Shadow woke just as the last rays of sunlight were disappearing behind the distant form of Canterlot. His eyes watched as the stars began to show themselves. Each one of them seem to him like a lantern of beauty in a dark void of nothingness. The stallion brought himself back to reality as he flew down from the cloud.
He scanned the town below him as he casually patrolled the area. His thoughts were drawn to Rainbow Dash. Something about her seemed to call out to him. She had seemed genuinely interested in his past unlike anypony before. He liked the way she carried herself proudly, as though she needed only herself to make it in the world. He knew that she could handle herself if things ever got rough, and that appealed to him for some reason.
Hours past as Shadow patrolled. Silently he hoped the something would happen. He was glad that the ponies here didn't seem to experience crime all too often, but it made for a dull existence for Shadow. He needed a bit of action in his nights. The silence of the night was shattered as the sound of a frightened scream pierced the night from the direction of the cottage outside of town. Shadow flew there at breakneck speeds that brought him there in a matter of seconds.
He crashed through the front door to see a yellow mare huddled in a corner of the hut. Fear was plastered on her face as she shakily pointed a hoof behind him Shadow. Thats when he saw it. The creature before him was bipedal, standing upright on two pony legs, but that's where the similarities between it and ponies ended. Around its waist the creature's body morphed into some grotesque furred form with two long, awkward looking arms hang from either side of its torso. The head of a wolf was on the top of its shoulders.
"GET OUT," was all that Shadow got out before the beast launched itself onto him. Thankfully, the mare needed no other urging before she disappeared out a back door. Meanwhile, in mass of flailing limbs, Shadow and the monster crashed through a window and rolled out into the field.
Shadow wasted no time separating himself from his foe. It snarled as they circled, waiting for the other to make the first move. With a howl of rage it launched itself a the waiting pegasus. Shadow mocked it by tapping its head with his forehoof as he effortlessly leapt into the air and watched it sail under him. His smug look was soon wiped away as he beast pivoted on the ground and leapt into the air after Shadow. Oh, shit. Shadow thought as the claws of the monster gripped around his wing. A shout of alarm rent the air as he was thrown into the ground.
Pulling himself back onto his hooves, Shadow spat a bit of blood onto the ground. "You're a fast, I'll give that." Before he could say anything else the savage beast lunged at Shadow. The two began trading blows that wreaked havoc upon their bodies. Shadow's hardened hooves cracked bones and bruised the darkling's bare flesh, meanwhile the nightmarish creature assaulted the pegasus's body with its wicked curved claws leaving deep tears through his coat. A sickening sidelong swipe from the beast sent the pegasus back several feet with a sickening crunch.
"Darkling strong. Master make us so." it growled at him before it again launched itself at the now injured pegasus. This time, however Shadow turned on his hooves and bucked the 'darkling' in the jaw. While it was disoriented Shadow leaped onto its back and wrapped his hooves around its neck. The darkling wasted no time using its claws to tear at the pony on its back. Shadow's body was racked with gashes when he felt the behemoth beneath him faltering from the lack of air. In a last ditch effort to rid itself from Shadow's relentless assault, the beast threw itself against the side of the cottage, crushing Shadow.
The breath rushed out of Shadow as he felt his ribcage being crushed by the monster's weight. Shadow slid off its back weakly. The beast turned around and bent over the beaten pegasus. Razor sharp claws scraped against Shadow's throat as the beast spoke to him in its raspy voice, "Master say no kill you. Master want you alive. Darkling wait for right time." Shadow's vision was blurring as the darkling limped away, relatively unscaved when compared to Shadow's wrecked body. "Be seeing you." it said with a smirk before Shadow's mind finally slipped away.
Sounds of birds chirping and small mammals greeted Shadow as he slowly came back into consciousness. He groaned as he tried to pull himself into a sitting position. After a while of fruitless effort Shadow relented and fell back into the soft bed. Swiveling his head about, Shadow studied his surroundings. He was in the cottage from last night, and with the absence of a snarling monster it seemed rather homely. Even with the broken wall the humble abode was very comforting.
Warm shafts of sunlight carried through the new opening illuminating Shadow's battered form. He cringed as he saw the blood stained bandages that covered most of his sides and back. He was surprised to find that his wing had been expertly splinted and bound to him. It also amused him slightly that his goggles had remained on his head, even through the fight with the darkling.
Minutes later the yellow pegasus mare from last night walked out of the back carrying a tray of food with her. She was humming a beautiful song as she set the food on the table. Shadow stayed silent as she began checking over his wounds. She carefully redressed each blood soaked bandage while she applied a natural healing remedy.
"Thank you," Shadow said softly. The timid mare 'eeped' and hid behind the end of the bed, though part of her pink mane jutted out above the end. How cute.
She slowly crept out from her hiding spot before she softly muttered, "S-s-sorry, I didn't know you were awake."
"It's okay. You don't need to be afraid of me. Why don't you tell me your name?"
She spoke so quietly that Shadow barely heard her. "It's Fluttershy." she picked up one of the steaming bowls she had carried in with her. "Eat this. You'll feel better." Carefully she lowered the bowl of stew to the wounded stallion's lips and let him take a few long sips before she drew the bowl away.
A contented sigh left the stallion as he said, "That was amazing" A blush made itself known on Fluttershy's face at the complement. Fluttershy fed him the rest of the stew in silence. Soon Shadow found himself being lulled back into sleep by the sound of Fluttershy's melodic humming.
A bit later Fluttershy was cleaning the bowls in the kitchen when she heard the sound of somepony knocking on the door. The yellow mare rushed to the door. She cracked it slowly to reveal one irritated Rainbow Dash. "Oh, hi Rainbow." she said in her soft voice.
"Hey Flutters. Can I come in for a bit? I want to talk to you about somepony."
"Of course." Fluttershy answered as she opened the door for her friend.
Before long Rainbow Dash had already flown into the critter filled cottage and was lazily reclining on the sofa. "Wow what happened in here?" RD asked when she finally noticed the semi-wrecked room. Here eyes were drawn to the broken window and the shards of glass glass littering the ground.
"It was horrible! This big huge scary monster came into my house. It was snarling at me and trying to eat my friends, but then this brave and heroic stallion came through the door and saved me." she spewed.
"Calm down Shy. What Kind of monster are you talking about?" Rainbow asked, barely believing her.
"It was big and nasty, covered in pitch black fur, and had really mean looking teeth."
"Are sure you really saw this... thing? And where is this heroic stallion you were speaking of?"
Fluttershy didn't say a word, instead she let the groan that came from upstairs speak for itself. "He's up there." she eventually said with a grin at her small victory. Rainbow wordlessly followed Fluttershy as she lead her to the room Shadow was being cared for in. Out of instinct Fluttershy began softly soothing the injured pegasus who was violently coughing blood.
"Shadow?!" Rainbow exclaimed. "What in the name of Celestia happened to you!?"
Shadow's violent coughing stopped long enough for him to gasp out, "Had. To. Stop. Darkling."
Rainbow watched in stunned silence as Fluttershy cared for Shadow. She gently pushed Shadow down onto his back as she said, "Calm down. You need to be still until your ribs can heal, Mister Shadow."
A/N: I'm cutting this chapter a bit short because i felt the need to get something posted after so long without updating. Read and review!
~Stay shady, amigos!