Greetings everybrony, for those of you who have kept reading my story, know that you are the reason why I keep doing this and that you all are awesome. I apologize that it took so long for this to come out, I haven't had much time to work on this lately, but I hope that those of you who are still reading enjoy!
It was madness as Shadow galloped into the fight, stalls and carts were flipped or shattered as homes were being broken. Shadow was only faintly aware that his flames were larger than they had ever been, his hooves leaving unmoving blue and green fire where he stepped. Some of the skeletons saw him and yelled to their companions and attracting more attention to him 'Well, at least I'll be able to lead them away' he thought. Shadow charged at them head on, appearing as if he was going to ram into them but at the last second he jumped over them, landing on the other side of the small group of undead ponies. "Catch me if you can!" he yelled back at them as he set off into a gallop away from the town the same way the skeletons came, attracting more of them as he raced away and barely dodging the members of his mob as some of them tried to slam into him.
He managed to lead the attacking undead to a clearing a few leagues away from Ponyville, the same one he woke up in just the day before 'Was it really that little long ago?' he thought for a second before returning to the mob. As they pressed in on him they shouted insults at him, such as "Traitor!" and "Monster!". All in all there were about fifty of them crowding around him, as they were about to charge at him a loud voice echoed from the other side of the clearing "Hey you big meanie weenies, leave him alone!" Shadow saw that it was Pinkie Pie, next to Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash, who appeared to have lost all her uncharacteristic fear. Twilight was wearing a tiara with a large crystal while the rest wore a necklace with an appropriately colored gem inside them.
The Skele-ponies that were closest charged at them, which proved to be a big mistake as the mares let out bolts of different colored magic effectively blowing them apart. But despite the magic they were starting to be overwhelmed, Shadow couldn't let that happen, most of those mares had shown him kindness even though they had no idea who he was. The flames created by his soul grew more intense as he thought of only one thing he could do, bracing himself Shadow charged head on at the throng of Skele-ponies as flames trailed behind him. But right before ramming into the nearest skeletons he jumped into the air, and continued to jump over the field of skeletons by using them as springboards to continue, but each time he jumped off one they would burst into flames and soon reduced to his tactic, Shadow decided to keep leaping from one Skele-pony to the next reducing each one to ashes. This proved to work well and combined with the blasts of magic the girls generated they quickly put an end to the throng of skeletons, the meadow covered in bones and ash.
"Are you girls okay?" asked Shadow as he trotted over to the group of panting mares, noticing they had several scraps and cuts. "Yeah, we're...we're fine. But you've got.. a lot of.. explaining to do... mister" managed Twilight through her panting. "Well at least you're here to hear it" replied Shadow as he started leading them back to the town, still on the lookout for any more trouble. "Darling, you might want to change before we reach Ponyville, it might scare the townsfolk." Rarity said to Shadow who quickly realized he was still in his regular form "Oh yeah, one second" he quickly regrew his fur, mane, tail, and cutie mark and soon looked like a regular pony, except his for his eyes, and they continued their walk back to Twilight's house.
Upon entering the library they all sat down and enjoyed a brief moment of silence before Twilight asked her first question, "So Shadow, what exactly are you?" "Honestly, I don't even know. I've always been like that, but I wasn't as...solid, back in my original home as I am now" replied Shadow. "And were exactly was that, huh?" asked Rainbow Dash, no longer afraid. "Well, I'm from the City of the Dead, the capitol and seat of power in the Land of the Dead, where the Queen rules from her palace. That's why I was slightly surprised to learn that this world is ruled by two princesses Twilight".
"What about yer family sugarcube, surely they miss ya." said Applejack, to which Shadow's ears folded down as he became slightly angry "I don't have a real family, the only thing I could have considered a family were killed when the Queen was usurped, the day before I came here". "How can somepony who's already died die again, the mere though befuddles me" asked Rarity "Well, when you die you either turn into a Skele-pony, the beings we just fought, or a Soul-pony, who can only be a unicorn or an alicorn. Even when you die, your not entirely dead, the only way to truly die is to either have your bones blown apart and or crushed, or have your soul burned." "That's just awful, no pony deserves that" interjected Fluttershy in her quiet voice. "Sorry to tell ya Fluttershy, but that's the way it is, and some do it anyways" replied Shadow.
"Mind if I ask a few questions of my own?" Shadow asked "Because I'm wondering what you and those necklaces are" "That's easy peasy, we're the Elements of Harmony!" said Pinkie Pie jumping up and down in excitement. "Wait..what?! You're the Elements of Harmony?!' he asked looking at all the mares before him wordlessly before breaking out into a grin that could almost put Pinkie to shame. "YES! THIS IS GREAT!" he yelled punching the air with his hoof, "Now calm down sugarcube, why ya all excited that we're the Elements of Harmony?" said Applejack. "Because that means I'm a third of the way there! IT'S WONDERFUL!" he said jumping around in excitement "Calm down Shadow, what do you mean a third of the way there?" Twilight asked trying to make Shadow sit down again.
"Sorry, the whole reason I'm even here is to do three things, find the Elements of Harmony, the Elements of Disharmony, and defeat some sort of giant evil that's going to destroy the worlds of the living and dead." answered Shadow, managing to control himself. "Right now the main problem is how those Skele-ponies managed to get here, could they have followed you, however you got out?" asked Twilight, "I don't think so, whatever kind of magic brought me here felt... old, like it could only be used at a certain time" he answered. "Hmmm, this is going to make an interesting letter to the Princess." Twilight mused.
Shadow whipped his head to look at Twilight "Wait a second… could we not tell them about me? I'd rather not be taken away and interrogated by royalty." He said rubbing his leg with his hoof nervously. "Shadow, please, I'm sure the Princesses won't do anything like that. If we explain the situation I'm sure that they would want very much to help." Twilight argued "Twilight, if you mention me in your letter to them I will leave here and only focus on helping my world, do you understand?" Shadow said staring her down. "Fine... I won't tell them." Twilight said begrudgingly "Thank you" sighed Shadow "Now if you excuse me, it's rather late, and the place I'm staying is rather far away." "You mean those caves I followed you to? That's where you're staying?" asked Rainbow Dash, causing looks of concern to appear on the rest of the girls' faces. Shadow sighed, "Yes, that is where I'm staying." "Sugarcube, ya coulda said somethin. We got plenty of extra space around the farm, ya could stay there."
"It's fine, and besides, with the bits I'm earning I'll be able to furnish it soon enough." Shadow replied. Applejack eyed him a bit before giving in "If ya say so..." "Thank you. Now once more, if you will excuse me." Shadow said before leaving the library and the group of mares.
"Well ladies, I think it's time for us to retire as well, it has been a rather eventful day." Rarity said to the group as she made her way out the door as well, soon followed by Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack. Fluttershy looked around and spotted Shadow on the edges of the Everfree Forest. She let her gaze hang there as she worried about him, she had no idea why but she thought his was nice, even though he could be really scary. 'I can't let him sleep on a cold cave floor without anything to keep warm... hmmm' she thought to herself trotting back to her cottage.
_Later_
Fluttershy quietly got up from her bed, making sure not to cause any noise. Grabbing the extra blanket she had for really cold nights and putting it in her saddle bag Fluttershy floated down the stairs of her cottage and up to the door, quietly sneaking out the door. Letting out a sigh of relief, Fluttershy galloped to where she saw Shadow enter the Everfree Forest, where she found his hoofprints. Using them as a trail Fluttershy followed the prints into the forest, eventually coming to a cave opening where she saw a dull glow coming from within. 'That's gotta be him' Fluttershy thought to herself as she trotted farther in following the glow as it steadily got brighter. She soon found Shadow, sleeping soundly on the cave floor as the flames that made his mane and tail glowed in time with his breathing.
'He doesn't look too scary.' Fluttershy thought. "I'm sure he won't mind this" she said to herself as she took out the blanket and laid it on top of the sleeping Shadow. He unconsciously brought it around him in his sleep, causing an "Awww" from Fluttershy. 'Well, now that that's done, I'd best be getting back so I can get some sleep too.' Fluttershy thought, she turned around and started trotting back to her cottage,
Shadow shot up with a fright, whipping his head back and forth before realizing he was having a nightmare. Looking at his back he found that somepony had come and put a blanket on him at some point in the night, though it was easy to tell who due to the naturalistic design. 'I'll have to thank Fluttershy for the blanket' he thought as he got up, folded it and placed it on his back. "Time to go to work" Shadow said aloud starting his walk to Ponyville.
As Shadow was walking through the forest he couldn't help but marvel at it once more. The trees still appeared as if they were going to reach out and grab him despite them being so tall. The eerie silence gave off a sombre feeling as he trotted to the edge of the Everfree Forest. Remembering how he looked Shadow once again made his fur, mane, tail, and cutie mark reappear and headed out into town. "This is going to get irritating if I have to do that every morning..." he muttered to himself.
He decided to go to Rarity's first to get a saddlebag. Finding her store Shadow knocked on the front door only to have it opened not a second later. "Shadow, it's a pleasure to see you dear. What can I do for you this fine morning?" asked Rarity "Well, I was hoping you might have a saddlebag for sale, preferably one that could hook onto my harness if it's not any trouble." Shadow answered "No trouble at all dear, come in. I even meant to ask you where you got that thing, I've never seen a gem that beautiful before." she said while shifting through dozens of saddlebags. "I guess you could say it was a gift from a friend." Shadow replied. "Aha! Here, see how this works." Rarity said, magically hooking a black and white saddlebag onto his harness. "Wow, it looks amazing! How much do I owe you?" he asked as he admired the bag. "Oh, nothing darling, consider it a 'Welcome to Ponyville' gift." Rarity answered, shooing him out the door before he could protest. "Well, guess it's off to work again" he thought aloud, placing the blanket in his new saddlebag.
Coming up to the apple orchard Shadow was greeted by an enthusiastic Applebloom "Hiya Mr. Shadow! Do ya got a minute?" she asked. Shadow couldn't help but smile at her energy "Of course, what do you need Applebloom?" he asked "Ah was wondering if ya could help me and meh friends to try and get our cutie marks!" the filly replied still filled with energy "Sorry Applebloom but I've got to work today, perhaps another time." Shadow said "Okay then, see ya later!" yelled Applebloom as she galloped off into town. "There ya are Shadow!" came a familiar voice from behind him "Hello to you to Applejack" he said turning around and seeing the orange mare. "What am I doing today boss?" "Well, ah figured you could sell a barrel or two of them apples why got in the barn, c'mon, I'll show how to hook up the cart." Applejack answered as she led Shadow to the barn. The cart already had two barrels of apples on the back and luckily the cart seemed to be able to hook straight onto Shadow's harness. "Well that's convenient" said Applejack as she hitched Shadow to the cart "Now go sell some of them apples, 2 bits each." "Yes ma'am" Shadow replied giving a mock salute.
Several minutes later Shadow was selling apples with a happy smile on his face as he made idle conversation with the occasional customer. Soon however, a familiar looking yellow pegasus came up to the stand "Hey Shadow, could I umm... buy some apples for my animals please?" Fluttershy said, her face turning a slight shade of red. "Sure thing Fluttershy, here you go." Shadow replied happily, giving her a bag of apples "Thank you, by the way, for the blanket. I have it with me if you want it back." he said reaching for his saddlebag. "No..it's fine, consider it a gift." Fluttershy said turning a little bit more red before leaving the bits on the stand and hurrying off.
"She's very sweet isn't she." a voice said behind him. Turning around Shadow saw a white alicorn standing behind him wearing a gold crown and necklace. Seeing the alicorn caused Shadow to freeze, fear causing him to be rooted to the spot. "P..Princess Celestia, to..to what do I owe the honor?" Shadow managed to stammer. "I think you know why I'm here." replied the Princess calmly as the area started to fill with what could only be the royal guard "Twilight told you, didn't she?" Shadow asked. "Yes, she did. I would appreciate if you came back to Canterlot with me so we can talk about.." "No." Shadow interrupted blankly "That wasn't exactly a request, Shadow." the Princess replied as her voice started to get an edge to it.
By this point a crowd had formed and was being held back by some of the guards. Shadow looked to one side and saw the six mares push past the guards, Twilight's face filled with guilt. "Princess, what in tarnation is going on?" asked Applejack "Ask. Her." Shadow said venomously, looking at Twilight who only lowered head. "She broke her promise" he continued "But I'm going to keep mine." his eyes narrowed as he struggled to keep the anger he was feeling in check.
Shadow quickly let his disguise vanish, causing gasps and murmurs to escape from the gathered spectators. "Now Shadow, don't do anything that you're going to regret, dear." Rarity said, "I regret nothing.." he said as his flames grew larger and brighter. Shadow reared up and slammed his front hooves into the ground, causing a crack to appear in the ground and spit fire high into the sky, catching everypony off guard. Using this as a distraction Shadow galloped towards the circle of guards and easily jumped over them, his flames trailing behind him, and continued his gallop. Thinking of only one place where he could hide, Shadow galloped towards the Everfree forest.
By the time Celestia closed the crack and took to the sky Shadow had made it to the edge of the forest and continued in... lost.
The figure watched from the rooftop of a nearby building, she had managed to pinpoint the magical anomaly to this town. She was about to leave when the Princess had shown up and started to talk with the black pony selling apples. he had caught her attention at first, seeming to fit the description, but she soon lost interest in him, that is untill he changed. His fur and cutie mark disappearing as his mane and tail were replaced by fire, blue fire. She was completely caught off guard along with the crowd of ponies but for an all together different reason. She smiled, the time was finally coming, 'Time to go hunting' she thought, seeing Shadow gallop into the forest.
How could Twilight do that? And more importantly who is that strange figure standing on the rooftop and what is she after? Guess you'll have to wait and find out! MUAHAHAHA *ahem*
Hey you bronies that have made it this far. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, once again I'm sorry it took so long to upload this one, like I said earlier, I haven't had much time to myself (and honestly I was having a bit of writer's block, luckily a good song can help). Reviews are much appreciated, as are ideas and/or character submissions for future chapters, thank you all!