Just as they thought, the pony that they once considered a friend stirred as soon as the spotlight hit his eyes. Applejack lowered her hoof from the switch, and glared at him. The others switched on their own lights: making sure there was hardly a shadow around him, in hopes that that was where he drew power from. They had tied him to a chair, and as all the light was focused on him: outside of the lit circle the room was nothing but shadow. He struggled to stand up, but found it impossible to get out of the rope.

“Having a hard time moving, Mac?” A compassionate voice said. Myra and the Stranger both stepped into view. The Shadow snarled: baring his teeth at the sight of the Stranger, and trying to lurch at him.

“You traitor!” He barked. “You think the Prophet didn’t plan for your arrogance? He’s already got Orion's head!”

Orion took a turn stepping into the light, wearing an arrogant smirk. “Oh, really now?”

The Shadow’s jaw hung loose, recognizing the voice. “It can’t be!”

“It can, bub,” Orion chuckled, “it seems you need to take a look around you before you make empty claims.”

The Shadow was about to retort, but was startled by a hoof slamming into the back of the chair right beside his head. He turned to see Rainbow Dash shooting him a glare that would’ve set the whole ship ablaze, were it focused elsewhere.

She grabbed his head in her hooves, and delivered a strong slap to his jaw.

“Snap out of it!” She screamed.

By slapping the Shadow around, she had unwittingly loosened the rope enough to let him wriggle a hoof free, which he then brought across her face with a violent smack: sending her back into the darkness outside his vision.

This was met by another hoof pounding into his forehead: sending sparks flying in his vision. When he was able to see again, his forearm was tied back up, and the Stranger was standing over him. He wanted to lunge at the filth, but he saw no point in fighting in this predicament.

“What do you want, traitor?” He hissed, rolling his head over lazily to look the Stranger in the eye.

The Stranger breathed deeply, and sat down calmly in front of the Shadow.

“Why are you here?”

“The Prophet wanted me to stall.”

The Shadow shook his head. He didn’t want to say that! Why did he say that?

“Stall for what?”

“More time.”

Ah, so he still had some control over his mouth, after all.

“Why are you stalling for time?”

“So the mechanism will be finished.”

The Stranger seemed to freeze, and Applejack walked in front of one of the spotlights: casting a cruel shadow across her face as she stepped towards him.

“What mechanism?” She questioned.

“The one he’s building.”

Two hooves slammed onto the chair on either side of the Shadow’s head: hurting his ears as they cracked the wood. Applejack leaned in, and breathed an impatient snort in his face. The look in her eyes was one of pity, fear, and disgust. Though she looked ready to beat this ‘dark side’ right out of him.

“What is the mechanism he’s building?” She asked again.

“I don’t know, he never told me.”

Applejack snorted. “Yeah, Ah don’t buy that for a—“

“I’m telling the truth, mud-pony!” The Shadow shouted. “Don’t you realize what happened the last time I knew his goal? I kept it from him!”

“Yeah, and look where that got us!”

All three turned to see Rainbow walking back into the light: pressing a cold cloth on her left eye. She looked close to tears,which put the others on guard.

“He’s turned friend against friend, no matter how long they’ve been together.” She hissed, lowering the cloth, and showing off a blackened eye that shone with sticky tears.

“He made one of my oldest friends… do this… to me.” She choked, hatred and distaste burning in the back of her eyes. “Screw the politeness of going to his door, knocking, and asking him not to kill us! Let’s just go get Celestia, come back, and blow the bastard up!”

“Watch you language, Rainbow!” Applejack quipped harshly.

Rainbow waved it off: “I’ve heard you mutter worse things when your sister sneezes.”

Applejack was about to protest, when Twilight’s voice came from behind them.

“As much as I’d love to break diplomacy here, Rainbow, I think we’ll be able to handle this… mechanism.” She scoffed, stepping forward just enough to bring only her front half into view.

She also held a dark look in her eyes, but it was held back by a look of sympathy. She focused directly into the Shadow’s eyes. “Fight it, Mac. I know you can: you’ve done it before, you can do it again.”

The Shadow shook his head with a hollow laugh. “That pathetic, weak-minded foal you knew as a friend is long gone, Twilight!” He barked, flinging flecks of saliva onto her face. Twilight blinked, and gently raised a hoof to brush the spittle off her snout.

“You can fight it, Mac.” She said in an assuring tone, walking slowly up to him. She laid a hoof on his shoulder, and looked him deeper in the eye.

“Fight it.”

The Shadow fought, alright, but not how she asked. He snapped his teeth to the side, boring them into the flesh of the Alicorn’s right forehoof. She recoiled, shrieking in pain as her blood dripped onto the floor.

Rainbow and Applejack both rushed to Twilight’s side, as Fluttershy ran out of the shadows with a first-aid kit. She was expecting to be using on the Shadow, after Rainbow’s turn at interrogation.

Twilight used her magic to take a small bandage from the kit, and applied it tenderly to her hoof, instantly turning a good portion of it from white to red. She looked painfully up at the Shadow, still shaking from the searing pain in her hoof.

“Why are you doing this, Mac?” She pleaded.

The Shadow smiled deviously as blood trickled across his teeth, sending chills down their spines. He spat the coppery liquid onto the floor carelessly, and spoke.

“Because it’s entertaining to watch you goody-goods tremble at the hooves of one you thought a friend...”

A hoof connected with the side of his face, and he turned his burning eyes towards the culprit.

“Snap out of it, you foal!” The Stranger shouted angrily. “He’s using you, can't you see that? As soon as you’ve ceased your usefulness, guess what’s going to happen?”

He lifted a hoof, and motioned across his throat in a single, slow sweep. He then brought the back of his hoof across the Shadow’s face: knocking the chair over, and making the Shadow’s head hit the floor with a thud.

“Stranger!” Twilight yelped in alarm.

“Relax, we have a few days,” the Stranger shrugged, shaking the ache from his hoof, “he’ll get over it.”

Myra walked up to the comatose Shadow, and laid a hoof on his head.

“We can change him back, right?” She said nervously. Twilight and the others averted her gaze, but the Stranger smiled warmly.

“No matter what it takes.” He assured her.

None of them saw the single black tendril creeping its way towards the light switch. Next Chapter: Chapter Fourteen: A Decline of Hope. Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 45 Minutes