The Shadows of Harmony: Chapter 12

Twilight showed Shadow all around Canterlot, including of course the library. "And this is where I spent pretty much most of my time while I lived in Canterlot before," Twilight announced when they got to the library.

"So you didn't live in the library like at Ponyville?" Shadow said, semi jokingly. And apparently Twilight didn't get that he was joking

"Um…no. Why would you think I'd live in the library? I only live in it in Ponyville because I work as the librarian there. Do you really think I'm that much of a bookworm?"

Ugg…and this is why I never tell jokes. Whenever I do, nobody gets it. "I was joking," Shadow said

"Sorry. I got a lot of comments while I was living here in Canterlot about just living in the library that I tend to be annoyed when anypony mentions me living in the library." Shadow was about to mention the irony of that situation, but Twilight beat him to it, "It's interesting that nopony really mentions it when you actually live in the library, yet everypony does when you don't."

"It's because ponies (I will never get used to saying that) don't have anything to joke about if you actually live in one."

"True."

Shadow noted the sunset outside. "How about we head over to the stadium that the Wonderbolts are preforming in before calling it a day?"

"Sure, let's go!" Twilight said cheerfully. She exited the library and continued walking, but Shadow followed slowly behind, thinking.

It's sort of annoying having to be escorted around town by Twilight, but by now I've gotten used to it. Her cheer is overbearing at times, but it could be worse. She at least manages to keep me interested, and I might actually miss her when I leave. She at some points reminds me of Maria. But still, I have to leave eventually. I still have my promise to Maria to keep.

~

The stadium for the Wonderbolts was like most stadiums, large and round. It was obviously open to the sky and it looked perfect for an aerial show. "Do the Wonderbolts always preform in stadiums like this?" Shadow asked Twilight.

"Not really," Twilight said, "According to Rainbow Dash, it's only when their preforming in Canterlot or Cloudsdale that they have a stadium like this. Otherwise they just rope of a section of the town that their preforming in and then ponies with tickets will go there and watch from there."

"I guess that makes sense being this is the capital and Cloudsdale, according to one of the books I've read, is home of the Pegasus. Those would be the best places to put a stadium for the Wonderbolts."

Their conversation was interrupted with a sudden voice saying "No loitering!"

While Shadow was looking over at who the voice was coming from Twilight was already saying "Sorry. I'm just showing my friend the stadium."

When Shadow saw where the voice came from he said "You look like someone from Ponyville. The guy who runs the post office if memory serves." And it should considering he's hard to forget after working for him during that week.

The pony that looks like the one that runs the post office in Ponyville was running the ticket booth here. Except for the fact that he was a Pegasus instead of an Earth Pony, he looked almost exactly like the postpony from Ponyville. He explained that connection with his statement "You must be talking about my brother."

The ticket master then took a closer look at Shadow and said "Hmm…you must be the pincushion that my brother wrote to me about. I'm going to assume you're not half as bad as my brother makes you out to be, especially since you saved the town."

"Wait! How did you know I saved the town?!" Shadow asked at the same time Twilight asked "How do you know Shadow saved the town?!"

The ticket master laughed and said "I'm in constant communication with my brother. Usually whenever someone from Ponyville is sending a letter to Canterlot, he will send me one as well. Makes it more convenient. So I got a letter today telling me about you. Don't worry, the princess has already told me not to spread it around."

Shadow closed his eyes in thought. "You seem a lot more cheerful than your brother," he speculated.

"Well it's really not his fault. He's the only Earth Pony in a long line of Pegasus. And when you're overshadowed by your entire family, you tend not to be exactly cheerful. But enough about that. I've got a job to do." His expression changed to a business like one. "I'm sorry but we're already sold out of tickets for the show in four days. The next show isn't for another month, but you can preorder tickets now. I'd recommend it."

"Are the Wonderbolts really that popular that you'd need to preorder tickets a month in advanced just to have a chance of seeing them?" Shadow asked

"Yes they are," Twilight said. "Rainbow Dash's hype about them isn't completely uncommon. Most ponies love watching their shows, which is why the tickets are so expensive and usually end up getting sold out anyways. Trust me; you'll see why when you watch the show."

~

And four days later at about when Shadow would gauge 6 o'clock would be, Shadow did see why the Wonderbolts were so popular. When he got tickets from Soarin' apparently they were for the front row, not that it mattered. It was all an aerial show anyways, so the back row was almost better than the front.

The stadium was completely packed with ponies.  There were mostly Unicorns, which just about state what's in the town anyways, then next highest there are Pegasus and the least amount of ponies there are the Earth Ponies. Shadow would normally be annoyed being in such a large crowd, and at first he was, but after the show started he didn't really care.

While the Wonderbolts had many similar stunts to the Blue Angels, there are many different stunts as well. Some of which involve manipulating the weather to produce some effect, like moving rain around at high speeds for affect. There are also times where they will come together to produce fireworks. And the ultimate proof of how good they were? Even Shadow was impressed.

Next to him, Twilight had her eyes on the sky and her Telekinesis/Magic on either a notebook and pencil or a plastic cup. With the notebook she was constantly jetting down notes on the Wonderbolts actions, and with the plastic cup she was drinking something. At least she's drinking it and not constantly spinning it around like a certain Psycokinetic hedgehog I know, Shadow thought.

After the show was over, the Wonderbolts landed on center stage and took a bow, at which point everypony clapped their hooves which Shadow found strange to look at. It's awkward seeing a bunch of quadrupeds clap. But he didn't let that stop him from clapping as well. Afterwards, everybody left.

While they were leaving the stadium, Twilight was thanking Shadow hundreds of times. "Thank you Shadow! The information I got from that show could be very useful if I ever wanted to improve the spell used to give anypony wings temporarily."

There's a spell to give anybody wings temporarily? Well that's interesting. Could be quite a useful spell to perfect. Too bad I won't be around to see it perfected.

Speaking of which, Twilight said next "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

I wouldn't bet on it. Tomorrow's the day I finally return home. So unless I miscalculated my recovery time, I won't be seeing you tomorrow. But Shadow gave a half-lie to her and instead said "We'll see."

Twilight nodded and walked off ecstatically. As Shadow watched her walk off he felt a small pain of remorse from lying to her. No. I can't let this affect me. I'm not going to tell her I'm leaving and leave before I'm seen because I don't want anybody to make a big deal about it. And I need to leave anyways. I have to keep my promise to Maria to protect the Earth and return back. I shouldn't even be traveling anyways. I haven't found a reason to do so here and I'm not going to. I'm leaving tomorrow and that's final.

~

And as Shadow said he would, he left at dawn holding his bag where he keeps his inhibitor rings during travel. Because of how early it was, Shadow managed to avoid being seen mostly. He did feel someone might have seen him, but he doubted that it would have mattered. So long as it wasn't anybody important or nosy, he would be fine.

Shadow made the trek out of Canterlot, still apparently managing to avoid the sight of the guards and everybody he could, and then wlaked out as far away as he could. When he got far enough, he took one last look at Canterlot, one last look in the direction of Ponyville, and then one last look at the world in general. Finally, Shadow closed his eyes, and the reached for his right inhibitor ring.

His hand was just clasped around it, when a voice from behind him asked "What are you doing?"

Shadow opened his eyes and turned over to see Twilight somehow managed to find him. "How did you know I was gone?" Shadow asked her.

"I came to the castle early to see you. When I got there I was told by—" Twilight cut herself off. "I was told that you went walking off, looking like you were packed and ready to go somewhere. So I came running over to try and find you. You do know that nopony enters and exits Canterlot without being seen right? The guards told me where you went."

Well well well. Looks like I underestimated the security here. A mistake that will unfortunately cost me.

"So I'll ask you again. What are you doing?" Twilight asked him

Shadow turned away from Twilight and continued what he was doing. While doing so he said "I am releasing my rings so I can access my full power in which I'll warp back home. Doing so though will cost me a lot of energy." Let's see if she is smart enough to realize what that means.

It took Twilight a few seconds, but she eventually got exactly what Shadow thought she would get. When she did, a look of realization crossed her face. "So then, using your full power, could you also warp objects or other things like that?" Twilight asked, trying to be subtle. Shadow knew exactly what she was getting at.

"Yes Twilight. I could have warped the Hydra away from Ponyville instead of killing it." Shadow said calmly

"So, you lied to me." Twilight was close to tears. "You lied to me. And not only that, but you could have spared that Hydra's life, and you chose not to. Fluttershy was a mess after you killed that thing. Why Shadow? Why?"

"Because warping that beast away would have left me exhausted. I would have had to spend a few more weeks recharging my power just to go home. And I'm not going to delay my return home just to spare the life of some creature that could just come back again. I made a promise, and I intend to keep it."

"You know what Shadow? I was wrong about you. I was completely wrong about you. The real monster wasn't the Hydra. The real monster is you." After that statement, Twilight ran off crying.

Whatever. It…doesn't matter to me. I won't see you ever again so I don't care what you think of me, Shadow lied to himself. But even though he thought that, and even though he would never admit it to anybody, it still hit him hard in the heart.

So Shadow, with all the pain and annoyance he has, took off his inhibitor rings and teleported away with all his unfocused angry emotions. What he also didn't notice, was the pony hiding just beyond sight, using magic to enhance his to watch what was going down. As soon as Shadow left, he chuckled to himself and said "Well, it looks like the beast and the princess had a fight. Good. That means that soon, everything will belong to me."