Storm Shadow did not sleep well that night. His dreams were invaded by the unsettling smile that the unicorn had worn. He could not stop thinking about why they would be looking for him. When he finally awoke the next morning, he decided to go to Twilight and see if she knew anything about Arcane Darkness. He combed his mane then walked outside. There were a few clouds in the sky but nothing else to show that there was even a storm yesterday. He spread his wings, and started to fly to Twilight’s place. When he reached her home, he looked up, and saw that the sun was just breaking the horizon. He thought about coming back later but decided against it, seeing that he was already here. He cautiously knocked on the door and waited a minute. He was about to knock again when Twilight opened it.

“Oh, hello Storm Shadow, what are you doing here?” she asked.

“I’m here to ask you something.” he replied.

“What is it?” she asked calmly.

“Do you know anything about a pony that goes by the name “Arcane Darkness”?” he said. She gasped and looked around, as if Arcane would appear out of thin air.

“How do you know that name?” she hissed as she pulled him inside.

“I saw him while I was in the Everfree Forest yesterday.” he replied with concern.

“You SAW him!?” she exclaimed with fear in her voice.

“Yes, he was in one of the towers of the castle that’s in the forest.” he replied.

“This is not good. The last time Arcane was spotted, Princess Celestia had guards posted everywhere around the town.” she said as she searched her shelves for a book with a frantic expression on her face.

“What’s so bad about him?” he asked.

“What’s so bad about him?” she repeated. “He is one of the most dangerous ponies that Equestria has ever known!”

“What did he do?” he asked.

“He tried to take over Canterlot. Princess Celestia was barely been able to stop him. Now that Princess Luna is back, he won’t be able to try again unless he finds extremely powerful allies.” she said.

“I heard him talking with another pony about me. Apparently he is looking for me for some reason.” he said.

“Of course he is looking for you. Do you have any idea how powerful a storm pegasus can be?” she asked.

“No.” he replied.

“Well they are the strongest kind of pony out there. The only ponies who are stronger are the princesses themselves, though the other two elemental pegasi are very close behind.” she explained.

“Elemental pegasi?” he asked curiously.

“Yes, there were three different elemental pegasi that were known to exist. Storm, fire, and ice.” she said.

“So he’s searching for me to try and use me against the princesses?” he asked.

“Most likely.” she said. He thought about this for a second before turning around to leave.

“Where are you going?” Twilight asked.

“Just going to clear my head.” he replied.

“Well stay away from the forest.” she said.

“Don’t worry; I can take care of myself.” he said with a grin as he walked outside.

Arcane wandered through the abandoned halls of the castle. He and his followers had only moved into it a week ago and it was already looking better. The cobwebs were removed and there wasn’t nearly as much dust as there had been. He had told them to ignore the outside of the castle because it would attract less attention without being cleaned. He thought about the storm pegasus that somehow kept eluding his search parties. Perhaps he had found their way to Ponyville. Considering this might be the most likely possibility, he decided to practice his new shape-shifting spell. He had been studying the spell for a few weeks but had never gotten the chance to try it out. He concentrated for what seemed like a few minutes and when he opened his eyes his coat was a light blue color. He walked over to a mirror that hung on a nearby wall and saw that his mane had turned red but his eyes still remained their usual royal blue color. He tried a few different colors and even managed to turn himself into a pegasus. He smiled at the wings and flapped them a couple times before changing back to a unicorn. Being a pegasus just felt too unnatural for him. He concentrated again and opened his eyes to find that his coat and mane were back to their natural colors. Suddenly he remembered his cutie mark. He concentrated on it and when he looked, it had changed to a gardening trowel.

“So it even works on cutie marks eh?” he muttered to himself. He changed it back to its usual black wand and fireball combo then continued down the hall. As he rounded a corner he heard somepony walking up behind him. He turned to see one of his captains.

“What is it this time?” he asked.

“Sir, one of my scouts saw a pegasus flying over the Everfree Forest. It looked like it was looking for something.” the captain replied.

“What did the pegasus look like?” Arcane asked, intrigued because the pegasus could possibly be the storm pegasus that he was looking for.

“He couldn’t tell sir. They were flying to high for him to make out any markings or colors.” he answered, and Arcane sighed.

“Very well. Go back to whatever you were doing.” he replied. The captain bowed and walked away.

Arcane continued through the halls when he passed a door that led to the kitchens. He decided to get some food and went through the door. When he entered he found around a dozen chef ponies working on different meals for guards and the other ponies in the castle. He searched around until he spotted a tan colored pony with a dark brown mane.

“Hello Cookie Crisp.” Arcane said as he walked up. Cookie Crisp jumped at the sound, but turned with a smile to Arcane. He was one of the few ponies who didn’t cringe whenever Arcane approached them.

“Hello sir. Would you like anything?” he asked, gesturing to a plate covered with various desserts. Arcane simply nodded and used his magic to grab a plate from a nearby pile. The other chefs turned to look at him, some with worried looks and some with fairly blank faces. He picked through the assorted treats on Crisp’s plate, picking out some of his favorites, including the ponies signature cookies which were surprisingly made with bits of carrot along with the chocolate chips.

“Thank you Cookie Crisp.” he said as he walked out of the kitchen. Cookie Crisp responded with a wave and a smile as he returned to his work.

As Arcane started walking back to his study, he ate one of the cookies that he had picked. He was surprised at how well the carrot went with the chocolate.

“I’ll have to get these more often.” he thought as he started up the stairway that led to his study.

When he was inside his study, he set down the plate then looked through his shelves of various books. He spotted the one on shape-shifting, and used his horn to levitate it off the shelf and down to him, so he could read it. He flipped through the pages until he found the point he had left off when he had finished reading last time. He got to the point where it told that the only thing he couldn’t change was his eye color. He frowned at this but decided it wouldn’t matter much anyway. Nopony would recognize him just by his eyes, since he hadn’t been seen by anypony besides his followers in 5 years.

He continued to toy around with the spell as he ate some more of the cookies. He changed his mane, coat, and cutie mark countless times. He rarely changed into a pegasus or earth pony simply because it felt so unnatural for him when he didn’t have a horn. Once he even managed to turn himself into an alicorn but quickly changed back since he knew it wouldn’t do any good unless he changed into Princess Luna. When he thought of it he froze. He concentrated on the last image he had of her. When he opened his eyes, he trotted over to a mirror. Looking back at him was almost a perfect replica of Princess Luna. Even the mane was moving as if it was in water. The only things missing were the eye color and the moon pendant she wore around her neck. He laughed aloud as he changed back.

“If I can replicate one of the princesses, what chance is there that anypony will recognize me?” he thought to himself. He decided to go into ponyville tomorrow then levitated another cookie to his mouth. He walked back to his book, and continued to read.

Storm Shadow lay on a cloud high over ponyville. He had been thinking about how Twilight reacted about the pony he had seen in the castle. If Arcane was really as bad as she said he is, he would have to be very careful if he went into the forest again. He looked toward the sun, and saw that it was beginning to sink below the horizon. He got up and stretched before jumping off the cloud, and using his wings to glide down to Dash’s house. He landed to find a tired looking Rainbow Dash just getting out the door.

“Hey Dash.” he said.

“Oh hey Storm Shadow. I was just coming out to look for you.” she said, trying to look like she wasn’t tired. She wasn’t doing a very good job in his opinion.

“You should be getting some rest.” he said.

“I’m fine!” she insisted.

“No you’re not. Now come on before you collapse.” he said and gave her a nudge to get her going.

“Oh fine.” she grumbled but she didn’t argue.

He smiled at her then walked to his own room. As he watched the last of the sun’s rays disappear, his thoughts once again returned to his sister. Would he be able to recognize her among the guards during the celebration? He convinced himself that he could because the armor sets he had seen in his dream the previous night had been grey, while the armor that the other ponies had been using was white. He climbed into bed and quickly dozed off to sleep.

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