Greetings once more, I really hope you all enjoyed the first chapter and will with this one. Like I said in chapter 1, this is the final set-up chapter. And I'm sure you can guess at will come next. Now, let's answer some of those pesky questions from last time shall we?
Shadow just stood there, terrified, his bones rattling more than he thought possible. He just couldn't believe it, the nightmare of so many undead ponies was now right in front of him, introducing himself. There were moments like these that Shadow was really glad he was dead, because if he wasn't, he was sure his heart would stop.
"Well, are you going to introduce yourself or not?" asked Soul Shield, snapping Shadow out of his stupor of fear. "I.. I'm Sha...Shadow Sk..Skull" he replied, still in shock. Soul Shield eyed the shaking stallion carefully before continuing, "Good, you can speak. Now, we need to leave before any more of those stupid guards come around, okay?". Shadow nodded his reply, not trusting his speech yet. "Okay, now to get out of here quickly, you're going to have to trust us, jump into the hat.", Shadow had no idea what that would accomplish, it looked barely big enough to hold one of them, let alone all three. But his fear for his life made him swallow his fear of these two, so he did as he was told and jumped in.
After Shadow had jumped through, there was a loud banging from the palace doors leading to the courtyard. Soul Shield quickly jumped in after Shadow, which was immediately followed by the doors being burst open, several more Keepers galloping past them. All of which stopped when they saw the corpse-pony standing in front of a giant top hat, with a semi-circle of unconscious guards around him. Wicked K looked at the standing guardsmen and then to the ones on the ground, and then to the ones standing once more. At which point he bowed regally, shouting "Good day!" before laughing manically and back flipping into his top hat, which then levitated about an inch of the ground and shrank away into nothingness, leaving the Keepers standing there wondering what the hay had just happened.
_ A few moments later _
"ompf" that was what escaped Shadow's mouth as he slammed into the ground unceremoniously. He rubbed his aching skull with his hoof for a second untill Soul Shield lept out of the hat, and Wicked K, who came back flipping out of it. "Well, glad that's over." stated Soul Shield bluntly, turning to Shadow, he asked "Are you still afraid of us? Because if so, this whole ordeal is going to be that much harder for us to help you with." Shadow, who had finally regained his composure, replied "Y...yes, it was just a little, terrifying to come face to face with somepony that has scary stories based off of them." "Sometimes, young Shadow Skull, lies are better than the truth to achieve something." the old Soul-pony said, a mixed look of despair and rage, set deep in his ghostly eyes.
Shadow took a quick look around the room, noticing the size of the room and the murals carved into the walls, along with a slightly raised platform towards the back. "Where am I?" Shadow thought aloud, "You're standing within the end of the Labyrinth, the Chamber of Rebirth. Though it does more than that, this room gets bigger as time continues on, this world's history recorded on the walls as they appear. Even I don't know how it's done and I've been living here for years." said Soul Shield, walking up behind Shadow. "And that platform over at the far end is where ponies are supposed to be reborn" he added, pointing to a round platform, floating about an inch off the ground.
Getting Shadow's attention, Soul Shield started again "But none of that matters at the moment. Right now, all that matters is what I'm about to tell you. You are not really part of the Skull family, I don't know what you did, how you did it, or why it hasn't effected me or Wicked, but you didn't exist here till a few months ago. Four months ago, you simply came out of no where as the Skulls' child, and everypony else seems to have memories of you going back much longer, but Wicked and I have none, nor had we even heard of you till then.". Shadow simply looked at the old Soul-pony with disbelief, thinking he had lost his mind like the stories said. "You're crazy. Of course I've been here longer than a few months, I remember stuff that happened from the day I came here." he retorted. "Really, then tell me exactly what happened that day then. Tell me what happened and I'll believe you." Soul Shield responded, rather agitated. "Well, I uh... I.I met Split Soul. Yeah! That's when I met him!" but Shadow had trouble remembering even this small event, everything seemed hazy, a little unreal, and it made Shadow slightly worried. "Ok then, how did you meet him then?" Soul Shield pressed on determined to know. "I.I uh..mmm...I met him when..hmmm" try as hard as he could, Shadow couldn't remember how they met, and it struck him hard. And when he tried remembering anything else that had happened further than a few months back, he couldn't it was as if what Soul Shield had said was true, he simply hadn't existed before then.
At this realization, Shadow whole body slumped, his head all but touching the stone floor. He wished he could cry at this, he felt as if his whole life was a lie, everything he knew, all his friends, his family, just some sort of cruel illusion. He wished he had been killed by those Keepers in the courtyard, rather than know this; he'd rather die forever as a happy pony who had friends and family that would miss him, not some twisted lie.
Sensing there was going to a lot of emotion, Wicked K decided it would be best and go and check on the Soul-ponies and the surrounding area, leaving the two to talk in peace.
"Hey now, I know this must hurt.." Soul Shield started to continue, putting a ghostly hoof on his shoulder, only to be rudely interrupted by Shadow jumping back and turning to face him, yelling "NO! NO YOU DON'T! NEVER SAY THAT YOU UNDERSTAND! I CAN'T REMEMBER ANYTHING FROM A FEW MONTHS AGO! ALL THOSE THINGS THAT HAPPENED, ME MAKING FRIENDS, BEING LOVED, ALL OF IT RIPPED AWAY, NEVER REALLY EXISTING IN THE FIRST PLACE!" Shadow said this, ragged breaths from what would have been crying escaping his mouth, the green flames from his soul getting a raising, matching the intensity of the torches set into the walls. Shadow could feel the flames get bigger, truth be told it scared him a little, but he didn't care, he'd welcome anything that would make this pony shut up, anything that wouldn't make his soul ache.
But Soul Shield wasn't phased by this, if anything he seemed to be angered. When he spoke again, his face to the floor, Shadow could hear the unspoken fury embedded in his voice, just below the surface of the words "Don't you ever say that again." now he looked up at the undead colt standing before him, and Shadow wished he hadn't because now he could see the fury, in all it's righteousness completely visible in Soul Shield's eyes. "Do not ever say I don't know the pain of loosing everything. I lost my family my parents..my brother...my wife...MY DAUGHTER!" Soul Shield started to yell, his rage finding it's way to the surface "I LOST EVERYPONY THAT I CARED FOR, ALL BECAUSE I TRIED TO BE A HERO ONCE!" Soul Shield realized how far he was going, realized that he was going to do something he'd regret if he let his emotions take over; it took a great amount of effort, but he slowly managed to calm down.
Turning away from the frightened Shadow Skull, Soul Shield whispered, barely audible "Be glad that it wasn't real, because it would only hurt all the more if it was... Sometimes lies are better than the truth."
He turned back once again, his emotions once again in check. "But that's a story left buried. There's still more that you need to know." upon hearing this, Shadow tried to block it out with his hooves. Soul Shield continued however, thought to Shadow's relief with something other than telling him how much his life was a lie. "There is history here, so old that it was lost. In the beginning of creation, before the worlds of the living and the dead existed, there were the Elements. Honestly, Laughter, Kindness, Loyalty, Generosity, and Magic, but it takes balance to create, there needed to be things to oppose them, so the Elements of Disharmony existed as well. Greed, Rage, Sickness, Fear, Disloyalty, and Lies; these existed alongside the Elements of Harmony, but all in one form. Both types of Elements existed as sentient beings, creating the worlds together. But when all was done, the Elements of Harmony saw what it's counterpart had created to make a balance, vile things, dark things. So the Elements of Harmony used it's power to destroy the Elements of Disharmony, but even the Elements have their limits. They couldn't completely destroy eachother, so the only thing that was accomplished was the separation and scattering of the Elements of Disharmony. It has even been told that these Elements will come back when all worlds need them.
Shadow was trying to follow what the older pony was getting at. "It is my belief that you are one of these Elements, resurrected in a time of need, which one I do not care. But what is important that you get out of the world and figure what is going on elsewhere." as Soul Shield said this he pointed to the levitating platform at the end of the room.
But at this moment there came a loud explosion, followed with clouds of dust coming from the corridor leading into the Labyrinth. Then a familiar looking top hat came whizzing into the room, growing once more to an increased size as Wicked came flying back, landing in the hat, at which point it shrank out of existence. "What in the Queen's name is going on!" shouted Soul Shield, looking at the corridor, where three black cloaked Skele-ponies emerged, followed by a dozen Keepers. "Well well well, so this is where you fled to little one." came a cold and wispy voice. The three undead ponies shook off their hoods, revealing themselves to be none other than the three other advisors.
Shadow was speechless, his mind full of questions for these ponies. But Soul Shield beat him to it, "What are you doing here?" he asked, animosity towards them evident in his voice. "My word" started the center advisor "Is that any way to talk to your new rulers?". Both Shadow and Soul Shield were stunned by this statement "What are you talking about?" said Shadow. This time it was the advisor on the left who spoke "Haven't you heard? The Queen and the Skull family have been, how should I put this...'removed' from their respective positions. Now the Triumvirate rules, that being us" he said with a wicked look on his face. "Yo..you're the ones who tried to have me killed?" a mix of surprise and fear once again in Shadow's voice. And finally the last advisor on the right spoke "Yes that was us, couldn't have anyone left that anypony would rally behind now could we. Which brings us to the current situation." at which point he faced the the group of following Keepers, and said in a flat voice "Finish them."
The Keepers immediately started firing bolts of magic at the two of them, trying to knock them unconscious first 'Guess they learned from last time' thought Soul Shield grimly, dodging and blocking any bolts that were fired at him and Shadow. He turned to Shadow and yelled "Get to the platform! They won't be able to follow us after that. Go I'll be right behind you!" Shadow needed no more encouragement, galloping off towards the other end of the chamber, his flames once again rising as he felt something building inside him. But once more he felt it die down as he reached the platform, Soul Shield jumping up onto it next to him.
As soon as Soul Shield jumped onto the platform, the chamber immediately darkened, the torches reduced to a dull glow. The platform, everypony noticed, had started to glow, a bubble of ancient magic forming around the two on top of it. "Soul Shield, what's happening?" asked Shadow, looking around him "It's doing what it was meant to" Soul Shield replied, a smile on his face "It's going to send you to the world of the living, and I'm going to help you get there." "What are you talking about?!" Shadow turned to the old Soul-pony, who replied "It takes two to make this work, you had to be one, I the other. I will be sacrificed, something I'd gladly do if it means you'll make it out. Now clam down, even though you may not realize it, I'll still be there with you, just not the way either of us might like."
That was the last thing Shadow heard before he blinked out of the chamber, magic enveloping him and shooting him upwards, a giant beam visible for leagues in any direction. The platform they were standing on crashed to the ground, it's magic used and drained for it's only purpose, but on it's face there was a new mural: two ponies stood strong, surrounded by evil looking ponies firing magic at them as three cloaked Skele-ponies raged behind the line as the two were whisked away by ancient magic.
The world of the living awaits. What will happen there? Will ponies accept him as he is? And what will become of Soul Shield?
You'll just have to keep reading to find out!
Hey everypony, just thought I'd say thanks for reading this far even if it is only the second chapter. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Hopefully I can get more explanations done in Chapter 3 when Shadow comes to the world of the living. Enjoy the afterlife!