Equestria is indeed a place of great friendship and magic, but of those to whom much is given much is required. Outside Ponyville limits, far away from the familiar faces lies a land of unspeakable danger and possibility; where monstrous, cave-dwelling dragons are soon discovered to be as dangerous as peasants dwelling the countryside by comparison.
It's hard to believe that evil could dwell the pastel colored world, but horrible creatures with nothing to gain, that have lost all friendship within, trespass the land seeking whom to devour in revenge for their cruel fate.
These creatures don't develop of themselves, but are merely shells of the beings that once were long before anypony set hoof on the ground. They waste away by the second, groping for anything they can empty of friendship like themselves before their time is accomplished.
Such creatures - shells of creatures, rather, are never able to overcome the powers that shape the pony world. Instead, they search out the weaker ponies who have become dissatisfied with the pony way. Anypony who just couldn't sit still and look forward to the destiny they already had would be subject to their afflictions.
Truthfully, Red Shift didn't know if any of this was accurate. It's just what he reasoned in his head about his situation. Reasoning was indeed all he could do as his heart fought the crystallized hatred encasing his body.
Eight years had passed since the battle started. He knew because the crystal knew. Shift wasn't sure how he managed to survive being trapped inside a crystal for eight years. He couldn't really recall how the battle started anymore, as intense as it was. Some days he saw fire burning all around, some nights darkness that could even be felt would try to pull him into the abyss.
Shift lost all his teenage years trapped inside the darkness that wasn't even his, but things were different this year; he didn't feel bad about it anymore. The darkness would pull in vain, he understood what it wanted. It wanted the friendship and magic inside of him, but there's no way he would give it up now. Even if the crystal consumed his flesh to the grave.
Last year the crystal had begun to yield. Red didn't feel it, but he must have been getting stronger. Today he could even move his hoof a little. It took a lot of will from a tortured pony, but it did move this time, he was sure of it. Red sent everything he could collect into wiggling that little hoof.
Soon the pressure began to yield and suddenly the whole hoof could bend freely. Now his whole front leg and even wings had a little motion. He twitched every part of his that could move and the dark crystal began to clear up.
Through the blurry crystallized stone, dim red flames illuminated a dark cavern. The shape of a rat jumped out from within the stone and dashed into the darkness. As it did so Red's wings were released. He moved his wings up and down, not yet fast enough to flutter, as more rats leaped out of the crystal.
Red wasn't particularly impressed by the rats; looks like the crystal was splintering into yet a lower state of existence. Existence was indeed all it would accomplish, because hatred in any form doesn't have the life that friendship gives. A life like that of Red Shift the crystal conqueror! It was hardly an encouraging thought because the trial was heavier than words, and with that cue Red ordered his weary limbs to move around as fast as they could.
Hundreds of rats splintered from the stone as Red thrashed around inside. Any second now the crystal would...yes! The crystal shattered into a million shards, morphing into a legion of insects as it fell. The pegasus shook the last of them from his mane, bucking wildly in the ring of fire like a pony that doesn't know its strength. One careless jump launched him into the flames, but the fire yielded back as he fell.
Rising up in the warm ground the pegasus sent a mighty snort into the dust. His heart pumped a great reserve of power through his veins. Freedom. He didn't feel as happy as he thought he would. All emotions were dull, but the friendship was still there. Now something else became apparent. Some sort of fierce attitude of good, or even joy clearing up inside.
Shift certainly didn't remember how he ended up in the caverns. He wasn't sure if he cared, either. Swiftly he ran through the dark tunnels. The sound of water could be heard in the distance and the pegasus picked up the pace. What seemed like a moment later he could see a wall of water falling over the mouth of the slanted corridor. Blinding light shot little rainbows over the wet brown walls.
Shift raised his wings and gave them a good swing. Streaks of wind lashed into the rocks, echoing in the dark caverns behind as he splashed through the waterfall. Falling into the rocks at the bank of the lake hurt only a little bit. Far more shocking was how bright the light was.
Red felt incredibly thirsty and gulped down the cool water while his eyes became accustomed to the light. He stopped himself from drinking too much and looked up, squinting through the light. Tall rocky cliffs, pine trees, and ferns dotted the landscape around the lake, river, and waterfall. "Wings! Since when do I have wings?!" Looking down at his reflection, his heart skipped a beat. "I'm a red earth pony, not a black pegasus!" he thought, as he stumbled onto the dry stony bank and fainted, a little bit from shock, but mostly from exhaustion.
Cool rain fell like a blanket over the flourishing valley in the night. A mattress of fog lingered between the trees as the cool water mixed with the hot ground after a summer day.
Red had woken up half an hour earlier. Now he sat by the edge of the cliff that surrounded the lake. Here the warm rock stood out from the dirt and vegetation just far enough to make the coziest and most comfortable perch imaginable.
Few things could be seen below without moonlight and a calm feeling of peace had settled over the landscape.
Loud thunder echoed between the cliffs and it felt like the sky was protecting him from above and the ground from beneath. Red sat back and splashed a puddle with his hoof. "This is the life," he thought. For a second reality almost caught up with him as he started to realize he was hungry, but the thought was broken with a forceful pegasus swoop through the clouds overhead.
Acting instinctively, Shift got up and bolted after the flying pony. He wasn't sure what he was doing, but he could guess that the pegasus was in charge of clearing the area for a storm and should now be returning to wherever he came from.
No, it wasn't a he, it was a mare with a mane consisting of various colors. She flew along leisurely and speedily for a long time, humming a tune to herself. She quickly ducked into the clouds above. Shift followed after. He emerged over top the storm only to be met with a hoof to the face.
"Who are you and why are you following me?" demanded Breeze Quickwing, who had never seen a black pegasus before. She was always easy to recognize. More so in the moonlight above the clouds. Her mane was gold, silver, and bronze, Shift always thought it was nice the way it matched her white coat, his mind was reeling to catch up to the situation.
Yes, this was Breeze, whom he had seen at a summer camp when he was still a small earth pony. Breeze was always hanging out with Dash, who was all the talk of the camp after her first rainboom. The pegasi would fly off and play in the clouds every day, but Shift often found himself climbing a hill just to see what they were doing up there.
He'd seen the rainboom from a distance and even some sort of weird moonbeam trick that Breeze did; up in the clouds with Dash one night. Quick got a little heat from some ponies cause she never managed to do the trick again, but she would've got a lot more if Dash didn't assert to everypony how amazing the trick was. It's probably what got some ponies to doubt if Rainbow could do the rainboom again herself.
Breeze didn't know him and he wasn't sure if he wanted to bother the acquaintance. He would much rather bother a good meal and another sleep, first.
He looked around in the moonlight. In the distance the shape of a cloudy city could be recognized. The moon was full.
"Well?" said Breeze, a little impatiently, but tailoring some hospitality to her confused companion.
"Nice to meet you," said Shift and started toward the cloudy city. Breeze floated around in thought for a few seconds. She gasped and dashed after Shift. "Please tell me you're not the weather inspector!" she exclaimed.
"I'm not," Shift mumbled. This was already getting more complicated than his stomach was hoping for. The plan was to get to Cloudsdale and raid the nearest food supply, hopefully without having to give long explanations about the horrifying hatred crystal, which best be forgotten. Come to think of it he could probably ask Wings where to get some food, but something was stopping him. What was it? Fear of a relationship? No, there's no way he'd be afraid of anything after living through a hatred crystal trying to swallow his soul. Quickie was still laughing about how she thought she kicked the weather inspector in the face.
"Hey, so whatcha up to?" she asked again.
Shift understood what he was afraid of now. After all those years he spent trapped, he never had the chance to see a mature mare as a peer before.
Well, what better time to face the fear than right now? No, that's exactly the kind of thinking that started this whole mess. He checked his heart for a second. Apple trees? Never mind the heart. These emotions were too much to handle presently, as cool logical stomach filling would have to take preeminence. He didn't answer the question, but darted into the streets of Cloudsdale.
If he lacked anything in speed he made up for it with balance and agility. Wings wouldn't even have a chance to catch up on this turf, even if she had the city memorized. Red slipped through several dozen cloudy alleys and under the cloud cover. The wings felt as natural as ever. He wouldn't even have to take advantage of anyone's fridge, he could just pay the nearest apple farm a visit.
Red dropped from the low-hanging raincloud to the ground like a rainbow, carefully avoiding doing any sort of sonic boom or anything else loud in the process. The Apple family farm would be easy to find from here, even in the dark. Red's gut growled in anticipation. Hopefully there wouldn't be any other encounters in the process.
Shift woke up once more in a comfortable bed, but drenched with sweat from the heat. He got up and tried to pull his thoughts together. The hunger was gone, but the thirst was back. Oh, never mind, the night stand had a pitcher of water on it.
Red quietly ventured out of the room to find a bathroom. The day felt like just before sunrise.
Leaving the bathroom, Red tried to get his thoughts together again.
His coat was still black, the mane was...odd colors - cyan, purple, pink, red? Strange. Hunger and thirst gone, there was still some sort of alternate feeling altogether. Like an emptiness, after unrequited friendship. Red inhaled a quick breath of air.
The living room had some pictures. He recognized Applejack, but he wasn't sure who her relatives were.
Apple was another pony he'd seen from a distance, but never got to know. He didn't really get to know anypony very much, after he moved to Equestria from across the ocean as a little foal. Even Pinkie didn't get very far with him, although he assured her they were friends. Most of his time he spent fighting within himself. After absorbing the two practically opposite cultures he had to re-evaluate the world entirely. Life was slowly draining of color, and more and more he wanted to find where that color, where that meaning came from. That's what caused him to walk into that cave one fateful day.
He was almost thankful to the crystal for teaching him to focus his power in one direction. It could have killed him like it did countless others, who may have been stronger. He knew because the crystal knew. The battle came very close and sacrifices were made. Red gave up his right to boast of his victory and in a sense gave up his identity with it. He wasn't Red anymore. Red had lived his entire life inside that rock and gave it up to become something altogether more powerful, without even meaning to do so. Red Shift completed his destiny in the act, didn't he?
That's what his heart was telling him. Could any of it be true? He glanced at his flank - no cutie mark. Yes, the black pegasus standing inside the Apple family home had the same soul and a new life entirely. Maybe those were just his fantasies of becoming insanely powerful overriding reality. He couldn't deny something strange had happened, but was it possible to swap destinies, or did he just mess his up and end up coming back to it in the end?
Anything was possible. The pegasus had to focus on what was really important. He probably had only a few short hours before one of the Apples woke up and asked him what his name was; and he wanted to have an answer ready. Black was OK. He knew he could do a little better, though.
Red Shift was pretty bad. It stood out like a knife between salad leaves among the other cute pony names.
Clouds were nice and fluffy; good for sleeping and building Cloudsdale on. He could be Cloud. Something Cloud. What sort of cloud? A spiffy one!
Spiffy grinned. Such a name would be hard for most sensible mares to resist.
Would it clash with his black coat? Nah, it would be sexy!
Spiffy felt really airy all of a sudden. He pranced around the room, laughing about his sweet name to himself. Spiffy Cloud! Spiffy Cloud! Sexy, Spiffy, little Cloud!
He pranced straight into Applejack, who was shining in the hall like the morning sun in the window.
"Howdy, Applejacks!" said Cloud with a clueless smirk on his face.
"What in tarnation?! How d'ya know my name?" demanded Applejack. Cloud stammered. How did he know her name? He wasn't Red anymore. Maybe he got it off a family picture somewhere? No use lying.
"I think I...saw, err, heard it somewhere," he shrank back.
"Well that's fine, just tell me yours and we'll call it even," she said, giving him a little punch.
"Thunder Cloud," he answered. He wasn't sure why he changed it all of a sudden. Something about AJ created an air of honesty and Spiffy just didn't seem right anymore. He found himself wishing someone could give him his real name, not just one aspect of his identity or even what his parents foresaw in him. He wanted to know who he was and what it meant to be who he was; the whole thing.
Part of him wanted to be a fluffy cloud so he could have a mare to snuggle up to. ugh, all this talk about mares could drive a pegasus crazy if he didn't watch it. Maybe he should just take one and roll with it. But he couldn't just take one. He wasn't a fluffy cloud, he was Thunder. Thunder is clearly not for everyone. That last name was just a joke, anyway.
Suddenly he became aware of AJ watching him with a raised eyebrow.
"You OK?" she asked.
"I think so," he said truthfully. He was just having some trouble confining the thoughts that had sought an outlet for the last eight years, in a way this trivialized the conversation entirely. At the same time, Thunder had a different definition of "OK" than somepony else would. He stopped thinking just in time to process what AJ was saying.
"You sure threw us in for a loop when Big Mac found you knocked out cold in the store house in the morning," she continued, "Ate a whole month's supply of food, you did. We were gonna give you a rest , but then Zecora shows up and tells us she'll pay for the apples and we ought to let you go for a run when you get up."
"Zecora?" Cloud interrupted.
"Yeah, spooky zebra, lives in the forest, talks in rhymes, ain't nothing to be afraid of," AJ assured, "Said she'd be back to have a chat with you one of these days."
Thunder nodded. He had no idea what AJ was talking about.
"Two days later a royal guard shows up and tells us Celestia wants an audience with you," she continued.
"Two days?" Thunder wondered out loud, "How long have I been asleep?"
"Just these three," AJ answered.
"Wait, Celestia?! What does she want?"
AJ shrugged.
Thunder plopped down on his flank and stared out the window into the distance. He'd hoped he could get a quiet little place in Ponyville somewhere and just go about his business without anyone noticing. He hadn't had the chance to think about it yet.
Now that he thought about it, it seemed completely ridiculous to expect to get away with living anonymously in Ponyville; even if he didn't stand out in an obvious way. Pinkie Pie would be on his trail in no time. At least she wouldn't be able to recognize him after all this time. Although that was starting to seem more like a bad thing, and why wouldn't it ever be a good thing?
Thunder thought back to when he was a foal. He used to feel...what? Embarrassed? Afraid to stand out? There wasn't any hope in Equestria of not standing out now. Might as well just live life any way you want when you're some weird black pegasus, right? He looked over at AJ who was patiently waiting for him to stop spacing out.
"I think I'll go for a run now," he said.