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div style="max-height: 999999px; padding-left: 10px; padding-top: 10px;"Chapter XIII p style="max-height: 999999px;"strongFinally, I'm back, my friends. I'm sorry that I'm so late, but I've been busy with stuff. Anyway, that's enough of an intro. THE FIC IS THE THING!/strong/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Paul sat up in his bed, Fluttershy asleep on her own. He looked around the room a little before a mirror caught his eye. The reflection there was his normal one, except for one minor detail. His eyes, which had been brown since the day he was born, were blue. The same blue that the Mirror of Verity had shown them to be./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Seeing this, he freaked out. Everything up to that point, he had been okay with. But...this was magic. Real magic! And...he had the feeling that he had preformed it./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Behind him, he heard Fluttershy begin to wake up. In a frantic scurry around the room, he found a pair of shades and put them on. He didn't question the appearance of them, being the fact that they were still in Tristan's house./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"He got up and began walking out of the room when a small voice stopped him. "Up so early?" Fluttershy asked with a yawn./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Uh...I couldn't sleep."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""You were gone all night. Where were you taken?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Oh, Luna wanted to talk to me. Alone."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""About what?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""I assume if she wanted you to know, you would have ended up the same place."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Actually, this time the pendant didn't take me. Like...you completed the task and only you were rewarded."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"He thought back to the occurrence of the night between him and Luna with a heavy heart. "I... wouldn't call it a reward."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Fluttershy stood up and walked over to him, looking at his face. "Why are you wearing those?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""What? The glasses?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Yeah. It's still dark out, you know."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Oh...Uh...Style? Yeah, Style! Gotta keep up my figure, ya know."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"She moved her hand up to the glasses, only to have them swatted away. She shrieked and cowered into a ball./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Shy?" Paul knelt down beside her. "I'm...I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""No...no...don't be." She looked up with tear filled eyes. "It's just that...you once asked about my scratches. Back home...I was...I was..." She started crying again./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Paul wrapped her in his arms and held her close to his body. "I'm sorry. Whatever it is, I'm so sorry." Tears began to fill his own eyes as he rocked her back and forth. "What is it that happened?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""I...A stallion has been living at my house. He...he beats me! But he threatened to kill my animals if I didn't go back to my house every time I-"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Wait..." Paul let go of her for a second and stood up, pondering what she had just said. "He beats you every time you go back? How did he know that you can...stallion?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Y-Yes."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Black stallion?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""He always keeps the cottage dark."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Paul sneered and faced the mirror. "You weren't sent here on accident then."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Just then, Tristan threw open the door. His eyes were red and still full of sleep, which is why he came in. "You do realize it's one in the morning, right?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Tristan, just don't. I'm not in the mood right now."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Then go back to sleep. You can do your task in the morning."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"em"/ememHe doesn't need to." /emThe voice came out of nowhere, yet from everywhere at the same time. Then, the room went pitch black except for a small patch of light where the three of them were. em"Ah, Paul, is it? I haven't had the honor, I believe."/em/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Where are you?" Paul asked the air around him. The voice sounded too familiar for his liking./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"em"/ememI am everywhere, yet nowhere. At your shoulder, yet across the room. I have been controlling you ever since the spell." /emThat's when the being took form. The same shadow that always appeared to his followers. The black silhouette of a unicorn./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Fluttershy hugged herself tightly. Tristan tensed up. Paul, however, stood there calmly and said, "It's about time, Grandfather."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Sombra laughed at this. "Is that anyway to talk to your elder?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""When he's been a threat to first the ponies I love and now everything else I do, then yes, it is."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Threat? I have yet to be a threat."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""You've beat Fluttershy!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Convinced is the word I chose."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""She's scratched all over the place."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""I needed somepony that could get close to you! Someone who would help me awaken your true self."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Paul turned from him to Fluttershy. "What is he talking about?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Paul...I..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"The unicorn threw back his head and laughed again. "She's been playing you like a harp. Everything has been a setup for right here and right now. My ponies were the ones who gave Twilight the spell. I'm the one who gave Fluttershy the pendant. And you are the one who will revive me to my fullest."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Paul turned back and closed his eyes to think. Tristan, however, pulled him back and whispered into his ear. "You can't help him!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""What choice do I have? He has us at checkmate."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""As long as you have the Amulet, you're winning."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""So you do have the Amulet." Walking up from behind Sombra were Marshall, Joseph, and the other four of his followers. Marshall began walking towards him. "I let you and your mother live under my roof. I provided for you! And this is who you repay me?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""There wasn't any kindness to repay."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""You son of a-" He threw a punch at Paul's head, only to be thrown back violently. "What?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Finish your statement. I am the grandson of Sombra, and the son...of one of your closest friends." He took a quick glance at Joseph before turning back to Fluttershy and ripping the pendant off of her. "You want my Amulet? Catch us first." He threw the pendant down as hard as he could, causing a bright flash of light. When it faded, Paul, Tristan, Fluttershy, and Joseph were gone./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Seeing this, Sombra rose his head and let out a howl. "We were so close!" He dropped his head for a moment of silence, thinking over what had just happened. Then, he began to chuckle. A chuckle that turned into a bursting laugh. "Well, at least now, we now were he has to be. His precious princesses cannot keep him from us forever."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Sir," Marshall said with a bow, "I'm sorry, but this is hardly a laughing matter."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Oh, but it's so funny, knowing that you never checked to see if the boy had the Amulet on him at all!" He lifted his head, causing his shadowy horn to glow. This spell bound Marshall in chains before causing them all to vanish from the room./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"strong~Ponyville Library~/strong/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"The four of them ponified themselves before landing in the library with a soft embump./em However, instead of just Fluttershy, Jack O' Trades, Vague Blaze, and Sleight O' Hoof, there was also a fifth pony in the room: Silk's Touch! Paul's own mother was brought there when the pendant was broken. She seemed shocked at the arrival though. "Where am I?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Jack turned to her and asked, "Mom?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Paul? Is that you?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"He ran to her and hugged her tightly, feeling like he hadn't seen her in years. "Mom, how did you get here?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""I don't know." She looked out the window and sighed. "I never thought I'd come back here."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Silk?" Sleight walked up as the two Pegasi broke apart./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Sleight? You're alive?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Did you expect anything less?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"She hugged him this time. "I thought I'd never see you again! I thought Father killed you."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"The two held their embrace as the remaining members of the mane6 came running down the stairs. When they were at the bottom, they all ran over to Fluttershy and hugged her. Yes, hugged her. When Paul broke the pendant, the spell was broken./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"However, the number of ponies in the room wasn't finished. Three more figures entered the room via Luna's magic door: Luna, Celestia, and a third gray Pegasus with reptilian amber about Luna's height. This one walked up to Jack and said, "Well, you're the one I have to put up with."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"strongChapter Complete. Yes! I finally got this one up. I'm sooo sorry that this is so late, but I've been busy with stuff. Plus, I'm getting ready for camp and whatnot, so RR, TASKS, OC's, and ADOIS!/strong/p
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div style="max-height: 999999px; padding-left: 10px; padding-top: 10px;"Chapter XIII p style="max-height: 999999px;"strongFinally, I'm back, my friends. I'm sorry that I'm so late, but I've been busy with stuff. Anyway, that's enough of an intro. THE FIC IS THE THING!/strong/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Paul sat up in his bed, Fluttershy asleep on her own. He looked around the room a little before a mirror caught his eye. The reflection there was his normal one, except for one minor detail. His eyes, which had been brown since the day he was born, were blue. The same blue that the Mirror of Verity had shown them to be./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Seeing this, he freaked out. Everything up to that point, he had been okay with. But...this was magic. Real magic! And...he had the feeling that he had preformed it./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Behind him, he heard Fluttershy begin to wake up. In a frantic scurry around the room, he found a pair of shades and put them on. He didn't question the appearance of them, being the fact that they were still in Tristan's house./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"He got up and began walking out of the room when a small voice stopped him. "Up so early?" Fluttershy asked with a yawn./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Uh...I couldn't sleep."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""You were gone all night. Where were you taken?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Oh, Luna wanted to talk to me. Alone."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""About what?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""I assume if she wanted you to know, you would have ended up the same place."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Actually, this time the pendant didn't take me. Like...you completed the task and only you were rewarded."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"He thought back to the occurrence of the night between him and Luna with a heavy heart. "I... wouldn't call it a reward."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Fluttershy stood up and walked over to him, looking at his face. "Why are you wearing those?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""What? The glasses?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Yeah. It's still dark out, you know."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Oh...Uh...Style? Yeah, Style! Gotta keep up my figure, ya know."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"She moved her hand up to the glasses, only to have them swatted away. She shrieked and cowered into a ball./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Shy?" Paul knelt down beside her. "I'm...I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""No...no...don't be." She looked up with tear filled eyes. "It's just that...you once asked about my scratches. Back home...I was...I was..." She started crying again./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Paul wrapped her in his arms and held her close to his body. "I'm sorry. Whatever it is, I'm so sorry." Tears began to fill his own eyes as he rocked her back and forth. "What is it that happened?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""I...A stallion has been living at my house. He...he beats me! But he threatened to kill my animals if I didn't go back to my house every time I-"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Wait..." Paul let go of her for a second and stood up, pondering what she had just said. "He beats you every time you go back? How did he know that you can...stallion?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Y-Yes."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Black stallion?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""He always keeps the cottage dark."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Paul sneered and faced the mirror. "You weren't sent here on accident then."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Just then, Tristan threw open the door. His eyes were red and still full of sleep, which is why he came in. "You do realize it's one in the morning, right?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Tristan, just don't. I'm not in the mood right now."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Then go back to sleep. You can do your task in the morning."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"em"/ememHe doesn't need to." /emThe voice came out of nowhere, yet from everywhere at the same time. Then, the room went pitch black except for a small patch of light where the three of them were. em"Ah, Paul, is it? I haven't had the honor, I believe."/em/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Where are you?" Paul asked the air around him. The voice sounded too familiar for his liking./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"em"/ememI am everywhere, yet nowhere. At your shoulder, yet across the room. I have been controlling you ever since the spell." /emThat's when the being took form. The same shadow that always appeared to his followers. The black silhouette of a unicorn./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Fluttershy hugged herself tightly. Tristan tensed up. Paul, however, stood there calmly and said, "It's about time, Grandfather."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Sombra laughed at this. "Is that anyway to talk to your elder?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""When he's been a threat to first the ponies I love and now everything else I do, then yes, it is."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Threat? I have yet to be a threat."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""You've beat Fluttershy!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Convinced is the word I chose."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""She's scratched all over the place."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""I needed somepony that could get close to you! Someone who would help me awaken your true self."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Paul turned from him to Fluttershy. "What is he talking about?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Paul...I..."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"The unicorn threw back his head and laughed again. "She's been playing you like a harp. Everything has been a setup for right here and right now. My ponies were the ones who gave Twilight the spell. I'm the one who gave Fluttershy the pendant. And you are the one who will revive me to my fullest."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Paul turned back and closed his eyes to think. Tristan, however, pulled him back and whispered into his ear. "You can't help him!"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""What choice do I have? He has us at checkmate."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""As long as you have the Amulet, you're winning."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""So you do have the Amulet." Walking up from behind Sombra were Marshall, Joseph, and the other four of his followers. Marshall began walking towards him. "I let you and your mother live under my roof. I provided for you! And this is who you repay me?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""There wasn't any kindness to repay."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""You son of a-" He threw a punch at Paul's head, only to be thrown back violently. "What?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Finish your statement. I am the grandson of Sombra, and the son...of one of your closest friends." He took a quick glance at Joseph before turning back to Fluttershy and ripping the pendant off of her. "You want my Amulet? Catch us first." He threw the pendant down as hard as he could, causing a bright flash of light. When it faded, Paul, Tristan, Fluttershy, and Joseph were gone./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Seeing this, Sombra rose his head and let out a howl. "We were so close!" He dropped his head for a moment of silence, thinking over what had just happened. Then, he began to chuckle. A chuckle that turned into a bursting laugh. "Well, at least now, we now were he has to be. His precious princesses cannot keep him from us forever."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Sir," Marshall said with a bow, "I'm sorry, but this is hardly a laughing matter."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Oh, but it's so funny, knowing that you never checked to see if the boy had the Amulet on him at all!" He lifted his head, causing his shadowy horn to glow. This spell bound Marshall in chains before causing them all to vanish from the room./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"strong~Ponyville Library~/strong/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"The four of them ponified themselves before landing in the library with a soft embump./em However, instead of just Fluttershy, Jack O' Trades, Vague Blaze, and Sleight O' Hoof, there was also a fifth pony in the room: Silk's Touch! Paul's own mother was brought there when the pendant was broken. She seemed shocked at the arrival though. "Where am I?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"Jack turned to her and asked, "Mom?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Paul? Is that you?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"He ran to her and hugged her tightly, feeling like he hadn't seen her in years. "Mom, how did you get here?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""I don't know." She looked out the window and sighed. "I never thought I'd come back here."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Silk?" Sleight walked up as the two Pegasi broke apart./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Sleight? You're alive?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;""Did you expect anything less?"/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"She hugged him this time. "I thought I'd never see you again! I thought Father killed you."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"The two held their embrace as the remaining members of the mane6 came running down the stairs. When they were at the bottom, they all ran over to Fluttershy and hugged her. Yes, hugged her. When Paul broke the pendant, the spell was broken./p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"However, the number of ponies in the room wasn't finished. Three more figures entered the room via Luna's magic door: Luna, Celestia, and a third gray Pegasus with reptilian amber about Luna's height. This one walked up to Jack and said, "Well, you're the one I have to put up with."/p
p style="max-height: 999999px;"strongChapter Complete. Yes! I finally got this one up. I'm sooo sorry that this is so late, but I've been busy with stuff. Plus, I'm getting ready for camp and whatnot, so RR, TASKS, OC's, and ADOIS!/strong/p
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