The Shadow of Equestria
Chapter 15
Back in Action
Another week passed as I sat in that cell. With nothing to do but talk and think. Talking to Celestia was more trouble than it appeared and Luna hadn't made an appearance since her first visit. I was truly bored and it seemed like nothing was going to change. It felt like I was going to be stuck in that cell till they let me out. But who knew when that would have been. However, Lady Luck smiled upon on day and set forth a series of actions that I am still thankful to this day.
My eyes opened slowly as I expected the tea tray to hit the table. It had become somewhat of a routine every morning however, this morning was different. I sat up in my bed and noticed that the two guards who usually sat at the door were no longer there.
"Huh." I said to myself as I got out of bed to investigate.
I reached the bars and leaned in to get a closer look. The guards were not there. I was confused by this discovery because every day those guards were there and they never left their posts. Not only was I confused, I was also paranoid that something was going to happen. I felt this way because the ponies tended to act like humans in a sense. During my time back on Earth, I learned very quickly that humans are creatures of habit. They never like leaving their comfort zone and thus stay in an endless cycle that can be easily predictable. Like I said before, these ponies are similar. Like the maid that cleans the room outside of my cell. First she dusts, then mops, and finishes by placing fresh flowers in the vase on the table outside of my cell. Never have I seen her abandon this order. Similar to the guards that patrol the room. Around early morning, the first set come in. When it hits noon, the first set is replaced by a second set who watches over the room till the first set come back from what I presume as lunch. I knew this because on of the guards from the first set always came back with a piece of food, be it fruit, bread, or vegetable. They never broke this cycle.
I leaned back from the bars and sat down on the bed.
"What happened that caused those guards to leave?" I asked myself.
"I believe that would be my handiwork." said a voice from outside the bars. I looked back to see a strange mixture of creatures sitting in the chair with his feet propped up on the table.
"Who are you?" I asked as I kept my guard up. Something about the creatures demeanor unsettled me. Scared me somewhat.
"I am the Lord of Chaos, Bringer of Destruction, The Apostle of Doom!" the creature yelled as he stood up out of his seat. "But you can call me Discord."
I looked at Discord with a questioning look. His actions caused me to go from fear to confusion.
"Your look says it all dear Zhane. You are confused at to what you are looking at."
"I know exactly what I'm looking at." I replied. "I'm looking at the result of a mother who couldn't control herself."
Discord turned his back towards me and crossed his arms.
"So crude." he stated. "But I can work with that."
He turned as sat back down.
"After all, I do believe we can benefit each other."
I sighed.
"If it has anything to do with using my body as a shelter then I don't want to discuss anything with you."
"I have no need to find shelter in a tiny creature such as you." scoffed Discord. "Besides that creature residing in your magic reservoirs seems to be taking up all the space. What was his name again? Ubra, Uma, Umbra."
Discord began to stroke the long goatee on his chin before snapping his fingers in discovery.
"Ahh, I remember now. You are sheltering my dear friend Umbrella. Oh I'd love to talk with him again but first we'll have to get rid of that." he said as he motioned towards the collar around my neck.
"This thing won't come off unless Celestia removes it herself so there's no use." I said.
"Nonsense." said Discord as he stood up out of his chair and passed through the bars. "Anything that Celestia can do, I can undo."
As he said that, Discord placed his hands on the collar and effortlessly pulled the collar off.
"See, easy. Now, how do you feel?" he asked as he threw the collar off to the side.
Before I could answer, I heard a deeper voice answer.
"I feel like you took your time breaking out of that prison." answered the thundering voice.
"I was waiting for the right time Umbrella." said Discord with a giant smile.
"If I hear that name come from your lips one more time, I'll personally rip you to pieces!" Umbra yelled.
"Ok, ok, no need to yell Umbra." he said as he put his hands out. "Anyways, let me get to this little deal. I am going to free you but in return, I want you to cause as much chaos as you can. I don't care how, I don't care where. I just want you to cause as much as you can."
I paused for a second.
"I can do that." I replied.
"Of course you can. With Umbra I do believe you'll be unstoppable."
Discord paused.
"On second." he said as he disappeared in a poof of colorful smoke.
He reappeared a minute later with a grin on his face.
"Oh those ponies sure do crack me up. Before finding you, I managed to convince old Sunbutt to send a majority of her guard to Ponyville. How stupid can they get."
Discord laughed before wiping a tear away from his eyes.
"Anyways, I'll send you somewhere in Equestria and you can start there." Discord then placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Also, I alerted Celestia that I was going to free you so have fun."
"What." I said as I heard the door to room being forcefully opened. In rushed Agliss, Yamato, Celestia, and Luna.
"Discord!" yelled Celestia. "You have no idea what you're about to set free. He is a monster who kills for fun."
Discord shrugged his shoulders.
"It's just business Celestia. At least I don't have to clean up the mess."
At that moment, Discord clapped his hand around my shoulder and my vision was clouded by a puff of rainbow colored smoke. The last thing I heard was Celestia yelling Discord very loudly.
After the smoke cleared, I felt solid ground under my feet. The first thing that I did was look around me. I noticed that Discord made dropped me at the edge of some kind of forest. Off in the distance, I could see a village about half the size of Ponyville. On instinct, I began to walk towards the village. At the edge, a lone mare tending her garden took notice of me and approached me slowly.
"He-hello." she stuttered. "I've never seen anything like you before. Are you hurt, you look hurt. Is there anything I can do for you?"
I looked down at the mare and smiled.
'This is going to be fun'.
8 Hours later
Celestia sat in her personal study with Agliss and Yamato.
"Any sign of him yet?" asked Celestia.
"Nothing yet Tia." replied Agliss. "He has yet to use his magic and we are having difficulty tracking his magical signature."
Celestia frowned, she knew Discord could and would do some evil things but let Zhane go free, that surpassed everything he did that day. If it wasn't for Twilight and her friends, Discord might still be free.
"I actually thought he was changing. I was foolish to believe that such a vile creature like him could change." said Celestia as she buried her head in one of the many pillows surrounding her.
"No need to worry Tia, I have a feeling that Zhane will come to resent his actions. It's only a matter of time." said Agliss as he continued to focus on his tracking spell.
"But when will that be?" asked Celestia.
"I have no idea."
Just then, a loud knock echoed throughout the room.
"Come in." called Celestia.
Upon hearing the invitation, Shining Armor, clad in his purple armor, walked in a bowed before the Princess.
"What is it Captain?" asked Celestia as she watched the captain rise.
"We've received multiple ponies from SunPeak Village who claim that the village was destroyed by a large monster."
"I'd like to see one of these ponies Captain." ordered Celestia.
"Yes Ma'am." said Shining Armor as he left the room.
A few minutes later, Shining entered the room with a young stallion.
"Thank you Captain, you are dismissed." said Celestia as Shining left the room.
"What is your name?" she asked sweetly.
"My name's Arthur Green."said the stallion in a gruff voice.
"That's a lovely name." replied Celestia.
"It's passed down to every stallion in my family. It was my great-great-great grandfather's name."
The was a pause.
"Arthur." said Celestia. "I've received some troubling news about your village. Is what I heard true? Was it attacked by a monster?"
"It wasn't just a monster." said Arthur. "It was like somepony had gathered pure evil and shaped it."
"What did it look like?" asked Celestia.
"It was as built as a Diamond Dog but nowhere near as stupid as one. It could talk but what ever it said, I couldn't hear. I couldn't tell you what it was wearing because of all the blood. Our town guards tried to stop it but they couldn't even hit the damn thing. But one it got a hold of one of their weapons, that thing started to slaughter them with ease."
"Tell me Arthur, did this monster have tan colored skin?" asked Celestia.
"Yes."
Arthur looked towards Agliss and Yamato.
"That monster kinda looked like those two."
Celestia frowned. Not even eight hours free and he's killing again.
Anything else Arthur?"
The stallion paused for a moment and looked at the floor.
"School was in today but as we ran, we forgot to warn them. There were probably 15 fillies in there."
Immediately, Celestia stood up and looked towards Agliss.
"Agliss, Yamato, go to SunPeak Village immediately. Take Luna with you, I think she might have some sway over Zhane. I need to stay here to sort out what has happened today."
Agliss nodded as he and Yamato bolted out of the door.
"Now class." I said with a smile. "Who can tell me the name of the capital of Equestria?"
No answer.
I lifted up one of the spears I picked off the guards that I had killed and pointed at one of the nearby students.
"You, answer the question." I demeaned.
The little foal shook as he answered.
"C-c-Canterlot."
"Correct" I yelled. "Looks like miss priss over here keeps a limb." I said as I pointed to the teacher of the class who had been hung from the ceiling by her feet.
"I don't see the point in this twisted game." argued Umbra. "We could be doing something way more productive."
'None sense Umbra.' I replied. 'There's nothing like a game of reverse hangman to get the children learning.'
"Next question goes to the little mare in the back. How many districts does Canterlot have?"
The little mare let out a loud cry as tears began to roll down her cheeks. I rolled my eyes and pointed the spear at the teacher who started to shake in an attempt to escape from the tip.
"The longer you don't answer me, the more impatient I get." I warned as the tip of the spear got closer and closer.
"Five!" the little mare yelled out in between her sobs.
"Correct!" I yelled as I smiled. "I do believe that you've got a smart group of ponies here." I said as I looked at the teacher.
"Next questi..."
"Zhane!" Umbra interrupted.
'What? Can't you see that I'm busy?'
'Do you not feel those THREE large magical signatures getting close?'
I groaned.
"If I ever see Discord again, I'm going to rip his heart out! How close are they?" I asked out loud.
"A couple miles outside the village."
I rubbed the bridge of my nose before looking at the teacher.
"Sorry to say this miss priss but retirement is coming early."
The teacher wiggled wildly as her screams were muffled by the cloth shoved in her mouth.
"Wait!" yelled one of the kids. "We didn't get a question wrong! You can do that!"
"Sorry kid, welcome to life, everything is unfair." I said as I thrusted the spear forward.
Agliss looked over the multitude of dead bodies that lined the street.
"This is vile." he remarked. "Why is he killing innocent ponies?"
"I have no idea." said Luna. "We just need to get to the school house as quick as possible."
Agliss nodded and the three began to make their way to the large red building close to the outside of the village. The windows revealed that little light was visible in the building. Nonetheless, the three decided to enter. Once inside, the smell of death was the first thing that hit the trio.
"Welcome to school." said a gruff voice at the other end of the school room.
Agliss looked across the room to see all of the foals that attended the school were sitting in their seats. The important thing was that they were fine. The teacher was less fortunate. Agliss could see the outline of a pony head and the crimson shimmer of blood dripping off the teachers desk.
Agliss took a step forward but stopped when he saw the shape of a spear pointed at one of the foals
"I don't like to kill children but if I have to, I will." Zhane said.
"You wouldn't dare." called out Luna.
"Keep moving forward and find out." Zhane called back.
There was a moment of silence before Zhane began to talk again.
"Where's Yamato? I was beginning to think that you two were inseparable."
Agliss looked back to see that Yamato was no longer with the group. Agliss, with a knowing smile, looked back towards Zhane.
"Let's just say he's got this problem under control."
"What?" replied Zhane as a magical force hit him from the side and sent him flying through the school house wall.
I recovered quickly and found my spear nearby.
"Zhane, run." said Umbra as I stood up.
"No, I'm going to make a name for the Shadow here and now. I want to be known as the monster who killed an entire village and managed to fight off Princess Luna and Celestia's best guards. Besides, this time, it's different.
"How so?" asked Umbra.
"This time, I'm prepared."
Here's Chapter 15 for everypony. Enjoy!