Hello and welcome every pony to the final part of Episode 6! And man is this one going to be-

Trixie: Long? Worthless? Boring? *She asked, even more inconsiderate than ever*

Wow, and here I thought you couldn't get anymore nastier.

Trixie: Shut it. Because of those dares in the last intro, I lost my father's lamp. So sorry if I'm a little on edge. *She said sarcastically*

Well don't worry, these next two dares won't have anything to do with us! And here to help us are four ponies ready to throw down! Blitz, Fluttershy, Swift Lightning, and Rainbow Dash!

*Camera pans over to show all four of them. Only, Swift and Fluttershy were standing awkwardly to the side while Blitz and Rainbow Dash were kissing*

*turns to camera* I swear, we had nothing to do with that... But...Why are you two kissing anyway?... *I asked, completely caught off-guard by them kissing*

Blitz: *Breaks the kiss and glares at us. Along with Rainbow Dash* Well, we know that the only reason we're both ever brought here at the same time is for us to kiss, so we're just getting it over with now. *And after saying that, they just went back to kissing*

Trixie: *frowns* We didn't schedule a dare like that today you idiots. *Upon hearing that news, they froze in place* Yeah. You two are making-out on your own time. Now can you stop? We have an intro to get on with.

*They quickly broke their kiss and jumped away from each other. Both of them feeling embarrassed for just making-out with one another without any pony telling them to.

Dash: Then... Just tell us the dare we're supposed to do.

Trixie: *steps forward* Gladly. Here they are.

Sent in from Swift Lightning: Blitz and Swift 'Hoof' Wrestle
Sent in from Sunblast X: I dare Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to fight each other head-to-head, going all out, no holding back.

Blitz: *turns to Swift* You mind?

Swift: *Shakes his head* Not at all. Besides, it'll be fun seeing your mare friend's reaction when I beat you. *Gets ready to fight*

*Sees Blitz looking furious* I'm just going to take this myself before he uses it. *I say, using my author powers to take away Blitz's tail*

Blitz: Take this stuff too. *He says tossing over his ear, tool belt, storm cloud cupcakes, and even his shark tooth necklace for good measure* I won't need it to beat him up.

*They then both fly forward, throwing punches at one another. Swift's able to dodge most of Blitz's hits from his metal hoof, but get's a uppercut to the jaw by Blitz's other front hoof. But recovering quickly, he flies Blitz into the ground. Dazing him for a few seconds as he flies up into the air to build up momentum before flying down directly towards Blitz. But, he recovers in time and bucks Swift right in the face. Sending him flying ten feet away*

Well, as that's going, let's check on Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash! *Camera pans over, only to see that they're just standing there awkwardly* What happened?

Fluttershy: Oh... Well I-I um... Surrendered... I hope that's allowed.

Trixie: Ugh, we don't have time for this. Let's speed this up. *Uses her own author powers to make two bottles of love poison appear over the two of them*

Wait a second, how's that going to make them-

Trixie: Shut up and watch. *she snaps*

*Trixie then uses her normal magic to shake the two bottles almost as fast as a blender. Making the love poison bubble and go from a light pink color, to a red color. She then pours the liquid over their heads before they can get away. Making a few drops land in both their mouths*

What did you just do?... *I ask worriedly*

Trixie: Well if you put love poison either in a blender or shake it up dramatically, then it goes from making to ponies love each other to... This. *Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash then make eye contact, their eyes glowing red with pure hatred for one another*

Fluttershy: What are you doing here?! *She asks angrily*

Dash: What does it look like?! I came here because I was invited here! So how about you get lost?!

Fluttershy: That's it! You're going down Rainbow Crash! *She glares greatly, not using the stare though*

Dash: Bring it, Flutterwimp! *She matches the glare*

*They then fly at each other at max speed, Rainbow Dash actually just a little faster than Fluttershy at her full speed. They both then hit each other head-on, colliding and falling straight to the ground. Where they then both got up and started beating the other up with the intent of wanting to kill the other*

*Camera pans back over to us* Woah, wait don't kill each other!... OOOO! Geez Fluttershy, did you really have to rip off Rainbow Dash's ta- AH! Rainbow Dash, don't pile drive Fluttershy head first into the cement like that aga- OWOW! It hurts just watching those two fight!

Trixie: Don't worry. As soon as one or the other wins, the poison will go away. So while those two fights are going on, let's just hurry up and do the top comments.

3: Justus80. That's not really much of a challenge seeing that Celestia actually shows emotions. So I think you would probably mean Queen Chrysalis or a royal guard. Still, I don't blame you for thinking that way about Misty Glance. In fact, I'd probably join you if it wasn't for the fact that I created her. This basically making me her father... *shivers in disgust* But still, yeah she's probably tied with Whipper as my best horrible villain... Okay, possibly tied with him.

2: Sledzax1235 (Levi). Sorry dude, but I don't accept OCs like that. The only way I'm accepting OCs is through contests in which I'll announce. No exceptions. Oh, and speaking of your name...

*At that moment, Swift knocked Blitz to the ground and Fluttershy bucked Rainbow Dash in mid-air. Making her land on top of Blitz and kiss him by accident*

Dash: *Pulls away* Oops. Sorry about that Blitz. Good luck with your fight! *kisses him on the cheek before flying back into the air* Fluttershy, you're dead! *Flies right at her, kicking her in the gut with one of her hind hooves, knocking the wind out of Flutters. She then did a front flip in mid-air, kicking her in the back of the head and sending her into the ground*

Blitz: *Meanwhile, he was left in shock* Please tell me that what she did was just a side-effect of the love poison...

Uh... Results may very? * I said in confusion. Trixie on the other hoof, just shrugged*

Swift: *Snickers* Hey, if you want to give up and ask her be my guest. *Blitz just glares an flies forward with great speed, punching him square in the face with his metal hoof. Knocking him unconscious on the spot*

WINNER IS BLITZ!

1: Christ's Disciple.

Trixie: Did you not hear what Zeke just said? You can't bring in- *Suddenly, Rainbow Dash crashed on top of Trixie, making her angry* Okay, this has gone on long enough! *Uses her magic to make the hate poison disappear. It bein easier to handle than love poison* Are you two done?!

Fluttershy: Oh my... I'm really sorry Rainbow Dash! I didn't mean to fight you!

Dash: *flies off of Trixie and glares at her* What is your problem?!

Trixie: *doesn't care as she just uses her magic to throw Rainbow Dash into a wall* As I was saying, you can't have any of your OCs come into the intro. Not every pony that reads the story will know who it is. So only let the OCs that are completely accepted into the story can participate in dares. Besides, only dares that are acknowledged by us, or mentioned are to be shown in the intros.

Blitz: Wait mentioned? What do you mean mentioned?

Trixie: Like for instance, either me or Zeke saying a dare out loud, like explaining that the dare this review wants us to do includes Zeke turning into a pony and having us make-out...

Sent in from Christ's Disciple: I dare for Zeke to become a pony and then him and Trixie make out for at least a minute.

Trixie: *realizes what she just did* Oh no...

TRIXIE YOU IDIOT! *I yell in anger, glaring at her. While she covers up her mouth in desperation*

Dash: HA! You said it! That means you gotta do it!

Trixie: But...Wait I...I didn't mean to... GAH! Why couldn't we just get past this stupid intro?!

Blitz: Not so fun is it?! *Smirks in victory* Now get to it.

Trixie: *Groans* Why did I agree to be in this stupid intro?!

What do you mean 'agree'?! You tried to steal my intro from me!

Trixie: Oh just shut up and turn into a pony so we can get this over with! *rubs her face in annoyance, mad that now she had to do one thing she hated the most*

Fine... *Sigh* let's get this over with. *Uses author powers to turn into a pony. Turning into a unicorn with a laptop as a Cutie Mark. Also having a dark brown coat with a normal black mane/tail* Trixie, come on.

Trixie: Hold on! It's bad enough I have to kiss you, but can you not rush me-*stops rubbing her face and looks up, going wide-eyed as she sees Zeke as a pony. Blushing a little as well* Z-Zeke?...

Fine then come on. Let's just hurry this up so we can start the chapter.

Trixie: Y-yeah... *Comes over to where I am*

Dash: *watches how we awkwardly stand there, both of us not moving* Ugh, as much as it'd be hilarious to watch them at even shyer than Fluttershy, we have a chapter to start up! *Get behind Zeke and pushes him forward, making him and Trixie start kissing. Trixie's face turning more red than blue while Zeke was pretty much doing the same as well. But not for the same reason*

Blitz: Okay, let's end it! See you all next intro every pony!... On second thought, actually I hope I don't see you all next intro. No offense, but coming here is plain out infuriating!

Fluttershy: Y-yeah...

Dash: No kidding!

Swift: *starts waking up* Man, I hate dares...

Blitz: Well, enjoy the chapter every pony!Intro Area Decorations to Date: A very realistic sky with a sun in the middle, A baby pony-sized T-Rex with a top hat named Dino, the TARDIS, a giant golden statue of Stepony (Pony Stephano) who is wearing a Trixie shirt, a silver Lucario statue standing right next to Stepony, a baby ninja bear with a ninja mask and wooden katana named 'The Intelligent and Creative Theodore' (Theo), and a TV with a HayStation hooked up to it.

Disclaimer (As told by Trixie): Zeke does not own MLP. All he owns is this idea, Blitz, Dino, RJ, Theo, and anything else that he's personally created throughout the story. That not including the three background characters that belong to three of the readers that read this story!

---

Twilight's POV

Finally, after so long, we started to get to the end of the hoofprints. They had gone all the way around Ponyville like we thought and had now led inwards through a small street which didn't usually have that many ponies. Especially since every pony had been at the assembly about Mayor Mare by the time the thief got here.

"How much farther did this varmet run anyhow?" Applejack asked, getting tired of following their tracks.

"I don't know, but all this walking is not good. I think I'm sweating!" Rarity said in disgust, not liking all of this at all. And to be honest, I had to agree with her. With how obvious these tracks were, at this point I was ready to believe that this was a trap. Or at the very least, the thief knew that some pony was following.

"How far did this pony even go?" Rainbow Dash asked in boredom as we all kept following the tracks. Seeing how we were all slowing down after running nonstop.

"Well, according to the tracks the pony has been running the whole time. And with how the tracks have been made, they've been running rather quickly. And in no pattern at all. Which is odd for most ponies. Still, the tracks look almost the same as they did earlier. So that shows that they've been running at the same speed this whole time. Of course, the prints also look heavy for any normal pony. Unless they would be carrying something with them that's weighing them down. All of this shows, is that the pony we're following has great stamina and is carrying something with them." Fluttershy concluded. When she looked up to see us all though, she drew her head back and looked away shyly. "I um...Need to track animals...If they get lost...Sorry..." She told us, not liking all of the new found attention she was now getting.

"Fluttershy, that was amazing!" I complimented, truly astounded by her knowledge of tracking. But now knowing that we still had to find the attacker, I brought the subject back to tracking the pony before we got too caught up in what Fluttershy had told us. Besides, I don't think she would want all of that attention anyway.

"So where do you think the attacker might've ended up?" I asked before any pony else could speak up.

"Oh...Over there..." She said, pointing ahead of us as she looked at the ground to avoid all of us looking at her in amazement.

We all looked off in the direction she pointed towards and saw the tracks start to curve off to the side to reach a certain spot. This being the front of a building where the front door was, which was left wide-open with no other tracks showing that he left. Not to mention, we all heard what sounded like yelling inside. That yelling coming from Spike!

"Hey, didn't you hear me?! I said give it back! That's Twilight's!" He yelled out from inside the library, all of hearing it loud and clear.

"Spike!" I called out to him, rushing to the library to catch him. The others ran right behind me, wanting to help Spike keep the thief away from whatever he was stealing.

As soon as we got inside, we all turned to see Spike groaning in slight pain on top of a pile of books and a shelf, which was broken in half. Luckily, that wouldn't hurt Spike that much. If anything, it would only hurt him as much as one of us getting a few bee stings. So I was glad that's all that happened.

We all then turned our relieved faces into glares as we turned our heads to the other side of the room. Wanting to teach a lesson to whoever went as far as to hurt our friend. Only, when we saw just who it was, we were pretty surprised as to who the culprit was.

"Mr. S?" Applejack asked for us all in pure confusion.

"What's wrong with you?!" Rarity asked, furious at Mr. S for what he did. "What right do you have harming even a single scale on that precious little dragon's head?!" She asked, treating Spike as if he was a little colt that a bully just picked on.

"He was in my way." He answered with a deep, scary tone. Which none of us were expecting at all. The last and only time we met him; he kept his distance and remained quiet. Not wanting us to even see his face. Though now with a mask, we couldn't see his face now anyway. All we could see from his mask was that it was black as darkness, and that he had two white spots where his eyes would be. This almost looked to be glowing with the black mask that surrounded them. Even with it being day outside.

This begged another question. Why was he here anyway?! During the day the little filly that was his partner, Robin, was the one that went around. Yet, now at about two in the afternoon, here Mr. S was. Staring us down as he had a small satchel around his neck.

"Twilight! You guys need to stop him! He stole your Element of Magic!" Spike told me, his tail trapped under the shelf and some books.

"What?!" I asked in total shock. "Give it back Mr. S! That does not belong to you!" I told him, getting in a fighting stance as my magic started to spark.

"No." He said without any care, turning and opening the window behind him manually. "You don't want to fight." He said with his deep voice. And I had to admit, crept us out. So much so that a chill went down my spine.

Rainbow Dash answered for us though as she flew up and in the way of Mr. S. Sadly, that wasn't a good idea for to do. "Who do you think we are?! We're not letting you just walk away with one of the Elements of Harmony!" She yelled out at him.

He just sighed and shook his head in annoyance. "I didn't want to do this..." He said, stopping in his tracks. Not bothering to try and escape now.

That's when I saw his horn spark with electricity. And before I could even begin to warn the others, or question just what he was about to do, it was too late. A surge of electricity came from his horn, coming in contact with everything, and every pony, within the room.

Suddenly, all of our tails stuck straight up, as well as our manes. Not to mention, the pillow in the now broken case where the rest of the Elements were, a pillow and blanket that I could only assume Spike was using to nap on, all the quills, and anything else that could be effected by static electricity, starting going into the air. This also including our coats as well.

"WOAH!" All six of us yelled out in unison as we all flew into the air, connecting with the ceiling like a bunch of balloon from the large amount of static electricity. We then started being pushed away from Mr. S and into a corner of the ceiling stuck in whatever pose we were in, much like statues, before getting hit by the spell.

"Hey! I can't move!" Rainbow Dash complained, her wings stuck in place since even the feathers were effected by the static.

"MY MANE!" Rarity shrieked in utter terror. And since we were all right next to her without any way to block her shriek out, it hurt our ears a lot to say the least!

"I warned you all." Mr. S said, walking over to the middle of the room. Which simply made all of us get pushed tighter into the corner. He then looked down and saw something on the ground. Something that meant a lot to one of us. Something that a certain pony carried around with them wherever they went. Something that was like an icon to them.

"Saves me the trouble." He added with his menacing voice as he reached out and picked up Applejack's hat, putting it into the satchel along with my Element of Magic.

"Hey! You give that back right now! It ain't yours!" Applejack yelled, trying to move at least a little in attempt to catch Mr. S. But it was all in vain despite how hard any of us tried to get free.

"I'm using a magnetic field spell. It'll keep all of you a safe distance from me. Much like magnets." Mr. S told us, informing us at just what he had done.

"Ha!" I laughed out in victory. Now smiling at the mistake that he had just made.

"Something funny?" He asked without any emotion, that simple sentence being especially creepy and menacing.

"Yes actually!" I answered, the others looking towards me in hopes that I could get us out. Or, at least they tried to look my direction. It wasn't so easy since we were all facing different directions. "You just made a very bad mistake! I know all about magnetic field and gravity spells alike! So now, I can easily use my magic to cancel this out!" I told him, preparing my magic to stop the spell Mr. S used just now.

"Way ta go Twi!" Applejack cheered in victory, the others happy for the same reason. She then tried to look towards Mr. S, or at least tried, and spoke angrily. "Ya hear that Mr. S?! Yer magic ain't a match for Twilight's!"

After building up the spell, it not being very hard at all, I took a deep breath and released it. Sending a magical shockwave throughout the room so it would hit Mr. S. This being aimed to cancel out any natural magnetic fields created by other unicorns. And after the shockwave faded away after it hit the walls, I closed my eyes and smirked in victory.

"Uh... Twilight? Any time now would be great." I heard Rainbow Dash tell me impatiently, still annoyed about being stuck in the corner of the ceiling.

"Huh?!" I asked, opening my eyes to see that we were indeed all still in mid-air. Nothing happening. Not even a little cancelation of Mr. S's attack. "What's going on?! That spell should've negated yours!"

"I'm afraid not." He said, now leaving for the window. And jumping on the ceil of the window, he turned and reached into his pocket. "And my name isn't Mr. S... It's The Shadow." He told us, taking something out of his pocket and throwing it into the middle of the room. "As soon as I'm gone, you might want to check your stock Rarity." He said, jumping out the window and getting away without any of us chasing after him.

"Now whatever did he mean by-MY BOUTIQUE!" Rarity yelled out, realizing mid-sentence just what he meant by that. "OH, IF THAT INCONSIDERATELY RUDE RUFFIAN DARES GO INTO MY HOME, HE WILL VERY WELL LEARN NOT TO TEST THE WRATH OF RARI-TYYYYY!"

As Rarity finished shrieking in anger, right beside our ears I might add, she was cut off at the last moment by all of us falling to the ground. All thanks to 'The Shadow' getting out of the range I suppose.

"Rarity? Are you okay?" Spike asked in fear of her well-being, finally getting out from under that shelf and going over to Rarity. Helping her up and forgetting that the rest of us were here.

"Yes... At least, I will be once I know that my Boutique is safe from that mean-spirited unicorn, The Shadow." Rarity said with a nod.

"What about you Spike? Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked, having caught herself in the air before she fell onto the ground. You know, sometimes I wish I had wings too.

"Yeah I'm perfectly fine. I just got hit in the chest by a shot of lightning." He said, acting as if that was something minor! But after seeing all of our very worried and surprised faces, he raised an eyebrow at us. "What? You guys know I have thick scales. It didn't hurt nearly as much as it would've if I was a pony." He explained calmly, reminding us just how it didn't hurt him.

"Oh, right." I said, getting up. "Anyway, we still need to find 'The Shadow'. I don't know what, but something strange is definitely going on here…" I said, missing a few pieces of the puzzle. Why was some pony that had helped us out all this time, all of a sudden start to steal stuff? And not just that, but why did he only steal two things? Spike said that he stole the Element of Magic, but he didn't mention anything else.

Not only that, but he took Applejack's hat too. Even though it was worth a lot to Applejack, it wasn't really worth too much to any pony else. So just what did he need these items for anyway?

"Hey, Twilight! Look at this cool rock The Shadow left behind!" Pinkie said as she picked up the object The Shadow threw to the middle of the room.

"What's so cool about a rock? Looks like any old rock to me." Rainbow Dash said, un-amused by the rock Pinkie picked up.

"Hey, you take that back! Rocks can be very cool! Just look at Mister Party Rock here!" Pinkie said, pulling out a different rock that had a pair of those weird window shade sunglasses.

She then showed the first rock that The Shadow left over to us. "See?! It's really cool! It's carved out and everything!" She told me.

I took it with my magic and inspecting it closely, just barely able to see that it had been carved in a way that formed a word. I could see that the first letter was an 'S', but that was about it.

"Well, it's definitely interesting." I said as I set it on the table that was in the middle of the room. We'll worry about that later though. Right now, let's focus on the bigger task at hoof. We need to go to Rarity's to see just what he was talking about." I told them.

"Wait a second, so now we're just going to believe him! Didn't you see what he just did?!" Rainbow asked, not wanting to believe anything that The Shadow had told us.

"Maybe so, but it's the only thing we have to go on. So let's go ahead and go to the Boutique." I instructed, choosing that trusting him was the only option we had.

"I still don't know about this. How will we know if he isn't trying to trick us?" Rainbow Dash asked, still not convinced.

"Okay, then how about this. In case The Shadow is to come back here, Spike and some pony else can stay and keep a look-out? That way, if it is some sort of plan to take something else from here, then we'll have a back-up plan to stop him." I said, explaining my plan to them.

"I'll stay." Applejack volunteered. "Sides, if that no good thief comes back here I can introduce 'em ta two friends a mine." She said, talking about her hind legs to kick him unconscious for taking her hat.

"Alright. Good luck if he does come back you two. If anything else happens, then we'll let you two know about it." I told them, promising to keep them in the loop. I then turned to the others. "Alright every pony, let's hurry!" I told them, letting them go through the door first.

Before Pinkie did though, she grabbed the chiseled rock and put it into her frizzy mane before catching up to the others. I let her take it along with her, knowing that she knew how important it was and wouldn't try to lose it.

"I sure hope that this isn't some kind of trap." I said to no pony in particular as I followed the others out. Honestly, I wasn't so sure what might happen from this, or what might come of it. But all I knew is that we needed to get to the bottom of it. Soon.

---

Sweetie Belle's POV

Okay, so Rarity wasn't home right now. No problem! All that means is that I just have to look somewhere else right?! And I have the whole marketplace to find some pony who might want to buy a- Hey! There's some pony right now! I'll bet he'll want to buy a comic book!

Quickly rushing over to where he was, I saw that he was sitting under the shade of a tree. Relaxing as he ate a plate of cheese. But it didn't matter to me as I just smiled and acted calm. Not wanting to scare him off or anything.

But to be honest, he wasn't really that much of an approachable pony. But still, it wasn't that much to worry about. He was probably just having a bad day anyway, and maybe a comic was just the thing to cheer him up!

"Excuse me sir, but would you-"

"Forget it!" He said, snapping all of a sudden. "Why does every pony get me confused with him?! I'm not this 'Mr. S', whoever that is! I'm not going to sign an autograph, I'm not going to help get your little kitty down from a tree, and I won't take pictures with any pony! Nothing! Okay?!" He asked, obviously having gone through this again and again.

"But, I don't think you're The Shadow..." I said slowly, not wanting to make him angry. And I honestly didn't. If anything, this stallion could not possibly be The Shadow. Even if he was about the same size, was a unicorn as well, had a dark colored mane like him, or preferred staying in the shadows… Okay, so maybe he could be The Shadow. But it wasn't that much of a chance.

"Yeah, sure you didn't. If that's the case, then why are you here?" He asked, not believing me at all.

"Well, me and some of my friends are selling comics about The Shadow, and I wanted to try and sell one to you…" I said, frowning a little at the obvious answer. "Sorry I bothered you." I said with a very big frown, looking away as I started walking away.

After about five seconds, I heard him sigh and speak up. Having a little bit of guilt and annoyance mixed into his voice. "Fine, I'll buy one of your comics." He said, giving up at being angry towards me.

I then perked up immediately and ran back over, the cart right behind me. "You will?!" I asked, making sure that he was serious and all.

"Sure." He said levitating a comic out of the wagon. "Besides, it'll help me figure out just why every pony thinks I'm some loser in a mask." I heard him mumble to himself before pulling a few gold bits out of his pocket. "So how much is it exactly?"

"Three silver bits!" I told him excitedly; glad to have gotten my first sale. Even though I wasn't selling the comic book to my sister Rarity. Oh well, I'll get one for her if I can't find her. I sure wouldn't want her to miss out on the comic!

"Wait, only three silver bits?" He asked in confusion. He then flipped through a few of the pages and raised an eyebrow. "You really think that's all the bits you can get from this?" He asked me.

"Well… Yeah! Seems like a fair price anyway! Why, is it too much?" I asked him with a frown.

"You're kidding right? The pictures are decent enough, it actually doesn't look as childish as I thought it would be just at first glance, especially with the dark alley fight scene picture which seemed pretty compelling, and it has a good amount of pages in here to make it seem pretty well paced. Again at first glance… You're under-selling it." He told me, telling me about the comic we had spent our entire time making. That being from about six in the morning when were woken up, to about ten minutes ago when we left the news room. That making around… Nine hours of work.

But I guess he did have a point. Five silver bits was the price of a gold bit, and some ponies sometimes didn't even have silver bits on them. So much so that whenever some pony said 'one bit' they meant gold bits. "So if that's under-selling it then… What should I sell it for?" I asked him, curious as to what he thought.

"Hmm… Well, if it has even a little potential… I'd say one gold bit would be a good price. Here," He said, levitating a gold bit into my hoof. "Consider that. If you don't, every pony else might as well be cheating you out of the money." He told me, going back to where he was sitting earlier and keeping the comic in the aura of his magic.

"Uh, thanks?" I said, confused as to if I should've thanked him or not. Honestly, it didn't sound like he had told me all of this to help, so it wasn't all clear to me.

"Just consider that my apology for yelling at you earlier." He said, getting another piece of cheese to eat.

"Alright then… Hope you like the comic!" I said, going ahead to leave before he tried to ask for his money back for not liking the comic.

Still, curiosity made me turn after walking away to see if he had started reading the comic or not. And to my enjoyment, he had already opened it. And seeing his eyebrows raised in slight surprise at the detailed drawings, not to mention that he was looking at just the picture itself on the first page for more than just a few seconds, showed me that he actually liked the dark lit pictures in the story.

I smiled and continued on towards the marketplace, ready to sell the other nine. And maybe it would be just as easy to sell the rest of them. For one gold bit each!

---

Rainbow Dash's POV

Finally when we all got to Rarity's Boutique, we looked outside and saw as the front door was wide-open. Just as before. The only difference was that no pony was home.

"Why, I don't understand…" Rarity said as she walked outside of the Boutique with a puzzled look on her face. "Some pony was definitely inside of my humble shop, given that everything was ransacked, but nothing appears to be stolen." She told us.

"Nothing at all?" Twilight asked, wondering if Rarity was sure on that part.

"Well, nothing that I can tell anyway. All of my fabrics are there, and any dresses that I am currently working on are untouched as well." She told us with a shrug. "Although, I did find a carved rock similar to the one found at your library, Twilight." She told Twilight, levitating over a rock that Pinkie intercepted. She then put into her mane along with the other rock.

"The Shadow never took all that much except for the Element of Magic and AJ's hat. And both those items were either important or meaningful to us. So that being said, what do you have that is important or meaningful that he might've taken?" Twilight asked, the rest of us trying to help Rarity figure it out.

"All of my dresses are both essential and dear to my heart, but they were left alone… Wait a moment! Dear to my heart… OH NO!" She yelled out in realization, running back into her shop. The rest of us in pursuit to see just what she had discovered.

But it didn't take long to catch up to her as she just went into the front of her store, going over to a mirror and opening it up, the mirror being a secret a secret panel that hid a back room. This had surprised the rest of us as we had never seen it before.

"IT'S GONE!" Rarity yelled out, levitating a small decorative chest into the air and looking into it carefully. Almost as if she'd spot whatever she was looking for in the corner of it.

"What's gone?" I asked her, just as confused as the others.

"The Fire Ruby Necklace! The same one Spikey-Wikey had so generously given me!" She yelled out in complete shock and terror that they had found it. "But how?! This room was so well hidden! And the only other pony that knew that this was here was…Oh, I feel so violated!" Rarity yelled out in distress, starting to break out into tears as she put her hoof to her forehead dramatically. This going a little overboard, even though she had just been stolen from.

I shook my head at all of this as I got angry that they were now ahead of us, making fun of us at this point. But as I did, I saw something that showed us a way to catch up with them.

"Hey, look at these marks!" I said, getting all of their attention. "It looks like more tracks!" I said, looking at them some more.

But instead of them being hoof prints, they were skid marks. "It looks like they head out my back door." Rarity said, having us all look to see that it did head off towards the back of her room. Only, it didn't head to the back door. Instead, it went in the kitchen and out the window.

That didn't stop me as I just flew through the open window, not letting that detail keep me from following the tracks.

What I didn't expect is that the tracks were suddenly gone. Once the tracks led to the open window, they just stopped. There wasn't even one inch of a skid mark anywhere. Instead, whatever was leaving the marks vanished or something.

"Rainbow Dash, where do the marks lead outside?!" Twilight asked me, yelling up to me since I was in the air looking around this side of the Boutique for a sign of anything.

"No, the tracks are missing!" I yelled back to her, flying over to the window.

"Missing?! That's impossible, tracks like that can't have just disappeared!" Twilight said in disbelief. She then turned to Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, you're good at tracking! Tell us where they went!" She told her.

"Oh, I-I'm not really sure either…" She said timidly. "The tracks show that whatever left the skid marks was heavy, but if the tracks just stopped without any signs of stopping, or any of the grass below being disturbed…" She looked to me to make sure that the grass below was untouched.

After swopping down and seeing that there was no bent grass blade or hoof print in the ground, I flew back up and shook my head no. "Then… I don't know. Sorry…" She told us, having no answers.

"Well, there's no signs of them teleporting either. If they moved while teleporting, then there would be some marks for that too." I told them, ruling out that option.

I frowned in anger, mad that we had lost The Shadow again. And before I could yell anything out in anger, I was stopped by a colt's voice. "Excuse me. You got a minute Rainbow Dash?"

I turned around, the others crowding the window to see that Rumble was flying over towards me, a small wagon with a few comics left in it. Four as far as I could see.

"Oh Rumble, what's up?" I asked, looking towards him. Wondering just what he was up to.

"Well, me and a few of my friends are- wait, Rarity have you seen your sister yet?" Rumble suddenly asked, turning towards her.

"Not since she left to go to a slumber party with Scootaloo and Applebloom. Why, has something happened?" Rarity asked. Wait a second, Scootaloo never said anything about a sleepover when I saw her in Ponyville this morning!

"No, but I think she wanted to sell one of the comics all of us made. Me, Featherweight, Button Mash, and Sweetie Belle all came together and made them." He told us. "It's about The Shadow." He told us.

"The Shadow?! Are you serious?!" I asked in anger. "There's no way that we'll-"

"Take all of them. But I'll go ahead and buy one myself. That way we can have one, and Sweetie Belle can still buy one for Rarity." Twilight told Rumble with a fake smile, faking how she wanted one.

"Great! It's only three silver bits!" Rumble said, flying over.

"All I have are gold bits so go ahead and just keep the change." She said, giving him a gold bit in exchange for one of the comics.

"That's weird. Every pony keeps giving me a gold bit for every comic. Even though I tell them that it's only three silver bits... Oh well, I'm not complaining! Thank you!" Rumble said, leaving in a hurry to find some pony else to sell a comic to. I wonder why that is.

"So why did you want a comic anyway?!" I asked, a little angry that she even considered it. "Tell me you don't plan on keeping it!"

"Rainbow Dash, don't you see what this is? This comic book is based off of The Shadow and Robin!" She said, flipping through some of the pages. "And it actually explains a lot of things we've seen. Proving without a doubt that this comic has it's facts straight. Not to mention, the drawings are actually pretty good! I wonder what influenced them to only sell it for three silver bits?" Twilight asked to herself, heading inside.

I rolled my eyes and went back inside through the window to get into the kitchen with them. And as I went in, Fluttershy spotted something.

"Um girls... There's another small rock." Fluttershy said in a slightly creeped out whisper, pointing towards a third carved up rock that was on Rarity's kitchen table. Right besides a candle stick that was lit standing off-center and a two hooves in length away from the small rock. Only, there was a reason for it, and we could all see it.

The shadow from the rock was ever so lightly there. Making us notice that we could almost make out what the rock was chiseled to say. The shadows had a few spaces throughout it to make letters start to appear. Only, there was a few problems with reading it. Because of the light from outside, we couldn't see the shadow very well. Not to mention, from where the rock and candle flame was, the letters were all crooked and meshed together. Keeping us from reading the letters, although we could notice them.

"This is very clever!" Twilight mused, amazed by the rocks. "Not to mention, it fits in well with his name too!" She said with a smile. "Pinkie? Can we see the other rocks? I want to try something." She instructed Pinkie.

"Okey-Dokey-Lokey!" Pinkie Pie said with a smile, pulling out the rocks from her mane and putting them down.

"Good, now Rarity? Could you close the blinds to the window? We need to block out any other light." Twilight told her, explaining why it had to be done too.

"I understand." Rarity nodded reassuringly, using her magic to levitate the blinds closed. Leaving all five of us in the dark room with only the candle being used as light. Not to mention, a little light from Twilight's magic as she moved the candle and rocks a little. Positioning the candle to be aimed towards the wall. At least, as much as possible anyway.

Twilight then levitated the rock in front of the candle, making the shadow cast off onto the floor and wall ahead. And even though it was made by The Shadow, I had to admit that it was pretty awesome! Except that the word that was shown from the shadow had freaked all of us out. Especially me.

"Rainbow's." Twilight read out loud. I knew that it meant my name and not a normal rainbow, but it still was freaky all the same. Twilight then put the rock back, seeing all of our faces. "It's fine every pony. I'm sure that it doesn't mean Rainbow Dash." She tried reassuring us as she picked up the next rock. But we all knew that she was only saying that to calm our nerves.

Sadly for her, the next rock got rid of any doubt about it talking about my name. Not only that, but it now made me terrified about what this was supposed to be about. Not only that, but I was the first one to read the shadow out loud.

"Sister's House." I read, gulping in fear about just what this was about. The others were worried too, but not as much as me. With those two rocks, I didn't know what to think at this point.

Twilight, not having anything else to say either, went ahead and put that rock back silently. Not wanting to say anything else that would be proven wrong with the last rock. But at least the last rock wasn't as bad as the others.

"Tonight." Rarity read for us, the rest of us still deep in thought, or scared about what this was all about. "Rainbow's Sister's House. Tonight." She said, reading the whole message in one go.

Hearing all of it, I knew that I couldn't let any of this happen. So getting focused, I came up with a plan. "Okay, there is no way we're gonna let Mr. S or The Shadow, or whatever his name is, get to Scootaloo! We need to stop him before anything else happens!" I yelled out, now ready to kick some bad superhero flank.

"Rainbow Dash, I know that you want to keep Scootaloo from getting hurt, but we won't be able to take on The Shadow. Not without getting a plan together." Twilight told me, shooting down my idea of just taking The Shadow on.

"Okay, well how do you think we're gonna take down the anti-superhero?" I asked her, not convinced that she would have any ideas.

But even though I was right about Twilight having no idea, that didn't stop Rarity as she gasped and spoke up "IDEEEEAAAAA!" She yelled out in glee, going back over to her secret window panel.

We all followed, wondering just what her plan was. But we were answered pretty quickly as we saw two costumes directly in front of us. Two costumes that I'll admit. I hated.

The Mare Do-Well Costumes.

"Luckily, I couldn't dare part with my fabulous design choice when creating the Mare Do-Well outfits! So, I kept two them, despite your wishes Rainbow Dash. Sorry..." She said with a sad smile.

I sighed in annoyance a little, but I had to admit that it was a good thing she did that. "It's fine. So, now what?" I asked, wanting to stop talking about Mare Do-Well sooner or later.

"Well, go ahead and bring Applejack over here. Seeing as how one's an Earth Pony costume, while the other is a Unicorn one, me and her will have to use them. But that should be more than enough to stop The Shadow. Especially since it'll take a while for nightfall." Twilight explained to us.

"Not to mention, it'll give me time to make the design a little more updated." Rarity added, not seeing the real problem here. And seeing our bored expressions, she looked right back at us with a small frown. "What? Capes and hats with spandex are out of style. And without a cape or hat, I need to put in a design that will make up for the lack of any detail other than color." Rarity defended, making us all roll our eyes or shake our heads.

"I'll go ahead and get Applejack." I said, flying out of the window and back to the library, ready to take on The Shadow. And boy is he in for it!

---

Later That Day (night)

The Shadow's POV

"Are you sure that this was all a good idea?" Robin asked me as we both sat around a campfire I had made with my magic by shooting a shot of lightning at the fire to light it.

"What part? Stopping the thieves?" I asked, not understanding her question. We had done so many things that were a little out there with safe and smart, so it was hard to narrow down.

"No, leaving those hints? They're gonna find us." She told me, still just looking at the fire. And even with the mask on, I could tell that there was one pony out of them all that she didn't want mad at her.

"That's the plan. If they don't find us, we'll be trapped doing whatever she tells us. So we need them to find us in order to help us stop her." I reminded her, both of us knowing that there was no other way.

After a good half minute of silence, I could tell that she didn't know what to think anymore. Ironically enough since we're heroes and all, or at least ex-heroes, we didn't sign up for any of this. But to try and change the subject, I looked to the comic book we had gotten our hooves on from one of the foals. I had been able to get one myself from Sweetie Belle, but I lost it after tripping over a ditch with my reckless running.

"Seems like those foals made a really great comic huh? Wonder if any pony's gonna want it after they find out what's happened." I said, changing the subject to the comic.

"Yeah, it is pretty good. It's actually really action-packed too. I just wish that we could've kept being heroes…" She said in a frown.

I frowned again behind my own mask, sad that I couldn't cheer her up. I was never really that good at being sentimental, so I guess that meant that I wasn't helping her.

And before I could think of something else that would cheer her up, we heard a rustling in the bushes. We both immediately looked towards the bushes as we stood up, putting the comic a safe distance from the fire so it wouldn't be burned or anything.

"Come out!" Robin yelled, both of us knowing exactly who was there.

And just to help prove us right, they all came out. Every single one of them. Two of them were in costumes that Robin could identify right away while I was left clueless.

"Mare Do-Well…" She said quietly, only loud enough for me to hear over the crackling of the fire.

"What have you done with Scootaloo?!" Rainbow Dash asked, flying a little above the two costumed mares. Rarity and Pinkie Pie were to the right of the Mare Do-Wells, while Fluttershy and Spike were on the left.

But we didn't answer them, knowing that question couldn't just be answered with a sentence or two. Instead, we knew that this was going to be a fight so we got ready as we planned.

I charged up a small bolt of electricity and fired it right at the tip of Robin's horn, letting her hold the electricity herself along with some of my own that I recreated. This letting both of us build it up as the seven ahead of us got a little wary. Fluttershy, Rarity, and Spike backing up a little to try and stay out of the way of the fight that was about to break out, while Rainbow Dash and the Mare Duo-Wells stepped forward. Getting ready to fight us themselves.

But we weren't about to let that happen. Instead, after both of us building up our electricity, we fired a continuous blast of lightning in between us and them, making a ball of static start to form and grow. And once it was the size of Robin herself, that's when the three of them start coming in to stop us.

Sadly for them, we had already gotten enough time. We both then shot one final strong blast of electricity at the static orb, making it grow in size tremendously. Expanding to the size of a small arena, enveloping me and Robin, along with Mare Duo-Wells.

As for Rainbow Dash and the others, they didn't pass through the static orb surrounding all four of us. Instead, they were all pushed back and against the edge of the arena. Being forced to watch or leave since they couldn't get through no matter what.

Spike, not being affected by the static either since he was all scales, got out of the orb himself. Going over to help the others get up since he would just be getting in the way of fighting us.

That just left the four of us to fight. One of the mares being a unicorn while the other was an earth pony. And seeing that Twilight and Applejack were missing from the group, we filled in the blanks pretty quick.

"Uh… What did you do with Scoota- I mean…The filly that lives here?!" Twilight asked, trying to make her voice very deep to hide who she was.

"Yeah! And answer uh…Very quick like! Else, we reckon we're gonna have ta stop ya!" Applejack told us, trying to fake an even thicker accent than the one she already had. It was almost as if a stereotypical snob was making fun of an even more stereotypical snob's accent. It was stupid and confusing in so many ways!

This was enough to break Robin's focus and drop to the ground laughing, along with Pinkie Pie and Spike too, as they hadn't expected them to do that.

Me on the other hoof, I just face hoofed and told them straight up. "Drop it. We know it's you Twilight and Applejack." I told them, using my menacing and deep voice perfectly.

"Wha-what ya be talkin' bout?!" Applejack asked, not breaking her act, even though it was clear to every pony else that we knew who she was. "We ain't ever heard a them two!"

"Yes! We have not!" Twilight backed her up, not breaking her act either. "We have not come to provide small-talk! We have come to defeat you!"

I rolled my eyes behind my mask and looked to Robin, who was still laughing like crazy. Although she was at least standing up now. "Robin, are you done?" I asked her.

She shook her head to try and focus again, taking a deep breath for extra measure too. She then got back in a fighting stance. "Yes Shadow. I'm fine now. But, how come those two didn't fly out of the static orb too?"

"Because their costumes are most likely spandex. Much like ours." I told her, explaining it.

"And now we are going to make you stay away from the filly you were planning to capture! Right now!" Twilight told us with her stupid deep voice as they started running towards us.

Me and Robin switched places real quick, putting her in front of Applejack and me in front of Twilight. This way, it was fairer. Robin then got out her foldable scooter from her back using it to stop Applejack from bucking her in the face.

I on the other hoof simply fired a blast of lightning towards Twilight, careful for it not to hurt her of course. But sadly since she had on the Mare Do-Well costume, the lightning literally just deflected off of it and was sent into the static orb around us, getting absorbed by it so no pony outside of it would get hit.

And since it didn't hurt her, she was able to fire a blast of magic at me, sending me back a few feet and onto the ground. This gave her enough to make her way over and pin me to the ground.

"HA! Do you have any last words Shadow?!" Twilight asked, thinking she won. But she forgot about something as I slowly put my hoof to her chest. And in one second, my hoof had basically flown her ten feet away from me.

After having my hoof come back after stretching it ten feet, I stood up and got ready to try and fight back. Knowing my magic was a waste of time that left me to fight her in other ways.

Robin on the other hoof had a harder time. Since she couldn't create her own magic, this left her to only use her scooter, Razor, to defend herself.

Surprisingly enough that was more than enough to help defend herself. For every attack that Applejack brought forward, Robin was able to avoid or deflect it while using the scooter. Whether it meant riding it, using it as a stand, or even using it to block attacks, Robin was able to keep up. But she was still starting to get worn out.

As for me, it was a total stalemate. For every attack that Twilight used, I could only dodge or get hit. And with my electric magic unable to do anything, I had no way to fight. At least directly.

And that's what gave me the idea. I can't hit her with lightning, but the shockwave from hitting the ground can!

So after getting hit by one last magical blast, I fired a shot of lightning at the ground beneath Twilight, making the shockwave hit her and send her flying to the edge of the static orb around us.

At the same time, Robin had finally found an opening. So using the small engine in the scooter, she rocketed forward and collided with Applejack. Sending her on top of Twilight in defeat as well.

By the time that was over, after dodging all the attacks and sending them back, we were exhausted. Robin slid to the ground with her scooter idling right next to her, while all of my electricity was drained from the attacks and the static shield. Making it die out too. Letting all the others that had just been watching get over to Applejack and Twilight, helping them up.

Seeing how all of them now had nothing stopping them from fighting us, I knew that we had to get out of there. So, I made my way to my hooves and stretched my hoof over to Robin's scooter. Holding onto it as she made her way onto it.

"Give up Shadow! You're not getting away that easily!" Twilight said, taking off the mask finally. I guess at this point even she knew that the disguise was pointless.

But I didn't care what she said as I got my last trick ready. My tails. The most notable thin about me, besides my creepy eyes, was that I had two tails that were much like fox tails. And yes, one of them was fake if you wanted to know.

But because I had good control over both of them, I was able to make them start spinning like propellers. This made me start to go up into the air, with Robin and her scooter in tow.

And it worked too! I was at least ten feet in the air and had now started to fly away from them, leaving them in awe. It looked like we were actually gonna get away!

"Oh no you don't!" But almost as if she had read my thoughts, Rainbow Dash flew up and tackled me out of the air, making me come crashing into the ground with a mare right on top of me. This just adding to the pain of all those magical shots I had taken.

"Now let's see who you really are!" Rainbow Dash announced, reaching for my mask. I shook my head as quickly as I could, not able to talk since the wind had been knocked out of me. But it was too late as she got to my mask and ripped it off. Revealing to every pony just who I was.

"BLITZ!" They all yelled out after a symphony of gasps.

"Yeah…Hi guys…" I said out of breath, barely able to breath. But at least Rainbow Dash jumping off of me in utter shock was helping me catch my breath as I started to get up. My horn still making it hard for me to lift my head up since it was so heavy.

I then made my way out of my costume, letting my wings out as well. And oh man, were they sore! Keeping them inside the suit was a horrible choice, and they hurt so much!

"But…But your…And when did…Oh, this is so confusing…" Twilight said, not able to make any sense of this at all.

But what came next shocked them even more. Robin then stood up and when they all looked at her. Seeing that all attention was now on her, she went ahead and took off her mask to reveal to all of them that she was indeed,

"SCOOTALOO?!" They all yelled, now even more confused than they were before.

"WHAT?!" Rainbow Dash asked in complete shock. "But when did, but you never, and the horn…WHAT THE HAY'S GOING ON HERE?!" Rainbow Dash asked, looking at me to demand an answer.

"I can explain." I told them, making them all look to me. "And I'll give the short version since it's a very long story. You see after getting to Appleloosa, I asked if there was a cave or something that I could practice in. And going there, I met some of the local wildlife around Appleloosa. And after that run in, I found something pretty cool and needed to come home to show all of you guys. But after coming home on the very next train, I wanted to surprise you guys." I told them. This explaining just how I got back.

"Okay… But where does Scootaloo come in?" Rainbow Dash asked me, curious about that.

"I can answer that." Scootaloo said walking up, wanting to explain it herself in hopes for Rainbow Dash not being mad at her.

"You see, after Misty Glance took my scooter, I went somewhere that I knew no pony would be to try and just calm down. So I went to the train station. And with no pony around, I was the only one that saw Blitz. But it looked like he didn't want to be seen for some reason, so I hid from him. And after it was night time, I saw him again walking around at night towards Twilight's house. That's when we saw the thieves. Blitz had used some of the stuff he learned from being in Appleloosa to stop them, but he ran in to me since I followed him. Not wanting you guys to see me, he ran off." Scootaloo explained.

"Okay, it's starting to make sense." Twilight said, putting it all together. "So you put on the disguises to keep us from finding out who were, along with the fake horns to help hide the fact even more right?" She asked, wanting to be sure.

"Well you're only half right." I told them, leading them to getting really confused. "Just watch. Pinkie, do you have a-"

"A storm cloud cupcake! Order up!" She said, somehow coming from behind me. I didn't question it as I took it and took a bite of it, absorbing the electricity. I then focused on making the electricity gather at the tip of my horn and fired a shot of lightning at a nearby cloud. Making the tip of my horn smoke up.

Seeing all their shocked faces, I laughed a little. "Don't worry, the horns just metal. Not real." I assured them, making them calm down a little. That's when I pulled out the bottle of goo we had been using all this time on the thieves. "This is the stuff I found at Appleloosa that made me come back so early. It's Appleloosan Snake Venom."

"Snake Venom?!" Twilight asked, very disturbed.

"Yeah. Turns out in the caves around Appleloosa are some snakes that spit venom at you. And it's like instant-cement. Once something comes in contact with it, it's not coming apart." I told them. "Completely safe to touch though." I told them.

"And that's what's keeping our horns like this!" Scootaloo added. She then pulled out a small canteen and poured the water on her horn, making it fall right off. "The only way for the venom to stop sticking is with water or something! And, it doesn't stick to glass! So we keep tons of it in small bottles like these!" She said, showing them the small glass bottle full of snake venom.

"Yeah... Sadly for me, I have to get this horn off a different way." I told them, spitting into my hoof and wiping it on the base of my horn. This making it come off.

"Ewww...That's just unsanitary!" Rarity told me.

"It's better than pouring oil or milk on my head." I told her, making her have no choice but to agree. "And since it's metal, it can conduct electricity. Letting me use fake magic. Only, it has some bad side-effects..."

"Like what?" Twilight asked.

"Well it makes me too top-heavy to fly straight, and it's too heavy for Scootaloo to use her wings at all. It takes a lot of electricity to use, and drains me pretty fast if I use too much of it at once. Which isn't good. And lastly, taking it off hurts like crazy. It feels like prying an octopus tentacle off your face."

"Wait, you've had that happen to you too?!" Pinkie Pie asked, looking at me in curiosity.

"Uh... What?" I asked, not sure how to respond to that.

"But, what about you trying stealing all our stuff? And attacking Mayor Mare?... If you don't mind answering that is." Fluttershy asked in confusion.

"Yeah. Why did ya do that?" Applejack asked, eyeballing me like I might've done that because I was actually evil or something.

"I believe that I can answer that." We heard from behind even me and Scootaloo. Making us turn around to see,

"MAYOR MARE?!" We all asked in shock. And as she walked towards us from behind a tree where she had been this whole time, she walked with an ice pack on top of her head. Still hurt from the incident earlier.

"Ow... Please every pony, not so loud. My head still hurts from that plant falling on me." She said, flinching from our yelling.

"What are you doing outside of the hospital? You can't be fine right now after that giant plant falling on you." I said calmly, running over to help her over to the others.

"It's not as bad as you two will be by tomorrow." She told us, accepting my help as she made her way over to the others. "That's why I wanted to talk to you this afternoon, before the desk gave away." She told us. Mayor Mare then turned towards the others that had come here to fight us. "And to clear things up, Robin and The Shadow didn't do anything wrong. The legs on the side of the desk had been sabotaged."

"Sabotaged?!" They all asked in unison, not very shocked.

"Yes. They were sawed to the point where me walking into the right spot would make it give out. Falling onto a floor board that had been loosened. With a potted plant on the other end of it, positioned to be sent flying onto the pony that set off the trap. The target being me." She told us. "And I know just who it was too." She told us. Of course, me and Scootaloo had already known that much.

"Who is it?" Fluttershy asked worriedly.

"The same pony that hired the thieves. The same pony that had been wanting to get revenge on me and Scootaloo and tricked us into doing her dirty work. The same pony who issued the curfew and had aimed it at you seven. Misty Glance." I told them. "Finding out who we were, Misty said that if we didn't do what she said, then she would use her power to outlaw scooters and other toys like that in Ponyville. Forcing Scootaloo to have to leave Ponyville just to use her scooter." I told them, filling them in. "And when she threatened Scootaloo's freedom with that, it forced us both to do whatever she said."

"But why did Misty Glance do all of that? For what reason did could she possibly have?" Rarity asked.

"Simple. She wanted to be mayor. She's power-hungry and will stop at nothing. And by hiring thieves and have them do enough damage, she could ask another town or even go straight to Princess Celestia and ask for some money to create some kind of law enforcement." Mayor Mare told them. "And that night when the curfew was put in place, I wanted to come and try and see just what other way it could be avoided. That's when I saw Scootaloo and Blitz. I asked for their help, and they agreed. Putting on disguises to keep from Misty or any pony else finding out it was them."

"So, this was all planned out from the beginning? And you all wouldn't tell us any of it? Why?" Twilight asked us, trying to understand it.

"Since you six had stopped so many other disasters before, she wanted to make sure you didn't stop this one. So, she kept a close eye on all of you. Giving us no chance to tell you." Mayor Mare told them. But that's when she turned to us. "But there's a problem. As she thought I was unconscious as the other two in the room left, she went over her plans. And before I actually blacked out, I heard her say how she planned to turn you two in to become mayor herself." She informed us.

"So we're doomed either way..." I said to myself. "If we try to stop her, she'll expose us. If we do what she says, we'll be turned in as criminals." I said, frowning to myself. "There really is no way we can avoid this..." I said, having no idea how to stop this.

"I wouldn't say that..." Twilight said, making us now look towards her. "Because now, you have us to help you out." She said with a smile, showing that she had a plan.

"And what exactly can 'Mare Do-Well' do?" I asked, looking towards her in curiosity. Scootaloo doing the same.

"It's not something that Mare Do-Well can do. But what four thieves can do." She said, smiling a little more at what she had said.

But instead of making us confident in her plan, me, Scootaloo, and the mayor just all looked at each other in confusion. Wondering just what Twilight was thinking. As were the others. But still, it didn't matter as Twilight explained it anyway. Telling each and every one of us her plan. And soon enough, we all started to know just what her plan was, as well as get excited for it. This was going to be one interesting speech tomorrow.

---

The Next Day

Mayor Mare's POV

"And that is why ladies and gentlecolts, that I want you to understand just why Mayor Mare's authority should run it's source! Not only has she had this position for too long, but she is slipping as a mayor!"

With multiple mixed reactions screaming through the audience that had collected in front of the stage, listening to the nonsense Misty Glance had been telling them, I simply frowned. All she had done, all of what Ponyville and I had to struggle through. All for control over a town she didn't care about. She only wanted to be mayor to say that she had the power of it all.

Something that I would not stand for. And her trying to incapacitate me wasn't going to stop her. Even if it did lead to me having a splitting headache.

"I know that you're all a little unsure about it, but I'm afraid it's the only decision! Mayor Mare won't recover in time, and we'll need a new mayor to fulfill her position! So that means that I'll have to-"

"Stop this crazy assembly." I spoke up, walking up to the stage stairs. Climbing up them to face Misty Glance myself.

"Wh-what?!" Misty Glance asked, caught off-guard in every way. And just seeing her surprised face was a new experience since she was always so stone-faced. It was like she had no emotion or feelings except annoyed.

"I'm sorry, did you expect me to just sit at home while you tried to take my job?" I asked her, the audience cheering about my return. And I would've given them one of my thankful and kind smiles if it wasn't for the fact that their cheering kept me from doing that. I really hope I remember to only put in small plants next time.

"W-well I... I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about." She said, quickly stopping herself from giving it all away.

"Of course you don't, how silly of me." I said, walking up to the stage. Trying my best to keep from my pain from showing. "But anyway, there is something I wanted to address to you all today before you continued your everyday activities." I told them, being calm and collected about it all.

"You see every pony, with all that has been going on, I've noticed that some pony has requested something from the Princess." I said, sending a very quick glance to Misty Glance to show her that I had found out about it. "A request to have some money for us to use on getting our own small law enforcement." I told them, sharing the news Misty didn't want them to know about yet.

"But what about The Shadow?" Some pony from the audience asked, having learned about his true disguise name.

"Wait! There he is!" Some pony else yelled out from the crowd. Making me go wide-eyed as I tried to see for myself. Caught way off-guard from this because it wasn't part of the plan at all!

"For the last time, I'M NOT THE SHADOW!" A unicorn with a dark colored coat yelled out in anger. Which I had recognized as one of the recent citizens, Ember Shade. "Forget this, I'm leaving this assembly!" He yelled out, leaving the crowd and walking off somewhere else in town.

I sighed in relief silently as I continued on with my signature calm and collected smile. "Actually speaking of, I have something about The Shadow that I'd like to share with all of you." I told them, knowing that all of them would stay silent about that. Even Misty Glance, who at this point just sat at the sidelines.

"Yes. You see, I'm afraid that we won't be seeing them here anymore." I told them, not sugarcoating it.

After sharing that little bit of information, there was mumbling throughout the audience. Each of them very confused as to why he had left. Some of them were even worried as to what was going on now. In fact, I could've sworn I heard a few mares hearts get broken as they whined in annoyance that he had left. So much for staying quiet. Still, I only nodded in fake disappointment as I played along.

"What do you mean that he just left?" Misty Glance asked, not liking that news at all.

"I'm afraid that he thought that Ponyville was safe once again and left it in our hooves." I told her, giving her a frown as I knew that this cut into her plans.

"He thought it was that safe?" She asked, not liking that news at all by the sound of it.

"Yes. Completely safe in every possible way." I told her with a nod.

"And did Robin leave too?" A young colt with a spinning hat on his head asked, sounding disappointed about that fact.

"I'm afraid so little colt. I'm sorry." I told him with a frown, actually sad because of how let down he appeared.

"But-but... No, why would he just leave?" I heard Misty Glance mumble to herself, only me able to hear her.

"Haven't you been listening? It's completely safe now. Unless you think that more thieves might be coming." I said to her, turning towards her with my left hoof hitting the stage a little more forcefully than a regular step. This being the sign for them to go on with the plans.

---

Blitz's POV

"Okay, there's the signal." Twilight whispered to me after Spike ran to a spot where we could see him and waved at us. With him hiding under the stage, he just had to wait for Mayor Mare's signal, then tell us when.

"Got it. Just wait here." I told them, putting the mask on. I then ran off towards where they were keeping the thieves, ready to play bait. Scootaloo staying in the group of ponies listening to Mayor Mare and Misty Glance to activate the next part of the plan. Along with some of the others.

So that left me getting the thieves. Which lucky enough for me, were all unguarded. Never thought I'd say this, but thank Celestia for no security! At least now I won't have to worry about losing any law enforcement while I break the thieves out.

Where they were was simple. Fluttershy had a few of her birds fly around to look for where they were. And luckily enough, they were just in multiple cells behind City Hall, where no pony really went. Or were 'permitted' to go, as per Misty Glance's rule. Still, with no security stopping me, I jumped right over the fence. Having to use my propeller tails since I was in the costume, despite not having my horn with me.

Upon getting inside, they all saw me and jumped in fright. But after seeing that I hadn't made a move to fight them, they just started glaring. "So you're the pony who got us all locked up huh?!" One of them, I assumed the leader, asked me.

I just remained quiet as I looked at each of them, reaching into my costume pocket to get a small storm cloud cupcake I had with me. I then absorbed it, learning from practice as 'The Shadow' that I didn't exactly have to eat it when I could just make contact with it like I did a normal storm cloud.

And after absorbing it, I got out small glass bottles of the sticky snake venom. Making them all look at me in either fear or confusion. "W-what do you plan to use that for?!" The leader asked, scared since he knew just what it would do.

But the second he finished closing his mouth, I threw the bottle right at him. Making it break against one of the bars of the cage. But the splash of the liquid from inside the bottle still got to his face. Gluing his mouth shut.

I then used my lightning reflexes, pun intended, to throw the other three bottles at the others, gluing their mouths shut as well. No matter what they did, they couldn't get it off. And just to make sure they didn't stick their hooves to their mouths, I threw a few small pieces of fabric at them, courtesy of Rarity's Boutique.

And seeing their angry faces, I went ahead and started the next part of the plan. I unlocked their cages by just simply hitting the old and rusted locks with my metal hoof. Breaking each lock with ease. For added measure of making sure that they would keep chasing me, I got out an ordinary cupcake that Pinkie gave me and smashed it into the leader's face. Making him furious.

That had done more than enough for me though as I turned and ran for the way out. Them following in hot pursuit. To make sure that no pony knew that The Shadow was still in Ponyville, I ditched the costume along the way. Now leaving only Blitz being chased by four angry thieves. My tail missing, a fake black eye with help from Rarity and her make-up, that being something I didn't want to go through ever again, and finally my coat and wings looking a little messed up from being it the costume. The perfect way to trick all of Ponyville into thinking that I had been fighting them this whole time.

As I kept on running though, I was able to hear their muffled yells. All aimed towards me and just what I had done. They were not going to let me go until one of us went down. And to do that, I had to take a dive. Which I was never good at, so how exactly was I going to...

Turning around after hearing that their muffled yells had stopped, I saw the two unicorns charging up blasts of magic. Both pointed towards me. And with no way to defend myself, I braced myself as the blast came right at me. Hitting me square in the chest and sending me flying over to the stage without the help of my wings.

"Look out!" I heard Mayor Mare yell out as she and Misty Glance jumped off the stage as I came crashing into the podium on it. The four thieves already at the stairs by the time that I had gotten to my feet. Sadly for me, I couldn't even try to fight them off as I was group tackled by all of them. Forced to try to block their attacks best I could. Although that wasn't going to be possible as they kept on attacking me.

"Stop this at once!" Mayor Mare commanded, the thieves not listening to her as they kept attacking me. Each hit just adding onto the pain. If they weren't doing so already, I'd be kicking myself for not being a little more careful.

It was then Misty's turn to step up and try to stop them. "Stop this! Right now!" She commanded, all of them not able to hear her over trying to hit me, every pony not sure what to do right now.

And not listening to her, apparently made her snap. She was so furious so quickly because no pony was listening to her. She had lost all power, all control, and had her plan foiled all in the course of five minutes. Not to mention, she was now being ignored. Something that she didn't accept at all. And past the thieves that were beating me up, I could just barely see her twitching all over the place from all of this happening. Her emotionless face about ready to explode in anger.

"I said... STOP!" She yelled out as loud as possible, the thieves hearing her and stopping to look at her. "I didn't pay you to ignore me and beat up any pony you see fit! I paid you to steal from businesses!" She scolded them, in front of every pony else that had been watching the stage.

And with all of them hearing her mental breakdown, they all sat there with their mouths agape. Not sure what to do now that Misty had just admitted her whole plan to them.

"So, you hired a bunch of thieves to come and steal from us?!" Scootaloo asked, starting to snap them audience.

"How could you?!" Rarity asked, being overdramatic about it all. But it still got the message across.

"You did all of this!" Some random pony from the audience yelled out, the rest of the audience joining in soon after.

Soon enough, the whole crowd started yelling, angry at Misty Glance for having done all of this just for personal gain. And as the yelling got worse and worse, Misty started backing up. Her whole scheme having gone down hill faster than she could realize. At this point, even the four thieves were starting to get a little scared of the giant crowd glaring at them too. Giving me the chance to kick away the one that was holding me down and fly into the air. Even though I felt pretty sore about it.

"W-wait every pony! I'm not the only one at wrong here!" Misty yelled out in desperation. "The Shadow and his sidekick were also accomplices! She yelled out, hoping to take us down with her. "Or, as you all know them as, Elect-"

But before she could even say the first part of my name, a tomato came out of nowhere and splattered across her face. Keeping her quiet. As I turned, I saw Rainbow Dash holding another tomato in her hoof. "Like we're going to let you try and insult The Shadow too! Haven't you done enough?!" She asked in anger.

It was then that she glared at Rainbow Dash, knowing that she wouldn't get a good chance to tell any pony about who I was. So instead, they just started running off of the stage. But not before she stopped to glare at me a final time.

"Don't think that this will all go away. I'll remember just what you've done to me today, and rest assured, I'll return the favor for you one day!" She told me, sharpening her glare before she ran off to catch up with the thieves she had hired.

The crowd just kept getting restless though, enraged that some pony had the nerve to pay some thieves to come into their peaceful town.

"Ahem..." I cleared my throat as I landed next to Mayor Mare, who was holding her head in pain slightly. But still content that Misty was gone now. "I believe that's your queue." I reminded her.

"Thank you." She thanked me, before going over to the middle of the stage.

"Every pony, calm down!" She announced to them. All of them immediately calming down with the new found respect they had gotten towards Mayor Mare. "I know what just happened was very shocking! But rest assured, I have come with a solution to help keep from something like this happening again!" She told them all, making them cheer.

As they all listened to her speech, the others came over to me. Not worried about listening to the speech the mayor had ready since we had all heard it.

"You gonna be okay partner?" Applejack asked. "Didn't quite look like you were winnin' that hoof wrastle." She said, concerned just like the rest of them.

"Yeah, it must've hurt a tremendous amount." Rarity agreed.

"I'm fine. I just think that I'll be laying off the whole 'hero' thing from now on." I told them, cracking my neck since it was a little sore.

"And I guess that goes for me too since we had to put that engine that was in my new scooter back in the arcade machine." Scootaloo said, telling the others just what we did.

"Wait, you two did what?" Twilight asked, looking at us with disapproving glances.

"We put it back!" I defended, kind of mad that Scootaloo had told them. "Besides, I got it working again when no pony was looking. Either way, it doesn't matter. The whole superhero thing is over with for good. All that's going to come from this is a new comic book around Ponyville." I told them, changing the subject.

"That reminds me, where did you leave your costume at?" Rarity asked. "I think I have a nice spot for it back in that secret closet you had installed behind the mirror." She told me, referring to the secret room behind the mirror that only we knew about. Where the Mare Do-Well costume, Robin costume, and other priceless stuff stayed.

"Oh, it's right in that bush right there. That's where I ditched it anyway." I told them, gesturing towards a bush.

As Spike went over to get it though, he moved the leaves to show us that it was no longer there.

"Wait, I could've sworn that I put it in that bush..." I told them, one-hundred percent sure.

"What do you think might've happened to it?..." Fluttershy asked me, confused like the rest of them.

"I don't know..." I said, scratching my chin in thought. Then I drugged. "Oh well. We can always make a new one. Besides, it probably just got carried away by the wind." I said, shaking away any care about it.

"And that's why every pony," Mayor Mare started to conclude, announcing the important part of her speech. "I'd like to introduce Ponyville's own law enforcement! The Ponyville Law Enforcement Association of Safety for Equestrianites!" And after hearing every pony's confused reactions, she simply told them all what the acronym was. "Which will be better known as, P.L.E.A.S.E.!"

Every pony then had a group 'Oh' in realization as they understood just what it was. "Yes! It will involve multiple ponies volunteering to help our very own Chief of Police with any problems that come up! So if any pony would like to volunteer, please come up!"

And as soon as she said that, I immediately backed up a step. My friends all stepping in front of me so that way I was hidden. There was no way I was volunteering to do anything like this. At least, not for a while.

Luckily, a few others volunteered for me by stepping up. Snowflake, Berry Punch, Swift Lightning, and Thunderlane. And seeing them all up there, I saw that it'd probably be more than enough to keep Ponyville safe from something like this happening.

But with this place safe, at least now we could relax a little more. I knew that this didn't mean that we would probably have something happen to us, but at least now no pony was in danger of ponies stealing or hurting others. So I knew that we were all safe. And that was more than enough.

---

Earlier During Speech (Five Minutes Ago)

? ? ? POV

As they were all busy with Misty Glance, I went over towards the bush that Electric Blitz had put his costume. And moving a branch, I saw just it. His costume. The one that only his friends knew his secret identity.

Not wanting to waste much time, I quickly snatched up the costume and put it into my satchel. Quickly taking off for the train station of Ponyville before any pony noticed me. Successfully taking for my own plans. This costume was the key to my revenge on him for making a fool of our family. And I guarantee, he'll learn not to mess with the rightful ruler of this land! The rightful family of rulers ever since four generations ago! So you better be ready 'Blitz', because I'm gonna make you regret what you did to my family!

No matter what.

---

And so ends the saga of The Shadow! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I hope it was good enough in the action scenes! An I know that at some points it was obvious as to just who The Shadow was, but I hope you can all forgive me!... You can forgive me right?

Oh well, guess I'll find out in the reviews! Can't wait to see them every pony, and I will see you all next time!

QotC: Who's your favorite superhero? (Not in MLP, I mean like DC, Marvel, etc.) What do you think's a good MLP parody for them? And who out of the mane six (seven if you count Blitz) would fit them perfectly?