shaking water out of his fur. Minor inconvenience on the great river expedition, better to just shake it off and move on.

That particular moment happened to be when he finally glimpsed a flicker of green along the bank. He smirked, tracking the occasional movement along the opposite shore, beady red eyes following the indistinct form sliding under the mud. His tail flickered back and forth, displaying his interest. Shadow’s haunches gave a swift side to side jerk, leaping across the water with wings flared. He gathered up the reptilian skin between his hooves and landed triumphantly on the muddy bank with an enormous splatter.

“Gotcha!” he proclaimed, coming up from the nasty mass with exuberance filling his voice “When I show everyone at school I caught a… frog?”

No it certainly was not a frog. The green Shadow had seen slithering along the bank was a common variety of grass snake. The creature was, even as annoyed as it was now, entirely harmless except to the weaker kinds of mice and lizards. At this moment, wrapped around Shadow’s front hoof as it was, the poor reptile could do nothing more than stare up at its captor with something a little less than anger.

Shadow did not know anything beyond the fact that a snake was glaring at him, and as the story books always said, snake bites were a thing to be avoided at all costs. He screamed, tossing the innocent snake into the water and galloping back to the tree. He braced himself on the other side, half imagined fates of the snake following and eating him piece by tiny piece danced through his thoughts. A quick peek behind the tree revealed no such fate, but did nothing to assuage the fear.

Walking the remaining fifty yards back home was a paranoid endeavor, consistently looking back over his shoulder for the slithering beast who was surely out for blood. In truth the snake had gone back to its hole long before he even left his hiding place behind the tree. He practically careened through the door of the cottage, slamming it shut behind him with ragged breath. At least he was now sure he had escaped the terrible monster.

Something, however, seemed oddly amiss. His ears registered total silence in the house, a worrying contrast to Dad’s announcement of dinner, or at least his snoring. Shadow was hesitant to turn and face the empty house, instantly making it obvious he was home alone. There was only one room after all, and the couch where Umbra usually slept was vacant.

Maybe the weather called him to job early, nothing suspicious about that. The colt trembled, dropping his bag off at the door and walking once around the wall. On his second pass he noticed the scroll left behind on the coffee table. He might not be blamed for his obliviousness, after all he was a good deal shorter than it was.

He clambered hastily up onto the wooden surface, carefully avoiding splinters, and unrolled the scroll. “Shadow,” he read aloud “I have to go to the doctor. Get food. Take a bath.” He smiled to himself, Umbra had kept it simple and Shadow felt good about himself for being able to read it. He hopped off the counter and made for the fridge, not having any pretext not to follow the first of his father’s instructions…

Four hours and a full tub of ice cream later Shadow was still covered in mud from the riverbank, and Umbra was still absent. The colt was starting to grow fearful, the sun was setting and he didn't know how to work the oil lamp. His state of panic grew stronger as he speculated the possible fates his father may have encountered. The last time he had been to the doctor they had given him a shot, and it wasn't hard to believe that was terrible enough to need to heal for a day. Maybe they had given him the shot so bad he had to stay and get fixed? That made sense…

Either which way, the darkness was creeping in on him, and he didn't trust the Everfree after dark. He decided in a moment to go back to Fluttershy’s, valuing his chances there far better than standing alone against the forest. He had a certain difficulty getting to the door, all the ice cream hadn’t done him any good at all, and it was hard enough to pull the door open normally. Eventually though he got himself out and started down the path.

Fluttershy was quite frankly shocked to see the pegasus colt on her doorstep, shivering in fear with dirt caked in his mane. Her first thought was that the poor dear had gotten himself into some sort of accident and brought him inside to look him over more thoroughly. He wasn’t hurt, at least not by strictest definition, but it looked like he had taken a bit of a spill earlier and not bathed since. Shadow explained, as the pink maned mare dragged him to the water basin, the entire ordeal of having arrived home to loneliness and the surety that he couldn’t possibly be safe all by himself there, and how the nasty doctors had probably put a bad shot in his dad.

“I think Umbra’s fine,” said Fluttershy when she could finally get a word in edgewise “He had a bad headache this morning so I took him to see Zecora. He only had to go to the doctor because she said it wasn’t something she had a potion for.”

“And the doctor will have a potion for it?” asked Shadow, the calm enough for him to be distracted by floating bubbles.

“Something like that,” said Fluttershy, uttering a quiet giggle “If he’s sick he may need to stay overnight, but it’s nothing serious. If you’d like we could go down to the hospital, after you’re cleaned up of course.

“Sure,” said Shadow, the mass of bubbles before his face becoming in his mind’s eye an island of evil ninja ponies, and himself the mighty titan. With a high pitched roar he dove forward, sending water cascading over the basin’s edge. Fluttershy squeaked and backed quickly away, managing a stern look

“And now we’ll have to clean this up too,” she said with a sigh “I think bath time is over now.”

Shadow was more than a little put out when, after toweling off, he was presented with a mop and instructed to clean the mess he made. But he did the job, and Fluttershy was waiting for him at the door soon afterward.

“Ready to go?”

“Yeah.”

They opted to walk the country road toward Ponyville General. The moon was high in the sky, casting a pleasant glow over the sleepy town. Shadow chased fireflies as they walked, excited, but careful not to injure the delicate insects. Each one he caught he presented to Fluttershy, who invited them to rest in her mane for awhile. It was an innocent, childish excursion, and to Shadow it seemed like a magnificent adventure.

Fluttershy had a mane of stars by the time the gentle glow of the hospital came into view, the lights mostly dimmed but the lobby emitting beacon brightness. The lightning bugs were dismissed into the night sky as they walked into the sterile white room, mostly empty save for a few elderly ponies milling around the plastic chairs. It seemed safe above all else, and any worries that Fluttershy hadn’t put out of the colt’s mind were swept away.

Shadow occupied himself with some tinker toys in the corner while Fluttershy went to the counter. She was pleased to find Nurse Redheart on shift, a familiar face. The white earth pony had helped her with a charity drive for orphan animals once several months ago. They weren’t friends per se, buts she was more approachable than a stranger would have been.

“Excuse me, nurse?” she said.

“Fluttershy,” said Redheart, permitting a familiar, but professional smile to grace her features “What can I do for you?”

Fluttershy cleared her throat before starting again, feeling slightly anxious “Do you know what room Umbra Chaser is in right now? He has a visitor…”

“Chaser, I can check that for you,” Redheart’s voice fell somewhere between the land of curt and the valley of patience “File says he came in around noon complaining of head pains. Nurse examined, couldn’t find anything wrong, so they were going to send him home with some high-strength aspirin…”

Redheart took a moment to squint at the messy scrawl on the page, leaving the finishing past tense to hang ominously in the air. “Did something else come up?” Fluttershy asked, trying to hasten the talk.

“Started bleeding from the ear on the way out,” said Redheart, wincing at the words “The attendant stopped him and they got him rushed for the MRI.” Her professionalism slipped, a sudden shock visible for barely a second “Cerebral hemorrhage, apparently built up a massive clot.”

“Well what does that mean?” asked Fluttershy.

“It means he’s bleeding from the head,” said Redheart “They found a small malignant tumor on the hypothalamus, but it’s very early stage. He’s been in surgery for the past few hours.”

“Is he going to be alright?” Fluttershy’s voice fell low as Shadow turned casually to observe the conversation.

Redheart noticed the pause and lowered her own voice. “They caught it early,” she said “And he’s in his prime. The odds are stacked well in his favor considering the seriousness of the condition. There may be some complications afterward, speech impediments, left-right side reversal, but the chances of fatality are thankfully minimal,” she nodded to Shadow “You can tell the kid he’s going to be fine.”

“How long is he going to be in surgery?” asked Fluttershy.

“Variable,” said Redheart “It all depends on how well they’re able to remove the tumor, and then how the recovery goes. I would say check back in the morning, he won’t be in any shape to see people before then.”

“Thank you,” said Fluttershy, somehow not feeling very grateful at all. She walked back to Shadow who had occupied himself by pushing a series of colored beads down a wire track.

“Train to the Crystal Empire, departing at seven,” he was talking to himself “Scheduled stop in Canterlot at noon, arrival at six.” He shot the beads down a decline on the track “Choo-choo!”

Fluttershy couldn’t bring herself to smile at him, stomach tied in an uncomfortable knot. She took a seat on one of the plastic chairs that lined the wall and picked up one of the available nature magazines. She watched Shadow over the edge of the paper, suddenly irrationally afraid for Umbra's life and the colt's future. Umbra was going to have a difficult time in the aftermath of this mess. It wasn’t enormously likely the weather team would take his job, but the matter of bits would still be jeopardized by hospital bills and failure to make shifts. She would talk to Applejack, she decided, at least to make sure they had food.

Shadow’s wings flared out from his back as he yawned, flapping gently twice before falling against his back again. They were large on his small frame, a trait likely gotten from his father. The mane was green, she noticed,  an uncommon trait. Fluttershy wondered vaguely what his mother could have looked like, unable to visualize a satisfactory image beyond the sharing of a fluffy gray coat.

The little grey colt climbed his way up onto the seat next to Fluttershy, his eyes half lidded “Is dad going to be here much longer?” he asked, curling himself into a little grey tuft of fur.

“I’m afraid it may be a little while,” she said “Do you need to go home and get some sleep?”

“No, I’ll wait,” said Shadow “Sleep is for,” he was interrupted by his own yawn “Babies…”

“Well alright, said Fluttershy “I’ll stay here too then, you can’t be here alone.”

Shadow nodded, drowsiness taking him. He vaguely counted the chairs on either side of him in an attempt to remain engaged, but it only made him sleepier. His eyes fell shut and he went lax against the plastic, breathing slowly and rhythmically as he began to dream.





The sun seemed to rise painfully slow to Fluttershy as she watched it steadily begin to seep in from a window on the other side of the lobby. She hadn’t slept a wink all night, nerves keeping her on-edge and the sleep-talking colt beside her keeping a constant mumble. She had decided, some hours ago while it was still dark, she would get the attention of the first nurse who would come out to the lobby in order to ask about Umbra’s condition.

Thus far it was deadly quiet, a good sign that no one had injured themselves, but a bad sign for those awaiting news. The hospital was, as most hospitals are, always open, but there had been no sign of a desk worker since midnight last night. Mildly frustrating, but given the small size and relative peace of Ponyville it could be easily considered unnecessary. And yet it was so rude. Even innocent Fluttershy, scared out of her mind of what was to come, was starting to grow impatient. She would never say such a thing aloud of course, but it had been a stressful night. When the little white hat of a nurse finally emerged from the back area it came as a blessed relief.

It wasn’t Redheart this time, but a yellowish young pony with mousy brown hair. She looked as though she might be an intern or a nurse’s aide, rather than a member of actual staff. She looked tired and grumpy, likely the victim rather than the volunteer of the early morning shift, leaving Fluttershy wary to approach.

“Excuse me,” she mustered the most polite and reverent tone she could, even though the worker looked a good deal younger than herself “Would you mind too horribly looking something up for me?”

The intern rolled her eyes, and Fluttershy caught the name ‘Healing Heart’ on her badge “That’s kind of my job isn’t it?” she drawled “What do you need exactly?”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Fluttershy, terrified she had offended her in some way “I just need to know if Mr. Chaser is in visiting condition.”

“Chaser,” Heart took a note of the name and started sifting through the file boxes under the desk “Got Shadow, pediatric records, oh, you probably want Umbra don’t you? That looks real recent…” she procured a manila envelope from the boxes under the desk, flipping it carelessly open.

“I really am sorry to be a bother,” Fluttershy reiterated “It’s just his son is here, and we were told he would be better by morning.” She trailed off, realizing that Heart probably couldn’t care less.

Heart, however, stopped listening halfway through, eyeing the file as if there had been some kind of mistake “You did say Chaser, right?” she asked “As in Umbra Chaser, checked in yesterday afternoon with head trouble?”

Fluttershy’s stomach leapt into freefall “Yes,” she said “Is he still indisposed?”

“Honey, I don’t know how to tell you this,” said Heart “But that’s the first file edit of the day. Umbra Chaser passed away in post-op about fifteen minutes ago, could not be resuscitated. Time of death…”
.	
“What?”

A tiny voice heralded from behind Fluttershy and she swiveled wildly around to see Shadow, awake and on his hooves, no more than a meter behind her. His expression read blank shock.

“Dad…” he spoke low, rubescent eyes welling up with tears “No… he isn’t. We were going to Canterlot, he promised. Dad!”

Shadow bolted before Fluttershy could even say a word to him, ignoring Heart’s cries to stop as he barreled through the doors to the other wings of the hospital. His desperate cries echoed out of the halls, softer and softer, as he searched for the father he would never see again.


> Chapter 1: Lightning Struck
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Shadow Glared up at the red school building of Ponyville Elementary as he slowly trotted up the hill. It was the first day of the new school year and all around the playground and play structures students new and old were running, screaming and playing, excited for the upcoming year.
One colt, however, was far from excited. As Shadow walked past Applebloom, who was working on fixing Scootaloo’s scooter, there was only one thing on his mind. What had happened one year ago today.
It was still a few minutes before school started, for which he was thankful. He flexed his wings, broad for his size, and ruffled them a bit. He took a small rubber ball out of his backpack and glared in concentration. He tossed it up in the air, then knocked it forward with a wing, then alternated, building up a steady rhythm. Right, left, right, left, right left, knocking the sphere against the painted wood in perfect rhythm, just like Dad had taught him…
The ball hit the grass behind him. He had to stop thinking about that day. There was nothing he could do about it, it was better just to pretend it had never…
“Hey!” came a voice to his left “I got your ball for you! What are you doing just standing there? Are you…crying? What’s the matter?”
Shadow quickly forced himself to breathe regularly again as he turned to face the new pony. It was a red coated filly with a shockingly electric blue mane. Her eyes were covered by sunglasses, too big for her face, and her jagged tail waved wildly back and forth like a dog’s.
“I’m fine…” said Shadow “now can you please give me that back?”
“I’m Lightning Strike!” said the filly loudly “This is my first year here, is this a fun school? What’s your name?”
Deciding to answer the second question first, “I'm Shadow, Shadow Chaser.” Said Shadow, forcing himself to bow as he knew was appropriate when introducing oneself to mares.
“Well it’s great to meet you Shadow!” said Lightning, giggling and dropping the ball as she began to bounce in place “You wanna be friends? I haven’t made any friends yet. I tried the kids on the playground but they all said I was crazy.”
“Uh…” was all Shadow got out before he was blown away again.
“Do you like games? Of course you like games. Oh! You’re a Pegasus! Can you fly yet? I met a unicorn once who was too young to do magic, how boring is that?
“It’s… um…” Shadow mumbled
“Do you think unicorns are snooty?” Lightning shot off again “I’ve heard pegasi think unicorns are snooty. What about clouds? Can you move clouds? But you didn’t say whether or not you can fly! Can you fly yet? I’d be really jealous if you could. I don’t have wings or a horn. My brother doesn’t either so I guess it’s a genetic thing?”
“Look, Lightning?” Shadow interrupted “I’d love to talk but I need to practice.”
“Oh, right!” said Lightning rolling the ball back over “Sorry, did your parents teach you to do that cool trick with your wings?”
A weight dropped into Shadow’s stomach. He turned around and started to walk away “I don’t have any parents…” he said over his shoulder.
Then, Lightning said the only two words that could make him stop “Me either.”
Shadow froze, then turned to look at Lightning, who had a pained smile on her face, though it was hard to tell with the sunglasses. “I’m sorry,” she said “I don’t really like talking about it either, I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“It’s okay…” said Shadow slowly, just as the bell rang.
“Oh! Class is starting!” Lightning shouted “I’ll see you later Shadow!” she proceeded to join the mad dash of kids all surging into the building.
“Yeah…” said Shadow after she’d already gone “See you.”
It turned out they would be seeing each other much sooner than he thought. When he managed to squeeze his way into the schoolhouse he discovered Lightning waving to him from the desk next to his.
“I asked Sweetie belle where you sat so I could sit next to you!” she said with a laugh “You look like you need a friend.”
Shadow wasn’t sure whether to feel amazed that she had gotten up the courage to talk to a fifth grader or flattered she wanted to sit by him.
“So seriously,” said Lightning “class is fun isn’t it? I’ve heard people say its fun, but others say it’s boring.”
“It depends on the day,” said Shadow, glad she had allowed a pause for him to speak at last “today’s probably just going to be a bunch of lazy introductions.”
“Well that doesn’t sound like fun…” said Lightning with a smirk “come on, I have an idea.”
“Idea…?” Shadow said curiously, he was getting quieter now the lesson was starting.
Lightning gestured to one of the open windows with a grin, then slid carefully out of her desk and crawled toward it.
“Stop!” Shadow hissed “You’ll get caught!”
“No I won’t!” Lightning replied in a singsong whisper then dove out the window.
Shadow turned quickly to see if Cheerilee was watching. When he saw she was writing something on the blackboard he slid over and followed Lightning out the window.
“You’re crazy!” he shouted once they were a safe distance from the schoolhouse “do you have any idea how much trouble we’ll be in if we get caught skipping class?”
“Nope!” said Lightning, smiling widely “Do you?”
“Yeah!” said Shadow “what happens is they… um…uh…”
“Exactly,” said Lightning, stopping to let Shadow really catch up to her “you see, we’re skipping so it’ll be an adventure, but since neither of us have been caught before, that’d be an adventure too!”
Shadow had to think about that one. She could have a point he supposed. He felt a familiar stirring in his chest, a feeling he hadn’t felt for a long time. He suddenly broke into the first smile he’d had on his face in ages.
“I know just the place if you want to explore,” he said “Come on, follow me!”
“Right behind you!” Lightning shouted and they both took off at a gallop.
Shadow led them along a familiar path, at least to him, which ran down the school’s hill past Fluttershy’s cottage. At one point they had to duck to the side of the path as a pony walked along the other direction. Overall for the two young foals it was already shaping up to be quite an adventure.
Lightning, however, did not suspect such an exciting adventure as the one Shadow led them to. And before she knew it they were standing at the edge of the Everfree Forest. Shadow kept walking casually, crossing the tree line, but Lightning hesitated.
“Hey, Light,” Shadow called back “are you coming or what?”
Lightning was staring into the trees, a feeling of trepidation starting to form now, “But…” she said “That’s the Everfree Forest! Ponies who go in there never come back!”
“It’s just a bunch of dumb trees,” said Shadow, rolling his eyes “I don’t get why everyone’s so scared of it.”
“Because there are monsters in there!” Lightning nearly squeaked “and they eat ponies, or turn them into stone, or kill them and take their skin!”
“The manticores, cockatrice, and changelings all live miles in,” Shadow responded “I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night otherwise, I live right near here, and heck Zecora lives in it.”
“I know…” said Lightning, shivering now “but…changelings…”
“Alright” said Shadow “you can go back to school, but then you’ll miss out on the secret tree house!”
Shadow knew he had won the moment Lightning’s ears perked up “Secret tree house?” she asked intrigued.
“Oh, I shouldn’t tell you,” said Shadow, turning back toward the tree line “It’s only for ponies brave enough to go into the Everfree Forest.”
In the next second Lightning was ahead of him “Well lead the way!” she said enthusiastically.
Shadow flapped his wings, floating ahead to lead the way “Well don’t lose your shades,” he said “well… actually you might, it’s pretty dark in there.” As they continued, the speed at which Lightning had overtaken him stuck in his mind. Could all earth ponies run that fast?
The tree house he was talking about was actually a relatively short trip. Safely near the edge of the forest the tree house of black wood stood somewhat steadily in one of the tall oak trees. Shadow had discovered it during the last school year when he followed two fifth graders after school. He’d been too afraid to approach, but after they had left he’d explored the tree house himself.
Now that they were approaching it again he couldn’t be more excited. The students who had used this tree house before would’ve graduated by now, meaning it was time for someone new to claim it. Lightning was right, this was turning out to be a real first class adventure.
“Um…” said Lightning, prodding one of the moldy rungs on the ladder that led up into the tree “how do we get up there?”
Shadow, in his distraction, had already flown halfway up “Oh yeah, the ladder’s totally busted he said, going back down “let me help you.”
Before Lightning even knew what was happening Shadow had grabbed her round the middle and started flying again, pumping his wings like an insect, straining from the exertion.
“What do you think you’re doing!?” Lightning squeaked “You can’t lift both of us! Stop! You’re gonna drop me!”
Despite her complaints, however it was barely twenty seconds later they were both safely on the porch of the tree house.
Shadow smirked “I practice carrying weights around,” he said smugly “that was nothing.”
“Stupid Pegasus…” muttered Lightning.
“Stubborn earth pony,” Shadow replied in like.
They both entered the tree house itself and Lightning gasped. The wooden walls were covered in carvings. Some were recent, a snake Shadow guessed could’ve been carved just last year, but others were old, very old. A few were in languages he didn’t know or even recognize. Finally against the back wall was a single carving that dwarfed the countless others. A huge star swirl beside a glorious lunar shape, both entwined within the shape of a diamond.
“Incredible…” Lightning said, pacing around “I mean, really, really incredible. How old do you think this is?”
“No idea,” said Shadow, but he had some theories “I think it’s got to be magical somehow or it would’ve rotted away a long time ago. It’s only slowed though, and it’s starting to fall apart anyway. Probably some really powerful unicorn built it when they were just our age.”
“It really is old, do you know what this is from?” asked Lightning, indicating a large hold in the back corner.
“No idea, again,” Shadow replied “It’s really rotten over there, don’t go walking on it.” He unfortunately knew perfectly well what that hole was from. The very first time he had been here he had crashed right through the boards and landed in the leaf mold below. He shuddered just thinking about it, but Lightning was too busy trying to read the writing on the walls to notice.
“I think I recognize this one!” she said excitedly, motioning toward the caption under the star swirl and moon “It’s Alicornian, sometimes my big brother gets assignments written in this language, I can’t read it though.”
“Dang it,” said Shadow “I really wanted to know what it said, I’ve been curious about it forever, don’t get my hopes up like that!”
“Sorry,” said Lightning “I probably shouldn’t talk about it anyway, he’s an admiral in the royal guard you know.”
“No, I didn’t know,” Shadow replied “that’s really cool! My dad used to be the captain!”
“No way,” said Lightning “Shining Armor has been captain of the guard since before we were born.” 
“I said used to be,’ said Shadow, the excitement, for now, holding back his memory reflex “we moved to Ponyville when I was real little.”
“Why would he give up a position like that?” Lightning pondered.
Shadow shrugged “I don’t know, but I sure like it here, can you imagine going to Canterlot with all the noise?”
“I’ve always wanted to go to Canterlot!” said Lightning indignantly “I had to stay with Cheerilee for a whole week while my brother was on guard for the royal wedding.”
“That stinks,” Shadow sighed, remembering wanting to go himself “I heard there were changelings!”
Lightning froze “Were there…?” she asked slowly.
“Yeah, I know,” said Shadow “I wish I’d have been there, I’d have given them worse than a party cannon!”
“No way!” Lightning exclaimed “I never want to see a changeling, not now, not then, not ever!”
“Oh what’s the matter?” asked Shadow smugly “Chicken?”
Lightning was dumbstruck. She turned toward the exit, blinking back tears and dove out the door.
“Lightning!” Shadow called, running after her quickly “where do you think you’re going?”
By the time he made it out she had leapt down off the porch and took off at a gallop, she shouted back over her shoulder “Somewhere where you aren't!”
Shadow sighed, then gasped. Lightning was running even deeper into the forest…


> Chapter 2  Orochi
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Light!” Shadow shouted, flying after the electric blue mane “Light! Stop!”
“You can’t tell me what to do!” Lightning shouted back at him, not breaking her galloping pace.
“Light, you’re going the wrong way!”Shadow yelled “That’s going deeper into the forest! That’s where the monsters are! Manticores! Cockatrice! Changelings!”
That seemed to get her attention, she slowed to a fast trot, letting Shadow catch up “Well we haven’t seen anything yet…” she said “actually I can’t see much of anything, how long have we been running?”
“I don’t know… five minutes?” Shadow said, his eyes adjusting a little bit better to the deepening darkness “I think we should turn back now..”
“I guess…” said Lightning “but which way is back? We’ve turned how many times?”
“We just follow the…” Shadow trailed off “Where’s the path?”
“It stopped a little while ago,” said Lightning innocently, “I just kept going, I wasn’t paying a lot of attention.”
Shadow brought a hoof to his face. Thanks to this ditzy filly they were lost in the Everfree forest with no idea how to get out.
“Should we yell for help?” Lightning asked, starting to sound worried now.
“That would be ill-advised,” said Shadow, trying to put on a brave face, but his voice trembled “The sound would probably attract more bad things than good.”
“Like Manticores?” Lightning squeaked in fear “I heard they find foals by the smell then hunt them down and gobble them up.”
“Actually, I’m not really worried about Manticores…” said Shadow.
“Well that’s a relief…” Lightning sighed.
“They’ll all be hibernating,” said Shadow “this is timber wolf season. They attack travelers in packs and rip them to pieces.”
Lightning squeaked and pulled one of Shadow’s wings out, hiding behind it. Shadow sighed.
“Look,” he said “I see a little light coming up here, it may be the way out.”
Lightning peeked out over his feathers “Oh yeah,” she said “can we go now?”
“If you let go of my wing, sure.”
Lightning let go slowly and started trotting towards the light, Shadow following at a bored pace behind. As they approached they realized this wasn’t a way out at all, but rather, a clearing with a large hill.
“Great…” Shadow muttered, starting to scale the hill “now we’ll never get home.”
“We can just climb the hill,” said Lightning, her voice quailing “then we just look around, find our way home…right?”
Shadow, having reached the top of the hill, sighed “It doesn’t go over the trees,” he said “I don’t know what to do…”
“No way!” Lightning shouted, running up to the top of the hill to join him “There’s… no way… we have to get home. Can’t you just fly us over the trees?”
“I could barely get you up to the tree house” Shadow muttered dejectedly “we’re miles from home and no one even knows we’re out here.” He sat down “We’re dead…” he moaned “we’re gonna die…”
Lightning quailed “No way…” she said quietly, tears starting to form “No… I don’t want to die…”
There was a slight shudder from the ground and Shadow’s ears stood up. He may have given up but Celestia be damned if he went down without a fight. He turned to Lightning, who was completely oblivious to the low rumble. He glowered slightly, and pounded the grass with a hoof.
The entire hill suddenly shook violently. Lightning jumped up “What was that?” she shrieked diving toward Shadow. Shadow caught her and looked rapidly around. The grass was starting to split around the base of the hill, their altitude seemed to be changing, the trees seeming to fall into the ground.
“We’re going up!” Lightning squeaked, gripping Shadow tightly “What’s happening?”
Although he was too stunned to speak, Shadow managed to get an assessment of what was going on. The dirt falling off the hill revealed a dark mass of gigantic scales. The hill was rising steadily off a single pillar
“We’re on a snake,” he managed to choke out “a massive snake.”
A patch of grass next to them suddenly fell away, revealing a huge yellow eye. It dilated and focused on them, a low his rising from below.
Shadow jumped, wings spread, Lightning still clinging to him. They fell more than flew downward, Shadow’s wings beating fast. The massive head above them shook back and forth, raining dirt down over the forest like a meteor shower. A loud predatory hiss came from it as it focused again, staring right at them.
“It’s looking at us…” Lightning whimpered, grabbing even tighter around Shadow, who was looking desperately around for somewhere to crash. The lake had come into view now but it seemed unlikely they would make it that far before splattering onto the hard ground.
The huge snake lunged, mountainous fangs glinting in the sunlight as it shot toward the two. The choice now seemed to be to angle downward and die in the impact, or be devoured by a monstrous snake.
Just as Shadow shut his eyes, ready for the fangs to sink firmly into him, he felt a push forward. He didn’t know it yet, but Lightning’s hoof had connected squarely with one of the fangs. There was the sound of cracking bone as the kick pushed them forward.
The snake reared up, letting out a horrifying screech, the massive fang falling with a crash into the forest below. Before Shadow could figure out what was happening they were splashing down in the lake
Lightning let go to struggle to the surface and Shadow came out of the water barely a moment behind. They bobbed in the water for awhile, dumbstruck, watching the huge snake’s body lower slowly into the forest and vanish.
They stared out at the forest for a long time, just floating on the water, Lightning was the first one to laugh as the situation finally started to brighten. Shadow was quick to join in.
“We’re alive!” Lightning shouted “No dumb snake’s gonna get the best of us!”
“No way!” Shadow hollered back “You may be big and bad but I’ve never seen a snake that can fly like a Pegasus!”
“Oh but I’d love to see a Pegasus kick like an earth pony,” Lightning teased “did you see that? I knocked his fang out!”
“Earth ponies can’t fly either,” Shadow scoffed, splashing Lightning with a wing “There’s no way you could’ve gotten out of there without me!”
“That goes double for you!” Lightning shouted, throwing both hooves down into the water and sending a wave over Shadow’s head.
This argument continued for a full hour, both sides attacking with great waves of water. They splashed around in the lake happily, diving and swimming and everything in between. There are some things you just can’t do without becoming friends, many are near death situations. Even at the age too young to understand death, the bonds are just as strong.
By the time Lightning and Shadow’s water battle finally slowed down the sun was starting to set. Shadow was the first to climb out of the lake and shake off the water, preening a bit to get the water off his wings. Lightning leapt out a moment later, spraying him with water droplets all over again.
“I guess we can find our way home from here huh?” Lightning asked “It’s what, ten minutes?”
“I don’t know,” said Shadow “but I am hungry!”
“You want to get tacos?” asked Lightning with a smirk.
“That sounds good!” said Shadow, shaking the last of the water out of his feathers.
“Last one to Taco Gio’s pays!” Lightning spoke quickly, then took off at a full gallop towards town.
Shadow, not one to be outdone, sprang off the ground and took off after her. She may be light on her hooves, but he would eat his shoes before a Pegasus lost a race to an earth pony.

> Chapter 3 Lunar Visitor
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Shadow pushed his way through the thick blanket of snow that had fallen overnight. The weather pegasi had officially declared it winter time and Shadow was psyched. He was on his way to Lightning’s house, not to stay though. They were planning to get some cake at sugarcube corner then go to his house for a sleepover.
It was his birthday after all, it was about time he had a good party…
Lightning’s house wasn’t situated in the good part of Ponyville but in a town like this one there was no bad part. It was only a small house in a block of others just like it but Shadow thought it was a very big house indeed, compared to his cottage at least.
Suddenly getting an evil idea, he rolled a snowball I his hoof before knocking on the door. The moment it opened he threw hard, the sound of snow splattering on a coat sounded from within.
“Ha-ha!” Shadow shouted gleefully “who’s quicker now…Light?” His voice trailed away as he realized he was not staring at Lightning, but rather, a tall red stallion. He gulped.
“Got you Shadow!” Lightning’s voice came from behind the stallion “I knew you were going to try something like that. Thanks bro!”
The stallion smiled as Lightning squeezed into the doorway “Didn’t scare you too bad kid?” he asked ruffling Shadow’s mane “Name’s Saber Strike, nice to meet you. I’m my sister’s legal guardian.”
“Yes, but you’re still my brother,” said Lightning, reaching up to poke him in the still snow covered chest “which means you can’t tell me what to do!”
“That’s right,” said Saber with a laugh “you two have fun okay? And Lightning, try not to give Shadow’s parents too much grief.”
“I don’t think that’ll be a problem…” Shadow mumbled awkwardly.
“Then you have more faith in her than I do,” said Saber “just keep safe alright?”
“Oh I’ll try,” said Lightning, grabbing for her saddlebag “come on already Shadow, I can practically taste the cake!”
“Your brother is the one holding us up,” said Shadow, switching tactics to hover just enough to walk on the snow “I’ve just been waiting for you.”
“Yeah, whatever,” said Lightning, walking through the rut Shadow had dug to get there “blame the earth pony, typical pegasus.”
“I’m not trying to be mean,” Shadow muttered “you just like arguing don’t you?”
“I do not!” Lightning exclaimed.
“You do,” said Shadow
“Do not!”
“Do so!”
“I do not!”
“You most absolutely do!”
“Never!”
“Always!”
“Nyeh!”
“Well nyeh, back!”
They continued like this all the way to Sugarcube corner, Lightning tunneling through the snow behind Shadow. When they finally pushed the door open most logic was left long behind.
“Well I say Rainbow Dash is the most popular pony!” Shadow shouted.
“Well you’re wrong!” Lightning said angrily “because Pinkie Pie is the most popular!”
“Gosh!” said a bubbly voice behind the counter “am I really?” Pinkie Pie had just put a new batch of cupcakes into the display case and was smiling at Lightning.
“Yeah,” said Lightning “see Shadow, I’m right!” she stuck her tongue out at Shadow and sat down.
“Kiss up…” Shadow grumbled, sitting across from her.
“Well what can I get you two?” asked Pinkie, bouncing over “we’ve got cupcakes fresh out of the oven!”
“Ooh,” said Shadow, starting to drool “defiantly, vanilla please!”
“Chocolate!” Lightning added.
Pinkie laughed and bounced away to get the cupcakes, Lightning turned back to Shadow “Do I have to pay for this one? Since you lost the race?”
“I did not lose that race!” Shadow said indignantly “you got a head start!”
“Even Gio said I won!” Lightning pointed out “There’s no way you can argue that, I brought some bits anyway.”
“Well so did I!” Shadow exclaimed, voice rising now “I’m the one who planned this aren’t I?’
By the time Pinkie had returned with the cupcakes they were in full swing again “You two are so cute when you argue!” Pinkie said
“We are not cute!” both Lightning and Shadow shouted simultaneously, this was mostly off put by the fact their voices both cracked.
“Aw… is someone cranky-wanky today?” asked Pinkie “I don’t like to see cranky little foals, I think a song is in order!”
Now this turned some heads. Pinkie Pie’s singing was not a treat to miss, and just like that she burst into song
Sometimes you feel discouraged
Or just a bit depressed
Perhaps you’ve lost your courage
Maybe you’re in a mess
But arguing and fighting
They have never solved a thing
So stop your silly bickering
Come on you guys let’s sing!
And now, spontaneously as ever, a great few of Pinkie’s friends joined her in chorus.
Get along with your best friends
Even if you’re at wit’s end
Just turn that sad frown upside down
And then begin again!
Shadow couldn’t help but flush. Pinkie Pie burst out into random, seemingly rehearsed song for everyone, but this was a total first for him. And judging by the look on Lightning’s face it was the same for her.
“You see?” Pinkie said “its way more fun to get along and be friends than it is to fight and argue!”
Shadow could only nod, afraid this pink pony might burst out singing again. Lightning however, smiled broadly.
“Thanks Pinkie,” she said “sorry if we caused any fuss”
“That’s alright!” said Pinkie with a giggle “You guys are still cute when you argue, but it’s so much more fun to get along and be friends!”
Shadow was still looking around the rest of the shop where every pony had returned quite fluidly to what they were doing before the song. There was no way that had been totally spontaneous was there?
“Tell you what,” said Pinkie “you can have those cupcakes for free today! You can use the bits to buy something fun instead!”
“Yay!” Lightning shouted, digging into her cupcake.
“Thanks Pinkie,” said Shadow, trying to be a bit more reserved, but still pigging out a moment later.
They left Sugarcube Corner with faces full of frosting, laughing now, planning what they would do for the rest of the day and marveling Pinkie’s random abilities.
“It wasn’t her best song you know,” Said Lightning “my brother still has a recording of smile, smile, smile, that’s one of the best song’s I’ve ever heard.”
“Oh I don’t know,” said Shadow, licking a bit of frosting off his nose “remember with the Cutie Mark Crusaders did Babs Seed for the talent show?”
“With Rock Star on the guitar?” Lightning said excitedly “how could I forget? Oh gosh… I forgot!” And with that she started running back along the rut they had made to reach the store, it was already filling with snow again.
“What did you forget?’ asked Shadow curiously.
“My guitar,” said Lightning, grumbling “I can’t miss a practice day!”
“You never told me you played guitar!” Shadow exclaimed “why haven’t I ever heard you play?”
Lightning blushed a little “I’ve only played for a year” she said “I’m not really all that good.”
"Doesn’t matter,” said Shadow “it’s good you remembered, I want to hear it!”
“It’s only practice for now,” said Lightning “I’ve never actually played for anypony yet…”
“Well now’s your chance!” said Shadow happily “I can’t wait!”
“Yeah…sure” said Lightning uneasily as she stepped back up to her house. Saber was there almost before she knocked.
“Your guitar?” he asked, passing a small black case to her.
“How did you know?” asked Lightning sarcastically “don’t think this means I’m coming home so soon.”
“Then get outta here!”Said Saber laughing.
“I’m going!” said Lightning, sticking her tongue out and taking the guitar “Come on Shadow, can we get going already?”
“You’re the one holding us up again!” Shadow complained “I’m standing out here in the cold waiting for you!”
“Well stop waiting, we’re going!” said Lightning vehemently “Lead the way flyboy!”
“With pleasure!” said Shadow, still holding his wings out to walk on top of the snow, smirking as Lightning had to dig her way through.
It was only about a five minute walk from Lightning’s house to Shadow’s cottage even with the snow. Even so they were cold and miserable by the time they got there, Shadow holding the door open as Lightning pushed up and out of the drift piled up at the stoop.
“I love wintertime!” she said “The snow is just the greatest! What?” Shadow was looking at her like she was crazy.
The house itself had deteriorated with only an elementary school caretaker for a solid year. The floor was coated in a fine layer of dust, hoof prints showing the exact pathway Shadow would take to and from the door in the mornings and evenings. The bed, destroyed from overactive bouncing, was piled up by the fireplace. The bookcase, deemed useless, was toppled over and covered in a few tatty blankets.
“This is…interesting.” Lightning said, poking around the cabinets lined along the wall “you don’t really know how to take care of yourself do you?”
“Shut up,” said Shadow “I’ve kept the fridge and the water going this whole time haven’t I?”
“I was actually wondering about that,” said Lightning “there weren’t any power lines leading out here, how do you have electricity?”
“It’s because…” Shadow paused “I have no idea…”
Lightning merely shrugged, pulling out a box of Twinkies “Are these any good?” she asked curiously.
“Hardly a day old box,” said Shadow proudly “see? I do know how to take care of myself!”
“There’s only one left…” said Lightning.
“Yeah…” said Shadow “help yourself!”
“Nah,” said Lightning, “these things have enough sugar to fuel the town, let’s split it.”
“That totally works too!” said Shadow, perhaps a little too enthusiastically.
Lightning cut the Twinkie carefully in half “Do you have anything to drink?” she asked.
Shadow opened the fridge, revealing it to be totally full of soda bottles “what flavor do you want?”
“Um…” said Lightning, for the first time ever not knowing how to respond to a question.
“You look like a red pop person,” said Shadow, rolling over a bottle filled with red, bubbly liquid.
“Faygo?” asked Lightning reading the label “what is this?”
“Soda,” said Shadow, getting one for himself “I like the rock n rye best but red pop is good for first timers.”
“I’ve had soda!” said Lightning indignantly, opening the bottle and taking a short sniff “but… this smells like cough syrup…” she turned to Shadow, who seemed to be chugging his, then took a tentative sip.
“Good isn’t it?’ asked Shadow, surfacing from the bottle “I love it because there’s a lot of sugar in it.” He released a loud belch and covered his mouth.
“Well excuse you,” said Lightning, giggling, then releasing a hiccup herself. They both went into conniptions, laughing until their sides hurt.
Shadow suddenly grabbed one off the blankets off the “bed” and draped it over himself “Rawr!” he shouted “I am a terrible timber wolf! Aroo! Bow before me pitiful pony!”
“Oh no! Someone help me!” Light said with a giggle “Or rather, they should help you! For I am no mere pony!” she proceeded to open her guitar case “as one of the fantastic pony musicians, I will control you with my hypnotic sound!”
“No!” Shadow play-quailed “Not my only weakness! How did you know?”
“Your big ears gave it away mister timber wolf!” Lightning said with a smile “and now, I vanquish thee!”
She struck the strings of the guitar, and at once a sweet song poured out. It was a basic melody, but a beautiful one. Shadow indeed was almost hypnotized, just as she had said. The song, wordless and yet wonderful, seemed to carry memory of things far away. Images of snow, and a crystal kingdom appeared in the mind’s eye, capturing every detail even without a single explanation provided.
The music trailed into the evening, the sun setting slowly and a full moon rising behind. The song seemed to beckon the stars themselves to shine even brighter around the cottage. And indeed, one spectral entity whom was not a star.
A flash appeared from the lunar sphere as a dark shape descended slowly on ebony wings toward the cottage. The hooves that landed in the deepening snow held the tall pony high above the icy crystals.
“What is that tune…?” the pony questioned the empty night “Umbra’s violin? No… that sounds deeper. A guitar? Hm…”
The music drew to a close and the pony smiled “I suppose I’ve been noticed” they said “It’s finally time…”
Lightning couldn’t help but grin as Shadow shook off the sound’s enchantment “He must have really enjoyed it,” she thought, glowing with pride.
“Well…musician…” said Shadow, tumbling for some way to one up her “the powerful Manticore is immune to your haunting melody!” He reared up on his hind legs and made snorting noises.
“Oh but you silly manticore,” said Lightning “you are no match for the mother of all things dark,” she yanked another blanket off the bookshelf and tied it off as a cape “Nightmare Moon!”
Shadow took a moment to think if there was anything that could defeat Nightmare Moon. At a loss, he lowered down “No miss Nightmare, have mercy on this poor manticore!”
“Never!” Lightning cantered, rearing up herself now “as punishment for being a disobedient and rather rude monster, I am going to use my dark magic powers to turn you into a frog!”
Shadow gave an exaggerated gasp and jumped up onto the bookshelf, taking off his blanket so he could hide under it. “I’m doomed!” he shouted “Doomed I say! Doomed!”
Neither of them noticed the door open as the pony walking in, ducking through the doorframe. Her eyes looked around the dust and debris, heart jumping into her throat.
“Umbra?” she called, too quietly to really be heard. She thought for a moment that the house had been abandoned, until she heard a sound from the corner. She turned sharply, not daring to hope, and her eyes fell on the red earth filly, standing on her back hooves, turned away from her.
“Ha-ha!” said Lightning “There’s nowhere to run now you horrible Manticore! Prepare to meet your doom!”
Shadow’s head emerged from the blankets, smiling “I have one last trick up my sleeve…” his voice trailed away as his eyes ascended to a point above Lightning’s head “Nightmare…Moon…?”
“Yes you foal!” Lightning cackled, totally oblivious to the tall pony behind her “and now, I will gobble you up!”
“We do not have any pretext for gobbling innocent ponies!” came a tremendous voice from behind her “we would much appreciate it if thou would cease thy infernal ideals!”
Lightning froze, then turned slowly to face the pony behind her. Green eyes connected with a set of deep blue, then travelled up to the dark horn, then to the wide wings, and to the lunar styled robes.
“Nightmare Moon…” Lightning squeaked, backing up into Shadow, pressing them both against the wall “No… this can’t be happening…Shadow?”
Shadow had been stunned into silence the moment he had spotted the dark alicorn princess. It didn’t seem like he was going to come back to reality anytime soon. Luna leaned forward, eyes seeming to drill into the two foals.
“Dost thou find it amusing to go poking around the places thou dost not belong?” she scolded “canst thou return to thy mothers?”
“I d-don’t have a mother!” Lightning squeaked “I-I’m j-just here f-for Shadow’s p-party!”
“Shadow…?” Luna seemed to pause here, eyes locking on Shadow now. A flash of recognition crossed her face, followed by stark relief. “Shadow, it is you.”
“You’re after him?” Lightning exclaimed “there’s no way!” If you want to get to Shadow you have to go through me!”
“You do not understand child,” said Luna, smiling brightly “I mean you no harm, I’m here to…”
“Get back!” Lightning shouted, rearing up on her front hooves and kicking back hard.
Luna recoiled, the blow had done little damage but it had been strong, and it was very painful, “Shadow…” she said slowly “what’s wrong…?”
Lightning was standing protectively in front of him. He looked frightened to say the least as well as bewildered. Maybe, just maybe, a glimmer of recognition? But no… it was just a trick of the mind. Luna realized now that Shadow had no memory of her at all.
“Get out!” Lightning shouted “Go away! We don’t want you here monster!”
Luna was crushed to say the least, but she had one more question “Shadow…” she said “where is Umbra? Where is your father?”
Shadow didn’t have to answer, she saw the moment his face moved from abject terror to pure sorrow. She couldn’t believe it, didn’t want to believe it, but the evidence was all around her. Umbra, whom she had waited all these years for, was gone.
“Will you leave already?” Lightning shouted, legs wobbly “or… I’ll hit you again!”
To Lightning’s terrified surprise, Luna’s head bowed. She turned around and walked quickly out, the door slamming shut behind her.
Lightning collapsed, dizzy from fear “We did it,” she said “we really beat Nightmare Moon!”
Shadow was staring at the closed door, still shocked out of speech. A million thoughts were racing through his mind. For starters, what was the princess of the night doing in such a small town as Ponyville? Let alone his little cottage? It seemed totally preposterous. He glanced over to where Lightning had hauled herself up into a wobbly victory dance. She hadn’t really done anything to defeat her… so why had she left?
“You don’t think maybe she didn’t want to eat us?” Shadow asked, after he found his voice again.
“Well of course she was trying to eat us,” said Lightning matter-of-factly “Nightmare Moon gobbles up little ponies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!”
“But Nightmare Moon was banished from Luna decades ago…” Shadow pondered “so that had to have been…”
Lightning gasped “Princess Luna?” she exclaimed “no way! Not a chance! Why would she be here?”
“I don’t know that,” said Shadow grimly “but you kicked her!”
“Oh…” said Lightning, starting to sound scared again “do you think the royal guards will come after me now? Will they banish me to the moon?”
“I don’t know…” said Shadow, the childish fear creeping into his mind again ‘I don’t know what to do…”
“Oh no…” Lightning fell again “I can’t believe it, I’m so stupid!”
Shadow, maintaining a sort of composure, rolled off the bed and landed on his hooves. He trotted, wobbly, over to the row of cabinets and grabbed his schoolbag, rummaging a bit.
“What are you looking for?” Lightning asked weakly.
“Travelling stuff,” said Shadow “do you know how to make trail mix?”
“No,” said Lightning “why are you getting travelling stuff?”
Shadow pulled the bag over his back and sighed “Well you know,” he said “In school they tell you to always say sorry when you do something wrong… I’m going to go say sorry to Luna…”
Lightning gasped “In Canterlot?” she exclaimed “no way! You don’t think you can fly all the way there?”
“I’m not flying doofus,” said Shadow “I’ll figure something out…”
There was a thump of hooves as Lightning jumped off the bed and walked over “Well not without me you aren’t!”
“But…”said Shadow “won’t your brother be worried?”
“Oh he’ll get over it!” said Lightning, rolling her eyes “so have you got everything? The sooner we go the less likely it is the guards will arrest me!”
Shadow laughed and threw open the door “Look out Canterlot!” he shouted into the night wind “Shadow Chaser is coming to town!”
“Hey,” said Lightning, pointing to the left of the house “what is that?”
There was something glowing a deep blue in the snow a little ways off, clearly visible in the dark. Shadow walked over and lifted it up out of the drift.
“It’s some sort of necklace…” he said, holding it up. It was the sphere on the end that was glowing blue, the only thing on the small silver chain. “What do you think this is?”
“I dunno,” said Lightning in wonder “can I try it on?”
Shadow had started to drape it over his own head for a moment, eyes flashing from their usual red to a deep blue “Oh, sure,” he said, removing it and handing it over.
Lightning brought it over her head, eyes shifting color, but it was imperceptible in the dark “Huh,” she said “I don’t know what it is, but it’s pretty!”
Shadow rolled his eyes “Fillies…” he muttered, starting to walk across the snow.
“What?” Lightning shouted, pushing after him “I say it takes a real mare to understand beauty! Nothing a dumb colt could understand!”
“If all it is, is pretty,” said Shadow looking down at her “It’s pretty much totally useless!”
Lightning proceeded to grab Shadow’s tail in her mouth and drag him into the snow. They started fighting in the powdery crystals.
“Dang it!” Shadow shouted “at this rate we’ll never get to Canterlot!”

 
> Chapter 4 The Capital City
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“You’re sure about this?” Shadow asked “this is kind of your last chance to back out.”
The two of them were standing in trees that overhung the railroad track. It was technically still the Everfree, but it was way on the outlying portion, Ponyville station was visible on the edge of vision. The tracks led north in the other direction en route to Trottingham, the Crystal Empire, and just a bit more locally, the kingdom of Canterlot.
“Of course I’m sure!” Lightning shouted back, bouncing a little on her branch “I wouldn’t have followed you all the way out here unless I was prepared to do something incredibly stupid.”
There was the distant sound of a steam whistle, the morning train was leaving the station “Get ready then Light!” Shadow shouted with a smile “here she comes!”
The train rolled slowly toward them, puffing along the track, building speed second by second. Lightning and Shadow were poised to leap. If anything about this situation held true, it was Lightning’s intrepid description. This was an incredibly stupid idea.
By the time the train passed into the trees it had picked up to at least thirty miles per hour, the pink and yellow engine car rolling ahead of the rest of the blue carrier cars. The whistle blew painfully loudly and the steam blew up into the faces of the two foals.
“Now!” Shadow shouted, diving toward the train. Smoke filled his eyes and nose over the longest three seconds he had ever lived through and persisted through the terrible recoil when his hooves hit the roof of the train. He slid backward fast, careening toward the back of the car.
And abruptly slammed into Lightning. She looked down at him curiously, her stance far more solid. It was obvious that as an Earth pony she wasn’t sent flying nearly as bad as Shadow.
“What are you doing?” Lightning shouted over the rushing wind.
“Hopefully not falling!” Shadow yelled back, standing more steadily now “Wow! We did it! That actually worked!”
“I wish you wouldn’t sound so surprised,” Lightning shouted, squinting into the headwind “it makes me think this was a bad idea!”
“Of course this was a bad idea!” Shadow shouted, smiling now “So was going into the forest, and so was kicking the princess of Equestria in the face!”
“Shut up!” Lightning growled “I’m making up for that, that’s why I’m here!”
“The one crazy idea that I came up with!”
“Shadow, shut up or I’ll throw you off this train!”
“Duck!” Shadow yelled, yanking Lightning to her belly as the train passed through a tunnel, the loud echoing of the engine noise roaring through the darkness.
“What happened?” Lightning squeaked, hardly audible anymore “I can’t see anything, what’s going on?”
“We’re in a tunnel!” Shadow shouted back “I can’t see you either, don’t worry!” he hesitated on this last sentence as he noticed something strange. There were two small pinpricks of blue light off to his side, glowing ghostly in the blackness. He kept his gaze on them, not knowing what they were or why they were keeping pace with the train.
As the tunnel ended and light shone once again onto the pinkish metal Shadow realized he had been staring into Lightning’s eyes. They still burned blue, but now it was natural. Perhaps they had caught the light on the way out?
“We should try to get into the train!” Lightning shouted, breaking Shadow’s train of thought “I’m tired of all this wind!”
“I agree!” shouted Shadow “did you see a hatch anywhere?”
“I was about to point out that one!” Lightning yelled, motioning to the front of the train car, where indeed there was a cream colored hatch in the roof “but then the tunnel came up!”
Shadow quickly moved forward, twisting the hatch and finding it easy to move, when he tried to push it open however, it stuck fast. Lightning might’ve shouted at him, but Shadow didn’t hear. What he did notice was the entire weight of a fairly strong earth pony hitting him from the side. The hatch burst open and they tumbled through it, a jumbled mess of legs and tails.
“My goodness!” came a voice from somewhere above “where did you two come from?”
Shadow pushed Lightning’s tail away and found that he was looking up at a cream colored earth pony with a blue and pink mane. She laughed slightly as they rolled off each other.
“We’re um… along for the ride!” said Lightning, obviously at a loss for a better excuse, “this is the train to Canterlot right?”
“Well we’re actually going to the crystal empire,” said the crème colored pony “Lyra does this train make a stop in Canterlot?”
A green unicorn, sitting very strangely Shadow thought, looked up from her magazine “I think so,” she said “it’s the full northern transit.”
“Well anyway… I’m Bonbon, and that’s Lyra,” said the crème colored pony pleasantly enough “who did you say you were?”
“I’m Shadow Chaser!” said Shadow, giving the bow customary when introducing oneself.
Lightning rolled her eyes “Lightning Strike,” she said “and yes, I’m with stupid.”
Bonbon giggled “Couldn’t get train tickets I suppose? Don’t worry I won’t tell. But goodness you two must be very brave to have stood on the roof of the train this far.”
“More like crazy…” said Lyra, not looking up from her magazine.
“Lyra, please,” said Bonbon “why don’t you two sit down? We have a long way left to go even just to Canterlot. Maybe Lyra will even tell you one of her human stories…”
Shadow took this chance to get a better look around the car. It was empty save for the four of them. That made sense he supposed, the big cities were all further north. The cabin obviously wasn’t first class, but it was well furnished and the seats were made of what he thought was probably sheep’s wool.
“So why are you going to the Crystal Empire?” Lightning asked, sitting next to Lyra.
“Family,” said Bonbon with a smile “I discovered recently that one of my ancestors was one of the crystal ponies that was locked away. So naturally, I’m going to go visit her.”
“It’s pretty much the weirdest family reunion ever,” said Lyra, setting down her magazine at last “for all I know I could have an ancestor there too you know.”
“Well I actually know for sure,” said Bonbon “her name is Sweetmane, she’s a stylist now or so I hear.”
“Wow…” said Lightning “it must be so cool to have relatives that are more than a thousand years old!” Shadow smiled wryly at this, but he himself wasn’t sure why he did.
“That’s why I insisted on this trip!” said Bonbon proudly “I worked double time at the candy shop for months so I could afford it.”
“You know…” said Lyra “I’ve been thinking, if the crystal ponies have really been around that long, they could know about humans!”
“Humans?” Lightning asked curiously “what are humans?”
“Oh no…” said Bonbon “don’t even get her started….”
“Oh humans!” Lyra said dreamily “wonderful creatures, bipedals! Without any wings or magic! And that didn’t stop them; they built wonderful things, castles and palaces just as great as the crystal empire, all with these wonderful contraptions on the ends of their front hooves, called hands!”
This was, as may be predicted, only the beginning of a very long and tiring speech about humans. White humans, black humans, orange humans, red humans, yellow humans, Lyra knew about them all and their individual cultures. Lightning was profoundly interested, asking questions whenever they were begged and commenting on everything. Lyra was very pleased with herself, thinking perhaps that she had found herself an absolutely wonderful apprentice.
Shadow mostly ignored this, and talked with Bonbon instead about Canterlot. She and Lyra had been there for the princess coronation awhile back and knew a lot about the layout. Shadow was making a very honest attempt to memorize every word. From the sound of it Canterlot was a massive city compared to Ponyville and he wasn’t good with directions even back home.
The friendly conversation ended about an hour later when the train began to slow, and finally stop. The voice of the conductor came over the intercom “Now arriving at Canterlot station! Passengers stopping at this station should begin unloading their things!” This message was repeated three times as the whistle blew. Shadow found himself shaking with excitement, they were finally here.
“You should make a stop at Doughnut Joe’s,” said Bonbon, pulling the door open for them “he’s my cousin, if you mention me he’ll probably give you some sort of discount.”
“We will!” Lightning confirmed enthusiastically “thank you so much! And tell Lyra I’ll try to be at the next human con!”
“Alright,” said Bonbon with a laugh “just when you do, don’t take the train.” Lightning fell into a fit of giggles.
Shadow missed this entire exchange, to his credit though he had just glanced upward at the towering city. He knew it was built into the mountainside, but the meaning of that was lost to him until he saw it up close.
The castle, it seemed, was less the centerpiece than it was the top of a single colossal structure that flowed down from the spire like a cascade. Every street was built into a different layer, seeming to only grow more fantastic as they rose. The predominant colors of white, purple, and gold struck such a contrast from the rest of the ebony mountainside it seemed like magic, and, Shadow reminded himself, it probably was.
Lightning waved to Lyra, who was leaning out the window as the train pulled away from the station, then turned to Shadow “what’s the matter?” she said “cat got your tongue?”
Shadow managed to come out of his reverie, but it wasn’t so easy this time. Something about this place seemed to resonate with him on a whole new level. The bustle of the city and the magnificence of the view made his wings stand on end.
“Sorry,” he said, rubbing the back of his head “I just got caught up in the scenery I suppose…”
“Well I guess you have to fill that empty head of yours with something,” said Lightning, gazing upwards herself “I guess you’re right though, it’s quite an eyeful.”
She turned now to where a stand for maps had been set up and pulled one down, unfolding it onto the concrete. At its full scale they could both stand on it and examine it. They took their time obsessing over many of the small details before finally getting down to some form of business.
“Okay…” said Lightning “we’re here at the train station, where should we go first?”
“I kind of thought this was a one purpose mission…” said Shadow “the castle’s easy enough to find, what’s the fastest way to get there?”
“Luna won’t even be awake yet,” said Lightning, rolling her eyes “and I’m starving, where is this doughnut Joe’s?”
“I think it must be Canterlot pastry shop, here,” said Shadow, pointing it out “it’s not far from here, but it’s in the opposite direction we would take to get to the castle.” His stomach growled as he said this “but I suppose it can’t hurt…”
“Exactly,” said Lightning, beginning the tedious task of folding up the map again “and since we only have…twenty bits between us? We need the best deal we can get.”
“Leave it to a filly to follow the sale,” said Shadow with a smirk.
“And to the colt to be as clueless as ever,” Lightning retorted, placing the map in her saddlebag and slapping Shadow with her tail.
They started walking along the bustling city street, keeping off to the side mostly to avoid the risk of losing one another in the crowd. It turned out after awhile that while the pastry shop had appeared close on the map they actually had a very long walk ahead of them. About halfway there they stopped on a vacant bench to rest their tired hooves.
“I don’t like this place as much as I thought I would…” said Lightning “Ponyville doesn’t have nearly this many people, and all these unicorns are so snooty.”
“It’s nice in its own way,” said Shadow, eyes resting on the distant castle “the scenery is fantastic…”
“I guess so…” said Lightning, taking her guitar out of her saddlebag and starting to strum.
“You brought that with you?” Shadow asked “Isn’t that a bit excessive?”
“Well I wasn’t going to leave it at your house,” said Lightning “besides, I came up with a great song about Canterlot!”
“Is it blues?” asked Shadow.
“Well no, but I know I’ll have some of that soon,” Lightning said “I love the blues; I think it’s the most beautiful music that any pony ever played.”
“Whatever,” said Shadow “are you going to play it or are you just going to leave me at that?”
Lightning didn’t respond, rather, she started to strum an upbeat tune. Perhaps it didn’t hold the same enchanting quality as the melody from the night before, but it was faster paced, and still turned a few heads. It was city music, the kind played by ponies that made their living with a guitar and an empty cap. In just the chords Lightning seemed to capture the very essence of the city of Canterlot and let it free to fly across the strings in an excited flurry of rhythm. That wasn’t the end of it either, because as ponies started to congregate to the sound of her music, she started to sing to it.
Canterlot city isn’t it pretty?
Coated with the snow of December
Castles and spires, and unicorn powers
Would anyone dare not remember?
Whether by train or bus or plane
However you come to Canterlot
Why don’t you stop and stay for awhile
Though maybe the folks don’t smile
We’ve got all sorts of ponies in Canterlot
The rich the poor, the smart and the brave
The only real problem I see here
Is the get them all to behave
Life may be grand in Canterlot
But as a traveler you’ll have to see
Manehatten, Las Pegasus, Ponyville, Trottingham
To know both Equestria’s seas
Canterlot City, isn’t it pretty?
Painted up white for the snow
The cold and the fun will only be done
When hearts are warmed by the friends you know!
Lightning played out a few finishing chords and let the rhythm sail off into the air. By the time she stopped a small crowd had gathered around to listen, and they stomped their hooves appreciatively as the song drew to a close. Shadow, to his credit, was smart enough to lay out the map again as a place for the ponies to throw change, which a great many of them did. Canterlot is a rich town after all.
Lightning blushed and put her guitar away as Shadow put the bits into his bag. Lightning tried to kind of hide behind him as they walked through the crowd toward the pastry store again.
“That was awesome!” Shadow exclaimed, hovering a little off the ground in his excitement “I mean really, really, awesome! Did you really just come up with that?”
“Not really,” said Lightning, clearly embarrassed “I mean I’ve had the tune forever but I never really knew whether or not it should have words. When we got here it just sort of…clicked.”
“Well the unicorns obviously liked it,” said Shadow “I mean look at this, you earned thirty bits for that little performance! You could buy a gamecolt game with that kind of money!”
“Then I guess I’m treating us to doughnuts huh?” said Lightning.
“You bet you are miss rich,” said Shadow “a whole dozen of them!”
It was then they finally found the pastry shop. They actually walked right past it the first time and would’ve ended up circling all the way around again if Lightning hadn’t pointed it out. Actually it was kind of easy to miss, a small white store tucked away between two clothing outlets. It seemed very homely in contrast with the larger city around it.
Upon entering the store it became clear this place didn’t receive many customers. There was a broad shouldered brown stallion behind the doughnut bar, but otherwise it was completely empty.
“Well howdy!” said the stallion, who they were sure was doughnut Joe “what can I get you two?”
“Bonbon sent us,” said Lightning, staring around at the polished chrome tables and tile floors, the place was remarkably clean.
“Thought I’d give you a discount did she?” said Joe with a smile “well I suppose I can do two foals a favor, whatcha hankering for?”
“Can we get a dozen glazed and two hot chocolates?” Lightning asked “and whatever else you would recommend.”
“Tell you what,” said Joe “I’ll give you each a jelly filled for free. Bumblesweet!” he called to the back.
A yellow, frizzy maned earth pony mare bounced out. Shadow thought that she looked astonishingly like Pinkie Pie “Yeah boss?” she said curiously.
“I need a dozen glazed,” said Joe “be generous with the honey.”
“Coming right up!” said Bumblesweet, grabbing a honey twirler from the bar and bouncing back to the back of the shop. Joe moved to the coffee machines to get their hot chocolate ready.
“So how did you two meet Bonbon?” he asked appreciatively “another one of Lyra’s human parties I suppose? You look like you’re about that age.”
“On the train here actually,” said Lightning, ignoring Shadow’s motion for silence “she’s going to the Crystal Empire with Lyra to meet her ancestor.”
“Train huh?” asked Joe “So where are you two from if not Canterlot?”
“Ponyville! Ow!” said Lightning “that hurt, Shadow!”
Shadow, who had indeed just kicked her, was giving her the “shut up while you’re behind” look.
“Ponyville, oh that’s right!” said Joe “How’s Pinkie Pie? She’s kind of an old rival of mine.”
Lightning glared at Shadow, who nodded, before continuing “She’s doing pretty well,” she said “at least as far as her crazy song and dance routine always suggests.”
Joe chuckled, placing two piping cups of cocoa on the counter “That’s Pinkie Pie for you. I remember her detective stunt, totally shown up by her unicorn friend though. You Ponyvillians aren’t all crazy are you?”
“She is,” said Shadow, pointing at Lightning.
“He is,” said Lightning, pointing at Shadow at the same moment.
Joe burst out laughing just as Bumble sweet came back to the front balancing a box of doughnuts on her head. “I got em!” she said “One dozen extra glazey doughnuts!”
“Alright, thanks Bumble,” said Joe “that’s ten bits for everything and shoot I forgot your jelly filled! I’ll be back in a moment.” Joe went back to the back, followed by Bumblesweet.
Shadow took advantage of this and turned to Lightning “Let’s not put too much attention toward us okay?” he said.
“Why not?” asked Lightning, already starting on her first doughnut.
“Remember the Canterlot guards could already be looking for you, us,” said Shadow “not to mention going into Canterlot Castle might not be allowed. Your brother might be looking for you too. There are all sorts of reasons we should try and stay hidden.”
“Oh…right…” said Lightning.
Bumblesweet came back, toting a small bag with the jelly filled doughnuts inside “Hey, I heard you two are from out of town,” she said “do you know this pony?” she proceeded to put a picture of Pinkie Pie on the counter.
Lightning and Shadow exchanged a look, this would seem suspicious even if they hadn’t been sworn to silence just a moment before. They shoot their heads in unison.
“That’s okay;” said Bumblesweet, sounding dejected “let me ring that up for you…”
When they left the pastry shop they still wondered if lying to Bumblesweet had been the right thing to do. Unfortunately they didn’t have time to ponder that for long. It was winter after all, meaning that by the time they exited the shop the sun was already starting to set.
“So which way is it to the castle?” asked Shadow, to Lightning who had the map.
“Up…” said Lightning with a groan “and the stairs are only on either side of the city… we have to zigzag all the way up…”
Shadow looked up to where the sun was crossing the sky, almost gone “we don’t have time for that,” he said “we need to find some other way up.”
“Do you have some sort of idea?” asked Lightning, sounding slightly intimidated.
“Heck yeah I do,” said Shadow “but yes, it’s totally crazy.” Without a word he took off running toward a vegetable stand.
“Shadow what are you doing?” Lightning shouted. What he was doing in fact was taking a gliding leap, landing squarely on the center of the stand’s tarp roof. Lightning watched, dumbfounded, as the tarp dipped down then shot upward, propelling Shadow up to the next level, slapping his wings just to make sure.
“Come on Lightning!” Shadow shouted down “it’s easy!”
“Don’t even think about it you crazy kid!” The vegetable vender shouted at Lightning, shaking a hoof in her direction.
Lightning took a deep breath, ran for the stand and kicked hard with her back hooves, shooting upward and landing on top of the stand. She gulped as the tarp bent a little bit lower than when Shadow had leapt, but it recoiled twice as far.
Shadow whooped as Lightning landed on her back a little ways behind him “Nice jump!” he shouted, running over “You’re okay right?”
Lightning groaned and stood up slowly “Where did you learn to do something so stupid…?” she asked slowly, dazedly almost.
“Dunno,” said Shadow with a laugh “I guess I just thought of it. We can fly the rest of the way if you want.”
“Yes please…” said Lightning squeamishly.
Shadow managed to pull them up a very solid eight walls before he couldn’t fly anymore. They noticed that the higher they went the closer they got to the castle, the richer and fancier the services were. The sky was growing deeper purple as they ran down the last street at a full gallop, not caring for the ponies they forced out of their way.
When they finally arrived, panting at the castle gates stars had begun to sparkle. A black barded pony was changing shifts with one in golden armor as they approached the bridge.
“Halt!” said the one in black, bat wings unfurling “Canterlot castle is no longer open for visitors!”
Shadow, who had all but collapsed from exhaustion, let Lightning do the talking “Lightning Strike and Shadow Chaser! We’re…here to see the princess!” her voice broke a bit at this last part, clearly out of fear.
The guards interest seemed to be piqued “And where do you come from?” he asked measured, almost seeming to be testing her.
“Ponyville!” Lightning squeaked.
“Dawnstar!” the bat winged guard shouted at the white white unicorn walking away toward the castle “Can you cover just a bit longer?” I need to escort these two.”
“Typical of you Nightwing,” said Dawnstar, walking back “you’ll take any excuse to get off work won’t you?”
Nightwing glared “This colt is Shadow Chaser,” he said “does that name ring a bell Dawnstar?”
Dawnstar seemed intrigued himself now “Well that’s a pretty damned good excuse,” he said “If it’s true that is. Get going then, but make it fast, I’m ready to pass out.”
“Thanks Dawn,” Nightwing said “come along you two, it may be a bit of a walk.”
Nightwing led them over the huge wooden platform that hung over the moat far below. The sound of roaring water could be heard as they crossed, distant and eerie. Shadow could feel his heart skip a beat as he thought he heard a dull roar somewhere beneath them. He looked up at the archway, hundreds of meters up, and wondered what marvelous entities required such passage.
Of course what really went through his childish mind would be better translated as “I’m so scared, everything is so big!” let’s remember now he’s only six.
The foyer of the castle was gargantuan to the point of being uselessly large. The pillars holding up the vaulting ceiling vanished into darkness and the stairs were so high the two foals couldn’t see the top. The entire room was done in shades of black, white, and pink. Shadow might have guessed it’s relation to the three princesses if he’d been less preoccupied.
There was a sudden snap from behind them and Shadow turned sharply to see the drawbridge had closed behind them. Nightwing stifled a laugh when his expression grew fearful.
“Don’t worry Shadow,” he said “we’re not trying to lock you in; we’re just closing for the night. The only ones here now are the princesses and the guard.”
“Nightwing!” came a voice from the top of the stairs “why aren’t you at your post? We have a schedule to keep!” Shadow’s ears twitched, he knew that voice from somewhere…
Nightwing bowed quickly, Lightning, unsure of herself, following suit as the figure approached “My apologies princess,” said Nightwing “I assure you this is a matter of great importance.”
“Twilight!” Shadow shouted, and sure enough it was the purple unicorn coming down the steps resplendent in robes of blue. There was something different about her but Shadow couldn’t quite identify it as he ran up to her.
“Shadow!” Twilight smiled as she spoke “well isn’t this a surprise! You must be here to see Princess Luna.”
“How did you know…?” he asked curiously.
Twilight seemed confused for a moment, but then smiled in understanding “I had a bit of an intuition,” she said “come on; I’ll take you to her myself. You can get back to your post Nightwing!”
“Yes princess,” said Nightwing, trotting quietly back toward the gates.
“Princess…?” Shadow said slowly, then gasped as he realized what had changed about Twilight “You’re an alicorn! Oh my gosh the princess coronation… that was you?”
Twilight laughed at this, spreading her wings out to show them better “It was indeed, and I’m very happy for it. It’s kind of a new feeling, telling ponies what to do myself instead of looking to Celestia for advice.”
“That is so awesome!” Shadow said, poking at the purple wings almost to confirm they were really there.
“And um… who is this?” asked Twilight motioning toward Lightning. She seemed to have gotten bored with the conversation and was climbing on one of the huge winged pony statues next to the stairs.
“That’s Lightning…” said Shadow, sounding a little embarrassed.
“Oh, hi princess!” Lightning shouted as she noticed the conversation had shifted to include her “what’s up…oops!” she jumped and grabbed onto the railing as the statue toppled underneath her and shattered on the floor. “Sorry about that…” she said looking sheepishly up at Twilight.
“It’s okay,” said Twilight, her horn glowing as the statue levitated upwards and began to repair itself “that statue kind of has a habit of attracted trouble.”
“Like a moth to the flame,” said Shadow with a smirk. Lightning stuck her tongue out at him and dropped off the railing onto the stairs.
“I suppose you’re both going to see Luna?” Twilight asked, to which they both nodded enthusiastically “This way then, she really should’ve raised the moon by now…”
Twilight led them upward along several marble hallways and several flights of stairs. Shadow was desperately curious of what was behind many of the doors on either side but was willing to ignore it for now. There were more important things to be doing right now. They arrived at a small flight of wooden stairs with a silver ladder rising from the platform at the top.
“That leads to the Celestial platform,” said Twilight “be respectful, it’s the sacred place where the royal sisters have raised the sun and moon for millennium.”
They both nodded seriously “You go first,” said Shadow to Lightning “You’re the one who has to apologize after all.”
“No, you go first,” said Lightning “I don’t want to be the first one seen…”
“Fine,” said Shadow, not wanting this to become an argument “I’ll go…”
He was shaking so badly that he could hardly get a grip on the ladder. Lightning followed him when he was about halfway up, shaking the ladder even worse. If the ladder had been any taller he feared he wouldn’t have made it up at all. But sure enough he found himself staring at the wooden trap door at the top of the ladder…
“Well what are you waiting for?” Lightning called up, even more impatient than usual out of fear “Just go up already!”
Shadow took a deep breath and pushed up on the door, and found he couldn’t lift it. “Uh… Light?” he said “could you come up here and get this?”
Fortunately the ladder was wide enough for them to both stand comfortably on the top rung. Lightning couldn’t quite lift it either, but when they pushed simultaneously they managed to open it just a crack and squeeze through.
And what a sight awaited them. The tower-top they had arrived at was covered in polished ivory, glowing in the glory of the reflected starlight as perfect and serene as a pool buried in a cavern’s depths. Their gaze moved from the floor they had landed on unceremoniously to see Luna standing a ways off, her horn glowing a soothing blue.
They watched in astonishment as she unfurled her wings, flying gracefully upward, beating her great wings as the moon rose up in the distance along with her. They rose in perfect harmony until the moon had reached the exact center of the sky. The stars exploded, brighter and more beautiful with the mother of the night in her wondrous place in the sky.
Luna descended, landing with the grace of an angel back down on the ivory tower. The moon now reflected directly underneath her, the sky cast above and below as a testament to her light. The night sky seemed to be everywhere from this view, the stars dancing in the heavens above and in the floor below.
Lightning and Shadow watched this all in silent awe, not even standing up from where they had tumbled out the trapdoor. They were filled completely with the wonder of the night, which neither of them would ever have the words to describe.
“Shadow…?” said Luna, walking over to the two of them “What are you doing? How did you get here?”
“What…?” Shadow said, barely emerging from his stupor “Princess! Um… I, I mean we came here to…” he found himself stuttering out his words, his awe turning to fear as he realized he was intruding upon a hallowed place.
“I’m sorry!” he heard Lightning squeak “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to offend you! I shouldn’t have kicked you! It was such a terrible thing to do! Please, please forgive me!”
Luna turned to Lightning, an amused expression coming to her face “There is no need to apologize little one,” she said kindly “I would never hold your innocent fear against you,” she put a hoof to Lightning’s chin and brought her to eye level “what is your name?”
“Lightning Strike,” she said, calming at the sight of her eyes now “and this is…”
“Shadow,” said Luna, Shadow looking up to her as well “You are the spitting image of your father…”
Shadow gulped “Did you know my dad well?” he asked “You knew him, and he was captain of the guard, can you tell me about him? Was he ever in any battles?” he wasn’t sure exactly why he had suddenly asked these questions, but if any pony would know it had to Luna right?
Luna smiled, “He was the bravest stallion I ever met,” she said “he saved my life when Canterlot was first attacked by the changelings. He stormed the infested night tower with alone with a sword. It was many years ago now… but it was a moment I will never forget.”
Shadow seemed to glow with pride; he’d never heard this story before. Sure the battle of the first changelings was well known, but his father had protected Princess Luna? That sounded fantastic!
“I wish he’d been fighting on the lower concave…” Lightning said dejectedly, turning away, some memory seeming to plague her.
“The Strikes fought bravely,” said Luna, turning to her “they never lost one another, despite the changelings, when they were lost they took many of the strongest changelings with them. I’m sorry,” she turned to Shadow again “for your losses, you both have suffered more than any foal your age ever should.”
Lightning quickly ran over to Shadow, trying to get back into Luna’s view “What about me princess? Do you think I’m as brave as they were?”
Luna laughed again “Maybe when you’re older,” she said “though many full grown ponies have quailed in my presence. You’re shaping up to be just like them.”
Lightning bounced in place, so ecstatic about this situation she felt like she could burst. Shadow was desperate to know more, but too afraid to ask.
Luna stared him in the eye again “I’ve waited so long…” she said slowly “for the day Umbra would come back to Canterlot…” Shadow smiled, and as he stared up at the princess he suddenly felt a familiar warmth in his chest. It was the same warmth he felt whenever Umbra had told him stories about the guard, or taught him flying, or even just watching him run wild in the grass. That warmth… he hadn’t even noticed it was gone. It told him what Luna was going to say before she had begun to even form the words.
She pulled him into an embrace that somehow didn’t surprise him “I’ve waited so long for the day you would come back…my son…”

> Chapter 5 A Mother's Love
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Shadow was overwhelmed, ecstatic, elated. No words in his young mind could express his joy. He didn’t doubt it for an instant. That feeling he had ever since he arrived in Canterlot, this was why. He had been born here, and he was finally home.
Lightning, however, seemed completely shocked, as she well should be. “What…but…how…why…huh…?” she babbled innately, feeling terrified and out of place.
Luna finally released Shadow from their hug “I know it’s a little late,” she said “but you deserve an explanation. Come on, this isn’t the place.”
She led them back down the silver ladder and into the hallway. “Darksword,” she addressed a passing guard “Call Saber Strike to active duty, make sure he’s here as soon as possible.”
The guard saluted and quickly started off in the other direction. Lightning seemed somehow disappointed “You’re calling my brother?” she asked “why?”
“Lightning, you have to realize that foals cannot go running off without a word,” said Luna “we will leave your retribution to your brother to decide. Though I believe we can remain lenient.”
Lightning nodded and yawned “Okay…” she said sleepily.
Luna led them down the hallway to the beginning of a marble staircase that turned upward into a spire. Windows were inlaid into the granite walls every sixty or so steps. Shadow tried to number their paces as they ascended quietly, but quickly lost count.
Indeed it was a good ten minutes of climbing before they reached the top of the spiral staircase and found themselves facing a round blue door. There was no visible knob, but Luna’s horn glowed and the door swung open on invisible hinges.
Luna’s chamber was as large as Lightning’s entire house. Two staircases were on either wall leading up to a platform with a giant glass sphere inlaid in the center. The platform led outside onto a balcony and the indoor portion had bookshelves along both sides. Under the platform was the area made for leisure. The bed, placed in front of the panoramic windows, was patterned in lunar designs and stars. There were couches and stools enough to house a whole host of ponies, all dyed a soothing blue. The effect was magical.
Lightning walked over quickly and jumped on the bed “Wow!” she exclaimed “I could run laps on this! And it’s so soft, com on Shadow!”
Shadow looked to Luna for permission, and when she nodded, he flew over, dive bombing onto the bed. “Wow!” he said “you were right, this must be enchanted or something!”
“It’s moon cloth,” said Luna, sitting on one of the stools nearby “it’s sewn from dewdrops held together with spider silk, it’s very much enchanted, it would be impossible otherwise.”
Shadow sniffed at the fabric curiously as Lightning finally grew bored with her bouncing and lay down on the blanket. “That’s amazing princess…” she said tiredly, it was becoming obvious that she was exhausted. She yawned again and snuggled into the blanket.
“Can you tell me now?” Shadow asked, sitting down near Lightning “why Dad left Canterlot, what happened?”
Luna smiled sadly at Shadow “I won’t make excuses…” she said “your father and I believed it was for the best. The changelings were mustering in the forest lands to the north again and the power of Discord was growing day by day. We feared that protecting you in Canterlot was too great a risk.”
“When you were barely a week old we came to Ponyville under the cover of night, a small anonymous town, and we had friends there. Celestia’s student, Twilight, helped us get things ready for Umbra to stay and protect you. I can see he did the greatest job anyone could’ve…” a tear fell down her face and to the floor. She didn’t want this to be her first impression on Shadow, but it didn’t change the fact that Umbra was gone. That fact, that stark fact was enough to make her lose herself.”
“I wish he was still here…” said Shadow, his voice carrying a sorrow no child should ever have “I don’t even know what happened… he was there… and then he was gone…” he shut his eyes, trying to stop the memory of what he had seen that day, when he’d run past Twilight and Redheart. When he found the door with his Dad’s name on it. Seeing nothing there but the shape of a pony under a white sheet. The memory threatened to break him again.
That’s when he felt a gentle touch between his wings. He opened his eyes again, looking up at Luna, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “You were alone…” she said “and I know that is the worst thing you can be. I’m going to promise you now Shadow, I promise you will never be alone again.
Shadow’s face lit up, “Cross your heart?” he asked.
“Cross my heart,” said Luna, smiling to match his.
Shadow cuddled against her, shuffling as he yawned again. It wasn’t long before Luna could feel his soft, gentle, breathing. She pulled the blanket over him, noticing Lightning curled up beside him still. They were both sleeping away the deep exhaustion that only children know after a long and exciting day. She couldn’t help but reminisce of  when, all those eons ago, she and her siblings had known that same exhaustion.
There was a knock on the door and a voice came from behind “Luna!” the voice said “What are you doing in there?”
Luna smiled and unlocked the door, allowing another alicorn to enter the room “Please keep your voice down sister,” she said “they’re sleeping.”
Celestia entered the room, stepping quietly over to stare at the foals, making sure her aurora mane didn’t fall over them “Luna…” she said “this is…?”
“Yes,” said Luna “and his friend.”
Celestia shook her head “He’s still in danger,” she said “we have yet to fully reign in the changelings, do you feel this is wise?”
“His father…is gone…” said Luna, frost tinting her voice “I couldn’t leave him in Ponyville a day longer unattended, not that I would’ve anyway.”
“I meant you no offense,” said Celestia, looking Luna in the eye “as long as you are firm in your decision, I will assist you in it.”
“He’s my son,” said Luna sadly “this is a new experience for me. I can never be sure of any of the decisions I make.” Her expression turned humble now “what would you have done if it was Cadence?”
“Exactly the same,” said Celestia “love is the strongest protection we can provide. Don’t think you could’ve done anything else.”
“The worst thing,” said Luna, holding in her tears this time “is knowing that Umbra is gone… I knew it would happen eventually…but so soon… its killing me…”
“I know how you feel,” said Celestia “just remember, he may be gone, but his love for you lives on.”
Luna turned back to the colt, who was smiling in his sleep. His coat was lighter than Umbra’s, but the mane, the smile, it was all there. She smiled back at him, realizing just how true Celestia’s words were.
“I suppose you’ll be insisted on a ceremony?” Luna asked her sister.
“But of course,” Celestia replied “I could never deprive our subjects of such a celebration. Twilight should coordinate this one… it would be a good experience for her…”

> Chapter 6 Pandora's Box
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Shadow couldn’t help but open his eyes as the painfully bright sunrise poured through the huge windows. He sat up, thinking that it was time to see what sort of lunch he could pack up and if he was going to be late, but the bed seemed so comfy… it was never comfy…
His eyes shot open as he realized he wasn’t laying on the toppled bookshelf at all. The memory of the day before flooded back all at once and he nearly took off flying in excitement. No school today! Or at least probably, would he have to go to school now? He hoped not. He turned to see Lightning, still asleep near him.
“Oh get up will you?” Shadow said excitedly “brand new day, brand new exciting stuff!”
“Shut up Saber…” Lightning muttered sleepily “school doesn’t start till I say it starts…”
“No school today!” Shadow said, shaking her “come on! Aren’t you excited about what’s going to happen today?”
“No…school?” Lightning muttered, sitting up and rubbing her eyes “what do you mean? If I miss school…” she suddenly came to the same blurry epiphany as Shadow “Oh my gosh! We’re in Canterlot! Shadow!”
They started bouncing circles around the bed, ecstatic at the idea of spending a fun day in Canterlot, with royalty none the less. The idea of foreign adventure, as you may well know yourself, is the dream and passion of every child under the age of twelve.
“It’s about time you two woke up,” came a deep voice near the bed.
Lightning and Shadow turned sharply to see a familiar red stallion glaring at them. “Saber!” Lightning shouted, sounding more surprised than fearful “What are you doing here?”
Saber stood up and walked over, clearly furious “No note, no call, the house you were going to not only empty, but abandoned?” he spat “And I get called to duty at one in the morning only to find out you’re here, miles from home! Do you have any idea how worried I was?”
“V-very?” Light stammered out, the gravity of the situation starting to hammer home.
“Very doesn’t even begin…” Saber growled. He then sighed heavily and sat back down “Mom and Dad would’ve been proud of you wouldn’t they…? My six year old sister managed to get to Canterlot in one piece… I should be proud of you too…”
Lightning jumped off the bed and pulled Saber into a hug “Thanks for being worried big brother,” she said happily “it’s great to see you!”
Saber forced a smile and ruffled her mane “It’s great to see you too sis…”
Shadow, having no interest in this lecture from the start, had flown off the bed and begun to climb the stairs to the balcony level. He paused every few steps to look at the books, all huge with titles like The Canterlot Code of Conduct or Impersonation of Wizardry all of which seemed very important, though he could understand none of them.
When he arrived at the upper platform his attention was immediately captured by the huge glass sphere in the center. He gazed into it, amazed at the display within. A huge sphere of flame sat at the center while tiny planets orbited around it. There were labels on the planets like Zion, Gallifrey and Callisto. He pondered a bit as he spotted a green and blue one labeled Equestria which was very near the edge of the sphere. Equestria wasn’t round, it was flat!
Deciding to cautiously examine it, he climbed up on top of the glass and looked down. From this closer, though quite honestly much less cautious, vantage, he could see more clearly the planets and the huge glowing star. Another detail also presented itself as he watched intently, the space between the planets was not empty, but rather, full of miniscule rocks. They looked like granules of black sand, only visible when the sun shone behind them. As he watched one of them touched on Zion and disappeared in a flicker of flame.
“I see you’ve found the model of the solar system,” came Luna’s voice from the balcony.
Shadow jumped, sliding off the dome and landing on his face “Princess! I mean Luna! I mean Mom! I mean… um…”
Luna smiled and helped him to his hooves “Careful there,” she said smiling “I know it’s fun to explore but don’t get yourself scraped up.”
Shadow nodded, staring back at the dome “What is the solar system?” he asked “It looks like a bunch of balls, and sand, does it mean something?”
“It’s a model,” said Luna “of things beyond the sky. You see the ball of flame in the center? That is the sun that holds the planets in orbit. The planets are all worlds just like Equestria.”
Shadow, having trouble wrapping his mind around any of these concepts, asked the first question that came to mind “But doesn’t Celestia control the sun? How could that be the sun when Equestria is so far away?”
“Look more closely at Equestria,” said Luna, pointing out the small green planet “Do you see? It’s small, but down closer to the surface is a much smaller sun. That is the one Celestia controls.”
Shadow squinted down at Equestria “I think I see it!” he said “Barely though… I don’t know… why does Equestria have two suns?”
“The sun we orbit around is too far away,” said Luna, clearly enjoying this explanation “In the days before Celestia created our sun Equestria was very, very cold. The northern and southern hemispheres were totally inhospitable.” Shadow gave her a quizzical look, so she elaborated “That means it was too cold for ponies to live there.”
“Oh,” said Shadow “but why are they all round? Equestria is flat isn’t it?”
“Equestria is round,” said Luna “but it’s so big that when you walk on it you can’t tell.”
Shadow stared carefully at the ground for a moment; it was obvious he wasn’t really buying this explanation.
“Would you like to get some breakfast?” asked Luna “The dining hall is getting prepared for tomorrow, but I’m sure the chefs will be able to spare some time.”
“Oh!” said Shadow excitedly “Can Lightning come?”
“Well if her brother allows it,” said Luna, turning to where Lightning and Saber were walking toward the exit “would you two like to stay for breakfast?” she called down.
“Yes!” Lightning shouted and immediately ran up the stairs “do they have waffles? Oh my god, I just love waffles!”
“Lightning!” Saber called from below “We’ve intruded on the princess enough already and I need to get back to my post, come on!”
“Aw…” said Lightning “but I want to stay with Shadow…”
“Come on,” said Saber “I’m sure Shadow’s busy.”
Lightning lowered her head in disappointment and was about to walk back down when Shadow spoke up “What if Saber goes home and Lightning stays here? It can be like a sleepover party, come on Mom?”
“Well I don’t think I can impose…” said Saber awkwardly.
“Oh, it’s fine,” said Luna with a smile “we would love to have her if you would allow it.”
“Please?” Lightning said eyes wide and sad looking “Please, oh please, oh please?”
“Lightning,” said Saber “I may not be able to come get you for a few days, are you sure you’re okay with that?”
“Yes!” both Light and Shadow shouted in unison.
“Well as long as the princess is okay with it…” said Saber, looking somewhat desperately toward Luna again.
“She will be in good hooves,” said Luna.
“Come on Saber, please?” Lightning begged.
“You’re sure you’re okay with this princess?” Saber asked again.
“Of course,” said Luna “Shadow’s friends are welcome here anytime.”
“Well…” said Saber.
“Get out of here!” Lighting and Shadow shouted together.
Saber sighed “Alright he said “just please, please don’t get into any sort of trouble okay…?
Lightning wasn’t listening however, from the word “alright she and Shadow had begun a victory dance. “Thank you big brother!” Lightning shouted.
“You’re welcome…” said Saber, obviously still having doubts about this “Princess.” He bowed and left the room, muttering something under his breath.
“So what about breakfast?” Shadow asked quickly “can we go get breakfast now?”
“Yeah!” Lightning said “I can’t wait! Waffles, waffles, waffles!”
“Luna smiled down at them “Yes, come along,” she said “the sooner we get there the less busy the dining hall will be.”
As they passed through the foyer toward the kitchen Shadow noticed a great deal of ponies flying about the place. Pegasi were trailing techni-colored banners across the ceiling, unicorns were levitating decorations while Earth ponies wheeled the supplies around the room.
“What are they all doing?” Shadow asked curiously.
“Your aunt thought it would be a good idea to give you a welcome home party,” Said Luna “but I’d like it to more be celebration of the fact that you did just turn seven.”
Shadow’s wings began to flutter in excitement. This had to be the best birthday ever! Well, he supposed there was the one time dad had gotten Rainbow Dash to perform a sonic rainboom for him, but what could possibly top that?
A brown, bearded unicorn approached Luna from the crowd “Everything is going splendidly your highness,” he seemed a little sarcastic as he said this “I was just about to get started on the edible decorations, and I was wondering if you would allow me to add my own special touches.”
Luna gave him a stern look, but softened quickly “Very well,” she said “but remember, we’ll have the elements on hand, so keep it under control.”
The unicorn seemed to positively beam “Oh I’ll try,” he said “but I guarantee this, Prince Shadow, this is going to be the most fantastic celebration of your life…” without another word he vanished. Shadow thought it was teleportation but his horn hadn’t glowed in the slightest.
“Don’t mind him,” said Luna “he’s merely coordinating some of the events and putting his magic to good use. I hate to say it but I think the poor dear is starting to have fun with all this…”
“Is that a bad thing?” Lightning asked.
Luna didn’t answer, but kept trotting toward the dining hall. Lightning shot Shadow a quizzical look and they followed.
The dining hall was a vast room that was almost entirely empty. Long tables ran from one end of the room to the other and countless chairs were stacked against the walls. A few ponies in guard’s armor were moving the tables into a new order, and a pleasant aroma wafted from the kitchens situated near the back.
Lightning seemed to melt “I smell waffles…” she said dreamily “and toast with butter, and pop tarts, and custard…”
“Do you even know what custard is?” asked Shadow.
“No,” said Lightning “but I smell it.”
“We’re in luck,” said Luna “it looks like our worker’s breakfast is just getting started. If you would like I’ll alert the chefs to your requests while you two go and explore.”
“I’ll take whatever,” said Shadow, wings twitching a bit, betraying his otherwise calm attitude.
“Waffles!” said Lightning “Oh! With chocolate chips!”
“Duly noted,” said Luna, smiling “now go play; just don’t cause anyone too much trouble.”
They were both too busy running back into the main foyer to respond. They very nearly toppled a group of earth ponies hauling a cart of banners and the unicorns had to stop their spells to make sure the foals weren’t hit in the crossfire. Chaos seemed to be an inevitable outcome with these two today.
They tore down every random hallway they could conveniently reach, not even bothering to check the doors just yet. The exploration had really become more of a race between them, with no beginning and no obvious ending. A game of one-upmanship where fast beating wings attempted to match the speed of equally quick hooves, neither getting ahead of the other.
The ending of this pell-mell sprint was Shadow slamming into someone on a bad turn. Lightning, having shot right under their legs, turned to see a very tall white figure.
“Careful Shadow,” said the new pony “I don’t want my nephew getting himself hurt.”
Shadow stood, looking up, craning his neck to see the face of princess Celestia “Oh!” he said “I’m…sorry?” he wasn’t quite sure what to say, he was in awe, but as a prince should he be?
“Wow!” Lightning shouted, grabbing at a strand of aurora colored hair “I really like her mane! How did you get it to do this?”
Celestia smiled “It’s magic, Lightning,” she said kindly “I keep my mane like this so it doesn’t trail on the floor behind me, though some other princesses find it uneccesary.”
“That’s right…’ said Lightning “Princess Twilight’s mane wasn’t like this… I think she would look better with it.”
“Lightning,” Shadow muttered “you’re talking to Celestia, be respectful…”
“No, it’s quite alright,” said Celestia “I would much prefer you to be honest with me than respectful.”
“Yeah!” Lightning shouted “I’m just being honest, Shadow!”
Shadow thumped the ground with his hoof awkwardly “Okay…” he said “well we were just going exploring the castle a little bit, we’re really sorry to have bothered you.”
“What about there?” Lightning called, pointing toward an ornate white door at the end of the hallway “come on, that looks like a great place to start!”
Celestia turned sharply to look at the door herself “No,” she said sharply “that room is not safe for children. You two must promise me you will not set hoof inside.”
Lightning looked up to Celestia, shivering a bit at her serious expression “Of course!” she said quickly “I swear it!”
Celestia turned back to Shadow, who quickly recited “Cross my heart hope to fly stick a cupcake in my eye! We’ll… never set hoof in that room!”
“Thank you,” said Celestia with a sigh “I have to go talk to your mother now Shadow, might I recommend the upper parapets if you’re interested in adventure? There’s plenty to do there.”
Shadow nodded, though he had no idea what that meant, as Celestia walked on. “I guess we should try to find our way to that place,” said Lightning “where do you think that is?”
Shadow, turning to make sure Celestia was a safe distance away, walked over to one of the windows and peeked out. “We’re not going anywhere,” he said “yes… there’s a window in that room!”
“Shadow!” Lightning exclaimed “we promised not to set hoof in there!”
“I’m not gonna let my hooves hit the floor,” he said with a smirk “I’ll be two seconds, I’ll fly over, look around, come back. You’re curious about what’s in there too aren’t you?”
Lightning looked at the door again. Big fancy door, plus the fact Celestia didn’t want them inside, it seemed intensely interesting. “Alright,” she said “but remember not to let your hooves touch the floor! Or I will stick a cupcake in your eye!”
Shadow smiled, balancing himself carefully on the windowsill. Looking down he could see a courtyard so far below that the ponies walking around looked like tiny ants. He gulped, the idea of his wings not holding him and loosing flight seemed all too real now.
“Hurry up and get going!” Lightning half shouted at him “Celestia could come back!”
Before he realized he was doing it, Shadow was sky walking. His wings held him up, flapping at a steady rate as he carefully maneuvered to the other window. When the fear finally started to settle, he realized what a huge accomplishment being able to fly steady here was. Even Scootaloo couldn’t fly without help yet!
Shadow poked his head into the room and looked around. He was very surprised to find that at first glance it looked empty. Indeed he was getting ready to turn around and fly out again when he spotted the small chest sitting in the center.
He took wing again, peering around the smooth white walls again. It was totally featureless and there were only three windows, seeming more to blend it into the rest of the castle than to serve any other purpose. The round room was clearly devoted purely to the protection of the little red box in the center. He fiddled with the latch, excited to find it unlocked. He was about to open it, but he heard Lightning on the other side of the door and reconsidered. Instead he scooped up the box and carried it out the window with him.
“What took you so long?” Lightning asked impatiently as Shadow flew back into the hallway “What was in there?”
“Just this,” said Shadow, putting the box on the floor gently “seriously, there was nothing else in there at all!”
“Weird…” said Lightning “is it locked?”
“No,” said Shadow, walking around the box, inspecting it closely “what do you think? Should we open it?”
Lightning nodded, fumbling with the catch. There was a click as it came undone and slid slowly open. The inside was red velvet with two small silver bracelets sitting inside, unmarked and plain looking.
“Huh,” said Shadow in disappointment “this isn’t interesting at all.”
“Dang it Shadow,” said Lightning “always you with your silly not-worthy attitude, just like with the necklace! Besides, these are really pretty, and valuable if the princesses went to so much trouble to hide them. Do you think they’re platinum or chrome?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t care,” said Shadow “you can play dress-up here if you want, I’m going to see what that upper para thing was.”
“I’m not just going to let you walk away!” said Lightning, sliding a bracelet onto her hoof “you aren’t going anywhere until you try this on!”
“This is ridiculous,” said Shadow “I’m leaving.” He turned to walk away, but was suddenly jerked around to look at Lightning again.
“I told you, nowhere till you try it on.” She said smugly, sitting down next to the box again. Shadow had forgotten just how fast this filly was.
He rolled his eyes “Fine,” he said “though I still think this is really, really, really, really, really stupid.”
“Just put it on,” said Lightning, sticking her tongue out at him.
Shadow lifted out the silver band and slid it onto his hoof. This all seemed extraordinarily silly to him and he was more than a little chagrinned that Lightning had gotten him to play dress up. This was a fillies game!
“There,” he said “now can we…wha?”
“What?” Lightning asked, noticing his distraction.
“You’re…glowing!” Shadow exclaimed, tossing the bracelet aside in a panic. Indeed, Lightning’s hooves had begun to slowly illuminate, and despite Shadow’s horrified desperation, so were his.
“What’s going on?” Lightning shouted in horror as the light grew harsher, beaming so bright they had to shut it out of their eyes. They screamed together as the light grew to envelop them both in a powerful surge of brilliance.
Meanwhile, in the castle throne room, Celestia and Luna were seated in their respective golden seats, discussing matters of grave importance. It was surprisingly simple a room for what it was, the windows along either wall lacked any sort of outstanding detail and the only decorations to be seen beyond the huge red door were the great indigo banners criss-crossing the ceiling. If it wasn’t the room so clearly situated in the heart of the castle, it could easily be mistaken for just another side room.
“I still think it was a bad idea to let those foals go running pell-mell about the castle,” said Celestia, sounding slightly annoyed “they very nearly entered the timeless chambers, you know what might happen if they went in there…”
“You worry too much dear sister,” said Luna, smiling contentedly “the room is locked magically, even if I could worry they would break the spell, neither of them are unicorns. Besides, even if they did miraculously go inside, do you think they would activate it?”
“They’re children,” said Celestia coldly “if their simple pig-headedness did not lead them to open the box, their curiosity certainly would.”
Luna giggled, which seemed to infuriate Celestia even further “Maybe it would do them some good,” said Luna “to see things from a new light and all that, isn’t that what we designed the chamber for?”
“It still isn’t a magic with which to be tampered with,” said Celestia “who knows what sort of havoc they could unleash with the power in that room?”
“I know it couldn’t be all that bad.” said Luna.
“That’s as good as saying ‘what could possibly go wrong’,” said Celestia angrily now “try, at the very least, not to make the situation any more tense than I feel it has already become.”
“Nothing has come from it at all yet,” said Luna “if I know foals, I know they keep their promises very seriously. They more than likely turned out of that hallway and went to the parapets just like you said they should.”
Celestia stood up “I’m going to check on them,” she said “I simply do not trust them to keep their word.”
“Sit down Celestia,” said Luna “you allow the changelings more doubt than you’ve given these two. Will it really be an adventure for them if you’re hanging on their every movement?”
Celestia turned again “Unlike the changelings, those children have nothing to lose,” she said “life is still a game for them, we simply cannot let them run about unchecked.”
Luna was about to reply when she noticed a glow near Celestia’s hooves “Oh dear…” she said “Sister… please tell me you’re the one doing that…”
“Doing what?” Celestia asked angrily, looking down at her hooves. She gasped as she too saw the growing light “Luna! I told you nothing good would come of this!”
Luna lifted a hoof to her face, observing the glow that had begun to illuminate her own hooves as well “I would’ve never thought…” she began.
“Of course you didn’t think!” Celestia shouted “You never consider anything! You act rashly and let your emotions take over with every decision you make!”
“I won’t be talked down to like this!” Luna responded in like, the light beginning to grow brighter around the both of them “your judgment has always been equally flawed! You continue to idolize the morning and shun the night, you only give me glory now to prevent me from lashing out!”
“You did not have to endure both our tasks for a thousand years!” Celestia shouted, the room beginning to quake from the power of their combined anger, all the while the light grew more intense around them.
“I was locked away on the moon for a thousand years!” Luna erupted like a volcano “Because you were more interested in seeing me gone than you were in seeing me restored! You had the power to do either and you know that! I won’t bow to this outrage any longer!”
The light intensified to a piercing glare as the two royal sisters flung at each other, intent to kill…

> Chapter 7 Ageless
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Shadow felt himself slowly begin to come around, blearily opening his eyes to blink away the pain of the blackout. What was that light anyway? He forced himself to his hooves, nearly succumbing to the vertigo as the ground seemed to shoot away from him, the dizziness must be more intense than he thought. He shook his head, mane flying across his face. Was his hair always that long? He looked around and saw Lightning, already standing nearby. Her face was locked in an expression of terror.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, noticing his voice sounded deeper than usual “I think my brains were knocked loose by that blast, I’ve been seeing things all crazy and my voice sounds…” he stopped dead, noticing what the shock was.
Lightning was taller, twice the height she had been before, and much stronger looking. Her mane had snapped out of it’s usual ponytail and cascaded down her neck like an electric blue waterfall. Her huge blue eyes met his in identical expressions of shock.
“Shadow…” Lightning said first, her voice had changed, sounding silkier, more womanly “what happened…?”
Shadow opened his wings, feeling them stretch wider than they ever had before, stomped his hooves on the ground experimentally, wincing as the floor cracked under the force. He noticed that his coat had darkened from it’s usual fluffy gray to deep noir. Noir, that was a word he didn’t know the meaning of. It was obvious what was going on, but his brain was rejecting it like a steel wall.
There was a muffled scream from somewhere below and Lightning quickly turned “Come on!” she said without thinking “that sounds bad!” She took off running down the hallway, slowing to a trot as she realized Shadow’s wings were now too broad to fly down the narrow hallway.
“This stinks...” Shadow muttered, running at full gallop just to keep up with Lightning’s slow job “don’t get smug, you still can’t fly.”
“I wasn’t,” said Lightning “just as long as you really are going as fast as you can.”
They came to a huge red door inlaid with golden spheres. The screaming was coming from the other side. Shadow realized this was probably the throne room, but the obvious guard posts were vacant. Lightning nodded, and Shadow pushed the door slowly open.
Neither of them were at all prepared for what greeted them on the other side, and neither were the stunned unicorn guards who had gotten there first. “Shadow…” Lightning said “are you seeing what I’m seeing?”
A white alicorn filly with a fluffy pink mane had a younger, blue filly in a headlock. The white one was pulling hard on the mane of the blue, from whom the screaming was coming from.
“Celly! Stop!” the blue one shouted “it hurts! Please! You win! You win!”
“That’s what I thought!” the white one said, voice muffled by the hair in her teeth “that’ll teach you to mess with yoru big sister!” she let the mane drop.
“It’s…Celestia…” said Lightning slowly “that means…they…we…”
The filly, who they now realized was Luna, started to bawl, “Sissy! You’re so mean!” she sobbed.
“You deserved it!” Celestia said, sticking her tongue out and sitting down, legs crossed and wings spread wide “Remember, I’m the big sister!”
“I think I can take it from here,” came a voice from the door “Guards! Dismissed!”
Shadow and Lightning turned round to see Twilight standing in the doorway. The guards quickly bowed and exited as she walked into the room and cast her gaze around.
“You two found the ageless chamber didn’t you?” Twilight said sternly “Big white room? Smooth round walls?”
“Well I had no idea it would’ve caused this!” said Shadow defensively “you honestly think I would’ve done something like this on purpose?”
“Of course not,” said Twilight sternly “but let that be a lesson about poking around in places you don’t belong.”
Luna and Celestia had started to scuffle again, Twilight seemed to want to pull them apart but was clearly hesitant to do so. The consequence of the situation was hidden by the awkwardness for the time being.
“Should we…stop them?” Shadow asked.
“Do you think we can?” Twilight asked “They’re still the princesses of Equestria after all, I don’t think I could pull them apart…”
“Just try!” Lightning said angrily “they’re really going to hurt each other if this keeps up!”
Twilight took a deep breath, a purple nimbus appearing around the two princesses, tugging them away from each other and lifting them into the air.
“Hey!” Celestia shouted “Put me down you big meanie!” Her horn sparked white as if she was trying to do magic, but quickly fizzled out.
“Alright you two,” said Twilight, clearly forcing herself to use her commanding tone “I don’t  want any fighting between you two alright? We’re going to keep you here for a little while alright?”
“I gotta go potty…” Luna whined.
Twilight released Luna from her magic grip “You know where the chamber pot is,” she said “Light, Shadow, I have an emergency job for you.”
“Anything we can do the help…” said Shadow, watching awkwardly as Luna scurried behind the throne area.
“I need you two to go and monitor the preperations for the ceremony tomorrow,” said Twilight “It was my job but instead I’m going to have to take responsibility for Luna and Celestia. I don’t want any pony to worry about the situation so tomorrow must go smoothly, do you understand?”
“Y-yes ma’am,” Lightning stuttered “but are you sure we’re the best ponies for this?”
“Right now you’re the only ponies available,” said Twilight “now go quickly, breakfast is going to start and five minutes and we need someone there. After that I want everything moving like clockwork. The schedule is in my room, now get going!”
Not daring to ask anymore questions, Lightning and Shadow exited the room. “Alright,” Shadow said “I’ll go make sure there’s nothing going on with the workers, can you run and get the stuff from Twilight’s room?”
“Yeah,” said Lightning “just save me something to eat alright?”
They turned and headed in opposite directions. As Shadow walked he looked over himself, pondering some of the changes. He wasn’t entirely sure why his usually soft gray coat had turned such a coarse black color, or more interestingly why the fur was totally gone from his hooves. It almost seemed like he had been badly burned from something. But of course that was preposterous… He also noticed his cutie mark was still absent. This was perhaps the greatest disappointment, as it could’ve provided some useful insight on the future.
He took a deep breath as he pushed the door to the dining hall open. Everything seemed organized without his help already. The ponies were seated at long tables while unicorns walked back and forth serving them. Hopefully this was a sign his job would be relatively simple. A few ponies said hello to him as they passed into the dining hall, and he nodded back, slowly growing more confident.
“I see you’re taking things well,” came a familiar voice to his right “and what fun it is indeed…”
Shadow turned to see the brown unicorn who Luna had spoken to earlier. He narrowed his eyes, “Something you need?” he asked curtly.
“Oh nothing Prince Comet, or excuse me, Shadow Chaser,” said the Unicorn with an exaggerated bow “being omnipotent mixes me up sometimes you know. I was just noticing the subtle change you’ve made and I was enjoying the spectacle.”
“Who are you…?” asked Shadow measuring this newcomer “and more importantly how do you know who I am?”
The unicorn grinned menacingly, his eyes flashing to red and yellow for a moment as he laughed “I can answer both questions at once,” he said, extending a hoof “I’m Discord, spirit of chaos and disharmony.”
So that’s who he was, the ‘reformed’ lord of chaos himself. This had the potential to become interesting. Shadow shook his hoof, halfway expecting some electric shock or other prank, but nothing spectacular happened.
“I’m going to guess you already know the situation,” said Shadow evenly.
“But of course,” said Discord, never losing his wide smile “and I haven’t smelled such delectable chaos in years! Why, I would say the last time I had this much fun was when I turned Ponyville absolutely upside down!”
Shadow shuddered, remembering holing up inside during that hellish week of havoc. The small house had been mostly clear of the chaos, being so close to the forest had a few perks. But the sounds of the storm were enough to scare the young colt under the covers. For the first time he realized that may have been somewhat childish.
“Not too fond of that one, eh?” Discord asked, sounding bored now “oh not many ponies are. Though I can’t say I’m surprised. I’m no good at age spells of course but if you would like I might help you liven up the party?”
“Um…” Shadow said, realizing this was his first definitive decision for keeping things in control “that wouldn’t be a bad idea no, but keep it down alright? Nothing that will hurt any pony or anything in any way, you understand?”
“Of course!” said Discord, excitement tinting his voice “Oh I do look forward to you taking the throne! Celestia forbid the use of my powers during the mealtimes!” Before Shadow could say another word, Discord was gone.
The door to the dining hall opened, and Lightning walked in, carrying a large scroll in her teeth. She set it down as she approached “I got the list, and it’s a doozy… are those candles dancing…?”
Shadow turned “Yeah… I kind of gave Discord the go ahead to make some…entertainment… I suppose…” he said sheepishly.
“Well at least they seem to be enjoying it,” said Lightning with a sigh “make sure you reign him in alright?”
“Is that my job then?” asked Shadow.
“Yeah, that actually sounds alright,” said Lightning unrolling the scroll “almost half of these jobs are Discord’s responsibility. If you could keep him in check for those I would be extremely grateful.”
“You sure you can handle that?” Shadow asked “That looks like a lot of jobs to do.”
“It’s mostly confirmation and checking,” said Lightning “just a big check list essentially, mostly a formality. The only real job is written here at the bottom, it just says to not let Discord go nuts.” She rolled up the scroll again “in a way I’m giving you the only job!”
Shadow smirked “Alright,” he said “Let’s get this done!”
A few hours later found Shadow and Discord working on the gardens on either side of the castle. The gardens were well situated, the moat still dividing them from the rest of the city but far enough from the castle to provide the perfect view. The hedges, statues, and labyrinth ringed the castle like a halo of greenery.
Discord had been magically trimming the hedges, the gardening tools carving the bushes into swirling patterns while he sat to the side, straw stuck in a cotton candy cloud. Shadow was practicing with his wider wings, finding them much stronger and more easily maneuverable. To his surprise, however, he didn’t fly much faster at all.
“Try to angle yourself a bit more downward,” Discord advised from the ground level “that should make you fly a bit faster.”
“I’ve already tried that…” Shadow said, landing again, less shaky than the last several attempts “I’ve got all sorts of crazy lift now but I can’t get my wing-beat going nearly as fast, and it’s really hard to fly downward…”
“Tough break,” said Discord, procuring a glass filled with a red fizzy liquid “Soda?”
“Thanks,” said Shadow, taking it and drinking. His eyes lit up as he tasted it “Faygo? No way, how did you know?”
Discord raised an eyebrow “I didn’t,” he said curiously “Faygo has always been one of the hallmarks of my chaotic powers. It’s because of the sugar I do believe, or perhaps its’ strange connection to juggalo culture.”
“The sugar makes it taste better, and it gives you energy,” Shadow elaborated, throwing the empty glass to the side where it exploded “you know Discord, you’re alright.” He held out a leg, and they hoof bumped.
“Shadow!” Lightning’s voice called from somewhere above “those hedges are supposed to be even! What are you doing with those spiral patterns?”
Shadow looked up to see Lightning on one of the balconies, a gray coated mare with long black hair was also with her, carrying a huge instrument case.
“I think it looks better that way!” Shadow shouted back up “it’s not like this is a formal celebration! It’s a party, Lightning! Relax!”
“I don’t care if it’s a party, it’s a party we’ve got a schedule for!” Lightning shouted down “now get those hedges in the shape they’re supposed to be in! Come on Octavia, the concert hall is this way…”
“Ignore her…” Shadow said quietly as Lightning walked back inside “gosh she’s getting to be such a killjoy…”
“Octavia isn’t a bad choice for the music,” said Discord, dispersing the hedge-clippers “though I would’ve hired Vinyl Scratch myself. Now she is a professional musician! For a pony anyway…”
“You’ve got that right!” said Shadow “I’ve actually got one of her albums, it’s the only music CD I own.”
“Well then, you my friend have quite the sense,” said Discord “of course Neon Lights is also very good, as well as Sprocket but… oh my!”
Shadow turned to see what had distracted Discord. His jaw hit the floor as he saw the goliath mass of balloons cresting the horizon in a rainbow of shapes and colors.
“What…is that…?” he asked.
“Pinkie Pie…” said Discord.
Sure enough, as the base of the balloon mountain finally came into view it was revealed that the pink earth pony had somehow tied all of the balloons to her tail. A tremendous shadow passed overhead as the balloon behemoth blocked out the sun overhead.
“Oh, hi Discord!” said Pinkie “who’s this? Oh my gosh are you the new prince? I’ve never met a Prince before! Wait… if you’re a prince why are you just a Pegasus? Your dad must have been a Pegasus! How cool! I see why they call you Shadow, your coat is the perfect color!”
Shadow recoiled, this speech was sounding way too familiar. It was also interesting to note Pinkie hadn’t recognized him from the café… was that really just the day before yesterday? The change must have really made him look different.
Before either of them could respond however, Pinkie Pie had passed them by and entered the castle, her sky full of balloons following after her in a swirl of rainbow color. They squeezed in through the gate all together with one tremendous squeak.
“Well I guess she’s Lightning’s problem now,” said Shadow “what’s next on our to-do list? Discord?”
Discord was staring after Pinkie Pie, a bit of a silly grin on his face. His eyes had turned pink and heart shaped, which Shadow supposed was probably a draconequis thing.
“I get it…” he said “I think someone’s got pink on the brain.”
Discord’s eyes went back to normal and he coughed “Well…perhaps…” he said embarrassedly “is it really that obvious?”
“Yeah, you made it obvious to the point of being kind of redundant.” Said Shadow “Hey, I totally see where you’re coming from. She’s probably the only creature on Equestria as random as you are.”
“So delightfully random…” said Discord, the shrubs along the path starting to pop into heart shapes.
“Easy there buddy,” said Shadow “can you go ahead and change that back?”
“Oh yes, of course” said Discord “I was supposed to be changing those into the shapes of guards anyway.” There was a puff of green smoke as each hedge took on the shape of a pony with a helmet.
“Much better,” said Shadow “now what do you say we go get some lunch? I could really go for an egg salad sandwich right now…”
Meanwhile, inside the castle, Twilight was having a wide variety of difficulties of her own…
“I’m hungry!” Celestia would whine “when do we get to eat?”
“The servants are on their way with your lunch,” said Twilight, a headache slowly turning into a grade A migrane “can you please just wait until then?”
“But I’m hungry now!” Celestia complained, running in circles around Twilight “make the servants come faster!”
“Miss Twilight?” said Luna quietly “can you please make Celestia play with me? I’m getting bored…”
Celestia flopped down on her stomach and crossed her hooves in front of her “I’m going to absolutely faint from hunger!”
Luna quickly clambered onto her sister’s back and started to sing “I’m walking on sunshine! Whoah-oh! I’m walking on sunshine!”
“Stop it!” Celestia shouted, horn sparking uselessly “Don’t make me pull your hair again!”
Luna just kept skipping in place and singing as Celestia grew even angrier. There was a knock on the door and Twilight sighed in relief, running over to open it, a tongue lashing prepared for the bellhop who would make her wait.
“Thank goodness you’re here…” she said as she opened the door, realizing she was really more relieved than angry “I’ve been waiting so… oh… hello Pinkie Pie…”
Indeed it was Pinkie Pie who was standing in the doorway along with about a million technicolored balloons “Hi Twilight!” she said excitedly “I heard you were in here so I thought I’d stop by and say hello!”
“I’m sorry Pinkie, but I’m just incredibly busy right now,” said Twilight “could you do me a favor and talk to the red earth pony with the blue mane? She can tell you what to do with all those balloons.”
“You got it Twilight!” Pinkie said, bouncing away, followed by her utterly silly entourage.
“And if you see the bellhop on your way down, tell him his going to get his flank kicked if he doesn’t hurry up!” Twilight called after the ballon army. She sighed as she turned to where Celestia was chasing a screaming Luna in circles around the room.
“That is it!” Twilight shouted, stopping them both with her magic “You two are going to sit still and behave if it kills me! If either of you tries to hurt the other anymore, I swear I will hold you in status like this for the rest of the night!”
“But miss Twilight…” said Luna innocently “I have to go potty, I can’t do that when I’m hanging here!”
“Then behave!” Twilight shouted “I am not done with this lecture!”
“I really gotta go!” Luna whined, squirming in the air “I’m gonna pee right now!”
Twilight groaned “Fine,” she said, releasing Luna from her magic grip “just make it quick!”
Luna jumped up and kicked Celestia so hard she was knocked out of Twilight’s magic grip. She giggled and ran away before Twilight could grab her again. Celestia started bawling in pain on the floor.
There was a knock on the door “Room service!” came a voice from the other side.
I shudder to say that the poor unicorn being the bellhop today was unprepared to see Twilight burst through the door, mane askew, nostrils flaring.
“You’re late!” she shouted, so loud that a few of the windows shattered “do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting for you? Why I outta…”
Lightning, meanwhile, was perhaps having the most comparatively normal day of any of them. The party’s checklist ws mostly managing itself smoothy, with just a few minor adjustments at least. As lunch time began to roll around again she was found in the upper balcony of the concert hall, arguing with a white unicorn who had a startlingly similar mane to her own, electric blue and wild.
“Just hold on a second…” said Lightning, looking over the list again “You aren’t on here, who hired you?”
“The scratch goes where the music is needed,” said the unicorn casually waving a hoof “let’s just say my job pays for itself pretty well.”
“Vinyl…” said Lightning “I don’t really mean to offend you or anything, but we’re running a delicate operation here, anyone not officially hired to provide a service here has to wait for tomorrow.”
Vinyl adjusted her enormous purple shades and sighed “Alright,” she said frustratedly “Pinkie Pie’s paying me to make a surprise entrance after the official announcement, now can I unload my speakers and get going already? I need the practice!”
“I can’t argue with you can I?” asked Lightning, giving up before she had really started “fine, but you’re done at eight, I don’t want dubstep keeping the place awake all night! There are children in this castle I’ll have you know.”
“Well, yeah,” said Vinyl “I’ll be responsible or whatever I guess. When do I get to meet the prince anyway?”
“Shadow’s a busy stallion,” said Lightning curtly “I’m sure he won’t have time…”
“Hey Lightning!” came a voice from the balcony’s entrance “I heard you were up here, I was just going to get lunch, you coming or not?”
Vinyl and Lightning turned to see Shadow standing in the entrance, he walked toward them, squinting a little at Vinyl.
“Hello hot stuff…” said Vinyl, loud enough for Lightning, but not Shadow to hear. She smirked and Lightning rolled her eyes, stupid DJ.
“No way…” said Shadow as he approached “You’re Vinyl Scratch aren’t you! Shadow Chaser, I am a huge fan of yours.”
“Well I guess the prince has some time after all,” said Vinyl smugly “tell you what, let’s all go grab something to eat, we deserve it.” She lowered her shades enough to let Shadow see her pink eyes, and winked.
Lightning’s tail flicked in annoyance, “I thought you had unloading to do…” she said tersely.
“Oh I can wait!” Vinyl said “come on Shadow, tell me about yourself!”
Shadow turned to lightning who mouthed the word “Lie”. He nodded in agreement, and started talking to Vinyl again.
They swapped stories all the way back down to the dining hall, Shadow’s made up but believable, and Vinyl’s…well…Lightning certainly hoped that they were made up. If this Vinyl character turned out to be any sort of trouble she would definitely be there to nip it in the bud.
“Whoah,” said Vinyl as they entered the hall “this is sweet!”
Lightning’s jaw dropped. The walls had changed from wooden to some sort of purple plastic. Neon lights danced across the now checkered patterned floor and loud dubstep was blasting from some unseen speaker.
“This is like heaven!” Vinyl shouted, dashing out quickly. Shadow and Lightning stared after her, both dumbfounded.
“Is that…white noise…?” Lightning asked slowly.
“Discord!” Shadow shouted, though it was mostly drowned out by the wild music. A few ponies walked out of the hall, looks of disgust on their faces. Lightning apologized to them quickly as Shadow pushed off the ground in search of the draconequis.
Discord was found standing on the ceiling, his pony form abandoned. His arms were crossed in front of him and he was bouncing to the sound of the music.
“Discord!” Shadow shouted, flying steadily nearby “what part of this is in any way under control?”
“Some of these ponies are enjoying themselves,” said Discord, a pair of shades and a jacket appearing on him “I mean look, the ponies that are still here are positively rocking!”
“Yeah, well the rest of the ponies in the hallway have a halfway decent sense of music,” said Shadow angrily “stop this, all of this, now.”
“Fine,” said Discord with a shrug “but I thought you said you liked Vinyl Scratch’s music.” He snapped a clawed hand and the room reverted back to the way it had been before.
“From now on, no messing with the dining hall,” said Shadow angrily “stick to your assignments, we don’t need any more nonsense you got me?”
“Of course, your royal bossypants!” said Discording, appearing on the ground in his unicorn form once again. He smirked and waved upward before turning and walking smugly out of the hall.
“Yeah! Real mature!” Shadow shouted, flying down “why don’t you come here and say it to my face wise guy?”
“Oh it wasn’t so bad,” said Vinyl walking over to him “sure it was one of my weaker beats but the drops were gorgeous. You guys must have some real wicked subwoofers stashed around here somewhere.”
Shadow turned his attention toward Vinyl “That really was your music?” he asked “I thought you did synth and techno, not dubstep.”
“I did a bit of synth when I started up,” said Vinyl, tilting her head “I haven’t done anything but dubstep in like four years dude, how old are your albums?”
“My dad got them, I wouldn’t know…” said Shadow, hoping desperately he wasn’t letting something slip with those words “it’s a pity, I really like techno.”
“Eh, techno, dubstep, it’s all sweet music, what’s the difference really?” she asked with a shrug.
Shadow’s ear twitched. He thought the difference between techno and dubstep was the difference between good music and bad music. Before he could voice his complaints, however, Lightning had galloped over to join them.
“Okay,” she said “I’ve managed to pacify everyone who was freaking out about the lunch fiasco, but now we’ve got a report going that someone’s let a bunch of show animals loose in the labyrinth, now I’m not sure what to do about that.”
“How soon are you going to be needed again?” asked Shadow “we might have to go after them ourselves. I think Discord can go without being monitored for awhile, I just scolded him after all.”
“I think we can spare some time then…” said Lightning “we’re just monitoring after all, everyone already knows what to do.”
“Don’t jynx it…” Shadow said “If I hadn’t stopped Discord just now who knows what could’ve happened.”
“That was your fault in the first place,” said Lightning “you two were getting awfully chummy. If you had been a little more strict with him he wouldn’t have thought he would get away with that.”
“Look, not that this isn’t exciting and all…” Vinyl piped up “but if y’all don’t mind I’d like the go-ahead to use the concert hall for my afternoon practice session.”
“Fine,” said Lightning “so long as you aren’t bothering anyone I really don’t care where you practice.”
“Alright!” said Vinyl excitedly “It’s the Canterlot Scratch Sessions rocking the castle starting now! Anyone who wants a sweet show should head for the concert hall now!” she proceeded to dash out the door followed by a few excited looking ponies.
Lightning sighed “I hate dubstep…” she said “I don’t get why she’s so popular.”
“I don’t either,” said Shadow “but she did used to do some fun music, not as good as yours maybe but still pretty darn good.”
“Stop it,” said Lightning, despite her smile “come on you big oaf, lets go deal with the maze problem.”
They fought their way through the crowd of ponies gathered around the hall, many questioning exactly what had transpired inside the dining hall. Lightning moved Shadow forward, who was slightly reluctant to miss the oppritunity of being in the spotlight. It took them almost a full ten minutes to get back to the main gate and another idiotically long time to get out through to the gardens.
“I hate these huge crowds!” Lightning exclaimed as they finally separated themselves from the mass of ponies gathered by the main gate and hallway “I swear, if this ever blows over I’m never having another birthday party again as long as I live.”
Shadow pushed his mane out of his eyes for what felt like the thousandth time, it really needed to be cut “If we were usual size we could just duck under every pony’s feet you know?”
“Ew…” said Lightning “that just wouldn’t be right!”
Shadow raised an eyebrow curiously “What’s so bad about it?” he asked.
Lightning blinked, seeming to shake off a sort of trance, “I’m…not sure…” she said dazedly “I have these memories that I don’t know are mine. They keep coming to the surface and I don’t know what to think of it.”
“That’s weird…” Shadow agreed, but when he thought about it more closely he had felt some other sort of familiarity when he’d first talked to Vinyl Scratch, almost like, though he didn’t know to compare, but almost like he was meeting an old friend…
“I saw how well you got along with Vinyl,” said Lightning, a little uncannily “I’m starting to think I know her from somewhere too… And the orchestra pony, Octavia. When I first met her I immediately thought ‘teacher!’ but I’d never seen her before in my life!”
“I don’t know…” said Shadow “I do know I’m really creeped out by this whole thing though… Let’s talk about it later okay? After we get through the maze and…”
“And what?” Lightning asked as he trailed away.
“I…I don’t remember,” said Shadow “I thought something else was going to happen… but I don’t remember…”
“Good,” said Lightning quickly “come on, let’s go, try not to waste too much time on it okay?”
Shadow nodded as they started down the cobblestone path to the hedge maze. They passed through the sculpture garden with the representation of many famous ponies and ideals. The pedestal where Discord had previously sat was now occupied by the famous replica of the mane six. Much of the sculpture garden and maze had been renovated since the incident with Discord, but there were still some familiar landmarks.
The entrance, for starters, hadn’t changed a bit. The vine covered archway still loomed the same way it had years ago, proud sentinel of the largest maze in all Equestrai. Without even a flyover Shadow could tell finding circus animals in here would be little more than folly.
“I don’t know…” said Shadow hesitantly “do you think it’s still worth checking out?”
“I think I deserve a chance to go through the maze after a long day of hard work,” said Lightning “whether I can find animals or not seems suddenly irrelevant.”
They laughed together at this and started down a random passage where the hedges seemed to be in bloom with brilliant roses. They trotted along and laughed together. It seemed that even while heavy snow persisted outside the castle grounds the gardens could remain miraculously untouched.
“So why didn’t you just fly over?” asked Lightning once they were a good ways inside “you could’ve gotten your view of the maze just fine without me you know.”
“I couldn’t risk you getting yourself lost silly,” said Shadow with a smirk “besides I’d have it a bet I would get lonely without you.”
“Aw… how sweet,” said Lightning, an unfamiliar smile gracing her features “I didn’t know you knew how to work with words.”
“I guess I just know what makes ponies tick,” said Shadow with a grin “and I’ve known you for long enough haven’t I? You should be like putty in my hooves.” He laughed and ruffled her mane.
“You wish…” said Lightning, running ahead so she could bat at him with her tail “don’t go getting fun with me Shadow, that’s my job.”
Shadow sneezed “I can see that,” he said with a smirk, wiping his nose “just try not to let playful turn into frisky.” He honestly expected her to blush and turn away at this. To his surprise, she turned and winked at him.
“Maybe I’ve already decided to get frisky…” she said mysteriously, then walked ahead without elaborating. Shadow suddenly found himself in the most inconvenient position of embarrassment. What the hay had she meant by that…?
As he turned the next corner after Lightning he was met with a sight he was totally unprepared for. They had entered a wide open, circular portion of the maze. Apple trees lined the hedges in every color apples could be in, as well as a few he was sure they didn’t. There was a clear, sparkling lake in the center, perfectly symmetrical and glistening with the noonday sun, not a single ripple marring the surface. Huge stone statues, not unlike the ones from the sculpture garden stood along the edge of the lake. Rather than merely famous ponies, however, these statues depicted characters who were nothing short of legendary.
“No way…” said Lightning, walking around in wonder “I didn’t even know these existed!” I only recognize the princesses, and Discord I suppose.”
“This guy looks pretty cool,” said Shadow, indicating a large stallion in heavy looking armor, the horn on his head almost looked like a claw.
Lightning had walked right up to the lake and looked into the still water. She was clearly reluctant to disturb the crystal-smooth surface “Come here and have a look at this, Shadow.” She said “I can see my reflection so perfectly in the water.”
Shadow walked over and took a look for himself. Indeed it was interesting just how pristine and reflective it was. A gust of wind passing sent his mane back into his eyes but it didn’t disturb the lake at all. It was one thing to be pretty, but this was starting to get downright creepy.
Providing an interesting parallel, he now noticed Lightning’s reflection staring at his own. When he looked up he found her face uncomfortably close. He quickly took a step back, mumbling a hasty apology.
“What is it with you today?” asked Lightning with a giggle “You’re acting like a school colt with a crush. Did you hit your head when I wasn’t looking?”
Shadow mentally shook himself, realizing she was right “Nah,” he said “I’m fine… I guess I’m just not myself today…”
“Oh, that’s a shame,” said Lightning, stepping closer again “I was really starting to like you today…”
Shadow found his wings growing uncomfortably stiff now. There wasn’t any problem with what Lightning was saying, but some part of his mind seemed to totally reject it. She was his best, his only friend. This was far from a problematic direction, at least in his mind. Then what was this strange force screaming at him to stop…?
They were painfully close to each other now. They could feel each others breath on their faces. Blue eyes met red, both seeming to be in a trance. Finally, Lightning pushed forward through the haze, moving right toward Shadow.
And Shadow jerked back. He wasn’t sure why he did it, he knew more than anything else he didn’t want to do it. He felt like screaming out for backing away. It was an instinctive movement, but shouldn’t an instinctive movement have brought him forward?
“Why did you stop…?” Lightning asked, sounding hurt “I thought… we were…why…?”
He wanted to say he didn’t know, he wanted to say he was sorry, he wanted to say something, anything to salvage the moment. His mouth moved, ready to apologize, to make something of the situation before it shot past him. Instead, one word rolled off his tongue.
“Iris…” he said.
“Who’s Iris?” Lightning asked.
And just like that he didn’t know. He cursed at the barriers in his mind and further at the unknown memories that were blocking. It was an awful tantalizing feeling as he sensed the words drip out of his mouth from some unknown tap in his brain, stuck open and impossible to close.
“Lightning… I love you,” said Shadow, not even sure he knew what he was saying “Like a sister. You’re like a sister to me, and I wouldn’t trade that for the world…”
Lightning’s ears fell flat against her head. It was clear she was trying to be angry with him, but was only finding emotions of bleak disappointment. “Oh…” she said “That… that makes sense…” she turned on a dime and walked blindly forward into the statue of Luna.
Shadow couldn’t help feeling guilty at this. Of all the things he could’ve said…Of course now would be the time for his brain to lose all function and start babbling inane nonsense. He didn’t even know anyone named Iris!
There was a huge thud directly ahead of him, halting his train of thought like a tree along the tracks. He looked up to see Lightning’s accidental bump had completely toppled the statue of Luna. Her strength already scared him a little, but that little display was nothing but impressive.
“Oops…” said Lightning vaguely, looking at the single wing protruding from the now rippling water “that was a mistake…”
Shadow felt a little uneasy at this motion, that pool just didn’t seem like it should be disturbed. The awkwardness of this situation as well was reaching an unparalleled echelon. Lightning was deeply wounded emotionally, that was obvious. And this dumb mental barrier was blocking him from speaking the only words he knew would console her, as if the situation wasn’t already lost long ago…
Their attentions simultaneously turned back to the lake from which a huge plop had resounded. The part of the Luna statue that had still stuck up out of the water had been sucked under into the water which returned to its pristine condition.
“Lightning…” said Shadow slowly “I think we have a problem…”
Their eyes snapped back to the exit, which had vanished, replaced by a solid wall of hedge. Shadow looked around for possible escape, but the paths around were quickly growing up with new plant life. The sun was suddenly shadowed, and he was afraid to look up to see just what it was.
“Dome!” Lightning screamed, looking up to the huge cover of vines and ivy that had crossed the space overhead “What are we gonna do? We can’t survive if we’re trapped in here! What will we eat? We’re doomed!”
“We’re not doomed!” Shadow said, forcing himself once again to be the calm one “We have plenty of water, and in case you didn’t notice we’re surrounded by apple trees. Someone will come find us before tomorrow, some unicorn who knows how to reverse whatever’s going on here.”
Lightning started to calm down again, much to Shadow’s relief. “You’re right…” she said “you…always know what to say when I panic…” she suddenly threw her hooves around him, a wide smile on her face “Thank you… brother…”
Shadow blinked, returning the hug on instincts which had thus far failed him. She suddenly understood now? What was going on today? He jumped suddenly as he felt water touch his hoof.
They looked back to the lake now, and almost instantly felt the need to panic again. The water, which was now glowing a faint blue, had begun to swell in volume, bursting the bank and flooding toward them. They made a dash for the hedge, which proved impassable as the water flooded against it and began to rise.
“Quick,” said Shadow “get on my back, while my wings are still dry!”
Lightning sensed the urgency and leapt onto him swiftly, not that she would’ve had the time to argue as the water quickly swelled to knee high. Shadow managed to push up out of the water and they flew up to the dome, determined to put off the inevitable for as long as possible.
Shadow started pounding against the vines as hard as his desperation would allow. “Break!” he wailed “Celestia damn you just break!”
“Shadow…” Lightning said worriedly “the water’s almost here…”
It was giving, he could feel the vines push away from the offending pounding. He was so close, he could see the green outline of the castle. He very nearly cried out as the water touched him.
“I don’t want this!” Lightning burst into tears “I just wish we were still foals, where the biggest adventure was skipping school! I wish with all my heart! I just want to be a little girl again!”
The water finally reached the point above their heads, just as Shadow pushed through the vines. He gasped in a burst of bubbles, exultation turning to horrified anguish as he realized the miniscule hole he had made would not be enough to escape through. And the water escaping it was doing nothing to quell the oncoming mass. He stared back at Lightning, for what he was sure would be the very last time, and felt the world go dark.

> Chapter 8 A Child's Mind
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Vinyl stood excitedly over the turntables, she had moved up to the balcony of the main hall, letting Octavia take the soundproof concert hall for her silly orchestra. It was beautiful music in its own right, sure, or else she may have bullied her out of it, but the world really did need the miracle of her dubstep.
Unfortunately for her, however, the balcony was inconveniently situated. It may have been the center of the hall at some point in time, but since then some expansion or other had been made, placing it closer to the western end of the hall. That didn’t stop her of course, quite the contrary; the spectacular view of the gardens from this vantage was giving her a flood of inspiration. She was typing in the keystrokes for some of the synthetic instruments she hadn’t touched in absolute ages.
She smiled at the quizzical looks she was getting from below, it was completely understandable of course, from that point it must have seemed like a ghostly orchestra had entered the hall with all the whistles bells and trumpets. It took a great deal of guessing to discover the mare, who looked more suited to entirely electronic sounds, was the one conducting the virtual symphony.
That Shadow guy may have been onto something when he said her synth was better than her dubstep. It was certainly attracting a great deal more positive attention. She liked the feeling, it was the same positive undertone and sweep of pride she felt at her usual concerts, but today it was spiced with a whole new wave of ideas and emotions. On something of a reminiscent whim she pulled up an old file she had very nearly forgotten about. Her first file, the music she had played to earn the double eighth note that was so very proudly emblazoned on her flanks.
There was a moment’s hesitation before she actually went about loading the sound. It almost didn’t seem right to be playing this piece now in front of all those ponies. She felt trapped under a brilliant luminescent spotlight that could somehow put her soul on display for all to see.
And suddenly it was playing. She gasped, unsure if she had actually pressed the start button, but her hoof was squarely on the spacebar. The sound rose up and over the hall to hang like a cloud of melody, ready to burst, the sound falling down onto the crowd like a lovely springtime shower. It was heaven, and she realized that not only was this her starting point, it was the final piece that fused all her music together. Her only regret was that her words and singing would never extend past this little booth.
Vinyl turned the music down and looked out the arching window once again. A blue glow had coalesced over the garden now, which her eyes read as the sun slowly moving to the afternoon position. It was such a fantastic sight, just like it had been when she played for the royal wedding. Thinking back, she really owed Pinkie Pie for that little gig. It had been her big break, and now she was the hottest thing in Canterlot, if she were honest with herself, this castle performance seemed like more of a sentimental game than a real gig. Its pay had been very low considering her demand…
There was a sudden crash, stirring Vinyl from her reverie to look at the window. Blue water had inexplicably started to pour through a large crack in the glass. She looked up to see a fantastic arch of water connecting the window to some far distant portion of the gardens. Canterlot was just as full of surprises as usual…
She grunted slightly as her hoof touched the water and instantly became sore. Whatever magic was in that water it was painful. The exit to the balcony was already supporting a makeshift waterfall of the stuff, but the only other way down without touching the poison would be to jump, and that was of course insanity.
There was another tug as her hoof touched the water again. Sure it wasn’t comfortable to touch, but what could a little water really do to her? She started walking back downstairs, ignoring the growing pain and steadily intensifying sense of vertigo. The ground seemed to shoot downward far more than it should have ever time she took a step. What the heck was this stuff? It made it seem like the floor was leaping up at her…
Vinyl tumbled down the last few stairs and collapsed, groaning as she felt her forehead touch the ground. The carpet seemed so close even at the height of her fall. She needed help, and tried to call out, but the only sound that emerged was a sort of most unlike her squeak. As a matter of fact she hadn’t made that noise since…
Completely unaware of the poor DJ lying unconscious on the stairway in the main hall, Twilight desperately read the seventh book she had managed to dig up on aging spells. It would’ve been grossly uninformative anyway, even if she wasn’t continually distracted by the two fillyfied princesses running amok around the throne room. The day was starting to wane and she still had no idea how to reverse this spell. If it had just been normal ponies she could’ve done the age spell without overmuch trouble, but this was a most unusual magic working on the princesses, and magic was difficult to perform on an alicorn anyway.
Twilight sighed; at the very least she could’ve returned Lightning and Shadow to their younger forms. Celestia and Luna seemed to have no memory of the days before their foal hood. Based on this there was a very good chance that the two in the same situation running the entire operation might be having memories from some point in the future. That could be devastating, but right now she needed the monitors right where they were.
“Miss Twilight,” came Luna’s voice, a bit more respectful since her earlier outburst “I have to…”
“You know where the chamber pots are,” said Twilight patiently “when you have to relieve yourself you do not have to ask for permission.”
“Thank you Miss Twilight,” said Luna, bowing and scurrying off again. Twilight smiled, Luna really was sweet when she managed to behave herself. Celestia wasn’t a terror anymore either, though she was rather reclusive after her fierce scolding. She had been brushing her mane in silence for almost an hour now, totally silent as she fumbled with the comb, not used to her lack of magic. Twilight had offered to help a few times, but had been rebuffed.
“I can do it myself,” Celestia had said angrily “I’m not a baby Twilight!”
No, that was true, but she did look like she would need help if this disastrous mane incident continued. Twilight’s mind snapped back to the two foals in adult pony bodies. If she knew memory spells, which she felt she knew very well, they would be having future memories bubbling through by now. That spell needed to be reversed, and soon or there might be unexpected consequences…
There was a knock on the door and Twilight quickly cracked it open, surprised to come face to face with an all too familiar brown unicorn. “Discord!” she exclaimed, trying not to sound offensive “What are you doing here…?”
“I’ve finished my tasks for today,” said Discord in a tone Twilight couldn’t read into at all “and I’d like to report a slight problem…”
Discord was actually reporting a problem? The prospect of something that bad made Twilight’s stomach turn into uncomfortable knots. “What is it?” she asked, her air of professionalism cracking slightly under the pressure.
“It’s the prince,” said Discord uneasily, “he and his friend went into the gardens just after noon and haven’t returned. I believe it may be necessary to send a search party. I am… quite worried about them…” He seemed reluctant to say this last bit, obviously embarrassed.
Twilight smiled “It’s not shameful to have friends, Discord,” she said happily “You have my permission to do whatever you deem necessary in order to find them. I can tell that you’re very worried.”
“Thank you!” said Discord, in a tone of barely contained relief “I hope nothing’s happened to them… I should leave now.”
“One moment!” said Twilight as Discord turned to leave “The aging spell may be affecting their memory in an incredibly derogatory fashion, and I have to reverse it as soon as possible.
“You want me to bring them to you,” Discord finished for her “I suspect I would’ve anyway, I would hate for anything bad to come of this situation, certainly not anything worse than it may already have become.”
“Thank you Discord,” said Twilight, amazed at her own ability to say these words.
“It’s no trouble of course,” said Discord, waving to Luna who had just returned to view “especially considering the predicament you’ve been in yourself all day. Hello little princess.”
“Hi mister old pony!” said Luna, waving back.
Discord’s eye twitched slightly, he was clearly irked by this comment but trying hard not to show that it bothered him “I really should get going now Twilight,” said Discord respectfully “good luck, and good night.”
“And to you as well,” said Twilight pleasantly, shutting the door as the lord of chaos walked away. It was a good feeling to have real faith that Discord was truly reformed at long last. She had never actually trusted him until now, keeping Celestia’s warning to keep the elements on hoof.
The elements brought up another thought. As the element of magic she was the key that truly held the elements together. Now she was a princess, would she effectively be able to fulfill that role? She would have to talk to the princesses about finding the new elements of harmony as soon as they had their memory back.
“Is the Prince’s memory gonna go boom?” asked Luna innocently, clearly having attained a limited knowledge of what was going on.
Twilight couldn’t help but giggle, Luna really was irresistible as an adorable little filly. “No sweetheart,” she said, resisting the urge to pick her up for a cuddle “The prince’s memory will not go boom…” her tone shifted sharply as she suddenly realized the solution for their problem had been drifting through the conversation this whole time.
“Luna sweetie,” said Twilight, horn beginning to glow a strong purple “can you please sit still for me? This won’t hurt a bit.”
Perhaps if Discord had been paying more attention to his surroundings as he started to patrol the halls, he would’ve seen the white unicorn wake up from her blackout and stumble toward the door. He was otherwise engaged, however, shedding his pony form and beginning to snake his way about the castle. The prince had to be found, it was an absolute necessity.
As he started down another hallway, rolling an eyeball to the end of it just to make sure no one was watching. His tail reached inconspicuously around the corner to scratch a small, complex rune in the corner. Yes…the prince absolutely had to be found…he was so vastly critical to the operation.
“Yes,” said Discord, retrieving his eyeball “but this is only the first of many…” his tail waved over the rune, causing it to vanish instantly.
The sun was fast approaching the furthest edge of the horizon as Discord walked outside. Seemingly on cue, a hooded pony figure slunk out of the Shadows. He had no obvious features, but based on his height it could be assumed he was a stallion.
“Status, Discord?”
“You may tell the queen that operation Everfree is ready to enter stage two,” Discord said smugly “everything has been taken care of. I will begin tomorrow on schedule.”
“I will alert the queen on my own time, for now it would be wiser to confirm the success of stage one. You have, in the past, proven to be overly confident and easily defeated when the conditions slide out of your favor.”
Discord’s horse-like muzzle took on the shape of a scowl. “Oh please,” he said “I’ve only ever lost once. Believe me, as the first to ever be working an inside job within Canterlot, I cannot fail.”
“It’s exactly that attitude that jeopardizes everything we work so hard to put in motion. You’ve only served to increase my doubt of your abilities. The queen will be alerted after stage one is complete.”
“Oh I will show you…” said Discord angrily “you’ll regret assigning me to stage one. I’ll do this job perfectly.”
“That is my assumption. You would be advised to not let me down. Now get back to work.”
The hooded form was suddenly gone. Discord was used to his mode of transport by now. The pony did not teleport like a normal pony would. When he was done with somewhere he simply wouldn’t be there anymore, and begin again in the next place.
If the princess knew who was on her castle grounds at such a time, or even at all for that matter, she would have been mortified. Even the alicorns knew terror at his name…
The slowly setting sun descended at the perfect angle to fall directly into the fatigued eyes of the small gray colt, asleep on the castle grounds. He wasn’t sure where he was, nor did he know how he might’ve gotten to this spot, or why he was soaked to the bone when there was apparently no water nearby. This poor colt was so completely disoriented by recent events he wasn’t even sure what the light now shining in his eyes was.
As he opened his eyes, he found he could see almost nothing. The light of the orb he now remembered to be the sun, was glaring in exactly the wrong spot. He snapped his eyes closed again, blocking the painful beams. He took a moment to find his strength, then stood shakily on his four hooves, wings flaring out instinctively to help him hold his balance.
“I think it’s about time to figure out where I am…” he thought in a haze “Grass…what does grass mean? It means I’m in a field. Water, I’m covered in water, was I swimming? Drowning maybe? But how could there be enough water for me to drown in an open field?”
Fur suddenly connected with his back legs, and his eyes snapped open, completely forgetting the piercing sunlight. The image of the red pelt was enough to send his memory flooding back. They had drowned! But if that was true, where were they now…? This wasn’t the eternal herd was it?
“Lightning!” he shouted in a high pitched, childish voice “Lightning! Come on! Wake up! Something’s happened!”
Shadow suddenly found himself being blown over with the force of a small train. Lightning had tackled him in less than an instant. She stood triumphantly, pinning him to the ground with a look of smug assurance.
“You should see your face!” she snickered “You sure didn’t see that coming did you? Can you believe it Shadow? We’re foals again! The spell must have been reversed by the magic water! We’re back to normal!”
Lightning’s inane babbling; now there was a familiar sound to shake off the last traces of remaining disconcertion. He tried to shrug her off but her hooves were pressing his wings painfully into the ground.
“Hey Light…” he said, cutting into her monologue “could you let me up? This actually really hurts…”
“Oh yeah…sorry…” said Lightning, stepping off of him “You don’t think we missed the party do you? That would be awful if we did…”
“The sun is setting…” said Shadow “See? It’s in the west. That means it’s probably still the same day we were checking the party stuff. Do you think all those chores will have taken care of themselves?”
“I’m worried about Discord…” said Lightning “most of my stuff was alright on its own, but Discord could get out of control.”
Shadow nodded, looking to his left to see the labyrinth at least a full hoofball field’s length away. “How did we get all the way over here?” he asked curiously.
“I was thinking about that too…” said Lightning “I think that as we got smaller in the water we were finally able to get out the hole you made in the dome. The water had to have been spouting out really fast, I mean look! It broke a window!”
Shadow looked at where Lightning was pointing to see one of the high windows had a large cracked hole in it. He doubted that water could make that ridiculous of a journey with that much force, but they had to have been expelled somehow. There was visible liquid glinting on the glass too, could it really…?
“I know,” said Lightning with a giggle “that was pretty much the awesomest thing ever!”
“Awesomest isn’t a word…” said Shadow “I think a better word would be…” he trailed off “never mind let’s just pretend it is a word.”
They both fell over giggling for a minute, but recovered quickly as Lightning suddenly gasped “Look!” she exclaimed “look, up there on the tower! The moon’s starting to rise!”
A small purple figure was indeed floating above the celestial platform, barely visible from so far below. As the shape ascended steadily into the air they recognized the rising moon on the distant horizon. It wasn’t quite as magical as when they had seen the spectacle up close, but moonrise was still marvelous.
Lightning suddenly wrapped her hooves around Shadow’s neck, looking him in the eye “Brother and sister, you and me, from now on.”
“Brother and sister,” said Shadow, returning the hug, “forever and ever!”
Lightning smiled, “Thanks BBBFF…”
“Oh come on,” said Shadow, blushing “I’m only a few months older than you...”
“I like big brothers,” said Lightning, giggling even more “and trust me; I’ve had a lot of experience with them.”
“Well lucky you,” said Shadow, rolling his eyes exaggeratedly “but seriously, we need to get back to the castle. Do you have any idea how worried mom must be?”
“Mom is our age…” said Lightning.
“Oh yeah…” said Shadow, ears drooping “that sucks…” he paused “Did you just call her mom too?”
“Well you are my brother now you know,” said Lightning “you have to share.”
Shadow shrugged, not really knowing how to respond to that, he instead turned his attention back to the castle. “We really should get going,’ he said “Twilight will probably kill us for being late or not finishing the checklist… or breaking the window…”
“Maybe we should just stay here…” said Lightning.
“Nah,” said Shadow “I’m so hungry I could eat a whole apple tree.”
“Oh yeah?” said Lightning “Well I’m so hungry I could eat the castle! If it were made out of gingerbread anyway…”
“That would be awesome…” said Shadow whimsically “a real life-sized house made out of gingerbread…”
“Stop it…” Lightning whined “You’re only making me hungrier…” Almost on cue her stomach released a growl. Shadow laughed until his did the same, causing them both to fall into conniptions yet again.
“Hey!” came a sudden high pitched voice “What the hay do you think you’re doing?”
Shadow looked up and squinted into the gathering darkness from where the voice had come from. He could make out the figure of a unicorn running toward them. A wild mane came into focus as the figure drew closer.
“Is that…Vinyl?” asked Lightning.
“I don’t know,” said Shadow, trying to get a better look “She still looks pretty far…” he was cut off as a bolt of white suddenly barreled into him, followed by a barrage of stamping hooves.
“What the hay!” Lightning exclaimed, trying to extricate the newcomer “What do you think you’re doing?”
It was obvious what Vinyl was doing, for indeed it was Vinyl. She was trying to beat Shadow into a pulp. “You did this to me!” she shouted in a high voice that cracked with every other word “You did this to me! I know you did this to me! The same thing happened to you! I’m going to…”
Lightning finally managed to dragon Vinyl off of Shadow, who honestly looked more shocked than injured or afraid, and for very good reason. The Vinyl Scratch who was being held at a distance was very different from the one they had met earlier. She was their height now; her mane looked more like a frizz than an intentional mess. The shades she had been wearing were gone, revealing the soft pink eyes underneath.
“Let go of me!” Vinyl Shouted “I’m going to beat him black and blue! How am I supposed to do magic like this? My career is over you evil jerk!”
Vinyl suddenly went limp in Lightning’s arms, anger transforming into wracking sobs. “Why?” she wailed pitifully “Why did this have to happen to me…?”
“Shh…Vinyl…” said Lightning, trying to sound soothing “It’s going to be okay. Can you tell us what happened?”
Vinyl wriggled out of Lightning’s grip and glared at Shadow. “I was just minding my own business, making some awesome music on the balcony, and then I hear the window behind me shatter! All this water started pouring in from the hole; I don’t even know where it came from!”
Lightning and Shadow simultaneously looked back over to the broken window; they could guess the rest before Vinyl elaborated. “I tried ignoring it for awhile,” she said “but then it started getting on my hooves and it felt all tingly. I started running down the stairs for help, but then I got vertigo and I fell down the stairs and blacked out.”
“Are you okay?” Shadow asked reflexively.
“Fine,” Vinyl grumbled “I woke up like an hour later with this splitting headache. I came out to find where the crazy magic water was coming from, and I realized I was like this! My magic’s shot and I’m too short to even get up to a turntable!”
“Well at least you’re cuter…” said Shadow, completely platonically.
“I am not cute!” Vinyl nothing short of screamed at him “I want you to change me back right now!”
“Calm down!” Shadow exclaimed, raising a hoof in case she tried to attack him again “It’s not like we did this on purpose. We should go talk to Twilight; she would know how to reverse the spell or whatever it is.”
“You think she’ll do it?” asked Lightning worriedly “we’re going to be in really big trouble with her already…”
“What do you mean you’re going to be in trouble with her?” asked Vinyl hysterically “I’m not going to go down because you’re pissing off the princess!”
“Vinyl!” Lightning exclaimed “Language!”
“Sorry!” Vinyl drawled “As if I care, look what you’ve gotten me into! If you can’t reverse this, I’ll…I’ll…” she trailed off, voice breaking “I don’t know what I’ll do…”
“Don’t worry,” said Shadow reassuringly “We’ll get this figured out. You’ll be rocking out tomorrow at the party, I promise!”
Vinyl turned, eyes glinting with the tears she refused to shed. “You…you better!” she exclaimed, giving him one more kick for good measure.
Shadow winced, but managed to force a smirk “I never break a promise…” he said.
“Would you slowpokes come on?” Lightning said exasperatedly “We’ll never know unless we hurry up and find Twilight. If they don’t have a search party out for us already…”
So they returned to the castle, lucky that they were on the right side of the moat or else it was probable they wouldn’t have made it at all. They saw no sign of the search party, or really any pony at all. The outlines of the whimsical decorations were just barely visible in the dim light as they walked past, not a single detail being divulged in the darkness.
They did end up getting lost in a variety of situations. Shadow, at least, was staggered by the sheer number of guest rooms. At Vinyl’s suggestion they had begun to throw open random doors in their effort to find the throne room, but all this had achieved was the discovery of many of the ponies staying the night for the next day’s excitement.
“I told you that was a bad idea,” said Shadow as Vinyl slammed yet another door and another utterly bewildered pony “I’m telling you, it’s a big red door with little golden orbs in it.”
“And I’m telling you I don’t know what that would look like,” said Vinyl, her exaggerated eye roll further emphasizing the absence of her shades “So I’m just going to try all of them.”
“The last door you tried was blue…” said Shadow “how could that possibly be the red door?”
“As if I listened to your description,” said Vinyl infuriatingly “anyway, you sent thunder ahead to go look for it; we’re pretty much just killing time right now aren’t we?”
“No…” said Shadow, getting very annoyed by now “Lightning is ahead of us because she walks faster, we are still trying to find the…”
“Found it!” came Lightning’s voice from far ahead in the hall “we must have walked past it in the dark like five times! Would you two quit flirting back there and hurry up?”
Vinyl blushed wildly at this, to which Shadow very nearly lost his cool. This was the second girl to display the obvious signs of a crush on him today. The cootie content must have been enormous! He took wing quick as a wink and flew ahead of Vinyl to catch up with Lightning.
“Gosh you left her in the dust,” said Lightning, looking past Shadow as he approached “what did she do, bite you?”
“Let’s not talk about it…” grumbled Shadow “Did you knock or anything?”
“Well I was kind of waiting for you two to catch up…” said Lightning, clearly hesitant to place her hoof on the gigantic door.
Vinyl finally managed to catch up to them, panting hard. “How…do you guys…run so…fast?” she said between shaky gasps.
“He doesn’t,” said Lightning, pointing to Shadow “The only way he’s ever able to keep up with me is by flying.”
“Which I am not half bad at,” Shadow punctuated his self-assuring sentence by spreading his wings to their fullest extent “I’ve been told I have the wings of a pony twice my size! I’m going to be able to fly faster than you could ever hope to run!”
Lightning stamped her hoof on the ground “We are not going to have this argument again…” she said, clearly annoyed “we’ve established this so many times already. You can fly; I can run and kick things. I’m just a little bit better than you at what I do.”
“Shouldn’t we maybe go in…?” asked Vinyl, hoping to quell the argument. Quite the contrary however, Lightning turned on her next.
“And you have your magic right?” she said “Everyone is equal! No need to talk bad about any pony for any reason!”
Vinyl really didn’t feel the need to mention her magical ineptitude since her reverse aging, and fortunately the need didn’t arise. At that moment the giant red door was flung wide and Twilight walked out. “My goodness!” she said “what are you three making such a ruckus for…? Shadow? Lightning? Discord just went looking for you…”
“These two idiots were passed out in the courtyard,” said Vinyl, clearly demonstrating a disregard for authority “I’m not surprised you sent some pony after them. Now can we please deal with the problem at hoof?”
“Yes, yes,” said Twilight “Come on in, who’s your new friend Shadow?”
“Oh, funny story,” said Shadow, rubbing the back of his neck “we got into kind of a mishap in the garden…this is actually Vinyl Scratch…”
Twilight tilted her head as they entered the room, wondering if she should know this name or not when she gasped “You two are back to normal!” she exclaimed “how did you reverse the spell?” The fact of course, hadn’t immediately registered because of how little time she had seen them as adults, and probably how little she had talked to them at all.
“Hold up…” said Vinyl slowly “Back to normal? What is that supposed to mean?”
“Oh yeah…” said Lightning “Vinyl doesn’t know does she…?”
“What don’t I know?” Vinyl asked indignantly “You dragged me into this mess, you have to tell me everything!”
“We’re actually supposed to be this age,” said Shadow bluntly “it’s not the first age spell we’ve gotten into…today…”
Vinyl looked like she was on the verge of fainting. “No way…” she said slowly “and I was planning on sleeping with him… maybe both of you…”
Twilight began to splutter, while a totally oblivious Lightning merely gave her a curious look “Well Shadow’s got a really big bed in his room I’m guessing, you still could if you really wanted to…”
Shadow, noticing Twilight’s violent reaction, queried further “Is there something wrong with that or something?”
“Well it’s not just…” Vinyl began, but paused “There’s… something else… I think…?”
Lightning and Shadow both gave her a look that plainly read “What are you? Crazy?” while Vinyl shook her head, trying hard to remember.
“She’s not supposed to be your age is she?” asked Twilight, regaining her composure “Whatever you two did to reverse the spell, she got caught up in it too didn’t she?”
Shadow and Lightning looked at each other guiltily “You can change me back though right princess?” Vinyl asked desperately “Come on please? You’ll get tickets to all my concerts ever, free of charge!”
Twilight’s horn glowed dimly, seeming to in a way taste the air around her, probing the magical charge. “This is an interesting signature…” she said musingly “it’s similar to the first age spell, old arcane magic. But somehow it’s even more complex than the one from before…”
“You can still fix it can’t you?” asked Vinyl “Please tell me you can fix it!”
Twilight shook her head slowly “I’m sorry,” she said “I couldn’t even reverse the first spell. My specialty is modern magic, I’m not sure any mage still alive could reverse this spell…”
Vinyl looked crushed, beyond crushed even. Her face paled beyond its usual white and her legs gave way. “No…” she said slowly, tears finally releasing and dripping off her face “this can’t be happening!”
“No!” Shadow shouted, holding back the squeak in his voice “I promised Vinyl she would be able to play her music tomorrow and she will!”
“Shadow, I’m sorry,” said Twilight “but there’s really nothing I can do right now. Once the princesses have fully recovered they may be able to help, but until then…”
Shadow moved to try and comfort Vinyl, who had lost all control and now burst into tears. Twilight turned her attention to Lightning again, a curious glint in her eye “Could you tell me where you got that necklace?” she asked.
“Oh!” said Lightning, having almost forgotten about the little blue gem “I don’t really remember, I just kind of picked it up the other day. Why? Is it important?”
“I just noticed it’s charged with a huge amount of magical energy,” said Twilight, bending down for a closer look “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s like some sort of self replenishing manna battery…”
“Is it dangerous…?” asked Lightning, looking down at the gem hesitantly.
“I don’t believe so,” said Twilight, horn glowing lightly again “it seems to give a steady flow of magical power to the user. It may be slightly redundant given the fact that you’re an earth pony, but I don’t have any reason to believe it will hurt you.”
Shadow’s ears suddenly perked up. He stood up and looked quickly toward Lightning “Give me the necklace,” he said “Now!”
“Shadow,” said Lightning, “did you not just hear Twilight? This won’t hurt me!”
“Just give me the necklace!” Shadow exclaimed.
A little intimidated by the intensity of his demand, Lightning quickly brought the necklace up over her head. The moment it had cleared her mane her eyes flashed from blue to green. Shadow was a little surprised by this, but he was on a hot streak and was willing to ignore it. He snatched the necklace quickly from lightning and walked back over to Vinyl.
“Hey Vinyl,” he said “Can you lift your head up for me?”
She didn’t really comprehend what he was saying through her haze of tears, but she did raise her head up to look at him. Thinking she had heard him he quickly slipped the necklace over her head. He watched curiously as Vinyl’s eyes shifted from pink to blue.
“What did you…?” Vinyl started to ask.
“No questions!” said Shadow “Try to lift something with magic, no questions!” he repeated as it looked like Vinyl was ready to interject again.
Vinyl stood, a bit unsure as to why Shadow was so determined in this. She had, unfortunately, been too busy wallowing in self-pity to hear Twilight’s talk. She focused, the familiar magical sensation seeping into her horn and causing it to glow a pleasing blue. It was familiar, but she knew it was still futile; her magic was that of a young filly again. As she focuses randomly on a book laying open a few feet away she didn’t have any real hope of moving it.
Shadow almost laughed at Vinyl’s gasp. A book that had been left on the floor (probably by Twilight) was floating in the air, surrounded by an ice blue aura. Lightning too let out a little gasp, knowing that even older unicorns like Sweetie Belle were only just learning their magic. That gem was powerful, powerful enough to enhance a young unicorn’s magic by several years.
Vinyl let out an excited squee, proceeding to send a few more random objects floating around. She finally caught Shadow in a telekinetic grip and dragged him into a hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!” she squeaked, barely containing a bubbly giggle “I can spin my records again! You’re even better than the princess! Thank you so much!”
Twilight tried not to be overly offended by this, but still felt the need to intervene. “Alright, alright,” she said “I know everyone’s happy to have a happy ending but it’s too late to be playing dubstep. Come on Shadow, Luna had a room set up for you.”
“Oh yeah,” said Lightning, looking around the throne room “where did the princesses go? Did you manage to fix them?”
“What’s wrong with the princesses?” asked Vinyl, who was still holding onto a struggling Shadow with her magic.
“Nothing,” said Twilight, turning to the door “Come on then, I suppose these two will want to be in the same room?”
“Definitely!” Lightning exclaimed “Vinyl, can you please let go of Shadow? I think you’re strangling him.”
“Woops,” said Vinyl, having completely forgotten about her psychic hold “sorry about that, I didn’t mean to.” Shadow dropped with a thud to the floor a few inches beneath, breathing hard.
“Be more careful…” he muttered as they followed Twilight out the door.
Looking at the castle from the main gate an observer would be able to see two towers on either side. A clever observer could realize that these towers were built for the purpose of housing the princesses during their hours of sleep, assuming they had any. A view from the gardens, or maybe a glimpse from a pegasi’s vantage, would’ve revealed the two smaller towers on either side of the castle’s rear. These towers were designed more for architectural symmetry than any other purpose, and occasionally delegates from other countries would have the privilege of staying in that tower.
Of course it had been centuries ago that the castle was built and in the most recent decades one of these towers had been home to a young alicorn princess the princess of the crystal empire as a matter of fact. As it was, since whisper of the new prince had spread throughout the caste, none of the servants assigned to make the adjacent tower hospitable were surprised in the slightest. Quite the contrary, it had become something of a contest among the servants to see which accommodations the young prince would favor.
The young prince, as a matter of fact, found this a challenge himself. Shadow was met with a sort of sensory overload as Twilight opened the door to his new room. It was larger than his whole house, but at this that didn’t even faze him. What did shock him was the useless number of things neatly organized within.
There were, as a matter of fact, five beds, a huge plush bed with an overhead canopy with two sets of bunk beds, one on either side. All the blankets were done in the same royal blue that Shadow had started to associate with Luna, as well as the pillows and the half a dozen bean bags scattered around the foot of the bed. One corner of the room was piled high with stuffed animals of very size and species from alligators to timber wolves. The entire pile, however, was dwarfed in comparison by a massive teddy ursa leaning against the wall, at least six feet tall.
A plasma television was hooked up to another wall with a variety of video game systems attached to it, some of which Shadow didn’t even know the name of. There was both a popcorn machine and a soda fountain plugged in nearby and fifteen or so theatre seats were lined up in front of the television. Turning a full circle upon entry revealed the last wall to not be a wall at all, but a solid bookshelf with every shelf completely filled. Even the doorway was a swinging bookshelf.
“Well?” asked Twilight, leading the three inside “What do you all think?”
She was greeted with little more than a stunned silence. Shadow, Lightning, and Vinyl were turning around and around, trying just to see everything the room had to offer, not even bothering to try and comprehend it just yet.
“That’s a coltari 2100…” Shadow nearly drooled “that system isn’t supposed to be out for another two years…”
“Look at those speakers…” Vinyl said dreamily “I bet the bass on that is huge!”
“Teddy ursa!” Lightning squeed.
“The television plays video games, movies, and music CDs,” Twilight began to explain “3D glasses and controllers are in the tray underneath it. Popcorn, butter, and salt are all stored inside the machine. The books are most of the library’s children’s section as well as a few reference books all recopied. The room still has a little space if there’s anything else you want moved in here and you have a lever next to the bed that calls servants in. To open the door you pull on the book titled Fallout Equestria. You got all that?”
Shadow nodded vaguely, more worried about what he was going to do first than any of Twilight’s silly rules.
“I bet I can beat you at Fighting is Magic!” Vinyl shattered the silence and made a dash for the television.
“Oh filly please,” said Lightning, darting over to join her “I haven’t seen a pony who can take my thirty-two combo flank kicker!”
Not even entirely sure what the game Fighting is Magic was, Shadow decided to start with a snack and watch the girls duke it out on the game. He was very pleased to find Faygo on the soda fountain among the countless other choices, and quickly started mixing flavors.
“You’re seriously playing as Appleslice?” Vinyl asked as they entered the character selection menu “You do know the earth ponies are way underpowered right?”
“You’re obviously not playing it right,” said Lightning, rolling her eyes “Appleslice is a character who takes skill and timing to use correctly. Who did you pick?”
“Nightcanter,” said Vinyl with a smirk “that’s a character that pretty much fights for herself.”
“Figured you would need a handicap,” said Lightning, returning the self satisfied smirk.
As Vinyl and Lightning set about their attempts to defeat each other in a violent virtual struggle, Shadow started trying to get the popcorn machine to work. The instructions on the storage door were not much help, just a bunch of vague red images and multi-lingual instructions. Shadow rolled his eyes, wondering why you always needed to know so many languages just to read the instructions.
“Hey! That’s not fair!” Vinyl shouted “How did you get that golden lasso thingy?”
“Secret combo move,” Lightning said smugly “All the earth ponies have them. I guess you should’ve thought twice before picking the tank character.”
“Oh you are going down sister!” Vinyl grumbled, mashing the buttons harder. It was clear that while Lightning had greater knowledge of the game Vinyl’s magical manipulation of the controller was going to give her an equal advantage.
The popcorn machine was beginning to make strange noises as Shadow watched it eagerly. Not knowing any better he had dumped an entire bag of kernels as well as a solid stick of butter into it. He was in the process of popping the top off the salt shaker and pouring the entire contents into the mix as Vinyl and Lightning were finishing up.
“Come on Nightcanter…” Vinyl groaned “This earth pony has nothing on you!”
“Not a chance!” Lightning shouted, trying to break Vinyl’s concentration.
The game gave the call for a combo breaker as Vinyl’s character deftly rolled out of the way of Lightning’s repeated assault. Shadow watched eagerly as both character’s health bars dwindled down to almost nothing. Vinyl shot forward, horn aglow while Lightning prepared to meet the blow with a reverse kick. All three watched expectantly, desperate to know who would win this contest.
A high pitched whistle suddenly came from behind Shadow as the popcorn machine erupted, tipping over and spilling its contents all over the floor. Shadow panicked and jumped out of the way, tripping over the game’s power cord just as the sound of the blows connecting came from the speakers. The screen went black as Shadow fell, covered in a pile of popcorn.
“No!” both Lightning and Vinyl called simultaneously, dropping the controllers into the popcorn, seemingly too preoccupied in the lost game to notice the minor catastrophe.
“That was the sound of a kick!” Lightning exclaimed, glaring at Vinyl “Meaning I hit first, and I won!”
“Are you kidding?” said Vinyl, rising to the challenge “That was obviously the horn drill that hit first! Don’t even try to deny it!”
“Well if you want proof I’ll gladly demonstrate the sound of an actual flank kicking…” said Lightning, beating on the theatre seat with a hoof threateningly.
“Is that a challenge?” asked Vinyl, horn starting to spark in anger.
The sound of crunching suddenly interrupted their argument, and they turned to see Shadow sitting up in a huge pile of popcorn, eating calmly. “Well don’t stop on my account,” he said, mouth still full “I was looking forward to this.”
Lightning stuck her hoof in the pile, pulling it out again, yellow, sticky, and covered in bits of popcorn. “Did you add enough butter?” she asked sarcastically.
“Wow!” said Vinyl excitedly “It’s just like my fifth birthday party! My parents filled the whole pool with popcorn!” She proceeded to slide off the chair and begin stuffing her face.
Lightning stared at the two other kids like they were crazy. She gingerly stepped off her seat, walking carefully around the scattered snacks and moving toward the bookshelves. She was a little curious as to just how this door worked, but had forgotten which book exactly was supposed to be pulled on. She turned back toward Vinyl and Shadow, deciding after some contemplation that she didn’t want to go near that much butter. Instead, she pulled out a random book and started to read.
“It’s good to hear that the night guard, at least, has been taken care of.” said Twilight, addressing Nightwing by the castle gates “No suspicious activity I assume?”
“None your highness,” said Nightwing respectfully “Discord passed this way while searching for the prince but returned soon after, otherwise nothing noteworthy has occurred.”
Twilight sighed in relief; it looked like tomorrow would go smoothly after all. “Thank you,” she said to the bat-winged pony “Keep up the good work.”
Nightwing saluted as Twilight walked back into the castle. She had one more destination before she turned in for the night. She had yet to master the princesses’ spell that voided the need for sleep, which she found very limiting. As she made her way toward the small wooden door by the main staircase she couldn’t help but utter a long yawn.
The small hidden door under the staircase led down a long spiral staircase into the underground parts of the castle. Long ago this path had been passage out of the castle and into the smaller houses in case of a siege, but many of these pathways had long since been blocked by construction and modernization.
What Twilight was really interested in was what was at the very bottom of the staircase. There were no lights or torches down here, so she lit her horn to see the path ahead. There was a wide room at the bottom, littered with scrolls and ancient tomes. The Canterlot archives housed information enough to fill dozens of libraries. Despite the fact that she had been down here so many times the purple alicorn still felt a shudder every time she entered the place.
A second, pale orange glow was barely visible around the monolithic shelves. Twilight approached to find a spectacled unicorn mare, college age by the looks of her, with a frizzy brown mane and tail. Her horn was glowing to give her a view of a long scroll written in one of the languages of the zebra plains.
“Excuse me, Letterheart?” Twilight said, glad the mare hadn’t been startled by her entry “I need something looked up.”
“It’s been awhile,” said Letterheart pleasantly, “almost a whole week, never knew you would be able to resist a visit that long. What are you looking for this time?”
“I’ve been busy,” Twilight explained “I still am as a matter of fact. I’m looking for the family records for Vinyl Scratch, as well as the current occupation and next of kin.”
“You sound so morbid,” said Letterheart, levitating a slightly newer looking, but unnaturally large, book over to her “That’s the Canterlot census of this year. Vinyl should be in there, she moved here from Manehatten a couple of years ago. Any relevant information should be in there.”
Twilight cast her own magic around the gargantuan book and opened it carefully. The book clearly wasn’t made to be read by earth ponies or pegasi, which she supposed made sense, since it was a census of Canterlot. She blinked through a majority of the book, slowing as she reached the Qs and halting entirely at S, flipping through the pages one at a time.
“There are a ridiculous amount of ponies with an S in their last name…” Twilight muttered, but in reality she had found Scratch rather quickly “Honestly, fifteen pages of just SA and SB…”
“There are quite a few ponies in Canterlot,” said Letterheart “Don’t blame the messenger.”
Vinyl Scratch, listed as the daughter of Daisy Hearts and Crimson Melody, who apparently still lived in Manehatten. Twilight cursed under her breath as she saw they both lived in a home for elderly ponies. There was no way they would be able to care for the filly-again Vinyl. There were no other relatives listed and she would surely have forgotten any trustworthy friends as her mind reverted back to her younger age. Not that a DJ would have trustworthy friends anyway…
“Find what you were looking for?” Letterheart asked.
“Unfortunately yes…” said Twilight with a sigh as she shut the book again “We had an age spell go wrong and Vinyl Scratch has been, so far as I can tell, permanently transformed into a filly.”
“So that’s why you’re looking for her parents,” Letterheart said, clearly having pieced this all together a little while ago “and judging by the disappointment in your tone, you either didn’t find it, or it wasn’t an adequate solution. The time you spent reading it tells me it was the second one.”
Twilight smiled, marveling again at how observant her friend was “Think you would know a solution that would work?” she asked.
“Let her stay with the prince,” said Letterheart, not even looking up from the scroll “It’s not as if the princess can’t afford it.”
“I didn’t mention Shadow to you…” said Twilight, curious now “have you been out of here today?”
“No,” said Letterheart, “But it would take a child’s mind to activate either the ageless chamber or the lake of dreams, the only sources of magic you couldn’t easily overcome that are remotely available. The child in question would’ve also had to have been of exceptionally high status, and the ruckus going on overhead pointed back to the lost Prince Shadow. If she was mixed up in the age spell Vinyl must have been closely associated with him, and as such, most probably still is. You let her stay with Shadow for the foreseeable future and there shouldn’t be any lasting consequences.” Letterheart finished with a broad grin; she never got tired of explaining her brilliance.
Twilight could only shake her head in astonishment, “You never cease to amaze me,” she said “And you might be right… The presence of another foal in the castle certainly can’t hurt anything. Maybe it would be the best thing we can do for her.”
“Yeah…” said Letterheart vaguely, her attention having shifted back to the long roll of parchment totally now
“I’ll suggest the idea to the princesses then I think I’ll turn in for the night,” said Twilight, yawning and turning back to the staircase “Thanks for your help Letterheart. Are you coming to the party tomorrow?”
“I don’t think so…” Letterheart said vacantly, hoping to sound like her attention had turned away.
“Alright, but if you change your mind we would love to have you!” Twilight called as she began to trot back up to the surface.
Letterheart heaved a sigh, turning back so she could view the Pi symbol emblazoned on her flank. She had received the mark when she had discovered the impossible end of that number, after calculating ten to the fifteenth to the fifteen to the twentieth to the sixteenth point seventh integers. Her IQ was higher than that of both princesses combined; every problem put in front of her was a matter of ease, every language, childsplay. The world opened up before the power of her mind.
This was the hell she called life. She had grown up knowing everything, and everything that would happen. Life was totally without variables to her. It was always a prideful moment to bend her mind flexibly around every event that transpired within the range of her sense, but sometimes…no…all the time, it was too much.
The curse of her knowledge, she had long ago calculated, was her premonition. She could know well in advance what was going to happen given only a few details. Even adding all of her own possible actions, she would always know the outcome. It was the most horrifying thing in the world, knowing everything that ever could, that ever would happen, and not being able to change anything.
Her real name wasn’t Letterheart; her name was two simple letters. Pi.
She had crafted the alias Letterheart when she came to Canterlot. In her five minute meeting with Celestia she had been able to determine the events that would transpire everywhere in the world until Twilight became an alicorn. Merely being in the presence of Celestia opened her mind to godlike powers, but she weathered the psychic nightmare for she knew there was a solution. As a matter of fact, she knew weeks beforehoof that she would find this solution.
The mare by the name of Letterheart had been given the job of record keeping in the archives, and she had never been happier. So far underground her mind was safely isolated from her gigantic logical premonitions. The news she received, the equivalent of the entirety of Canterlot’s gossip, was during the times twice daily when a servant would enter, give her a meal, and change the used chamber pot with a new one. What was more, she was kept busy. The memorization of these billions of records was finally a task to keep her incredible mind busy.
It wasn’t so much that she didn’t want to meet the ponies at the party and get to know them, she had even debated the possibility of letting her mind absorb the entirety of all the ponies around the world, it would take weeks to get over, but would it not be worth it? No, Twilight’s visit had confirmed that. Aside from the return of the young prince of Canterlot, she had read dozens of other events from her body language. It was a shocking thought that the princesses were out of commission, more so exactly how Twilight had decided to go about fixing the problem.
But what was most shocking was the prediction she had been able to make about exactly what would transpire at the event. The horror of that would be more than even she could readily overcome. And worse, she didn’t have the details to know everything this terror would involve, and a certain irreversible magic, one she never wanted to know, was a heavy probability…
Letterheart rolled up the scroll again, figuring that it was time she got some sleep. Her dreams would surely be riddled with the wild half conjured illusions of things that were or things that would be, and perhaps, if she was lucky, she would dream of ignorance. That single, untouchable, bliss…
Shadow wasn’t aware that he had fallen asleep on the floor until Lightning started to nudge him awake. He opened his eyes blearily, noticing first the queasy feeling in his stomach, and second, the total absence of popcorn that had, last time he checked, been all around him.
“Shadow,’” he heard Lightning’s voice “get up already! This is important!”
He rolled over onto his stomach, wincing as he held back vomit rising in his throat. He opened his eyes again to see the dual green orbs that were Lightning’s own eyes staring back at him.
“I can’t believe you two actually ate it all…” he heard her mutter in the darkness “Come on, get up! You have to see what I just found!”
The clock on the idle television screen read that it was past midnight. Shadow groaned as he stood up, wondering what good reason Lightning had for being up this late. He cast his gaze over to where he heard her hoofsteps, seeing the glow of a small electric lantern that he probably hadn’t seen in his first analysis of the room. She had apparently built a fort entirely out of books while he had been asleep and was now crawling her way back into it.
“Well come on!” she spoke in a very loud whisper “Get in here!”
Shadow hauled himself to his hooves and struggled over to the book-fort. Lightning had a heavy looking book open in front of the lantern and was reading an article under a black and white picture of a large group of ponies and buffalo standing on a sandy plain.
“What’s that?” Shadow asked, still tasting butter on his lips. He tried to lick it off as he sat down next to Lightning.
“This is a book about the founding of Canterlot,” said Lightning “Apparently the pony settlers made a treaty with the buffalo that allowed them unicorn protection in case of an attack on the tribe. In return they were allowed to build the city on the mountain.”
“Wow…” said Shadow, reading through the article carefully “so if the buffalo came under an attack it’s our job to stop the attackers?”
“I don’t think we have to worry about that,” said Lightning with a shrug “No one is going to be stupid enough to disagree with buffalo after all. But that’s not what got me interested, take a look at this.” She pointed to the side of the photo “Does that look familiar to you?”
There were an awful lot of ponies and buffalo in the photograph, so it took Shadow a minute to figure out exactly what Lightning was pointing out. A few young people were a ways off to the side in what looked like an old fashioned photo-bomb. What irked Shadow slightly was that one of them was a Pegasus and the other an earth pony. All the other ponies he could find in the photo were unicorns.
“There are four of them you see?” said Lightning “A pegasus, an earth pony, a unicorn, and a buffalo.”
“Yeah,” said Shadow “So what? I would’ve done the same thing if I was there.”
“That’s kind of what I’m saying,” said Lightning “How many Pegasus colts are there with a wingspan that big? And look at the mane on the unicorn filly, looks pretty unique to me.”
“You’re right…” said Shadow slowly “And that’s the same ponytail that you have!”
“Yeah but Applejack has that ponytail too,” said Lightning with a shrug “It’s hard to tell without the color, but I think these might be our ancestors!”
“Huh…” said Shadow, stifling a yawn “I guess that’s really cool… I’m going to sleep now, I’m really tired…”
“Oh come on,” said Lightning “It’s only, what, eight? Let’s stay up for another hour at least, I want to finish book-fort one.”
“It’s past midnight…” said Shadow, not even trying to hold back his next yawn. “Come on, you can be crazy tomorrow, but I’m sleepy now.”
“Technically it would be later today.” Lightning pointed out.
“Just shut up and go to sleep…”
Shadow stood up again and trundled over to where the beds were set up. He was unsurprised to find Vinyl had taken the canopy bed, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t a bit chagrinned about it. He looked to the bunk beds, his disappointment evaporating as he wondered what it was like to sleep on the top bunk. He flapped his wings a few times, carrying him up to the top easily. Not even bothering to slide under the blanket, he turned a circle and slumped down.
There was a shaking that he was vaguely aware of, resulting from Lightning clambering into the lower bunk. “Goodnight Shadow!” her voice floated up from below.
“Night, Light…” said Shadow, too tired to laugh at his own pun.
He turned over once, staring out at the moonlight shining in from one of the arching windows. “Goodnight mom…” he said, smiling into his pillow as the soft tendrils of sleep carried him away to the land of dreams.


> Chapter 9 Showtime
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Book fort one, book fort one, come in book fort one. This is fluff tower two over!”
“Copy fluff tower two, armed and ready.”
“Book fort one, fire at will!”
Shadow could vaguely hear the sounds of Lightning and Vinyl strategizing some sort of war game, but was still blinking off the last dregs of sleep. He was noticing more and more that Lightning would wake up before him pretty much no matter what he did. The sudden disappearance of his pillow from beneath his head confirmed the magical mischief of the white unicorn. He groaned and sat up, not even bothering to try and earn a few more minutes of sleep as he looked exactly the wrong direction.
Wham! Some mass suddenly connected with the back of his head and sent him reeling forward, falling off the top bunk and onto the canopy bed with a poof. Just as he was going to spring up to repel the attack he was struck yet again, and this time with far more firepower. It was hardly a minute later he found himself covered in a fluffy mass of pillows.
“Nice shot commander Lightning!” Vinyl’s muffled voice penetrated the pillow pile “Target completely obliterated!”
Shadow pushed his way angrily out of the pillows, his bed head now porcupine-like from the early assault. All idea of sleep gone from his mind, and finally catching onto their silly game, Shadow grabbed two pillows and took to the air.
“This is air force one requesting permission to target book for tone!” he said, observing the completed book igloo Lightning has apparently finished, and was now looking up from the inside of.
“Air Force one, target confirmed,” Vinyl responded from the top bunk of the other bed “Prepare to drop!”
Lightning squeaked, taking one of the larger books and holding it over her head as a shield while Shadow threw the pillows down from above. A few books toppled out of the structure, but Lightning had built the fort surprisingly well, and it held strong. She stuck her tongue out at Shadow who simply glared down at her.
The section of the bookshelf that was the door swung back as Twilight walked into the room. She looked tired, but highly pleased with herself. “You all can stop trying to wake up the entire castle now,” she said, though not unkindly “The ceremony will begin at lunch, and I want Shadow, at least, to be ready for it.”
“Well I guess we’d better all be ready to go,” said Lightning, emerging from the book-fort “Because there is no way no how we’re letting him go alone.”
“Not that I want to,” said Shadow, landing next to her “But if you think you can steal my thunder, you’re dead wrong.”
“Well you know thunder always comes after the Lightning!” Light said with a huge and obvious smirk.
Twilight wasn’t paying much attention to their bickering. Her attention was focused on the book fort, which bothered her. Honestly, what a waste of good literature. They should be reading those books not building silly play structures with them…
“I need to get my turntables set up,” said Vinyl, jumping down onto the canopy bed and bouncing onto the floor “Unless you could maybe have someone do that for me? That would be fantastic.”
“I suppose we could arrange to have that done,” said Twilight “Now come along, we have to get you into uniform.”
“I thought we had like till lunch before all this started,” said Shadow “Why do I have to put on clothes before then?”
“So that you can look like a proud and respectable young stallion,” said Twilight, as if her words really meant anything “Now come along my little ponies. I have the perfect little dresses in mind for Lightning and Vinyl, and a little tux for Shadow.”
Vinyl nearly gagged as they followed Twilight out of the room and down the long stone staircase. As they trotted down Lightning and Vinyl shot each other a few signals. Twilight seemed oblivious to this, but Shadow noticed, he just didn’t understand. When he looked toward Lightning questioningly she shook her tail in a fashion that clearly meant something in a code he didn’t know. He sighed, resigning himself to simply follow them if they tried something.
And try something they did, as they reached the foot of the staircase Lightning and Vinyl shot off in opposite directions, dashing silently down two different corridors. Shocked at the amazing silence of their escape, so much so Twilight didn’t even notice it, he opted to make the same movement; following Vinyl who he felt he had a better chance of catching up with.
“What was all that?” asked Shadow as he caught up to Vinyl, who turned to him in surprise.
“You were supposed to stay behind and keep Twilight talking!” said Vinyl, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world “Now she’s going to notice we’re gone, great job…”
“How in the world was I supposed to know that?” asked Shadow indignantly “You two were doing all your tail shakes and head bobs that I couldn’t understand at all!”
“Well then next time we have a brilliant plan we’ll say it out loud,” said Vinyl, rolling her eyes “So that the colt can understand us too.”
“Or you could just teach me your cool code language…” said Shadow, clearly grumpy by now.
“We didn’t plan it all out,” said Vinyl, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world “It’s just signals that we both kind of understand, I thought you did too.”
“Well I don’t so…” Shadow began, but Vinyl quickly cut him off.
“Look,” she said, pointing to where the shadow of a pony was outlined on the wall, approaching from a turn in the hall “We need to hide, now!”
“There!” Shadow said quickly, pointing to a splintery wooden door immediately to their right. They opened the door and ran inside, shutting it behind them and plunging into total darkness.
“Where are we?” asked Vinyl “I can’t see anything.”
“I don’t know…” Shadow muttered “I ran at random, just like I thought you did.”
“That wasn’t random at all!” said Vinyl angrily “The plan is to meet up with Lightning again in the dining hall to get breakfast.”
Vinyl lit her horn and the room was suddenly illuminated in a dim blue. It was some sort of wooden platform littered with mechanics and pieces of litter. To one side was a huge velvet curtain, evidencing that they were on the floor of some sort of stage, though it didn’t look like it had been used in quite awhile. They walked about the place, Shadow keeping close to Vinyl for the light, observing the various broken sets and props.
“This is pretty cool,” said Shadow, picking up a small Styrofoam brick “I bet this went to a big castle or something, what do you think?”
“I don’t know…” said Vinyl vaguely.
“Oh my gosh is this real?” Shadow asked, gripping the handle of a broken sword in his teeth and swinging it around a bit. “This is awesome! We could just hang out here and explore!”
“Mhmm…” said Vinyl, not paying attention to what Shadow was saying, but her enchanted blue eyes were fixated on him.
Shadow looked over to her, head tilted slightly “Are you alright Vinyl?” he asked “You seem a little bit distracted.”
“Oh…” said Vinyl, trancelike state not breaking in the slightest “I was just thinking, you know. It’s just the two of us here…the dim light…alone…”
Shadow gave her a quizzical look “I’m not following…” he said “What are you talking about?”
“Oh you are so clueless…” said Vinyl, stepping closer “I think it’s cute…”
“Um…thank you…?” said Shadow, unsure of himself, as well as flustered as he felt her breath on his neck. She really was uncomfortably close…
“That’s when you’re supposed to say something sweet in return,” said Vinyl, batting her eyelashes as she followed Shadow’s awkward backward scuffle. It was obvious that despite his obvious discomfort Vinyl was just going to press closer.
“You have pretty…eyes…?” said Shadow, tripping a little and stopping so he could keep his balance.
“That’s it,” said Vinyl, swaying her hips in a practiced seductive manner she didn’t have any memory of practicing “I guess there might be some hope for you yet…”
Shadow felt his back hoof connect forcefully with a metal wheel as he made one last reverse movement. Vinyl finally leapt forward, closing the last few inches. She stared deep into his eyes for a fraction of a second, blue meeting red, infatuation meeting confusion, and then she pushed through the tangle of thoughts and emotions to finally connect.
Lightning had taken refuge from the crowd of ponies in the main hall by ducking down a side passage. She didn’t really know where she was, but she had stumbled into a large auditorium so she clearly couldn’t be lost. It was a very old looking theatre room, with rows of wooden seats, the discomfort of such slightly put off by the faded silk cushions. There were no balconies in this auditorium, probably because it was much older and smaller than the current concert hall.
It was actually somewhat eerie, walking about the moldy old seats. Lightning could smell what she thought was mothballs, but wasn’t entirely sure. What if that was what ghosts smelled like? Oh she hoped it wasn’t ghosts… did ghosts eat ponies? How did a pony go about not being eaten by a ghost?
There was a squeak as the curtain on stage started to rise. Lightning screamed, pressing herself against the back wall, wondering what sort of horror she would see on the other side. What she did see as the curtain rose shocked her even more than actual ghosts would have. Vinyl was up there, and Shadow, and they were…?
Shadow pushed Vinyl away the moment he noticed the curtain rising, it must have moved upward when he had kicked the metal wheel. He went so deeply red when he saw Lightning staring at them from the hall that it could be seen clearly even through his gray fur. This was easily the most embarrassing moment of his life.
“Woops…” said Vinyl, turning quickly and running off the stage. Shadow heard the door they had come through slam shut. He turned awkwardly to face Lightning, wondering just what she would say.
Lightning moved away from the wall and walked right up to the stage. She took a mighty leap up and landed on all four hooves on center stage. She walked over to Shadow, who braced for an attack, and ruffled his mane.
“Shadow’s got a girlfriend!” she said in a singsong voice “Shadow and Vinyl sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”
“Shut up…” Shadow muttered, not knowing what else to say.
“First comes love!” Lightning kept singing “Then comes marriage, then comes the…”
“I said shut up!” Shadow shouted, wings flaring outward angrily, his glaring red eyes making him look positively alarming.
“Okay jeez…” said Lightning intimidated into backing down “I would just poking fun of you, I didn’t mean it…”
Shadow sighed, his wings furling back to his side. “I’m sorry too…” he said “I just really… just… I don’t know… Vinyl just kind of forced it on me…”
“That’s the second time in two days Shadow,” said Lightning curiously “You aren’t…are you…?”
“No!” Shadow exclaimed immediately “Buck no! Pardon my language… It’s just ever since we got turned older like that I’ve had this kind of image in my head. I keep thinking of this girl, and she’s beautiful, but I can’t actually see her…” he pawed the ground a bit, kicking up dust “I dreamed about her… and I don’t even know who she is…”
“Iris…” Lightning remembered “Hey, I didn’t ask for an explanation, I just wanted to make sure you’re not spreading your cooties to any pony else!”
Shadow had turned back to the door Vinyl had run out of. “It’s silly…” he said, brain dancing in all different directions “Maybe I’m just thinking it’s only friendship and what I’m dreaming about is what I think I’m missing…” he glanced to Lightning again “How can you tell the difference between being friends and being in love…?”
Lightning blushed a little, realizing how much it meant that he was trusting her with that question. “Well…” she said slowly “My brother said it’s when you really want to be with someone all the time, and being with them makes you feel really happy!” she shrugged “Of course he broke up with the girl he was dating when I asked him about it, so he could just be crazy.”
Shadow licked his lips slowly, imagining he could still taste Vinyl on him. It hadn’t been bad, the kiss, actually he thought it was a great feeling. It just seemed somehow wrong… he didn’t know why, but it did. Of course maybe that was just because he didn’t know what he was doing.
Before he could voice another question; the door to the auditorium slammed open and in stomped Twilight. Her composure looked like it had finally reached breaking point, and she was seething.
“I have been looking all over the castle!” she exclaimed “You cannot just go running off like that!” she proceeded to lift them both up in a purple nimbus and carry them over to the door.
“You can’t do this to us!” said Lightning indignantly “We weren’t doing anything wrong, let us go!”
“I’m royalty too you know!” Shadow said angrily “You don’t have any right!”
“Well if you’re going to take that attitude with me,” said Twilight, trying to calm herself down again, “I’ll give you over to someone who can.” Lightning and Shadow dropped to the tile floor outside the room and found themselves under a familiar gaze.
Princess Luna was standing over them, not quite her previous height, but teenaged at the very least. She glared down at them with a clear and obvious anger.
“I shudder to think what you did to your house with a year alone,” said Luna, her voice as proud and commanding as it ever was “You cannot go even a day without supervision? You have somehow succeeded in activating two rare and ancient glyphs that are expressly forbidden to be tampered with, and that, just in a single day?”
“What…but…how?” Lightning stammered. Shadow looked down at his hooves in shame, at a total loss for words.
“You may go Twilight,” said Luna, her tone not slipping out of its stern tone “Lightning, Shadow, you will come with me to the dressing room as Twilight had planned, and no more goofing off.”
Twilight gave a nod and vanished in a flash of bright purple magic. Luna gave a stern glance and began walking down the hallway. Not daring to do anything else, Light and Shadow followed, moving at a quick trot to keep up with Luna’s walking pace.
“I thought you got turned into a filly,” said Lightning cautiously “How did you get back to normal?”
Luna let a smile play around her lips, the stern scolding she had delivered seeming to drop away slightly. “I do owe you an explanation I suppose,” she said pleasantly “Twilight finally got the grand idea to use a memory charm to restore our memory. After that Celestia called for manna batteries from the treasury so we would be able to return to our original ages. Unfortunately they could only bring us this far along, and manna batteries are incredibly rare.”
“I think I’ve heard of manna batteries somewhere…” said Shadow, thinking hard, but not remembering when he had heard the term before.
“I read a storybook once that had a manna battery in it!” said Lightning, proud to remember a seemingly vital detail “A unicorn prince had to battle an evil witch to get it and save his sweetheart from a terrible disease!”
Shadow rolled his eyes, finding this an exceedingly silly little story. “The tale of Glowing Heart and the witch of the ice kingdom,” Luna said in recognition “It was actually a story of King Sombra originally, in the days before his conversion to evil. I suppose the story has been somewhat skewed, but there was no manna battery involved…”
“What did happen then?” asked Lightning curiously, the story having been one of her favorites for when her brother would read to her before bed.
Luna sighed “The truth of the matter is far more tragic,” she said “Sombra was a unicorn of spectacular power in those days. He attempted to live in the crystal empire but was shunned by the magic fearing crystal ponies. About the same time, however, the young princess of the crystal empire was discovered to have been a unicorn in secret. When she met Sombra they fell deeply in love. When it came time for the princess to rule she changed many ponies opinions of unicorns and they finally accepted Sombra. Unfortunately a sickness came upon the princess and she died with none to succeed her. Sombra took the throne by force, and in his anger at losing his love he took his revenge upon the ponies of the Crystal Empire.”
“Oh…” said Lightning, looking down “So there wasn’t a happy ending after all.”
“The manna battery in the story now could be a reference to the crystal heart,” said Luna mildly “That is a special kind of manna battery after all.’
“Then why didn’t Sombra just use the crystal heart to save the princess?” asked Shadow.
“I’m afraid by that time Sombra’s own heart had turned cold from the hatred he had endured during his alienation. The crystal heart caused him more harm than good. He would never have been able to channel its power.”
“That’s so sad…” said Lightning “Did they really hate him that much just because he was a unicorn?”
“You have to understand this was a very long time ago,” said Luna “Not long after my sister and I conquered Discord. In the wake of his chaos those who had no control of magic of their own considered it a great source of fear.”
“I used to be scared of unicorns…” Shadow admitted sheepishly “I know they aren’t any different, but the fact they could use lasers or dark magic any time they wanted… it’s scary.”
“But what stops the pegasi from using the weather in the same way?” asked Luna “Are your thunderclouds any less intimidating than their magic? No, it’s not the fear of their ill-intent as much as it is fear of the unknown.” She gave a kind smile “Do not be so quick to judge harshly, most ponies will be more inclined to do good than harm.”
Lightning and Shadow looked to each other in a sort of stunned silence as they continued to walk down the hall. More of the meaning went over their heads than perhaps should have, but it wasn’t lost in its entirety. It wasn’t a great deal longer before they stopped at a medium sized door that was a very bright fuchsia.
They entered the room behind Luna and looked around, Shadow in dread, Lightning in obvious delight. It seemed like they had walked into a salon with huge hair driers and mane washing sinks, barber chairs, and half a dozen wardrobes. Questionably dressed ponies, mostly female, walked here and there doing things with curling irons and paste that Shadow could never even begin to comprehend.
Celestia was seated in one of the barber chairs, her hair being attended to by a yellow unicorn mare with what looked like a hundred floating tools. Shadow realized this was the first time he had seen her without her aurora colored magic. The way it hung now the natural pink color was visible in its entirety. She looked to be almost totally herself again, more so than Luna anyway.
“So they have come at last!” came a voice with a completely unrecognizable accent “Wundarbar! The Prince and his little friend, this way please!” A blue coated mare walked out, wearing an incredibly puffy pink dress and what looked like Vinyl’s shadows. Her mane was so transparently white it looked ghostly.
“Oh my gosh…” Lightning squeaked “It’s Photo Finish!” She’s the greatest fashion designer in Canterlot!”
Shadow stared at Photo Finish incredulously “I don’t suppose I should know who she is?” he asked.
Two very prissy looking ponies suddenly jumped to either side of Photo Finish, expressions of complete shock on their faces. “Photo Finish is the name!” they exclaimed together, striking poses obviously meant to bedazzle and awe “Making every pony pretty is her number one game, now get up on the stand so she can do her job!”
Shadow resisted the urge to bring a hoof to his face. If that was any more obviously rehearsed it would have to have been synchronized swimming. Fortunately before he could make any movement to signal his exasperation he was whisked over to a small podium where Photo Finish’s assistants began taking his measurements.
“These wings are going to make this so difficult…” one of them said “They’re problematically large; the holes in the outfit are going to look simply gaudy…”
“These tangles are absolutely hideous!” another assistant exclaimed, dragging a comb painfully through his mane “When was the last time you used conditioner, last year?”
Shadow didn’t bother asking what conditioner was, he guessed he wouldn’t get a straight answer anyway. There was the sound of pipes coming on underneath him and water started sprinkling out onto him from the podium. Before he could find it weird that the castle would have showers but not toilets he found his wings tugged outward magically and two pegasus ponies started washing his feathers.
“Oh would you sit still?” a voice came from Shadow’s right, and he turned to see Lightning trying to keep an eye on the pony who was chasing her hair this way and that. The tilt of her head kept the braid tantalizingly out of reach; it looked like they hadn’t even managed to start on her. He smirked, receiving a self satisfied look in return.
“You really must start preening at least once daily Prince Shadow,” said one of the pegasi on his wing “the state you’re in you might start getting lice or other parasites, if you don’t already have them…”
“This is utterly disgusting, look at this!” said the other pegasus, holding a beetle in her hoof “I found this under a feather! We’re going to need to get some insecticide and thoroughly wash him down, pelt, wings, mane, everything!”
Lightning wasn’t in much better of a situation. They had managed to get her mane out of its ponytail and were starting to wash it out with force. “you got soap in my eyes!” she shouted at them “You can’t do this! Cut it out!”
“We’re sorry ma’am,” said one of the assistants “but we really must fix some of these split ends, and we think you may have dandruff. In that case we’re going to have to get some potions.
Celestia, now finished with her treatment, had stood up and reactivated her mane’s enchantments. “This is going to be a long day for them isn’t it?” she asked Luna, who was watching the display with a look of amusement.
“I think I’d better stay here,” said Luna “You know how kids are with bath-time, and these two have had years to accumulate grime…”
“Shadow has bugs in his wings…” said Celestia, wrinkling her nose “Not eve worms and lice, but actual beetles? You were right, he wouldn’t have lasted another day on his own…”
“He’s having trouble adjusting to castle life though…” said Luna, her happy tone slipping slightly “He’s not just going to be contained here and get used to it, he’s going to make an adventure out of every single day no matter how hard it is to do so. He’s been raised in the wild, there’s no taking that out of him.”
“For now the castle is an adventure,” said Celestia “That should keep him for some time yet, but you will have to find another solution before long. What will you do if he abandons the castle?”
Luna’s smile returned “I like to think that I would stop him,” she said “but I don’t think I will.”
After an hour of preening, poking, washing, brushing, combing, and tampering, they finally decided Shadow’s mane was just going to stay a mess. He had heard they were going to call in a potions master for his lice problems but they hadn’t shown up yet. He and Lightning had been instructed to remain on their podiums and wait patiently for them to arrive. Photo Finish and her aides had retreated to another room to work on their clothes. The shower on the floor had been left running to “soothe the maladies a bit” some malady if he didn’t even notice it…
The big pink door opened again, and Shadow perked up from where he had been laying in the water. His first impression of the potion master was that she looked kind of tacky. Her mane was up in a Mohawk of sorts and she was adorned with both golden ear-bands and bracelets. What was perhaps most interesting, however, was that her coat was not a solid color, but striped in black and white.
“Good morning my little pony friends,” she said as she entered “I hear you have problems; I am here to mend.”
“Zecora!” Lightning said excitedly “You’re the potions master? That’s fantastic!”
“Indeed little filly of brightest blue,” said Zecora with a smile, “It’s good indeed to see you too.” She entered the room and Shadow noticed a younger looking zebra following close behind her. Unfortunately they seemed to be hiding in Zecora’s tail and he didn’t get a good look.
Zecora took a silent look over his wings, visibly wincing as she looked closer. “Could you get me my lice potion dear? This condition it seems is far worse than I had feared.”
The figure under Zecora’s tail emerged, revealing a zebra filly who looked to be about Shadow’s age. Her mane looked more normal than Zecora’s but there was something visibly wrong with her eyes. They were a deep violet, but they were misty, like she had a fog behind them. She seemed to stare at the small saddlebag she had for a long time before pulling out a small red vial.
“Thank you,” said Zecora, taking it and pouring it out onto a rag “Hold still please, this should help with those ticks and fleas.”
Shadow winced as the rag made contact with his feathers. The potion seemed to burn at him and the smell that floated off of it was completely revolting. What startled him more was what looked like flecks of black sand beginning to fall out of his wing as the potion started to take effect. That was what was in his wings? Gross!
As Zecora moved to treat his other wing Shadow noticed the zebra filly’s purple misty eyes trained on him. She seemed to be focusing hard on him, or something behind him. He found the situation growing awkward as she continued to stare at him without so much as blinking.
“Now let’s have a look at you Lightning,” said Zecora, moving away from Shadow “Let’s figure out where to treat your sting.”
Shadow couldn’t help ruffling his wings and letting out a sigh. He didn’t even notice how much he had itched until the unpleasant sensation had passed. He did feel the need to preen a little, but the stink of the potion made him hesitant to put his muzzle within any sort of proximity to his wing for the time being. The filly was still staring at him, and it was starting to make him feel uncomfortable.
“Why are you staring at me?” he finally asked, after making sure Zecora wasn’t listening.
“I’m not…” said the filly in a soft voice.
“Yeah you are,” said Shadow “You’ve been looking at me for almost ten minutes here.”
“I’m not looking at you…” said the filly, blushing slightly.
Shadow rolled his eyes, if he was reading these signals right again then this was kind of a problem. “I can see…” he said, a little ticked off at this point.
“Oh…” said the filly “That’s lucky…I can’t…”
“What do you mean you can’t?” asked Shadow, his steady dread changing rapidly into curiosity.
“I can’t see…” she responded, waving a hoof vaguely in front of her eyes “I’m blind… I always have been… I was listening to you, and trying to smell, but my mother’s potion smells kind of bad…so I’m having trouble…”
“Oh…” said Shadow, the thought of being blind almost totally alien to him “I’m a gray pegasus if that helps.”
“Yes, a little…” she said, a small smile gracing her features “I could hear your wings but I didn’t know what they were… I don’t know what gray is though.”
Shadow looked over to where Zecora was chatting with Lightning about something or other, then to the filly again “Well what do you see?” he asked curiously “When you open your eyes, what’s it like?”
“Nothing…” she said “I can’t tell if my eyes are open or closed…”
Shadow nodded slowly, and then shut his own eyes, trying to get an idea of just what he was seeing. “Well…” he said “gray is like the nothing, but there’s less of it. It’s like if you had something and nothing together. That’s what gray is like!”
The filly’s misty eyes widened curiously “I think I can sort of imagine it…” she said “my mother could never describe colors like that…thank you…” Her ear twitched, listening for Zecora’s location “Can I touch you?”
“Um… I guess…” said Shadow with a shrug. The filly walked steadily and slowly over to the podium he was standing on. Her front knees touched it and she felt her way carefully to the top until she could judge the height. She gave a little jump and landed next to him, pushing against him slightly.
“You’re very soft…” she said” and wet… but you did just shower…” she put her muzzle up against his neck and sniffed “You smell like the sky… That’s very cool…” she smiled at him, her head rising up to eye level.
“Come along little daughter of mine,” said Zecora, evidently done with Lightning “It’s almost time for lunch, we have little time.”
“Okay…” said the filly, not turning away “Goodbye Shadow… It was nice meeting you…”
“You too…um…” Shadow suddenly realized he hadn’t ever found out what her name was “wait, before you go could you tell…”
“We mustn’t dawdle!” said Zecora “Lest we get caught amongst the rabble!”
“Sorry…” said the filly, jumping off the podium and walking steadily over to Zecora. She bit down on her tail; Shadow realized this must be how they stayed together when walking around the castle. They left the room, the filly’s ears flickering toward him as they exited, which Shadow took as the equivalent of one last backward glance.
“Well that was nice,” said Lightning, shaking a bit of water off her coat as she stepped off the podium “It feels nice to be so clean, I don’t think I’ve ever had a bath like that before.”
Shadow didn’t move, he just stared blankly at the still open door. “Hey, are you sleeping on your hooves?” Lightning asked “Snap out of it silly!”
“Um…oh!” said Shadow, shaking off his little daze “Sorry, what were you saying?”
“I was just talking about the bath…” said Lightning “are you alright? You look like you just dropped your ice cream on the sidewalk.”
“I’m fine,” said Shadow, hopping off the podium himself “Come on, I’m guessing Photo Finish is done with our clothes.”
Lightning reluctantly let the issue drop and followed Shadow to the wardrobes, a little curious herself of the outfits that Canterlot’s greatest fashionista would have thought up for them.
Vinyl had taken her place on one of the high balconies, staring around at the crowded dining hall. Someone had already brought her turntables up and she was ready for the show. Shadow would be walking through the main doors any minute and that’s when she would start the music. It was all planned out in her head, and it was going to be beautiful.
Being too short to reach up and spin the discs, she had clambered up onto the mixing board itself to prepare for what she felt was going to be her best show ever. DJ Fill-3, now that was a grand and adorable new title…
She gazed out over the gathered crowd seated along the long tables and eating the buffet of winter flowers that was set out before them. The atmosphere was charged, only a day’s notice and the hall had been laced with star patterns, lunar models, and brilliant blue tablecloths. The dishes and silverware were done in the lunar silver rather than the traditional solar gold. With so much done so quickly It was only natural they would be intensely, even painfully curious as to why.
Of course that wasn’t to say a good few of them didn’t already know what was happening, Shadow had done a very poor job of keeping himself secret. Vinyl was pretty sure she was the only one who had been told directly who he was, but the presence of a fluffy gray colt in the castle during such a busy time wasn’t a huge leap of logic. On the other hoof though, this was kind of a big thing, and quite a few ponies would consider the idea of a new prince, particularly so soon after Twilight’s coronation would seem farfetched.
Twilight and Celestia were already standing at the head of the room in their ceremonial purple and white, though Luna was nowhere to be seen. She supposed Luna would be coming out with Shadow to introduce him, but another princess, who had been present at Twilight’s coronation, Cadence was also conspicuously absent. While she was not particularly important, this was still pretty odd. Shadow was Cadence’s cousin after all, why would she not be there to see him introduced?
Celestia suddenly looked up to her balcony and gave an imperceptible nod; that was the signal.  Vinyl smirked, waving to show she had understood and quickly levitated a few discs out of their protective sleeves. She threw them onto the turntables, twirling them a bit to get the feeling for them, then slammed a hoof down on the start button.
Nothing happened. Vinyl looked frantically around to see what could’ve gone wrong when she noticed the power cord had gone limp. She groaned, jumping off the tables to go plug it back in when she saw a brown unicorn standing by the outlet, holding the cord in a nimbus of yellow magic.
“Um, excuse me,” said Vinyl snappishly “I kind of need that, now, so drop it.”
“Oh I’m sorry,” said the unicorn, with a smug grin “I was under the impression that Vinyl Scratch was going to be playing up here.”
“She is, that’s me,” said Vinyl, suddenly remembering who this pony was ‘You’re Discord! What do you want?”
“Easy, easy,” said Discord with a shrug “I’m actually trying to stop some chaos this time. I like a good soundtrack as much as the next guy but honestly Shadow was right to ask me to stop Vinyl Scratch.”
“Shadow was excited to have me playing here today,” said Vinyl, getting really angry now “Why don’t you go serve dancing drinks or something?”
Discord burst out into hysterical laughter “Oh you really don’t know do you?” he said through his conniptions “Shadow positively hates your music! He’s of the belief that dubstep is the worst music ever!” he walked right up to Vinyl and leaned over so he could look her in the eye “You really couldn’t tell? He turned you into a filly so you couldn’t play your music anymore, it’s that bad!”
Vinyl looked back at the double not on her flank, almost as if to make sure it was still there. “No way,” she said, turning back to Discord “Shadow is my friend; he would never do something like that!”
“Oh but he isn’t your friend,” said Discord wickedly, the cord still in his hand transforming into a length of rope “Don’t you remember Vinyl?”
A cloud of pink smoke suddenly appeared in front of Vinyl’s eyes, she gasped as she recognized the image of her teenaged self within the smoke. “I’m going to be a disc jockey!” her ghostly image shouted “I’m going to make the best music any pony’s ever heard, you’ll see! And I don’t need friends like you holding me back; I don’t need stupid friends at all!”
Vinyl shrank backwards as the image vanished again. Her memory was fading backward, but the memory of that day, the day she had exploded at the only friend she had ever had? That was never going to fade away…
“Remember that do we?” said Discord, still chuckling “Let’s try to keep that promise you made, what’s the first rule of being a great DJ?”
“You don’t need friends…” said Vinyl dejectedly “But…!”
“But nothing,” Discord interrupted “Not only have you attempted to make friends, these ‘friends’ have totally abandoned you because your music is so bad!”
“No…” said Vinyl, not even believing her own desperate words now “Shadow and Lightning…they couldn’t…they wouldn’t!”
“But they did,” said Discord, his eyes becoming wild multicolored swirls “And it’s all your fault!” he put a hoof to Vinyl’s nose, laughing maniacally as her white fur darkened slowly to a somber shade of gray.
Luna walked carefully and gracefully out to the front of the hall, smiling out at the huge crowd of gathered ponies. The last time she had reason to celebrate like this was over a thousand years ago. The feelings of excitement flowed over her like a crashing wave. She didn’t even feel the blue silk around her shoulders that had so chafed on her barely moments before.
“Fillies and gentlecolts!” she said, calling for quiet in the hall “We apologize for the tantalizing wait yesterday during which we set the stage for this fantastic ceremony. I would like to give a moment to applaud the wonderful ponies who worked so hard piecing everything together.”
The audience whooped and cheered. Luna felt proud of the little quip which had simultaneously increased appreciation and tension for the eventual announcement. “We are aware,” she continued, silencing the crowd again “That we have kept you nervous and expectant for an unprecedented amount of time. So without further ado…”
There was a bright flash of blue as Luna released her invisibility charm on the gray pony in front of her. Shadow was suddenly visible for all to see. He was in a black suit, not just dark black, but a deep midnight that reflected the lights of the room in seemingly unnatural directions. The huge holes in the suit were hidden perfectly by a wide black cape that covered his back and fell down past his back legs. He looked up to the crowd, crimson eyes flashing as his deep green mane glinted, slicked back over his head.
“May I present to you for the very first time, Prince Shadow Chaser!”

> Chapter 10 Part I: Draconequis
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Shadow’s wings shuffled a little under his cape as he smiled confidently out over the crowd. The feeling was exhilarating, they were cheering for him! Maybe it wasn’t the best thing ever, he hadn’t done anything spectacular to earn their praise or applause, but it certainly wasn’t bad.
Lightning was right there in the front row, tugging a bit at the collar of her dress. She had gotten off pretty easy as far as that went though, no frills or lace. As a matter of fact the jagged diamond pattern across her back suited her quite well. Her hair hadn’t just been put back into a ponytail, but styled so it fell back and forth down her neck like a thunderbolt.
Despite the rowdy cheers and exuberant shouting from the crowd, Shadow felt that something was wrong. He looked up to Vinyl’s balcony, wondering why the music hadn’t started. It was unlike her to start the music late, especially when he was expecting her to start in the middle of Luna’s introduction for the added attention. Lightning was staring up at the balcony too, meaning she was having some doubts as well.
Shadow shuffled his hooves nervously, one of his front hooves finding a groove in the podium and tracing over it. His stage fright had shifted to a different kind of nervousness, one he was less sure of his ability to overcome. It wasn’t just the absence of Vinyl’s music, although that was the most obvious characteristic. Something seemed genuinely wrong with the entire atmosphere. He looked down at the groove he was tracing on the floor, hoping he didn’t look improffesional, and found that there was some sort of symbol there, not worn away, but intentionally etched into the smooth surface.
A dull glow emanated from the marking and Shadow leapt out of the way just in time, tripping off the edge of the stage and tumbling into the crowd. There was a burst of flame from the stage, circling around the three princesses in less than an instant. Before anyone could do more than gasp a pink translucent sphere appeared, encapsulating all three princesses.
“What’s going on?” Lightning squeaked, backing away so Shadow didn’t fall on her. The crowd was beginning to panic, screams erupting and chairs being pushed back. A few guards tried to push through against the gaggle, trying to reach the princesses.
“Look!” Shadow said, pointing out the window to where another huge pink barrier slowly crept up the horizon, blocking all sight beyond the immediate gardens “What’s happening? Where are these domes coming from?”
“I don’t know!” said Lightning, looking around the crowd desperately “Where’s Vinyl, do you think she’s okay?”
“No idea…” said Shadow “Let’s try to get up to her balcony. Even if she isn’t up there we can get a better look at what’s going on.”
“We can’t push through this crowd,” said Lightning “You’re going to have to carry me over, can you manage?”
Shadow didn’t hesitate in pulling himself out of the suit and discarding it on the floor. He took another look to where Luna and the others were pounding at the dome. He wondered why they didn’t use their magic to escape, but there was no time for that now. He grabbed Lightning around the middle and took off into a low flight. It was as much as he could manage over the crowd of frightened unicorns, but they made better time to the balcony than they would have walking.
Shadow started to get really worried as they clambered up the white stone steps. It was completely silent overhead, not even the sound of Vinyl’s voice was heard. That could mean she wasn’t there, and who knows what that could mean…
“Vinyl?” Lightning called as they burst through onto the balcony “Dang it, she isn’t here…”
Shadow looked around; the turntables were up on cinderblocks ready to go but the DJ was nowhere to be seen. “Oh no…” said Shadow, picking up a rope that fed directly into the turntables “What is this…?”
“I don’t know…” said Lightning “It looks like the plug in cord got turned into a rope somehow?” she suddenly gasped “That could only mean…”
Shadow’s eyes widened, coming to the same realization. They leapt up on Vinyl’s turntables and looked out over the panicked crowd once again. The room grew dim as an all too familiar shape began to materialize on stage.
“Hello my little ponies!” said Discord, resplendent in his full draconequis form “I’m glad to see that you’re all enjoying my little party.”
“Your party…?” Shadow said furiously “Why I out to…”
“Stay down…” Lightning hissed “If he finds out we’re up here he might try something…”
Shadow resigned himself to looking back to where Discord was flapping his mismatched wings in pure jubilation. “I thought it was about time we had a little party game,” said Discord with a grin “The first rule of this game is no magic! I’ve put up a manna blocking dome to make sure no pony cheats!” He tapped on the smaller dome holding the princesses “Of course I had to double bag the royalty.”
“That explains it…” Shadow muttered “That’s what the rune was; he’s using black magic…”
“Also to my precious few earth ponies out there: no trying to break the dome.” Discord continued “If you try that you will be disqualified, from life.” The pink dome suddenly crackled with electricity, causing the gathered crowd to flinch.
“There goes my idea…” said Lightning “Most of the ponies are unicorns anyway… Augh…”
“So now beings the game!” said Discord “The game called bow before Discord, The new undisputed ruler of Equestria!” He took a long exaggerated bow, holding a hand up in which a glass of chocolate milk materialized.
The crowd went silent, too shocked to make any sort of response. Discord frowned “Well don’t you all praise me at once…” he said “I think it’s time we had some fun with this.”
Bubbles suddenly burst from the wooden floor and started floating around the air in the room. The buffet suddenly changed from delicious flowers to crawling insects. Fluffy pink clouds materialized around the ceiling, raining chocolate milk on the gathered crowd. There were a few screams as ponies ran for the exit. The door changed into a painting of Discord in a top hat and holding a pipe, barring the only way out.
“Come on we’ve gotta get out of here,” said Shadow, moving toward the door to exit the balcony, flinching a bit as the walls covered themselves in purple ivy, but kept going all the same.
As the two turned to the top of the stairwell, however, they were met with the yellow eyed stare of Discord blocking their path. “And now you two little ponies…” he said, sounding almost bored “Well I suppose I do have to deal with you now don’t I…?”
“You can’t do this Discord!” said Shadow, stepping forward with a determined expression on his face “You may have locked up the princesses, but there’s one member of the royal family you forgot!”
“Yes…that dome was supposed to catch you too,” said Discord with a shrug “Which is why I have to go to all the trouble of coming up here and dealing with you myself. How boring is that?”
“Deal with us?” Lightning exclaimed, emboldened by Shadow stepping forward “We’re going to deal with you! That’s what’s gonna happen!”
“Hmm…maybe I can have a little fun with this…” said Discord, “I’m sure the ponies of Canterlot will have their spirits crushed as much by watching their prince give up. If not more so… I actually very much like this new idea!”
“Watch out Light,” said Shadow, spreading his wings as if bracing for an attack “He’s going to try something.”
There was a burst of orange light as all three of them were teleported back onto the stage. Shadow looked around bewilderedly, wondering what this could possibly mean. He could see Twilight, still trying desperately to cast some sort of spell inside the dome but she couldn’t as much as spark.
“Well my little ponies!” Discord called out to the trapped and panicky audience “It seems your Prince would dare to challenge your new chaotic lord! Is that right Shadow?”
Shadow grit his teeth, putting a hoof forward. “You can’t win Discord!” He said in a quavery voice “Not against all of us! Magic or no magic, we have numbers!”
“Yeah!” said Lightning, also stepping forward “You ever fought an Earth Pony in single combat before? You’re in for a flank kicking of a lifetime!”
“Still up for this Discord?” asked Shadow, his heart warming with the thought that Lightning was by him “Come on, you start this fight it won’t end easy!”
“Is that so…?” asked Discord, walking calmly toward them “Then please allow me to begin this little showdown, I don’t think you’ll mind if my first attack is…” he reached out and poked Lightning’s nose with a chicken clawed hand.
“What are you…?” Lightning started to say, but stopped as her eyes suddenly swirled in blue and yellow rings. She stumbled forward as her red coat slowly turned a dull gray color.
“Stop fooling around Discord!” said Shadow angrily “If you really want a piece of this, of all of us,” he motioned to the crowd, who were beginning to murmur their ascent “Then just try to attack! If you aren’t up for that you can just flap your chicken wings and fly yourself away!”
Not at all offended by this insult, Discord gave a victorious smile “Oh but I’m not sure you really want to fight me anymore do you, Lightning?”
Shadow turned to Lightning again, expecting her to repeat his threat and send him running once and for all. To his horror, she looked back at him with a dull expression on her face and yawned.
“It isn’t worth the effort,” she said, laying down on the stage and resting her head in her hooves “Can you just turn Shadow into a frog or something so I can go home?”
“No…” said Shadow, backing quickly away from the figure of Discord, who suddenly seemed more than twice as menacing “What did you do to her?”
“Too scared to come at me all on your own hmm?” said Discord, his single fang glinting in the light “As you well should be. You know what will happen if you go against me.” He slunk forward on all fours like a grotesque snake “Flee Prince Shadow, flee and save yourself. It is your only chance…”
Petrified, Shadow could only stare from the terrifying beast in front of him, to Lightning, who was watching this development with an expression of amusement. He looked back, to where the stage fell away beneath him. Even if he were to leap off ant try to hide among the crowd there was no escape from the hall. This was it… he was done for…
“No…” he said, red eyes turning determined back to Discord “There is no running. I don’t care what else happens… I… I won’t give you that…”
The crowd let out a collective gasp as Discord snapped his fingers. There was a flash of blue flame and Shadow was gone in a puff of smoke. A hush fell over the hall as Discord stood triumphantly, blowing a vapor trail casually off his fingertip.
“Shadow, no!” Luna shrieked desperately from within the dome, staring at the singed spot on the stage. “Damn you Discord! Damn you!” Her eyes lit up with white light and her horn started to crackle, pushing enough magic through her anger to begin to overcome the magical barrier.
Discord yawned, scratching the floor with a claw. He quickly completed the dark magical rune and another dome covered the first, the sparks from Luna’s horn fading away. “I do believe this situation is called checkmate,” said Discord, smiling wryly as he stepped down off the stage, a fountain of cola opening up with each step.

> Chapter 10 Part II: Gray Area
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Shadow groaned slowly as he blinked back to reality again. At first he wasn’t entirely sure if he was awake or asleep for he could see nothing whether his eyes were apparently open or closed. The pain of tripping over his own hooves and landing on his face was enough to confirm his wakefulness.
“I’ve got to be dead this time…” he murmured “That was a fire spell… There is absolutely no way I could ever possibly be alive…” He flinched slightly as his hoof connected with something round and metallic, there was a creaking, and a glimmer of light as he touched it.
“Wait a minute…” he said “I know that sound…” He quickly turned the wheel again, squinting a little as a beam of light slowly grew on his right.
The curtain was rising, the same curtain he had been behind when Lightning had surprised him and Vinyl. Someone must have teleported him here before the fire spell had struck, but who could possibly have done that? The dome was still covering the entire castle, the sunlight, filtering pink into the room, confirmed that much. What could’ve happened?
Shadow trotted down the row of dilapidated wooden seats to the door at the end of the hall. He slowly opened it, surprised to be met with the sight of two barded unicorn guards. Even more shocking was the sight of the white unicorn filly commanding them.
“You’re entirely sure there are no more stragglers?” Vinyl asked harshly “You’ve checked every corner of the castle? Every hidden passageway?”
“Yes ma’am…” said one of the guards “Not so much as a mouse remained undiscovered, you may rest easy.”
“Good,” said Vinyl, horn flashing with magic “I would hate to have to punish you… Now go check over everything one more time.”
The guards quickly trotted off leaving a smirking Vinyl. Shadow’s eyes widened as he caught sight of the small blue pendant around her neck. The manna battery! Vinyl was still able to use her magic under the dome because of the manna battery!
Vinyl’s horn crackled again as she summoned a small pink cloud in front of her eyes. “Lord Discord,” she said “The castle has been totally secured; there is no chance of any infiltration.”
“Good,” Discord’s voice emanated from the cloud “Thank you Vinyl, now go make sure every pony is remaining in check!”
“Will do sir,” said Vinyl, the cloud vanishing. Shadow felt his heart sink as he saw her white coat was tinted with a dull gray color. Whatever had happened to Lightning had happened to her too!
He quietly shut the door and walked back along the seats in utter shock. He had narrowly escaped death, but for what? Vinyl and Lightning had been hypnotized by Discord to the point they wouldn’t even recognize him anymore. Whoever this mystery pony that had saved him was, they couldn’t have had his best interests in mind…
No, he couldn’t think like that. As long as he was in control of his own thoughts hope was still alive. He remembered vaguely that Twilight’s friends had something similar done to them when Discord had tried to take over Ponyville, but that was just a story to him. The only thing it really told him was that there was some way to win, a useless factoid considering he couldn’t even begin to fathom what that might be.
Looking at his options he did actually have a few. Unlikely as it may be there was probably some way out of the castle, maybe by secret passage or some other magical trickery. There was a chance, assuming he could escape here, that he could find some way to raise the alarm. He could always turn himself in to Discord he supposed, maybe he would be spared that way. Unfortunately both these ideas seemed utterly ludicrous. There really wasn’t anyone out there capable of defeating Discord, and who might’ve inside the castle had been captured. That and he would probably be killed if he tried to surrender…
Shadow groaned as he stared up at the dark slanting ceiling. Adventures were fun and all, but this was starting to drive him insane. There was no winning course of action, but it wasn’t like he could just sit here and wait to be found. What would dad do if he were in this situation…?
He smiled, suddenly sure of what to do next. If there was anything his dad had managed to drill firmly into his psyche, it was a sense of loyalty. Lightning was still somewhere in the castle, lost in darkness. It was up to him, the lone survivor, to find her and bring her back to her senses, no matter what the cost.
There was a sound of hoof steps outside the hall; obviously no way out that way… He remembered the small wooden door that he and Vinyl had found their way through and quickly flew back up to the stage. It was a bit of a nuisance that the curtain seemed to fall back by itself after it was raised, meaning he had to actually lift it up and crawl under. His tail stuck a little as the curtain flopped down again, but he was able to free himself with little effort.
The sound of the main doorway opening and closing caused Shadow to turn back toward the curtain quickly. “I didn’t even notice this area,” came a deep voice “We’d better look it over, but I don’t think any pony could’ve made it this far.”
“I think I saw something…” said another voice that Shadow was relieved to recognize as one of the guards who had escorted him to the castle, Dawnstar? “Behind the curtain! Did you see that?”
“You’re jumping at shadows,” said the first voice “Better check anyway I suppose. That unicorn would probably vaporize us if we missed something…”
Ignoring the obvious irony of this statement, Shadow dashed for the little wooden door and slipped out. He looked up and down the stone walled hallway, trying to get his bearings. He could probably find his way back to his room from here, which was as good a place to start looking for Lightning as anywhere. The only problem would be getting there without being seen…
“Why do we even have to guard the Prince’s tower?” asked one of the two guards stationed at the bottom of the staircase to his compatriot “It’s not like there’s anyone to guard here anymore.”
Nightwing, who happened to be the other guard, didn’t respond at once. “How can you say that Ironmane?” he said finally “You can’t talk about the death, not just of a prince, but of a six year old child, as a casual thing…”
“Sure I can,” said Ironmane with a shrug “He was going to walk through life with a target on his head before any of this happened, better he’s gone soon.”
Nightwing shuddered, he hadn’t been forced to be “grayed out” as many of the guards were calling it, but even worse was having to listen to and cooperate with those who had been. Almost exactly half the guard had been left to their own minds, and they were almost always paired with grayed out counterparts. Discord had clearly done this to make the mood of chaos and misery even more awful. Poor Ironmane had been one of the sternest and most steadfast stallions on the guard, but even he had been broken, re-made, and left as the heartless husk of a pony.
“Doesn’t make any difference so long as we get paid after all,” said Ironmane with a malevolent grin “Maybe Discord as a new ruler will give us some more employee benefits.” Nightwing contained the urge to put his eye out.
Nightwing’s gaze was suddenly caught by a small gray feather floating down in front of his eyes. He snatched it out of the air and looked at it carefully. It was fluffy, like the feather of a young pegasus, but where had it come from?
He looked up and nearly fainted at the impossible sight before his eyes. Wide eyed and frightened, flapping his wings silently to press himself against the ceiling, was Shadow. Nightwing looked quickly to Ironmane, who was too busy picking his nose to notice his reaction, then back up to Shadow. How was he still alive? Was he grayed out? It was difficult to tell due to his natural coloring, but Discord’s minions wouldn’t have to sneak around…
Nightwing gave Shadow an imperceptible nod, which made Shadow relax slightly. He then proceeded to straighten his legs and walk, upside down, up the stairwell to the tower. Nightwing let out a smile, maybe there was some hope yet. The prince was both determined and ingenuitive. There was a chance, however small…
“What are you grinning at?” asked Ironmane.
“Just thinking about a discarded Equestria,” said Nightwing vaguely, hefting his spear with just a little more vigor.
Shadow found himself stopping and staring at the door to the tower room, not entirely willing to open it. He was more than a little bit afraid of what he might find on the other side of that door. There was a chance Light wouldn’t be there at all, and he wasn’t sure whether that would be better or worse than if she was.
Just as he had forced himself to reach out for the door, it flung open on its own and he scrunched himself back up on the ceiling. Vinyl walked out of the room, her pelt even darker than last time he had seen it. She looked livid, stomping out the door like a hurricane.
“You’ll see thunder brain!” She called back over her shoulder “Next time you go against me it won’t be nearly so easy!”
So Lightning was in there… There really was no turning back now. He dropped down to the floor and walked carefully into the room. It didn’t look any different from where they had left it this morning, except some pony had made the bed and fixed the popcorn machine.
He saw Lightning sitting on the front row of the theatre seats, spinning a joystick idly. The huge screen displayed a game of pac-man which Lightning didn’t really seem focused on. As he watched she got a game over and proceeded to just stare at the screen. Shadow found himself waiting for a tantrum he knew would never come.
As he stepped forward, Lightning turned to look at him, her expression completely disinterested. “So Discord was right,” she said in a monotone voice “You aren’t dead.”
Shadow felt a little flutter of hope as he saw that Lightning wasn’t nearly so gray as Vinyl was. “I guess I’m not…” he said carefully “How did you know?”
Lightning clambered out of her chair and walked over to him. “Discord noticed first,” she said “He said when a pony gets incinerated he can taste the fat in the air. Then Vinyl sensed your presence somewhere in the castle so they started a manhunt.”
“I see…” said Shadow, an idea starting to form in his mind “Hey Lightning, do you remember the first time we met? You were acting like Pinkie Pie on a sugar high. And you had those huge ridiculous shades?”
Lightning gave him a blank look so he continued “I know it was crazy, but the Everfree Forest was fun too. We kind of saved each other didn’t we? If either of us had gone alone we would never have gotten out! And coming here? I would never have thought of that if you hadn’t kicked mom!” He found himself laughing a bit, the scene seeming so ludicrous now it was so far in the past.
“And the garden…” said Shadow, face falling as he still saw no change in Lightning’s demeanor “Surely you remember the garden…You know… How we almost…” He found himself getting a little red, but he shook it off “Come on Lightning, you have to remember…please!” A tear fell down his face as he looked down at his hooves. It wasn’t working…
“Hey Shadow…” Lightning said.
Shadow looked up quickly, suddenly hopeful.
“How much do you think I could get for that old guitar?” asked Lightning “I’m thinking fifty bits at least.”
And just like that he found himself totally without hope again. Lightning’s coat turned darker as he watched, a clear sign that his little speech, far from helpful, had driven her deeper into the darkness clouding her mind. His ears drooped, and almost imperceptibly, his green mane sank to a dark gray.
As he descended slowly back down the stone stairway he realized how little effort he was putting in to being unseen. What did it really matter though? Lightning and Vinyl were beyond his help, what else did he have to do? If Discord would find him right now would it really be so bad?
He was vaguely aware of a dull thud from somewhere up ahead, but he didn’t pay it any mind until he felt a hoof on his shoulder. “What do you think you’re doing?” he heard Nightwing’s voice “He very nearly saw you!”
Shadow looked up to Nightwing, then over to where the other guard was unconscious on the ground. “I don’t care…” he said “Discord’s won…”
“You can’t talk like that!” said Nightwing urgently “We need to get you out of here, come on!”
“What’s the point…?” Shadow muttered “It’s not like I can do anything about it…”
“I won’t condone that attitude,” said Nightwing, glaring at him “You are our only hope, you understand that? You are the only chance we have at stopping the draconequis, and as such you are completely forbidden from giving up, you understand?”
Before Shadow could voice a reply he found himself being pushed, almost carried, down the hall. It was interesting that Nightwing would have such faith in him… His slowly darkening mane lightened just a little.
Nightwing led him to a door that Shadow was barely able to catch a glimpse of before he was forced against one of the walls. Nightwing eased the door open and kept a watch on the room while Shadow forced his way forward to get a look himself. He was able to see a sliver of the main hall. He shuddered slightly as he saw the red dragon’s tail of Discord.
“Now let’s try that again, came Discord’s voice from the hall “I want this song to go swimmingly this time!”
“He’s got the whole orchestra set up in the main hall…” said Nightwing thoughtfully “I think if he dismisses them we should be able to move through the hall unnoticed, we’ll blend right in.”
Shadow, somewhat frustrated he wasn’t tall enough to get Nightwing’s viewpoint, merely focused on what he could see and started listening. The whole hall suddenly burst into a chorus of music, fast and hectic, yet still somehow holding an enchanting melody. And as the music started to pick up, Discord started to sing.
Although I admit your twists and tricks
Posed an interesting challenge for me
Yet despite all this, I captured you all
So now what? Oh just wait and see…

Take it from me, awesome is he, my name is Discord
Spirit of chaos, poised for destruction, I’ll let you see…
I won’t take a moment to stop
So don’t you even dare try to block
This awesome performance, a chorus of dissonance
You don’t stand a chance, so come here and dance
With the draconequis who is he, who is me!

Discord! Hold sway over the moon!
The sun will never shine, not even come time of noon!
So sing with me won’t you? (Lest I destroy you)
For the lord of chaos it’s me!

A power enough to conquer Celestia!
Awesome and wonderful, malevolent, despicable
Oldest and fiercest, wisest, and greatest
Unstoppable as the sea! It’s me!

So if you’re still unsure, I’ll give you just a little bit more
I’ll show you the rest, death to all the rest!
And that leaves the awesome and powerful me…
Discord!

The final note was allowed to hand in the air for what Shadow thought was a uselessly long time, after which the orchestra gave a final few notes. If he were completely honest he had to say he thought the entire song was entirely awful, but now wasn’t really the time. As terrible as it was though, it was intriguing, and it was likely that it had served its purpose of intimidation quite well.
“Alright my little ponies!” Discord’s voice came again “You may return to your boring daily routines, but be ready! I may have another fantastic stroke of inspiration at any time!”
There was a flash of light, which Shadow supposed was Discord teleporting. This notion was confirmed by Nightwing pushing him forward into the hall. “Come on,” he said “Stay close to me, if we’re spotted, bolt. You’re more important than I am.”
Shadow nodded, allowing himself be maneuvered down the main stairs and into the gaggle of ponies packing up instruments and milling about the hall. It looked like this group had a few less ponies grayed out than there were on the guard; dissonance most likely interfered with the music. Whatever the reason, it still provided just that little bit more bustle to camaflouge them amongst the crowd.
Nightwing led him on to the bottom of the main stairs and performed a perfect U-turn, walking around the side of the large staircase to a small, inconspicuous door. Shadow thought it looked a lot like the side entrance to the old stage, probably built around the same time. Nightwing took a key out from a pocket of his armor and opened the door.
“Go on,” he said “It’s a little dark down there, but it should be safe. No pony would think to look there, and if they did they would need the key to get in, it’s magically locked.”
Shadow stared at the few black stone steps he could see before they vanished into darkness. He shuddered “Where does it lead?”
“The archives,” said Nightwing “Go, quickly! This opportunity will not last us long.”
Shadow took a few tentative steps down into the blackness. He turned quickly back to the light from the doorway, convincing himself that so long as he saw that light everything would be okay. Nightwing proceeded to shut and lock the door with a snap, plunging poor Shadow into darkness.
So this was what it was like to be blind, not being able to tell the difference between open and closed eyes. He found himself shaking violently, pawing his way through the darkness to find the next step, then the next, and steadily calming down as he realized this wasn’t going to be quite as hard as he thought. He spread his wings to feel both walls, trusting more and more in his ability to safely put one hoof in front of the other…
A missing step suddenly dropped him into open air, his head dropping forward as he tumbled head over hooves downward into the darkness. He fell like this for a full minute before landing, battered and bruised, on a pile of paper. He groaned, forcing his damaged self weakly to his hooves again and stumbling forward across the strange crinkling material that seemed to be the floor.
It was now that he finally discovered that his eyes were, indeed, open. He caught a glimpse of dim light on the other side of what he was able to recognize as a bookshelf. He tried to flap his wings, wincing as he realized they were badly hurt. He groaned as he walked around the large bookshelf, looking up to see the light emanating from a unicorn’s horn.
“So…” said the unicorn, seeming to only be vaguely aware of him “The Prince Shadow has come for a visit, I’m correct…again…”
Shadow took a curious note of the strange symbol that was her cutie mark, then the magical light she was conjuring, then to the huge foreign scroll she was reading from. Questions burst into his mind like a barrage of fireworks, making it hard to think of any single thing to say.
“Who are you?” he finally asked the seemingly most obvious question.
“Letterheart…” said the unicorn after a pause “You’re also wondering why I’m down here, what my cutie mark represents, and how I am able to perform magic underneath the barrier.”
“Um…yeah…” said Shadow, too astounded to do anything else.
Letterheart turned and smiled at him from behind what appeared to be reading glasses “I think it would be best to answer the last question first,” she said “Which should hopefully explain the others. I am blessed with an abundant intellect that allows me to comprehend most everything. That’s my talent in life you know, and it also allows me to invent certain things. For instance, I use a unique magical signature that is neither archaic nor modern magic. As such, Discord’s barrier holds no power over me.”
A plate suddenly appeared on the table beside her scrolls, laden with fruit. “I do suppose you’re hungry,” said Letterheart “Please, help yourself.”
“Oh, thank you!” said Shadow, moving to the table and reaching up for an apple. He winced as his injured wings were stretched, and again as he dropped back to the ground, landing on a weakened leg.
“You should’ve been more careful on the stairs,” said Letterheart, her horn glowing again. Shadow suddenly felt the pain vanish as he flexed a bit.
“It was you…” said Shadow, coming to the realization “You’re the one who teleported me out of Discord’s attack!”
Letterheart sighed “I knew exactly when it would happen,” she said “I have known every detail of the party since Twilight visited me. I knew I would save you, it wasn’t within my physical power to do otherwise.”
Still not entirely understanding, Shadow took a look around the shelves that extended upward apparently far higher than the reach of the light. “Why didn’t you bring me here?” he asked “It seems safer…”
“I didn’t use a proper teleportation spell,” said Letterheart “It was a simple fast travel, easier to perform but same concept. It returned you to a safe place from your own recent memory, that being the stage. The advantage of this was Discord has more ponies suspicious of casting fast travel than he would those who could cast a full on teleportation spell.
Shadow still really didn’t understand, “You had Nightwing bring me here though,” he said “Why did you want to see me?”
“I didn’t,” said Letterheart casually “Nightwing brought you here to keep you hidden. I doubt he even knows who I am…” she paused for a moment “I do know… what’s going to happen…”
“Huh?” asked Shadow.
“You’re not as much as a tell as your mother,” said Letterheart “But just seeing you lets me calculate events far into the future with a one hundred percent success rate. I’m not at all disappointed with what I know, but it isn’t fun to now.”
A scroll suddenly floated down from out of the reach of the light. It looked newer and less yellowed than the others. “I wrote this idea myself years ago…” said Letterheart “I think I’ve finally found where it fits into place… Read it Shadow…”
Shadow looked at Letterheart for a moment before tenderly unrolling the scroll. It took him a moment to read the words, and a while longer to piece together how they fit into the complicated diagrams. He looked back to Letterheart, an expression of shock on his face.
“You expect me… to do this?” he asked incredulously “These are shooting stars! That isn’t possible!”
“I knew you would say that,” said Letterheart “Just as I know what you’ll do with the information. Think about it Shadow, those wings of yours are far from the standard flight material of a young pegasus colt.”
Shadow spread his wings self consciously, waving them around carefully and slowly. It wasn’t something he hadn’t heard before, on the contrary, it was the first thing any pony ever noticed about him. He could fly, which wasn’t just rare in ponies his age, it was unheard of.
He felt his heart pounding in his chest as he looked over the diagram again. Whatever Letterheart had thought out it fit in a horrifying way. His mind flashed back to the dome in Luna’s tower, to the tiny black specks that had been so abundant. The sand that burned when it approached a world…
“I know, already, that the seriousness of this must weigh heavily on you,” said Letterheart “But I have to say, because I am scared to death of the day I’m wrong about something, that you must be careful. You were born an altitude flier, but that doesn’t mean any of this will be at al safe. First, you must succeed with the mission, and second, of equal importance, you must survive.”
Papers rustled about the room as Shadow waved his wings about. His red eyes flashed, the fear being swiftly replaced by violent determination. The gray in his mane vanished into the air and fell like dust around his hooves. Even his coat seemed to take on a brighter sheen.
“I need to get outside the dome.” He said.

> Chapter 10 Part III: Star Chaser
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The Canterlot pastry shop’s recent business had been absolutely abysmal. Somehow rather than stimulate a rush of customers, the promise of free food had all but driven them away. That didn’t stop Joe though, and he was as ready as ever to serve any customers that would happen upon the shop. Of course he had heard of the supposed doomsday happening up at the castle, but he didn’t really believe it was happening. Anyway, even if Discord was running amok in Canterlot Castle it hardly affected him.
The slow patter of rain started to beat a fast tango on the roof as he stood, ready at the counter, prepared for whatever would come his way. His spirits may have sunk below the threshold of hope long ago, but he had to be ready for a customer even if he believed none would come. Some poor soul might trudge through the rain that didn’t know the castle’s plenty, and they could theoretically need service…what a joke…
A dull thud came from the storage room, causing Joe to turn sharply. It was Bumblesweet’s day off, who was making that noise? He moved away from the counter, making sure the bell was still there in case someone came calling, and moved toward the storage room.
Some part of the storm had knocked out the lights in the building, so Joe grabbed a flashlight and beamed it around the room. Some of the older machines for doughnut making and glazing were here, gathering dust and cobwebs, but it was mostly empty shipment boxes. More than likely it was some animal had come in scavenging for some scrap of food or another left unused and thrown away back here. This thought was emphasized by the sight of a small shape skittering just outside the light.
“Alright you little varmint,” said Joe, turning the light around, unsuccessfully trying to get a glimpse of the creature “I ain’t gonna hurt you, just come on out and you can get some leftovers and be on your way.”
Joe gasped as the light fell on the back wall where a dark, square hole had opened in the wood work. It was some sort of secret passage! This was no animal come in the night, this was a robbery! He quickly turned about, intent on catching the thief quickly, when the light illuminated a small shape.
“Joe!” Shadow shouted, relieved not to have found his way into a strange house “You have no idea how much of a relief it is to see you!”
“What?” Joe said incredulously “You’re that kid from the other day! Bonbon’s friend! How did you get in here?”
“Your house has a secret passage to the castle,” said Shadow matter-of-factly “Which just so happens to be under siege by Discord. I’m coming from the other side as an escape route!”
“So it is true…” said Joe slowly “Well gosh kid you’ve got some guts. Here to raise the alarm I suppose? Come on, we can call on the buffo maybe, they could…”
“Nope,” said Shadow “I’m really kind of just passing through. I needed to get out of the castle before I could do my stuff.”
“Wait, do what?” asked Joe.
“No time to explain,” Said Shadow quickly “I need to get somewhere I can fly.” He moved toward the door but Joe stepped in his way.
“Look, kid, I can see that you’re trying to be the hero,” said Joe “If you take two seconds to think about what you’re doing it doesn’t make any sense. I can help you out, but you do need actual help.”
“Get out of my way!” said Shadow angrily, his wings bursting out making himself appear larger than life “I have a plan and I fully intend to go through with it. You are not going to be the one to stop me!”
“Kid, don’t…” Joe started, but Shadow wasn’t listening anymore. He pushed Joe out of the way and burst out the front door into the pouring rain. Joe stared after him, stunned out of speech. That colt had just pushed out of the way. He had hoof wrestled with horsepower in his college days, and that kid had just knocked him out of the way like it was nothing? It was clear he had the determination to make this plan of his work… What he didn’t know was if this kid was very brave, or very, very stupid…
Shadow launched himself off the empty cobblestone road and up into the air. It was lucky most of the ponies had been trapped, or else he might not have gotten such a firm leap. The rain tore at his face as he climbed higher into the sky; eyes wide open against the downpour. His wings flapped repeatedly, sending him upward faster and faster. He remembered the incredible wind under his wings when he had been “older” the slow, steady, constant wing-beat that carried him higher and higher, but hardly any faster.
He burst up through the clouds, blinking away water droplets and keeping his eyes firmly closed as he kept going higher. The light of both sun and moon were lighting up the sky, Discord’s sign of dominance across Equestria. He was able to slowly open his eyes as he felt the air around him grow steadily colder. The blue of the sky was beginning to melt away, fading to an awful black color that quite frankly frightened him. Surely no pony had ever dared fly this high! It was as terrifying as it was exhilarating, the feeling of wind around him lessening even as he sped faster. The air escaped from his lungs with each shallow breath.
Quite suddenly, he came to a halt. He wasn’t sure what brought him to a stop; his wings simply ceased their flapping movement. The simple shock of not falling was enough to take what little breath he still had away from him. It was a struggle to keep air in his lungs at this altitude, and he was sure if he were to go any higher it would be totally impossible. Stars twinkled in the pitch black sky around him as he watched in awe. This was a brand new alien world, the place beyond the sky. Cold and still as it was, it somehow felt right, like this was his calling, like this was…
The sudden sensation of heat shattered the tranquility that was the edge of the atmosphere. Shadow turned in the air to see a huge chunk of pot-marked rock, slowly turning in the sky toward him. Not falling, he had to remind himself, there was no falling at this height. It was coincidence that this rock was coming toward Equestria, to cross the sky as a trail of light and fall to the ground as nothing but fine powder.
But not this time… Shadow took as deep a breath as he could and pushed toward the massive rock. For all the heat it was generating against the open air the surface was quite cool. He placed his front hooves firmly onto it and pushed, finding it no harder to move than a playground ball. The weightlessness affected everything in this world of blackness, and he was going to take advantage of that.
Hooves firmly placed in two indentations on the asteroid, Shadow began to beat his wings again. The rock, nearly three times his own size he noticed, responded readily to his action as he carried it through the dark. The blaze at the front of the stone grew more intense as they fell closer to the planet, gravity beginning its ferocious wrestling match to win the rock from him. But Shadow remained persistent, pushing forward with all the strength he had in both his hooves and his wings.
Careen straight downward: that was the plan. If he allowed the meteor to take too much movement left or right it would incinerate in the atmosphere, not only ruining its intended final effect, but also swallowing him in the flames it left behind. More than anything else, Shadow realized he was playing a very dangerous game. If anything went wrong, even in the slightest, he would be killed instantly. The only thing standing between him and a fiery death would be the utmost care as he fought with the stone, bringing it oh so slowly downward…
The sky brightened to blue again as the cone of fire around Shadow began to grow into a blaze. The meteor shot off a few fragments which were dust before Shadow could do anything about it. He saw the overcast sky and aimed for it hard. There was no telling where Canterlot really was under the dark cloud cover, but he had to try…
A speck of pink caught his eye as he watched the clouds. Yes! That was it! Discord’s dome was tall enough to be seen above the storm! Shadow threw his whole weight against the stone, angered as it hardly shifted. He wasn’t about to stop though, not when he was so close…
The shooting star was bright enough that even those under the clouds and dome could see its light like a mass of lightning, ready to pour down from the sky at any second. It was a curiosity to say the least, and even Discord had found his way out of the castle to watch the strange phenomenon. Those still trapped inside the castle watched with awestruck faces as the clouds grew brighter and brighter until they seemed to be all in flame.
It happened in less than an instant, the chances like that of aiming an arrow at the tip of a quill. The split second image of a cone of fire blasting the clouds away was frozen in time to the watching eyes of Canterlot. It would be said later that many ponies had seen it happen as if it were in slow motion; a great jet of flame that parted the clouds and fell upon the dome. And just like a pane of glass, the crystal dome shattered at the force of the great celestial punch.
A huge crater was rent in the ground near the castle as the sphere of flame landed in a smoking wreck. Pieces of the dome came thundering down, falling into smaller chunks and finally being crushed to a fine pink dust against the ground. By some miracle a shooting star had descended from its haven in the sky in just the right place to destroy the inescapable prison. The ponies of Canterlot would watch with awestruck faces turned upward, then burst into cheers of wild abandon and joy.
Discord’s defense had fallen!
But it wasn’t over yet…

> Chapter 11 Risen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“The barrier’s fallen!”
“What happened?”
“My magic’s back!”
“Stop them!”
“Push forward! Stop the grays!”
“Now’s our chance!”
These and other such calls to arms flooded the hall as the magic flooded back to the horns of the unicorns and they began fighting back against Discord’s hypnotized ponies. It was very quickly becoming a one sided battle as every overcome pony of Discord’s was freed from hypnosis and joined the opposite ranks.
A tremendous shattering sound came from the stage as the second dome shot into powder in the air. Luna, eyes glowing like twin suns, began launching wave after wave of magic toward the gray ponies, changing them back to their true selves like a wave.
“This is for Shadow!” she shouted triumphantly, flying out over the crowd for a better aim.
Twilight shook her head, slightly dazed by the sudden development. “This has been simultaneously the most horrifying and exciting four hours of my life…” she said through the haze of her mind.
“I’m amazed she has enough control to simply dispel them…” said Celestia, slightly more within her senses “When she fines Discord, he’s as good as dead…”
Twilight looked back to where Luna had forced the gray ponies into a retreat, a few managing to split away and return to the group cheering her forward. “I’m afraid you might be right…” she said.
High above the ongoing battle, in the tower of Prince Shadow, Lightning stared out the window with a stunned silence. She hadn’t gotten a great view of the shooting star, but the huge smoking crater was in plain sight. A warm feeling of excitement pushed its way to the front of her mind, causing the gray of her fur to lessen slightly. The old Lightning was starting to push to the surface, stimulated by wonder alone.
“I suppose you do think that was quite a magnificent scene,” came Discord’s voice from behind her “I’m in no position to disagree, it was a fantastic little bit of chaos.”
“The unicorns will still be able to do their magic again…” said Lightning, suddenly not sure whether this was good or bad “They’re going to try and stop you…”
“Oh I doubt that,” said Discord, his eyes rolling about in his skull “I’ve convinced half of them to completely comply with my whims, and the other half are too hopeless to continue. After all, their prince is dead.”
“He isn’t dead though,” said Lightning, forces of light and darkness clashing in her mind “I talked to him myself, he could show himself anytime. Far from crushing hope, he could rally the forces.”
“Oh he is now,” said Discord with an evil leer, hoping to squelch that little spark that was burning away at his enchantment “You do know who moved that star? Who got himself killed in a pointless endeavor?”
Lightning’s pupils shrank, gray falling off her like sand “What did you say…?” she asked.
“I said that your precious ‘brother’ got himself killed cracking down my barrier,” said Discord, utterly convinced he was dragging her back into his control “A true idiot to the last. I’m not sure if he was crushed by the boulder or incinerated, but either works for me. Hey! Where are you going?”
Lightning had jumped away from the window and ran like a mad pony for the door. She practically flew down the steps, smacking the head of some poor guard who was just coming around and knocking him out again. Ponies were quick to jump out of her way as she bolted down the hall, running pell-mell for the courtyard.
Discord was waiting for her as she ran over the main gate toward the gardens “Now really,” he said, beginning only now to feel he had lost control of the situation “What do you expect to find there? Some singed bone? A mutilated body?”
“I’m going to find Shadow,” said Lightning determinedly. As she ran faster the gray of her coat floated off her like a storm cloud.
By the time Lightning had made it to the smoking crater her coat and mane had fully fallen back to their usual red and blue. The clouds overhead, that had managed to close the gap where the dome had been, seemed to open up with pounding rain perfectly on cue.
“You did this…” said Lightning slowly, her tears beginning to mingle with the rain “You did this…you killed him!”
“Oh my dear, don’t be so quick to anger,” said Discord, trying to talk her into another opportunity to put her under his spell “He killed himself. Prince Shadow foolishly attempted to be the hero and this mess here is the consequence.”
“It’s your fault!” Lightning snapped, leaping toward Discord with a fire in her eyes “You’ll pay for this! You hear me? You’re going to wish you’d never tried anything like this!”
Discord’s eyes suddenly focused on something over Lightning’s head. “Oh dear…” he said, sounding suddenly afraid.
“When I’m through with you you’ll remember Canterlot as your last mistake!” Lightning screamed “They won’t even be able to recognize you! I’m going to…”
“Hey, Lightning,” came a familiar voice from behind “Could you move a little to the left? You’re blocking my crosshairs.”
“Not now Shadow,” said Lightning “I’m trying to avenge your death. Now Discord, you’re going…down…” she swiveled around “Shadow…?”
Shadow was flying right behind her, holding a chunk of space rock in both hooves. His coat was striped with burns in a few places and there was one solid black stripe along his mane. His wings looked sparser; some of the feathers having floated off, but this wasn’t the most spectacular difference. The image of a flaming meteorite could be seen emblazoned on his flank. He had earned his mark.
“How many times to I have to kill the same damned pegasus?” Discord said, rage building. He had to twist out of the way as Shadow hurled the chunk of space rock his direction.
“It’s over Discord,” said Shadow, red eyes narrowing with anger far beyond his few years “This is your final opportunity, and I mean it this time. Go, and never come back.”
Discord glared right back, rage of equal level fueling his determination to end this pegasus right here. “I’m going to shut that impudent mouth of yours once and for all!” he said in a rage, steam pouring out of his nostrils.
“Suit yourself,” said Shadow, stepping forward to attack, but was stopped by Lightning moving in front of him. 
“Let me do this Shadow,” said Lightning quickly “I had a plan before you got here, just stand back okay bro?”
“What? But!” Shadow stammered.
Lightning didn’t respond, but took a small chunk of stone out of seemingly nowhere. The moment the rain touched it a blue glow emanated from somewhere deep within. She gave a careful toss and it landed directly at Discord’s feet. He glared down at the stone, wondering what trickery this was.
“And what, pray tell, is this?” he asked, staring down at the stone.
“Piece of the statue from the garden,” said Lightning smugly “We’ll see how you like that!”
Shadow gasped, knowing what would happen before it actually did. Before Discord had the chance to leap out of the way the grass around his feet grew faster than strangle vines, covering him almost instantly in a small dome of plant matter. His screams could be heard inside the now egg-shaped sphere as some blue light glowed inside it, the darkened outline of Discord could be seen writhing against the light.
“You saved a piece…?” asked Shadow, desperate to avert his eyes “I didn’t see you grab it.”
“I found it in my hair…” said Lightning “I’ve been holding onto it since them… just in case… I think it was water activated…”
Shadow’s ears flattened against his head as Discord shrieked again, higher pitched this time. “What do you think is happening to him in there?” he asked “If he can’t escape like we did… will he…?”
Lightning didn’t answer, so they stood silently, unable to stop staring at the sphere. The rain fell down and the wind roared angrily, but still they stood and watched, unmoving, as the form of the draconequis shrank down against the bright blue light. Even as Discord ceased to be visible and the blue light began to fade, they watched, too stunned to do otherwise.
Shadow felt a weight around his shoulders as Lightning pulled him into a hug. He smiled and quickly returned it. Now it was over… though it had only been a few hours. It had felt like weeks. They were able to think positively about returning home again at long last.
Home… Lightning would be going home soon… But what about him? Now that Discord’s chaotic influence was over would he still have to stay in Canterlot? Rebuilding would have to be done, and he didn’t want to be a part of that. No use worrying about it now though, for now Lightning was here, Discord was defeated, and they could make the most of that.
The dark shape of a hooded pony observed this scene from the shadow of the castle, invisible unless he was to be specifically looked for. This had not gone according to plan at all; his influence had somehow managed to slip. He wasn’t angry however; he didn’t feel such base emotions anymore. And even if he could, he doubted very much that he would go to the trouble of it. The situation was jeopardized yes, but this had been accounted for. Discord’s incompetence was not unsalvageable.
“I do suppose that it is time for the queen to be informed. She won’t be happy to hear this, but it will be hers to deal with. Discord, you are a fool and you always have been…”
The empty space by the castle was again empty. There was no teleportation, no chaotic movement, no fast travel; he simply was no longer there. No one had seen him, and now no one would.
“Hey, it’s mom!” said Lightning excitedly, pointing up to the castle where indeed, Luna was descending slowly, her expression that of unparalleled joy as she touched down.
“Shadow…” she said, holding back tears “You’re alive… you brilliant colt you’re alive!”
Shadow jumped into Luna’s embrace, not even caring as some of his burnt fur fell away. “We did it mom!” he said excitedly “We beat Discord! And even cooler thing! I got my cutie mark! See?”
“Now of all times…?” said Luna, intrigued. She looked down at Shadow’s flank and her eyes widened “That shooting star…that was no coincidence…”
“Nope!” said Shadow, practically bouncing in jubilation “You should’ve seen it! I flew up so high I could barely breathe! And it was impossible to fall! And the sky was all dark and the rock was as light as a feather!”
Luna paled, looking close to fainting, but smiled anyway “You are your father’s son…” she said “He earned his just as perilously. Now let’s get you inside, they’re still in the process of helping the last ponies but we should be fine.”
“But what about Discord?” asked Lightning pointing to the grassy sphere “We can’t just leave him here…”
“Discord’s in there…?” said Luna hesitantly, the shock of the even apparently having already maxed out. She walked around the sphere, taking in every detail “My word… you two just can’t resist using archaic magic can you…? The sphere was lifted up in a nimbus of blue magic “I’ll take him inside… Celestia and I will decide what is to be done…”
They returned to the castle, going almost in the exact opposite direction they had to approach Luna’s tower. Shadow watched curiously as a precious few gray ponies struggled against the unicorn guards armed with memory spells to revive them. It looked like the action was well wound down and the usual routine was finally returning. A few ponies gave a glance to the huge grass sphere that Luna carried but no pony questioned it.
As they approached a set of marvelous golden stairs Shadow couldn’t keep quiet anymore “Where are we going?” he asked “It looks like the way to your room…but it’s a different color!”
“Is it Celestia’s room?” asked Lightning, seeming to have pieced it together quite well.
“Indeed,” said Luna “She retired to her quarters the moment Discord’s disturbance was absolutely failed. I didn’t believe it was wise to write it off quite so easily, but it seems that thanks to you it was fine.”
The “Thanks to you” comment seemed to resonate with Lightning, who bounded up the stairs after Luna Pinkie Pie style. This didn’t last long however, as it quickly became apparent that they weren’t going to make it to the top of these stairs any time soon…
Shadow hopped into the air, letting his wings take some of the burden “Why is this staircase so much bigger than the one to your tower?” he asked.
Luna didn’t answer, but they arrived at a large golden door soon after that. Shadow observed that it was a perfect parallel to Luna’s as she called through to the other side “Sister, I must speak with you!”
There was no immediate response, but Shadow thought he heard the words “Is this what I’ve become as a ruler?” come from the other side. Luna called again and the door finally swung open, Celestia’s head emerging from within.
“What is it sister?” she asked “Can you not see that I am ill-disposed as of this time?”
“This is an urgent matter,” said Luna, a little worried to hear her sister speaking so formally “I have Discord with me…”
Celestia’s eyes widened “Come in then,” she said “And those two should come in as well, I have something in here I think they should see.”
Somewhat curious as to what Celestia could possibly need them for, Shadow and Lightning followed Luna wordlessly into the room. It wasn’t layered like Luna’s but it was clearly ornate. Most of the space of the room was taken up by golden statues or gem inlaid weaponry. Unlike Luna’s room, made to inspire, Celestia’s room was clearly built to incite fear.
What caught Shadow’s attention most though was the small gray pony asleep on the yellow bed. The puff of a mane told him it was Vinyl, but there was no other way to tell. Any color she had was turned gray.
“Open the sphere,” said Celestia, seeming to ignore Lightning and Shadow’s shock “I’m sure we can overcome him if things get out of hoof. Questioning is of the utmost importance. I do not believe he would make such an attempt alone.”
“Sister…” said Luna slowly “Is this really the time…?”
“Would you rather we fell prey to the rest of his plan?” Celestia snapped “This is absolutely necessary despite the obvious danger involved. Now open the sphere.”
Luna sighed, he horn glowing as the sphere dropped to the floor and started to dissolve. “Oh my!” she said, shocked by what was inside.
“Good gracious!” said Celestia.
“Knew it!” said Lightning with a smirk.
Tiny and fragile looking, Discord, shrunk down to the size of a child, was chewing on his own tail. The lake’s magic had somehow held on to Lightning’s wish and transferred it to the lord of chaos. What it came down to was, the tiny, almost cute, draconequis was the fiend that had terrorized the castle only hours ago.
“Dear god…” said Celestia “I…I don’t know what to do with this!”
“My thoughts precisely…” said Luna, examining the infant Discord “It’s not as if we can question him now. I doubt he has any memories at all now, he’s the equivalent of a newborn!”
“All the same…” said Celestia, sighing in resignation “There may be some hint… If we can’t get any information from…this…”
“We’ve given him enough chances,” said Luna “Perhaps it’s time we returned him to the eternal herd…”
“Indeed,” said Celestia “I think the…queen… would know how to best sentence his retribution…” she shuddered visibly at this, the idea of this queen seemingly something to be feared.
“Oh my gosh!” Lightning’s voice shattered the stoic silence into a million glass fragments “Just look at the little guy! He’s so cute!” she drawled the last word, making it sound like “Cyoot!”
“Cute…?” said Shadow, raising an eyebrow “Lightning, he’s a hundred monsters shoved together. Cute?”
“But look at his chubby little cheeks!” said Lightning with a smile. The tiny Discord responded with a very childish giggle and clapped his mismatched hands.
“He doesn’t have any memory…” said Luna, half to herself “If raised in the correct setting he could be a totally different person…”
“Don’t get too attached Lightning,” said Celestia “We’ll be sending him away as soon as is conveniently possible. It’s a pity we didn’t get any information from him, but he must face retribution for his crimes.”
“Retribution?” said Lightning “But look at him, he couldn’t hurt a fly!”
“It’s true he has no memory, Celestia,” said Luna “If we were to send him on to the queen he would be facing punishment for a crime he doesn’t know he even committed.”
“It would be for the better…” said Celestia firmly.
“Would you quit your yapping?” exclaimed Vinyl, sitting up on the bed “I’m trying to get some quality shuteye here and you idiots won’t shut up!”
Shadow took a quick step back; this grayed out Vinyl quite frankly scared him. “Why didn’t you just use a memory spell on her?” he said angrily “She should be back to normal by now!”
“A memory spell won’t work,” said Celestia “I tried, believe me, but she simply doesn’t have any memories to bring her back, she’s too young. It would take some sort of spectacular trauma to free her from the curse.”
“Idea!” Lightning suddenly shouted “What if Discord could prove he’s good? Come on Discord, change Vinyl back, please?”
Lightning quickly snatched Discord by the scruff and carried him over to the golden bed He stared into Vinyl’s grayed out eyes for barely a moment before reaching out and poking her snout. He gave a bubbly laugh as the gray fell off her in chunks, Vinyl slipping out of what looked like gray body armor.
“Ugh…what happened?” Vinyl groaned, looking weak and dizzy “Where am I? Is the party over? How much punch did I drink…?”
Shadow could’ve hugged her, but he didn’t “Vinyl!” He exclaimed “You have no idea how good it is to see you again!”
“Gosh where was I?” asked Vinyl, holding her head like she had some sort of splitting headache “I remember Discord was being a jerk but… I don’t know what happened after that…”
“Well Discord saved you!” said Lightning with a smile “See, Celestia? Can Discord stay now?”
Luna looked to Celestia expectantly, prompting a long sigh “Not in the castle,” Celestia said “We can send him to someone who can raise him properly. Fluttershy showed merit in reforming him, I can’t think of a better pony for the job.”
“And Ponyville’s all secluded and stuff!” said Lightning “It’s perfect! Thank you so much auntie!”
“Auntie?” queried Celestia.
Lightning was too busy playing with Discord’s tail to elaborate, and Shadow just shrugged. “I think it’s time for the little ones to go to bed.” Said Luna “Come on Shadow, Lightning, Vinyl, let’s go.”
“For the first time ever that actually doesn’t sound bad…” said Vinyl.
The next day would find Lightning walking out to the front hall with a huge smile on her face. Luna trotted next to her, levitated a small red wagon laden with suitcases. Saber was waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs, an exasperated expression on his face.
“You made the papers this time…” he said, pulling Lightning into a hug “You scare me you know that? You’ve got nine lives on you yet…”
“Saber, stop!” Lightning squealed, detaching herself from the hug “Everyone’s watching…”
Saber let out a chuckle “You go on vacation with what you can pack into your saddlebags and you’re coming home with luggage,” he said “You’ve got some good friends sis. Where is the new prince of Canterlot anyway?”
“I’m not sure…” said Luna, casting her gaze around the hall “I would’ve thought he would want to come down and see her off… I guess he and Vinyl are occupied with other things.”
“It’s okay,” said Lightning, smiling at a joke that Luna and Saber apparently couldn’t see “I bet they’re playing Fighting is Magic up in the tower. Come on big bro, let’s get going!”
“You seem awfully eager to leave,” said Saber, grunting a little as she tried and failed to pull the wagon that Luna had set on the ground “Trying to get away from something?”
“Just the upper crust,” said Lightning, sticking her tongue out as the wagon finally started to budge “All these snooty rich ponies are completely annoying!”
Saber took the wagon himself, pulling it away from the stairs easily “My word this is heavy…” he said “You didn’t skimp on the souvenirs did you?”
“Luna is a very generous princess,” said Lightning “Thanks again for letting me stay!”
“Any time,” said Luna with a kind smile “Perhaps Shadow will come see you soon. I’m sure I could arrange that in the near future.”
“I think I need a break from the craziness,” said Lightning, pushing on the back of the wagon to try and make Saber walk “Come on bro! We’ll miss the train!”
Deciding not to argue with her this time, Saber bowed in Luna’s direction “I take my leave your highness.”
“Come on Saber!” Lightning urged.
“Alright, goodbye!” said Luna with a laugh.
Saber and Lightning exited the castle at Light’s urgings, very quickly. “You know I was thinking we could stop somewhere and get something to eat,” said Saber “But I guess you’re in a real hurry to get out of Canterlot.”
“Yeah…” said Lightning, staring at one of her suitcases with a thoughtful expression “But I suppose one stop can’t hurt…”
“Well you know this place better than I do now,” said Saber with a laugh “Any requests?”
“Canterlot pastry Shoppe!” said Lightning immediately “Great doughnuts and there’s never anyone there!”
“Well lead the way!” said Saber.
Lightning found her heart sinking as she saw the banner hanging over the store. “Canterlot Pastry Shoppe, haven for the prince!” it read in huge red lettering. Shadow had told her this part of his escapade but she was surprised at Joe for milking the idea the way he did. What was even more of a shock to her was the fact it was actually working.
The store was cram-packed with customers of all shapes, sizes and species. There were plenty of unicorns of course but also pegasi and even a few buffalo were sitting around the classic diner tables. Joe quickly waved at the two from the counter.
“Well if it isn’t one of those clever kids responsible for my recent business boom!” he said excitedly “It’s good to see ya again Lightnin!”
“Thanks Joe…” said Lightning awkwardly.
“Pity Shadow ain’t here,” Joe continued “I owe him a bit of a debt of honor as well. Anyway I think y’all have earned a dozen on the house anyway eh? Whatcha hankerin for?”
“Made a lot of friends didn’t you…?” said Saber, a little intimidated now by his sister’s sheer connectivity.
Lightning took it completely in stride, ordering everything for them (which turned out to be well over a dozen, but Joe still gave it away) and almost at once proceeded to slip a few bags into her luggage, “Gotta have enough for the trip home,” she explained as Saber gave her a quizzical look.
As they sat down Saber couldn’t help but overhear some of the conversation at a nearby table. Two buffalo in the dressings of natives were talking rather animatedly to one another.
“I can’t believe the day’s almost upon us,” said one “That this is the last long winter we have to live through like we have, relying on the pony folk.”
“I don’t get what you’re so worked up about,” said the other “I don’t put any stock in those old legends and neither should you.”
“Well we’ll know soon enough,” said the first “It’s supposed to be this summer you know, ain’t gonna be long at all before we know for sure. I’m honestly banking on it. It’s only a legend because it’s got the merit to last so long as it has. And you have to admit it was oddly specific…”
“That the summer of this coming year our greatest ancient chief would be born again,” said the second “I don’t think those old elder’s tales are worth anything. If he’s coming back then him come. If he isn’t, I ain’t losing no sleep over it.”
Saber shifted his sword to a more readily reached position. He admitted to being somewhat suspicious of the buffalo and this little bit of intel seemed downright suspicious. He would file a report on this “newborn chief” idea when he got back, but for now it was best to keep his blade at the ready.
“I think it’s about time we got going…” he said to Lightning “Don’t mind packing up the rest do you?”
“Oh…uh…” said Lightning awkwardly “Of course…”
Saber was too busy trying to piece together the meaning of the buffalo’s talk to notice the suspicious nature of his sister. He took the wagon again and followed Lightning out of the store. He gave one more backwards glance to the buffalo, who were still deeply engaged in conversation, then turned away to continue out.
It was something of a boon that the princess had already covered the fare for their return trip. In the wake of the recent excitement tickets to leave Canterlot were as expensive as they had ever been. Even still, the tickets were sold out long before they arrived at the station, the first class seating they had been arranged with worth more than ever.
“I don’t suppose you’ve been keeping up with your practice?” Saber asked as they loaded their luggage onto the train car.
“Of course I have!” said Lightning indignantly “As a matter of fact I’ve come up with some great music while I was here!” she didn’t mention the boon she had received for playing on the streets, afraid Saber might not approve.
“Well that’s a great job,” said Saber with a smile “But I don’t think it’s gonna turn out as your talent. You can’t get much more advanced in music than making it yourself.”
“Shadow got his cutie mark…” said Lightning, sounding depressed “His special talent is moving shooting stars… It’s incredible…”
“Hey, you’ll get there,” said Saber encouragingly “It’s really early to be getting a cutie mark, and you could tell he was going to be an altitude flier. Not to mention I don’t think your talent is going to have to save all of Equestria in a moment of crisis. Or at least I hope not… you actually probably will…”
“Yeah…” said Lightning, stifling a laugh “You’re probably right.”
The train slowly started to shift forward, the sound of a whistle announcing the start of their journey back to Ponyville. Lightning watched out the window as Canterlot slowly shrank away. Saber took out a book on combat strategy and began to read. There was plenty of space in the first class car; it seemed to be made to house four even though they were the only two. It was even more plush than the basic first class which Light and Shadow had snuck into on the way. It all seemed like a distant memory now…
Silence fell into the train car quickly, the sound of tracks beneath muffled by the thick iron walls. When the whistle ceased all sound in the car went with it. Lightning found herself growing bored quickly, looking from Saber’s book to the window repeatedly.
“Oh come on…” she said quietly “We have to be far enough away by now…” she glared up at her luggage, seeming somehow angry at it.
Saber looked up from his book “If you want to get something out of your bag go ahead,” he said “I can get it back up there.”
“It’s not that…” said Lightning, but didn’t elaborate, letting silence creep back into the car.
A loud belch promptly broke the silence, and Lightning let out a grin. “The gig is up,” she said “Come on. Canterlot’s way off in the distance now.”
“What are you…?” Saber began, but quickly stopped as he looked up to where one of the suitcases was shifting on the rack. It rocked back and forth for a moment before dropping right off the rack and landing with a thud on the floor.
“Ouch!” exclaimed the bag “What happened?”
Another bag fell on top of the first, causing two shouts this time. “Is there something alive in there…?” said Saber in amazement.
The zipper on the second bag illuminated with blue light as it slowly opened. A huge poof of mane emerged, followed by the white form of a unicorn. “Tough trip eh?” said Vinyl, holding back a laugh at Saber’s dumbfounded expression. A muffled shouting continued from the first bag, so Vinyl shifted the one she had been stuck in to free the pony trapped in the first.
“I don’t see why I had to go in the bag with your speakers…” said a very annoyed Shadow, emerging from the bag and rubbing a steadily swelling bump on his head “It’s your stuff after all…”
“You got more doughnuts,” said Lightning with a smile “Why didn’t you guys come out earlier? We’re a long way from Canterlot now.”
“I was stuck in the luggage rack until stargazer here decided to move his flaming flank,” said Vinyl, rolling her eyes “I almost lost my manna battery with all that moving around, I could hardly breathe in there either.”
“She’s been making puns about my cutie mark all day…” Shadow moaned “It was hard enough breathing in there without having to listen to her…”
“Do I take your breath away star-head?” asked Vinyl with a giggle “Thought you’d be used to an oxygen-free environment by now.”
“Shut up!” Shadow exclaimed “Just shut up!”
“Hold on…” said Saber, holding up a hoof for silence “You three planned all this?”
“Long story…” said Lightning.
“I have time…” said Saber.
“Well I wanted to go back to Ponyville as soon as possible for obvious reasons,” said Shadow “But mom said I still had a lot of stuff to do at the castle so me and Vinyl had to stick around. Well Lightning got all depressed because she was going to be alone…”
“That was you…” said Lightning.
“Nope, it had to be you,” said Shadow, sticking his tongue out “I had Vinyl.”
“I’m with Shadow,” said Vinyl “But that isn’t important. I got this great idea to pack up my speakers and ride along with Lightning in the luggage. Shadow didn’t think it was a good idea, so I just shoved him in with the speakers.”
“I didn’t want to ride with those chunky speakers of yours,” said Shadow, glaring at Vinyl “So I tried to get into another bag but you threw me back in!”
“And the rest is history!” Lightning finished with a smile “They got on the train free and they’re going to stay at Shadow’s house!”
Saber could only stare dumbfounded at the three grinning foals in front of him. They must have thought themselves extraordinarily clever, and he hated to admit that they probably were. Gutsy too, he couldn’t think of anyone else that age willing to sit inside a suitcase for hours let alone against the will of the princess.
“Mom and dad would be proud of you…” said Saber, surrendering reason and starting to read again.
“You bet they would!” said Lightning, pleased with this new development “Come on Shadow, you brought the game colt didn’t you? I’ve got a feeling this is gonna be a long boring trip.”
Hundreds of miles away, in a place as dark as a patch of midnight that had never been swept away, there was a deep dark caver. The forest that housed this cavern was called the Neverspring and it was known for one thing and one thing only, for no pony had ever dared enter it.
Neverspring was the forest that hid the changeling hive.
Setting being well established we can gaze deep into the cavern that is the hive, past the glowing green crystals that line the walls and the patrolling drones and gaze into the throne room of the queen. Chrysalis, in all of her cheese legged glory.
Today Chrysalis had a very special visitor, a cloaked and hooded pony. She had been expecting this guest and was somewhat pleased to see him
“Your presence here confirms the victory of Discord?” Chrysalis cooed softly “My troops are ready to move at your command.”
“Discord has proven himself incompetent of fulfilling his task. Phase two of operation Everfree will be carried out in the B clause.”
“No kidding?” said Chrysalis curiously “But of course you never kid…”
“My hope is that you will have the ability to make up for Discord’s catastrophic failure. My assumption of your ability leaves me unsure of your abilities. I would’ve had more fait if Discord had succeeded…”
“Do not hold me similar to that snake creature…” Chrysalis hissed “You can heavily expect success where he has failed.”
“Unfortunately that’s what he said. My faith in you should not determine the success or failure of this operation; you should do your work quietly and diligently.”
Before Chrysalis could deliver another retort the pony was gone. She cast a green eyed stare about, making absolute certain he had vanished, then stood up from her throne.
“I’m going out for awhile,” she addressed the female changeling standing next to her throne “Abby dear; you’re in charge of the hive while I’m away.”
“Yes mother…” said the changeling with a bow.

> Intermission 1: In which I make an utter fool of myself
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	At the end of each story arc the characters most relevant from the story will typically enter a nice little area where there is nothing obstructing them.  You or I might see it as white space, but to them it looks more like a stage, lit, set up, and ready to go. It all really kind of depends on your viewpoint… We have our essentially main three characters, Lightning, Shadow, and Vinyl. I’m not going to bore you with physical descriptions because if you’ve made it this far I’ve annoyed you with their characteristics many times already…
Anyway allow me to explain the intermissions. Between each individual story arc (Yes I already said that) an author must reaffirm the base personality of the characters while somehow not slowing the story down too much. Most of the time this consists of a short rest at the supposed “Home Area” or sometimes a side adventure with a more lighthearted theme. Honestly I hate both of these mechanics… they bore me. My tool? This right here.
The intermission is a scene where I pretty much join my characters for a friendly chat on this talk-show reminiscent stage (though to you it’s just white space, unless you see some sort of other image behind the words you’re looking at) and basically we will…
“Hey Comet?” says Lightning.
Oh? Yes?
“Shut up.” says Lightning.
Um…right…I guess it kind of is your turn to talk isn’t it?
“Yeah it is,” said Vinyl “Now sit down and shut up.”
What’s the good of being an author if I don’t even have omniscient control over my characters? Fine! I take my designated spot.
“Hey can I describe you?” asked Shadow “I mean it’s only fair, after all you described all of us.”
What? Oh…well…I guess it can’t hurt…
“Alright!” said Shadow, looking me over with a quizzical look “Comet Chaser, our author, looks a bit like me I suppose… After all he is…”
“No spoilers!” Lightning exclaimed “We aren’t allowed to give spoilers!”
“Okay sheesh…” said Shadow.
Everyone, myself included, freeze. Vinyl is somehow able to move so she turns to address the readers “Just a quick something before we really get into this,” she says “This next part is going to be really, REALLY, silly and kind of useless. It has no bearing on the actual story and may offend some people and/or show spoilers for the rest of the story. If you are not interested in seeing this, go to the top left of your screen, click the back button, and go to Chapter 12. Well…assuming it exists by now…which it very well may not… I’m telling you all this because I’m not an original character, so you have to listen to me. If you still want to read on, I’m not stopping you, but you have been warned.”
Vinyl leans back again and everyone moves again. “Alright no spoilers,” said Shadow “But anyway. He’s a Pegasus, which I think is stupid because authors should be unicorns, but anyway he has black fur and his mane looks black, but it’s actually green (Or so he says…). Again this is stupid.”
You’ll be singing a different tune by the end of this story…
“Dang it, I don’t know what that means!” Shadow shouts “Just because we can think for ourselves doesn’t mean we have your omniscient power thing!”
“Speaking of which I really don’t like the end of Chapter 11,” said Lightning “I wanted it to end with one of my lines, but you just had to go look at the hive…”
“You didn’t give enough exposition on that either,” said Vinyl “You mentioned Princess Abdomen of the changelings once, and you called her Abby. And again, does she even have any bearing on the story?”
Look, I have to leave some mystery for the story, not everyone is going to read this part and honestly I’m not sure they should. This is really more of a chance for me to get to know you better as my characters.
“And a chance to laugh at how dumb you are,” said Lightning, to which Shadow laughs “Anyway you want to get to know us? Ask us anything.”
“Except about me,” said Vinyl “I’m in so many stories you can’t type me.”
You’re in the actual show! But anyway you haven’t even had lines there yet.
“Speaking of the show,” said Shadow “I’m having a bit of trouble with the timeline on this… Considering my mom only returned from the moon recently how do I exist…?”
I put one or two years during, and between each season. In this head canon it’s been anywhere from ten to fifteen years since Luna’s return. Consider now, the fact that you are seven. Does it make sense now?
“But the mane six…” Vinyl starts but I interrupt her.
They don’t have any importance here. Except maybe Twilight… But I accept the idea they could be anywhere from 12 to 16 in the first season, but I don’t have any trouble believing they’ve completely grown up since then.
“I still don’t fit in,” said Vinyl “I’m the same age as the six in all my appearances.”
The age reversal spell set your age back almost twenty years, just as the bracelets sprung Lightning and Shadow forward the same amount.
“I had a question about that too,” said Shadow “How did those age spells work exactly?”
The bracelets didn’t affect your age directly, but rather maturity. You swapped with the first ones you thought of when they started glowing.
“My first thought was how much trouble we’d be in with Celestia…” Lightning admitted.
“I just wanted mom…” said Shadow, clearly embarrassed.
And that takes care of that!
“Wait a minute, what about the magic water?” said Vinyl, narrowing her eyes at me “I think it’s awfully convenient they had two age spells readily available on the castle grounds…”
There weren’t, at least technically not. The statues held massive amounts of base magic in them and were, as Lightning correctly guessed, triggered by water. It flowed along the first conductive path the magic found to follow. That could be an inner desire, a base need, or especially a direct wish. It was imbued with Lightning’s desire to return to her normal age.
“You’re not a very good author if you have to explain that directly…” said Shadow.
You think so? Well that is technically a spoiler because now I have the statues to use as a plot device I could bring them back. For the sake of linear exposition I’m probably going to have to.
“Speaking of linear exposition how did we get here?” asked Lightning “How does this fit into the story?”
It doesn’t.
“So this technically isn’t happening?” asked Vinyl.
No, it’s happening, otherwise it wouldn’t be here.
“Then…how…?” Shadow stammers.
None of you will remember any of this; to you the next thing that happens will be Chapter 12. You’ll have totally different memories of what happened in between.
“So we don’t even exist between chapters?” Shadow asked.
Technically you don’t exist at all, but yes, I control what you do and do not know. So for now you know I exist, but you won’t remember that when you get back to your place in the story.
“Speaking of remembering,” said Vinyl “You make a lot of allusions to the past I can’t remember but you never established that at all. Is that a failure on your part? Or do you have yet another convenient excuse?”
The real reason you lost your memory was to not spoil anything in your back story, Allons-y. Everyone freezes to allow me to say that you can find that off to the right of the story. Unfreeze; and that story exists in the same universe as this one, just earlier in the timeline.
“So you used a back story you only just started to base a huge chunk of the story around?” asked Lightning incredulously “Can you do that?”
I can do whatever I want. I’m the author.
“So you control everything we do?” asked Shadow, head drooping “There goes my whole sense of individuality, heck you’re even controlling what I say now aren’t you?”
Sort of, more documenting events. I’m more of a specific god than an omnipotent one.
“What?” said Lightning.
I made you as characters, but after that I almost instantly lost control. You, as characters, will do certain things in certain situations that I can’t legitimately change. Well, I could, but if I did that I wouldn’t have a story so much as a jumbled mess…
“So you gave us free will?” asked Vinyl.
At the risk of adding more fuel to the fire of my growing god complex, yes. It’s called character momentum, meaning the less I have left to establish about you the less control I actually have over you. Shadow, you’re probably the most in control of anyone here because this story is essentially a documentation of your life specifically.
“Awesome,” said Shadow “Do I get to have control over you?”
Over what I write I suppose.
“So I actually have more power over you than you have over me right?” asked Shadow.
Well…um… I fumble a little bit here because I completely realize this kid is right, but there’s no way in Tartarus I would tell him that.
However I do move on to mention that for the time being I still have a lot of control over Vinyl, as she hasn’t really been well established as a character.
“Well whose fault is that?” asked Vinyl angrily ‘I would love more story time, but you keep cutting me out!”
Alright you have one aspect of totalitarian freedom, you have a short fuse. Of course your personality is intentionally underdeveloped for now so as to leave a bit of breathing room between here and Allons-y. I could, for instance, make it so you calm down quickly in an attempt to prove yourself superior.
“Like I care…” Said Vinyl, still seething slightly.
Though I will admit her personality is a lot more distinct in Allons-y, I still have the freedom to make her a totally different pony in her foal hood. I actually don’t have any intention of doing that, but the possibility makes it fun to, say, put a disclaimer in her words.
“I said that myself…” Vinyl grumbled.
Because I made you think it was an incredibly clever thing to say.
“What about me?” asked Lightning.
You are actually one of the most interesting characters I have. I didn’t create you, someone else did. AS a matter of fact a lot of the story thus far was created cooperatively. I’ve taken a few creative liberties but as a character you are mostly, if not totally, unchanged. I really just took away your affinity for shades, which I thought was silly.
“Do you actually have the right to do that?” asked Shadow.
I told you, I’m the author, I can do whatever I bloody well please.
“But…” said Vinyl.
No buts, anyway, Lightning, is there anything else you wanted to elaborate on?
“Yeah I guess,” said Lightning, “This story arc actually is the end of Comet’s cooperative effort for now, and certainly the end of it in this story. From now on, at least in this story, I’m running from here entirely on his story.”
Well that isn’t entirely true, there is still one part of the cooperative effort left unwritten and that’s Lightning’s cutie mark story.
“Oh finally…” said Lightning.
In the original story she actually earned her cutie mark first, but I cut that, as well as one important battle, and moved it to a point very near the end of the story.
“You’ve got to be joking…” Lightning groaned, putting her head in her hooves “You had my hopes up…”
Calm down Light, you’ll get there.
“Wait, you said end of the story,” said Shadow, head tilting slightly “Didn’t you advertise this once or twice as a sort of never-ending story? Our story is gonna end?”
You calm down too. Yes this story has developed a definitive ending point. You shouldn’t be worried about that for a couple of reasons though. The first is that the end of the story isn’t for a great many chapters. The second is that even after the story ends you as characters are going to continue.
“You’re confusing me…” said Vinyl “Put it plain and simple alright?”
I don’t think so, that’s kind of a big spoiler.
“Hey, they’ve been warned,” said Shadow “We won’t remember any of this anyway. Come on, tell us.”
Well…okay. But if the readers don’t want pretty much the entire story spoiled, cut out this paragraph. The story of Light and Shadow is kind of a middle story. It started as a standalone but I was struck by inspiration (pardon the pun) currently in the works called Truth. That’s the story of your dad Shadow. Anyway the way this story progresses there gets to be too many main characters to continue to call it Light and Shadow fairly. So when I’ve got almost the whole team I’m going to cut out two years of the story and pick up with a whole new one. Sound like an important two years to miss? Don’t worry; you’ll remember it like it actually happened.
You can start reading again.
“I suppose that’s fair…” said Shadow.
Of course it’s fair, for the third time I’m the author and I can do whatever I decide to do with the story. I decide what is and isn’t fair. Yours is not the reason why…
“We get it! Move on!” Lightning said angrily.
Well I’m not sure you exactly want me to move on. Unless you have something else to say I’m going to go ahead and talk to some of my other original characters in order to put some more establishment into some of the points I accidently left somewhat vague…
“Yeah I guess we’re done.” Said Vinyl.
“Thanks for reading guys!” said Lightning with a broad smile “It really is awesome to have you here with us, you’re all awesome!”
“If you had the patience to stay with our story this far, you really are fantastic,” said Shadow “It’s readers like you who keep our story alive! Your feedback is really appreciated by all of us, and just being here is really great for us!”
“You guys are awesome!” said Vinyl, smiling as her horn glowed “We’re outta here for now, but we’re excited to see you in Chapter 12!”
There is a burst of bright blue magic as our favorite trio vanished. I guess it’s time I brought in some of the other characters I created for the story…
“You suck!” Came a voice from an unseen source.
Excuse me?
“You heard me!” Letterheart shouted, walking into view looking livid “You’re a terrible person! How could you create me to be in this much pain? You force feed every bit of information you have about the story into my brain! Why would the author create a character with all his knowledge and none of his power? Why would you do that?”
Spoiler alert here. You’re a pivotal character for the story Pi. Just like you there is another character with author-like powers. While you know everything and have no power he has my power but knows nothing about the future of the story. You know who he is.
“Of course I know him!” Letterheart shouted “And he’s probably in just as much pain as I am! On top of that everyone who reads this will think I’m a cheap rip off from Life of Pi!”
That is a terribly convoluted viewpoint; I haven’t even gotten any comments about that. The only thing you share with that character is a name. You two are nothing alike! For one you are a girl, this other Pi is a male. Second, the other Pi is not omniscient like you are. And third, you have two totally separate personalities. It’s like saying King Arthur and Arthur the aardvark are the same character! If I see any complaints about that, I’m deleting them.
“People are stupid,” said Letterheart “You’re going to get complaints and people will hate me…”
Hey, Letterheart, you and I both know that isn’t true. The community you and I are working to benefit doesn’t judge like that. I’m sure the readers will love you. And if they don’t all we can do is try.
“I suppose…” said Letterheart.
That’s it, now get back to the story and give it your best! You and I both sister!
“You based me on yourself…” said Letterheart.
I did no such thing. As you can plainly see I am a male author and you are a female character.
“You put your distracted intelligence in me to make it harder to identify,” said Letterheart “It’s a far cry from self insertion to the story but you’ve clearly already done that…”
I forgot how much I hated real adult conversation…
“You just don’t realize how futile it is to argue with yourself,” said Letterheart “Especially when the character you pour soul into is not only smarter than you, but a girl.”
You, get out, I’m tired of you being right. As a matter of fact I’m going to force you. Letterheart turns around and walks out.
“I’m not done with you!” she shouts “You haven’t heard the last of me! I’ll be back next intermission!”
In a dozen chapters? I think I can wait that long. That’s even assuming this story survives that far into the future… Gosh I would hate for all my inspiration to just be wasted like that… Oh well, whose next?
“That’d be me,” said Nightwing, stepping into view “And I have to say sir that this is an honor that you would consider me important enough to elaborate on.”
It’s no trouble. Besides, the inclusion of a bat winged pony can’t exactly be brought in without explanation.
“Sure we can, we are canon after all!” says Nightwing.
Your existence I suppose, but where you fit into the whole story as a whole is entirely head canon. A lot of ponies think you’re an illusion created by Luna, others think you’re demons. Theories abound around the lunar charioteers.
“Well I’m clearly none of those,” said Nightwing “Would you care to tell our readers how the system really works?”
Actually I was hoping to leave that to you. Go on, tell our readers about your career.
“Oh, well thank you,” said Nightwing “Well since Luna returned the royal guard has been divided into the lunar and solar divisions. The lunar guard is one of barely a few employment opportunities for ponies with the mutation of bat wings, since most think that it’s some kind of witchcraft.”
What about the stratification of the guard?
“You made it, you should know,” said Nightwing “But I desist. The guards are hoof chosen by the princesses and assigned to the lowest tier. Then you can become a next tier guard after so long in service and all the up to a very few at tier ten. Usually there are about five tenth tier for lunar guard and five from the solar. I’m a seventh tier, somewhat prestigious.”
And Shining Armor was…?
“Used to be a tenth tier solar guard,” said Nightwing “He was decided by the princesses to be the captain, or leader, of the guard after Umbra Chaser. Umbra was actually the first of the lunar guard to be appointed since the lunar guard was created. It’s a shame he only held the position for a year or two. That position has a habit of changing hooves rather frequently. Shining was in the service for, comparatively, a very long time.”
Well thank you for your time Nightwing. I know you didn’t spoil anything or get any unwarranted information, but I’m still going to erase your memory of these events.
“I understand,” said Nightwing “But I am glad to have made the impression, even if I won’t remember it later.”
Thank you for your time Nightwing. Nightwing bows and walks off. Now there is one more character that can be brought in without the ruin of mystery to the story, though she is shrouded in a bit of mystery herself. Now I warn you all that this is the biggest spoiler in the whole of the intermission. Like, bigger than all the others, so much so it’s probably better that you not continue reading at all. Even if you’re okay with all the other spoilers so far, this still has the horrifying potential to ruin the whole story for you. So if you have ANY desire for this story to have ANY suspense for you. Stop reading now!
“Oh my…” comes a quiet voice from offstage “Is it really all that trouble? I won’t come out if it will be that much of a burden to everyone…”
Oh no! No, no, no, no, no, no! Please, it’s no trouble! If anyone is offended by your entrance they’ve been warned. Though you’re really not that big of a spoiler… I just wanted to emphasize how awesome you are.
“I still don’t want offend anyone…” the voice continues “Please…will anyone be offended?”
I’ll just delete any comments that don’t like you. Please, just come over here. I do very much want to talk to you.
A small zebra filly, which an observant reader would recognize as Zecora’s unnamed daughter from earlier in the story comes into view. Her ears and nose twitch a bit, learning the surroundings better than you or I could hope to, and she stands in the middle of wherever we are.
“Um…hello everyone…” she says softly “My… my name is… mister Comet, should I tell them?”
That’s one of the more clumsily kept secrets of the story. Go ahead and say it, but only use one line of text so they can skip it over just in case they don’t want to know.
“Okay…” she said “My name is Iris…Iris stripes…”
Thank you. Now Iris…oops… you know if you’ve read this far you can kind of expect to deal with spoilers like that.
“Um…mister Shadow…” said Iris sheepishly “Were you talking to me just now? Or the readers?”
The readers, sorry Iris. Now why don’t you tell us a little about yourself? Don’t reveal too much though.
“Um… can you please…?” said Iris “I really don’t like talking to lots of people… And I’m not sure how much I should say…”
Alright, I’ll tell you what, we won’t give any details about you other than some interesting plot facts about you as a character. The next chapter is going to tell enough about that anyway. I should mention something about my double avant-garde in the author’s note…
“Okay…” said Iris, stammering a little “What should I do…?”
Well if you want to do something cute I’m sure the readers would love that.
“But…” Iris squeaked, scrunching herself up into a little ball, covering her blind eyes with her tail “I don’t know how to be cute…”
Perfect!
“W-what…?” Iris stammered.
Iris is actually the favorite character I’ve ever brought to the series. I know because I brought her in almost the same time as Snowdrop that there may be some controversy about her originality. For what it’s worth though, Iris has been in the works ever since I started making OCs for MLP. She was created very soon after Light and Shadow, even before the story evolved to contain Vinyl. Since the original story (The awful version which no longer exists thank god) was started long after the planning stage reached this far. It wouldn’t be posted for three months after it was started, meaning it has been almost a year and a half since her character was originally idealized. If she is based on a pre-existing character, it would be Toph Bei-fong.
“My name is there before I’m introduced…” said Iris sheepishly “Why is that…?”
Technically you still haven’t been introduced. However I do like to allude to startlingly obvious things. Shadow’s obvious infatuation with you and Vinyl’s obvious infatuation with him was my first ever successful attempt at a love triangle. And the best part? I didn’t even realize it was happening!
“What…?” Iris squeaks “Shadow was…?”
At first I considered shipping Shadow and Lightning, but since Lightning really isn’t my character that would get weird really fast. Vinyl wasn’t anyone’s character but the community’s so she was the next obvious choice. There’s another reason for her infatuation too, but that is a secret I’m still keeping. Very early on I knew I would have to build some complicated interrelationships and Iris, you just make that job so much easier.
“Thank you…?” Iris stammers.
You’re quite welcome. You can leave now if you like, there isn’t anything else I planned to ask you.
“May I say goodbye to the readers…?” Iris asked.
Please do so.
Iris blushes and bows toward the distant seen words that are the story, and beyond that the readers “I can’t hear you when you’re so far away…” she said softly “But everyone tells me you’re out there. I just want you to know… If you’re there… I appreciate you…” Iris squeaks and scurries quickly off the stage.
Well I guess that’s the last I’m going to see of you for a good few chapters. Just remember that this event technically never happened, and it has no significant bearing on the story. Also, since it would be pointless to deliver an author’s note because I’ve been talking to you this whole time.
This whole “Intermission” thing is the result of my tired brain running on fumes for inspiration. A little bit more development here has the convenient plot tool of allowing my characters to take a little better shape without the chance of injuring the whole story.
And I may or may not have been a little drunk; I know I was certainly a little bored.
Anyways, if you’re reading this it means I was not only crazy enough to type this up, but also to submit it. Hopefully I won’t take this to mean I don’t need a chapter next week, but that is what an intermission is, the chance for the actors (or the author) to catch their breath before clambering back on stage.
Thanks for reading Light and Shadow!
Not so much for reading this part…
-CC

> Chapter 12 Temporal Tower
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Shadow!” Lightning’s voice floated through his sleep weary head “I know you’re in there. If you don’t let me in I’m climbing through a window!”
Shadow was sitting, more lying really, on a blanket he and Vinyl had rolled out on the floor. He had hardly been awake for five minutes and Lightning was already trying to break down the door. Of course there wasn’t much he could do about it, they had magically locked it and Vinyl was still, somehow, asleep. The biggest problem that he was too tired to yell at Lightning to just go ahead and use the window.
A crash from the back of the house confirmed he was correct in sparing the trouble. “Sheesh,” said Lightning “Could you get up off your flank already? It’s winter wrap up day! We can’t be late!”
“Sure we can…” Vinyl grumbled from the bookshelf/bed “See if I care…”
“Come on Vinyl…” said Shadow hoarsely, forcing himself to his hooves “We have to get up and so do you.” He was familiar enough with the morning routine by now to dodge the pillow that was flung his direction.
“Fine, for Celestia’s sake, I’m awake!” Vinyl shouted, flopping onto the floor flank first “What were we doing to do today?”
“I told you, it’s winter wrap up!” said Lightning exasperatedly “We need to get the area around the house snow-free!”
“I thought we weren’t old enough to have to do winter wrap up…” said Vinyl.
“We aren’t,” said Lightning casually “But they don’t clean up winter this close to the forest because it’s supposed to melt on its own.”
“Yeah, and I don’t want to wait that long to have a front yard again,” said Shadow “Cheer up Vinyl; unlike regular winter wrap up you can actually use your magic to help here!”
“Are you sure you want her doing that?” asked Lightning “That would make our jobs redundant don’t you think?”
“Yeah, it will,” said Vinyl “So why don’t you two go on without me? I’m gonna snag a little more shuteye.”
Lightning rolled her eyes “Let’s go,” she said “I bet she’ll follow us the moment she realizes we left without her. Get the door please Vinyl?”
Vinyl grunted and unlocked the door. Lightning gave a smirk and walked outside into the shallow snow. Shadow gave a backwards glance at Vinyl, and then followed her out.
“I’m not exactly sure where to start…” said Lightning, looking from the slushy snow to the dark clouds, then to the snow-covered forest trees. “I didn’t think it would be this bad…”
“It’s winter,” said Shadow with a shrug “Maybe I can just tumble an asteroid down here. It would melt this snow and burst the clouds!”
“Have you actually tried that since Canterlot?” asked Lightning “I think you might end up doing more harm than good…”
Shadow involuntarily brought a hoof up to the jagged black line in his mane. The burns on his wings and coat had healed leaving only a bit of light scarring, but the stripe seemed to be permanent. “I did once…” he confessed “Just to, you know, see if I could still do it…”
“And…?” Lightning asked.
Shadow shivered “Let’s just say I was lucky it’s cold…” he said.
“Let’s not…” said Lightning “Come on Shadow, what happened?”
“Well…” said Shadow “It was in the middle of the night, and I had gotten up because I had a bad dream. Vinyl was still asleep, so I got up to get a drink when I saw a flash of light from out the window. I jumped out to see what it was…but I already kind of knew…”
“Did you chase it?” Lightning asked.
“I tried…” said Shadow “It went way faster than me though. I think I have to get to them before they leave the black sky if I want to catch them. But after I tried to follow it for awhile I got an angle on it so I could finally get closer… And then it just… exploded! Not like a little explosion either, I mean like a magic bomb going off in the sky. The trees near it caught fire, and the clouds burst. If it hadn’t been snowing I think the whole forest would’ve burned down…”
“And Vinyl slept through all this…?” Lightning asked.
“That was my first thought,” said Shadow with a shrug “I don’t really think she wants to be here… She doesn’t, you know, fit with us.”
“I kind of noticed that too…” said Lightning “But a meteor did all that?” You have to learn to stop these things Shadow!”
“I know…” he said dejectedly “But I don’t know when we’re going to have one fall so I can’t really get to them on time…” He sighed, kicking up some of the snow which splattered against itself as it fell back down “It makes me feel like it isn’t really my destiny…”
“You can’t really deny that,” said Lightning with a smile “That cutie mark hasn’t faded yet.”
“I know…” he said, looking up at the clouds “The only reason I have it at all is because I got lucky… so many things had to fall perfectly into place…”
“You sound like a canterlite,” said Lightning with a giggle “Just because your mom lives there doesn’t mean you have to talk like a prissy unicorn.”
Shadow couldn’t help but crack a smile at this “You’re right,” he said “Now where should we start this project?”
“What? You aren’t going to go get a meteor?” asked Lightning, sounding disappointed “We would be done so fast…”
“I don’t know…” said Shadow “It just doesn’t seem safe… I could hit the house, or you! I don’t think it’s worth the risk…”
“That’s not the Shadow I know!” said Lightning, slugging his shoulder “You’re going to get out of practice if you keep this up! Come on! Go, fight, win!”
“But…” Shadow stammered.
“No buts!” said Lightning “Go star-chaser!”
Shadow immediately took off, as much to get away from Lightning’s shouting than anything else. He had to struggle a little to push through the thick clouds, but in the end he managed to move through, blinking in the bright sunlight on the other side. He smiled, standing on the cloudy perch, savoring the warmth of the sun on his wings. It was good to enjoy the heat now. Any second now it would be uncomfortably warm…
Lightning bounced excitedly as the gray clouds lit up with an orange glow. She hadn’t gotten a good look at Shadow’s last meteor hunt so this was going to be interpreted as a great show. There was a loud whistling, evidently the meteor, as the light grew brighter, the clouds starting to part overhead.
The ball of fire descended faster than a thunderbolt, the whistling sound culminating in a fantastic explosion as it touched down. It was not a huge explosion, but it was still marvelous. Sunlight beamed down through the hole made in the clouds, illuminating the blackened ground where the meteor had landed perfectly. The snow for yards around the smoking crater had evaporated, covering the whole area in a light fog.
Shadow landed almost a minute behind, apparently having let go and flown back up. He’d been less clumsy about the job this time; only the tips of his wings and his hooves had been singed. He smiled up at the sunlight and silently mouthed the word “two”.
“That was awesome!” Lightning shouted, rushing through the steadily dissipating mist to glomp Shadow “That was so, freaking, awesome!”
“It was a really little one…” said Shadow, blushing wildly “And I pretty much just threw it when I got close to the clouds. I spent the rest of the time trying to stop falling…”
“Doesn’t matter,” said Lightning “That was still totally awesome.” She suddenly jumped up “I just thought of something!”
“What’s that?” Shadow asked, standing as well.
Lightning darted over to the crater that had been made and pawed inquisitively at it. She dashed over to the edge of the dried ring and grabbed a hoof full of snow then tossed it onto the meteorite. It hissed slightly, but not all the snow melted. She smiled, and then forced her hooves down hard on the rock. There was a crack like thunder as the rock split open.
Shadow flinched, painfully reminded again of the strength of earth ponies, and looked in wonder at the rock again. It had split perfectly down the middle. Well, not perfectly, it was of course somewhat jagged, but it seemed to run right along the tiny craters on the surface. It was what was inside, however, that seemed wonderful.
A solid white chunk of crystal glimmered in the sunlight, many facets seeming to sparkle with ethereal light of its own. Lightning bounced up and down in excitement “Crystals!” she squeaked excitedly “How much do you think it’s worth? Do you think that’s diamond? Oh my gosh this is so exciting!”
“I don’t know…” said Shadow skeptically “I don’t think you could’ve broken a diamond. Maybe it’s quartz? Zirconium?”
“How do you know about all those rocks?” asked Lightning, sounding impressed.
“I study,” said Shadow simply, not willing to admit he was naming random words he had heard in geology class “Wait a minute… I know what it could be!”
“Is it quartz?” asked Lightning “Do you think Rarity will buy it?”
Shadow carefully stepped closer to the meteor, leaned forward, and licked the crystal. “Ew!” Lightning exclaimed “I hope you’ve had your shots!”
“Yep!” said Shadow, wings fluttering “I knew it! Come on Lightning! Taste it!”
“No way!” said Lightning backing up out of the crater “That’s gross!”
Shadow laughed “No it isn’t!” he said “It’s salt!”
Lightning blinked “Salt…?” she said curiously “Like the kind you have on chips?”
“That’s it!” said Shadow “It’s really tasty! But I bet it’s only worth like two bits for the whole thing…”
“Well I guess we won’t sell it.” Said Lightning moving forward again and taking a lick herself “You’re right! It’s good! Let’s take it back to the house and share it with Vinyl!”
“I just don’t know how we can get it out of the crater,” said Shadow “I suppose we could…”
He was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a high pitched scream. Both of them turned quickly toward the forest where the scream seemed to be emanating from.
“What was that?” asked Lightning, sounding frightened.
“Some pony is in there!” Shadow exclaimed, taking off quickly “Come on, we have to help them!”
“But…but…” Lightning stammered “That’s the forest… D-don’t you remember what happened last time…?”
Shadow fell back down to earth, staring toward the trees “I know…” he said, uncharacteristically quiet “And that’s why we need to go help whoever it is… because they might not be able to escape like we did…”
Lightning was stunned for a moment. She had always thought of herself as the brave and adventurous one, but that snake had taken the place of her greatest, well…second greatest, fear. And yet rather than be intimidated by it. Shadow was inspired by it. She realized for the first time that Shadow might be better than her. She gritted her teeth, like heck was she gonna let that happen.
“Hey wait up!” Lightning called, tumbling out of the crater and running after Shadow. The fear was still there, no less powerful, but her determination to be the best was far greater.
Together they shot full tilt toward the trees. Shadow was not happy to realize that Lightning was actually just a little bit faster than he was, but that didn’t matter right now. The long drawn-out scream had been replaced by the softer sound of sobs. Shadow didn’t hesitate to follow the tiny noise around the trees in hot pursuit of its source.
“Do you see any pony?” asked Lightning, who had slowed as they crossed the tree line, intimidated by the darkness.
“Not yet…” said Shadow, alighting on a tree branch and swiveling his ears in order to get a better idea of where the sound was coming from. He could almost swear he heard it somewhere before…
“The snow’s making it hard to hear,” said Lightning who was indeed pushing through the slushy, but still thick blanket of snow hiding the leaf mold “We need to go back… find a grownup…”
“I’m not giving up…” said Shadow determinedly flitting from tree to tree to try and listen in better “Does that voice sound familiar to you?”
“No…” said Lightning, sounding frightened now “Shadow… what if it’s a monster that impersonates the sounds of people in trouble? It might be a trap!”
This thought momentarily held Shadow in place. The whimpering was clearer than ever now, muffled sobs, why would they be muffled though? Could Lightning be right?
“Mommy…” coherent words finally burst through the cloud of crying “Mommy… help me…”
He knew that voice, he knew he knew that voice, and he wasn’t prepared to risk the idea of leaving someone he knew to the dangers of the Everfree forest.
“Stay there Light,” he said, flying toward the sound, still a little wary of shape shifting creatures. His ears twitched as he turned again, trying to follow the sound, but it seemed to keep shifting. It still sounded muffled, as if very far away, but the way it reached his ears he might’ve been right on top of them…
“Do you want me to go back for help?” Lightning called forward, having rooted herself to the spot when Shadow had shouted at her.
“Just stay…” said Shadow, confused more than ever now “If something bad happens you can run back…” His eyes turned toward, travelling over the snow…snow…snow!
A small drift near one of the tall pines caught his attention, this explained it! They were trapped in the snow! A shivering stripe of black could be seen in the drift and he dove for it. No wonder he hadn’t seen them before! This pony’s black and white coat blended into the snow.
Unable to think of a faster way to dislodge the poor soul, he grabbed hold of the tail poking out and yanked it hard. A loud squeak came from the pile as he tumbled backwards, the black and white shape popping out of the snow and falling on top of him. Red eyes met misty purple ones, a look of recognition meeting sightless eyes.
“It’s you!” Shadow exclaimed “Zecora’s daughter!”
“Prince Shadow!” the zebra filly squeaked, backing off of him quickly and almost falling right back into the snow “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” said Shadow, standing and holding out a hoof to help her up “What are you doing all the way out here?”
The zebra filly blushed very dark and stood, seeming not to notice his helping hoof. “I-I-I-I…” she stammered for a moment “I was looking for herbs…winter season…almost over… plants… cold…” she ended this sentence with a squeak, trying to hide behind her own tail.
“I do remember you!” said Lightning, trotting quickly over “You and Shadow were talking while Zecora was doing my coat, what was your name?”
Shadow suddenly felt incredibly awkward, having never caught her name himself. The filly mumbled something in such a soft tone he couldn’t hear it.
“Um…repeat that?” asked Lightning.
Again, the filly mumbled far too quietly to hear, hiding her face in her tail and squeaking.
“I think you’re scaring her Lightning…” said Shadow “Can we know your name? Please?” he said in a comforting tone.
The filly blushed wildly again, her nose and mouth showing as she lifted her tail up in an attempt to hide more of her face. “I’m…I’m… Iris…” she said softly “Iris…Stripes…”
“Sorry for scaring you Iris,” said Shadow, motioning for Lightning to shut up “How did you get stuck in the snow?”
“Yeah!” said Lightning, completely ignoring Shadow “I think it’s kind of suspicious that you would be out here in the Everfree forest!”
Iris squeaked and latched on to Shadow, making him blush “I was just getting some herbs…” she said quietly “Winter is almost over… I wanted to get some of the last snow blossoms… There was a very loud sound… I lost my direction…then I fell…” she suddenly realized her instinctive movement and went an even deeper red, though she didn’t let go.
“I’d say that makes sense,” said Shadow, still highly flustered “I guess it wasn’t that big of a deal after all.”
“Oh!” said Iris “But it is a big deal… I would still be trapped in the snow if it weren’t for you…” she nuzzled quickly against Shadow, still blushing hard, but seemingly determined about something “Th-th-thank you!” she leaned up and kissed his cheek before squeaking again and backing up.
Shadow’s eyes promptly rolled back in his skull and he fell backward into the snow, out cold.
“Wow…” said Lightning exasperatedly “You had better help him because I’m just gonna leave him here.”
“Oh…okay…” said Iris “I’ll… I’ll do that…”
Lightning raised an eyebrow “You know I was kidding right?” she asked “Come on; let’s get this moron somewhere safe.”
“Oh! My home isn’t far…” said Iris, first quickly, then quietly “Maybe we should take him there…”
“I’ll carry him thanks,” said Lightning, hauling Shadow onto her back like a rag doll.
Iris smiled widely “Oh…thank you!” she said “I’m not surprised that Prince Shadow would have such kind friends.”
“Is this girl for real?” Lightning thought, glad she couldn’t see her skeptical expression. She also wondered just how Shadow had known Iris was blind. At a glance she looked completely normal, at least as normal as zebras ever did.
Maybe that was why she felt so suspicious of Iris; she was a zebra after all. Saber had always told her to be suspicious of buffalos and other non-pony folks. Zecora was an exception of course; she was the only potion master in Ponyville after all. She had helped her once when she had walked into a patch of poison joke. It was wrong to be prejudiced against Iris maybe, even more so because she was Zecora’s daughter, but it was hard to just ignore a fear she had since she was very young.
Lightning suddenly realized she was following a blind girl through the forest, “You do know where you’re going right?”
“Of…of course…” said Iris “I don’t see like you do… but I do know the way… the trees they… they show me the way…”
As the forest grew darker Lightning found herself beginning to shiver “Well I hope those trees are good guides…” she said shakily. She felt much less self-confident about this forest now she didn’t have Shadow. Of course she wasn’t quite sure whether her missing bravado was the result of competition or comfort so she had no way of artificially re-creating it.
“It’s okay Lightning,” said Iris reassuringly “I know the way home very well, I’ve memorized most of the forest anyway. Don’t worry! You’ll never find a better guide”
“I’m not scared,” said Lightning defensively, flaring up a little at the accusation “It’s not like I haven’t been here before!”
“Oh…” said iris, her comfortable tone evaporating “I’m sorry…it’s just…I thought I smelled fear…”
Okay, that just wasn’t fair. Lightning was practically fuming by the time the hollow tree came in to view. How was it a blind filly was so much smarter than her?
“Um…we’re here…” said Iris; as if it wasn’t obvious “My mother will probably still be out collecting herbs… we should just go inside…”
“Thank goodness,” said Lightning “This moron is starting to get heavy…”
Iris sniffed carefully for a moment before opening the door for them. “Lightning…” she said softly “Can I ask you a question…?”
“You just did…” Lightning grumbled, pushing through into the tree.
The first impression Lightning got of the house was that it seemed kind of tacky. It was similar to Shadows, not only because it was clearly the same type of wood, but also because Zecora had a variety of shelves that could easily parallel the cabinets in Shadow’s house. These were not filled with junk food though, these were jam-packed with potions and ingredients for them. A large black cauldron sat in the center of the room, the dug out fire pit underneath remaining un-lit. There were old wooden masks leaning against the few bare walls and what looked like live mushrooms were dangling from the ceiling, bathing the room in an iridescent glow.
A single dark hallway led off this main room to two small, perfectly round, doorways. Iris quickly trotted down this way, seemingly much more comfortable in a setting she was totally familiar with.
“This is my room…” she said, pushing open the door on the left “It isn’t much, but we can stay here until he wakes up…”
“Sounds alright,” said Lightning “Do you have anything to eat? I’m starving…”
“It’s all in the big room…” said Iris timidly “I…I’ll take Shadow now… Just don’t eat anything if you don’t know what it is…”
Lightning shrugged, unceremoniously dropping the somehow still unconscious Shadow on the ground “He’s all yours.” She said.
It was only a little while longer that Shadow blinked wearily back to life. He felt like he was lying on some sort of cushion made out of leaves and moss. It was a little strange at first but not unpleasant. The next thing he was aware of came when he opened his eyes, the fact that he was in total darkness. This wouldn’t be so bad, he had after all been in situations like this before, but he could hear something breathing on his immediate right. Occasionally he felt a hoof slide along his fur, as if he were being examined in the dark.
“He’s so peaceful…” he heard Iris say in the blackness, her smile plainly audible “So much energy and muscle… and he can still sleep so soundly…” this was immediately followed by the sound of a sneeze “He smells like smoke though… I wonder if he was in a fire recently…”
Shadow was somehow not inclined to move. Under normal circumstances being prodded by someone in the dark would seem unnatural, but for some reason it wasn’t like that. He knew Iris… sort of… and her touch felt more comforting than frightening. He was almost tempted to drift back to sleep.
The sound of Iris’ giggle was heard “Gray…” she said in a giddy voice that was still somehow just as shy “He’s a gray pony…I can actually imagine what that…looks like...” she squeaked excitedly “Gray…it’s a color! I know a color!” she suddenly gasped and backed away “I’m sorry! I didn’t realize you were awake!”
Quite honestly, Shadow hadn’t noticed that himself. He sat up, glad for a moment it was too dark to see his blush, but realized quickly that it didn’t matter anyway. “It’s…okay…” he said, unsure of anything else to say “Where am I…?”
“M-m-my h-h-house…” Iris stammered, apparently very intimidated for some reason.
“Oh, that’s good…” said Shadow, anxious to reassure “How long was I out…? Is it night time already?”
“N-no,” said Iris, voice still shaky “It’s d-day time… M-my room is just underground…”
“Why don’t you have any lights?” asked Shadow, stomach suddenly plummeting as he realized this was a tactless question “Sorry…I mean… It’s nice!”
“Oh…thank you…” said Iris, calming down slightly as she realized Shadow was just as nervous as she was “Do you want to go back to the light?”
“Um…yeah…” said Shadow, slipping out of the bed and landing firmly on the ground, his balance apparently not suffering from the blackout “Why does my head hurt…? I didn’t get hit when I got knocked out…”
Iris turned beet red in the darkness, remembering exactly what had caused the blackout “I think that’s because Lightning dropped you in the hallway…” she said sheepishly “I’m so sorry…”
“It isn’t your fault!” said Shadow reassuringly, not quite so embarrassed “Where is Lightning anyway?”
“She’s upstairs…” said Iris quietly “She was hungry…she’s getting something to eat…”
“Well I need to have a little talk with her…” he said, cheeks puffing out in frustration “Drop me will she…? Oh we shall see…”
“But she did carry you all the way here…” said Iris shakily “It must have been very tiring…”
“I know,” said Shadow “And I may have to thank her for that, but not before she gets chewed out real good…” he looked blankly around in the pitch black room “Where is the door…?”
“Oh!” Iris squeaked “It’s right here…” there was a moment before the door swung open right next to Shadow, a blue glow emanating from somewhere above.
As they walked up the sloping hallway into the mixed brightness of blue bioluminescence and the tiniest bit of yellow, branch filtered sun rays. Shadow had to squint against the light for a moment, for a split second jealous of Iris’ blindness, but that was quickly passed as craziness. When he finally blinked the light out of his eyes he noticed Iris holding back a laugh. Looking toward the shelves, he found out why.
Lightning had toppled over the wrong flower bucket and was surrounded by blue tulip-shaped blossoms. Her mane had puffed up into an utterly ridiculous shape, growing outward statically, as if she had been struck by…
“Don’t you dare laugh!” said Lightning, murder in her voice “And for the love of Celestia please tell me you have some way to reverse this.”
“Of…of course!” said Iris “I’ll heat some water…Shadow… could you please pick up the poison joke? If you use the leather rag the poison won’t hurt you…”
Shadow nodded, unable to hold back a snicker as he picked up the rag and started gathering up the poison joke. “You will die by my hoof…” said Lightning, a bit of electricity sparking in her mane.
“Sorry…” said Shadow “But really… you look hilarious! I’m making it my top priority to never get into that stuff as long as I live.”
The electricity crackled more fiercely in Lightning’s mane as she gave Shadow a death glare. There was a sound of running water, and he turned quickly to see Iris struggling with a water pump on the wall, a series of wooden canals sending the water around the room to drip steadily into the cauldron in the center.
“Let me get that,” said Shadow, walking over and helping her to pump the water “You’ll never get it full at that rate!”
“Oh!” said iris, blushing yet again “It really is okay, you don’t have to do this! I really can get it!”
A steady splashing sound coming from the cauldron made her argument seem all the more futile “Look, I’ve got this,” said Shadow reassuringly “If you know the plants and stuff you’re supposed to grab you should go get those.”
“Of course!” said Iris, stepping quickly away from the pump. She seemed almost dazed, spinning a circle in place before making her way over to one of the shelves.
“The cure for poison joke is quite a simple fix,” Iris recited to herself as she rummaged around “Start a bath, then add rose petals, sunflower, and mint!” She came out of the cabinet, chewing on some familiar looking plants. She spit the pulp out into the half-full cauldron and smiled “It’s the first potion I learned to make…”
Shadow moved away from the pump, looking incredulously at what looked like unchanged water “Are you sure you did it right?” he asked.
“Of…of course!” said Iris, shy, but forcing weak determination into her voice. “It’s just a special bubble bath… It’s very simple…”
Shadow shrugged “So essentially all Lightning has to do now is…” A huge splash interrupted him as Lightning catapulted herself into the cauldron sending a wave of water over the floor.
“Ah…” said Lightning contentedly “That was so itchy…”
Iris squeaked and backed away quickly as Shadow shook the water off his coat “Dang it Lightning!” he exclaimed “A little warning would’ve been nice!”
There was a sound like a television unplugging as Lightning’s mane fell back to normal “Well sorry,” she said, seeming to fidget in the shallow water “This is really cold though, think it’s safe to get out?”
“It should have had immediate effect…” Iris stammered weakly, clearly having been terrified by the splash “You…can get out now…”
“Awesome! Whoops!” said Lightning, trying to leap out of the cauldron but ended up toppling it with a crash, spilling whatever water was left on to the floor. Iris screamed, and curled up in a little black and white ball, tail covering her face.
“Sorry…” said Shadow “Be more careful Lightning, now we have to clean up this mess.”
Lightning was carefully trying to set the cauldron back on its balance, a glare obvious on her face “It’s not my fault,” she said huffily “I just couldn’t think of any other way to get out.”
Shadow walked over to the porcupine-like Iris and put a hoof comfortingly on her side. She almost immediately jumped up and buried her face under his wing, making scared squeaking sounds.
“It really was an accident,” said Shadow reassuringly “We’re cleaning it up.”
“Lightning is scary…” said Iris “I…I don’t want to be rude… but can you ask her to please… not be so… loud…?” She had at first planned to ask her to go away but that would really be rude.
“Hey Light,” said Shadow “Could you try not to be so loud?”
“Celestia I’m trying…” Lightning mumbled.
“She says she’s gonna try,” said Shadow reassuringly, despite the fact that Iris had probably heard her better than he had.
“Okay…” said Iris, still nuzzling herself into the crook of Shadow’s wing “Tell her she doesn’t have to clean up the water…the tree will drink it…”
“Iris says…” Shadow started.
“I’m not deaf!” Lightning exclaimed to which Iris squeaked out and tried to press closer to Shadow than was physically possible.
“Lightning, come on,” said Shadow “You’re just being mean, what’s wrong with you?”
“What’s wrong?” Lightning exclaimed, voice laced with rage “What’s wrong? You’ve known this girl for all of a few hours and you’re taking her side!”
“I’m not taking anyone’s side!” said Shadow, completely lost with this exchange “I just want you to calm down!”
Lightning was about to respond, but then she realized that Shadow was right. Iris was terrified by her, and she had done nothing to deserve that. A wave of guilt passed over her, stomach suddenly feeling empty.
“I’m sorry…” she mumbled.
Iris looked out from behind Shadow warily as Lightning continued “I shouldn’t be so rude to you, it’s my fault… I’m sorry…”
“It’s…it’s okay!” said Iris, with as much confidence as she could muster “Everyone makes mistakes…right?”
“Yeah!” said Lightning, finally realizing just how silly she was being “Friends?”
Iris turned to Shadow, a clear question of permission on her features. Shadow shrugged, so Iris tentatively stepped over to Lightning, sat on her back legs, and held out her hooves for a hug.
“No…” said Lightning “I’m not doing this…”
“Oh…” said Iris, clearly disappointed “Okay…”
“Come on!” said Shadow “What, are you scared you’re gonna catch the cooties?”
Never one to back down from a challenge, real or sarcastic, Lightning groaned and accepted Iris’ hug. She giggled appreciatively as Lightning rolled her eyes, trying not to let her heart be warmed by the moment. It was a futile effort though, Iris proving to be simply too cute.
“Hey!” said Shadow, an idea surfacing in his mind “If you aren’t busy today you should come over to my house! We’re going to have a ponymon tournament today; you can borrow my game-colt!”
“Somehow I didn’t think she would do that well…” said Lightning “It’s a screen…”
“Oh, I would love to!” said Iris, despite the fact she didn’t have any idea what ponymon was or the obvious reason she couldn’t play it “But I really can’t today… There are still more winter blooms and snow drops to collect at the tower… I’m sorry…”
“That’s okay!” said Shadow “I think we should probably go with you though, don’t want you falling into the snow again. And you can get three times as many flowers that way!”
“R-really?” Iris stammered, her blush returning even stronger “I couldn’t ask you to do that… I’m sure you’re very busy…”
“Actually, I was having trouble thinking of what we were gonna do when we get home,” said Lightning with a shrug “If Shadow thinks it’ll be fun I’ll go along with it. You think we should get Vinyl?”
“She’s probably still asleep,” said Shadow “She’d probably be more angry at us for waking her up than she would be if we don’t invite her on an adventure.”
“You really don’t have to…” said Iris “Really…you don’t owe me anything…”
“Nope, we don’t,” said Shadow, the ridiculous smile still playing around his lips “But I do love the idea of this old tower place. We can really explore the forest so long as we have a guide!”
“I don’t know…” said Lightning, the fear of their last walk through the Everfree freshening in her mind “Do you really think it’s safe? And anyway Iris never agreed to let us come.”
“It’s…really no trouble…” said Iris “If you really want to… I’d like the help…”
“See?” said Shadow smugly “Come on, you’re not going to let me be braver than you are you?”
Lightning’s determination roared back to life “Like mud I will!” she said “I mean it’s just a bunch of trees right?”
“Exactly!” said Shadow “And our intrepid forest guide won’t let us get lost will you?”
“Of…of course not!” said Iris, standing a little straighter and trying to show the same enthusiasm “I…I know the way like the back of my hoof…”
“Well then,” said Iris, going over to the shelves and taking down a few brown sacks that had blended into the wood very well “We can use these to carry them back… but I don’t think there will be that many…”
“Good thinking,” said Shadow, picking up a sack and throwing it over his shoulders “Let’s go then!”
Iris smiled and nodded, pushing open the door again “It’s pretty much straight east, then it’s a right turn at the mossy pine tree.” She said “The old tower used to be a look out for the castle of the royal pony sisters before Canterlot was built.” She sounded much more confident now, finally in her element.
They started down the snow-hidden path that Iris had specified. Lightning was quickly growing impatient with the slow pace as Iris occasionally had to sniff at the air or carefully prod the ground to make sure they were on the correct path. After figuring she had found the path well enough, she took to walking ahead. Shadow, a bit to her surprise, opted to stay on pace with her.
Iris found herself growing embarrassed again; Shadow was close to her, following her guide. He trusted her, the gray pony trusted her. She felt a little giddy at this idea. But of course she wouldn’t want to impinge upon the other girl. Were they dating? That thought gave her a hollow feeling in her stomach.
“Um…Shadow…” said Iris, then trailed off.
“What is it?” asked Shadow.
“Uh…” said Iris, blushing even brighter “Are you and Lightning… um… are you… um…”
“Are we what?” asked Shadow.
“Are you…” Iris started, pausing for a long time. “Special…some ponies…?” she finished quietly.
Shadow didn’t respond immediately. He knew the answer easily but it was hard to voice it. “Well…” he said “We thought about it once, but it would’ve just been awkward. We made a deal to be brother and sister, so more than friends, but nothing at all like special some ponies. Does that make sense to you?”
“Oh!” said Iris, not sure if she should be more or less embarrassed at this “I guess that’s nice…”
“But I am considering asking out Vinyl…” Shadow commented “She’s having trouble fitting in right now, and I think I could help her.” He sounded a little hesitant as he said this. In truth he had been talking to Lightning about it for weeks now, but for some reason he hadn’t talked to Vinyl about it yet. Once or twice he had been sure he had the courage, but something, not fear, was holding him back.
“Oh…” said iris, her little ray of hope extinguished as quickly as it had come “That’s… that’s nice of you… I guess the prince… should be with some pony famous…”
“Ew no…” said Shadow “She got into a bit of an accident and lost a lot of her fame. Famous ponies have too much drama.” But so does Vinyl… he finished the sentence silently.
“I…I see…” said iris, hope fluttering again, though not nearly as strong as it had been last time. She blushed even darker, wondering if he would be angry with her for being so physical. Maybe this “Vinyl” would be mad at her… She took a step off to the side, trying to make sure she wasn’t being rude.
To her surprise, however, Shadow stayed with her movement. He was really just assuming she was changing the path, but possibilities started going off like fireworks in Iris’ mind. She ended up nearly walking right past the mossy tree.
“Oh! Lightning!” She called forward to the earth pony, who actually had trundled right past it “We’re supposed to turn here!”
Lightning looked back to them, proceeded to bring a hoof to her face, then walk back to join them. “Some guide we’ve got here,” she said “We’re going to end up getting eaten by the snake if this keeps up…”
“Well if you hadn’t gone rushing ahead this wouldn’t have been a problem.” Said Shadow “You’re supposed to stay with the guide, not assume you know how to get through the forest.”
“Whatever…” said Lightning, following them along the new path.
“Um… Shadow…” said iris “Why…why are you burned?”
“It’s a long story…” said Shadow, wondering how she could’ve noticed the black stripe “Basically… I caught a shooting star.”
Iris gasped “A star?” she squeaked “I’ve always wanted to touch a star! What did you do with it?”
“He left it by the house,” said Lightning huffily “He doesn’t like shiny things like that.”
“It was salt!” said Shadow “Why in the world would I want a huge chunk of salt? Besides, it was far from shiny when I got it down here.”
“Stars are made of salt…?” Iris asked.
“Apparently,” said Lightning with a shrug.
Iris’ eyes widened, her entire concept of the distant, to her invisible, sky failing as the descriptions of the distant twinkling lights were redefined as granules of salt. Shadow really was amazing…
“Is that the tower?” Lightning asked, pointing to a stone spire, no taller than the trees around it. It looked like a lookout tower that was for sure, but maybe not a very good one.
“I think so…” said Iris “It’s very tall and made of stone…”
“That’s definitely it,” said Shadow, looking around the base of the spire “I don’t see any flowers though, just more slush.”
Iris, however, had already procured a mouthful from somewhere and put them in her herb bag “There are so many of them though…” she said, sounding bewildered “Can’t you smell them?” She bent down bit into the snow again, pulling flowers seemingly from nowhere.
“How did you…?” Lightning stammered.
“Oh!” said Shadow, catching on “I get it! They blend in to the snow so we can’t see them! But Iris can tell exactly where they are!” He put his nose to the snow, trying to find them. Within moments he plucked a small pale blue blossom out of the snow.
“You have to smell for them?” asked Lightning incredulously, feeling silly just for thinking of it.
“Um… that’s usually what I do…” said iris with a weak smile “You can do whatever you want though…”
There was a snapping sound as Shadow tumbled over, yanking up a whole snowdrop by the roots. Iris let out a little giggle and Lightning couldn’t stop her smile.
“I’m going to see if I can get into the tower.” Said Lightning “I might be able to get a better view from up there…or…something…”
“Sounds good,” Shadow mumbled around the stalk of the snowdrop.
“Oh…you shouldn’t bother…” said iris “The door has been blocked by rocks for as long as I can remember… there’s really no way in…”
There was a cacophonous bang as the door was bucked off its hinges, spilling a cascade of stones over the snowy ground. “What were you saying?” asked Lightning smugly, walking inside with her head held high.
Iris, who had reflexively latched on to Shadow at the loud noise, squeaked slightly. “You’re going to have to get used to that eventually…” said Shadow “She makes noises like that all the time.”
“She’s so scary though…” Iris whimpered, still not letting go of him “Why is she so violent…?”
“She isn’t really…” said Shadow “Just… really enthusiastic.”
Lightning, thankfully totally oblivious to this conversation, took a good look around the inside of the tower. It looked like Shadow’s description of the ageless chamber, round, with a few small windows inlaid in the black stone, too small to serve any purpose other than lighting. A few broken lanterns were attached to the walls, destroyed by rust and time. There was a very narrow staircase on the wall, leading upward to a higher level that she couldn’t see. A few barrels were under the stairs, smelling of apple cider and something acrid…
Seeing no more interesting course of action, Lightning carefully began to ascend the steps. She had to be careful here, the steps were old and broken, and they seemed like they had been built narrow to begin with. There was a very tense moment as one of the stairs actually broke off the wall and fell with a crash to the floor below. Lightning found herself shivering; her hoof had been hovering over that step when it fell.
It took almost ten minutes before Lightning managed to climb her way up to the top of the tower. There was a large elevated platform in the center, probably designed to hold a large signal fire in case the lookout spotted something. A few shelves were around the walls, looking like they might’ve held books or scrolls, but if it had they had rotted into dust long ago.
All of this, of course, could be expected to be found in a guard’s tower. The thing that stood out though, was the small emerald colored chest on one of the shelves. It was tucked in to a corner, made it seem inconspicuous, but the curiosity of Lightning was enough to find it within a few minutes. The lock, as with many locks she had dealt with before, was knocked clean off with a well timed blow, revealing the rather interesting contents…
“So what are these flowers used for again?” asked Shadow, smiling at his slowly filling brown sack.
“Burns…” said Iris timidly “I suppose you would need them wouldn’t you…?”
“I get the feeling I will…” said Shadow with a shudder “I can see why they’re called snow drops anyway; it’s amazing how similar the colors are…”
“Actually that isn’t why they’re called snowdrops… well… not really…” said Iris “They were named after the pony who invented snowflakes… they say the flowers look just like her cutie mark…”
“How do you know that…?” asked Shadow.
“My mom told me the story…” said Iris “She said that Snowdrop was a pegasus who didn’t have any place… I think she always told me the story to make me feel better… we’re both blind…”
“Oh…” said Shadow, desperate to change the topic of conversation, but nothing else came to mind.
“Hey Shadow!” Lightning called down “Come up here! I found something really interesting!”
Shadow looked up; spotting Lightning’s face in one of the upper windows “I think she’s got something.” He said to Iris, who had already filled her flower sack “Let’s go up there and see what she’s got!”
“I don’t know…” said Iris “The tower is really old and unstable…”
“Just be careful on the stairs!” shouted an oblivious Lightning “They’re really old and unstable!”
“Ah…” said Shadow, weighing the risks for a moment “Well It’s worth a shot anyway right? It may be a good adventure!”
“I don’t like adventures…” Iris mumbled inaudibly. She followed Shadow hesitantly into the tower, clamping down on his tail to tell where she was going.
“Ouch!” Shadow exclaimed, turning to look at her “I don’t care if you do that, but please be careful…”
“Okay…” said Iris.
There were a few crashing sounds as Lightning listened for Iris and Shadow’s approach. It sounded like whole chunks of the staircase had collapsed as they came up. Lightning guessed that they might be the last ponies to be able to climb those stairs. Iris appeared first, having ridden on Shadow’s back as they climbed the last few steps.
“I warned you about those stairs bro!” said Lightning with a laugh.
“Shut up…” said Shadow “We tried okay? Now what did you find up here?”
“Oh yeah!” said Lightning, procuring a small golden cylinder “This was in a little treasure chest on the shelf. I think someone was trying to hide it here.”
Shadow stared ponderously at the cylinder. There were three number slots with arrows above and below them to change the digits. There was a big red button on one side and a green button on the other.
“What do you think this does?” asked Lightning, changing a few of the numbers around.
“Nothing good…” said Iris “We should leave it alone…It could be dangerous…”
“I doubt it,” said Lightning, spinning the numbers around till they were all nines “I mean seriously, if it’s so dangerous I’m pretty sure something would’ve happened by now.”
“Maybe it’s just broken,” Shadow suggested “I mean everything else in here is really old, this probably got rusty or something.”
“I don’t think so…” said Lightning “It was in a sealed chest, I don’t think rust or anything could get into it…”
“We should put it away…” Iris squeaked “I really don’t think it’s safe…”
“Try pressing one of the big buttons,” said Shadow “I bet that’ll make it do something!”
“Please…no…” said Iris.
“Good idea!” said Lightning, pressing down on the red button. The tiny device suddenly came to life, the sound of cogs and wheels turning inside it as the numbers started to spin backwards.
“Maybe it’s supposed to be a countdown timer,” said Shadow “Like a really expensive one that someone wanted to hide.”
“Why would someone want to hide a timer?” asked Lightning.
“Put it away…” Iris squeaked, pulling herself into a little ball of fur again.
There was a loud, satisfying click as the numbers rolled back to zero. Suddenly the light in the tower began to flash, sending them from light to darkness several times a second. What was going on now? The only light in the tower was coming from outside…
Iris screamed as Lightning and Shadow shut their eyes against the wild flashing and the roaring wind that rushed into the windows. A loud whooshing sound surrounded the tower, giving them the impression of being spun very fast. Shadow dared open his eyes for just a moment, seeing only a rush of wild color.
“I told you!” Iris squeaked, latching on to Shadow, a beacon of solidity in the suddenly shifting world “It was dangerous! Now we’re in danger!”
A loud bang erupted from beneath them and the world finally started to slow down. Lightning and Shadow blinked back to reality, Iris still shaking like a leaf against him. It was bright, very bright; Summer brightness, not the light of the last day of a long dark winter, unfiltered brightness, meaning that there were no trees.
No trees? That was bad… A small stream gurgled nearby, surrounded by sparse grasses and some summer blossoms. They were in a field, a grassland somewhere, somewhere where it was still summer.
“What was that…?” asked Lightning.
Shadow turned, seeing a large dust cloud roiling off in the distance “I don’t know…” he said “but I don’t think we’re in Ponyville anymore…”


> Chapter 13: Exodus
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Lightning found her head spinning in confusion. There were a number of possibilities, the device could’ve been some sort of teleporter, or something that caused hallucinations, or who knows what else… It was good that they had dealt with magical artifacts before, or else she would have been far more intimidated.
Iris was still clinging tightly to Shadow, who was trying to comfort her. Lightning found herself torn between pity for Iris’ fear and exasperation toward her inexperience. Unfortunately, she didn’t prove empathetic.
“Would you quit sniveling already?” she said “We need to be doing something while we’re here, wherever here is, preferably getting home as soon as possible.”
“Who put you in charge?” Shadow quipped, still stroking Iris’ mane.
“Apparently the simple fact that you don’t have enough reason to be in charge,” Lightning shot back “Now come on, Ponyville was in this direction from where we started…”
“Meaning it probably isn’t anymore,” Shadow simultaneously finished and interrupted her sentence “We should focus on figuring out where we are now before rushing off.”
Lightning would’ve killed to be able to retaliate to that, but it was all too obvious that, once again, Shadow was right. She stomped for a second then sighed. “Fine,” she said “What’s your plan then?”
“We need to find a landmark, the mountain over there’s good, the river, also good, but we don’t know what this is…” said Shadow “We need to find something that’s familiar…”
“It all sounds so strange…” Iris whimpered “The grass isn’t even the same…”
“Well you’re obviously not going to be any help,” said Lightning angrily “So why don’t you just shut up and let us figure something out?”
“But…but…” Iris’ eyes began to water as she stammered.
“I said shut up!” exclaimed Lightning, ignoring the death glare from Shadow “You got us into this mess because you had to drag us along on that silly little adventure! We wouldn’t have even gone in to the forest if it weren’t for you!”
Iris burst into high pitched sobs, burying her face in Shadow’s wing and letting the tears flow freely. “Lightning!” Shadow exclaimed “That was completely…”
“You too!” Lightning shouted, her anger taking control of her “You just had to go and play the hero didn’t you? Who cares that we were almost killed huh? Let’s just go parading back into the forest to save some pitiful little blind girl!”
Shadow’s eyes were a mixture of surprise and anger, flashing fire red as he stared at her. If it was any pony else he would’ve smacked them into oblivion. But he remembered his chivalry. Dad had taught him to be respectful to women, especially if they’re being insufferable, and Lightning… she’d gone so far as to earn that respect. He wanted to knock her teeth out, but he couldn’t do it.
“Got nothing to say to that, do you?” said Lightning smugly “Now pick up your flank and let’s get going before you do something else that’s incredibly…”
There was a rush of wind as Shadow took off, wings carrying him high into the sky. Lightning stared up in astonishment; he had just flown off carrying Iris with him!
“Where do you think you’re going?” she shouted up at him.
His reply was barely audible “Somewhere you aren’t!”
Lightning watched as Shadow’s form shrank slowly into the distance, eventually his coat blended in with the dark mountains.  She’d been too busy yelling at them both to notice they were even there… Rage that was, quite literally, bigger than the mountains… That would make a great story someday…
“Well fine…” she said, pawing at the ground “Well I don’t need you either!” She turned away from the stream and started running away from it at a full sprint.
Shadow landed not far along the river, he had tried his best to stay along the river, but he couldn’t carry Iris for long. Despite the strain on his wings he managed to let her down gently next to the stream. He did feel a little, no, really guilty that he had taken off completely without warning. Iris had stopped crying, but it was out of shock rather than comfort.
“Hey… are you alright…?” he asked, nudging Iris from the side.
“I…I…” Iris stammered “What…what was that…? I felt… nothing….”
“I should’ve warned you…” said Shadow, his shoulders shrugging involuntarily “When Lightning blew up at us I took off, we were flying, that’s why you couldn’t feel anything.”
Iris stood up a little straighter, excitement crossing her features “R-really…?” she stammered “I wish I would’ve known…I…I’ve always wanted to fly…”
That fact made Shadow feel a little better at having carried her away unexpectedly “I guess now we need to figure out where we are.”
Iris’ ears flickered “Mountain stream…” she said slowly “I can tell by the smell, really musky coming from the water. The birds have really small wings, fluttering fast, meaning there has to be somewhere to perch, maybe trees at the mountain’s base…” she blushed slightly “Of course… you would know better than me…”
“No…” said Shadow, looking around for birds “That was incredible! I guess seeing is really overrated huh?”
“I don’t know…” said Iris “I’ve never seen…”
“Oh…” said Shadow, the awkwardness of the situation instantly returning, “What do you think we should do? We’re pretty lost…”
“Well… I think we go towards the mountain…” said Iris “Trees are good to find…”
“I’ll follow you then,” said Shadow, looking towards the peaks. They didn’t seem all that far away, about the distance Canterlot had been from the halfway point between there and Ponyville. Maybe if they were lucky it would be Canterlot, mom would be there, she could help them. Of course that would involve a lot of explaining, primarily why he had left Canterlot…
“Hold on!” said Iris, seemingly focused on something “There’s a hoof beat… no… lots of them! They’re all in rhythm… like a march…”
Shadow turned wildly around, completely unable to see this supposed mass of ponies “Where?” he said, not sure whether to panic or call her crazy.
“About…five kilometers…” said Iris, lying down to put her ear to the ground “If we were to go around the mountain we would meet them on the side…”
“Do we want to meet them…?” Shadow asked.
“It may be our only hope…” said iris.
“Wait…” said Shadow, turning back the way they had come “What about Lightning?”
“Oh yes…” said Iris, sounding almost depressed “We should go back and find her…”
“I don’t know…”  said Shadow, not seeing even the faintest trace of red among the green fields “She knows where we are…probably… and she’s a lot faster on foot than we are. If we were to go looking further I bet we’d just get more separated.” He turned back toward the mountain “If we start toward the ponies you heard over there I think she’ll probably catch up to us.”
“Mhmm…” said Iris “But…Shadow… I don’t know for sure if it was ponies… All I know is that it had hooves…”
“So if we run into a herd of buffalo we’ll ask them for directions,” said Shadow “Come on, let’s get a move on. Try to keep to the river, we’ll worry about food later…”
“Um… is that a problem…?” asked Iris “I mean… I smell plenty of grass… even a few flowers…”
A weight seemed to drop into Shadow’s stomach. It had been an innocuous comment, but now it seemed really selfish. Especially when he thought about the several times he actually had to eat dandelions and other more common flowers. He must’ve sounded so spoiled…
His thought was punctuated by a dull rumbling sound from beneath him. Iris giggled “Maybe we should stop.”
“Yeah…” said Shadow, blushing a little “Let’s find something to eat.”
Iris immediately bent down and took a mouthful of grass, chewing softly. Shadow blinked in surprise. He knew that a lot of weeds, while not appetizing, were edible. He never thought to just eat plain grass. Great, now he really felt spoiled…
“Shadow?” asked iris “Aren’t you going to graze?”
“How did you know I wasn’t?” asked Shadow without thinking.
“Didn’t hear you chewing,” said Iris in a singsong, very nearly smug voice “Seeing isn’t everything silly.”
“Oh…” he said, feeling stupid. He looked down at his hooves, glad to find a little patch of clover right beneath him. He took a grateful bite, the weeds not much in flavor, but certainly good sustenance.
Iris stood again and turned her face toward the sun “It really is a nice day…” she said “The sun feels so warm today.” The sun did glint wonderfully in her misty eyes, making them seem to glow. Shadow had looked up from the ground at the perfect moment to catch sight of her. He found himself almost dazed by the sight.
“Are you done?” asked Iris sweetly, holding out a hoof to help Shadow back to his.
“Um…yeah,” said Shadow, all thought of hunger forgotten as Iris helped him up. They turned again toward the mountain “You think we should go straight toward the sound or toward the mountain?”
“I can’t feel the mountain…” said Iris “So if you think we should go that way I’ll have to hold on to your tail again… you didn’t seem to like that…”
“That would be fine, but I think we should go toward civilization,” said Shadow “We’re much more likely to get help there. I’ll be they know where we are at least.”
“That sounds good…” said Iris “But that is a lot of ponies Shadow… What if they aren’t nice…?”
Shadow shrugged “It’s our best shot,” he said “I like risks anyway! Don’t you like adventures?”
“No…” said iris, turning downward again “Adventures mean I don’t know where I’m going… I like it much better when things are all the same…”
This was a little puzzling. It actually took Shadow quite a while, during which time they started walking without even really noticing they were doing it. “Well,” he said finally “We’re going on an adventure anyway… we might as well make it work right?”
Iris merely nodded, not communicating any sort of meaning by it. Shadow turned forward again, squinting to try and find this group Iris could hear. It didn’t fail to cross his mind he was following the word of a blind girl across a featureless plain, but if he couldn’t see anything he might as well trust the one more used to using her other senses…right…?
“Oh my gosh!” Iris exclaimed, ears twitching “I can hear a raven! Ravens are the greatest birds ever!” She blushed “Um…do you… see it?”
“I’m not sure what to look for…” said Shadow, scanning the wide blue sky for some sign of it. There was the outline of a bird, black and too far off to get a good look.
“Oh…that’s okay…” said Iris “It’s just…Ravens have such a majestic caw… I always thought they were very wise… I’ve wanted to know what they looked like ever since I was little…”
“If it’s that big black bird I don’t think you would be very impressed…” said Shadow.
“Oh that’s it!” squeaked Iris “Mom always said they were black birds! I wish I could see it…”
“Well…” said Shadow, determined to describe it “They’re the same color as when I have my eyes shut… so um… take nothing and just… give it shape…?”
“Hmm…” said Iris ponderously. She imagined the shape of the raven again, accurately. She had once helped her mother nurse one of them back to health after it had broken a wing. She tried to form the darkness, or so she imagined it, into that shape, but it was impossible to form her entire perception on the one thing it included… unless… She thought of the gray again, her one color. She imagined the spot of nothing on the gray, and then slowly shifted it in her mind…
“I understand!” she exclaimed.
Shadow recoiled slightly, by the time she had envisioned this they had been walking for almost fifteen minutes. “What do you…?” He started to say.
“A raven!” Iris elaborated, her voice taking on a tone of barely contained excitement “I could see a raven! You know, not really, but I can imagine what it looks like!”
“Oh,” said Shadow “That’s really good?”
“I know!” Iris said, not catching on to his confusion in the slightest “Thank you! I never would’ve thought of it if it wasn’t for you…”
“No problem,” said Shadow reflexively “What are friends for, right?”
Iris released an audible gasp “F-friend?” she stammered “I’ve…never had friends before…”
“Well you do now!” said Shadow with a silly grin “Sorry, that was really cliché wasn’t it?”
A weight wrapping around his neck was enough to confirm, “No,” said iris “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me…”
“Um…” Shadow said slowly “I guess you haven’t met very many nice ponies…”
Iris let go of him and stood on four legs again “I guess not…” she said “My mother is really the only one I ever talk to… I don’t leave the tree very often…”
“Unless you’re foraging for herbs,” Shadow pointed out as they started walking again.
“I guess…” said Iris “But I don’t get to go out very often… Oh mom is going to keep me inside for months after this… She’s always very cross when I get in trouble…”
“She really doesn’t let you go outside?” asked Shadow “That sounds like one of those evil storybook stepmothers…”
“I never did like those characters…” said Iris “But please… my mom isn’t evil… If I really wanted to go outside she would let me… It’s just so much safer at home…”
“I guess it’s really scary to be out of your element isn’t it?” asked Shadow “I really can’t imagine it…”
“It’s not so bad…” said Iris “I have you…” She mumbled after a moment.
They continued to trek through the grasses, the sun, which had been kind and warm at the start, felt hot and blistering now. Occasionally Shadow would fly back to the stream, most of the time carrying Iris, so they could get a drink. This awkward diagonal-forward pattern continued for well over an hour before Shadow collapsed of pure boredom. Iris turned around immediately.
“Are you okay?” she asked quickly.
“Bored…” Shadow moaned “How much further is it?”
“I…I don’t know,” said Iris “The marching sound seems much closer, but I still don’t know where the mountain is to compare…”
Shadow looked up from the grass, surprised to find his vision dominated by the dark stone. They were close enough to see where the river began, pouring out of a dark hole in the stone as a waterfall. While the sight was pretty, the idea of a destination was what brought Shadow back to his hooves.
“I think we should try to make it the rest of the way without going back to the river,” he said confidently “Those ponies will have food and water I’m sure…” he smiled and looked in the direction Iris had been leading them, silhouettes could finally be seen.
“Okay…” said Iris, moving into a quick trot to keep up with Shadow, who was having trouble not running.
It was hardly a minute before the distant ponies came into clearer perspective, seeing as they were apparently moving toward each other. It turned out that it was ponies, unicorns in fact, moving in a procession. They were laden with saddlebags, and some were carrying children on their backs. These ponies had clearly been through some terrible hardship.
Shadow slowed a bit as he got closer, his initial excitement had been squelched. It looked like they may be in even more danger from whatever these ponies were fleeing from. He felt a little flutter of hope again as a tall white figure came to the front of the procession, multicolored mane flowing behind her.
“I believe we’ve come far enough to stop…” said Celestia, crownless and defeated looking as any of the others “The dragons will not follow us this far…”
“We’ve found land!” One of the unicorns with a scruffy beard exclaimed “We can take the land under the mountain and at last re-forge our lives!”
A rancorous cheer erupted from the crowd, but was quickly silenced by the white alicorn raising a hoof. “We don’t know who may have already claimed this land,” said Celestia “We may camp here for a time, but we need to know more of the geography before considering a permanent settlement.”
An audible groan followed this “Have we not journeyed far enough?” called a female voice “Have we not ventured an adequate distance to warrant a safe haven when one presents itself?”
“We do not know that this is, indeed, a haven,” Celestia tried to calm them “Whatever land we find our respite in will be the result of charities by others.” Her voice dropped till it was barely audible “Our race is on the brink of destruction, I do not wish to end it by provoking others.”
None of the gathered crowd had anything to say to that. They gradually dispersed, dropping supplies and pitching tarp shelters. They weren’t tents per se, as many of them were little more than cloth strung between branches stuck in the ground. It was clear now even more than before that the ponies were badly impoverished.
Celestia sighed and turned her gaze to the mountain. This would either be remembered as a time of incredible sorrow or as the time when the unicorn race ended once and for all. In all her immortal life she had never faced such hardships as she had these past months.
It had hardly been a century since Discord was vanquished and pony kind was freed, things should’ve been going well from that point forward. And they did, for a time, ponies prospered faster than any race before them, advanced in mind and specialized in body. They were the master race, the pinnacle of evolution, masters of their own fate at long last.
But then there had been that awful business with the crystal empire… her first failure as a monarch. She had vowed never to let such a thing happen again, but her sister, jealous of her overbearing regime had turned traitorous. In a battle that had nearly claimed her life she had banished her one true family to the lunar sphere. If nothing else, that had crushed her spirit. She had abandoned the castle of the royal pony sisters and gone back to the unicorn lands.
To her devastation, the dragons had gotten there first. Most of the population had been massacred and those remaining were left to flee for their lives. If she hadn’t been there it could’ve been the end of unicorns forever. With the pegasi scattered to the winds and the earth ponies having grown nomadic the unicorns were her last mortal allies, if they were gone…
“Who goes there?” the voice of one of the unicorns suddenly shattered her reverie. She turned to see two tall stallions leering down at something she couldn’t see.
“Celestia!” came a high pitched voice; that of a young colt she suspected “Tell these guys to get away from us!” This was followed by a squeak which she didn’t think was from the first voice.
“How dare you address the princess by anything but ma’am?” one of the stallions challenged “I would have your head if it weren’t so close to the ground!” The stallion who had spoken suddenly recoiled, clutching his face in pain while the other backed quickly away.
A pegasus, now that was no surprise. Only they could be so bold… “Can I help you?” she asked, ice tainting her voice.
“She’s…scary…” Iris stammered.
“We got a little lost…” said Shadow, rubbing the back of his neck “I think we found one of your magic artifact things. We’re not in trouble are we?”
It took Celestia a moment to puzzle together what this colt was saying. He was speaking the same language, but his accent was very strange. “What artifact wouldst thou be speaking of?” she asked.
“Golden cylinder,” Shadow described “Big red and green buttons on the sides, numbers on the front. I think it gave us a bad teleportation.”
Celestia started blankly at the two foals, not sure if they were talking about a stone tablet or a piece of clothing “I’ve heard not of such a thing…” she said “What is your name young pegasus?”
Shadow returned the blank look “Auntie, it’s me! Shadow!” he said, a feeling of dread looming over him now “Remember? You had the whole dumb ceremony and Discord attacked?”
There were so many horrifying things in that statement Celestia felt faint. “You’re… Luna’s…son…?” she stammered out, unable to think of anything else.
“Yes…” said Shadow, sounding hurt “How could you not…what?” He exclaimed suddenly as he was lifted up in Celestia’s nimbus of yellow magic. He was turned over several times in the air, yelling violent protest as Iris scrunched down, too afraid to do anything.
The most shocking thing about all this was that it seemed this foal was telling the truth. It wasn’t the first time she had sensed latent alicorn blood, and she certainly didn’t have any children. His wings were large for his size, further emphasizing the alicorn gene. The cutie mark, already there despite his young age… She dropped him back to the ground.
“Why are you here…?” she said icily.
“Ow…” said Shadow “I told you, we don’t know where we are, we came to get help!”
“What on Equestria makes you think I would help you?” Celestia spat “Knowing what your mother did you still dare even to come before me?”
“I…I thought… that was over!” Shadow stammered, starting to back away but trying not to show it “Nightmare Moon was defeated… Mom came home… that was all way before I was even born…” He was so lost by this conversation that he found himself reciting the story.
“My sister is to serve her full thousand year sentence,” said Celestia “I could do nothing about that even if I wanted to.”
“B-b-b-but it’s over!” iris squeaked, determined, however scary it was, to not offend the princess “The story book said that was already over… I-it’s been a t-thousand y-years…” she trailed off under Celestia’s glare.
A thought suddenly occurred to Celestia, she lifted a frightened Shadow once again. Iris stared up at them, torn between the instinct to run or to help Shadow.
“Time travelers…” she said in shock “No… impossible… we’ve never developed magic that powerful…”
“Well you must have…” Shadow grumbled, certain now Celestia was going to kill them and deciding to make the best of it “Or else we wouldn’t be here would we?”
“Clearly…” said Celestia “I suppose the future has certain things we don’t…you said Luna had returned… how long ago was that for you?”
“Twenty years…?” Shadow guessed.
“Twenty years…” Celestia repeated slowly “That’s almost perfectly one thousand years…”
“Almost?” Shadow asked.
“Nine hundred and ninety-nine years forward exactly,” said Celestia, looking Shadow in the eye “My god… the things you must know…”
“Damnit Lightning…” Shadow cursed, remembering Lightning spinning the three number entries as high as it would go.
Celestia released Shadow again, this time letting him fall on his face. “You are to stay with us,” she said sternly “Find a place to sleep.”
“But it’s the middle of the day!” Shadow protested.
“Go!” Celestia emphasized.
Shadow didn’t dare question her again, he and Lightning slipped away quickly. Celestia kept a careful eye on them, not letting them blend into the crowd as they scavenged around the supplies for food and water. This could still be a threat, she didn’t yet know what sort of evil might inhabit these plains and she wasn’t keen on letting an ambush be the way they found out.
“Princess,” said one of her unicorns, approaching her and bowing low “We’ve finished setting up the camp with all the necessary provisions. We have scouts on the mountains and plains as we speak.”
Celestia listened, but looked up quickly to try and keep watching Shadow. Her eyes narrowed again as she realized she’d lost them. “Very good,” she forced herself to say “What have you found?”
“You were correct…” said the sentry “We are not the first ones here. We’ve had reports of buffalo being seen in the distance on stampedes. I propose we send out a war party to…”
“No war party,” said Celestia sternly “If you must ride out to meet them do so with peace in your hearts. The last thing we need is more conflict. It would be best for us to remain here and allow the natives to come meet us.”
“As you wish…” said the unicorn, pounding his hoof into the ground in frustration. He didn’t voice any protest but it was clear he didn’t agree with this ideal. Celestia felt her heart sink, worried that her ponies were starting to become warlike. Many species were quick to war, but she had always prided her ponies as an exception. This would require some careful monitoring…
“I think I’d rather eat grass…” said Shadow, pondering the grainy, brown, sour smelling substance that the unicorns had called ‘feed’, “You really think this is healthy?”
“No…” said Iris nervously “It smells like soy… really, really spoiled soy… and mushrooms…and...”
“Yeah, I’m just going to graze,” said Shadow, feeling that it would be a long while before he was hungry again anyway “This turns out to be not a lot of help. Do you think she was serious when she said we’ve been time travelling?”
“It makes sense…” said Iris, pushing her own meager feed ration aside “She didn’t know who you were…she was mad at Luna too… I think this is some time right after Nightmare moon…”
Shadow surveyed the blue sky sullenly “We’re not getting any help from mom then…” he said with a sigh “There has to be some way back though, we’ll figure a way out of this, believe it!”
“But didn’t you hear Celestia…?” said Iris “She said there wasn’t any time travel magic in this time…”
“Then we just have to find the cylinder again!” said Shadow animatedly “I mean it has to be around here somewhere, we just have to go back to the place we landed!”
“We have to find Lightning first though… don’t we…?” said iris “Do you think she’ll come to us soon…?”
“I don’t think she is…” Shadow said thoughtfully “She could’ve closed the distance from here to there a lot faster than we did. I think it’s about time we went to find her.”
“N-now?” Iris stammered.
Shadow looked around quickly, making sure that Celestia wasn’t looking “Yeah, why not,” he said with a malevolent smile “Everyone’s still getting set up, if we leave now we won’t get in trouble.”
“But…” Iris said “Celestia said we had to stay in the camp…”
“Oh Celestia will never find out,” said Shadow confidently “I’ve snuck past her enough times already after all, come on, she’ll never know!”
“I’ll never know what now?” came an all too familiar voice from behind them. Iris squeaked as Shadow turned to see the tall figure of the princess barely a foot away.
“Run!” he shouted, bolting forward right into a magical barrier “Ouch! Dang it…”
“W-we’re sorry!” Iris quickly stammered “We really d-don’t want t-to leave the camp. I-it’s just w-we l-lost a f-friend on the p-plains and w-we n-need to go f-find her!”
“I said you are not to leave the camp and I meant it.” Said Celestia sternly “Don’t even think of such actions again, understood?”
“Y-yes! Of course!” Iris quickly responded.
“No way!” said Shadow furiously “Lightning is out there somewhere and I have to go find her! Not you, not any pony is going to stop me!”
There was a flash of yellow light and Shadow let out a yelp. When the light faltered he was collapsed on the ground, twitching violently. Iris screamed and tried to run but the magical barrier stopped her.
“Your hubris must be conquered lest I increase the voltage,” said Celestia angrily “I will not hesitate either. I have much rage toward my sister and I am more than willing to take it out on her son…”
Shadow winced and sat up, one eye still clenched shut against the pain. A dull rumbling sound caught his attention through the haze, it sounded like an oncoming storm. Unfortunately he was too weak from shock to process the sound, and Iris was too afraid.
“Your highness!” a desperate voice called from somewhere close by “The buffalo are approaching from the mountain! They’re practically upon us!”
“Already?” Celestia spoke in shock “Do not launch any hostilities unless provoked. Do not attack them!”
Shadow caught a glimpse of a fuzzy mass of brown as his vision started to fade. For a split second he recognized the color red amongst the brown, a pony’s shape? No…It couldn’t be…
Before he could come to any legitimate conclusion he felt the world grow dark…

> Chapter 14: Where The Buffalo Roam
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	She wasn’t entirely sure where she was going, she just knew that it had to be somewhere far away. Her hooves pounded the ground with the speed of her namesake, catapulting her away from her guilt. The grassy plains made a perfect racing environment. The grassy plains made a perfect racing environment, the kind that earth ponies had adapted to run on for generations. In a terrible lonely sort of way, she was right at home…
Lightning finally brought herself to a halt, gliding a little as the momentum kept carrying her on the loose dirt, and looked back the way she had come. The snakelike stream was still visible in the distance, providing another jolt of loneliness. Going in a completely different direction from Shadow and Iris may not have been the best course of action, but it wasn’t really her fault was it?
The grass welcomed her with a soft embrace as she fell onto her side. Who was she kidding? She had been a complete jerk back there. If she was going to be totally honest with herself she had to admit her and Iris’ differences. It wasn’t easy to do, well… yes it was. Harder was to accept them. After some careful thought she decided to save that for later and for now just isolate what they were.
Above all it was Iris’ kindness that stuck in her mind and chafed like sand. No matter what the situation was she did her very best to help. She was a sucker, an annoying little pushover who followed strangers to the darker parts of the forest on the idea of helpfulness. She was such a pitiful…little…
If the problem wasn’t staring her in the face now it never would. Lightning couldn’t entirely process the obvious answer right in front of her, but who can blame her? The fact was that she was very stubborn pony who always liked to have things just her way. Iris, on the other hoof, let the world float by at its own uncaring pace. The different moral standard could be, and was being, interpreted as an insult. Lightning just wasn’t able to understand that just yet.
Really though, it was about time she stopped wallowing in self pity and get off her flank. That was a job for a certain pitiful little zebra. She looked around to get an idea of her surroundings, a little disappointed that it was nothing but grass, but she was willing to ignore that for now. The mountain still loomed ominously, the single outlier from the distant range, which gave her some idea of where she was relative to Shadow. He had walked along the river toward the mountain at a constant pace, so with a few quick assumptions she would be able to get a general idea of where he was.
Well that was something, but did she really have any desire to go find Shadow? He was mostly the reason she was out here after all… Unfortunately the river was the only immediately available water source. While the thick grass suggested frequent rainfall the sky didn’t have a trace of white against the blue. She could either keep going or pray to Celestia she stumbled on something, or turn around and apologize for being a jerk…
While she lay there in quiet contemplation of her predicament a quiet rustling came from somewhere to her left. At first she was able to ignore it, but it quickly became apparent that there was an animal of some sort in the grass with her. She stood up, looking around for the source of the rustling but finding absolutely nothing. Her ears fell flat in careful contemplation, knowing that just because she couldn’t see it that didn’t mean it wasn’t there…
One, two, three more sharp, shifting sounds. Whatever was following her was quick to say the least. Lightning brought herself to pounce toward the sound, grumbling slightly as she came up with nothing. The shuffling sound came again, behind her this time. She promptly attempted to launch herself backwards at the creature, but ended up landing on her face. A snicker came from her left, alerting her to the presence of something sentient.
“Oh you are not going to be laughing long…” Lightning growled, ears swiveling now. That stupid zebra may have been right about the whole blind thing if it made hearing better. She wasn’t quite able to figure out where it was until…
A flash of brown fur caught her attention and she lunged again, very nearly catching hold of this mystery person. She snorted angrily, watching a pair of similarly colored ears appear above the grass. They had abandoned their crouch, probably to run away, but Lightning wouldn’t give them the pleasure.
They dove together, Lightning and the mystery pony, forward in the same direction. This guy must have been fairly confident in his ability to outrun Lightning as he never swerved to try and throw her off. What he didn’t expect was for Lightning to not only keep pace, but actually start pulling toward him. He panicked, picking up the pace, the sound of the hoof beat seeming to confirm his species. Lightning smirked, this chase was hers…
In a bright red strike Lightning hit the stranger with all of her might. Her temporary jolt of exuberance was quickly snuffed as she realized she had struck the brown fur and stopped. The full force of an earth pony, even a small one, should’ve bowled over something that size several times over. An icy chill gripped her, just what was this thing?
“Alright, alright, you’ve got me,” a male voice came from the brown form beneath her “You’re one heck of a runner you know that? I haven’t had a race that good in like forever!”
Lightning backed off a bit to get a good look at the new pony. The only problem was he apparently wasn’t a pony. He looked kind of like one she supposed, but he had thinner legs and very different hooves. His head also seemed a little weirdly shaped and he had no mane or tail to speak of.
“What are you?” asked Lightning.
“Name’s Mesa, Black Mesa,” said the strange creature, clearly having heard her wrong “So what the heck are you anyway?”
“Never seen a pony before?” asked Lightning huffily “I just asked you the same question.”
“And I suppose you’ve never seen a buffalo before,” said Mesa with a smirk “You really are kind of an interesting alien.”
“Alien?” Lightning exclaimed “Excuse me mister, I’m as much a citizen of Equestria as you are.”
“What’s Equestria?” asked Mesa, genuinely curious “Is that your tribe? Sounds kind of silly if you ask me, of course the thunder trail tribe sounds a bit silly too. I never did get your name stranger!”
“I don’t see why I should tell you my name…” Lightning grumbled “At least it sounds like you’re from around here, could you tell me where I am?”
Mesa tilted his head, seeming to not understand the question “You’re right here I suppose.” He said with a shrug.
“No you idiot,” said Lightning angrily “What do you call this spot? What’s it labeled as on the map?”
“What’s a map?” asked Mesa, ignoring the question.
Lightning brought a hoof to her face “Never mind,” she said angrily “I don’t need your help…”
“Are you lost?” asked Mesa curiously “I can take you back to the tribe if that would help.” He muttered the word “Probably…”
“I don’t know…” said Lightning ponderously. One thought immediately coming to mind “Do you have food?”
“Lots of food!” said Mesa with a grin “Come on! It’s this way!”
Lightning wondered how he could keep his sense of direction in this sea of grass, but didn’t argue. Maybe he had the same sort of freaky hearing as Iris or something. She did feel a dull rumbling though she wasn’t sure if she was sensing it with her ears or her hooves. It was faint so she wasn’t too worried, but following a stranger through a huge grassy field to the beat of an earthquake was kind of stupid.
“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” she asked.
“You don’t have any choice,” Mesa pointed out “You’re lost in the plains, unless you have the help of someone who knows their way around, you’re totally screwed.”
A vein pulsed in Lightning’s forehead, this score was starting to become annoyingly repetitive. At least this time the destination seemed obvious enough. She could see the conical tents now that she was angled toward them. It was interesting how they were built, but she had heard of them before. Maybe this guy wasn’t lying about being a buffalo. He still didn’t look fuzzy enough for it though…
“So where are you from?” asked Mesa “Equestria or whatever, where is that?”
“In my experience Equestria is the whole world,” said Lightning snootily “I’m from Ponyville for your information.”
“Never heard of it,” said Mesa “Doesn’t sound very original to me, didn’t you say you were a pony?”
“Yes I am a pony,” said Lightning “Not that you should talk. How can you be a buffalo without the huge shoulders, fur and horns?”
Mesa let out a laugh “You clearly don’t know a darn thing about us,” he said, not put off in the slightest “I guess that means you are really lost. Well since you’re so weird I guess I should explain it to you…”
“Please do…” said Lightning icily.
“We don’t start growing thick fur till eight years,” he explained “And horns aren’t for a year after that. I’d say we start getting to look like adults around ten.”
“Huh…” said Lightning “That’s really weird…”
“When do ponies get horns then?” asked Mesa.
“We don’t, I mean, some do. The unicorns, but they’re born with it,” said Lightning “I’m an earth pony, so of course I’m not gonna get a horn.”
“Bizarre…” said Mesa in awe.
“Not really,” said Lightning “I mean come on, there are lots of different kinds of buffalo aren’t there?”
“No…” said mesa, raising an eyebrow “What, are there different kinds of ponies?”
“Of course there are different kinds of ponies,” said Lightning, not quite used to the buffalo’s ignorance, but certainly excited to explain it “There’s the unicorns with the horns, like I said, and they do magic…”
“Like the oracle?” asked Mesa.
“Sure,” said Lightning “Then there’s the pegasi, they have wings…”
“Wings?” said Mesa “That sounds ridiculous.”
“They do look really silly,” said Lightning “And they’re all really stupid too. A good friend of mine is a pegasus and he wouldn’t be able to tell the different between a cow and a hedgehog!”
“What kind of pony are you then?” asked Mesa “You don’t have horns or wings, nothing funny looking about you really.”
“Thanks,” said Lightning, feeling the awkwardness fall away like scales “That’s because I’m an earth pony. We’re the best because we’re the strongest, smartest, and the fastest ponies!”
“Is that why you don’t have horns or wings?”
Lightning smirked “That’s exactly right,” she said, deciding to invent something or another from science class “It would be a biological and evolutionary disadvantage to the others if we did. The only ponies with wings, horns, and earth pony strength are the princesses. And they’re goddesses!”
“Okay, now you’re pulling my leg,” said Mesa, narrowing his eyes “Are you gonna tell me that you guys can be gods?”
“Yep!” said Lightning “Princess Luna and Celestia! They make the sun and moon rise and set every day!”
“Huh…” said Mesa “I guess I can believe that. It’s not like anyone knows how that happens. So you pony people are responsible, that’s really interesting…”
“Isn’t it?” said Lightning excitedly “It makes me proud to… what’s that sound…?” she trailed away toward the end of this sentence as the sound of rolling thunder steadily started to sound closer.
Mesa had already turned toward the sound, where a huge could of billowing dust was coming toward them. Lightning squinted, though it was hard to tell with the same colored coats, she could make out the forms of buffalo, real buffalo, stampeding towards them in the dust. Mesa seemed somehow pleased at the sight of them.
“It’s the stampede squad,” he explained to the bewildered Lightning “We grow a lot of our own food but a lot of guys still go out and gather edible plants. Hey guys! It’s me!”
To Lightning’s terror the buffalo split off from their initial formation as they approached, circling around them several times. Mesa merely smiled up at them as Lightning tried to make out individual aspects of any of them. The wild rush stopped very suddenly, the buffalo forming a tight circle around them. Huge flat heads, block shaped noses, and masses of brown fur closed in like a wall around them.
“Good to see you again!” said Mesa with a smirk “Been a long time hasn’t it? Tornado, you’re looking well. A little undernourished though guys, have you been getting enough to…?”
“Shut up runt,” one of the buffalo snorted “You had better have a damn good reason for stepping back on to our land.”
“This isn’t your tribe?” Lightning exclaimed.
“Chill…” said Mesa “Come on guys we’re all friends here. Mom told me I couldn’t come back until I did something to contribute to the tribe, and look! I found this weird thing on the plain, captured it all by myself!”
“And how exactly…” said one of the buffalo “Does this thing benefit the tribe?”
“Well there could be more of them out there!” he said animatedly, waving his hooves around “She runs faster than any buffalo! I had to be incredibly clever to catch her as my prisoner!”
“I swear I will buck that attitude right out of your sorry skull…” Lightning growled.
“It does seem to have energy said another one of the buffalo “For all we know there could be more out there…”
“Indeed…” said another, surveying Mesa and Lightning carefully “This is troubling indeed…”
“Awesome! So let’s go!” Mesa exclaimed, walking casually forward “We can interrogate her when we get back to the camp!” When the circle remained unbroken he looked up at the nearest buffalo “Um… Stone head? Camp is this way…”
“Yes it is…” said Stone head, looking around at the evil grins of the rest of the circle and nodding “And we’re going to have to bring this creature we caught back to camp…”
“Hey, for the record, I caught that,” said Mesa, trying to push forward again “Come on, let’s go! Chief should see this as soon as possible…”
“You didn’t catch this thing…” said Stone head again “We did…”
“What are you…?” Mesa started, before the breath was knocked out of him by a hoof smashing squarely into his stomach. There was a resounding laugh from the circle as they started kicking Mesa back and forth between them, every blow inciting a yelp until he didn’t have the strength to form sounds.
“Come on gang!” Stone head called “We’ll leave this runt for the vultures. Chief will be glad to see this thing, let’s go!”
Lightning was suddenly lifted up and thrown bodily on to the back of one of the buffalo. She could hear one last groan from Mesa as the group stampeded back toward the teepees.
Mesa groaned and forced himself to his hooves. His whole body felt like it was on fire, but he muscled through it. Leave him to the vultures indeed. As if they had the right, or heck, even the ability to kill him. He looked toward the gray mountain, an idea slowly starting to hatch in his mind.
The herd at the camp had long since learned to make way for returning stampedes as they returned. It took some time for them to calm down usually, and once in a while even longer to actually slow to a stop. It was disappointing to see that they had no food in tow, but curiosity overwhelmed this as they saw the mysterious red creature holding for dear life on the back of Sun stomp. By the time the stampede finally slowed to a stop at the center of camp a small crowd had gathered to see the strange creature.
Chief Nature Song, of course, was the first to approach. She was a very tall female buffalo, with determined green eyes. She watched the stampede bow to her with a look of disdain.
“I send you out to collect food and you bring me back this?” she asked angrily “Our tribe is on the brink of starvation, what do you have to say for yourself?”
Stone head moved to the front of the group “Chief,” he said respectfully “We discovered this strange creature on our plains. We believe it may be a scout of an enemy force. We would like permission to scout for the attacking army.”
Song examined Lightning carefully, receiving  nothing but a scowl from the trapped pony. “I see…” she said measuring her with her eyes “No, you may not send out a party just yet. We need you in the corn fields.”
“But…” Stone head started to say.
“None of that, now relinquish that creature to me and get to work.” Song glared hard at Stone head, then immediately to Stomp, who placed Lightning gently on the ground before they started off again.
“About time…” Lightning grumbled “They smelled like dirt and fleas…”
“So you can talk…” said Song curiously “You are quite an interesting thing aren’t you? Some strange buffalo with coloring of rust…”
“I’m not a buffalo…” said Lightning “And I’m not an alien or a creature either…”
“Well we will know what you are soon enough,” said Song, pushing her toward one of the tents “I’m taking you to see the oracle.”
“Hey let go of me!” Lightning shouted, struggling in vain to try and escape “You don’t have any right to do this! Let me go!”
Despite her violent struggles Song was able to push her into the dark teepee with almost no effort. Lightning got an upside down look at a plume of psychedelic smoke before she was forced to her hooves again to see what looked like a pile of rags behind a table with a crystal ball on it. Two strangely colored candles on either side were giving off the weird vapor trails.
“Mystic Vision…” Song said, and then to Lightning’s surprise, bowed toward the table “I beseech you for your assistance…”
Lightning gave the chief a quizzical look as she turned upward again “Oracle please… we require your aid…”
A dull snore suddenly came from the pile of rags, causing Lightning to spring into the air in utter shock. There was something alive in there! Song sighed and moved over to touch the bundle, “Oracle… please wake up…”
The moment Song’s hoof touched the rags the whole pile shifted violently upward to reveal a very old looking buffalo with pale white fur. “What’s that lady?” it asked, clearly having been very deeply asleep “Is there something I can do for you?”
Lightning was staring in awe at the oracle’s pale coat, the white being somewhat easier on the eyes after the constant boring brown. The oracle shifted grumpily toward the table as Song moved back in front of it.
“As you can see…” Song said, as the oracle stared blankly into the glass sphere “We have a visitor whom we cannot identify…”
“Her name’s Lightnin’” the oracle said angrily “Lightnin’ Strike, anything else?”
“Um…yes,” said Song, ignoring the shocked gasp from Lightning “We also…”
“Wanna know what she is,” said the oracle “She’s a pony, one outta Celestia’s charge. Time traveler too by the look of her… Now that does explain a lot doesn’t it now?”
“Time traveler?” Lightning and Song said simultaneously in a tone of complete surprise. The oracle let out a laugh.
“Why yes, why else do you think I found this gadget?” the oracle said, placing a familiar looking gold cylinder on the table “I know a good time jumper when I see one, and hoo boy does it have a big number on that dial!”
“What does that mean…?” Lightning stammered.
“It means you ain’t in Ponyville no more girly,” said the oracle with a laugh “And song, there’s some more of these pony folk on the yonder side of the mountain. I think you should send out a little peace party to meet ‘em. And bring LIghtnin’ with you.”
“Oh my… um… of course…” said Song “I’ll organize a party and then come back for her…”
“Yes, you will,” said the oracle “Now why don’t you go grab a guitar LIghtnin’? I’d love to hear ya play. I should have… aha! Right here!”
A little frightened by the extent to which this old buffalo knew her, she took the battered old guitar that was thrust in her general direction, not wanted to upset. “Thank you ma’am…” she said in her best imitation of a civil tone.
“I’m a man you idiot!” said the oracle, his accent seeming to slip away from him “Now get out of here! The troops need music!”
Lightning blushed furiously and quickly excused herself, bumping into another buffalo on the way out. She mumbled an apology as she walked to the edge of the tent circle with the guitar. She took a closer look at it, noticing that it looked interestingly modern. Yeah, that time travel bit had to be fake, there was no such thing. Well, there were those short term spells in the storybooks but nothing that could trap her in a foreign time period right?
Right… just keep telling yourself that. Maybe you’ll start to believe it… She considered running away, but there wasn’t really anywhere to go. She supposed she could follow the oracle’s advice and try to get to the ponies apparently on the other side of the mountain, but she was already tired and thirsty, no need to make it worse. These buffalo were her only hope at this point.
“Lightning Strike?” a voice jerked her out of her reverie and she looked up to see another one of the buffalo “The chief asked me to bring you this.” He pushed a bowl of what Lightning recognized as corn meal over as well as some kind of pouch that made a liquid sound as it fell.
“Um…thank you…” said Lightning. In all the excitement she had completely forgotten just how hungry she was.
“And one more thing,” said the buffalo “The oracle has also determined for you to receive this, but I don’t know what it is.” Lightning let out a gasp as the buffalo deposited the golden cylinder on the ground in front of her. “I suppose you know what to do with it then.”
“Yes… thanks…again…” said Lightning.
“No trouble of mine,” said the buffalo “They call me Stone Bolt, I welcome you to the thunder trail tribe.”
“Lightning Strike,” said Lightning with a nod “I guess it’s nice to be here.” A sudden conk echoed around as a blunt force rammed into the center of her forehead.
“Alright, see you then!” said Bolt, apparently completely unaware that he had caused Lightning any pain at all with the sudden headbut. Apparently this was the usual greeting among the buffalo…
Now wasn’t the time to worry about that though. The oracle had said he had found the cylinder, which explained where it had gone when they landed… sort of… but now she had it again it was incredibly tempting to just go home. It didn’t take a genius to figure out how this thing worked. Green button makes it go one way, red makes it go the other, and the numbers were however much time you wanted to go further or backward. She wasn’t sure if that was in days, weeks, years, whatever, but she had it on the maximum setting when she had been launched into this time, so to go home it would be best to just set it back to maximum and press the green button. Home was literally right there in her hooves…
No it wasn’t… no matter how mad she was at Shadow, he was a part of home too. There was no way she would be able to live with herself if she were to leave him stranded. As tempting as it was to leave the idiot there, she merely sat the cylinder back on the grass. A quick peek around revealed what looked vaguely like a saddlebag leaning against one of the tents. She emptied its original contents out and replaced them with her stuff. Whoever the saddlebag originally belonged to surely wouldn’t miss it.
The best course of action, for now, was apparently to wait for the stampede to gallop over the mountain. If there were other ponies there it wouldn’t be a bad idea to meet them like that, and then food and water wouldn’t be a desperate item. Of course the mountain might not be that far around, but the help would still be nice.
Fortunately her idle hooves had been provided with boundless potential for activity, a guitar was all she ever really needed to stay sane. She picked up the battered old instrument off the ground and gave the strings a pluck. They were badly out of tune, but she quickly fixed that. She smiled out at the grassy plains and distant mountains. If there was anything this place had in abundance it was sources of inspiration.
Before she had consciously begun to form the melody in her mind her hooves began to strum on the strings. It was a different melody than what she was taught, sadder than rock, and not nearly as lively as blues. It was soft, like music played in deep caverns as if every sound was expected to be echoed ten-fold what it was worth. Out here in the open it had a different, more enchanting effect that drew the idle attention of several of the buffalo, but none of them really cared to step over and watch. To them she may as well have been a performing animal.
But Lightning didn’t care, after all what did they know? She had her music and that was more than enough. Almost as if to further prove her resilience, words began to flow into the music creating a quiet song.
Blue sky above me, Green grass below
I’m lost among strangers in a land I don’t know
The mountains are tall, the prairies are pretty
Yet I stand alone, tired and weary

Lost alone in this land, can’t find my way home
Next time I’ll think twice about journeys alone
When the land takes its course then maybe I’ll see
My friends near the horizon, comforting me

If life is a blessing then time is a curse
For once I believe things cannot get worse
Alone, here I am, as sad as can be
The grass rolling onward is all I can see

Though enemies are close and my friends are far
Bravery is a lost virtue, my patience is marred
Hope, none I have left, the world’s flying by
Were I a weak pony, perhaps I may cry

Run if you may, bout trees or the hills
Through Ponyville’s pastures or Manehatten’s mills
But run for your life? Now that’s something new…
This sort of thing you think wouldn’t happen to you

I watch the green fields as the wind passes by
Perhaps growing weak… A tear touched my eye…
Shadow, I miss you… I’m sorry… Forgive me…
I was stubborn…and stupid…just really…me…
The usual feeling of her soul being visible had a slightly different effect this time. She usually grew embarrassed after a song, maybe a little prideful if she had done really well. It reflected the emotions she was feeling and amplified it over many times. After awhile she started to prepare herself for the embarrassment after her performances, but this was totally new to her.
Lightning Strike was feeling guilty, and she was completely unprepared for it. The crushing feeling of being utterly alone was crushing her, and she had no shield to hide behind. The fears flowed freely, her stubbornness vanishing into mist.
Lightning didn’t even realize she was still playing until she put the guitar down and started sobbing. It was terrifying being out in the middle of no pony’s land with no one you know within miles of you. Heck if the oracle was right she was in a whole different time! Thank Luna that she’d seen a lot of science fiction or she would’ve had one of those “Can’t even comprehend it” moments.
That was off topic though, her iron ego hadn’t been broken by the shock of travel. It had been utterly shattered by the blank fear that she may never return to her friends and family. Even during the Canterlot incident she hadn’t actually thought of that as a possibility, albeit that was probably because she had been hypnotized for most of that time. If she had, her opinion of herself which was already dropping by the second, would not be so strong.
Priority one, when she found Shadow, she needed to apologize… To Iris too… for the first time (not so strange of course, remember she was pretty young) she could hear the voice of a conscious, and it was terrifying her. She wanted that tinny little voice to go away and stop making her feel sorry for herself…
A pressure on her shoulder made her look up. The sharp eyes of Nature Song were looking down at her. “Dry your tears,” she said in an attempted tone of comfort “We cross the mountain in twenty stamps. You would do well to be prepared.”
“I’m not crying…” Lightning grumbled “It’s been a hard day… I’m sweating out my eyes…”
“Whatever you’re doing, stop,” said Song “I don’t care what your emotional state is, you must appear ordinary to the rest of your group. Otherwise we will force the emotion upon you, do you understand?”
Lightning glared and stood up, slipping the guitar into the newly acquired saddlebag. “I’ll be plenty happy assuming there are other ponies there,” she said “For now you can shove it up your…”
“That’s the attitude I like to hear,” said Song “Confident and strong, but still honorable. You can follow orders and yet your pride is left untouched. I wish we had buffalo like you Lightning Strike…” she paused for a moment, seeming to taste the air “You remind me of myself…”
“But…how…?” said Lightning, more than a little suspicious that this buffalo was just trying to get her to behave.
“You’re stubborn,” said Song, smirking at her “To a fault certainly. But that isn’t saying it isn’t a virtue. Buffalo are very like-minded, if one begins to run many fall into a stampede, like many droplets of water becoming a single river. Those of us who become rocks in this river have to be stubborn and defiant. That’s why I like you. You’re not okay with things that go against your ideals, but you can move with it. You wouldn’t even respect someone in charge of an army where every individual is three times your size. I can read the stubbornness in your eyes.”
“I still don’t get how that makes us similar,” said Lightning “I don’t even know who you are…”
“I’m sorry for not introducing myself,” said Song “I am Nature Song, chief of the thunder trail tribe.”
“And…what does that mean?” asked Lightning.
“The chief is responsible for the tribe,” said Song, looking over the camp “I lead these buffalo through the four seasons, through wars and through peace. The weight of their safety is on my shoulders.”
“I see…” said Lightning, tilting her head “Still, you’re the leader, how is that…?”
“Stubborn?” finished Song, “I had the guts to go against the tradition. For generations the chief has always been a man, as were those who worked in the stampedes. The women were to work in the corn fields, and we always did.”
“What?” exclaimed Lightning, forgetting her inner turmoil for a moment “That’s insane!”
“That’s what I thought,” said Song, with a smile “I was the first woman to join the stampedes. The oppression was greater than you can imagine, and it was years before I finally earned their respect. I fought like a devil to earn my proper place in the tribe, and it paid off in the end.”
“How stupid,” said Lightning, pawing the ground with a hoof “If the colts at my school were anything like that I’d kick their flanks inside out…”
“Violence is never the answer,” said Song “Had I ever lashed out against the men I would never have gained their respect. When they opened their eyes to see who I really was they revered me for all they had put me through. I did turn out to be the first female chief in our tribe’s history.”
“So you’re telling me to curb my emotion?” Lightning simplified, put off a little by Song’s warm smile.
“Something like that,” she said “Come along now, I’ll be travelling with your group around the mountain. I would like to meet with them on even ground… And I don’t trust our stampede to return you safely…” She looked to the small group of rowdy buffalo with a sigh “If only they had your attitude…”
Lightning’s tear stained face lit up with a smile. Hey, so what if she didn’t know much about this chief? She was an important person and she admired her. That was reason enough to return the same respect.
“Hey…” said Lightning, feeling a little embarrassed “Is there any way you can get me a feather headband…?”
“I think I can arrange that,” said Song with a smile.


> Chapter 15: Descent
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	As it was, the mountain turned out to not be all that fantastic of a march. The tribe was familiar with the terrain and knew safe paths around the high slopes. Lightning walked at the front of the procession with Song, a brown headband tied around her head with a big red feather attached to it. She felt a little awkward with it, especially since it didn’t seem like the buffalo had actually started wearing them yet, but she thought it was a definite source of pride.
It was a frightening trip nonetheless as rocks tumbled around the mountain on occasion, causing Lightning to tense in fear, and once or twice a boulder would pass right over their heads, which caused her alarm. Song, however, never flinched as she led the group along the hidden path. She walked with utter surety afforded only by a very great wisdom of the route. It wasn’t just the fact that she had the status, or the knowledge. It was more that she radiated the fantastic aura of leadership and pride that was just easy to follow. The influence was clear as the stampede group, which had been pigheaded and rowdy in the camp, marched in perfect synchronization, not so much as speaking to one another.
“They’re being so quiet…” Lightning observed, looking back at them “They were so mean earlier though… You must be a really great leader.”
“I wouldn’t say they’re mean,” said Song with a laugh “They have fierce loyalty to the tribe and everyone in it. Occasionally they get a little hot tempered when things get in the way, but they’re all like that.”
“Didn’t you say that they all fall into a stampede or something?” asked Lightning “Like a river I think…”
“The worst kind of stubbornness…” said Song “The kind where the blind lead the blind. When similar opinions are mistaken for being the same. They mold together and the ideas, instead of clashing like they should, become a single thought. A thought that is altogether alien as opposed to any individual’s idea.”
“Like when the kids at school get together to play a game!” said Lightning “No one gets exactly what they want, so we make up a new game that everyone has fun with. It isn’t what anyone thinks of at first, but everyone has fun!”
“That’s the idea,” said Song “I’m glad you understand. A lot of core values determine what happens in the end though, such as not to cause any individual extra burden, and most importantly, to never harm a fellow buffalo.”
“Wait…” said Lightning “That can’t be right… they beat up Mesa!”
Song looked down at her in surprise “That… is most unlike them…” she said “Who was it and why?”
“He said his name was Black Mesa,” said Lightning, not missing the flash of recognition at the name, “He found me out on the plains and I tackled him for following me. When the stampede found us they just kept kicking him…”
“I see…” said Song, in a tone of barely contained anger “And then they brought you back… took credit for a discovery that Mesa actually made…”
“That’s pretty much the gist of it,” said Lightning “I guess the group opinion was that the reward was better than whatever happened later.”
“They could glean no punishment…” said Song “Mesa is spending time away from the tribe to mature for now…and will likely remain there for some time…”
“Oh…” said Lightning “But why can’t he be part of the tribe? Did he do something wrong?”
Song didn’t respond immediately. “Some are more fortunate than others,” she said “Those born in to the easy life must learn hardship somehow or else risk destruction…”
Lightning’s head tilted slightly “What does that mean?” she asked.
“We’re here…” said Song. Lightning wasn’t sure if she had even heard the question, but the view distracted her.
The ponies had built a little village out of tents themselves, though these were not nearly as neat as the buffalo teepees. It reminded Lightning of the movie Hunchback of Canterlot, where a group of poor ponies had a secret tent village much like this one. The only difference was that this little rag town was anything but secret. With tarps flapping around in the plain’s open wind it was a wonder that even the mountain hid them from the buffalo.
“You aren’t very well off are you?” asked Song, sounding concerned as they began the descent “Have you had some enemies, or exile?”
“No idea,” said Lightning simply, as confused as Song was at the sight “That sure isn’t Ponyville… well it could be… I mean it was started as a settler pony town and now I’m in the past…”
“You can stop now.” Said Song.
“Oh…right…” said Lightning.
As they got closer and closer to the camp Lightning was able to make out more distinct pony features. She was pretty sure that most of the group were unicorns but it was still hard to tell. Her heart jumped into her throat as she spotted the wide white wings of Celestia walking toward the edge of the camp. It probably wouldn’t be wise to point out the monarch to Song, but it was hard to resist.
It was obvious as they got close that Celestia was not looking at them, but rather something near the base of the mountain. Lightning marveled at how the buffalo’s fur blended into the stone perfectly enough that Celestia’s attention was so diverted. It was a little embarrassing to think that her red coat probably stuck out like a sore hoof against the brown.
What she was really watching for was whatever Celestia was walking toward. It seemed like they wouldn’t get a good look until they had made it back to the mountain’s base. She squinted slightly as Celestia’s horn glowed a bright yellow, some magic beaming down on her object of focus. A shout rang out over the mountain. An all too familiar shout…
“Lightning?” said Song “Is there any reason you’re walking faster than the rest of us? It’s still a dangerous way down.”
“N-no…” Lightning stammered, knowing it was a bad lie.
Fortunately her hooves came in to contact with grass no more than a minute later. The stampede clambered down off the rocks as she and Song stared forward. Lightning’s eyes widened as she saw Celestia glaring over the limp form of a pony. A pony with wings…
“Shadow!” she shouted, unable to hold herself back any longer. She shot forward, only to slam head first into an invisible barrier. She beat at it as Celestia approached with fire in her eyes.
“Another one of Luna’s is it?” Celestia growled as Lightning cowered backward “And with a war party of buffalo nonetheless. I never should have thought that my ponies would turn against me so.”
“We have not come here to make war,” said Song, approaching Celestia without fear “The presence of new creatures on the plain did not go without notice. We’re here for an introduction, nothing more.”
Relieved that Song had drawn Celestia’s attention away from her, Lightning moved back toward the barrier to try and find some way to get to Shadow. Iris was already at his side, but she was willing to ignore that for now. Unfortunately the barrier showed no sign of weakening at any point.
“You say you come in peace?” Celestia exclaimed “And yet you brought a war party? How do you explain this?”
“A tribe’s chief must not go about unattended,” said Song evenly “I suppose you are the ruler of this group? It’s an honor to meet you, Nature Song, chief of the…”
“I don’t care who you are,” Celestia interrupted “All I want to know is why you’re really here. As you can clearly see we are more than capable of defending ourselves.”
“Quite the contrary,” said Song “We are here to ask for peace from you, though by the looks of things it would be better of us to provide you with aid.”
“So you wish to subjugate us?” Celestia shouted, having completely forgotten her desperation to anger “How dare you even suggest such a thing?”
“That isn’t…” Song started.
“And what of this red one?” Celestia demanded to which Lightning flinched “Is she your saboteur? She isn’t a unicorn you fools. Have you perhaps convinced the ponies of earth to rise with you against us? You people never cease to disgust me…”
“Shut up,” said Song, prompting an awed gasp from the nearby ponies “I will not stand for my tribe to be falsely accused. If it is truly war you desire then it shall be war you receive. Though I highly advise you re-think your position…”
Celestia was furious to say the least. No pony had ever disrespected her like that. How dare she? Was she not aware of the fact that she was in the presence of a veritable goddess? She had half a mind to tell this buffalo just what she thought of that…
The only problem was, she was right. The momentary lapse of thought was enough to let Celestia come back to reason. They needed help, desperately, and it seemed that the buffalo were willing to provide it. She was vaguely aware of her magical barrier falling as she contemplated this.
Lightning dashed forward the moment the wall was down. “Is he okay?” she asked Iris quickly “What happened? How did you get here?”
“I-I-I think he’s fine…” Iris stammered “We got here by following the river… Celestia attacked him… because he’s Luna’s son…”
“Some way to treat a nephew…” said Lightning “Have you guys figured out the time travel part yet?” Iris merely nodded, letting Lightning continue “I got the cylinder thing back, we need to get out of here before something bad happens.”
“I think they’re starting to agree on something…” said Iris “And we may still need their help…”
“I don’t know if we have time for that,” said Lightning “And even if we did, I don’t think Song is going to get along with Celestia.”
They turned simultaneously to watch the heated debate that the two rulers had fallen into. It seemed that Celestia was still very unwilling to give ground against someone who had so shattered her pride, but it did look like some sort of compromise was finally imminent.
“Okay, maybe you’re right,” said Lightning “This thing isn’t exactly an easy use utensil. We need all the help we can…”
Her sentence was abruptly cut off by a groan from below. Shadow had woken up and was forcing himself groggily to his hooves. His mane was sticking up in a puff and when he finally managed to open his eyes they were crossed. Under any other circumstance Lightning would’ve laughed at how silly he looked.
“What happened?” Shadow muttered, shaking his head to return his eyesight “I just got shocked and blacked out… what are those funny stars?”
“Great, he’s delirious,” Lightning growled “He has to be delirious now doesn’t he…?”
“Lightning…” said Iris, tugging gently on her tail “I think they’re almost finished…”
Lightning looked up to see that Song’s mood had brightened considerably. Celestia looked unhappy, but resigned. Whatever bargain they had come to was probably mutually beneficial, but the pony monarch was too headstrong to be happy about this too soon.
“We’ve never had proficient magic users about the plain,” said Song “It will be an interesting experience getting to know your people.”
“While we try and figure out some sort of living…” said Celestia ruefully “I’ll send some ponies out to try and get some earth and pegasus ponies to help. I don’t think we’re going to be able to get started that easily.”
“I look forward to meeting the pegasi,” said Song cheerfully “People with the gift of flight… I imagine they would be incredibly majestic.”
“Flattery won’t do you any good…” said Celestia “I’m still ready for an attack if you dare to launch one.”
Iris smiled “I knew they would get along…” she said.
Lightning’s focus had changed to the side of the mountain. She wasn’t sure of it, but she thought she saw a flash of brown against the rocks. Maybe a latecomer from the stampede? Whatever it was, it was moving remarkably fast along the trail… getting closer…
“Hey,” said Shadow, catching a glimpse himself “What is that…?”
The brown form suddenly took a tremendous leap off the mountain, throwing itself high into the air. With a rush of terror, Lightning realized what, and who, this was…
“You won’t take the land from us vile fiend!” Mesa shouted, striking hard at Celestia’s side as he fell at her “The plains belong to the buffalo and the buffalo alone!” He landed perfectly on the grass again as Celestia stumbled backward against the force of the kick.
“Mesa you fool!” Song shouted “What in all the plains are you doing here?”
“I came to help you guys defeat the ponies!” Mesa exclaimed “And look how good I did! I got the big winged one right in the kisser!”
“I knew it!” shouted a furious Celestia, regaining her balance “You’ve already broken a treaty that was made no more than a minute ago!”
“You don’t understand!” said Song, shoving Mesa aside “This stupid child was…”
“I’m tired of your excuses!” Celestia snapped “This has become a matter of war Nature Song! We will meet you on the field of battle come sunrise tomorrow!”
Celestia turned her back and walked back toward the camp. Song, realizing that reason would be a futile effort, turned on Mesa.
“You idiot child!” she exclaimed “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? That could very well have been the beginning of peaceful interactions with a magical race and we’ve lost it because of your stupidity!”
“Hey calm down!” Mesa exclaimed “We can take these bozos in combat!”
“I cannot believe you!” Song continued “You will not even admit to your own incompetence after such a crushing idiocy? Go! Never come back! If I catch word of your presence on the territory of the Thunder Trail Tribe ever again I’ll have you trampled!”
Mesa finally looked shocked “B-but…” he stammered.
“No excuses!” Song shouted “Just go!”
Lightning quickly ran over and started to drag him away before he could dig himself into a deeper hole. She had to wrestle him away as she shouted violent protests, kicking and screaming for release.
“Who’s this?” asked Shadow as they approached “Don’t tell me you actually know this guy…”
“Only person I ever met who’s more idiotic than you are,” Lightning practically growled “And he just started a war…”
“Hey, it was going to happen eventually!” Mesa said, still struggling to break out of Lightning’s grip, “Better to just get it over with!”
“Stop trying to make excuses!” Lightning scolded, dropping him onto the ground and delivering a swift kick to his hindquarters “You screwed up! Now we have to go fix it!”
“B-but how…?” Iris stammered “There’s nothing we can do…”
“Well we’re not staying here that’s for sure,” said Shadow “I don’t want to get in Celestia’s sight again. We can make a break for it while she’s distracted.”
“And we can’t go back to the buffalo as long as we’re chaperoning this moron,” said Lightning, kicking Mesa again as he tried to get up “Any bright ideas smart guy?”
“Why don’t we just stay here and tell the winged idiot to leave?” groaned Mesa. Shadow moved forward to attack him, but Iris bit down on his tail and held him back.
“S-sorry…” she stammered as he turned around in surprise “I just don’t think you have to hurt him… he knows the area better than anyone…”
“Yeah, I do know the plains!” said Mesa sharply “And if you’re not interested in kicking him out, you’re stuck with me.”
Lightning kicked him again “Lead the way then,” she said “We need food, shelter, and probably somewhere to sleep depending on the agenda.”
“You think we really have time for that?” queried Shadow “We need to stop this war from happening don’t we? We only have until sunrise…”
“I love how you guys think there’s something you can do about all this…” Mesa grumbled, unable to get up “You need a base camp before you do anything else anyway…ow… I can lead you somewhere…If you want…”
“I think you kicked him a little too hard that time,” said Shadow “We’re not carrying you so go ahead and haul yourself up.”
“That might take awhile…” said Lightning “I got him where it really hurts…”
Eventually Mesa was able to haul himself into a slightly more dignified walk and Lightning forced him forward. They weren’t quite sure if he had a destination in mind, but with Lightning hounding him the way she was, they felt he better. They were lucky enough to have gotten out of camp before Celestia had regained her senses, which was something, and they sort of had a guide, which was also something. Being lost would hopefully not be all that great of a “something else” as long as they had enough positives on their side.
“Shadow…” said Iris as they made their way across the grassy plain “Why is Lightning being so mean to Mesa…?”
“I’m not entirely sure…” said Shadow “She could have something against the buffalo I guess. From what I can tell they did kidnap her. Though honestly I think he’s just stupid and it gets on her nerves.” He snickered “At least it isn’t me this time right?”
“R-right…” said Iris, not laughing along “But I thought they might be… you know…”
“Might be what?”
Iris cringed slightly at the question as if it physically hurt her. “I thought they might be…flirting…”
Shadow took another look forward to where Lightning and Mesa looked on the verge of trading blows. It certainly didn’t look like what little hearts and hooves day flirting he had seen. But… then again…
“Guess you never know with Lightning,” he said with a shrug “It’s either that or she’s trying to kill him.”
“Oh…” said Iris “I really hope they’re flirting… I mean! Just so no one gets hurt!” She blushed wildly “I-I’m sorry! That sentence kind of got away from me…”
Shadow laughed again “It’s okay,” he said “But for your own sake do not let Lightning hear you say that. She’d probably go crazy and try and kill us all.”
Iris “stared” at him for a moment, the laughter completely offsetting the initial horror of what he was saying. It was all too confusing to figure out, so she let the matter drop. Turning her face away so Shadow wouldn’t be able to tell how much attention she was giving him, she started to mull it over.
“So where are we going anyway?” Shadow called forward, temporarily distracting Mesa from his mudslinging “You kind of forgot to mention that.”
“There’s a cave under the waterfall,” said Mesa “It used to belong to a crazy buffalo who was exiled for killing kids. The cave’s still got torches and stuff but the lunatic’s long gone.”
Shadow turned to Iris, who thankfully seemed too distracted to freak out at this comment “You don’t think there’s anywhere safer?”
“I’ve been living there for almost a month now,” said Mesa “Trust me, it’s as safe as safe can be. No one will bother us there anyway, the tribe’s too scared to go near it and it’s too hard for you ponies to find on your own.”
“Don’t underestimate us,” said Lightning, throwing him another sharp jab “And pick up the pace will you? We want to get there before nightfall and the moon’s already starting to rise.”
“Would you just shut up and come on?” Mesa grumbled, wincing from the blow “We’re almost there, even if you can’t see the falls.”
“I hear them…” Iris offered.
“No one asked you!” barked Mesa.
Iris’ ears drooped as she turned toward Shadow again. Mesa was right, the falls were really close. It was beginning to seem like now or never. She took a deep breath, psyching herself up, then jumped, effectively tackling Shadow, who crumpled from the unexpected blow.
“What the hay?” He exclaimed, watching as Iris immediately jumped off of him and ran to catch up with Lightning, who was watching this with a look of shock and surprise.
“What was that?” Lightning asked, not sure if she should be amused or afraid.
Iris was beet red now, and desperately trying to hide her face with her tail. She listened a moment to make sure Shadow wouldn’t be able to hear, and then whispered a single word to Lightning.
“Flirting…”
The sky was well in to the slow transition of orange to purple when they finally came to the small cleft in the rock wall that Mesa had pointed out. From a distance it didn’t look like something that would’ve gone very far back, just a wide crack in the rock wall, easily overlooked considering the pounding waterfall directly in front of it and the wide pool that it was feeding. Mesa led them down to the alcove, where the pool was beginning to reflect the coming stars.
“How did you find this place?” asked Lightning, marveling at how smooth the water remained throughout the deluge.
“Well everybody in the tribe knows about it,” said Mesa “It’s just no one wants to come out here after a murderer goes crazy inside.”
“I’m going to guess he was crazy already,” said Shadow, pulling his attention away from the moon “I mean, he got exiled for killing foals right? That’s pretty insane if you ask me.”
Iris’ ears fell flat against her head to block out the conversation, whimpering a little in fright. “Well there’s this old legend,” said Mesa “That his son got taken away by a monster, so he was rounding up other kids to trade and get his son back. Of course it didn’t work out in the end, and he was caught and exiled, but no one really has proof he killed them. They just disappeared…”
“Do you think the monster’s still around?” asked Shadow curiously.
“I don’t think there ever was a monster,” said Mesa “It’s just a kid’s story to make sure you don’t go out after nightfall and stuff.”
“Kind of like the Everfree forest,” Lightning pointed out “Everyone says that it’s super dangerous just go keep ponies from going in there and getting lost.”
“Does ‘giant snake’ ring a bell to you?” said Shadow, glaring at Lightning “Think there might maybe be some critters in there that eat ponies?”
Lightning ignored Shadow as Mesa leapt from stone to stone protruding from the water, eventually coming to the sandy bank near the rack in the wall. Shadow turned to Iris, knowing she had no way of finding the stable surfaces.
“They’re using rocks to get across,” he said, noticing her bewildered expression “Do you want me to carry you across?”
“Only if it isn’t too much trouble…” said Iris.
Lightning turned around as Shadow flew over her head with Iris in tow. “Show off…” she muttered, slipping a little bit as she hopped onto the sand in front of the crack.
Mesa had already squeezed himself through the crack, so the rest of the group followed suit for. For a brief moment they were as blind as iris, the crack not even letting a trickle of moonlight in the utter darkness. Iris could smell long dead flames, wet stone, and a bit of moss. But there was also something else, something she couldn’t identify…
There was a sharp clicking sound and a few flashes of light as Mesa struggled with a flint rock. It took him about five minutes to finally light the wall mounted torch with a smug smile.
“Well what do you think?” he said “Been managing the place by myself pretty well haven’t I?”
The walls were smooth, unnaturally smooth, as if they had been magically carved out by astonishingly meticulous unicorn magi. It was perfect, except for the gouges cut periodically in the rock. More interestingly, it also seemed to be a perfect sphere, round and exactly proportional. Mesa had hauled a mass of grass into the chamber which was bundled in the exact center of the room, apparently to be used as a bed.
“Adjectives fail me…” said Shadow “What do you think Lightning?”
“Well ‘creepy’ is a good one,” said Lightning, running a hoof over one of the jagged carvings on the otherwise perfect wall “What do these mean anyway? ‘Always watches, no eyes,’ what is that talking about?”
“The moon maybe?” said Mesa with a shrug “The oracle once said used the moon as an analogy about seeing only not with his eyes. Heck if I know though, they were here long before I was.”
“What is this thing anyway?” asked Shadow, pointing to the likeness of some strange creature that was somehow walking on two legs “Is that the monster you were talking about?”
“Probably,” said Mesa, “I’ve never seen anything like it though, that’s for sure, have you? It must have been pretty bad for him to have written the word ‘no’ so many times all over it.”
“I know what that is!” exclaimed Lightning “It’s a human! Lyra was right! Humans must have existed at some point, otherwise this wouldn’t be here!”
“Or it could just be a really old legend,” Shadow pointed out.
“Well I don’t know about you guys, but I think I’ve earned myself some rest!” said Mesa, having hardly comprehended a word that was being said “Goodnight y’all.” He proceeded to flop down in the grass pile and curl up sleepily.
Lightning seemed torn about this for a moment, “I guess we can’t exactly do anything about that war right now can we?” she said, clearly exhausted “I’m just going to find the softest spot on the floor and go to sleep.”
“I don’t know…” said Shadow, looking around the carvings again “This just doesn’t feel safe… at all… maybe we should…?”
“Hush…” said Lightning “We’re here we might as well just sit down and shut up. If you have a legitimately better idea, let me know.” She proceeded to kick the ground a few times and flop down with a long sigh.
Shadow looked to Iris, who was clearly a little annoyed at not getting to see the strange markings, but her shy nature was hiding it under a veil of serenity. “What do you think?” he asked.
“I think…” said Iris, seeming to think hard about it “I’ll just do whatever you want to do… If you want to leave… then…”
“Nah,” said Shadow “I’m not afraid of the dark, especially if Lightning isn’t.” He flopped down on his back, closing his eyes with a smile “Goodnight Iris.”
He was a little surprised as he immediately felt the soft, silky mane nuzzling against his side. “Sorry,” said Iris, blushing a little “It’s just a little cold in here…”
“It’s…alright…” said Shadow, feeling more than a little awkward “Just go to sleep okay? In the morning we’ll go home and laugh about this all day.”
“You promise?” asked Iris, her eyes glinting in the torchlight like twin stars.
“Yeah, I promise,” said Shadow “We’ll be home by the end of tomorrow, you mark my words!”
Iris nuzzled a little closer, smiling as her eyes closed. “Okay…” she said, her blush fading as she started to relax into sleep “Goodnight Shadow… sweet dreams…”
“You too,” said Shadow, turning onto his back with a smile. He was almost asleep when he spotted the carving he had missed. At the top curve of the ceiling. His brain read the words, but his eyes had drooped, too tired to comprehend them as the soft tendrils of sleep wrapped slowly around him.
“Don’t look or it takes you.”

> Chapter 16: Night Raid
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The blank expanse of darkness opened and closed on the vague lane of Shadow’s consciousness. Reality seemed to be moving in and out of the fractured dream that was infinitely more realistic than the abysmally dark cave that was his current existence. It was bizarre to have been aroused this early, particularly from such a calm and peaceful respite, but he was certain nothing had roused him. Even Iris was no longer holding him in a vice grip.
Shadow turned over once, trying in vain to find some form of comfort in the hard dirt floor, but it was unsurprisingly a completely futile effort. He reflected on the wisdom of having Lightning trample down a patch of dirt for him if they ever came across this situation in the future, though he hoped to Celestia they never would.
A dull dripping sound came from somewhere within the cave, reminding his weary mind of their location. When he did manage to open his eyes he was further depressed to discover the absence of the torchlight. It may not have been wise to leave it burning unattended, but it was a stone cave after all, and it had provided the illusion of comfort in the dismal setting. The fact that there was still no other source of light also suggested the need for the flame.
Of course when a young, tired pony, especially a colt is placed in an unusual situation, especially in the dark, imaginations tend to wander. The sage advice of countless internet friends (and one interesting song by Button Masher) warned him not to be in the caves after dark. He fumbled in the darkness for the flint, creepers didn’t like torchlight, he could remember that much at least, though whether or not creatures where a real threat wasn’t a certainty, meaning he didn’t know whether or not it was something to be worried about.
Searching hoof finally connected with rough stone and Shadow released a sigh of relief. He wouldn’t need a diamond sword after all, not that he actually believed for an instant he could get his hooves on one; fire would be more than enough to dispel any night terror. The first strike illuminated the cave for a split second, the perfect roundness of the place contradicting his childish fears of cave monsters. A few more strikes and he was finally able to land a glowing ember on the now long dead torch.
It was a number of seconds before the spark took, the dim glow growing brighter at a snail’s pace. Mesa hadn’t moved an inch from his mass of grass and was snoring like a dragon. Shadow was slightly confused by the fact he hadn’t noticed the tremendous sound sooner, as if the darkness, like a mantle, had muffled both sight and sound. Lightning looked as if she was having a slightly more traumatic dreaming experience as she came into view, tossing and turning in the dirt, her mane absorbing a gritty brown color that made her look almost orange in the flickering light. And Iris… He couldn’t see Iris…
Icy fear snaked around Shadow, its cold hands taking a firm hold of him. Murderer’s cave, creepy carvings, hidden beneath a waterfall, and now Iris had vanished in the night. There wasn’t a chance in Equestria that she had left the cave on her own, and there were no corners or back areas for her to have hidden in. His first thought, one brought about more by hysteria than reason, was that some monster had gotten hold of her, and for that moment there were no saner thoughts to prevail.
“Lightning, wake up!” he shouted, running for the jagged crack in the wall, “We’ve got trouble!”
“What?” Lightning exclaimed, snapping awake as if a thunderbolt had struck right next to her “What sort of trouble? What’s going on?” her senses had returned to her much quicker than Shadow’s had, having never truly vacated her in the first place.
“Iris is gone!” said Shadow. Lightning couldn’t hear his continued speech clearly as he forced his way through the exit.
Lightning turned to Mesa, still snoring like an elephant, and kicked him into a roll. “Wake up you idiot!” she shouted “When the call goes out for an emergency you need to be ready to go!”
Mesa slammed hard into the wall, finally plodding into the waking world. “Oh my God Lightning…” he groaned “That was evil…couldn’t you have just pushed me or something…?”
“We don’t have time for that right now!” Lightning shouted, kicking up a cloud of dirt as she accelerated to follow Shadow “Now get off your sorry flank and get moving!” And just like that she was gone through the gap.
Pain shot through him as he stood up. It wasn’t that he wasn’t used to physical abuse, the other buffalo had shown him enough of that to last him a lifetime, but the absolute hatred that Lightning had for him gave him a sense of perverse excitement. It made him want to laugh, especially because unlike the kicks of the stampede Lightning’s blows had resulted in a horrible dull pain with every shot.
“What’s going on?” asked Lightning as she skidded to a halt on the sand “What happened to Iris…? Shadow? Is something wrong…?”
Shadow was standing perfectly still, temporarily paralyzed in fright by the image in front of his eyes. The waterfall had frozen, not into ice, but hung suspended in the air, completely defiant of the force of gravity. Lightning followed his gaze and froze in a similar fashion. Something unnatural was going on, and this time they had no idea what.
“What’s all the yelling about?” Mesa grumbled as he followed them outside “I don’t think you guys should be… what the hay?”
“Iris!” Shadow shouted, the realization of danger enough to snap him out of his trance “Iris! Where are you?”
The silent night air carried no reply. The full moon hung perfectly in the center of the suddenly still cascade, throwing a pale ghostly glow over the whole pool. Shadow cursed at the darkness till his lungs hurt, enraged by the hidden attacker he knew was just out of sight. There wasn’t a chance in Tartarus that he was going to let any pony kidnap Iris and think they could get away with it…
“Killing’s too good for him…” he growled after he ran out of air “I’ll have mom burn him at the stake for a whole year while he’s still alive… then freeze him in Ice like King Sombra… then, only then will I kill him…”
“What are you talking about?” asked Lightning.
“Show yourself!” he let out one more shout carry into the still air, tasting blood as he did so “You heard my threat! Come out and we’ll see if you’re man enough to fight me!”
Almost at once dark shapes slunk forward from the stones around them. Shadow leapt into the air, wings instinctively carrying him upward out of sheer terror despite his misplaced bravado. He had barely gotten a glimpse of them, but it had been enough. Blank, pale masks, attached to evil, black furred forms.
Lightning and Mesa had the much more unpleasant experience of seeing these creatures up close and personal. As the black forms were painted into color by the moonlight the masks could be seen as the strange wear of many creatures. There were buffalo, as was natural on the plains, but there were also ponies, deer, zebra, griffons, all in a bizarre number in population, all crawling into the light, unified by the masks.
A heavyset buffalo took hold of Lightning while a nimbus of purple magic froze Mesa in place. The small crowd that had slunk from the deep shadows now encircled the two remaining children, leering silently without a hint of expression.
“What’s going on?” Lightning snapped, kicking at her captor “Let me go you big galoot!”
The buffalo visibly flinched from Lightning’s blows but stayed firm “Wasn’t there another one?” he snorted in a low rumble of a voice “A smaller black one, where’d he go?”
“Must’ve been a shadow,” came a raspy voice from one of the older deer “You just imagined it. Come on now, let’s get climbing, the first sacrifice is going to start without us unless we get moving…”
Lightning did not like the sound of “sacrifice” at all, but “getting started without us” caught the attention of the only one who had kept his wits about him. It was all starting to fall into place now. This group had kidnapped Iris while they had all been asleep, disturbing him as she was detached from her snuggle. By the time he had woken up they had already taken her away and laid an ambush in case they were to notice and leave the cave.
Two things, Shadow figured, were important from what he had listened in on. First, they didn’t know he was there, and second, he knew where they were going. By utilizing the upside-down walk he had mastered at the castle he could scale the mountain like a lizard to the place where this group was conducting the aforementioned sinister ritual. If luck held he would be able to sneak up, rescue Iris, and be gone before any of the dark group was able to step in his way.
All this, was of course, assuming he was capable of getting to this point before Iris ended up as a “sacrifice”. He detached himself from the wall and took to the air. This little operation would require no small amount of haste…
“You will be just perfect…”
Iris, naturally, could see neither her captor nor her surroundings. She was lying on some cold, hard surface and the smell of long dead things hung in the air, paralyzing her with fright. This was, perhaps, a good thing, for it she had the strength to resist the sallow voice may have felt the need to restrain her.
“Thirty years…” the voice continued, not a trace of emotion in the tone “It’s been thirty winters since he took him away from me…” A deep sigh followed this statement “I’m sorry you know… I don’t mean to hurt you…”
When Iris didn’t give any sort of response he continued “My son, Desert Plain, was taken away from me. It was then that he made me the offer to get him back… I knew it was awful, I always have… But you have to understand, I had no choice.”
Iris shifted slightly on the hard surface, trying to get a better sense of her location, but the cold stone really was just cold stone. The voice, however, intrigued her. It was an old voice, a very old voice, laced with a deep pain hidden by the emotionless tone. Just from his tired old voice Iris was able to find pity for the man. Lightning would hate her so much for thinking like that.
“You… you are the fourth child…” said the voice, cracking with what could have been either very great excitement or intensely deep set guilt “You are the last one… He’s coming back tonight… And then he will return my son to me…”
Iris’ blood turned to ice, realizing with a terrified dread that there was nothing she could do about her horrible predicament. Her friends were probably all still asleep down in the cave, they wouldn’t even notice when this pony would end her in the bloody ritual he was talking to himself about. This insane, lonely man was going to end her life on this cold stone.
Little did she know that her best hope of rescue was galloping full tilt up the mountain path. Shadow had considered flying straight up and trying to locate her from above but felt the risk of being seen outweighed that of not getting there fast enough. He wasn’t a slow runner after all, and he still had the ability to vibrate his wings into a hover, so he felt fairly confident that he would be able to reach her.
The first problem, that of not knowing where Iris had gone, was still an issue. The mountain path had many branching trails that could result in going back down rather than up, and Iris could be down any of them. More than once Shadow had panicked down one path, turned around, and taken the other. It was steadily becoming slow going, and his fear was beginning to mount.
“I swear, when I find you…” he grumbled as he ran “I’m going to… I don’t know what I’m gonna do…”
Just as he had determined that this was taking too long he noticed a fluttering out of the corner of his eye. He turned sharply to see a leaf of yellowed paper flapping freely against the rock face. Curiosity, as well as a vague hope of direction, compelled him to check.
Finding it hard to get a decisive look at the page as it fluttered in the breeze he tore it down for analysis. It had a crude drawing, a group of standing trees, probably a forest. At first it seemed insignificant, until he spotted the figure in the center. Blending in with the trees, as if it didn’t exist at all, was another image. The same image of a human from the cave.
Shadow felt a mixture of fear and relief at the sight. It meant, at least, that he was going the right direction, as the pictures matched the carvings. But for some reason the human figure gave him a sense of dread, aside from the fact it was looking more and more like a psycho was leading them to their deaths. A cold seemed to settle over him as he cast a cursory glance about the gray stone. His ears twitched as a thumping sound came from what seemed to be all around him, but his tired brain could very well be registering the sound of the fluttering paper wrong.
He forced himself to ignore the pounding and cast his gaze along the path, elated to see another page taped hastily to the rock face. This was sure to mean that he was on the right track, and he was willing to ignore the creepy aspect of that for awhile. This page had a more curious inscription, the two words “Help Me” lending him to believe that Iris may have left it for him to follow. Of course if he had given two seconds of thought to it, rather than hastily grabbing the note and continuing on, the realization that Iris couldn’t possibly write a note may have been better impressed upon him.
The pounding sound, which had seemed to be constantly behind him no matter which way he turned his head, seemed to be growing louder. It wasn’t a great stretch of the imagination to form that pounding sound into hoof steps, as if some pony was following him. His pace had fallen to a steady trot, his stamina no longer allowing him to gallop.
Mist began to coalesce around the mountain, promising a deep fog tomorrow, as well as intensifying the deep feeling of dread Shadow felt was crushing him into a compact sphere. The feeling that he was being watched seemed to take over his mind suddenly as he followed the sight of another page down the right fork in the path. There was someone else out here, he couldn’t deny that gut instinct for a second. His wings were extended at either side now, ready to fly at the sight of danger.
Pounding steps, sudden mist, the darkness that didn’t even seem to slightly abate. Shadow’s tail was puffed out as big as he was in fear, his muscles tense as stone. Once or twice he had to stop as his shaking legs forced him to stand still. Whatever this thing was it was, it was right behind him, he could feel it. ‘Come on,’ he thought to himself, ‘if worst comes to worst you can definitely fly faster than this thing… No one can go as high…’
If his body had believed a word his brain was telling it, he may not have been so dismally frightened, not quite such a coiled spring of tension and uncertainty. If he had even for a moment believed his own thoughts his next moment would not have been nearly so spectacular.
That’s when he saw it, and for a moment that seemed to last an eternity “it” was all he was able to comprehend. It had appeared as suddenly as if it had been waiting for him, directly in front of him, both there and not there in the fraction of a second it took for him to comprehend it. Shadow’s eyes ventured to the high face, no, there was no face! The tall creature with the long deformed legs and grotesque appendages was standing before him in all its wretched glory. All he could comprehend was bright white terror.
By the time his brain forced its way back in control of the body it was in his vision had started to go fuzzy. His first instinct was to fly, and fly hard, but his wings had locked solid against his back. With the last rational thought he could muster he turned and galloped back the way he had come with all the speed he could force into his legs.
Closer to the bottom of the path the masked ponies were still leading Mesa and Lightning up toward the peak. Having abandoned the extra energy of magic they had trussed the prisoners up with thick cords and tied them on the backs of two of the stronger buffalo. The procession was tense and quiet, ritualistic even, seeming to be in anticipation of some coming event. The mist, which had coalesced thickly on top of the mountain, was beginning to pour slowly downward, bathing the black parade in a veil of vapor.
“Psst, Light!” Mesa hissed at Lightning as the fog divided her from sight “Where do you think they’re taking us?”
Lightning glowered, despite the fact she knew Mesa couldn’t see her. This idiot didn’t know her nearly well enough to call her “Light”. “You’re an idiot!” she said, despite the clear redundancy “They are literally carrying us and you think they can’t hear you?”
“I don’t care if they hear us,” said Mesa “They’re all weird and stony, like zombies or something. I’m not sure even they know what they’re doing…”
“Then why are you whispering?” asked Lightning.
Mesa didn’t answer for a moment “I’m not sure…” he finally said ‘I guess it’s just kind of the vibe of this place you know? I feel like it would be somehow… wrong to talk… you’re whispering too didn’t you notice?”
Lightning had a moment’s pause at this. She had been whispering, but it hadn’t entirely registered in her conscious mind. Some force did seem to be pressing around them beyond the roiling fog. A dreadful feeling had settled on her like a swallowed stone. Perhaps there was something deeper in this kidnapping than a bunch of rogues looking for ransom, (or as she was afraid of letting the possibility of into her mind, food). She was suddenly afraid beyond belief of monsters that could be around every corner.
“You don’t think…” she said slowly “That maybe that crazy pony was right? That there may be something else on the mountain? Like…”
“What else?” said Mesa “Anything dangerous the tribe would’ve noticed a long time ago, these idiots aren’t going to be around much longer before they’re hunted down.”
“Then how do you explain the weird trance?” asked Lightning.
Mesa took another cursory glance around, hearing far more than seeing the continued uniformity of the upward march. “I have no idea…” he conceded.
The group suddenly ceased their steady march all at once, seeming suddenly confused by something. A voice from the front of the procession suddenly spoke “Well that can’t be right… it was a half hour yet to the master’s cave last time I checked…”
Moving out of the consistent lines, the two buffalo holding Lightning and Mesa shuffled forward. The mist suddenly parted as they entered what seemed to be a dimly lit cave. The light of two lanterns danced off the moisture in the air as the two foals absorbed the horrific sight before their eyes.
“I see you’ve already brought yours up here,” said the buffalo holding Lightning “Made damn good time of it too, good work. We’ve rounded up the others and we’re ready to begin.”
There was no reply from the person Lightning and Mesa were unable to see, but the high pitched sound of a deer’s voice came from behind them “Are you sure we got them all sir?”
Mesa felt the muscled body he was strapped to suddenly go tense “Of course we are,” he said “What would make you ask such a ludicrous question?”
“Well you see sir…”  said the deer, Lightning detecting the sound of shuffling hooves “Many of us can hear the sound of the master out…hunting… we’re very afraid we may have missed one of their number…”
“I was brought up the mountain quickly by the master,” came a gruff old voice suddenly, Mesa guessed it was the one the buffalo had been talking to when they entered the cave “I would suppose he may have found another young…victim… and wishes to toy with this one himself…”
“I hear hoof steps…” came a pony’s voice from outside the cave “Small hoof steps… it sounds like they’re approaching!”
“Don’t move…” came the old voice again “The master appears to be leading his prey directly into our clutches. Behold! Now he appears before us to claim our sacrifice!”
Any pony of even slightly weaker willpower would’ve gone insane, of this much Shadow was absolutely certain. That damned tall monster had frightened him into retreat so many times he suspected he had been completely turned around several times. His legs were shaking violently from fear, and his eyes were blurry from exhaustion, his wings still heavy stone against his sides. The way things were going now he would be easy prey if the monster attacked again. Blinded by fog and blurred vision, tired from constant galloping, he was afraid if the thing appeared again he would willingly give himself up.
But underlying all of this was a little feeling of hope. He had collected six or seven of the guiding pages and was still holding on to them tightly. Somehow they felt safe to hold, like the situation may resolve itself if he managed to collect all of them. Of course for all he knew there could be thousands, but he felt that whatever the end destination was, it was very, very close.
The sight of one last crinkled page turned the spark of hope into a blazing inferno. Some reflective light from within the fog illuminated the word “Follows” next to yet another image of what he was sure was the creature stalking him in the dark. The light, while more than a bit suspicious, was a welcome sight and he headed toward it hastily, all eight pages bunched together in his mouth.
To his very great surprise, the mist was now beginning to thin very rapidly, revealing the light he was staring toward to be coming from some kind of cave. He continued on toward the glow until, at the mouth of the cavern, the mist faded completely to reveal the space inside.
Papers fluttered to the ground with a rustling sound as his jaw dropped. The entire group which had ganged up on them at the mountain’s base was gathered around on either side of the cave, backs to the wall. Lightning and Mesa could be recognized among them, tied up and forced to stand. For a moment he couldn’t take in any more than this, the instinct to turn and flee again snaking its way into his mind. But he resisted this time, he had come too far to go chicken on his friends now.
It took a moment to register the fact that he wasn’t being attacked. To his very great surprise the mobs on either side stood perfectly still, like statues carved from the gray cavern’s rock, not interested in the slightest in moving, let alone toward him. Mesa and Lightning were moth flapping their lips furiously at him, apparently expecting him to lip read. It was either that or something was blocking him from hearing the words that were being spoken. With a sinking feeling he began to realize it was probably the latter.
His gaze travelled forward now, finding the presence of a series of stone steps in the center of the cave. The perfect symmetry of the cavern perplexed him, as the cavern at the base had been perfectly round, this one was a perfect cube, the only imperfection being the immaculately carved stone steps leading up to…
Air left his lungs all over again at the sight of the stone platform. Iris was laying on a carved stone table, shivering in silent terror as another masked buffalo stood menacingly over her. This one was not huge and evil looking however, this one was hunched over and looked very, very old.
“Master!” the ancient buffalo called suddenly, confirming that Shadow was indeed not deaf “I bring you the last of the four! Come to me so that you may pour your blessings onto me in return!”
So this was what it was, this sacrifice, the old buffalo was going to murder Iris in the name of some archaic deity. He moved to leap up and strike the old man, but suddenly found his hooves rooted to the spot. This geezer didn’t seem to have any sort of weapon on him, how was he supposed to sacrifice Iris? He was very ancient as well, suggesting that even if he had the tools to go through with it he might not have the strength.
Then it was there. Shadow couldn’t hold back a scream as he saw the thing once again, clearer than ever now, floating in the space above the table. Tall, with horribly mismatched appendages, and gross pale hands on the ends of its elongated front legs, the monster had returned. It was wearing clothes, a black suit that hid any real details of its body, as well as deep black shoes on only its hind legs. Bizarre waving appendages came out of its back, twisting slowly downward to the gathered crowd, who moved from being stony to shivering in disgust and fear.
And that face… That horrible face! But no, there was no face! What was he seeing? This nightmare had come to accept them all as some sort of grisly offering and there was nothing he could do about it. His vision flashed, colors fading from the world around him as static began to spark in his mind.
Iris screamed, and Shadow snapped awake, his mind clearing the static as sun rays piercing clouds. He could see Iris, rising  slowly into the air in the grip of the monster’s tentacles. She was writhing and crying, begging for mercy that the beast either would not, or could not give. Any moment now Iris would be in reach of its arms and she would be at its mercy, doomed to the terrifying fate that awaited the victims of this slender man.
And there was no way in Tartarus Shadow was going to let that happen…
As if in a dream his stone wings became light again, and he flew forward toward the attacker with fire in his eyes and a violent exclamation on his lips. He cleared the old buffalo easily, careening toward the spot where the creature had almost wrapped its horrible arms around Iris. His hooves connected with silky fur as he wrapped his forelegs tightly around Iris, his head connecting with the monster’s black suit.
There was a terrifying exclamation from the beast, a sound like white noise turned into a scream. It drowned out Iris’ cries and Shadow’s curses, echoing around the room like the verse of a demonic chorus. The proxies fled, hooves over their ears as dust rained down from the ceiling.
Mesa was paralyzed in terror, his face scrunched up in pain as he struggled to escape the bonds still holding him. Lightning, however, seemed untouched by the sound. She stared straight into the void opening up around the monster, not a black space, not even some sort of hole, but a status of pure nothing, somehow forced into existence and visibility. The void swelled, seeming to devour every color within the cavern as it fell over the monster and the two foals, engulfing them in an invisible cloak, causing them to disappear before their startled eyes.
“Shadow no!” Lightning screamed, inchworming forward against her bonds, but it was far too late. Shadow and Iris were gone, dragged backwards into whatever hell the monster had retreated to…

> Chapter 17: Grandmother's Song
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Total lack of sensation, it was like nothing he had ever experienced before. The last thing Shadow had felt had been connecting to the horrible reaper cloth that thing wore like a suit. Now there was nothing, none of his senses seemed operational in the slightest. His mind built a world of blackness around him, but his eyes detected no such color, or even lack thereof. It was a blank expanse, utter solitude, isolation from the sensory world.
Something happened, but he wasn’t sure how long it took, for his sense of time had vanished along with everything else, but it was the first thing he became aware of, so he naturally experienced it as instant and clung to it mentally. He wasn’t even sure what this “it” was for another unknown portion of time, until he discerned it as sound. Not just any sound however, it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. It was a song, a song unlike any music he’d ever heard. The word “genesis” floated to his mind without his even knowing the meaning.
Kinesthetic sense came back to him as he willed his suspended body to move, flailing his hooves uselessly about in the void until his brain found the command sequence to open his eyes. Color didn’t comprehend itself quickly, his retinas detecting red, and then orange, then yellow, followed by countless other colors all blending together until he realized he was looking at a white expanse. It was, for a moment, terrifying, as he realized the beast he had attacked was very probably in the same vicinity, but the lack of anywhere to hide oneself assuaged this fear quickly as it had come. Wherever he was, that nightmare wasn’t here with him.
He turned his attention back to the song, for it soothed him very deeply. It wasn’t even in words he recognized, presumably some other language. It was in old tongue, one spoken in Equestria before language truly began to divide, so a few words he could guess the meaning of. He didn’t care what they meant though, the song made him feel as light as one of his own small feathers. It was slow, haunting even, were it not for how well he perceived it, and the glorious peace it seemed to carry on each note.
Dormiat in pace et gloriosae somniis
Filius lunam et stellas
Ne ponat pedem vestries
Mane in Aurora hora est scriptor
Non occidat abscondas semita tenebrae

Suus non omnes periit, licet velata conspectus
Nuntius mox oblítus
Est Væ, vincant cum celeritate
A veloce ratiónis damnati

Consurget de somno
Est abest tenebræ
Finis est longe a te
Precipio cadens stellas
Tunc possis vincere hoc timore

Shadow’s eyes connected to his brain enough to blink a few times, trying to observe by sight the source of this melody, which continued even after the last verse. His wings flapped once, proving to be a mistake as the momentum caused him to spin upside down and remain suspended there. He groaned, his young mind swiftly growing bored with the blank expanse, and he somersaulted over again.
Finally something that wasn’t nothing registered on his strained corneas. He panicked at first at the outline, as it was humanoid in appearance, but this faded quickly. Whatever this thing was, it wasn’t what kidnapped Iris. As it approached Shadow noted its form had subtle differences, curving at what he guessed was the chest and the hindquarters. Otherwise she had a thin form, wearing no clothes, but accentuated by a pale luminescence which wrapped around her like a robe.
Not entirely sure why he had taken to calling it a her, but it fit well enough. She had a face, which was what soothed the mind most about her presence, and she was smiling, eyes trained on him. For a moment he felt awed by this being, beautiful and yet so alien, feminine and yet strange. He felt the need to bow, but with no solid surface, or any surface at all, such a thing was impossible.
The song came to an end as the woman came face to face with Shadow. She had walked toward him, feet apparently firm on something far below, and she seemed pleased enough with his presence. She ran a hand through his mane tenderly, and he felt immediately soothed and accepted.
“Welcome Shadow, hunter of stars,” she said in a melodious tone, finally in the language he understood “I am most surprised by your being here, but perhaps not so much as how you have come.”
This sentence challenged him greatly, and it took him a moment to respond. “Well… I don’t even know where I am…” he said nervously, wondering if she might take offense if he said the wrong thing “And I don’t remember how I got here either…”
“Of these questions, the first is the one most oft asked, and most well answered,” Said the woman “but tidings come not before titles. I have yet to formally introduce myself, though formal may be beyond me in this primitive state. Your kind, at least those that know of me, refer to me as the queen of life, or Mother Nature if you prefer. Or, as your mother calls me, simply…”
“The Queen!” said Shadow quickly, mind racing back to Celestia’s chambers when the sisters were discussing the retribution of Discord, “Oh… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt…”
“I shall count it not against you,” said The Queen “I know a child’s mind is fast and free, wild as the land and as vast as the sea. Though I presume you wish not to tarry on such simple tithing.”
Shadow merely went quiet, not entirely able to figure out what she had just said. “You wish to know your location of course,” she continued “Well by your meager definition, you are not truly anywhere. This is the land beyond the small world of Equestria, beyond any world you may ever discover. You know this place as the eternal herd.”
Shadow’s panic snapped back to existence, his silent attitude shattering “I’m dead?” he exclaimed in a rush “No way! I can’t be dead! I still have to save Iris! Send me back right now!”
The Queen laughed, a glorious sound which caused his panic to vanish again with equal speed “Well you have not come upon such a fate as of yet young one.” She said “Though this is the closest any have ever come. While normally only a soul may enter this realm, your bodily form has been carried with you…”
“So…” said Shadow, turning this over and over in his head and not finding any reason in it at all “I’m dead… but I still have a body?”
“You are alive,” said the Queen “Very much alive, with your physical form intact. Your presence here is attributed to another.”
“That thing!” Shadow exclaimed, excited that ideas were beginning to click into place “It opened a portal or something to take Iris through and when I attacked it I got dragged along!”
“This reason is sound,” said The Queen, beaming at him “Though courage you must have in spades for your mind to remain whole after such an ordeal. A strike against The Operator is no small feat…”
“So that’s what it’s called…” said Shadow, trying to spin right-side-up again and achieving only a sort of silly mid-air somersault “What exactly is that thing?” These last words were muffled slightly as his head faced the wrong direction.
“The Operator is not exclusively from your world,” said The Queen “It is a being from many places and many times. It preys on all living things, and makes use of many more for darker purposes. That it was in a world as pure and innocent as Equestria is ill tidings indeed…”
“So it’s going to eat Iris?” asked Shadow “Or did it drop her when I hit it? Please tell me it dropped her…”
“Iris Stripes…” said The Queen, her eyes focusing on something Shadow couldn’t see, “She too is here, also in her physical form… However I sense she will not be of the flesh for much longer. Her soul is in jeopardy of the Operator…”
This much Shadow could understand “Then I have to help her!” he said animatedly “Where are they? I have to save her!”
“I could send you to them…” said The Queen, though her voice had faltered slightly “While the Operator remains on this plain he is vulnerable. You could drive him away from your world were you to strike him down…”
“Then what are we waiting for?” exclaimed Shadow “The longer we wait the more likely it is…” he stopped here with a guttural sound in his throat. He wasn’t going to allow that to be a possibility.
“Do not underestimate The Operator,” said The Queen “Many before you have tried to reclaim loved ones. The souls he owns here number well into the hundreds….” She paused here “I do not wish my daughter’s son to fall prey to him as well…”
If the situation were not so dire, the weight of these words would’ve been heavy on Shadow, but right now he had much more important things to confront “I don’t care what the risks are!” he said with conviction “If there’s any chance at all that I can save Iris I want to do it!”
“I understand…” said The Queen “Your love shines clearly through… You may yet be the one to vanquish The Operator… I wish you… the best of luck…”
Shadow put on a determined expression, offset both by his small stature and awkward spatial orientation “I won’t need it.” He said.
The moment the last word left his mouth The Queen disappeared as well as the blank world around him. Gravity came back all at once as he fell down on to what felt like solid stone. When his eyes adjusted to the dim light he could see only a dark expanse, vaguely crimson in coloration. The only physical features were huge white lines suspended in space.
Shadow forced himself to his hooves, feeling about for invisible walls. He looked around, shuddering at the horrific atmosphere. The great white lines were all around, fading in and out of existence as if they were made of mist. They formed jagged words and rough drawings, identical to those on the pages he had collected. Looking up he discovered that he was standing under one dominating shape, drawn with the same impossible lines. The symbol was a great circle with an X through it.
He took a deep breath to steady himself, and then started walking. It was icy cold in this place, a terrible temperature that seemed to rob him of warmth and conviction. It was especially bad when he passed through one of the huge illustrations, which seemed to break through one of the huge illustrations. They broke through their original forms and collected around him every time he crossed through one, sticking to his skin and burning him purely from the intense cold.
If The Operator had known more of his foe he might have tried to break something other than Shadow’s spirit, for his will was steadfast and indestructible. Had any of his friends, heck even that moron Mesa, had been taken he would push himself to the point of death to rescue them. For Iris it was likely he was willing to sacrifice his very soul.
The white trees began to attach themselves to the ground, building a crude sketch of a three dimensional forest as he pushed forward. A soundless wind whipped around him, tearing at his mane and chilling him even further. But he didn’t give up, ignoring this world’s horrors as his mind was consumed by one ideal. Iris.
And it was her shriek that gave him the final push. The sound of her voice was enough to send his determined trot into a full gallop. He could see the thing now, grossly defined in a world of crude edges and shapes. Iris was held high above, wrapped in a handless appendage, only visible against the white of her coat. She was struggling and screaming, kicking desperately at her assailant to no avail.
Iris, as he would find out later, had been in the beat’s hold for longer than any normal pony could survive. Staring at the thing for a quarter of the time he tortured her would drive them mad with terror. Iris’ blindness had saved her for this one instance, for the insanity that gripped the Operator’s victims was muted by her lack of sight.
It wasn’t his only weapon though, and through slow touch and sound he was steadily driving the filly mad. He had considered making her another proxy for her extraordinary senses, but rage at her resilience had driven him to ruthlessness. When she finally broke her soul she would join the countless others that were his.
Iris’ screaming was slowly falling into a whimper. All the touch in the world had become cold and all the sound was static. Time had slowed for her, further emphasizing the horror she was being forced to experience. It was as if she had been in the beast’s cold grip for over a day, scared and alone. Her will to live was fading, for if her friends would not save her from this fate, the embrace of death might…
And then something happened, the one thing that could bring her back from the brink. “Put her down!” the determined and childish voice of Shadow pierced through the static to reach her. The white noise deafened as the beast turned its attention away from her, more interested in this thing that would dare challenge him.
Shadow’s heart skipped a beat as the eyeless face turned toward him again, the horror beating on his psyche even stronger than ever now. Static began at the edges of his hearing and vision, but he stood his ground, eyes trained on the creature that dared harm Iris. It was stupid, sure, to do the one thing that could effectively disable him, but the first step to overcome the beast would be to overcome what it did to his mind.
He shut his eyes for a moment, hardly a blink as he tried to shake off the static, and then it was directly in front of him, wild arms waving every which way. His hooves rooted to the spot, his mouth opening up in a scream that never came out. The Operator was ready to claim its next easy victim.
“Shadow no!” Iris shrieked “Look away from it! It’s going to get you!”
And to his astonishment, the darkness crushing his heart suddenly faded. That was it! Iris’ voice stopped the monster’s power from impacting him! Emboldened, he pushed forward through the haze, head connecting to a joint in one of the creature’s legs. A new energy suddenly flooded the area, seeming to spell out confusion.
“You better let her go!” shouted Shadow, the static fading steadily as he backed up from the Operator’s stumbling form “I’m ready for whatever you’re going to throw at me!”
“Shadow…” Iris whimpered, then squeaked as the long tendril released her to fall onto the black landscape. The Operator stood, anger replacing confusion now as his wretched arms flung toward Shadow. Its face, empty of expressing the cold cruel hate of this winged equine, attempted to tear again at the colt’s sanity.
But Shadow’s bravery had peaked. He waited one second to watch the tentacles shooting toward him, and then took a leap forward, the appendages swerving in the air to shoot toward him again. He ran forward, charging hard toward The Operator with a lionhearted courage. Another blow struck sending the cretin reeling backwards. Shadow ducked as gravity took its toll and the tentacles wrapped back around their owner to vanish like smoke.
Shadow flushed with pride, child-like excitement replacing the previous horror. One advantage little Shadow had against this fiend, one that none of his previous challengers had, was that he was not only young and impressionable, but courageous enough to pose a threat.
“Alright you slender guy,” said Shadow, smile widening as the beast warped around to face him “your static isn’t even affecting me anymore… I’m stronger than you now…”
The operator backed up, confronted for once by something it didn’t understand. For millennium it had been the image of terror in a thousand worlds. For the greatest hunter of myth and fact to become the prey was terrifying. What gave a mere child such mystifying strength?
And then he said it, the words that caused it to collapse in agony, the words that for all of the infinite universe’s worth of time he had feared, but never truly believed would be spoken. Shadow glared with determination and said clearly “I am not afraid of you!” The sound of his voice echoed around the space seeming to grow in volume until it reverberated at a painful decibel. The Operator clutched at the sides of its featureless head in agony as the gigantic white drawings erupted into clouds of dust, the crimson turning to black as the world around them seemed to vanish. And then, without a sound of its own, the Operator was gone.
Shadow immediately rushed over to Iris, who had gone silent, not understanding the events. She had heard a violent tussle, loud shouts, and Shadow’s destructive sentence. She waited, trembling, for the thing to lift her up again and continue the torment. When instead she connected to the warm touch of Shadow she burst into sobs, pressing herself into him.
“Hey… don’t cry…” said Shadow “It’s gone now, it’s over… There’s no way I would’ve let that thing take you… you’re alright…”
“Shadow…” Iris whimpered, still clutching at him “I was so scared… I thought I was never going to see mom again, or you, or any pony… I was so alone…”
“Well you’re not alone anymore,” said Shadow, cuddling her closer, a tear threatening to drop from his own face “You’re safe now… I’ve got you…” He muttered comforting nothings to her like this for a long while, not noticing as the blackness around them slowly faded to a calming blue.
When he did finally look up, Iris was still nuzzling his shoulder. He could see a bright white light in the distance, steadily growing closer. He smiled, hearing the kind whisper of the Queen’s voice once again.
“Great job…”

> Intermission Two: In which I sit In the Emo Corner
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A bleary eyed and sore looking black Pegasus sits in front of a blinking computer screen. He doesn’t seem to be aware of where he is or what he’s doing, and would presumably be very shocked to discover that he was once again in the familiar white expanse behind the story he worked so hard to write. But right now he really just needs to get up off his lazy flank.
A familiar little Pegasus, looking very much like a miniaturized version of the first, steps into the area. You recognize him quickly as Shadow, and he sure doesn’t look happy. He proceeds to walk right over to the taller and give him a sharp kick to the backside. He jumps up, uttering a violent expletive, and then turns to confront the colt.
What do you think you’re doing? I’m busy.
“Busy watching Tribe Twelve while you play Pokémon,” says Shadow “You’ve written one, count it, one short story since summer started. What the hay do you think you’re doing?”
Look, kid, I missed one deadline, it’s not the end of the world…
“If you start taking that lazy flank attitude you’re going to fall so behind you’ll lose us for good!” says Shadow, hopping up on the computer desk to block my access to the keyboard “You could’ve had chapter seventeen done a week ago, but all you’ve been doing is wasting your time staring at this stupid screen!”
I blink wearily, suddenly aware this little twerp shouldn’t even exist. A cursory glimpse down at my hooves reveals that they are indeed hooves, and not my usual hands. Looking around I see nothing but whiteness. What the heck? Where am I?
“You fell asleep at your computer genius,” says Shadow immediately “Now come on, what happened to all that creativity? All that inspiration? What’s it coming to now?”
Okay, so I am dreaming. Damn my artistic brain, it feels so real… I guess this is one of those things they call lucid dreaming. Dang… I’m probably not going to remember any of this…
“Oh yes you are,” said Shadow, kicking the computer backwards to fall, closed onto the not there floor “You’re going to use this to get your act together and keep writing!”
Starting to get a little angry now. That fall doesn’t seem to have damaged the computer, but it could’ve. Why should I keep writing? You’re clearly not very happy with where I’m taking your story, why not just stop? You just saved Iris, you’ll even get a happy ending!
“Because you and I both know my story isn’t over, idiot,” Shadow snaps, “If you stop this I’m gone! I stop here! You have a million more ideas for awesome adventures that I want to go on! This isn’t the end for me and you know it!” he proceeds to switch tactics “Just think about all your fans out there. They’re cheering me on! They want to see what happens next and so do I!”
Oh yeah, those twenty or so that have made it past chapter ten… They like Allons-y better… Hey, if this is a lucid dream then why are you here? I haven’t even thought about you in a week…”
“I’m a part of you, moron!” Shadow shouts angrily “How do you not recognize me? When you were my age you did the exact same things, went on all sorts of fun adventures just like me!”
Yeah, so what? If that’s true all you are is a memory. Still, you’ve got something I didn’t have at that age, friends. You’re nothing like me kid, just gonna have to figure that out…
“Hey!” a second, equally familiar voice shouts as out of seemingly nowhere Lightning storms forward “Shut up! You created us! You can’t create something without knowing it!”
Oh great… I guess you’re here to bargain for your life too?
“Come on, who wouldn’t?” said Shadow, “We deserve it, and you deserve it!”
“Don’t do it for us,” said Lightning “Don’t do it for the people reading even, do it for yourself! Writing is the only thing you’ve ever been good at, you can’t throw that away!”
Dang… it’s so weird how you look real but at the same time not at all. Like just like in the cartoon but in real life. You have no idea how bizarre this is for me…
“Focus Stargazer!” exclaimed Lightning “For someone named Comet Chaser you sure have a lack of energy! I’m not your character remember? My creator trusted you with me! Are you going to throw that back in his face?”
“Your own face too!” said Shadow animatedly “Do you realize you’ve been working on this for almost two years now?”
Has it really been that long…?
“I think it’s time for some history,” said Lightning “Not really my show though, Shadow?”
“You started watching My Little Pony in July of 2011,” says Shadow, “Shadow the pony debuted on facebook as a role-playing OC a month later. You spent three months collaborating with other characters to try to give me a story that fits. Even then you still weren’t done with it! You started telling my story for the first time in January 2012 and didn’t trash it until August! You spent eight months on my story before you even took it seriously!”
So a whole lot of wasted time has gone in to this little project, and it’s still not as popular as a four chapter background pony teaser…
“Which you wrote!” Lightning exclaimed “It shows you have the talent to keep making our story better! They can love the background ponies all they want, but you have characters of your own! You have us!”
Lightning, look, the reason isn’t for lack of want or talent, I just don’t have time for you guys…
“Because you’re a computer addict!” Shadow exclaimed “That thing should be for talking to people and putting our story online, but you’re taking it too far!”
“I hate being the voice of reason, you know that,” said Lightning “But if your computer time is stopping you from writing our story then you have to stop!”
“I would listen to her if I were you,” Shadow said “Take it from me, it’s painful when she gets angry.”
You don’t think I know that? I built the world in which that sort of thing happens! Now could you please enlighten me as to why you’re visiting me in a dream to tell me what I already know?
“To let you know your story is in decline,” said Lightning “What little you’ve written over the past month has been about what you’re interested in at the time! How does Slenderman fit into this at all?”
Consider yourself lucky I’ve worked with you guys at all! I’m holding back expletives because you’re kids… but god… I have a lot of crud going on right now…
“Yeah, we know,” says Shadow “Which is exactly why you’re going to have to work with us more than ever, because I know for a fact we’re one of the only things still keeping you sane.”
An extended silence prompts Lightning to speak again “Come on Comet, we’re not just another escape. When you’re working with us you’re using your only real potential! Ignore all that and just work with us!”
I can’t just do that, as much as I would love to, I’ve got way too much piled up to even consider it. Just retreating is what’s gotten me into this mess in the first place.
“Look, we’re not telling you to just retreat,” said Shadow “We’re telling you to do something in your leisure time that doesn’t put a strain on your psyche. You know that by working on your SCPs or whatever not only uses your brain, but puts extra strain on it!”
A little romp in the realm of fantasy is always good to recuperate, what else would I call you guys?
“That’s beside the point, look, bring the book along,” said Shadow “and every time you think you want to derp around on the internet, stab yourself with a pencil, and write us a paragraph.”
I don’t remember writing you this mean…
“You didn’t, you wrote him this dramatic,” said Lightning with an exaggerated eye roll “But he’s right, if you just start carrying your writing book around with you, you’ll probably get a lot more done.”
I bury my face in my hands, realizing in a rush that the author of the story has fallen to the point of being lectured by his characters. For a second, I can’t stand it. I rise to my feet, a stinging retort ready, when I see the little zebra filly.
“Mr. Comet…” she says in a shy little voice “I wanted to visit you too… you know… in your dream…”
And Celestia banish me if she wasn’t just as sweet and adorable as I always pictured her. Iris, my Iris, was talking to me on this bizarre fifth dimensional plane.
“I…I don’t want to be rude…” she says, shuffling her hooves in embarrassment “But… I am scared… Just like Shadow and Lightning… because if you give up… we just… disappear…”
“You’re so close!” Lightning proceeds to kill the moment “Do you realize how close you are the hundred-thousand word count? One more chapter, just one more, and you’ll be one of the long fanfics! There’s no way people will be able to ignore you after that!”
“Please…” says Iris quietly, intimidated by Lightning’s enthusiasm “Keep working on us, whatever it takes… I promise I’ll do my best for you…” She looked to be on the verge of tears, sending a wave of guilt crashing down on me.
Look guys… I’m sorry… I understand that you’re counting on me. It’s my responsibility as your creator to do my best to help you.
“Careful with the whole god complex thing,” says Lightning “Character momentum remember? How we have more control over you than you have over us! Ow!” This last syllable was prompted by a kick from Shadow, who I’m glad to see still retains a notion of sense. I apologize for that anyway guys, that little complex does have something of a habit of getting out of control.
“See? He doesn’t mind,” says Lightning, sticking her tongue out at Shadow “He’s a nice pony, unlike you!” In retaliation Shadow tackles her and starts a noogie. Lightning turns this into a wrestling match and Iris cowers back a little. I invite her to come closer, which she does, putting me between herself and the scuffle. I asked her if she minds how her friends act.
“Well…” she says “It is scary sometimes… but no pony gets hurt in the end so I guess it’s okay,” she smiles up at me “You know what’s best right Mr. Comet?”
Please, just Comet is fine. Honestly I don’t know how their personalities are going to play out in the end… I just kind of know what they’re going to go through and you too… but I have no idea what’s going to happen once we get there…
Iris seems to get a little scared by this, so I decide to offer her some form of comfort. Hey, whatever happens I’ll make sure you guys have the resources you need to deal with it. You’re going to have some rough road ahead, but you’ll make it out.
She nods “Um…Comet…” she says timidly “Do Shadow and I… do we ever…” she squeaks a little and hides behind her tail before continuing “Are we ever… you know…”
Well I can’t tell you that now can I? I’ll let this much go though, if you want to get to that point you’re both going to have to work hard to get there. There’s going to be a huge amount of obstacles in your way and if it weren’t for my tinkering you two wouldn’t have a chance. Though I mucked a few things up to give you the opportunity to do so, but it’s your choice whether or not to take it.
Iris goes quiet and Lightning and Shadow stop trying to kill each other, “Oh and hey,” says Lightning “What about that last chapter huh? I’m not even in it! What did you do?”
“If you ask me he fixed the screw up from the last chapter,” said Shadow “Sort of completed the side story. He made me look totally awesome too!”
“We’re getting off topic,” said Lightning “Anyway, Comet, what about it huh? You’re going to continue the story right?”
Guys, stop freaking out. If you guys keep showing up in my dreams if I miss the deadline I’ll start ignoring it altogether. Do you really think I considered quitting on you? No way!
“Ha!” said Shadow excitedly “I knew it! You don’t have what it takes to leave characters as awesome as us behind!” Lightning proceeded to kick him, demonstrating again how fluently they hand off the role of being the smart one.
I suppose I can’t… this means I’m going to wake up soon doesn’t it?
“Well yeah!” said Shadow “But if you want to fudge the rest of it I don’t care.”
“Another intermission might be good right about now…” said Lightning “Keep the fans interested in cute little me.”
Iris gave a muted glare that still clearly read “Oh, please…” I just smile and laugh. Well I guess I’ll see you guys in the next chapter, and I’ll start the intermission with this!
“Alright,” said Shadow “I guess we’re going.”
“Just for the record, I wasn’t worried about you for an instant!” said Lightning as Iris trotted back over to them “See you next time you big dork!”
I wave at them as they go, smiling a little nostalgically. It really has been nearly two years now…those little scamps have been brightening up my life for a good long time…
Now let’s take a moment to pretend this wasn’t the point I woke up, because I’m going to continue as if it wasn’t. The computer naturally vanishes because I really don’t need it anymore. Instead three chairs materialize and I now sit on one. A red coated stallion, looking a little rough around the edges, sits in another one of the chairs without saying a word. His hair is gray, smattered with the same red of his coat, and he has a scar on the bridge of his nose. I turn to greet him
Hey Storm, glad you could make it!
“Good to be here.” Says Storm mildly.
Everyone, this is Storm Flare, or as you may know him as Skulltux. He was one of the earliest supporters of the story and has been officially brought on to the team as the editor! Yes, he’s the one who added all the extra dialogue to chapter two!
“Wait a minute… you never said…” Storm began.
Of course compared to the original product it’s still very much improved. He’s got a lot of catching up to do, having only made it through chapter four, but you’ve all read the story, who can blame him?
“You’ve only posted my edits up to chapter three…” Storm points out.
Hey, I’m a hardcore procrastinator, it’s hard enough for me just working on this!
“Right…” said Storm.
Well anyway Storm’s gonna be here because as editor he’s going to have to have enough character empathy to keep the edits fluent with the rest of the story and fix the spots where I’ve accidently deviated. It’s a learning experience for him! You are taking notes right Storm?
Storm just stays quiet, I think he’s probably angry. Well anyway let’s have a talk with some of the new characters, and also, storm, got some ponies for you to meet.
Light, Shadow, Iris, and Mesa barrel onto the stage in a mess of flailing hooves. I can’t help but laugh a little at the brawl as Iris stands a little off to the side. Storm looks quietly alarmed as they separate, still glaring at each other.
“Hello, Storm!” says Shadow enthusiastically “I’m Shadow, and this is stupid, stupid, and Iris Stripes.” Lightning throws one more punch at this, cutting off Shadow’s laugh.
“They’re a lot shorter than I imagined them reading the recent chapters,” says Storm “they seem more like they were at the story’s beginning.”
Dude, it’s been like four months since Lightning and Shadow met in the first place. I don’t think they’ve gotten any taller.
“I’m taller than Lightning now!” said Shadow “I’m just putting that out there now because you never said it.”
“Nuh, uh!” said lightning “I’m taller, I’ve got you by like a bazillion inches!”
I stepped in before the sparks started flying. Guys, you’re the same height. Except Lightning is a micrometer taller because it’s funnier that way.
“Ha!” said Lightning, sticking her tongue out.
“Do you always do this?” asked Storm.
It’s all part of the bonding process. Anyway the tykes all sit down around the three chairs and tune their arguing down to a lower key so we can get right to the painfully obvious introduction of Mesa.
“Wait a minute,” says Mesa “I’m already here with everyone else!”
Well you’re the new character, so you get questions asked. Now parts of your story went intentionally untold and will likely remain that way. After having a good look at the manuscript is there anything you want to add?
“I didn’t read your dumb story! But they told me what you missed anyway. Biggest thing you kind of left them in the dark about is that I’m actually the chief’s son.”
Chief, being Chief Nature Song?
“Yeah, which is kind of an embarrassment for her or something? When I started ‘acting spoiled’ she banished me to the plains until I could prove myself.”
So you’re an exile huh?
“I guess you could say that…” said Mesa dejectedly, fidgeting a little from being in the limelight.
I don’t suppose you would like to elaborate on your own special genus would you?
“No!” said Mesa quickly “You haven’t decided on that yet! It’s not written down!”
Well it’s going to happen, do you want to tell everyone what it is?
“Again, no,” said Mesa “I’m not going to tell them something like that. It isn’t relevant and it really isn’t nice of you to bring that up.”
Alright fine, if you insist. You can go back to talking now, I don’t really have anything else to ask you about. But Mesa, it’s going to happen whether you like it or not so you had really better just accept it. Mesa slinks backward, looking a little miffed. Shadow gives him a quizzical look, but he just shakes his head. Hey Storm, who else do we need to bring in?
“Well there’s Song,” says Storm “But that might cause more harm than good. Maybe one of those proxies?”
You honestly think a slender proxy would be safer than song?
“As long as Mesa is here, probably…” says Storm.
You know what, you’re right, this is an intermission for crying out loud! I can do whatever I want! What the heck, let’s just bring in Slenderman himself! Slendy materializes in the empty chair!
“&@!#?” says Slendy.
“Dude what the heck?” Storm exclaims “Get that thing out of here, it’s dangerous!”
Oh quit freaking out Storm. I smile, despite Mesa and Lightning both running to hide under my chair while Iris doesn’t seem to notice the thing and Shadow just plain isn’t afraid of it.
“I’m not freaking out!” says Storm “This is just a really bad idea!”
I would take offense at that, wouldn’t you mister Slenderman?”
“#$!#&||/|\@...” says Slendy.
My thoughts exactly!
“Wait, you can understand that thing?” exclaims Storm “What sort of gibberish code is it talking in?”
No code at all, he just says whatever I want him to say because I’m the author. And if that just happens to be random symbols that mean “He offends me…” I am completely allowed to do that.
“Why can’t I do that?” asked Storm “I’m the editor for crying out loud! Don’t I have rights?”
This is the intermission, I’m not letting you edit these. Because of that you’re just another one of my characters for right now.
“!!@&!$$!!” says Slendy, pointing a long fingered hand at Shadow.
“Stop calling him Slendy!” says Storm.
“!!@&!$$!!” Slendy repeats, then proceeds to disappear without a trace.
“I think I scared him off,” says Shadow happily.
Yes you did, good job little guy. He probably doesn’t want a repeat of what happened last chapter huh? Shadow laughed after this, clearly pleased with himself.
“Got any more great ideas?” said Storm angrily.
Loads, but I’m not going to bore anyone with them right now. Honestly I’m not entirely sure there’s anyone left to specifically elaborate on.
“Oh come on,” said Storm “What happened to Celestia between this timeframe and Luna’s banishment? What is Nature Song’s whole story? How did a freaky Slenderman cult end up in Equestria?”
All of those are really fantastic questions, but there’s no way I could answer all of them. Since there’s nothing really outstanding I think we can leave it right here.
“And you’re not going to elaborate on any of the loose ends?” asked Storm.
No need to really, my readers have great imaginations I’m sure. But just in case I will leave them a lifeline. I would guess this whole intermission thing is going to become a pretty repeated meme. I’m drawing this part of the story to a close so we may have another Intermission very soon. If there’s anything you want me to explain in the next intermission, please, toss me a message or a comment and I’ll gladly ramble on about it.
“I guess that’s cool,” said Shadow “You guys out of here then?”
“I guess so,” said Storm “See you guys later?”
“Sorry for all the randomness,” Iris squeaks, walking closer so the readers can hear her over the tumult “Have a good night! I hope to see you all again soon!”

> Chapter 18: Cult
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What do you think happened to them?”
“Back up, give em’ some air!”
“They’re my friends you big idiot, you back up!”
“No You move!”
“No, YOU!”
“Shut up…” Shadow thought to himself as a pair of voices drifted into his conscious mind “I don’t need this.” Thinking about his current situation he added “And my head hurts…” for what felt like the hundredth time in recent memory he found himself blinking to life after a long period of unconsciousness. He had a gut feeling this was going to become a thing with him.
“Oh thank the thunder god you’re alright,” said Mesa as Shadow’s eyes blinked open “What the heck happened to you in there? It was like explosions and screaming and earthquakes and…”
“Shut up Mesa,” said Lightning “Well, it looks like you’re both okay, what happened… wherever you ended up?”
“Give me… like five seconds…” Shadow muttered. There was stone under his hooves but it was warmer than before. Blinding light poured in from a single opening in the cavern. They were back in the dark alter room, but more importantly, they were back to their own specific reality. Low steady breathing on his right confirmed Iris too had made it out safely.
“That was awesome!” Mesa failed to contain himself as he burst out again “That thing just like appeared from nowhere! And then you didn’t even care you just jumped at it! Then it started screaming and all the evil ponies ran away and…”
“I know, Mesa,” said Shadow “I was there.” He turned as he felt Iris take hold of his hoof, apparently struggling back to the waking world as well. Her misty eyes blinked open and she let out a contented yawn.
“Whuh-what happened?” she asked, ears twitching rapidly “This isn’t the cave we were in before! The other cave smelled like grass and dead fire, this one smells like…”
“It’s better not to think about it,” said Shadow, glaring to Mesa and Lightning to convey that it was better not to question further “We’ve been here long enough, it’s time to get home. Lightning do you have the cylinder?”
“All our stuff is back at the bottom of the mountain,” she said “We have to go back there and hope those creeps haven’t got their hooves on it.”
“Well then we need to get going,” said Shadow, helping Iris to her hooves “The longer we stay here the more likely it is something bad is going to happen…”
Lightning and Mesa gave him identical looks of confusion, but neither of them argued. They stepped out of the cave, blinking in the bright sun “Where did those creeps go anyway?” asked Mesa “They took off like their fur was on fire, do you think they left?”
“Oh no…” said Lightning, propping her front hooves on a large boulder to peek down the mountainside, her view was clear an unimpaired now that the mist had cleared “I don’t think they left… Mesa…”
Shadow and Mesa followed suit, training their eyes to where Lightning was staring. Figures were making their way across the plains at the bottom, many figures of many shapes, some with robes visible even from this height. It didn’t take much imagination to figure out where they were going…
“No…” Mesa spoke in disbelief “They’re going toward the camp! Chief! They’re going to…” Mesa trailed off “We have to help them!” he turned toward the path to charge, but Shadow extended a wing to block him “Get out of my way!”
“There’s nothing we can do about them now,” said Shadow “We have to get safely down the mountain and back to the cylinder. Everything else is just going to have to sort itself out.”
“But… my friends…” Mesa said weakly “My family… they’re all down there…”
“By the time you got to the bottom your camp would be pillaged and burned,” Shadow spoke in a cold tone that didn’t suit him at all “If you want to go pick up the pieces after we’re gone, then fine. You’re not from our time anyway.”
He brought his wing back and started down the path without another word. Iris immediately squeaked and jumped to his side. Lightning stared after him for a moment before moving forward. “He never talks like that…” she said “Shadow… he’s never down on himself… or anyone… what happened in there…?”
_____________________________________________________________________________________
The buffalo camp itself was blissfully unaware of the threat approaching from the mountain. Now that the sun had reached its height in the sky and sunrise was long over they were more than a little pleased just to imagine the unicorns abandoning their plans of battle. A few had even begun to celebrate their unearned victory.
“Them pony folk knew they were outmatched the moment they saw us,” said Stone head, who was sharing a pint of barley with the rest of his stampede “Those were just big words when their cocky angel leader got hurt.”
“I’ve got to hand it to that kid, Mesa,” said another “It took guts to go into a full charge like that. Did you see them working on the camp while we were talking to them? They’ve got some kind of magic enough to throw stone!”
“Either very brave or very stupid,” said Stone head gruffly “And knowing that fool of a child he is I’m guessing it’s the second. He won’t be coming back to my tribe for a foolhardy move like that.”
“Well he’s got to come back at some point you know,” said one of the most inebriated of the group “After all if he don’t come back the lineage breaks…”
“At which point Song would be forced to choose an heir,” said Stone head, a confident smirk playing around his lips “If the kid stays away, as he very well should, this tribe is as good as mine…”
“You mustn’t speak with such power hungry words,” said another, older looking buffalo “Greed begets ill fortune, which we have quite enough of as is…”
“Oh be quiet,” said Stone, downing the last of his drink “All our problems will be solved once I’m chief of the tribe, you just wait and see…”
“Bandits!” Their chatter was interrupted by the exclamation of a returning scout, barreling towards the chief’s tent “Ready your weapons! Bandits approach from the mountains in a flood! To horns! To horns!”
“It seems the Gods were watching you after all,” said the old buffalo, patting Stone head on the back as he took off to prepare.
“I have yet to see a group of bandits I can’t handle,” said Stone head confidently “Come along men; we’ll defeat the menace and be home before supper… men…?”
Stone head observed the terrified expressions of the rest of the stampede and turned his attention to the mountainside where their collective gaze was trained. A shudder crossed his broad shoulders at the terror before him. This was indeed no rag-tag group of petty thieves, but a full flood. His vision blurred together with dozens of coats in a color conglomeration as he went lightheaded from shock. They would likely be In for a very long ordeal indeed…
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“Shadow,” said Lightning worriedly “I know you don’t want to talk about what happened…”
“You’re right, I don’t,” said Shadow, interrupting her “So don’t talk about it.”
They had been walking down the path for just over thirty minutes now, but it was quickly becoming obvious that it was a longer route than it had seemed the night before. Shadow had to keep a wing around Iris’ shoulder to guide her across the rocky terrain. Mesa had ventured a ways ahead of the rest of the group, more confident but no more knowledgeable about the mountain than they were. Lightning had stuck close behind him until just recently, the curiosity at Shadow’s sudden mood swing stealing her attention.
“Shadow, you have to talk to me about it at some point,” she said, not sure herself if she was trying to be encouraging or demanding “Will one of you please just tell me what happened?”
Iris bowed her head and Shadow glared, he moved forward, dragging Lightning a little ways down the path before hissing in her ear “Iris doesn’t remember what happened, and I want it to stay that way…”
“Shadow…” said Lightning, voice cracking slightly “You’re… you’re scaring me…”
A look of concern flashed temporarily over Shadow’s enraged complexion “I’m… sorry” he said, childish nature again pushing aside the trauma “But… that thing… I don’t want to remember it either…”
“Okay…” said Lightning, knowing all too well what he meant “Then just forget about it okay? It’ll be easier that way…”
“But I can’t…” said Shadow “It was just too much… too… terrible… Lightning, I was more scared than I’ve ever been in my life. More than when the snake tried to eat us, more than when Discord took over Canterlot…” he sighed “It’s like everything is leading up to… something…”
“Well if it makes you feel any better,” said Lightning “It’s going to be another thousand years or so before that something else can happen.”
Shadow laughed, the lightening of the mood did make him feel much more like his old self “When we get back to the present, we’re getting ice cream,” he said “all three of us. All fun adventures should end in ice cream!”
“Oh come on, what about me?” said Mesa indignantly “Don’t I get ice cream too?”
“Absolutely!” said Lightning “Wait a minute, how do you even know what ice cream is…?”
“I don’t,” said Mesa with a smile “But you guys are all getting excited about it, so why shouldn’t I?”
“Shadow’s rich anyway,” said Lightning with a smirk.
“Um…Shadow…?” said Iris quietly “Isn’t Mesa going home…?”
Shadow shrugged “I don’t know,” he said “Maybe we’ll never get rid of him.”
____________________________________________________________________________________
The battle at the base of the mountain had begun. Rock hard skulls slammed against creatures of all shapes and sizes, woolen coats and barriers of magic nullifying the strikes to the point that the heavy blows merely glanced off. Scouts of the smaller or more agile among them hauled away foodstuffs and precious metals, stampedes pursuing them being drawn back into the thick of battle.
Among all of this Nature Song was battling alone against at least five deer that were taking it in turn to charge. Song was fortunate enough to be well versed in combat as she blocked each attack successfully, intent on keeping the bandits away from her own tent.
Unfortunately it started to seem like a losing battle, her movements slowing with each consecutive strike. It seemed inevitable that they would soon push past her and ransack one of the most sacred areas of the camp.
“Get back you devils!” Song exclaimed, charging one of them directly, landing a solid blow but barely stopping another from charging her tent. Fatigue was creeping in on her now, and she winced as a pair of horns connected solidly with her flank. She regretted that this could be her final battle, with poor Mesa never coming home…
Just as she was prepared to launch forward with the last of her might however, a white flash shot in from her left, blindsiding one of the deer who knocked over the one next to him. Song’s reflexes never left her, taking the chance to topple the others. She turned in utter surprise to see the oracle, cloak gone, looking younger than she had ever seen him.
“Don’t forget,” he said confidently “I too was the chief of this tribe once, and I will not let it fall to ruin.”
“Old habits die hard I suppose?” said Song, starting to recover “I hope I don’t live to become as fragile as you.”
“We’ll see how fragile I am before the sun sets I’ll wager,” said The Oracle, glaring as he spotted a group of masked unicorns emerging from the space between two tents.
“Dung,” cursed Song “These ones have magic, what do we do now?”
The Oracle gave another confident smile “We’ll show them it isn’t just those of their species that know the magical art…”
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“There it is!” Mesa exclaimed, skidding down the last gravel covered bit of path “That took long enough didn’t it? I don’t know about you guys but I really need something to eat!”
Lightning followed quickly behind him as they practically galloped toward the cave in the mountainside. Shadow was a little ways behind them, still making sure Iris was maneuvering safely. She insisted that she could continue just fine without him, but he wasn’t buying it.
“Shadow, I can make it the rest of the way really,” she said “I can smell the pool, we’re almost there.”
“You couldn’t make it over the pool last time,” he said, smiling despite himself “Come on, and I’ll fly you over, and don’t say you’re scared, I know you like it.”
“What if I just don’t want to get used to it?” said Iris bumping him lightly “Some of us don’t have wings you know.”
“I say take your opportunity where you can get it,” said Shadow, already flapping his wings “I’m going to grab you, you ready?”
“I guess,” said Iris “Just say when okay?”
“Okay,” said Shadow “Ready in three…two…”
“Would you two quit flirting back there?” Lightning called back “We’re going to leave you in this millennium if you don’t get a move on!”
Iris uttered a loud squeak, going tomato red at this comment. Shadow grabbed her without finishing the countdown, his own embarrassment shocking him slightly. They proceeded carefully through the crack again, light entering the cavern with them now that it was morning, making the cave seem much less intimidating and far more livable.
“Here it is!” Lightning said quickly, procuring the cylinder from the dusty corner she had been sleeping in “Have we got everything packed up? I want to get out of this dark age A-S-A-P!”
“Alright!” said Shadow, trotting over to Lightning, trying to figure out the necessary boundary for the device’s impact, Iris sticking to his side like glue.
“Yeah…” said Mesa, still standing awkwardly at the entrance to the cave “I guess it is…”
Shadow and Lightning looked back simultaneously realizing that they had been blocking out the fact of the necessary farewell. “I guess you’re heading back to your tribe now, huh?” said Lightning, her happy tone much subsided.
Mesa nodded as Shadow walked back “Stay safe out there man,” he said, offering a hoof bump “See you in a thousand years I guess.”
“I’ll try to last that long,” said Mesa, smirking as he slugged Shadow’s hoof then slammed his skull against Shadow’s. He didn’t even flinch, despite Iris’ squeak.
“Come on guys, the longer we’re here the more trouble we’ll be in.” said Lightning, holding back her own emotion “Can we just go already?”
“Alright! sheesh,” said Shadow “I didn’t realize you were in such a hurry to get your flank tanned by your brother” he walked over and stood by Lightning, Iris doing the same.
As Lightning pressed the green button, not giving a moment for her emotions to well up, the blur or color started all over again. Mesa’s smile faltered as he watched his friends start to fade away. He would be going back to the tribe now, or lack thereof to be more precise, if he was lucky he might be able to get back in Song’s good books, go back to being a normal tribe member… after this adventure all that was going to seem so bland…
His hooves moved for him, and before he or anyone else could comprehend it, his brown coat had joined the swirl of colors about to shoot forward in time. The flickering lights slowly faded, leaving the cave again lightless and empty.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
The buffalo camp was falling, this much Song knew. They were outnumbered three to one from the onset of the battle and their numbers had only fallen. Without the virtues of magic or powers of flight the buffalo were falling victim very steadily to their attackers. Song had gathered the last thirty or so buffalo at the center of the camp to form a defensive barrier around the women and children.
“Fight to your last breath!” she called over the cacophony of battle “It matters not if your life is ended on this day but what you choose to make of it at this moment will last forever!”
But the words fell on deaf ears, the tribe wasn’t stupid. The fact that their demise was almost totally assured did not escape any of their minds. But still they stood against the onslaught, without any hope of victory they fought on. Because Song was right, if it was death they faced it should be as honorable a death as possible.
Within minutes Song found herself knocked on her back, the vicious fangs of some wolf-like creature snapping at her neck. She closed her eyes, thinking only of her tribe, knowing that this would be her final battle. The jaws came even close as she felt the very last of her strength slowly creep out of her body.
A sudden sound, like that of bells, broke her from her fainting state, accompanied by a brilliant flash of light. The creature trying to force its weight onto her slumped and fell sideways. Song squinted into the sunlight, making out the steadily fading form of a familiar enemy.
“You’re too much like my sister to die today Song…” she heard from somewhere far away “It’s not over yet…” The sound of approaching hooves and the sight of many varied flashes of light were what filled Song’s perception as the world slowly faded to black.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“Shadow…” a vague feminine voice floated through a growing consciousness “Shadow… wake up… come on now…”
As electricity snapped between his nerves once again and higher thought processes took shape, he noticed the tone of worry tingeing the voice, as well as the vague familiarity of the tone. He tried and failed to bring himself to his hooves, only succeeding in a sort of shuffling twitch on the ground. Remembering he had eyes, he opened them, taking a moment to register a pale blue face and a flowing, star-filled mane.
“Mom…?” he muttered, finding his strength, at least enough to sit up “I had the weirdest dream… I dreamed I went back in time…”
“Well you’re safe now…” said Luna, sounding very greatly relieved “And you’re still in trouble…” she said her tone shifting from concern to fury
Shadow’s eyes widened as they better interpreted his setting. A smaller, black and white form was pressed against his side, and a red coat was collapsed nearby on the other. Iris and Lightning were both here, knocked out, and for some unexplainable reason they were in the Everfree forest. Oh crap, it wasn’t just a dream.
He realized with a sinking feeling that his mother wasn’t the only one glaring down at the pony pileup. Saber was standing nearby, looking more alarming than ever in deep blue barding. Zecora was there too, looking angrier than the other two combined, and was, to his dismay, the first to speak.
“How dare you?” she exclaimed, her hooves kicking up copious clouds of dirt as she stormed toward Shadow “What thought did you give to what you do?” he cowered, but her ineptitude to institute fear while rhyming gave him the bizarre urge to laugh as well.
“We aren’t happy kid,” said Saber in a voice low enough to be a growl “My sister’s been gone for a full twenty-four hours, not even just missing, but somehow you managed to drag her off the face of Equestria!”
“Did you not learn from your mistake in the ageless corridor?” asked Luna angrily “Or even the lake of desires? You seem to have developed an insatiable want for danger of yourself and others!”
Shadow’s ears fell flat against his head, wishing he hadn’t woken up at all. It wasn’t just his fault was it? Unfortunately three pairs of angry eyes told him otherwise…
Zecora stepped forward, lifting Iris up on her back, who squeaked in her sleep “It would be best if my daughter returned to home,” she said “In her condition it’s better to play alone.”
Luna looked on the verge of interjecting, but whether because she still felt the need to teach Shadow a lesson because she knew it would be better not to argue, she merely stood aside to allow the enraged mother to pass. Shadow watched her go, a hole forming in the pit of his stomach.
Thankfully Lightning began to come around at this point, hazily sitting up and looking from side to side, “Well… looks like we made it back…” she said wearily “Hi Saber… am I late…?”
“Yeah… just a little…” said Saber, helping her to her hooves “Next time, at the very least, tell me where exactly you’re going to risk your life…”
“Aw crap…” said Lightning “I really thought I was going to get out of this one… stupid spinny dial didn’t have days on it…” she wobbled a bit before seeming to decide it would just be easier to lean on Saber for support.
“So this is the artifact then?” queried Luna, a blue aura of magic enveloping the cylinder as she lifted it up for inspection. She didn’t say a word after that, apparently expecting a response.
“Um…yeah…” said Shadow “Green is forward, red is backward, and those numbers are how many years you want to travel…” Luna didn’t respond for a moment, so he dared a question “Do you know what it is?”
“As a matter of fact I do” she said “This is the time turner’s spinning wheel, it’s a relic that has been lost for centuries. And to think it was in the ruins of my own castle this entire time…”
“Not to offend you Princess,” said Saber respectfully “But rather than bother with the gadgetry involved shouldn’t we try to figure out the punishment for these two?”
“Well Shadow already owes me a week at the castle he skipped out on earlier,” said Luna, an icy glare touching upon her features “After this he’s earned himself a much more extended sentence of…well, let’s say till summer’s end.”
“But summer hasn’t even started yet!” Shadow whined.
“Then maybe this will teach you not to interfere with things that are none of your concern,” said Luna sternly “As for your sister, Saber, her punishment is your responsibility.”
“And what about me?” came a familiar groggy voice from nearby. Mesa, who up until now had still been asleep on the leaf-mold, was standing on his own four hooves.
“Who…” said Luna, ice in her voice “Might this be…?”
Shadow gulped.
Now it should be, well really must be, mentioned that Vinyl slept throughout most of this endeavor, still in Shadow’s small house. She had woken once or twice to get food or ponder the other’s whereabouts, but with no compelling reason to stay awake for more than a few hours she simply didn’t.
If she had been slightly more aware of her surroundings at the time she could have heard the whir of insectoid wings buzzing near the door, which creaked open seconds later. If she had remembered to magically lock the door after Lightning and Shadow left she would not be, moments later, blissfully unaware of a pair of evil green eyes floating nearby. And most importantly, she failed to notice the weight of a certain amulet leaving her neck as a meticulous hoof plucked it off her sleeping form.
The dull blue glow temporarily illuminated a black face, pony-like in shape but very different in stature. As she held the amulet up with a hole-ridden hoof a smile graced her lips.
“Oh mummy will be so proud of me…” she said with an evil grin. Then, without disturbing the silence again, she stole out into the night.

> Chapter 19: Lullaby
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canterlot City is typically described as a central hub of activity for all Equestria, after all why wouldn’t it be? It was founded over a thousand years ago and was still to this day the home of Celestia and Luna. Many heirs and investors made the mountainside city their home for the prestige and influence it offered its citizens. The demographic was almost entirely unicorn, but it was a fact that typically went unnoticed or altogether ignored in day to day life. After all it wasn’t as if they intentionally excluded other races, they just weren’t the type to mingle with anyone.
This, however, is all common knowledge. What is not quite as well known is that the usually bustling city atmosphere would dim down to something wholly more quiet once the weather started to warm. It was typical for the upper crust to use the summer months for luxurious vacations to all corners of the globe, and with a brand new destination of the crystal empire open to all, the number of ponies out and about was at an all-time low.
The castle itself, nestled at the top of the city proper, was just as diminished as the rest of the city. Much of the staff was allotted a long vacation around this time while only those who opted to take this time off around Heart’s Warming Eve would stay to tend to the needs of the royal sisters, or more often than not only the single sister. Luna proved to be mostly unsure of herself still in the modern political atmosphere, despite the years to acclimate, leaving Celestia a far more prominent voice.
As for the new prince, Shadow Chaser, he got to use the castle’s pool. It was a quaint area of the castle, a courtyard blossoming with all forms of fauna, which attracted countless colorful birds and butterflies. The pool itself was built to appear natural, with rocks around the edges and a tall waterfall to feed in and serve as a filter.
Unfortunately Shadow took to the water about as well as a housecat. He could swim, of course, and was actually pretty good at it, but getting the water out of his wings was always a lengthy and annoying ordeal, especially because they were growing faster than the rest of him was, and the tips were completely out of reach should the need to preen present itself.
The only reason he was in the pool was because he didn’t particularly have anything better to do. He had played through every single one of the video games and movies in his room and playing pretend on his own had ceased to fascinate him days ago. He really needed a playmate, preferably soon.
Unfortunately it seemed that he had run out of friends. Lightning was still in Ponyville while he had no chance of escaping Canterlot again. Iris had lost contact with him completely, something about her mother wanting her to avoid negative influences. Mesa had been brought to live with the buffalo in the Appaloosa region where they had a few trusted agents knowing of his extra temporal origins. Perhaps worst of all, for him at least, was that Celestia and Letterheart had worked in a joint effort to finally bring Vinyl back to her normal age, meaning she would no longer have anything to do with him.
Thinking about all this brought him to sit in the shallow end, blowing bubbles with his muzzle under the water. At least he had some chance of hanging out with his other friends again; Vinyl was everything but a lost cause. Naturally this only made him feel lonelier, prompting him to grumble almost nothing to no one in particular.
“Prince Shadow!” a slightly tinny voice came from the garden’s edge “Letter for you!”
Shadow sat up in the water, looking curiously over to see a young mare in a maid’s outfit walking toward him. He smiled, this was Cherry Blossom, one of the servants whose job it was to keep him in check while Luna was busy elsewhere. He jumped out of the pool, shaking himself like a dog to dislodge the water stuck to his coat.
“Shall I read it to you?” asked Cherry.
“I can read…” Shadow grumbled, taking the scroll and unfurling it on the ground, already knowing who it was from.
“Hey Shadow!” it read in an all too familiar messy scrawl “Great news! Saber finally has duty in Canterlot! And he’s letting me come with him so I can visit! He seems to think you had something to do with it though, did you? It’s kind of cool to think I’ve got a friend with so much, like, influence. By the way, do you know what happened to that glowy necklace? Vinyl told me she would leave it in your cabin but I’ve been back there and I haven’t seen it. Well I’m running out of scroll already (I think Sabre is buying the cheap kind) so I suppose I need to stop writing now, can’t wait to see you again!” Shadow prepared for a gleeful shout, but paused as he noticed the post script “PS, make sure the popcorn machine is fixed before I get there.”
“Important news I assume?” said Cherry, seeming curious but still respectful.
Shadow could’ve laughed “Yeah it is!” he said excitedly “I need to head back up to my room, could you get me a towel please?”
A quick dry, some mild room cleaning, and the space of about four hours passed in heated anticipation of Lightning’s arrival. Sabre was going to be on the city’s evening patrol so Luna’s time to raise the moon had come and gone before the familiar red pelt came into view, racing across the drawbridge at the speed of her namesake.
Shadow was standing in the main foyer with Luna, his wings fluttering madly in anticipation. The tall alicorn put a hoof on his shoulder to steady him, hoping he would hold some degree of sanity. “Remember,” she said, glaring down at him “Getting to play with your friends is a privilege, not a right. If I catch you sneaking off the castle grounds tonight you lose your television for a month.”
“I know…” said Shadow begrudgingly, but he remembered less than a second later that the castle and garden would have plenty of secrets for them to discover without leaving…
Before he could really finish this thought however, the red flash barreled into him full speed, electric blue tail flashing back and forth as her hooves wrapped around him in a firm hug. “Shadow!” Lightning practically squealed “You have no idea how boring school is without you there! I was ready to climb the walls! Cheerilee kept pairing me up with Fussy Budget! Do you have any idea how annoying she is?”
“Give him a chance to breathe, Light,” said Sabre, only a little behind in his heavy armor, but looking much more winded “Sabre Strike, reporting to duty Princess.”
“Very prompt timing,” said Luna, waving a hoof as she resisted her own urge to laugh “You’re almost an hour early, though I think I could guess the cause.”
“Yes…” said Saber, watching as Lightning and Shadow fell into what seemed to be some form of competitive catching up “She tends to be very energetic when it comes to this sort of thing…”
“Well she’s in good hooves now, don’t worry,” said Luna, smiling reassuringly “You’ll be taking the western perimeter tonight, we’ve noticed a rise in activity over Neverspring and we’d like to be prepared for any possibility.”
Saber shuddered imperceptibly “But Neverspring… that’s the home of…”
“Yes,” said Luna, cutting him off mid-sentence “I understand your misgivings, but we need every hoof we have available in case of an emergency situation, can I trust you to do your duty?”
Saber’s muscles tensed as he let out a slow breath “Yes ma’am…” he said, fire burning behind his eyes.
“Very good,” said Luna “Captain Dusk Stone will be waiting for you on the outer wall, bring me back some good news.”
“Understood,” said Saber, snapping off a salute then turning to Lightning “Stay safe alright? I mean it this time…”
“Yeah, sure,” said Lightning, not really paying attention “And then Scootaloo just walks right up to Silver Spoon and…”
Saber sighed, bowing to Luna once more as he marched off, across the drawbridge, and down toward the wall.
“Can I trust you two not to cause any trouble if I let you wander about the castle?” asked Luna to the two foals, smiling kindly down at them “If you two create any more chaos you know there will have to be consequences.”
“I think we’ve pretty much learned that first hoof,” said Shadow, showing just a little humility for once “There isn’t anything in the abandoned theatre is there? Lightning and I were gonna try to put on a play!”
“Can you send us some costumes and stuff too?” asked Lightning in a pleading voice “Like pirate stuff, or armor, or…”
“There’s an old dress-up set in Cadence’s old room,” said Luna with a smile “I’ll have them brought to you, do you think that will be enough?”
“Some royal guard’s armor would be cool too…” said Shadow as Lightning rolled her eyes.
“I’ll see to it,” said Luna “Now run along you two, I’m sure it will take some time to set the stage before you even begin.”
“Yeah, she’s probably right,” said Shadow “How are we setting it up again?”
“We’re going to be doing pirate robots,” said Lightning “So we want to do a water scene get the waves and cannons and stuff, maybe see if we can take any of the broken electronic stuff to use as robot guts!”
“But I thought we were gonna do knights versus a dragon…” said Shadow, sounding somewhat dismayed “And robots are used all the time, why would you want to do that?”
The two began wandering along the corridor in the vague direction of the stage. Luna repressed the urge to laugh again, finding the squabble highly reminiscent of her own with Celestia. As her train of thought travelled down the tracks to her solar sister she realized that now would probably be an opportune moment to talk with her about the rising of Neverspring, or at least as good of a moment as any really was.
After tipping off the guards to the two foals’ need of costume supplies she directed her attention to the golden steps up to her sister’s room. Things may have been somewhat tense as of late, but a lengthy discussion was nigh unavoidable.
Celestia herself was in deep thought within her own chamber, poring over a pile of old looking scrolls. When she finished with one she would oh so carefully roll it back and add it to the stack of those already perused, a consistent shield spell holding the parchments to protect them from falling apart at the movement.
The quick tapping upon the golden entryway broke her concentration as she turned toward the voice permeating the thick door magically, “Celestia,” Luna spoke “May we converse?”
Celestia’s heart sank somewhat, it had been a long while since Luna had called her professionally by her name and not something more intimate, “Dear Sister,” or even merely “Sister” seemed like an ancient past. Even if things were sour in their relationship, it still hurt to hear the one closest to her call her by her formal name. She heaved a sigh, gingerly returning the scrolls to their small cubby in the wall and sealing the gap so it appeared just as if it were part of the rest of the wall.
Luna apparently wasn’t waiting for a response as the door rolled open and Celestia turned to face her. “We need to discuss Neverspring,” she said professionally “I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors, we are more than likely on the verge of another attack…”
“Yes, I am aware,” said Celestia, sounding somehow more somber than usual “I’ve heightened the guard in the villages near the border as well as those here in Canterlot.”
“But are you sure that will be enough to keep them at bay?” asked Luna “After all they had a very successful attack to more than three years ago, they will be bold…”
‘That is one of the reasons I’m not nearly so worried,” said Celestia “They were overly confident last time, and had a much more forward assault. Their troops will be much diminished. If they decide to attack we’ll be more than ready for them”
“But don’t you think they might be planning some sort of more tactful strategy?” said Luna “Chrysalis is not ignorant about these things, if she’s attacking then she must have something she expects to serve as a catalyst to her victory.”
“There are very few magical artifacts to that effect that are unaccounted for,” said Celestia “Your son has ensured that rather well… It’s going to be several years before the pool of desires can be activated again, the ageless gauntlets have been sealed beyond the reach of any pony, and the cone of time, one of the few lost artifacts still in existence, has been discovered and secured.”
Luna nodded at each acknowledgement, secretly proud of Shadow, outwardly refusing to show it “There are still things in Equestria she could use toward her disastrous advantage,” she said, forcing a calm tone “The mirror pool for instance, or the blasphemous rift, Twilight’s mirror… that’s just to name a few!”
“Most of those are in our control,” said Celestia, praying Luna wouldn’t dwell on thoughts of the rift “Or at least sealed, protected, and secured. If she has some magical artifact in her possession it would be relatively new...”
There was an intimidated silence as both princesses realized at the same moment. “The only recent artifact,” said Luna tensely “Would have to be the shards of Nightmare Moon’s armor…”
“You did secure those did you not?” said Celestia, determined not to let her worry affect her, “What sort of precautions are in place?”
“I scattered the shards,” said Luna with shaky confidence “They’re miles apart. Especially the helm, I placed that well beyond her reach…”
“Are you certain of this?” asked Celestia urgently “Is there no way Chrysalis could obtain the pieces?”
Luna shook her head, betraying her misgivings “I am certain of the helm…” she said with false confidence “Though it would be prudent to send in a patrol to confirm…”
“If you think it’s necessary then go,” said Celestia “You and I both know what horrifying potential that… demon… could posses with the changeling queen harboring her… And what dire consequences would be needed to prevent it…”
“Of course…” said Luna in a fearful tone, pure horror flashing behind her eyes at the very thought, “I will go about the examinations with all haste…”
The crisp, professional tone may as well have been a whip used against her as Luna turned and left the room. Celestia released a pained sigh, Luna was afraid, terrified even, of the result that may come from this event, but she wouldn’t confide these feelings even in her own sister. It felt like a new low in their relationship, one from which they might never return…
“So they actually broke down the wall?” asked Shadow, rolling a large papier-mâché boulder across the stage “That really sucks, I liked that tree-house…”
“It was kind of falling apart on its own remember,” said Lightning, standing on one of the platforms that held up a castle piece “They didn’t do much, but they knocked a huge hole right through the big carving, you know the one with the sun and moon? It makes me almost feel like they might have been looking for something…”
“Oh man…” said Shadow, oblivious to her doubts “I really liked that one, now we’ll never know what it said.”
“I just want to know why some pony would do that,” said Lightning, jumping down from the platform to push another one of the cardboard castle walls into place “I think there was a hollow spot there already, there were a few smooth parts where I think the gap was…”
“Oh well,” said Shadow, still not seeming to care about whatever lost treasure may or may not have been hidden in their playhouse “It’s not like I’m going to be seeing Ponyville again for the next year…”
“Don’t talk like that…” said Lightning “Iris isn’t even allowed outside anymore, meaning you’re pretty much the only friend I have left. If you end up getting in more trouble and staying here longer I’m going to kill you.”
“Oh, well kill your only friend then why don’t you?” said Shadow with a smirk “I bet you’ll be a lot less lonely after that huh?”
“Fine, I won’t kill you then,” said Lightning, sticking her tongue out playfully “But I will do something even worse, so don’t let it happen.”
They burst into a synchronized laughing fit, but were cut off abruptly as the door to the auditorium swung open. They turned to observe the newcomers, surprised not just to see Princess Twilight, but even more so to find that she wasn’t alone. A tall yellow stallion was with her, his mane a massive explosion of a familiar electric blue.
“Flash…?” asked Lightning in curious recognition.
Twilight and her accompaniment turned in surprise, clearly not expecting anyone else to be here. “Lightning?” said the stallion, obviously not believing his eyes.
Lightning gave a self confident smile “It’s been a long time cuz!” she said excitedly, dashing over to them while Shadow, still somewhat bewildered, followed behind her.
“Yeah, it has,” said the stallion, giving Lightning a quick hug then turning to the pegasus “Prince Shadow is it? I don’t think we’ve met before. Flash Sentry, I’m a lieutenant posted at the crystal empire.”
“That’s what I thought…” said Lightning, eyes narrowing in suspicion “So what are you doing all the way out here in Canterlot?”
Twilight, who had been silent throughout this exchange, blushed a light pink and turned away. “Called to duty here,” said Flash, sounding much rehearsed “Celestia’s tightening the guard for some reason or another, you know how it is.”
“Uh-huh…” said Lightning, eyebrows bouncing as she looked between Twilight and Flash, “And I suppose she’s just giving you the grand tour of the castle huh…?”
“Yep, that’s right,” said Flash, proving his worth as a brilliant liar “So what are you guys doing here?”
“We’re trying to make a play!” said Shadow, seeming totally oblivious to the previous exchange “We finally decided to just do a castle and dragon sort of thing… except there’s no dragon… and it really isn’t our story… we couldn’t think of a story that had both pirates and robots anyway.”
Flash laughed “Well if you guys are ready we would love to watch you!”
“Flash…” said Twilight “We really should go…”
“Aw, come on Twiley,” said Flash, eliciting another blush “It’ll be fun for us and them.”
“Please!” said Lightning enthusiastically “We worked really hard on the story and the set and…well… everything! You’ve got to see it, please!”
“Well… Alright,” said Twilight, knowing full well that when Flash made up his mind about something she had pretty much no hope in the world of changing it.
Lightning and Shadow made a mad dash for the curtain again, kicking aside the stone that was holding the wheel in place, letting it spin closed with a loud poof. “So how do you know that guy?” asked Shadow as they scrambled to finish setting up in the dim light.
“He’s my cousin,” said Lightning “We really don’t know each other well though, we’ve met maybe two, three times?”
“I guess working for the guard runs in the family huh?” said Shadow, snapping the black cape that was his costume around his neck “Not going to go into duty on me are you?”
“Not in a million years,” said Lightning, clambering up onto the tower platform and donning a plastic crown “Alright, let’s go!”
And so the curtain rose and an unsuspecting couple was bombarded with an entire thirty minutes worth of two young ponies play-acting the first part of legend of Zelda, with Shadow playing everyone from Link to Ganon while Lightning acted as all the females, Malon to Ruto. There were occasional long pauses when they rushed backstage to change costume. Lightning did this more than Shadow because he was almost always Link.
As the curtain finally fell, Twilight and Flash politely clapped at Shadow’s procuring of the master sword, apparently the end of the skit. Lightning and Shadow dashed out in front of the curtain to give one last excited bow.
The door to the auditorium swung open again as they looked up, a little bit disappointed to see Princess Luna. They knew what she was going to say before the words left her mouth.
“Bedtime, children,” said the princess of the night sweetly, but curtly “You’ve been awake for much longer than is really healthy for foals your age.”
“Okay…” Lightning and Shadow groaned in unison, resigned to the fate of plush beds and fuzzy dreams. They padded quietly after Luna down toward the rear left tower, yawning on occasion.
“So did you have fun today?” Luna queried as they started up the steps “It looked like you were giving Twilight quite a show.”
“I just want to know what she was planning to do with Flash in that big room… alone…” said Lightning, smirking at Luna, who smiled and rolled her eyes knowingly.
“Maybe they were putting on a play themselves,” Shadow suggested “that was kind of really awesome.” He smiled obliviously as Lightning gave him an incredulous look.
“They were kissing you idiot,” said Lightning as hoof met face.
Luna permitted a soft giggle this time as she opened the door to Shadow’s room. By his request it had not been subject to the usual cleaning ritual the rest of the castle went through each night and had accumulated a comfortable filth. It wasn’t necessarily a mess, but it was clear no one other than Shadow would be able to find anything important among the clutter.
Of course Lightning took to the mess like a fish to water, finding a path through to the miniature theatre setup faster than her namesake. “Can’t you keep anywhere you live clean?” she asked sarcastically as she got comfortable in one of the big fold-down chairs.
“Your things are over by the bed area,” said Luna, effectively preventing Shadow’s angry reply “Don’t stay awake longer than an hour, or I’ll have to use a sleeping spell.”
“Okay!” said Shadow, tail wagging at the permission of another hour of gaming, hopefully involving finally being able to beat Lightning at… well… anything…
Luna turned to leave but was stopped by a sudden stuttering shout “W-wait!” Lightning called from on top of the larger of the beds.
“Yes?” said Luna inquisitively, turning back to see Lightning standing on the bed itself, shuffling her hooves and blushing slightly.
“I… I was wondering…” she said timidly “If… if you would… I mean if you want me to… maybe… play for you…?” she held up her guitar case, partially to emphasize the point, but also somewhat to hide her blushing face. It was clear she was intimidated, but she seemed to have made up her mind.
“I would love to hear you play,” said Luna, smiling kindly “I’ve heard that you’re very good, is there something in particular you want to play for me?” Lightning seemed to ponder this for a moment, and then nodded with resignation. Shadow went silent as she uncased the guitar, realizing how enormous of a moment this must be for her.
Lightning, for her part, seemed to have lost all capacity for speech. She may be on very good terms with the princess, but that didn’t change the fact she held a lot of status. It may not have weighed down quite as much as a member of the Canterlot orchestra would have experienced, but she was still performing for royalty, and even such a young pony knew that this was an enormous privilege. A shaking hoof found its place on the neck of the guitar while the other hesitantly moved forward to strum the first note.
And with that single movement all of Lightning’s anxiety melted away in the heat of radiant music. The melody she played was unfamiliar, unlike anything she ever played before, mysteriously soothing and yet at the same time holding all the power of the night. It painted the imagery of the starry sky embracing the world in pale luminescence, as if each note she played the song gained more semblance to Luna’s majestic creation.
Shadow’s ears flickered in recognition. He could swear with great certainty he had never heard this symphony of the night, and yet his mind knew each note before it left the strings. Somewhere, somehow, he knew this song, for it was a song, he knew that as well, but it seemed like Lightning didn’t know the words.
And then they came forth, and Shadow looked in astonishment to see his mother, who seemed to know the song by heart…
Hush now my child, the night’s come to play
To dance through the dreams and the shadows
Rest now my child, the time’s come to play
In dreamland you’ll dance and be joyous

Calm now my child, the world sleeps today
For time will stand still in the quiet
All ponies sleeping, they soon will away
Deep into slumber and dreamland

Fall now the sunlight, give rise to the moon
The starry night sky will soon claim its boon
And all those below her, the weary and weak
May find now in solace, the rest that they seek

Come now my child and soon we’ll away
Into the world of enchantment
Rest now my child, in dreams you will play
Away from the darkness and shadows
The final word of her chorus ended far longer than the others, and both Lightning and the Princess seemed to know it prior. Luna had tears in her eyes as the song drew to a close, leaving Shadow even more anxious and desperate than ever to remember where he might have heard it before.
“Did… did you like it…?” Lightning said, sounding unsure of herself, but quiet and reserved rather than afraid.
“Where did you learn this song…?” asked Luna, maintaining her composure despite the clearly intense emotion.
“I don’t know…” said Lightning “It’s just one of those moments… where a song sort of just… comes to me… do you know it…?”
The insistent instinct that he knew the song from somewhere made Shadow all the more eager to know the answer. Luna, however, seemed to need a moment to pull herself together before providing a suitable response.
“That… that song… I created it…” said Luna “It has never been played… for I only sang it but once… on the night I had to deliver my most precious treasure to the hooves of the one I loved…”
Lightning’s eyes widened, apparently coming to a revelation Shadow still couldn’t see “This song…” said Luna “Is Shadow’s lullaby…”
“I knew I remembered it…” said Shadow quietly, mind of course not entirely registering the event, but glad at least to know where it had come from.
“How did I know the song?” asked Lightning, half to herself “How could I have heard it?”
“You haven’t,” said Luna, “You are of a very few special ponies with the gift to perceive the echoes of time. It’s a very rare trait, seen less than once every hundred years or more. It’s not fully understood, but ponies with that ability can sense music from a person or place regarding their past or their future. Minstrels would use this ability to win the favor of kings and those in high office during the medieval times, and were usually the only really successful magicians before the Equestrian Renaissance.”
“Oh!” said Shadow, desperate to opine on the subject “You told me a story about that a few nights ago! About the gypsy bard remember? He was an earth pony or something who magically knew the royal ballad and used it to become quick friends with Celestia!”
“Beatle I believe his name was,” said Luna “And a true story it was. He was the court jester for a very long time and was paid handsomely for it, though that was a millennium and a half in the past.”
“But why would I be one of these time echo ponies?” asked Lightning “I’m not even a unicorn, why would it be me?”
“Beatle was an earth pony…” Shadow muttered.
“I believe any doubt you have might be abolished simply by examining the mark on your flank.” Said Luna with a smile.
“Mark on my flank…?” asked Lightning incredulously “But I don’t have my cutie…” her voice trailed off as she turned her head to observe the pattern now emblazoned on her thigh. A full round moon, crossed by the staff and notes of the song she had just played. She uttered a gasp, head going light enough she could have fainted.
“Wow…” said Shadow “I bet no one’s had a cutie mark like that in like forever! That’s so awesome!”
Lightning herself had been stunned into silence, enthralled and mystified by her own talent. She stood up and walked around in a circle several times, as if to make sure she could still see the image from all angles.
“I’ve really done it…” she said at last “I… I got my cutie mark!” she squeaked in delight as the full manifestation of joy that accompanied her newfound talent came rushing forth “And it’s a music cutie mark! I’m a musician, Shadow!” she pulled her friend into a slightly-too-tight hug as she giggled with glee.
“Yes, it is a unique and wonderful talent,” said Luna “But you will have to improve and refine it until you’ve mastered it completely. But that will come later, for now, you need your well deserved sleep.”
Lightning didn’t even bother to argue, as she bounced into the lower part of one of the bunk beds, still giggling with joy. Shadow was all but intimidated into following suit, claiming the bunk directly above hers.
Luna was momentarily perplexed by the foal’s seemingly practiced lack of desire to use the plush center bed, but shrugged it off, trotting over to lightly kiss Shadow’s forehead. “Sweet dreams my little prince,” she said.
“Aw mom…” Shadow said and squirmed “That’s embarrassing, Lightning’s here…”
Luna smiled, leaning down and planting a similar kiss on Lightning “And good night too you as well, honorable princess.”
Lightning beamed, snuggling into the covers as she was unable to find a suitable answer to this. However as Luna opened the bookshelf passage and walked out, a few words passed her tired lips “Goodnight…mom…”
“Mom?” Shadow queried from above, peeking over the edge to look down at Lightning. To his surprise she seemed to have already fallen asleep. He merely shrugged it off, proceeding to roll over as he began the venture to join her in dreamland.

> Chapter 20: Luna
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shadow looked around curiously, unsure of where he was or how he’d found his way to his present location, and was more than a little confused by it all. The night sky was twinkling above him, a dull navy blue in the bright light of a full moon. His hooves were hidden by a multitude of flowers, the petals colored the same periwinkle shade as the sky above. He turned a circle, rustling the plants as he did so, finding no obvious horizon, only more flowers. He took a whiff, finding the scent difficult to detect. It could have been blueberries, he was oddly sure of the fact they smelled like blueberries, but the idea of their scent could have been imagined. In a vague attempt to confirm the smell he took a bite out of the nearest bloom, finding it pleasing to eat, but the taste no clearer than the smell. Something was off about this place, but he wasn’t bothered by that in the slightest.
The flowers continued to shuffle under his hooves as he started walking. With no destination in mind he simply enjoyed the crisp night air and the pervasive blueberry scent. He flapped his wings once, finding flight easy, taking to the air as if wind resistance and gravity were totally gone. He began a free-floating sort of air trot, taking huge leaps then gliding down with a poof into the plants again. This action continued for what felt like a very long time, not getting bored in the slightest, until he suddenly felt a strange and insistent compulsion to turn around.
Deciding another turning observation could hardly be counterproductive (but not thinking in nearly such elaborate words) he swiveled around, surprised, but not startled, to find himself facing Luna. He wanted to call out, say something like “hey mom, where are we?” but found he couldn’t open his mouth to ask. Still possessed by the strange sense of calm this area gave, he merely stared silently back at her.
“Shadow,” said Luna “You will come at once to the celestial tower to meet me, do not bring Lightning.”
Despite the obvious flaw of not being able to speak, Shadow fully intended to ask at once where he was in the first place and how he was supposed to get back to the castle from here. But before he had the chance to so much as try and speak he was jerked violently back to the reality of his bedroom, staring up at the high ceiling from his top bunk.
“Are you alright up there?” Lightning’s tired voice floated up from below “It’s like two in the morning… shut up…”
So he had been talking in his sleep, wasn’t that fantastic. What had he even said? Maybe his inability to speak in the dream hadn’t carried over to the real world. In that case he could only hope he hadn’t said anything detrimental. “It’s nothing, go back to sleep.” He said, hoping she wouldn’t question it further.
“Well it’s obviously something,” said Lightning, a shuffling sound conveying to Shadow that she had sat up in bed “Bad dream?”
“Yeah…” said Shadow “I’m going to go get a drink…” he hopped off onto the plush center bed and started for the door.
“Um, Shadow,” said Lightning “The pop machine is over there…”
Shadow gulped as Lightning clambered out of bed and walked over to him “Are you going to tell me where you’re really going or am I going to have to beat it out of you?”
It was a tense moment to say the least, particularly because there was no doubt in his mind that Lightning would absolutely attack if he didn’t provide some quick answers. The fact that Luna had told him specifically to go without Lightning was tricky, but if he told her she would more than likely insist on coming. Gears whirred wildly in his mind as he tried to figure out the best course of action.
“Look, Shadow,” said Lightning “It was just a dream alright? It wasn’t real so just tell me what’s got you so freaked out okay?”
A surge of relief flushed through his mind. Yes, it was just a dream, what was he getting so worked up about? “Okay, fine” he said, unwilling to give Lightning the satisfaction of being right by agreeing too quickly.
The next five minutes were spent explaining the entire dream to Lightning, consisting of about as much time as it would take to read four long paragraphs of a novel. Lightning listened curiously, bored at first, but immediately perking up upon hearing he had dreamt about Luna.
“Well you know,” she said as he finished “Princess Luna is well known for her ability to cross into ponies’ dreams.”
“Well it’s still probably just a coincidence right?” said Shadow “It really was just a dream, I mean why would she want me to go up to the tower? We’re not even allowed in that part of the castle.”
“Actually I don’t think it can be…” said Lightning “You can’t just dream about Luna, she actually has to want to appear in your dreams. I think it has something to do with the whole Celestia versus Nightmare Moon thing…”
His heart sank again, he really had just spilled the beans about this to Lightning “Well I guess I should go see what she wants…” he said, praying Lightning would let the matter rest.
“You mean “we’re” going to go see what she wants,” said Lightning with a confident smile.
“Well um…” said Shadow, trying to think of some way to not offend her “Mom kind of said I was supposed to go alone… I think it’s important or something…”
“So?” said Lightning, the prospect of another adventure setting her tail to bounce again “Since when did we ever follow rules just to follow rules? Not that you’re the one who gets to decide what I do anyway.”
Shadow flinched, this was almost exactly what he expected her to say “I really don’t think that’s a good idea this time Light…” he said cautiously “Mom sounded really serious about this, like, really serious…”
“Like I said, not your call,” said Lightning, tugging on the secret book and sending the door swinging open “Let’s go already Shadow, she may be mad if I’m there but imagine what she’ll say if you aren’t!”
As usual Lightning’s argument was completely airtight. He sighed, resigning himself to follow her down the impossibly dark hallway. The castle really was frightening at this time of night. With the torches snuffed the space between windows was too dark to see each hoof placed in front of the other. Even the occasional wisp of bright moonlight provided little to no solace from the inky blackness. Lightning’s shivering was perceptible every time they bumped into each other, but Shadow felt oddly serene. It could’ve been due to the fact that he was Luna’s son, or because he spent most of his life very close to the Everfree forest, but the dark on its own had never been enough to frighten him. It was true that light could hide terrible monsters and the like, but he had knowledge many foals his age did not, that the darkness could hide him from the monsters just as effectively.
Some magic must have been guiding them that night, because even though during the daylight they wouldn’t have been able to find the silver ladder, they walked right to the tiny room in total darkness. A light snoring from either side conveyed that the guards posted on the staircase had either fallen, or been put into a deep slumber. This could either be a very good sign or very bad depending on which it was, and Shadow desperately hoped it was the former.
They ascended the ladder again, Lightning first this time, but stopped as they reached the heavy trapdoor. No words were spoken, they both knew why Lightning would have reason for pause, and Shadow was either too tired or too afraid to urge her on. It was a tense moment, somewhere between the mysterious darkness and whatever it was they would see at the height of the central tower. It was a long time before Lightning finally found the strength in her hooves to reach up and throw open the door.
It was much brighter on the Celestial tower-top than it was in the hallways, as Lightning and Shadow quickly discovered. The light of the stars and full moon danced over the mirror-like floor with a harsh light. The lunar orb itself hung in what seemed like the perfect center of the sky, reflecting directly under hoof in the polished glass. Shadow looked up as he stepped out of the trapdoor, surprised and intimidated to see not only Luna, but her solar counterpart standing together at the edge of the tower’s precipice. They looked down at the two foals with an almost identical expression of reverence. This, if nothing else, was cause for intimidation. Whatever was happening here was deadly serious.
“I instructed you to come alone,” said Luna in a toneless voice that still conveyed her disappointment.
“Sorry…” was all Shadow could muster to say.
“Luna, there’s no time for specifics,” said Celestia “Arguing would only cause us to lose more time. If she insists then let her make the journey. You’ll need every hoof…”
“Journey?” asked Lightning curiously, the bravado of being here against Luna’s wishes in the first place keeping her a bit steadier than Shadow “Where are we going?”
The question was ignored as Luna and Celestia turned back to gaze out over the starry night sky. The few flickering lights of the city below were a perfect contrast to the swirling expanse above. The moon seemed unusually large as it hung in the sky, a fantastic center jewel in Luna’s crown of stars. Twin glows pierced into the darkness as Luna and Celestia lit their horns together with intense magical energy. The striking yellow of Celestia drove like a spear into the night, illuminating the path from her horn upward like the sparkling path of an arrow. Luna’s, a deep calming blue, sped upward on a perfect parallel, blending into the darkness and quickly vanishing. Slowly and imperceptibly, the two beams of magic expanded, the colors of light and shadow blending into each other as they connected in the space between, becoming a bright striking light.
A dull, flat hum rose from the base of the tower, sounding like a violin being strummed along one of the lower strings. The royal sisters backed slowly away from their magic beams as they fell across the sky to land against the edge of the tower. With a sudden imperceptible movement, the light morphed, changing into a jagged stair’s step, leading upward into the night. The princesses had created a staircase of light, leading to somewhere in the deep dark.
Lightning remained still, staring in wonder at the magnificent display of archaic magic, stunned into a shocked silence just by the majesty of it all. Shadow, slightly more bold, edged forward to nudge the surface of the first step. It had some give under his hoof, and for a moment he was possessed with the mental image of sinking his hoof into an overly large marshmallow. He backed away quickly, opting to wait for further instruction from Luna before tampering with the magic any further.
“You must be swift,” said Celestia, her weariness from the spell hardly showing “The night is already failing, if it continues for long in the summer the kingdom may grow fearful…”
“I am aware,” said Luna, rising to step onto the glowing stoop “Come along now Shadow, as she said, make haste.”
Shadow didn’t dare argue, clambering up behind Luna, Lightning following suit immediately behind. It took a moment to learn the stable footing of the stairs, by which time Luna had already walked up, wings spread to each side majestically. The two foals could only struggle to their hooves and emulate the best they knew how.
Given the magical nature of their pathway upward, it should have come as no surprise that Canterlot fell away from them at a disproportionally fast pace. It seemed as if every step forward brought them another mile higher, the dim lights of Canterlot sinking quickly away before vanishing entirely. Shadow was used to heights, of course, but nothing like this fast. Before long they would be further and higher up than he had every even dreamed of flying. Poor Lightning, whose experience with heights ended with the tree house, was already starting to feel sick.
“Are you alright?” Shadow asked her, turning around so he could walk back to her “You don’t look so good, do we need to stop?”
Lightning shook her head resolutely, taking a deep breath to help steady herself “I’m fine,” she managed to say without hurling “It’s just that, you know, I’ve never been up this high…”
Shadow looked forward to where Luna was still walking, albeit much slower, as if to urge them to pull themselves together and continue upward. “Come on then…” he said, helping her up, then allowing her to lean against him for support. A nod was all he received in thanks as they half climbed, half bounced forward across the starry night.
It wasn’t long before the pale navy of the sky gave way to the inky black darkness that Shadow recognized as what he called the star level. A few stones floated past as they kept walking, huge and intimidating as they were, they passed consistently above and below, their deadly potential masked by their slow and steady pace. With a jolt of realization, Shadow thought of the other times he had been on this level of the sky. Usually the darkness would bring with it shortness of breath, due to the lack of air, as well as almost total weightlessness. Whether it was by the power of the magic staircase, or some tampering of Luna alone, neither of these effects had come into play. He felt a short pang of annoyance for the fact he wasn’t able to get away with these shortcuts himself, but it passed quickly as Lightning shook the shoulder she was leaning on.
“Shadow…” she said in a voice that contained some deep seated terror “I think I know where we’re going…” she brought them both to a halt so she could point forward at the lunar sphere that now dominated the path ahead, seeming to envelop the entire sky. It was shocking to look up and see now, probably because his gaze had been trained hard on Equestria falling away from him, but it was clear enough now. He nodded to convey his understanding and kept walking.
It was never clear at any point that the staircase changed from upward to downward, but at some point it must have. Because when they finally descended onto a solid terrain they were going downward. Luna looked from left to right over the pock marked gray landscape, a look of somber remembrance coming over her. Lightning and Shadow stumbled down only a moment later, landing with an audible poof as dust flew up around them in a cloud.
Shadow stood, now dusted a pale white that made a terrible contrast with his fur. Lightning followed suit, able to stand on her own now as the ground was more solid. The place where they had climbed to was a strange sort of dark, with no light from the sky above, but with a strange sort of glow all about the ground. It was dusty, very, very dusty, and the dust was an odd color of white that didn’t match any sort of sand the foals were familiar with. Luna, still preoccupied by the landscape, allowed them to approach.
“Mom…” said Shadow in a slightly quavery voice “Are…are we…?”
“Yes,” said Luna, letting out a long breath “This is… the moon…”
The crater strewn white landscape took on a whole new dimension just with the utterance of these words. This was the moon, the Moon, the one that rose every night and fell every morning, the place that, for almost a thousand years, had been Luna’s prison as she wrestled with the spirit of Nightmares Moon. It was a symbol of hope, strength, and a light path in the dark of the night, a monument of Equestria that had stood since the beginning of time. Surely no pony had set hoof on this hallowed ground for centuries…
A mixture of repressed excitement and terrified reverence surged through Shadow’s mind. He wasn’t sure if he should feel honored or afraid to be here at all. Within these thoughts was still the mystery of why Luna had brought him here in the first place, why she would do something so very dangerous. Sure this landscape was one he would keep in mind as long as he lived, but there was surely some darker motive behind all this, something that had to do with a balance far greater than he could comprehend…
Lightning shivered beside him, looking pale and frightened by some unseen terror. “This is as good of a training exercise as you’ll ever receive Lightning,” said Luna, almost on cue “If you had to create a song to represent this place, how would it go?”
The expression of terror in Lightning’s eyes seemed to grow slightly as she cast about for the answer. “I…I don’t know…” she said with a stutter “There’s nothing here… it’s all… silence…”
“Indeed,” said Luna “The best way for you to identify your focus on the echo of time is to know where it is not present. No song has ever been uttered on this Queen forsaken land and none ever shall…” As if noticing Lightning’s terrified expression she continued “This may be the only place you cannot hear the echo in the entire realm of Equestria. The reason you haven’t noticed it before is that there are so many songs you don’t even know you hear them.”
Lightning nodded, training her eyes on Luna as she relaxed slightly. The notes of Shadow’s lullaby filled a void in her mind she hadn’t even noticed before. Whatever this skill entailed for her, she hoped it wouldn’t always bee this high maintenance.
The princess of the night began walking again, the two foals sticking to her sides to ensure they wouldn’t be lost on the vast and repetitive lunar landscape. There was no indication of movement as they raised and lowered each hoof as every crater looked just like the last. To break the monotony somewhat, Shadow jumped, attempting to take to the sky, and found the first bound propelled him high over Luna’s head. Elation pushed intimidation aside as he made the first attempt to flap his wings.
His elation disappeared in a single muscle motion. Despite the powerful sweep of his wings there was no air to catch and ride, leaving him to fall slowly down back onto the dusty ground. Heat rose up his neck as Luna glared down at him, conveying again the sense of reserved dignity that was afforded to the blank landscape. Spirits sinking, Shadow returned to the slow, steady trek across the dust.
Fortunately for the sanity of all involved a monument at last rose up from the dust. It was easy, very easy to miss, so well blended in to the rest of the landscape that Lightning and Shadow didn’t see it at all. Only the eye trained to this world for a millennium was able to see the single altered aspect, and guided the young ones to it. The monument itself was nothing more than a large lifted bump among the ground that was mostly pushed inward. The crescent moon shape carved into the side of the mound was all but invisible until Luna’s horn came alight with magic, causing the symbol to glow a pale blue. Lightning gasped, and Shadow came to a terrified halt as the rock slowly slid open, revealing a small hole.
“This is where you are required, Shadow,” said Luna, the Light of her horn extinguishing “The gap is too narrow for me to pass through myself.”
“Wait a minute,” Lightning interjected as Shadow moved forward “You still haven’t explained to us what exactly we’re doing here, if we go down that hole we won’t know what’s going on or what we’re supposed to do!”
“Lightning, just listen to her…” Shadow said, already resigning himself to Lightning’s stubbornness.
“For the sake of time I will explain,” said Luna, probably anticipating the same thing “There is an important magical artifact hidden in this cavern. Due to some worries Celestia and I have determined that it would be easier and safer to defend in Canterlot.”
“So why do you need us?” Lightning needled “Can’t you just get it with magic? Or if you can’t do that just teleport yourself inside?”
“There is more protecting the artifact than just its remoteness,” said Luna “There is a negative magical field around the cavern, preventing any spells used to get inside as well as the artifact itself. The artifact cannot be removed from the cavern with the intent to keep it in your own possession. It must be removed for the sake of someone else.”
“A treasure…” Lightning said, turning back to the cavern as her mind whirled “That only a kid could get and only for someone else… whoever made this was seriously sick in the head…”
Luna felt a slight twinge in her heart, she had been desperate to protect the shard, not angry toward those who might seek it. “The artifact is a helmet,” she said “A blue one, like the ones worn by the night guard. But it’s much larger, as well as slender. Can you retrieve it?”
Shadow gave a determined nod while Lightning gave her usually characteristic shrug “I guess if it means that much to you, sure.” She said “But if a moon monster eats us I’m not going to be at all happy.”
A smile slipped past Luna’s lips at this statement, the filly’s uncanny ability to jest even in such dire times becoming situational perfect. “Good luck,” she said “I know you can do it.”
“Are you coming or not?” Shadow hastened Lightning forward, already at the tunnel entrance “We don’t have much time remember?”
“I’m coming, jeez,” said Lightning, throwing off a quick salute as she followed Shadow “Let’s go already lamebrain.” One at a time the pair vanished into the impossibly dark tunnel, totally lost from sight. Luna nodded, taking a firm stance near the entrance, prepared in case… something happened…
The sight of a sickly viridian glow on the horizon confirmed her suspicions, “something” was coming indeed…

> Chapter 21: Collapse Into Shadow
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The darkness of the cramped little tunnel proved to not permeate all the way through. Within minutes of their slow crawling pace a sort of blue ethereal light permeated the space around them. While they weren’t aware of it at the time, that light would become the hallmark of Luna’s magical influence. The light wasn’t a sign of the tunnel ending though, and it was a good few more minutes before the smooth, featureless tunnel came to an end.
When they did, at last, emerge, tumbling from the claustrophobic atmosphere, it was to a sight that neither of them expected. They had entered an enormous, high walled chamber, from which the blue light seemed to ooze out of the very walls. The size of the room was accounted for by equally enormous mountains of old-looking trinkets and boxes made of anything from metal to the white moon rocks that were everywhere in this world. This hidden passage was no mere dungeon for a single lost artifact, but an entire trove of virtually priceless treasures.
Shadow made a shaky attempt to stand up, falling again as he tried to rely on his wings. There still wasn’t anything like enough air to lift on, making his wings little more than deadweight against his sides. He groaned as he forced himself to hold with just his hooves, a little jealous as well as annoyed to see Lightning had made the transition much faster than he had. As a matter of fact she was already pawing through the nearest pile in search of the helmet.
“Slow down Light…” he said as he approached “You’re leaving all the ponies without earth hooves in the dust.”
Lightning laughed “Then get a move on yourself why don’t you?” she said “It might be hours before we find it with all this junk in the way…”
Shadow nodded in agreement as he began to dig through the pile adjacent to Light’s. It turned out that most of the articles of the pile were actually junk, little flutes or whistles that would probably be worth less than a bit back on Equestria, but even more prominent were the cubes. The toys, it seemed, were only the topmost layer of clutter in the piles. The central section that the rest was built on seemed to be made almost entirely of large stone or metal blocks, uniform in size, shape, and color. At the very least this would mean it would take less time to find what they were looking for, unless it was physically underneath these blocks, which could mean it would take even longer…
He groaned, bringing a hoof to his face, too many thoughts were having a negative effect on his brain. He looked around to see Lightning, still plodding through the garbage like a mare on a mission. With an enormous sigh he turned his gaze upward, wishing he could fly, to gain the ground enough to see at least the top parts of the horde all in a single glance…
That was when he saw it, a single metallic gleam from high above. He shook his head once, as if to dislodge the idea as any more than an illusion, but it wasn’t. Suspended in the air without wires or wind was the headpiece of Nightmare Moon’s armor. His eyes widened at the sight, wings flapping uselessly as he realized he had no idea how to go about retrieving it.
“Shadow?” Lightning asked, not oblivious to his sudden preoccupation “What are you looking at…?” she walked cautiously over, wary of some stunning or hypnotizing trap.
“I found it…” said Shadow, pointing upward to the spot his eyes were trained “How the heck are we supposed to get up there?”
Lightning looked up to the helmet, then to Shadow, back to the helmet, and then to the piles of junk. Gears were clearly spinning in her mind as she walked back and forth across the room, counting her hoof steps aloud as she went. Shadow gave her a quizzical look, wondering what sort of game she was playing with this ritual. When she finally turned back to him she had a huge grin on her face.
“This is an earth pony puzzle,” she said confidently “The piles aren’t just to distract us from the helmet, we’re supposed to use the blocks to get it! If we build a pyramid right underneath it we’ll be able to climb it like a staircase!”
“Oh…” said Shadow, realizing that this was indeed an earth pony puzzle, “That’s probably because they thought earth ponies were the least likely to get to the moon. You know, no wings or…”
“Yeah I get it,” said Lightning, shouldering him out of the way as she moved over to one of the piles “I think if we get a foundation of about twenty blocks, five by five, that’ll be high enough!”
“Five times five is twenty-six!” said Shadow, tossing trinkets off the main mass of the pile.
“Whatever!” said Lightning, easily pushing the huge cube to the center of the room.
Thanks to the less than normal gravity Lightning wasn’t the only one able to move them into place. Shadow was able to move them about with only a little difficulty. Lightning, with her superior strength, was throwing around the huge stones like they were nothing. When the pyramids first layer was completed Shadow was reduced to bringing over more blocks for Lightning to haul upward.
“This is really a lot of work…” said Shadow after what felt like the hundredth stone “Shouldn’t it just like give it to you once you’ve solved the puzzle…?”
“This isn’t a video game…” said Lightning from above “Stuff doesn’t work like that, sometimes you just have to…” she released a slow breath as the last block fell into place “Work for it… Now get up here!”
As Shadow started to clamber up, however, Lightning overstepped on the last block and tumbled down the pyramid, upsetting the structure, but not quite toppling it. Shadow backed away quickly, wary of the towers collapse. He started running around it again as it seemed to settle, feeling somewhat guilty to not have gone at once.
He found Lightning on the other side, struggling back to her hooves. She shot him an angry look as he approached, conveying a mixture of pain at her fall and annoyance that he hadn’t done something to help. Despite her outward demeanor though, she didn’t seem to be badly hurt.
“About time you showed up,” she spat “That thing could’ve fallen on me.”
“Sorry,” said Shadow, a sense of awkwardness and shame taking residence somewhere in his stomach “I was scared it might just collapse on both of us.”
“Don’t be sorry, do something about it!” Lightning snapped, jumping cleanly up onto the first block “Now get your sorry flank up here so we can get the helm!”
Shadow was momentarily frozen in place, surprised as well as intimidated by her outburst. It took him a moment to gather his thoughts before joining her in the clamber upwards. She was probably tired, after all they had been doing quite a few strenuous activities in a record low amount of sleep. Deciding that all was still well in the world, he carefully pushed a few of the blocks more firmly into place and Lightning continued upward, a sneaking suspicion growing in his mind, but temporarily small enough to keep in the back corners.
“Finally,” said Lightning as they approached the helm “That took far longer than it should have, wouldn’t you say Shadow?”
“Yeah…” he said, the quickly shoved aside impression returning even quicker than he had put it out of his mind. Lightning never called him by his name, at the very least not unless they were exchanging morning pleasantries or calling across the castle. She never slipped it into casual conversation like that. As if that weren’t enough, the hungry gleam in her eye was not only alien to Lightning, but considering they were after an ancient artifact that they didn’t even know the purpose of…
A low growl snapped his train of thought to a sturdy halt. “I can’t quite reach it,” said Lightning, standing on the highest block and stretching a hoof forward “Come up here and give me a boost will you?” A wandering hoof managed to bat at the cold metal, only sending it floating higher, Lightning swore under her breath as this happened.
That was all the trigger Shadow needed, knowing that if he was wrong the worst he would suffer would be a quick verbal beating. He vaulted the last few boxes, leaping hard off the second to last and exploding into the air. He didn’t have Lightning’s muscle, that was certain, but his frame and build were lighter, meaning in the one sixth gravity he flew a lot further, even without his wings. He grabbed the helmet in his forelegs as gravity carried him down, slowly but still painfully, to the floor of the amphitheater.
“Nice catch!” said Lightning, jumping down step by step to land next to him “Now here, give it to me!”
Shadow shifted, wincing as he found one of his back hooves to be injured. “Why should I?” he said, holding back tears at the sudden pain shooting through his leg. How badly had he hurt himself in that fall?
“Because you’ll probably do something stupid,” said Lightning “You could drop it and break it or something. And just look at your leg!” she seemed to only just notice her injury “Come on, let me carry the helmet, you need to focus on getting out of here.”
The kind tone of her voice gave Shadow some second doubts, but he shoves through it. Not having anywhere else to put it, he slammed the helmet down onto his own head, not even noticing as his eyes flashed from red to blue. He limped backwards, tail brushing against the wall as he continues to glare forward.
“Stop giving me that look,” said Lightning, pushing forward so they were nearly muzzle to muzzle, meeting his silent glare with an angry scowl “Now just give me the helmet and let’s go.”
“Alright, I will…” said Shadow with sudden clarity “The exact moment you tell me where Lightning is, you can have it.”
Confusion passed not once, but twice over “Lightning’s” face. “How did you…?” she said, then paused “What do you…” she paused again “Say that again, slowly…”
“I’ll speak once everything is out there plain to see,” said Shadow, sudden plans whirling in his mind that he wasn’t even aware he was creating “Tell me who you are, where my friend is, then everything becomes clear again.”
“Lightning” blinked twice, apparently surprised by his calm and rational demeanor “Alright…” she said “Since we seem to be at something of an impasse…”
A brilliant flash of green light filled the cave for less than an instant, prompting Shadow to clutch the helmet tighter against him. When it faded he was astounded to see Lightning’s imposter to be a black figure that looked somewhat like a pony, but with a carapace instead of fur. Wide blue insect’s eyes stared him down and a pale green mane cascaded down from their head. A bolt of fear crossed him as he realized he was facing down a changeling, a female based on the curvature of her body and length of her hair. The fear passed quickly however as he realized she wasn’t much taller than he was, probably even about his same age.
“I already know who you are, Shadow,” said the changeling in a slow peaceful voice, a sharp contrast to her earlier outburst that made Shadow believe for a moment that he was talking to a pony “My name is Abdomen, Princess Abdomen of the Neverspring Hive.”
“Well greetings princess,” said Shadow “Now could you do me the royal honor of telling me where Lightning is?”
The princess buzzed slightly, her horn glowing green as one of the piles shifted aside to reveal Lightning, out cold on the ground. “I gave her the changeling’s kiss,” she explained “a swift bite to the neck, no pain. She was asleep before she was aware of the attack. I’m very good at my work.”
“How long will she be asleep?” Shadow asked warily, resisting the urge to run to her at once.
“Probably about an hour before the poison wears off,” said the princess “but how long she sleeps in the end is up to her, now prince,” she said, putting a special emphasis on the word “What’s it going to take to get that helm, hmm? My mother would be very happy to get her hooves on that…”
“Chrysalis…” said Shadow “Well then Abdomen, what is it exactly you want to offer me in exchange…?”
“Please, just Abby,” said the princess, visibly flinching at the name “But listen… we don’t want to hurt anybody, really… But you ponies don’t give us any choice!”
This much was enough to rattle him to the core. There was one lesson he had been told about changelings. When he was only two or three he had wandered to the edge of the forest and received a sharp warning of monsters and changelings in the lands beyond. It was a common stereotype, nailed into foals’ brains from childhood that they were mindless monsters. But the emotion Shadow saw behind those wide blue eyes, and the sudden hurt in her voice, it wasn’t animal in the slightest.
“I know you hate us…” said Abby, scooting herself back to a respectable distance as intimidation gave way to a sort of desperate pleading “But do you think we want to be the way we are? Did you never think that we would give anything to receive the love we feed upon without all this deception…?”
“I don’t see how getting this helmet is going to change that…” said Shadow, weighing his words to the nearest ounce.
“You didn’t know…?” said Abby, seeming genuinely confused “The helm of darkness is one of the four shards of Nightmare Moon’s armor. My mother desires to take on the power of her spirit in order to challenge Canterlot. She says that if changelings can’t become a part of Equestrian society by choice she’ll force them in.” her tone changed somewhere in the middle of this speech, becoming more passionate and determined than before.
Fear managed to creep back into his mind to wrestle against his newfound pity. He had to keep reminding himself whose side he was on in order to overcome the continuing strong desire to give into her begging and pass over the helm. Something seemed to be working a little harder in his brain as a plan suddenly formed behind his eyes.
“Alright, well I did promise…” he said, gaze flickering from the pyramid to Lightning’s prone form, then back to Abby “I said if you gave up my friend I would give you the helmet… but you have to bring her over here…”
Abby nodded, a look of relief crossing her face as she scuttled over to Lightning, demonstrating impressive strength as she lifted her limp form over one shoulder and started to hurry back. Shadow took a deep breath, waiting for the perfect moment to trigger his nasty plot.
“Alright,” said Abby as she approached “Here you go, can you make it out of here with her alright?”
“Yeah…” said Shadow, the concern in her voice tripping his guilt even further “Now… the helmet.” He lifted Lightning himself, grunting as the exertion pressed down on his lighter frame “It’s all… yours!” he punctuated the last word by throwing his head backwards, the helmet flying off and rebounding against the wall; flying forward and striking the already off balance tower of blocks.
“What?” Abby gasped as it swayed precariously, the helmet bouncing ledge by ledge down the other side “What do you think you’re doing?”
Shadow, already at the exit, smirked to deliver one last snarky retort “I’m holding up my end of the deal!”
The sound of scraping rock filled the cavern to form a cacophonous symphony of grating noise. The tower of blocks rubbed grossly against each other as the balance gave way completely, leaving it to collapse on itself. Abby hissed angrily, wings buzzing as she shot toward the falling structure, desperate to retrieve the helmet as gravity took back its own painfully slowly. Shadow turned, not wanting to see what happened next as he began the plod back up through the tunnel.
Salvation came halfway through the dark corridor as Lightning groaned and squirmed against his shoulder. Relief shot through him as he came to a halt, setting her gingerly down on the stone floor, glad to be able to take the weight off his hurt leg again. She was slow to rise, seeming to still be a little bit drugged.
“Hey, are you alright?” Shadow asked, worried that she didn’t immediately speak.
“I’m… I’m fine…” said Lightning, slowly shaking her head as if dislodging cobwebs “What happened? My neck really hurts…” she felt toward the pain center, finding two small pin pricks that had scabbed over.
“There was a changeling down there…” said Shadow “She must’ve gotten there before we did. I think she’s the one who knocked you off the tower. She said she gave you some kind of sleeping poison, do you feel okay?”
“I feel dizzy…” said Lightning, a cold weight dropping into her stomach at the word ‘changeling’ “But it’s starting to go away now… did we get it?”
“No…” said Shadow “But I think I buried it enough that neither will the changeling.”
“I’m tired…” said Lightning, sliding back down to lay on her stomach “Can you carry me for the rest of the way…?”
“Look, I got you this far,” said Shadow “And my legs hurts like a dragon bit it, so get up and haul your own sorry flank the rest of the way.”
“Okay… sorry…” mumbled Lightning, managing to force a smile, stumbling forward in the dark as Shadow limped after her. It was hardly a dozen paces before they collided, opting to lean against one another for support.
When the low glow of the lunar landscape finally came into view they found the strength to force themselves forward at a quicker pace. They burst out of the mouth of the cave, wearing an identical grimace, happy to be outside again, dreading the bleak landscape and Luna’s disappointment. On a whole they were quite ready for this particular venture to be over and done with.
But what they saw on the glossy moonscape was something far worse than what they had imagined. Luna was no longer waiting for them at the cave’s entrance, but standing on the edge of a wide crater, murder in her eyes the like of which they hadn’t seen since her venture against Discord. And the cause of her fury was all too obvious; a black figure, speckled with green, wearing a gnarly crown of blackened metal and opalescent jewels.
“Changeling!” Lightning screamed, fear and adrenaline sobering her enough to scoot backwards into the crook of Shadow’s wing.
“Chrysalis…” said Shadow, eyes narrowing at the sight of the hideous changeling queen “She’s here for the helm…”

> Chapter 22: Night's Lumen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“I was expecting you Chrysalis,” said Luna, already aglow with blue light, ready for if the changeling queen were to make a violent move “Your actions haven’t gone unnoticed to us, you’re performing a very foolish plan.”

Chrysalis was holding an equally serious expression, jagged horn readying a more sinister form of the same magic “You won’t be saying things like that once you’re cowering before the spirit of Nightmare Moon,” she hissed “I’ve already obtained all the pieces but the helm, you don’t stand a chance against me as I am now.”

It was true, Chrysalis was resplendent in blue armor that fit well on her slender frame. Iron horseshoes of the same color were equipped to her hooves and an oddly familiar pendant gleamed at her neck. Shadow gasped with realization, wondering how in Equestria Chrysalis had obtained that amulet. It confused him further to note that if she had that necklace it must be connected in some way to Nightmare Moon’s armor. They could’ve stopped her before any of this had happened if they had just kept watch of that necklace…

“Why didn’t we show the necklace to Luna?” Lightning groaned, her train of thought apparently on the same track “Twilight just thought it was a really fancy manna battery…”

Well there was no point in worrying about it now, the damage seemed to have been done. “You should be familiar with these pieces,” said the queen “The barding of darkness, grants the defensive powers of Nightmare Moon. The tramplers of twilight grant the powers of her speed. The amulet of dusk grants the power of her magic. Even you, princess, could not stand a chance against me like this.”

“You underestimate our power since the defeat of my sister,” said Luna, eyes aglow “I assure you there will be no second occurrence…”

At least one of them was stalling, and Shadow had a feeling he knew why. The scene wasn’t complete yet, just like Abby had said, the helm still wasn’t there. Both Luna and Chrysalis had sent their foals down to retrieve it and the race was in the return. What neither of them seemed to have noticed yet was that one party had already made it back up, but they had returned empty hoofed.

“What do we do?” Lightning whispered as they backed toward the cave again “They’re going to start fighting and that other changeling is still down there with the helmet…”

“Well yeah…” said Shadow, wondering if she hadn’t been crushed by the falling blocks “Maybe we can get behind Chrysalis and attack her while she isn’t looking…”

“That’s a stupid idea,” said Lightning, “Remember what she said about the armor? I don’t think hitting her is going to be all that effective…”

“Ugh…” Shadow groaned “Why couldn’t one of us be a unicorn? I bet she could get hit by magic…”

‘Leave it to Luna…” said Lightning “We can’t do anything now, we need to just let what happens happen, if anyone can beat her up it’s her…”

Shadow gave Lightning a quizzical look “Come on Light,” he said “Normally you’d be all ready to go kick some sorry changeling tail! Are you being replaced again or are you just chicken?”

“It’s changelings,” Lightning snapped at him “I’m not going to challenge a changeling…”

“You are a chicken,” Shadow said, the words tumbling out of his mouth before they had a chance to connect with his brain. If he had stopped to consider the innumerable times Lightning had shied away to the thought of changelings, or told him not to talk about changelings, or to just not mention changelings, he might have seen the punch coming.

As it was the next thing he recognized was hard ground under his back and the copper tang of blood in his mouth. Lightning had struck him, hard. Knowing her power he felt lucky to still be awake. Lights exploded in his head as he brought himself up to a sitting position, scared to see all eyes turned on him.

“You little crap stain!” Lightning shrieked, not moving from her standing position, left hoof held gingerly off the ground “Just who do you think you are?”

If the punch hadn’t alerted the two monarchs to their presence, the shout did. Chrysalis’ green eyes flashed with triumph as Luna looked on, mortified.

Shadow brought himself shakily to his hooves, looking from face to face as cold terror began to dawn on him. “So it seems as if your precious son has failed to retrieve the helm,” said Chrysalis, loud enough this time so all could hear quite clearly “So Abby managed not only to scatter you but to send you running all the way back to the surface… good girl…”

“No…” Luna whispered.

“No!” Shadow said defiantly, coughing as he wiped the blood from his lip “We buried her in the rubble on the way out, no pony gets the helmet!”

Lightning’s eyes widened in shock, and she wasn’t the only one. Chrysalis looked decimated, jaw wide enough to show the entirety of her fangs. Luna managed an expression of pained relief, glad at least that he had found some solution. It was unlike anything they had been expecting.

“No…” Chrysalis said, backing away with an expression of total disbelief “There’s not a chance Abby would’ve fallen to you!”

“Shadow…” said Lightning “No… you didn’t… did you?”

As the voices faded into similar expressions of disbelief, disgust, and horror, it occurred to him just how quiet the moon was. Without the sound of their conversation he could hear his own heart beating. The pace was sluggish considering the sudden weight of everything on his shoulders, the numbness of the whole event coming into starker light.

Lightning saw something flash behind Shadow’s eyes, the need for expression that couldn’t quite push to the surface. He was terrified, but holding back any physical reaction to it. Unlike her though, he wasn’t afraid of being face to face with the monster that possessed her countless nightmares. The fear was deeper somehow, closer to the soul…

Shadow was afraid of himself.

“Mom!” the single syllable shattered the blackening awe inspired by those gathered as a very battered looking changeling crawled on one limp leg from the mouth of the cave. Abdomen had not been crushed, and worse, she was clutching the helm.

Lightning was the first to react, diving toward Abby in an attempted disarmament. The helmet was quickly enveloped in a sickly green glow, the princess falling on her side, task completed. Chrysalis cackled maniacally, a sound that paralyzed the hooves of Shadow, already shocked into silence and now paralysis.

“Well, well, well,” Chrysalis cooed, the navy blue covering the carapace of her cranium “I seem to have managed a victory after all. You pathetic pony folk were never much for a fight anyway…” her smile widened as her eyes deepened from pale navy to a full black, devouring the whites of her eyes.

“No…” said Shadow, backing to where Lightning was prodding Abby’s unconscious form “She can’t have… we can’t… no…” he cast desperately every which way for the escape clause he was so used to finding.

“Oh I can feel it!” Chrysalis roared, her voice dropping the insectile echo and flowing into a form more akin to Luna’s majesty, though horribly distorted, even deranged “The final piece, the Helm of Umbra, the clarity of thought afforded to the goddess is now my own!”

Lightning and Shadow both looked desperately back to Luna, who had taken several paces backwards. The eyes of the two foals seemed to plead with her, praying the lunar goddess to pull forward and triumph against the spectacular unfavorable odds. Then, to their unaquitted horror, she turned back to them, and Shadow saw for the first time ever, genuine fear in her eyes.

“Shadow,” she said softly, some magic carrying her voice through the din of Chrysalis’ victory jeers “Take Lightning, go back to the stairs. Get yourselves down to Equestria safely…” she turned back to Chrysalis “If I don’t come back with you, tell my sister…” her eyes narrowed, “Tell her I’m sorry…”

Time stood still for the young colt, the impact of her words settling upon him like a ton of bricks. Shock and unadulterated terror swept him as he realized just what Luna had conveyed in her quiet speech. Lightning, managing to hold herself together, shoved him forward until his hooves took on the instinctive motion of galloping.

“Mom!” he called back, not keeping pace with Lightning as they dashed across the dusty track “Mom…”

One final phrase reached him as his mother faded into a blue glow in the distance “I love you Shadow…”

The princess of the night allowed her defensive magics to fall as the two foals grew to specks on the horizon. She cast her attention once more to the queen of deception, who had narrowed her mutilated eyes.

“I suppose you think you’re brave do you?” she said, “Sacrificing yourself to protect the young?” she called forth jagged green lightning from her crooked horn, which was repelled by Luna, though not without strain, “You know it matters not to me. I will track down the prince of Canterlot and end his life as well, no matter how much longer it takes. In this form the world is mine to command.” She snarled as two more beams of her sinister magic were deflected “I will ensure your final sacrifice was in vain!”

“No,” said Luna, a disquieting calm coming over her now “The world is not yours in that armor, Chrysalis, and neither is the armor itself,” she closed her eyes, the pale blue of her horn deepening to a navy hue, and then finally to void colored blackness “The spirit within the armor was never yours to control.”

Chrysalis’ eyes shifted to their usual green all at once, though she seemed totally oblivious. The blue glow around the armor faded, seeming to unpossess it as it became simple iron. The queen fired another acidic enchantment forward, but with no defensive measures of Luna itself it still broke as water on rock. She recoiled, confused by the black magic.

Luna focused, gasping as her form steadily began to change, accepting again the spirit she had only once overcome. “What you failed to realize…” she gasped out, eyes coming up to meet those of the black insect “Is that Nightmare Moon… is a part of me…”

The two monarchs cried out, one in pain and one in fear as wild blue flames engulfed the princess of the night. The calming cerulean of her coat was shed in favor of a deep noir, wings shrinking, a trade of majesty for grace. The stars twinkling in her mane faded to a solid cloud of black, blotting out all space behind it. The armor on Chrysalis went alpha, fading away only to be replaced on the other’s shoulders.

Luna smiled, showing glinting, pointed incisors, fangs that looked only more dangerous in the vast moonlight. She reared backwards, bolts from the blue striking down around her as she whinnied, demonstrating the awe inspired from the form of Nightmare incarnate.

The changeling could only back away slowly, inspired to terror at once. In all of a moment the entirety of her plan had fallen, even more sudden and desperately than it had on the day of the wedding. She coated herself quickly in a magical sphere, casting her eyes to Abby, and quickly shielding her equally. Even if she were to fall here she could pray her daughter would escape unharmed…

With the sound of fracturing glass the dome around Chrysalis fell to a single quick spell of Luna’s making. Inside the mind of the princess of the night two forces were raging a wild war, one which her own mind was for now winning, channeling the powers of the nightmare against the queen. She was aware of the helpless changeling behind her, and the spirit vying for control of her mind willed her to destroy her quickly then move on to the mother who would then be distraught. Luna’s mercy was difficult in holding back the surge of violence, diverting the flow to the destructive magic around Chrysalis.

It was over in less than a second, the changeling queen was wrapped in an ebony nimbus and was at once wrought unconscious, falling into the white stone with a silent puff of dust. The magic failed to abate as Luna attempted to reign herself in, the insectile form writhing on the ground in the grip of violent nightmares. Somewhere in her mind Luna knew, despite her best effort to the contrary, that the demon already had her in the grip of control, and anyone nearby with life she would soon end…

Yards away, still sprinting past the indented lunar landscape, two foals heard the wild crackle of lightning. Shadow was the one to slow, his red coated companion caught up in the sight of the staircase ahead, the ticket home. It wasn’t that she didn’t care what was happening behind them, but fear was her companion now, driving her as far from her age old fright as she could go.

She only slowed as Shadow drew to a complete stop behind her, desperately calling after him “Shadow come on, we’re almost there!”

Shadow didn’t answer at once, looking slowly between his companion and the wild flashes of blue and black light which signified his mother’s ongoing struggle. He was not torn, not indecisive of the development. The colt knew with the skill of a savant his next own actions.

“I’m going back!” he called ahead to Lightning the words feeling as if they didn’t carry anything like the necessary weight.

“Like hay you are!” Lightning called back “You’re going to get yourself killed, are you not seeing that?”

Shadow turned his attention once again to the distant magical maelstrom a doubt clouding over then fading in the space of a shattered second. “Well… it wouldn’t be the first time!”

Lightning’s shoulders heaved, her cheeks puffing out in rage as she stamped back to where Shadow stood “You know it’s probably for good this time,” she said “Are you still sure you want to go back there?”

Shadow merely nodded, afraid of his words to betray him. Lightning released the trapped air in a final, pent-up exhale. “In that case,” she said “Just like every other time, you’re not going alone…”

> Chapter 23: Rise of Light
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Luna stood haughtily over the form of her enemy brought low. Chrysalis, sides heaving on the ground, was trapped fighting a battle with psychological bombardment, the black magic of Nightmare Moon tormenting her with visions sending her to the brink of madness. She could hear the demon now, as it grew in strength, leeching on her own life even as it supplemented her power.

“Why must you continue to hold me back dear Luna?” the dulcet tones, agonizingly familiar from an eon of their speech, rang in her mind as clearly as the moans beneath her “Do you no longer remember what entertainments we made when our thoughts worked as one?”

She did remember, all too well, that blasphemous night upon which she caused such horrendous destruction to their castle, the day in which she attempted the treachery ultimatum. The day she had attempted to blot out the sun. The battle still stuck in her mind, brought forth even by the thought of her celestial sister, as if driving a stake into her heart.

“But there was exhilaration too no?” the voice of the Nightmare only drawled on “I could feel in your mind every instant of pleasure with the strikes against her. Our union was and always will be a harmony of chaotic beauty.”

Luna’s will weakened slightly and the changeling queen seemed to writhe more violently, the grip of Nightmare tightening itself to form agony. A scream from her toothed maw brought relief in a mild ration as the princess was inspired to fight back with further fervor.

“This is a battle you cannot win…” Nightmare whispered, voice still a sultry rasp “You’ll surrender yourself to me eventually, or you will give in and join my actions. Either way you choose you accepted my victory the instant you invited me back into your mind.”

“I know,” Luna responded aloud “I don’t have to. I did my job. She is vanquished. All I have left to do is contain you here.”

“And leave your precious son and sister to accept their loss and move on?” Nightmare queried “You haven’t the stomach Luna. Sooner or later you’ll seek your way home, beg for the elements of harmony to free you. And when I have control again I will take the land forcefully, and I will destroy those accursed gemstones…”

Abby had at last come to her senses, still protected in the orb of her mother’s conjuring. She looked on in utter terror as Luna wrestled with her darker side, lifting an entreaty to whatever gods may be listening that the corrupted princess would not turn on her next. She did not fancy her odds inside her shield against such ferocious magical onslaught, and the half arguments of Luna made her seem even more dangerous, and deranged.

The sight of her mother brought low had also hammered hard on her psyche, a more terrifying prospect than anything presented thus far. It wasn’t the first time she had played witness to her mother’s downfall, but she had been almost a larva when the second invasion of Canterlot failed, and even then she failed to witness the impact directly.

It seemed like a stalemate, at least from her low vantage, between Luna and the demon inside of her, and it wasn’t the fighter’s life in the balance. Fate seemed to be grossly unfair to put Chrysalis’ neck on the chopping block with two sides of the lunar princess dueling for the axe, but that was pittance compared to her demise. Even if she were to have the astronomical luck for the Nightmare not to pay her mind the barrier was far too strong to be penetrated by her weak hooves. And even if it were she didn’t have anything like the magic that had brought them to the moon, and thus would have no way back.

Things could not be bleaker unless Luna were to turn about face, though thankfully she seemed to be focused far too hard on holding back the demon’s power to pay her so much as half a mind. The atmosphere remained totally uninterrupted, not so much as a swirl of dust contradicted Luna’s personal rant, though considering things, the lack of wind here was completely normal. Abby lifted her eyes to the distant stars and one final time begged for a savior.

And almost on cue it appeared, in the form of two small shapes walking slowly, but determinedly toward Luna. Light and Shadow seemed stoic and slow, saving energy for the role they were utterly determined to have in this battle. The widening of their eyes at once communicated their surprise at the present situation. Abby’s heart fluttered hopefully. There was a chance now, however slim, that she may emerge from this alive.

“Your hero complex has you again,” said Lightning, voice barely above a whisper “I can only imagine you’re thinking you’re not gonna die because you’re the good guy.”

Shadow grimaced, summarizing the situation ahead of him from storybook illustrations. The possibility that his mother might become the horrible beast that had attempted the ragnorak had played at the edges of his mind before, but she was too benevolent for this to truly appear as a threat to him. Now that he could stare into the gaping maw of this new danger he took on a brand new understanding of what terrors had come all those years ago. He took a moment to collect himself for his next words, having to force confidence just to speak.

“I don’t think you understand, Light,” he said, quietly, almost reverently “You don’t survive this kind of stuff because you’re the hero…” he stamped the ground, glaring up at the stars “The hero is made when he survives this stuff…”

“So now we’re dead or heroes?” asked Lightning, a smile starting to play around her lips “I guess we’d better make sure we’re the good one…”

Shadow returned the smile, though not without a level of hesitation. He realized in that moment that he and Lightning had walked the line between life and death so many times now that it no longer fazed them. It was a terrifying revelation, but on the other hoof, he was a prince. It was, in a way, his duty to be ready for events of this magnitude. It didn’t matter if it was numbness or bravery that allowed him to walk without fear toward Nightmare Moon, as long as he was able. Someone had to do it, and right now he was here, and he was ready.

Luna noticed their presence from the corner of her eye when they drew to a distance of about thirty paces off. Her eyes widened in both surprise and fear as they approached, her magic focus breaking as the nightmare over Chrysalis fell. She forced a step backwards, seemingly exerting a tremendous force in order to do so.

“You shouldn’t have come back…” two voices spilled the same words from her mouth, the first in a tone of fright, the second of exuberance.

“I couldn’t stay away mom,” said Shadow, his expression cold and focused “Thanks for saving us, but now it’s our turn to save you.”

“And how exactly do we plan on doing that?” Lightning hissed to him.

Shadow gave a weary smile, he had to put some thought into this. He was thankful they were still far enough back to whisper “Well it was the armor that had Nightmare Moon’s spirit remember? And in the old stories when the mane six cast her out with the elements of harmony the armor shattered.”

“So your idea is that the spirit is in the armor…” Lightning repeated back, ideas beginning to connect.

“We can’t fight her,” said Shadow “But we don’t have to. If we can distract her enough to get the armor off Nightmare Moon should be defeated.”

“We’re going to have to work together,” said Lightning “You really think we can do this?”

Shadow shrugged “We’ll see.”

“I don’t think you foals understand,” the deeper, more mystic voice of Nightmare Moon came from Luna’s lips “You have provided me with the perfect opportunity… if her son is dead Luna will lose her will to fight…”

“Then I guess I’ll have to make sure I’m not dead then,” said Shadow “Don’t worry mom, I think I’ll be fine.”

A glimmer of hope sparked somewhere in the sapphire eyes glaring down at him. Luna was losing strength but she was still there… Shadow felt his own determination bolster, emboldened by his mother’s trust.

“Go!” he shouted, diving forward as Lightning shot to the side. Nightmare was, for a moment, perplexed by the diversion, but chose Shadow as her target in less than an instant. Bolts of black lightning rained down around him as he ran, barely stopping as he darted between her legs. She growled at his action, hooves lashing out in order to kick.

There was a loud metallic clang as Lightning landed, having leapt from the ground to a spaced behind her neck. She braced herself firmly on the barding as Nightmare swiveled to look around, then bucked upward, back hooves knocking the helm right off to clatter across the lunar landscape. She moved for a triumphant air punch, but Nightmare flared her wings out at that exact moment, sending her flailing.

The demon’s attention had been attracted to the earth pony now, both in rage and surprise. A filly with neither flight nor magic had disarmed her, taking the helm no less. She found her movements more sluggish as Luna’s conscious began to fight back again, and with the main point of mental connection severed the tug of war had become even more tumultuous. In an effort to pull out of the violent wrestling for thought Nightmare forced her hooves down toward Lightning, shattering the stone beneath but passing harmlessly over the target, who had rolled away just in time. Her fury threatened to boil past her reason, though the rage served the effective purpose of strengthening her will against Luna’s.

Anger putting her fully in control of her actions again, Nightmare’s horn glowed with a perverse ebony aura, summoning violent electricity once again. Lightning squeaked, dime-turning to avoid getting vaporized by the wild strikes. Nightmare focused on her, keeping her controlling anger on the little filly as she pressed forward.

Her anger was brought off for a split second, and Luna’s thoughts brought her to a halt in place, driving back with a sudden clarity. It took a great strain for her to claim control again, eyes narrowing as she swung around again to see the pitiful little pegasus, a smug expression playing around his face, the necklace swinging from one hoof, freed from her in her distraction at the earth pony filly.

Lightning’s mistake in the next moment was the release of a war cry as she lunged toward the armor. Nightmare was quick to respond, wheeling around to smack her out of the air and sending her reeling against the moon rock, bouncing like a rag doll twice before falling to a stop, struggling back to her hooves.

Shadow felt suddenly panicky, fearful Lightning couldn’t take another shot he thrust himself forward with a similar movement, but Nightmare was quickly adjusting to the tactic, and ignored him completely as he bit down at the armor’s leather straps, and before he could snap it with his teeth she fired a violent thunderbolt toward Lightning, and the poor filly struggling on the ground didn’t have the time or the strength to get out of the way. She screamed as the magic electricity connected, and then fell limp against the dust, not giving as much as a twitch.

“Lightning!” Shadow cried, suddenly terrified by her lack of movement. Nightmare took advantage of his sudden panic to drive a back hoof squarely into his chest. He was flung backwards out into open air. He choked, tumbling over once before adjusting in the air, landing in a practiced movement on all four hooves. He coughed twice, and then spat, his saliva tinged crimson.

Nightmare turned, the murder soon to be attributed to the little colt burning as blue fire. She lunged forward, but stopped halfway as the gnawed leather of the armor finally gave and fell away. She gasped, Luna’s mind fighting forward with full force. She stopped in place, occasionally taking a step forward or back, Nightmare losing control as the lovely dark began to surface.

“Get out… of my… head…” Luna growled, in a moment of clarity kicking outward and tossing a horseshoe aside. She fought for several minutes more, ridding herself of one after another of the tainted shoes, black mist seeping off her skin slowly as they fell away.

When the last horseshoe was removed she stood still, panting, as the dark fog oozed back toward the scattered armor shards, fading quietly back into them. Luna looked triumphantly back to where Shadow, adrenaline fading, had fallen to his stomach, coughing for air.

“Shadow!” she cried, running over “Great Queen, you’re bleeding… are you alright?” she enveloped him in a blue nimbus, working healing magic into his bruises “I told you to go back… why didn’t you listen to me?”

Shadow groaned “Lightning…” he managed to speak, before falling into a coughing fit.

“Lightning…?” Luna turned her head to where the bright red pelt of the earth filly stood out stridently against the gray surface. Her pupils dilated, moving closer, praying for a breath…

Shadow was determined, this time, to not pass out. He stood, bleary but firmly, against the pain in his chest. He wondered vaguely if the wild kick might have broken a rib… it was an injury he had heard of, though he hoped he wasn’t experiencing it. It was hard to breathe right now, and the thin air wasn’t doing anything to help the issue…

Luna was back at his side moments later, Lightning was limp across her shoulders, coated in a blindingly intense aura of healing magic. She still didn’t move…

“Can you walk?” asked Luna desperately “I’m not sure I can carry you both…”

Shadow forced a nod, his wings moving down to the ground in order to help push himself along. His chest hurt with each painful step as he walked alongside Luna, back toward the glowing stairs. She walked slowly, in part to allow Shadow to keep up, and in part to focus on the healing magic on Lightning. The filly was in grim condition, and she didn’t dare focus an ounce of her energy toward other endeavors. She looked down at Shadow, frightened not only for Lightning, but what devastating effect it could have on Shadow if things turned for the worse…

“Is she going to be okay…?” Shadow choked out, the fear in his voice evident.

“Of course,” said Luna, not daring to venture the possibility of another outcome “We need to get her to a hospital, but she should be alright…” she realized, with a sinking stomach, she was lying directly to her son. In truth she felt that a six year old filly had little chance in the aftermath of the magic of Nightmare Moon…

“That’s good…” said Shadow, managing a smile that looked more like a grimace “I hope it won’t be too long… we still have… all summer…”

Luna felt guilt like a stab in the heart. It was lucky that they arrived at the glowing stairs then, letting Shadow set the pace by going ahead. She didn’t want him to see her tears…

> The Final Intermission: In Which I Look Back
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The stage is set, the lights are up, and the space behind the words of the story once again becomes the place where the fourth wall loses opacity and becomes a clear curtain. A curtain behind which a pegasus, whose cutie mark is a scroll and ink bottle, stares up at the words he himself wrote.

Yes I admit, I look a little different from the last time I was here. In the past I’ve projected myself here as I would like to see myself, strong, handsome, and intimidating. I approach you now with a gray coat, black mane, and square spectacles covering brown eyes. This is much more the real me, the me susceptible to my own story.

I admit I’m in a state of shock here, having come all this way after such a long time, after stalling and abandoning and reintroducing this project. After vague skepticism and gross favor of other stories, I still bring myself here, to the end of the road.

Three years… three solid years of on and off work I’ve done since 2011 to push this story to the denouncement. I’m proud of myself, shocked at the haughty determination I never saw coming, the fact that I could ever, even with such breakage and hesitation, plod my way through a novel-length script.

I’m staying alone back here for the first few paragraphs; it’s actually starting to seem like a very long author’s notes. I’m sure eventually I’ll have one or two of my characters joining me, but Lightning and Shadow are incapable of coming… I can wipe their memoires as they leave and grant them safe passage here, but in this case even their non-canonical presence would injure the plot.

I heaved a great sigh at this, none too content with how this act is drawing to a close. In my hooves I toy with a new script, the plan for the aforementioned sequel. In all honesty I’m not sure if I want to produce it at all, the idea is only half thought through…

But still, people can use entertainment, and though season four is not close to completion at my time of writing it could very well be finished by the time you read these words. As this story took place between three and four the next would happen between four and five, if indeed, there is a season five. I have a good feeling about that, my bet’s on it ending after six.

Quiet introspection really ought not to be put into so many words as this, particularly not with my audience peering in at me between the words. This sort of talk clearly isn’t much of a show, so I’ll end it here, bringing in the first character.

Mesa tramps out, looking mildly peeved at the overall situation of things. “I don’t see why you felt like calling me out here,” he says in a grumpy sort of voice “I wasn’t even in that chapter, why bother checking in?”

Well, I kind of felt like giving you a sort of proper sendoff… you’re not coming back into the story before the end so I wanted to see you one more time, just in case.

“Ain’t that sweet.” Says Mesa sarcastically “Well you couldn’t have just brought me in one more time, that wouldn’t have been a better idea or anything.”

No, it really wouldn’t have. I assure you that if we keep going with this story you’ll have a much more prominent role to play than you did here. I must say your overall inclusion was forced to be necessary, I’d say it might even have impinged on the scene you were in.

“Honestly I think a lot of people didn’t like that part,” says Mesa “It was… extraneous… Its big purpose was setting the stage for other small details in the story. It was a lot to read for not a lot of content or whatever.”

I really felt like it was an anti-expositional chapter, didn’t really do much as a stand-alone but it’ll be vital for events later on. That is, you know, if it does go on…

“I’m not going to be very happy if you don’t.” says Mesa.

You won’t exist anymore, except in my mind, and I guess in the minds of people who read about you. I’m not sure I could ever totally wipe you out of existence I guess…

“Made me, can’t stop me,” says Mesa smugly “Now what do you say I trust you to go on with the story and I’ll be on my way.” Said Mesa, smiling to himself “I’ve got a date with Little Strongheart tonight and I’m hoping for muchas smoochas.”

W-wait, what? Mesa! Get your sorry flank back here! I pause, realizing in stunned silence I’m not even able to stop Mesa from going off on his own agenda. God, I’ve never felt more powerless… Anyway, yes, in case you didn’t infer or I forgot to mention earlier he’s chilling out in Appaloosa right now. However I did not give him any pretext to be moving in on the girls of the tribe… muchas smoochas… where did he even learn that phrase? Wait… that had to have come from me…

Oh well, little minds are fascinated with the idea of romance, mostly because it isn’t something they understand. That’s only going to get worse when one of them gets their hooves on “Your changing body.” Dang pre=teen angst, that’s going to be a fun thing to write about in the sequel…

Anyways, one more brought in today is the changeling princess Abby, she walks in, looking a little awkward as she looks around the space, seemingly confused about it overall. It’s good to have you Abby, if I can call you that.

“It’s fine,” she says sheepishly “Sorry it’s just this is a really weird place…”

Try and put yourself at ease, there’s nothing here that can get you. Anyways last time I checked you were watching Nightmare Moon coming to odds with Light and Shadow, do you have any thoughts on that?

“I think you’re an inconsiderate oaf,” says Abby “You left me and mom up there with her struggling for life. Are we just supposed to die up there?”

No, no, no, she’s going to be fine, Chrysalis was not physically injured by the ordeal and she’ll need time for her power to replenish. You’ll be able to get yourselves home eventually though you may have to utilize some of the things in that cavern.

“And what about the shards of Nightmare Moon’s armor?” Abby asks “I guess we get to keep those huh?”

Yeesh, I left a lot of loose ends with you guys huh?

“Yes, you did,” Abby hisses.

Well don’t think you’re getting the armor out of this. Nightmare Moon has ways of manipulating who she possesses and Chrysalis already proved incapable of fulfilling the role of host. The shards are probably going to be lost on the moon for a long time, they probably even hid themselves. You’re not going to get them, but they’ll surface eventually.

“Like in the next book?” asks Abby.

No, probably not in the next book, though it could fit the plot. I doubt I’ll use it though, that’s the sort of thing I feel perfectly safe never going back to.

“Sounds lame,” says Abby, uttering a long buzz that was the changeling equivalent to a yawn “Can I go now? Apparently I’ve got a whole lot of nothing to do.”

Well I’d prefer you weren’t quite so rude about it. Just because you’re a villain doesn’t mean you have to be a little snot. Actually I prefer the villains with savois-faire, attitude sprinkled with grace. Honestly I’m a little miffed you turned out to be none of that.

“Well who’s rude now?” Abby hisses “Fine, I guess I’ll see you again never!” her wings go crazy as she zips off the stage in a low hummingbird flight.

Well now… that was an encounter I could stand to have done without… ugh I wish I had Shadow with me right now, he’s a character much easier to write into existence… how is it that I’ve made enemies even among my own characters…? This is a truly diabolical state of affairs.

Though, there is one more person I would like to see before the story ends. You know, just in case this really is the end… A little zebra filly timidly steps forward, inhaling the air deeply before trotting over to me. Her front hooves spread for a hug, which I gratefully accept.

“I’ll miss you,” she says quietly “It’s been so much fun, getting to be with all my friends, I’m glad I could exist…”

Hey, it’s ok. This doesn’t have to be the end you know… And if the story is picked up again you’ll be back and better than ever. I sigh before continuing. I hate where I have to leave you at the end of this story… all alone in your mother’s hut… especially with what happens when season four starts… I want you to know that I’m sorry.

She snuggles closer, and I know she’s smiling “Don’t be…” she says “I got to go on an adventure because of you… I got to live in the minds of lots of people… if I have to go now… I’m glad I got to meet everyone I did…”

I won’t pretend otherwise, by this point I’ve let a few tears fall onto the striped coat. I know I want the story to go on, because these guys deserve a happy ending. I hope with all my heart I’ll be able to…

When the time comes that I look up from the filly’s warm embrace, my eyes alight on a hooded pony figure. My heart turns to ice as I pull myself away quickly, suddenly very fearful.

“M-mister Comet!” Iris squeaks “W-what’s the matter?”

Sorry Iris, I can’t let you witness this… a white barrier appears over her, sending her back to her own point in the story. I stare down the hooded figure, backing slowly away.

“Why so shocked Comet? You should have been aware that I would be coming for you…”

Not until recently… and I had a feeling you would be giving me more time…

“I suppose you were wrong about that, I’m almost disappointed, I would’ve thought my own creator would be more aware.”

Yes I might just have… Good old square root of negative one right here everyone, nice guy if you meet him. Bit of a fool to show up here though. You should know that I know everything about you, your powers, and more importantly your weaknesses. I gave you incredible powers, yes, maybe even godlike ones, but it’s nothing compared to what I have.

“Yes, so it appears you do. Comet, I don’t know you, I don’t know about you. I have come here because it is the next place I have to influence. I don’t know where I am, or who you are, the knowledge of you as my creator is given just for being here. Now, perhaps you will stop me. You could have that power. I don’t know…”

Yes… your weakness… your power over all but knowledge of nothing. The opposite perfect of your dear sister… I’m sorry I couldn’t bring you here earlier, I guess I just don’t have that ability…

“You’re stalling.”

I am.

“What will you do?”

What will I do?

“Will you stop me?”

Will I?

“I wish to know. I will make my next movement now. And I can’t wait to know if you will be my downfall.”

Instinctively I raise a hoof, prepared to call on his easy downfall, but I stop. I sigh, head hung low, teeth gritted. Yes, I could stop you… so easily… but it isn’t my place to do so… you’ll fall in your own time…

“All fall eventually. Now, for instance, it is your time to fall…”

The white stage fades into an ungodly black space, the far distant words of the story turn white in contrast. I take a deep breath, resigned to the fate my own character would have for me. The darkness wraps around and I fade away, the visage of a pencil forms in the darkness where I was, then slowly fades away.

“And thus I became God, the ruler of the world in which I exist. Though bound by the rules of the one who came before me I may now continue the story in the form of my own creation. I have won.”

The black hooded figure is gone. The place once familiar as the white stage is now dark, stark, and empty… a voice floats from somewhere unseen.

“My apologies reader, but I do believe your story will be taking a much different line…”


> Chapter 24: All is Lost
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Shadow was seated in the all too familiar cold plastic chair of the Ponyville General Hospital’s waiting room. The clean, sterile air reeked of antiseptic spray and the fluorescents above glared harshly on the waxed tile floor. It was an atmosphere he had associated with horror for almost two years, and with very good reason…

He counted the chairs on either side of him, all totally empty. There came a mild start, restricted by the bandages on his midsection, as he realized it was precisely the same spot he had awoken to the life shattering revelation of mortality.

Green crossed his eyes as he shook his mane wildly, blotting out the memory that crashed in on the edges of consciousness like a bear intent on tearing down the door. For momentary distraction he cast his mind to the events prior, not a good thought, but a distraction nonetheless.

Celestia had met them at the foot of the golden stairway, aghast at the condition of the foals. The medical staff on hand at the castle had them in the infirmary within minutes of their arrival. Shadow rebuffed any offer of treatment until Lightning woke up, and with adrenaline and sheer willpower beating out pain no pony questioned him further.

Sabre had arrived within the hour, face gone redder than his fur. He was possessed with anger previously unknown, but held it with the patience of a saint. On his request Shadow had been ousted from the infirmary in order to “give her more space”.

As the sun broke over the horizon the next day Lightning still hadn’t come to and Sabre insisted that she be transferred to a legitimate medical facility, despite the assurances from Luna that the staff at the castle was totally professional. A train had been commissioned to transfer her back to Ponyville, a hefty blow that Sabre had not been simply content with Canterlot medical center, but the trip was paid in full by Luna.

Shadow had insisted on accompanying Lightning on the journey back and Sabre, feeling his hooves were tied with the train commission, reluctantly agreed. Luna was unable to join, as she and her sister were still attempting to contain the political fallout caused by the disappearance of Neverspring’s leader. She permitted the accompaniment, after all, it wasn’t as though it would be the first time he had fended for himself in Ponyville.

The journey had been tense and horrifying. Lightning was on a respirator, a great big breathing device the likes of which was intimidating to a pony his age, and was kept magically powered by three unicorn nurses who rotated hourly. Sabre sat firmly in one of the bolted down seats, glaring at Shadow whenever he took his eyes off his sister. Shadow, for his part, didn’t dare comment on the situational discomfort. After awhile he couldn’t even stand the silence, broken rhythmically by the pulse of the respirator, and put in his headphones, starting ponymon on his gamecolt to serve as a distraction.

The arrival in Ponyville had been somewhat hectic, with Lightning’s bed on the move the instant the train began to slow. Shadow’s sides had begun to ache as the wheeled her out at the station, an ambulance already waiting. Sabre had the staff load the bed quickly in the back, leaving Shadow, still wheezing, back at the station.

Shadow himself had been forced to walk for twenty minutes before he arrived at the infirmary, pack still on his back. He made it to the front counter on shaky hooves and managed to start asking about Lightning before fainting dead away.

He woke up ten minutes later with a huffy looking unicorn doctor presiding. The doctor explained, in the sort of annoyed tone that the staff of a learning hospital had for their penniless patients, that he had two broken ribs and a fractured wing bone. Both injuries had been agitated by physical exertion, which he emphasized would result in a much longer recovery period.

The bandages hadn’t really been optional, applied in his sleep, though he figured at this point there wasn’t much to be done. He had been informed by a pink-haired nurse that Lightning had been transferred to critical care and he was barred from visiting. It was drawing a ghastly, bloody parallel to…

“Stop thinking about it!” he cried aloud, holding his head in his hands. Several milling nurses started in fear towards him, afraid of an accident, but Shadow’s story had long ago fallen to popular gossip and it was quickly inferred that the violent outburst was attributed to the hellish memoirs of his previous encounter with the chromium halls.

Sabre emerged through the double doors at the back of the waiting room now, looking pale and haunted. His eyes alighted on Shadow and he started toward him, but was stopped by a Doctor nearby. Shadow looked up, ears twitching as he caught snippets of conversation.

“She’s declining…” the Doctor spoke in a voice hardly above a whisper “Sabre… I’m not going to waltz around it… we don’t think she’s going to make it through…”

Shadow’s chest hurt a little more as his heart started racing. Sabre looked destroyed, color draining from his face “I understand…” he spoke in an uncharacteristically dry tone.

“We’re ready to stop power to the respirator whenever you are,” said the doctor “we have the forms ready…”

Sabre shook his head, looking down at his hooves “Keep her going…” he said quietly so Shadow had to strain to hear “As bare as I ever may have been in combat… I will not have my sister’s blood on my hooves.”

The doctor nodded in understanding “We’ll call you back when she’s close to the end…” he said “I wouldn’t estimate her having more than another day… we don’t know if she can hear you, but you may want to say your goodbyes.”

Sabre nodded, seemingly afraid to speak. The doctor went off to attend to other business and Sabre started toward Shadow again. Pale green eyes connected to pained red ones, both holding back water.

“It’s not the first time for you… is it?” Sabre asked.

Shadow shook his head “Me either,” said Sabre “My parents went when I was sixteen… Light was still a baby… That was the hardest time I’ve ever lived through…”

A shared hollowness stole over them both, memory of loved ones plaguing the time leading up to the loss of another. They pitied each other silently, one for having lost both parents, the other for having lost his so young. For a full minute there was only the solemn silence.

“I thought I should tell you…” said Sabre “That when she makes it out of this…” he paused here, seeming to be searching for the correct words. Shadow knew somehow it wasn’t him Sabre was trying to fool with this… the captain of the guard was trying to delude himself…

“I don’t want you two hanging out anymore,” said Sabre, sounding forced “You always manage to get into some sort of trouble and this… this is just too far…”

Shadow’s stomach dropped away, disbelief rushed into him as he stared at Sabre. It was bad enough already, now Sabre was pinning this whole ordeal on him…

If it weren’t such a bleak moment Shadow might have been angry. Right now however, he couldn’t muster it. “Alright…” he managed to speak, but no more than that. It was bad enough to have resigned so heavily to the fate ahead… no need to make himself more of a fool…

“Glad we can understand each other…” said Sabre, his voice tinted with ice “Go home kid… there’s nothing left for you here…” the red coated pony turned without another word and walked back to the emergency room.

The colt in the chair sat in silence for a long time afterwards. He had yet to allow tears throughout the ordeal and he couldn’t bring himself to now. He felt numb, full of nothing as he heaved himself to his hooves and walked toward the door. No pony stopped him, and he didn’t look back.

It was still early evening when he turned and limped to the hospital courtyard and the wind carried an unusual chill as if summer was on break. The little coble circle was as far as Shadow dared go, his bandages would need to be changed out eventually, but right now he needed to be alone, and even more so, he needed the night air. He came to rest under a small oak tree as the first stars came alight above him, whispering quietly to one another in their silent twinkles.

The first tear fell here, as quiet as the night around him. His teeth clenched against sobs that could only make the pain in his ribs clench further, but none came. More tears fell, painting the dirt in a crystal wetness that reflected the stars before it was sucked into the ground. The pain that caused these tears was greater and more deep-set than anything the bandages could hide.

And yet, he didn’t release it. The tears fell down in a stream now but not a single cry came from his throat. Shadow Chaser was a scarce seven years of age but he was found grieving as a grown man would. But he could only be found blameless, for over the course of the last year he had been forced to mature more than many of the rich and privileged would throughout the whole of their lives.

And there he sat, and the pain of suffering that ought never to be known by a child was forced away and given as a silent entreaty to the unyielding night. An hour passed him by under the boughs of the young tree and the last of the stars twinkled to life around the orb of the lunar queen. The void between the lights resonated somewhere in Shadow’s soul, hollow, empty, and above all…alone.

A lone hooded figure watched from a bench nearby, silent in arrival and even more silent in presence. When the dark furred coat finally rose, the hooded figure called out to him.

“I see that you are somewhat troubled, young one, tell me, what’s on your mind?”

Shadow started, and turned to face the stranger, wincing as the pain in his chest flared up again “Who are you?” he shot off quickly “How long have you been there?”

“Not long, not more than the time I needed to learn your pain, come, and have a walk with me.”

Even though he’d never had the classic lessons of stranger avoidance, Shadow new instinctively that a hooded pony in a strange environment spelled bad news in capital letters. “I really can’t,” he spoke slowly, backing away “I’m a little beat up at the moment, I shouldn’t go walking too far, and I’ll have to get new band-aids soon…”

The hooded figure seemed to shift slightly, though no obvious magic was worked. With a startled cry Shadow realized the bandages around his midsection and on his wing had disappeared. He winced premeditatively, knowing there would be pain, but froze in shock as not so much as a twinge presented itself.

“There, now isn’t that better? Will you sit and have a talk with me now Prince Shadow?”

Shadow hesitated, stretching and testing his wing, leaning forward and backwards, assessing the change. Everything seemed fine, as if he had never been injured in the first place. “Who are you?” he posed the same question a second time.

“That is currently of no concern of yours, but I will tell you why I am here. I have an offer for you, a bargain so to speak, as in I want something, and you want something. Now it happens I know you can give me what I want, but what I have in return may not quite be adequate.”

That voice was perplexing and horrifying, yet it tugged in the back of Shadow’s mind, bringing the sneaking suspicion that he had heard it somewhere before. “I don’t make deals with strangers…” he said, injecting calm into his voice “Tell me who you are, and then we’ll see.”

“Amusing to say the least… I’m not sure it would make much difference to one such as yourself, but I might as well. Though I must have your solemn vow that my identity remains a secret…”

“Of course,” said Shadow, curiosity contending against fear now.

The hooded pony threw his head back, the cloak falling away in one fluid motion before vanishing as if it had never been. Shadow was surprised, for no nightmarish beast was beneath the cloaks, but a middle aged earth pony stallion with light cyan fur and a mane of charcoal black. His eyes were a light gray, and trained intently on Shadow in such a way that seemed to pierce. The cutie mark on his flank was a symbol that Shadow didn’t recognize, though he might in a few years time. The symbol was a square root, with negative one as the subject.

“My name is i, and I’m offering the life of your friend if you accept my bargain.”

Shadow recoiled, the slight safety afforded by the lack of barriers between them vanishing at the shock of the words. “Excuse me…?” he choked out in utter bewilderment.

“I will repeat myself more clearly. Lightning Strike, the young filly inside, is in great peril. On your own power neither you nor anyone else can save her. However, if you accept my offer I will give her back her life.”

A sick weight dropped into Shadow’s stomach, distrust of this stallion at the forefront of his mind, but the desperation toward the back was stronger “What do you want in return…?” he asked, trying and failing to keep his breathing even.

“Very little, prince Shadow. The only thing I require from you is an ally, not even a friend. I do not know of the things that are to occur, though I have reason to believe that at some point in the future it would be to my benefit to be well associated with the prince of Canterlot. I ask for your word, Shadow, your word that you will aid me unquestioningly should I ever find the reason to call on you.”

“Yes!” Shadow’s mouth spoke before his brain could catch up “Please… if you save her just…” he took a deep breath, steadying himself “You have my word. If you save her life, I’ll do whatever you ask, whenever you need me.”

“It is done”

Shadow didn’t even question it. If his own bones had been knit back together in the blink of an eye then this pony could surely heal Lightning as well… The sudden luminescence from the hospital only confirmed the fact. “How…?”

“My ways are my own. Your friend is cured of her afflictions, but I will do none else. You will stand by your word, Shadow Chaser, you will not speak of my presence, and you will be ready should I call for you, forever. I would not recommend returning to the infirmary, Sabre will keep you away. Your mother is planning to retrieve you in the morning.”

“How do you know that?” asked Shadow, daring one more question. The cloak reanimated and wrapped around i once again.

“I don’t know much of anything Shadow, but I am aware of events already in motion. Go home, rest, we’ll see one another again in all likelihood. I find myself, almost eager for it…”

Shadow didn’t even blink and i was gone. He swiveled around for any place nearby he might have moved to but there was nothing. There had been no teleportation either, he was just… gone.

The young pegasus cast his gaze mournfully back to the hospital. It was the graveyard shift so it could e assumed that if he left it would go unquestioned and unnoticed. The half imagined figure of Sabre and Lightning shadowed the window, reveling in the miracle. Shadow himself couldn’t bring his mind to the same state of bliss. Lightning would never see him again, but at least, at least now she would be alright. But at what cost?

Shadow turned to the old track down the forest road, en route to the cabin by the woods. He would stay the night there, one last night in Ponyville before he had to return to the mountain city. There was nothing left for him to do here, so maybe it was alright. The royal agenda would be worked with easily enough.

After all, what else was there for a pony who had sold his soul?

The stars blinked overhead as Shadow walked into the cabin for what would be the very last time. His old life, he realized, was ending here and now. The last page had been turned and it was time for a new chapter. And hey, how bad could it be?

Somewhere in the depths of the Everfree forest, at that exact moment, dark vines began to grow…