Once a Shadow

by Shadow Brony

When young NASCAR driver has a ferocious wreck and dies, he gets the opportunity to go to Equestria as a pegasus. Since he is obsessed with speed, he will inevitably want in the wonderbolts, and he finds out a secret about them long thought to have been legend. And as it turns out, he isn't the only one interested in joining.

25. The Black Hoof

A word of warning. The violence and death and such begins in this chapter. If you're uncomfortable with that, then I recommend you leave. If not, then welcome to the first actual action chapter of the story :D

I woke up in the arms(legs I guess?) and hooves of my favorite cyan pegasus. I guess I could wait here until she wakes up, which shouldn't be too long. So, the wedding is in nine days, my bachelor party is in four, and my armor should be ready pretty soon if it isn't already. I wonder how much longer I get the chance to just lie down in bed next to her like this...

Rainbow interrupted my thoughts by stirring a little and opening her eyes. "Ugh. Good morning Shadow."

I smiled. "Good morning. Sleep well?"

"Didn't sleep enough. I think I'm going back to sleep now."

I gave a light chuckle. "Alright. I'll see you later then."

Rainbow said something else, but it was impossible to understand since she was talking into her pillow.

I kept my smile and trotted out of the room and downstairs. I made my usual breakfast of hay bacon strips and toast and sat down to eat my meal after it was prepared. I have still yet to figure out how they are able to make a toaster out of fucking cloud, let alone everything else in this place.

Sometime during what must have been my tenth crazy thought train about how clouds worked in this world, I realized that I had eaten all of my food already. I picked up my dish and set it in the sink. After cleaning it off, I trotted outside and took flight towards Cloudsdale once more. When I arrived in the sanctuary, I saw that everypony was there, which were Soarin, Spitfire, Blaze, and Ni.

"You guys start a party and didn't invite me? What gives?"

"Actually, we are here because we are going to do a little mission." Spitfire said.

"A mission? Like what?"

"Some good old fashioned infiltration and sabotage." Soarin replied with a grin.

"That so? Care to explain?"

"Yeah, take a seat." Spitfire said.

I took my seat and Spitfire started to speak. "We found a secret facility hidden in the Haysead Swamps, which is a little ways south of Baltimare."

"Okay, what is being researched, and who is doing the researching?" I asked, a little curious.

"We are quite sure that they are researching new spells that would interfere with the fundamental laws of nature. Necromancy."

"Well that's interesting." I said.

She nodded. "And as for who is doing the research, they call themselves the Black Hoof. (Hooray for Elder Scrolls references :D) They are a very dangerous cult of unicorns that are rarely seen. The last time they showed themselves to the public, it was in a massive attack on Canterlot. It was a hopeless battle for them, and there was no way they didn't know it. Even though they had a large force, the entire might of the Equestrian Royal Guard was more than enough to stop them. That was around two hundred years ago, and to this day I have no idea why they pretty much committed suicide. They still live on, however, and we need to put a stop to them once and for all, or else they could become a serious threat to Equestria and her residents."

"What are we going to sabotage, and how?"

"There are bound to be research notes and such there, and we are going to burn the place down. We are also going to take down as many of those necromancers as possible."

"Take them down? You mean kill them?"

She nodded. "You may have conflictions about this Shadow, but trust me when I say this. Do not show mercy on them, because as soon as you do, they will kill you without a second thought. They are ruthless murderers, and would enslave the world if they could. I'll say it again to be clear with you. Do. Not. Show them. Mercy."

"But..."

"Just remember, they aren't ponies, they're monsters. You're doing this to protect Equestria, so you have to do it."

"...Okay."

"I know it's going to be hard for you, but this is for the best. Now before we go, I have something for you."

"And what might that be?"

"I'll be right back. Stay here."

"Wasn't planning on leaving." I said as I kicked up my hooves on the table with a yawn.

She shook her head and flew off. I looked at Ni. "Hey Ni, got any plans after this is over?"

"Not really. Did you want to do something?"

"I have an idea. What if we had a double date? It would be me and Rainbow, and you and Derpy."

He rubbed his chin. "I like it. Sure, it's a deal, but it has to be tomorrow though. I have a feeling I'm going to want some rest after this mission."

"I hear you, it sounds like those necromancers mean business."

"That's an understatement Shadow. The Black Hoof are one of the most evil groups in Equestrian history. This will be particularly dangerous for you and Blaze, since you two haven't fought them yet." Soarin said.

"You don't have to worry about me. I'm good and ready to fight and die for Equestria!" Blaze said proudly.

I nodded. "That's right. We are ready to give our lives if need be to protect our loved ones. Not that something like that will happen, mainly because I don't feel like it, and Blaze is too hard-headed to die."

"Hey!" Blaze yelled.

Soarin chuckled. "I'd say both of you are hard-headed, especially you Shadow, considering I've seen you constantly headbutt enemies in fights. You always hurt yourself, but you keep doing it."

"That's because my skull is the thickest part of my body." I said smiling and tapping my head.

Soarin smiled along with Blaze and Ni. I looked up and saw Spitfire flying back with something in her hooves. Oh shit, is that what I think it is?

"Here you are Shadow, one custom suit of armor made from your Gala costume, what do you think?"

I grabbed the armor and inspected it. It was real armor now! But what is this material used to make it? It doesn't feel like steel. It feels lighter.

Spitfire noticed my confused look and spoke up. "Instead of using steel, we used a special and very rare element for your armor. It's called Magicinium. As you could probably guess, it has to do with magic. The thing with Magicinium is that if you put any enchantment on it, it multiplies that spell tenfold. The thing is though, is that only one enchantment can be placed on it. After that first enchantment, the armor will absorb that spell and will not recognize any other. We haven't enchanted it yet because we figured that you would prefer to pick which one yourself. In addition to all of that, it's about 1.5 times stronger than steel, and even lighter."

"Kick. Ass. What enchantments can I choose from?"

"You have three choices. The first is incredible strength. If you put that enchantment on your armor after drinking the potion before the captain's, your strength would be one thousand times your normal strength."

"Holy shit, that's strong. What are the other two though?"

"The second choice is having your intelligence multiplied by fifty, making you literally the smartest pony of all time. If you needed to come up with a strategy to take down a country within a week, it would be just as easy as flying to you. This enchantment is best suited for leaders, but the choice is your's."

"Nah, as cool as that sounds, I don't think I'd want to be that smart. I really think that enchantment is more dangerous than the strength one."

Spitfire smiled. "That was a pretty intelligent response, you surprised me there."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

She laughed. "Oh nothing. Anyways, your final choice is agility."

"Agility?"

She nodded. "That's right. Putting the agility enchantment on there would make you move faster than anything in the world if you complete your training."

"How fast are we talking here?"

Just then, Spitfire disappeared and reappeared right next to me from over a hundred feet away in no time! "That fast." She said into my ear.

"I think I'll take that one." I said with a grin.

She laughed. "Good choice. Soarin here picked the strength one, and Blaze hasn't put an enchantment on her armor yet."

"None of them suit me, whenever there's one that's more my style, come talk to me." Blaze said.

"So what now? How do we enchant it?"

"Well first off, we're going to need a very powerful spellcaster."

"Like who?"

"Princess Luna."

"Princess Luna?! Really?"

"You're not upset, are you Shadow Flash?" A voice said from the direction of the stairs.

I looked over and saw Princess Luna trotting over. "Uhh, that's not what I meant Princess, it's just that I didn't expect you to personally enchant the armor."

"There are only three ponies in all of Equestria capable of casting an enchantment of this magnitude, which are myself, Tia, and the young Twilight Sparkle, even though she hasn't realized her full potential yet."

"So what does the enchanting process involve?"

"Just this." She said as she trotted over to my armor on the table.

"The agility enchantment, correct?"

I nodded.

"Very well." She turned back to the armor, and she closed her eyes and began to concentrate. Her horn was starting to glow, and getting brighter with every second. She then touched her horn to the armor, and it began to glow. My armor then turned into a pitch black color. It looked as if were a black hole disguised as an armor piece, and to go anywhere near it would mean getting sucked in. I looked at my ebony colored armor in awe. Everything on it was that nothingness color. The armor, the cape, even the weapons. They were all that color of emptiness.

Princess Luna backed up and smiled. "There you are Shadow Flash, one set of agility enchanted armor. The color was my own personal touch though. It is to strike fear into your enemies."

I could see that. To any other pony, it would look as if I were a void coming to swallow them into an abyss. That shit looks creepy to even me. "Uhh, thank you Princess, I'm very thankful for this."

"You're quite welcome Shadow Flash. I would stay longer, but I should get back before I'm missed in Canterlot. I expect to see you soon." She said before teleporting away.

I went over to my armor and inspected it some more. I looked at my weapons. There were four hidden blades, one for each hoof. There was some smoke bombs, real bombs, and a dagger, all in that pitch black color. I reached to tap one of the hidden blades to test how sharp it was.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Spitfire said.

"Why not?"

"Because all of those blades have been dipped in an everlasting poison, meaning it never wears off of the blade. If something gets struck by those blades, even if the cut didn't kill them, the poison will. There's an antidote in your equipment bag though. I recommend you take a swig of that before using those things."

I reached into my gear bag and pulled out a vial containing a clear liquid. I opened it and took a drink, then put it back in my bag, then put my equipment on. The armor is actually pretty comfortable. I looked up and noticed that everypony else also had armor of some kind on. Soarin had on a helmet that looked like something from the middle ages. It completely covered his head, save for a line cut out for him to see. Blaze had on her Wonderbolt uniform, Ni had on armor that looked like a royal guard's, except pitch black, yet not as dark as my armor. I saw Spitfire wasn't wearing any kind of armor.

"You're not going to wear armor?" I asked.

"I don't need it."

"Oh, okay then. Alright, I guess I'm ready."

"Okay then. Alright everypony, we get to the secret base, find out where they do their research, and burn the place down, killing as many of the necromancers as possible."

I cringed a little at that last part. I'm still not comfortable with the thought of killing another pony, even if they are bad. I hope I don't run into any of them there, but I'll do what I have to in order to get back to Rainbow.

"Time to go everypony!" Spitfire yelled.

We all trotted and followed her out of the building and took flight towards the Haysead Swamps. We were flying with Spifire in the front, Blaze and Soarin beside each other behind her, and me and Ni next to each other behind them.

I looked at Ni. "So have you ever come across these necromancers before?"

"Once, in the battle for Canterlot two hundred years ago. I shouldn't even call it a battle, it was a slaughter. They didn't stand a chance, but fought to the last pony. Like Spitfire said, we don't know why they were so determined to sacrifice themselves in a single hopeless battle. Maybe we can find some answers at their hideout."

"Maybe..."

We flew on in silence until we reached the swamps, and Spitfire turned to us and stopped.

"Okay, their base is hidden about a mile in. As soon as we enter, there should be four paths. I'll go down one by myself. Soarin and Blaze go down the next, Captain Night Wing go down the third, and Shadow you take the fourth. Am I clear?"

We nodded. "Good, then lets go!"

We followed her about a mile in, then landed in a part of the swamp that looked just like the rest of it. It did until Spitfire trotted up to an old, very large, dead tree, and punched a hole in it, revealing that it was hollow. She stuck her hoof in the hole, and moved her hoof around until she hit something to make the tree open, revealing a secret passage of stairs. Huh, where have I seen that before? I thought sarcastically to myself.

We trotted in single file and went down the stairs for what felt like forever. When we finally got to the bottom, we reached a large room made of stone. It looked like an ancient temple of some kind. There were four passages for us to take, just like Spitfire had said.

"You know what to do. Meet back here when your objective is done. If you aren't back here when this place is about to blow, we're leaving you. Ready?" She said.

We nodded and trotted down our paths, Sptifire down the far left, Soarin and Blaze down the second, Ni down the third, and me down the last one on the right.

The tunnel here is pitch dark. I can't see shit!

Something was reading my mind, because as soon as I thought that, a bunch of torches lit up around me, revealing the passage. It extended further than I could see.

"Uhh, on second thought, I'd rather have this place pitch black than have my mind read like that."

Just then, the torches went out. "Okay, okay, I take it back!"

The torches lit up once more. "Well this is going to be interesting at the least."

After about five minutes of trotting down the seemingly never-ending tunnel, I began to hear laughter. I looked around, but it was just me and the ten foot tall, ten foot wide hall made of stone. This is fucking weird.

"Uhh, anypony there?" I called out.

Instead of getting an answer, the laughing increased. "Yep, fucking weird."

Just then, about ten feet ahead of me, a side door opened, and something in a black robe came out. I tried to get a better look, but it was covered by the robe, and I couldn't see anything past the cloth. It looks like it's a pony, but something feels off.

"Uhh, hi?"

It took a step towards me.

"Can you say anything?"

It took another step.

"Anything at all?"

Another step.

"Don't make me hurt you. Stay where you are!"

And another.

"I mean it!"

One more step and it was four feet away from me.

"Take one more step and I'm taking you down!"

As soon as they started to take another step, I charged and gave it a punch, making it fly back. During its fly back there, the robe came off, revealing nothing but a skeleton of a pony!

"Uhh, what the hell is this?"

The skeleton rose up and looked at me. "This is your death. Do not resist, you can be just like us." It said in a voice that sounded like a thousand voices talking at once.

"Uhh, no thanks, I like having skin."

"Then you will DIEEEEE!" It screeched as it charged me.

I took my dagger in my mouth and charged as well. It tried to grab me, but I ducked and stuck the dagger in its neck and pushed, causing its head to come off.

After it collapsed to the ground I sheathed my dagger. "What the fuck? Necromancers are weird." Just then, I heard more laughter as dozens more side doors opened up ahead of me, and more robed figures started coming out of them.

I popped my neck. "Alright, let's go."

Over to Ni. (First person, pony, whatever. It's from his point of view.

I looked around my tunnel. It was pitch dark, but that wasn't a problem for me. I can see perfectly well in the dark. There's something off about this place, and it's not just the fact necromancers are here. This place is strange. I'd prefer to get out of here as soon as possible. I can tell that this place is pure evil. Just then, some strange laughter interrupted my thoughts.

I looked around, and unsheathed my sword I had beside me. Up ahead of me, a side door opened, and a hooded figure emerged from it. I decided to not take any chances, and charged at the figure.

It looked in my direction and jumped. It took off the hood, revealing a pink unicorn mare. "Wait, please stop!" She cried out, stopping me in my tracks.

I held up my sword to her. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"I..I don't know. I was with my family here in the swamp. We were just observing the local wildlife, next thing I know, I wake up on some strange stone table in these strange robes. There were...skulls there. Please help me. I'm scared, and I just want to go home with my family. Please." She started tearing up.

I lowered my sword. "Is your family still here?"

"I don't know if they are or not. They might be."

"Stay close to me. We'll find them."

"I want to go..."

"Stick with me, you might run into something on the way back, and I won't be able to protect you."

"O-okay."

"Alright, stay behind me." I said as I sheathed my sword.

She nodded and got behind me.

We trotted on for about five minutes, and she spoke up. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For being such an easy target." She said as she stuck a dagger through my neck.

She started laughing like a maniac, but froze in horror when my body disappeared and I reappeared behind her with me holding her with one hoof, and my sword at her throat. "Tell me what I want to know, and I don't drag this sword across your throat."

"How did you-"

"NOW!"

She yelped. "A-at the end of the hall, th-there are s-some research no-notes on what we've b-b-been working on. Please...don't kill me."

I gave her a hard elbow on her head, knocking her out. I sheathed my sword once more and continued onward.

Back to Shadow.

I looked at the piles and piles of bones behind me. They may look really creepy, but they're extremely weak and brittle. I put my dagger up and continued down the hallway. About ten more minutes of trotting down the never ending hallway, another side passage opened up. I pulled out my dagger and got ready to attack. What happened next had me stunned. I saw a cyan hoof take a step out of the door, then another cyan hoof, revealing a mare with rainbow hair.

"Rainbow?"

She turned to me. "There you are! I was so scared Shadow! They took me when I was asleep! I managed to get away from them, and kept running. I'm so glad I found you!" She finished as she threw her hooves around me.

Her eyes went wide and looked down at the dagger I had placed in her heart.

"Wh-why?"

"Because you're not Rainbow. I'm smarter than that. You can go ahead and show me what you really are now."

I pulled my dagger free and backed up a little. Rainbow gave me a smile. "Well well, you are smarter than you look. It had to have been difficult to stab your fiance just like you did."

"Well you're not the mare I love, so I found it easier than you think. Are you going to show me what you really are? Or do I get to kill you without you even putting up a fight? Because I'd prefer a fair fight."

She laughed. "There's no need to be so eager to die. I'll do as you wish though."

I watched as the surface of the Rainbow Dash imposter started melting away. As that happened, the figure started growing. It stopped growing at about seven feet. Is that what I think it is?

"This is my true form. Take it in, because it's the last thing you'll ever see!" The behemoth of a changeling yelled as it charged me.

It punched out with its massive hoof and struck at me with it. I caught the hoof with just one of my own with a slight struggle.

I looked up at it. "Is that all? Is it my turn yet?"

"Shut up!" It yelled as it swung another hoof at me. I jumped back and hovered a few feet over the ground. I flew at the monster and sliced its chest with one of my hidden blades. It roared and looked at me. "It's going to take more than that puny dagger to bring me dow-" It said before collapsing.

"What...is this..."

"Poison, plain and simple."

"Damn...you.."

"Tell me what I want to know and I'll give you the antidote."

It laughed. "You think dying is bad? This is nothing compared to what those necromancers would do to me if they found out I helped you."

"Last chance. I don't think that poison will wait for the antidote much longer."

"Go..to hell..."

"I see. I'm sorry it had to end this way then. Rest in peace." I said as I trotted off.

As I trotted, I had heard the sounds of struggling stop. I closed my eyes."You should have taken my antidote. I would have preferred to have let you live." I said to the changeling that was no longer here as I continued trotting.

Over to Ni.

I stepped over the pony I knocked unconscious and continued on my way. A few minutes later, a couple of unicorns with black robes like the pony back there trotted out of some side passages. They turned to face me.

"You will pass no further." They said in unison. Their horns began to glow, and I readied myself. But instead of attacking me, they created a clear wall of magic. I trotted up to the wall. I inspected it and gave it a tap. Yep, it's solid alright.

I heard something behind me and I turned around to see several more side passages opening up. My eyes widened as I saw that what was coming out of those doors were skeletons. There were dozens of them, maybe even hundreds. I pulled out my sword and charged them. They were fairly weak, as my swings cleaved them in two with a single hit. They might wear me down with time however, so I need to think of a way to get passed that barrier.

After about ten minutes of continuous fighting, they still kept coming, and I was getting a little tired. The pair behind the wall started laughing. "It's best to give up now. If you do, we promise you a quicker death as opposed to a slow and painful one." They said in unison again.

I ignored them as the skeletons kept coming out. Wait, would that work? I fought through a bunch of skeletons and arrived at a side door. I rushed in and found that there was a clear path this way. I ran about twenty feet in that direction, then barged through back in the hallway, right behind the two unicorns. They whirled around and prepared to cast another spell, but were interrupted when a swing from my sword decapitated both of them. When that happened, their shield dropped, and the rest of the skeletons went back into the side passages. I cleaned my sword off and continued onward without a word.

And back to Shadow.

It's been about twenty minutes since I came across that behemoth of a changeling, and I haven't run into anything else since then. What are these necromancers planning next? My question was answered when I saw another side door open.

"Alright, more skeletons? Another imposter? Whad'ya got?"

I froze in place from what I saw next. What is that thing?! It looks like a bunch of body parts of different ponies stitched together to make one pony!

"What...what are you?"

"This is one of our prized creations, a true marvel really. This is what we just like to call an abomination." I voice called out. I couldn't tell where from.

"Abomination seems right. Why would you want to make anything this horrible?!"

"Horrible you say? We don't see anything wrong with it. That's why we exist. There should be no limits on what we can do. You're just another pony who thinks that they can look down on progression!" The voice called out.

"Progression?! You call this monstrosity progression?! Get your ass out here and I'll show you some fucking progression!"

Just then, the abomination that was easily over fourty feet away was right in front of me.

My eyes widened. "What the-" I said as I looked into its eyes. It gave a smile that was scarier than Death himself. It struck me with one of its stolen hooves, sending me against the wall, leaving cracks in it.

I rose up and shook it off. "Alright. Time to put you down."

It looked at me curiously as I flew up a little above the ground and activated my hidden blades on my front hooves. I charged at it and tried to stick one of the blades in its neck. It responded by catching my hoof and slamming me into the wall. It didn't let go this time, and slammed me back and forth from one wall to the other. When it finished, it gave me a powerful punch to the gut, forcing blood out of my mouth, and threw me against the ground.

This thing is more than just a monster. This thing needs to be destroyed and forgotten. But how can I fight this thing? It's impossibly fast and strong. Just then, I noticed my ebony armor starting to glow, and I suddenly felt a surge of power rush through me. I rose up and looked at the abomination.

It got ready to charge again, but right before it did, I was in its face and delivered a headbutt that sent it flying against the wall. I followed up by rushing over to it and delivering a barrage of punches, blasting chunks out of the rock around it. I activated my hidden blade, and sent it through its skull, making it go limp. I pulled my blade free and watched as it slumped to the ground.

"I'm sorry for what happened to all of you ponies. Maybe now you can rest in peace."

I left the abomination and continued down the passage, I readied myself as I saw another side passsage open.

Perspective changes, perspective changes everywhere. (Over to Ni again.)

I left the headless corpses of the necromancers and traveled onward. What was next? Only one way to find out though, and thats to continue onward. I wonder how everypony else is doing. Hopefully this passage isn't much longer.

After about fifteen minutes, a side passage opened, and a lone skeleton trotted through. After shattering it with a single blow, I looked at the side passage. This is strange, because most of the time, these things close after something comes through them. This is obviously a trap, but I guess this will at least keep things interesting. I went into the side passage, and as soon as I was in, the door closed behind me.

I started down the path in front of me. This passage is similar to the main passage, with the exception of skulls impaled on spears all along the walls. A ways down, another side passage opened up, but nothing came through it. I decided to indulge whoever was pulling the strings a little bit longer, and trotted through it. When I got on the other side, I was in what looked like a normal passage like mine earlier.

I heard something behind me and raised up my sword to block a dagger just in time. I looked up at the figure that attacked me. I couldn't tell what it was, because it was covered up by a robe, but whatever this thing is, it's strong!

I shoved with my sword to get some distance, and swung at it. It ducked and charged at me with its dagger. I jumped to the side just in time to avoid being pierced through my skull.

To Shadow.

I watched as I saw a robed figure trot out of the side passage on my left. I decided not to take any chances with this one and charged at it with my dagger. It looked like it wasn't paying attention, which means this is all the easier for me. Right before I connected, however, it whirled around and blocked me with a sword at an incredible speed.

It shoved at me with the sword and swung at me. I ducked and charged it. Right before my dagger was able to go through its face, it stepped to the side and came crashing down with its sword. I held up my hidden blade gauntlet to block it. If I didn't have these gauntlets, that swing would have cleaved me in two, strong bones or not. I noticed my hoof was pointed at his while blocking, and activated my hidden blade, striking it through its robe, and managing to jab it. Good, its just a matter of time now.

To Ni.

After I stepped to the side, I swung down with my sword, but it blocked me with its wrists! How the hell is that possible to block this thing with bare wrists?! I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my hoof, and pulled back. What did it just do? I'm bleeding, but I didn't see anything. I feel a little strange now, but I have to brush that aside.

I swung my sword at it, and when it blocked me with its dagger, I gave it a sharp kick to the gut, stunning it. I swung with my sword again, and right before I split its skull, it jumped back just as my sword passed its face.

To Shadow.

It jumped back after I hit it, and swung with its sword again. I blocked with my dagger, and as soon as I did, it gave me a powerful kick to the stomach, knocking the wind out of me. I looked up and jumped back just in time as its sword came down across my face, leaving a clean cut all the way down my face.

I'm surprised this thing isn't dead yet with my poison, considering how fast that changeling died after I hit it. There's something off about all of this. My thoughts were interrupted as it swung at me with its sword again.

To Ni.

It jumped back after my swing, and seemed to just stop for a moment. What was it doing? There's nothing that can be stupid enough to lower its guard in mid-combat. There is something strange about all of this, but I'll find that out after I take this thing down. I swung my sword at it again, and it blocked it with its wrist again. This time however, I gave it a headbutt. I instantly regretted that decision as my head collided with its head. What the hell is that thing made of? Steel? That's the hardest head ever! Wait a second. This is far-fetched, but I'm going to give it a shot.

To Shadow.

When I blocked its swing with my gauntlets again, it gave me a headbutt. Too bad for it, because that made it recoil and hold its head. When it shook it off, the damn thing went invisible! I looked around, and got ready for another attack. I suddenly felt a hoof wrap around my neck, with its sword at it.

To Ni.

I went invisible and snuck around. I wrapped my hooves around its neck, and yanked its hood off, revealing Shadow! The rest of his robes disappeared as he struggled.

To Shadow.

After it had me, it made some kind of weird motion with its hoof in front of me. When it did, it let me go and started making weird gestures. If its going insane, thats its problem. I charged at it with my dagger once more, and it held up its hooves in a flailing motion, as if telling me to stop. Right before I connected, it collapsed and started twitching on the ground. It looks like the poison finally caught up to it. I might as well see who's beneath here. I reached forward and removed the hood.

To Ni.

I let go after I saw it was Shadow. "Shadow?! What are you doing?! What's gotten into y-" I was cut off by him charging me with his dagger.

"Wait! It's me! It's Ni-" I suddenly fell limp and started twitching on the ground. Damnit...it's his poisoned blades, that sting earlier must have been a hidden blade. He trotted over to me and made a weird gesture in front of my face.

To Shadow.

I removed the hood, and I saw Ni's face behind the hood! As soon as I did, the rest of the robe disappeared.

"NI?! What the fuck dude?! Why'd you attack me?!"

He didn't answer, he struggled to speak but couldn't.

"Oh fuck, my poison!"

I opened up my equipment bag and pulled out my antidote and handed it to him. He took it with his shaking hooves and poured some down his throat. After handing it back to me, his shaking calmed down, and he rose up.

"You look better, now would you mind telling me what the fuck just happened?"

"I could ask you the same thing. I go through one of those side passages, and before I know it, I'm attacked by somepony in a hood and robes."

"You were the one in a hood and robes Ni, not me."

He put his hoof to his chin. "Hmm, that would explain why we attacked each other. We must have both appeared to the other as having that outfit on, and when we took the hoods off of each other, we could see who it was.

"So that's what you did when you caught me and put your hoof in my face? Remove my hood?"

He nodded.

"When did you figure out it was me?"

"After I headbutted you, I was pretty sure. Nopony has as hard of a head as you."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment. Now we really should get to the end of this hallway and meet up with the others."

"Yeah, lets go."

We trotted down the hallway. We finally reached the end of it, and when we did, it led to a very, very large room that looked like a modern laboratory. There were just a few things different, the first is that there weren't any computers, the second is that there were corpses of hooded unicorns everywhere.

"What the hell happened here?" I asked.

"It's about time you two showed up." Spitfire said as she trotted over.

"What happened here Spitfire?"

"They were necromancers, so I killed them."

"You killed all of these unicorns?"

"I know you find it hard to believe, but trust me, they would have done the same to me and the same to you if given the chance."

That wasn't what I meant, but I didn't say anything else. What I meant is that she single-handedly killed over thirty powerful unicorns. Her strength is truly terrifying. Talk about the expression to look like a butterfly and sting like a bee.

"Is that everything?" Soarin asked as he trotted over with Blaze.

"Just one more thing." Spitfire said.

She walked over to one of the torches on the wall, took it, and threw it on what looked like some spilled oil, lighting up a large fire.

"That's everything. Come on, lets get out of here before we burn alive."

There were no arguments and we flew as fast as possible down one of the paths that led here. We eventually reached the stairs and went up them to get back to the swamp.

"That wraps everything up guys, good work. I'll see you tomorrow I guess." Spitfire said.

We nodded and everypony but me and Ni flew off.

I turned to Ni. "So uh, sorry about earlier."

"It wasn't your fault, don't worry about it."

"Thanks, so are we still doing our double date tomorrow?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Run by the sanctuary tomorrow and I'll have a time for you."

"Alright, cool. I'll see you later then."

"Bye."

We jumped up and took flight, each of us going a different direction. After an hour of flying, I finally reached home and went inside. I took my ebony assassin armor off and set it on the couch. I went upstairs and found Rainbow in the bed giving me a very seductive look.

"Do you want to have a little fun time Shadow? It feels like so long since we have."

My eyes were wide open. "Yes, please."

She giggled, and lifted up the covers to allow me to enter the bed.

Not a bad day at all.

My friend- "You like to cockblock people don't you?"

Me- "You're goddamn right I do."

Lol, so what do you guys think about that action filled chapter? Well, action for the most part anyways. I'm not that bad of a guy am I? You guys may have had to wait a while for this chapter, but at least it was a long one. Oh yeah, and I did decide to put Bleach Equestria on here, so be sure to check it out for me. (Writing a chapter of that is also part of the reason this story will have to wait a little longer for chapters. So once more, sorry.)

Chuck Norris fact of the day: Chuck Norris owns a Swiss Army knife that contains a colander, a flamethrower, and a Snuggie.