Chapter 21: Return Trip
Hello, ZeroKnight 115 here, and I recently found out about the new promo for season four of MLP, FIM.
My reaction was the usual: "HOLYSHITTHISLOOKSAMAZINGICAN'TWAITFORTHE23RD, BLAH BLAH BLAH, HITLER BABIES, BLAH BLAH BLAH, DUTCH ROBOTS…"
TRANSLATION FROM FANBOYSPEAK TO ENGLISH: "I am rather eccentric and exited over the release of new information regarding the fourth season of Friendship is Magic."
Sorry for the longer than usual wait. I've been trying to incorporate writing my fix into my new school year schedule.
Enjoy.
/
Shadow, Streak, and Inferno walked among the crowd in the Canterlot Train Station. They had just bought their tickets and were now heading towards their train car.
After retrieving the artifact and returning back to base, they had presented all the information they had found, including the artifact itself, to Group 601 and the Princesses. Their excellent performance and ability to prevent any information from falling into enemy hooves had earned Shadow Storm, Blazing Streak, Inferno, and Flash Sentry all promotions. And because of their hard work, Celestia had allowed the trio to head back to Ponyville and take a vacation of sorts. They would be called back to duty once the scientists in the government had figured out how the artifact worked.
Then, the next step in combating Discord would commence.
But until then, they would be able to just enjoy themselves in Ponyville.
Shadow was actually a bit nervous. Although one could say that he was always on edge in his own way, there was this nagging feeling in the back of his head.
They had been gone for a whole month. What had happened in Ponyville while they were gone? The trio had left for Canterlot a few days after the Parasprite incident, leaving the Elements of Harmony to help rebuild the town on their own.
Shadow couldn't really say he felt guilty, just that there might be certain…Repercussions once they returned: The job assigned to Shadow was to construct machines that would quicken the cleanup process. And since the machines had been intended as the backbone of the workforce, he could expect Twilight and the others being…Upset.
In all honesty, they were probably going to kill him.
But that aside, Shadow really wanted to go back to Ponyville. He missed the days where the gang would end up going on some ridiculous adventure that started over something small and petty, but ended with a confrontation with some sort of ravenous monster that would almost always end up being handled with excessive violence and brutality, courtesy of Shadow, Inferno, and Streak. As much as he enjoyed the constant killing he took part in with his job in 601, he hadn't had a single chance to relax for nearly a month, and he could really use something from Sugarcube corner; The MREs he and the other Elements of Reality had resorted to eat for the past month hadn't exactly offered high variety.
But besides all the obvious reasons to want to head home, there was one particular reason that stuck in Shadow's head.
Rainbow Dash.
With the whole month that he had been away from Ponyville, he wondered what she had been up to. Doing stunts? Practicing for the Wonderbolts? Going off course and accidentally crashing on the ground? Going off course and accidentally crashing into a stone spike and being skewered in a bloody mess?
Shadow shook his head rapidly , getting the thoughts out of his head.
Dude, you're a freaking psychopath! One part of his mind exclaimed in shock.
Old news, pal. Another part of his mind replied casually.
In all honesty, he really missed her, and hoped that they could catch up with his flying lessons, among…other things.
You see, Shadow had constructed a machine that would assist him in reaching his full potential in the subject of flight. It wasn't a single device, but a combination of various inventions all incorporated together to serve a larger purpose. Since Dash was effectively an expert in flight, he thought she would be a good start for peer-review on the invention. But really, he just wanted to see the look on her face when she laid eyes on the newest end result of his self-described genius and 'epicness'.
The residents of Ponyville would finally revere him for the god-pony he was and-
"Dude, wake up!"
Shadow instantly snapped out from his thoughts and back to reality. Looking ahed of him, he saw Streak and Inferno looking at him with confused expressions.
"You okay?" Streak asked.
"Yeah." Shadow replied quickly, "I just zoned out for a second there."
"Well, good thing we snapped you out of it. There aren't too many tickets left." Inferno reminded, gesturing to the ticket booth.
"Buck!" Shadow cursed under his breath, "Come on guys, let's go and get on."
"Bow chi-" Shadow anticipated Inferno's catchphrase and simply stuffed his hoof into the unicorn's mouth, silencing him.
"Good afternoon." The mare at the ticket booth greeted as the trio approached the booth. "What can I do for you?"
"We would like some tickets to Ponyville." Shadow said in the polite tone that had fairly inconsistent use.
"Alrighty, how many are in your party?"
"Three ponies."
"Only three?" The mare asked curiously as she swiftly put a stamp on each ticket. "There have been a fairly large amount of ponies going to Ponyville today. What's the occasion?"
"We're just heading home from a business trip." Shadow replied nonchalantly.
"Well, I hope you have a pleasant day." The mare smiled, feeding each individual ticket through the slot. "The ticket collector will be doing his rounds in three minutes, so I suggest you find your seats soon. The ride will take an hour and will be forty bits in total."
"Thanks." Shadow said, dropping a small bag of bits into the other slot.
"You'll be in cart 'A'"
The trio collectively nodded and trotted up to cart 'A' and entered, getting settled in their seats among the countless other passengers. Once they sat down, the door that led to cart 'B' opened.
"Tickets please." A stallion called as he went down the isle, collecting the tickets of the various passengers. He wore a blue cap that read Ticket Collector and a satchel of the same color.
"Sure thing." Shadow said as he handed the collector his ticket, Streak and Inferno doing the same. The stallion quickly put them in the satchel and moved on to the next row.
Once the stallion had finished collecting the tickets, he went back into the other cart and the train's whistle blew, signifying their departure. The vehicle jerked forward slightly and began to move, exiting the station and gradually picking up speed.
For about thirty seconds, the train went through the tunnel that carved through the mountain Canterlot was built on, until they emerged on the other side, the sudden increase of light almost making the trio shield their eyes. Looking out the right windows of the train, Shadow laid eyes on the lush, green, rolling hills that covered the land before the mountains. With the prettiest landscape he had seen for the past month being a barren desert, the green hills and farmland were a pleasant surprise.
"Damn." Inferno muttered under his breath, "Who knew that I would end up missing grass so much?"
They all watched the landscape in comfortable silence, basking in the sunlight, the sound of ponies conversing pleasantly in the background, the-
"BUTCHER THEM ALL, COLIN! SLICE THEM OPEN AND EXPOSE THEIR CRIMSON INSIDES FOR THE WORLD TO SEE!"The voices screamed demonically, shooting the mood, burying it, digging it back up, and shooting it again.
Shadow's signature, unamused frown returned to his face.
"I'm getting a drink…" He said dryly, standing up and walking away to the refreshment cart, muttering profanities under his breath after nearly tripping over a small colt that had wandered into the aisle.
/
All in all, the train ride had been surprisingly…Normal.
Shortly after getting refreshments, the trio had had a run-in with a group of aristocratic ponies, most notably, the well known Fancypants.
Due to their lofty position in the government, Fancypants had immediately recognized them and invited them to join him and his friends for lunch like the classy bastard he was.
Shadow had explained his vision of a technological revolution in Equestria, the various advances he had made, and how things would be repeadetly made obsolete in weeks if he had been in charge.
"These trains? They'll be the first to go." He joked, surprisingly earning a laugh from the fancy-ponies.
The ponies had continued to converse for pretty much the rest of the ride, until the train suddenly stopped. Looking out the window, Shadow saw that they were in Ponyville station.
"Well, it certainly was nice to meet you all, but we need to be going now." Shadow said as he, Inferno, and Streak stood up.
"Certainly!" Fancypants said with a good-natured smirk, never loosing his charming disposition, "Business is business, after all."
"Cheerio!" Streak said with a wave as the trio walked down the cart, mimicking a sophisticated pony's accent.
They continued to walk towards the now open door in silence, until Inferno spoke up.
"That guy is the pinnacle of classy motherbuckers." He said in slight awe.
"Who knows? Maybe you'll even get to the bottom of that pinnacle some day." Shadow smirked.
"If you're lucky." Streak added with a joking smile.
"Up yours…" Inferno chuckled, all three of them laughing as they walked out of the train and on to the station platform.
Looking around, they saw ponies walking around the market, fillies and colts playing tag in the park, pegasi clearing clouds in the sky, the Golden Oaks Library, the-
"HI GUYS!"
The trio turned their heads simultaneously only to be greeted by the sight of Pinkie Pie leaping towards them at half the speed of light, her eyes three times as wide as usual and a colossal grin on her face.
"I'm not even gonna say it." Shadow groaned irately before he and the other Elements of Reality were tackled by the pink menace and subjected to a hug that could be compared to the pull of a supermassive black hole.
"OHHEYGUYSIMISSEDYOUSOMUCH! WE'RE GONNAPARTYTHEWHOLEDAYANDEATCAKEANDPLAYWITHSOCKPUPP ETSANDPLAYMAGICKANDMONSTERSANDDISCOVERTHATCOMMUNIS IMISNOTALONGTERM POLITICALSOLUTIONDUETOTHEECONOMICPROBLEMSRELATINGT O-"
"IN THE NAME OF ALL THINGS GOOD AND CLEAN PINKIE, SHUT THE BUCK UP!" Shadow shouted at the top of his lungs, causing ponies around town to cover the ears of their foals as protection from the long stream of profanities the dark pegasus let out.
"Aww, I missed you to!" Pinkie giggled, releasing them from her murder-hug.
"Please never do that again…" Shadow grunted as he, Streak, and Inferno readjusted their necks and shakily stood up.
"So…Where's everypony else?" Streak asked, seeing none of the other Elements of harmony anywhere.
"Oh…You'll see them later!" Pinkie replied with a knowing smile, "You guys wanna go to Sugarcube Corner and get something? First round's on the house!"
At the mere mention of the bakery, the former humans all turned towards Pinkie.
"Yes. PLEASE." They replied simultaneously, their mouths watering at the thought of devouring all of the freshly baked goods in the building.
Pinkie giggled again, turning in the direction of Sugarcube Corner, "Okie-dokie-lokie!"
The four ponies trotted down the road and eventually approached Sugarcube Corner. Oddly, when they looked at the windows, they were black.
Walking inside the pitch black room, they saw that the inside of the building was completely dark. The open door cast a large beam of light through the center of the room, but beyond that it was shrouded in blackness.
"That's weird…" Streak muttered, "Why are all the lights off?"
"There should be a light switch somewhere…" Shadow said, feeling around the wall. "Ah! Here it i-" The rest of his sentence was cut off as the room suddenly burst into light, and the colts were bombarded by noise.
Disoriented, the former humans quickly recovered as a crowd of figures jumped up, screaming, "SUR-" Any further noise was interrupted by cries of "AMBUSH!" and "SON OF A BITCH!" before the loud boom of a shotgun rang through the room.
The trio, with the month they had spent doing detective and military work, had been a little…on edge. Streak had drawn his shotgun from absolutely nowhere before randomly firing a shot. Shadow had quickly turned one of his legs into a death cannon and was training the weapon on just about everything in front of him. Meanwhile, Inferno had telekinetically picked up a large fork as an impromptu weapon.
The entire process had occurred in a manner of seconds, and it wasn't until the trio had gotten used to the light that they began to take in their surroundings. They observed tables strewn about the room and lined with all manner of drinks and snacks, the confetti, still falling to the floor, the large banner strung from the ceiling that read 'WELCOME BACK, EoR!' in large letters, and lastly to the dozens of ponies that were crammed into the room, their eyes wide and their jaws slack, some allowing noisemakers to fall from their mouths to the floor.
Pinkie on the other hoof, wore the same wide grin that she had on ten seconds ago.
A few seconds later, a shattered lamp fell down to the floor, most likely what Streak had accidentally shot.
Inferno and Streak quickly threw their weapons out of an open window while Shadow put his death cannon behind his back and changed it back to a hoof, whistling casually.
The ponies in the building looked at each other and shrugged, relatively used to the trio's…unconventional reactions.
"SURPRISE!" They shouted just as happily as before.
"Well…They forgot about that quickly." Shadow remarked.
"Well of course, silly!" Pinkie giggled, "Everypony in Ponyville knows that you guys are a little kooky!"
"Hey!" Shadow snapped, "I am perfectly and completely sane!"
"We had this discussion yesterday…"
"Anyway, let's get this party STARTED!" Pinkie shouted giddily. She then zipped over to a nearby record player and started it up. Immediately, thundering music began blasting from the play, and the party was thrown into full swing, the ponies' concerns lost amid the booming music.
"Hey Pinkie." Streak said as he and the others walked up to her, "What does 'EoR' mean?" He asked, referring to the banner.
"Elements of Reality!" She replied, "I mean, what else would it stand for? Eggs of Righteousness? Evil of Rakes? Or how about-"
"Okay, we get it." Shadow interrupted, "Where are the others?"
"They're at the other side of the room!" She replied. "You go ahed; I have to go save Maretropolis from Pirates!" And with that, she put on an eyepatch she got from absolutely nowhere and bounced off.
"…Sure." Shadow muttered, "C'mon, lets go see the others."
/
The party was lively, and the former humans were effectively lost amongst the crowd.
The three colts were passing by the punch bowl when they recognized the diminutive form of Spike, a lampshade perched on his head. Upon seeing the Trio, Spike beamed and ran up to them.
"Hey guys, what's up?" He asked, "Some party, right?"
"Bitch, please." Inferno muttered with a small, lopsided grin on his face, "There isn't even any booze…"
"So how'd the business trip go?" Spike asked eagerly, almost jumping up and down from the sight of his slightly psychopathic friends.
"Eh, the usual." Shadow shrugged, "Lots of paperwork, conferences, and stupid politicians." He said, technically not lying.
Spike chuckled, "That's true!"
Shadow had been telling Spike about politics back on earth, both of them sharing laughs while semi-ridiculing the greedy and incompetent politicians Shadow had told him about.
"So, anything cool happen while we were gone?" Inferno asked.
"Nothing." Spike deadpanned, an unamused frown on his face, "Nix, nada, zip, zilch. Twilight and the others brought me along for every girly trip they went on."
"Good God…" Inferno said in slight horror.
"I guess it's good that we're back then." Streak grinned, "We should all go on a trip of manliness sometime to compensate, right?"
"What's that?" Spike asked in a confused and at the same time eager voice.
"Well," Inferno replied, It's when you and all your guy friends get together and play sports, watch tv, play video games, drink booze, ride motorcycles, shoot things, drive expensive cars, get into bar fights; y'know, the important things in life!"
Spike's eyes widened to at least three time their normal size in complete awe, a small smile forming on his face.
"That sounds…bucking awesome…" He murmured; the the majority of outings he had gone on in his life were trips to libraries and fancy restaurants with Twilight, all before they had moved to Ponyville.
"Spike!" A familiar voice said harshly, "Language!"
Spinning around, the Trio and Spike were met with the sight of a visually irritated Twilight.
Thinking fast on how to fix the situation, Shadow spoke up immediately.
"That was Streak. His voice cracked." Shadow said blankly, pointing at Streak, who was outraged.
"What?!" He shouted indignantly, "No it wasn-" He was interrupted by Inferno elbowing him and pointing at Twilight.
"Uh…I-I mean…Yeah!" He stuttered, getting the message, "Yeah! That was me! Definitely!"
Twilight simply rolled her eyes and sighed.
"So, how was your trip?" She asked, her expression now back to her trademark pleasant smile.
"It was…Productive, to say the least." Shadow replied.
"Good to hear." Twilight nodded.
"So, nothing happened while we were gone?" Inferno asked.
"Who told you that?!" Twilight exclaimed in shock, "As a matter of fact, I got several shipments of books for the library, the vast majority of them about the genetic history of an obscure tribe of ponies that live on a tiny island in the middle of the-"
"Nerd stuff." Inferno interrupted, summing up the whole of what Twilight was about to say in two words.
"Sheesh." Twilight muttered in irritation, "You're worse than Rainbow Dash…"
The mention of Rainbow Dash caused Shadow's brain to go back into overdrive.
"Hey, speaking of Skittles, where is she?" Shadow asked, changing the subject.
"Hm? Oh, she's over there, talking with that pegasus filly." Twilight replied, pointing at them.
Sure enough, Rainbow Dash stood by one of the record players, talking with a small orange pegasus filly. The pegasus had the same awed look in her eyes that Colin had gotten back on Earth when he had shot his first dear while hunting as a kid. The bullet hadn't killed the deer immediately, but immobilized it. Colin had walked up to the injured buck, pulled out his hunting knife, and proceeded to stab it to death Norman Bates style.
Snapping back to reality, Shadow turned in Rainbow's direction and slowly walked up to her, playing it cool and letting her not notice.
Wrapped up in her conversation with the filly, Rainbow Dash hadn't noticed Shadow until he spoke.
"What's up, Skittles?" He asked casually, a playful smirk on his face.
Dash did a double take before spinning around, her magenta eyes wide open with surprise.
"Omigosh…!" She muttered under her breath, just loud enough for Shadow to hear her, eliciting a small chuckle from him.
In an instinctive reaction, Dash jumped up and wrapped her arms around him in a bone-crunching hug. But after half a zeptosecond, she realized what she was doing, and where she was doing it.
Thinking of a way out of the potentially awkward situation, she released the colt from her grip and gave him a good right hook to the face.
"OW!" Shadow shouted in pain and irritation as he fell down on the floor, clutching the area he had been hit in, "That spot JUST HEALED!"
A couple of ponies look back at the scene, but shrugged and looked away when they concluded that it was just somepony hitting Shadow for being an asshole.
"Who's this guy?" The orange filly asked with a raised eyebrow, her personality taking a complete 180.
"This egghead?" Rainbow chuckled, "He's-"
Shadow quickly got up and held his hoof in front of her mouth, silencing her.
"No way in HAY am I letting you introduce me!" He declared before turning to face the filly. "I'm Shadow Storm" He said with a friendly smirk, holding his hoof out for her to shake. The filly narrowed her purple eyes in suspicion, slowly backing away.
"…Sure." She muttered, turning around and storming off into the crowd.
Shadow and Rainbow stood there awkwardly for a few seconds before Dash spoke up.
"Her name's Scootaloo." She explained, "She's cool and all, but a little…Obsessed with me."
Shadow stifled a laugh. "You're building a stalker community already?" He asked jokingly.
"And you'll be the next one to join." The voices said.
…Up yours. Shadow thought, his expression immediately reverting to an unamused frown.
"You okay?" Dash asked, taking notice of the change.
Snapping out of it, Shadow shook his head back and forth quickly."Hm? Oh, yeah." He replied slowly. "So, what's been happening lately?"
"Well, I have this new coltfriend that is ready to have a long-term relationship with me and-" Dash began with a blank face before being interrupted.
"W-w-WAIT, W-WHAT!?" Shadow shouted, his gold eyes popping out of his head and his expression that of and insane asylum patient who's brain circuits had completely exploded.
Rainbow's blank poker face fell apart in two seconds as she burst into laughter, falling to the floor with her eyes going up in tears.
Shadow face hoofed as he let out a growl that would give the Meta a run for his money, an embarrassed blush on his face. Dash continued to laugh, her voice squeaking on several occasions, a fact Shadow found frustratingly adorable.
Catching her breath, Dash stood back up, still chuckling and wiping tears from her eyes. "The look on your face…" She chuckled.
"You know what? Screw you." Shadow deadpanned.
"You wish~!" She smirked, making the former human's light blush deepen slightly.
"Remind me never to let you talk to Jack again…" He muttered.
"Duly noted. Now, let's get some cake." Dash smiled, walking towards one of the heavily loaded cake tables. "Oh, and Colin?" She asked, turning around.
"Yeah, Skittles?" He replied, surprised that she had used his real name.
"Welcome back."
/
Thanks for reading. I will hopefully be able to update the story soon.
QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER: Do you think Spike will have any chance with Rarity? And if so, then how would he use the Trio's assistance to get with the mare of his dreams?
Please leave constructive criticism, rate, comment, and review.
This is ZeroKnight115, over and out.