Chapter 10: Surprise Encounters And Dive Bombings
Shadow Storm, was sleeping. The "Dragon incident" That had happened several hours ago had given him a strong urge to just fall asleep and dream, which he had happily obliged to. But what he was dreaming was far from normal.
Colin looked around to find himself in a charred, lava filled, desolate, stormy landscape with silhouetted, demonic creatures constantly rising out of the ground an ripping apart the humans who dared try to escape their shadowy grasp.
He had had this sort of dream many times: One in which he would mercilessly slaughter every single living creature in sight, including the humans that attempted to escape, witnessing their screaming, crying, pleading, and bleeding. With some sort of godly power, Colin was all over the place, rushing toward them at unthinkable speeds and impaling, burning, incinerating, slicing, or butchering them, at least one satisfying scream of agony coming out to reward his efforts.
Even if he was miles away and facing the other direction, he could somehow still see his target, almost as if he could see all around him, all at once.
As soon as the humans laid eyes on him, the purest fear flooded their eyes as they tried harder than ever to escape, only to be annihilated as he appeared right in front of them.
Colin gazed at all the destruction, heard the screams of his prey, and smelled the stench of burning flesh. He loved every bit of it. All of a sudden, Colin heard the sound of snapping fingers echoing from seemingly everywhere, and a Voice rang out from above him.
"Hmm, I must say, I'm rather impressed with your handiwork."
"I Don't know who you are."Colin said, his voice distorted and demonic.
"Oh, my apologies. But before I introduce myself, first allow me to give ourselves more…appropriate accommodations." The sound of fingers snapping was heard once more, and a bright light surrounded him, the glorious feeling of death disappearing.
As Colin opened his eye, he saw that he was not in his usual demented dreamscape, but instead in his room back on earth.
"What the hell?" Colin grumbled, climbing out of bed and trying to stand up.
But immediately, he knew something was wrong, both with the way he spoke, and the way he moved.
Falling backwards, Colin looked down at his front limbs to see the problem; In the place of the jet-black hooves that he had grown accustomed to over time, were two hands. HUMAN hands.
"W-what the fuck is going on?!" He shouted, "AND WHY AM I A HUMAN AGAIN?!"
"Good, you're awake…" The same voice echoed throughout the room.
Colin turned around to come face-to-face possibly the most random beast he had ever had the misfortune of seeing, so asymmetric that it would drive Death The Kid to commit suicide.
It appeared to be a combination of at least seven creature: A horse, deer, griffon, lion, snake, dragon, goat, and much, much more.
"Who…are you?" Colin asked, haven regained some composure, "And why do you sound like Q from Star Trek?"
"Oh, where are my manners?" The beast asked in a strangely familiar voice, "Please allow me to introduce myself, I am Discord, the master of chaos and disharmony!" Discord announced, laughing.
"Never heard of you." Colin deadpanned.
"Well, you may not have heard of me, but you've heard me alright!"
Suddenly, it clicked. Colin thought back to when he, Robert, and Jack had butchered a pack of manticores.
"Wow, that was fun, wasn't it? A little chaos to make things more interesting? Yes? No? Maybe? Well, at least I know that not ALL of you ponies are so BORING! Well, that seems to be all the time I have left, so buh-bye!" That strange voice had said. The manticores' remains had then disappeared in a flash of light, just like the one that had brought him here.
"You're…YOU'RE THAT LITTLE DICKHEAD THAT TRIED TO KILL ME!" Colin shouted, angrier by the second.
"Whoa, hold your horses," Discord defended, holding his hands up, "I'm not here for a fight, I'm here to form an alliance."
Colin's gold eyes narrowed and he nodded, signifying Discord to keep going.
"You see, I need your help reclaiming Equestria, as it's true ruler from the Elements of Harmony and those two pesky princesses. I've been watching you and your two compatriots for a while, and you've proven to me that you're PERFECT for this job!"
"How so?" Colin asked suspiciously.
"Every being, no matter how harmonious, has a little sliver of pure chaos in their soul, and when you three first got here, I noticed the amounts of chaos in your souls were large, TOO large for any of you to be ponies at heart! My suspicions were proven correct at that little speech you made concerning your former humanity. Also, the sheer amount of chaos you've caused is starting to make me proud! I mean, you should've SEEN the look on that Ursa's face before you blew it up! PRICELESS!" Discord replied, laughing.
"And what's in it for us?"Colin asked, considering the choice."
"Well, if you help me, I can make you all GODS! And with my world order, there won't be anything you CAN'T do! Or, if you want to, I can send you home. I personally hope you all stay, because it's nice to have some people to relate to, and we're very similar, you and I. So, whaddya say? Choose quickly, before you wake up." Discord announced, leaning back on a chair and yawning.
"Remain undecided."The voices advised.
I agree. Colin replied.
"And how do I know that you're not going to backstab me?" He asked Discord who smirked.
"You don't." The spirit of chaos replied simply.
"And because of that, I'm not deciding." Colin said.
"Normally, I'd congratulate you with actually thinking this through, but you're about to wake up. Remember, this isn't over."
And with that, Discord snapped his fingers, and a flash of light surrounded Colin.
/
"GET UP!" Shadow heard from beside him, waking him up, and causing him to instinctively shoot upwards…and crash his head on the ceiling.
After floating back down in a crumpled heap, Shadow opened his eyes to see Rainbow Dash standing by the door, clearly resisting the urge to burst out laughing.
"You know," She started, giggling. "You're really lucky that you have such a thick skull…a crash like that would break a normal pony's head."
"How absolutely bucking hilarious…" Shadow mumbled sarcastically, "At least I don't watch other ponies when their sleeping." He added with a smirk, causing Dash to blush.
"Wha-? NO! I just got here!" She shouted frantically, "And besides, you were mumbling something about Propane tanks and birthday parties."
Shadow's eyes immediately widened. She knew.
"I-I have no idea what you're talking about!" He stuttered unconvincingly, "Wh-what's 'propane'? It's not like I knew it would ignite the-" He stopped right there.
"You might have said too much…"The voices said.
"Okay…" Dash said, not sure what to say.
"Alright, back to business." Shadow started, getting back on topic, "Why did you wake me up at…" He then proceeded to look at the clock on the wall, "…five in the morning?" He groaned, stretching his wings.
"For your flying lesson!" Rainbow replied eagerly.
"Well, time for you to become the first living kamikaze jet in history. Go for it."
If you had a neck, I'd step on it and shoot you in the head. 'Cause that's just how I roll. Shadow replied mentally, following Dash out the library.
/
Shadow Storm stood at attention in front of Rainbow Dash, who was wearing a black and white cap and a whistle around her neck.
The reason she had woken him up early was because the weather today was perfect. Perfect, besides the massive storm that had been scheduled in the afternoon.
Although Shadow already pretty much knew how to fly, if he wanted to get better, professional lessons would be helpful, especially his teacher being a Wonderbolts fanatic and all.
They had went to a training site by the edge of town, which consisted of a large track, various equipment, which included an anemometer.
"So," Dash started, "Before we begin your actual training, I need to know your wingpower. And that's what this…this…" She said, struggling to remember the machine's name.
"Anemometer?" Shadow helped.
"Yeah…I knew that…Anyway, that's what this if for. All you gotta do is fly around the track one time as fast as you can, understood?" Rainbow asked.
"Perfectly." Shadow replied, getting on the track and into position.
"Ready, set, GO!" Dash shouted. As soon as Rainbow finished her sentence, Shadow surged forward, accelerating more and more, until he passed the anemometer, the dial on it as far into the green section as possible.
"So, how'd I do?" He asked, hovering in the air.
Dash simply had a flabbergasted look on her face as she looked at the dial.
"F-fifteen point two? But…that's impossible!" She exclaimed, looking back and forth between the dial and Shadow Storm.
"Is…that a good thing, or a bad thing?" The former human asked uncertainly.
It DID seem impossible; The average pegasus, one who has been training for years, could barely get past ten wingpower.
Shadow however, had never had a real lesson in his life, and was at over fifteen wingpower.
"It's a good thing. A REALLY good thing." Rainbow replied after she recovered from the initial shock, "You see, based from the measurements I took at last year's Tornado Rise, which is where pegasi make tornado's that lift water to Cloudsdale, where it's distributed around Equestria, the majority of the pegasi averaged around ten point five wingpower, and they were training 24/7. YOU, on the other hoof, haven't had a single flying lesson in your life, and you have a wingpower of fifteen point two. To compare, I have a wingpower of sixteen point five."
In all honesty, Shadow wasn't surprised; Magic had come extremely easily to Inferno, so why not the same to him with flight?
Suddenly, Dash resumed talking, snapping him back to reality.
"One thing you need to know is that depending on their body and wing structure, pegasi specialize in different altitudes, speeds, and types of flight. Based on your wing structure and the way you fly, you're built for really high altitudes and rapid acceleration over long periods of time. That doesn't mean it's harder to fly in low altitudes, it's just that it's easier to fly in hight altitudes than ponies with different flight specialities. But don't let the height get to your head: Eventually the oxygen in the air will get to thin for even you to breathe, you'll faint, and you'll probably die."
I am planning a way to bypass that limit as you speak. Shadow thought. To be honest though, he was extremely impressed with Dash's extensive knowledge of flight. But then again, it was her passion in life, so no real surprise there.
"Acknowledged." Shadow said, "So…now what.?"
"Now," Dash began, a sinister grin growing on her face, "Let's see just exactly how much punishment those wings of yours can take…"
/
In all honesty, Shadow would rather load himself into a MAC cannon and fire himself at a Covenant Supercarrier than carry on with his current ordeal.
Suddenly, another bolt of lighting flew past his face, causing him to instinctively dive down toward the ground.
"COME ON! YOU AREN'T GIVING UP ALREADY, ARE YOU?!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she launched more lightning bolts at him.
Due to his unnaturally high wingpower, Dash had decided to give him "Slightly" more rigorous training, which seemed to translate into dodging barrages of lightning bolts two miles up in the sky. For the past seven hours, Shadow had been flying at full speed, doing barrel rolls, nose dives, and much more while dodging his instructor's seemingly never-ending supply of high-voltage electricity.
"Alright, I think that's enough!" Rainbow called from the midst of the electric storm.
At that moment, Shadow happened to be in the middle of a loop, and due to his distraction, he had slowed down just enough for him to flip over and begin plummeting to the ground.
"SON OF A BITCH!" Shadow shouted, trying to pull up.
/
Inferno and Streak were in Ponyville park, helping prepare for the storm by removing potentially harmful tree branches from trees.
"SON OF A BITCH!" Both colts suddenly shouted simultaneously without warning.
"What the buck? Why did we just say that?" Inferno asked, extremely confused.
"I…don't know…" Streak replied, "It felt like there was…a disturbance or something…"
/
Shadow looked down to see the ground rapidly coming up to meet him, and half expected his life to flash before his eyes or something.
But instead, his wings managed to catch a sufficient drift and change his course from a vertical fall…to straight at a giant, jagged boulder. But then something happened that he didn't expect: Seemingly all on their own, Shadow's two front hooves were surrounded in light and morphed into the black and silver cannons of death he had grown to love, and a gigantic blast of energy exploded from their barrels, annihilating the boulder, and allowing him to have a rough, but not deadly landing on the grassy terrain.
The former human groggily lifted his head up only to find himself in Ponyville Park, where pegasi gathered storm clouds and other ponies took the limbs off trees, presumably so they wouldn't damage anything.
"Oh my Celestia!" He heard Dash shout as she landed next to him.
"You okay Shadow?" She asked, worried.
"Well, my internal organs seem to be functioning and I can still form coherent thoughts, so, yeah…" He groaned, getting up.
"Are you alright sir?" An unfamiliar voice called out from behind them. Shadow and Dash turned around to see a grey earth pony stallion with a short black mane and tail, brown eyes, and strangely, an "X" as a cutie mark.
Shadow had seen him around occasionally, at the market mostly, but had never really heard him speak.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a small flying accident." The former human replied.
"Hey…I don't think I've seen you around…what's your name?" Dash asked.
"Oh, I'm X." X replied, extending his hoof.
"Rainbow Dash, the fastest flyer in Equestria!"
When X spoke, for a split second, a strange feeling spread through Shadow's human mind. Something that instinctively told him to run away, that this was bad; That it was dangerous. But as quickly as it came, the feeling left.
"Hey Skittles?" Shadow asked.
"Yeah?"
"I need to check on something for a sec. I'll be back soon."
"Alright." Dash replied.
And with that, Shadow took off towards his lab.
"Say…" X said slowly, "Is there anything you can tell me about your friend…?"
/
Colin entered the main room in his lab, noticing that his messaging machine had another message from Group 601.
He pulled the paper out and read it quickly.
What's this? He thought to himself, The group is offering me more positions in other branches…
He smirked, this would work perfectly with his plans, and would give him a better position altogether.
Colin quickly composed an accepting reply, pit it in the messaging machine, and sent it off into the magic postal network. He then proceeded to exit the workshop, seal the doors, and take off back toward the Library.
/
Shadow flew down toward the library, noticing that X was gone.
"Hey Skittles!" He called, landing next to her.
"Oh, hey Shadow. I need to ask you something."
"Shoot." He said.
"You know that pony from before…X, I think his name was? Do you know him?" Dash asked.
"Well, I've seen him around a couple times, this is the first time I've actually heard him talk." Shadow replied.
"He asked a lot of questions about you…Pretty basic stuff, like your name, where you came from, stuff like that…and then he left, mumbling something about numbers."
"That's…relatively weird…but then again, who wouldn't want to know about some guy from different dimension? He was most likely just curious." He assured.
"Yeah-" Dash started, but was interrupted by a crash of thunder.
"Oh yeah, I forgot. Giant storm." Shadow said as it began raining and the wind began to pick up.
All of a sudden, they heard multiple voices behind him, both male and female.
He and Rainbow turned around to Rarity and Applejack arguing over Celestia knows what, and Streak and Inferno franticly looking for shelter.
"Come inside ponies, quick!" A familiar voice called from inside the library.
They turned to see Twilight beckoning them inside. Seeing no better option, they all galloped toward and into the library.
Well, there you go.
And yes, my birthday is tomorrow, I'm going to be [redacted] years old.
So give me an early present by reviewing!
This is ZeroKnight115, over and out.