Matthew opened his eyes to find himself lying on a floor made of blackness. Literally. He looked around to find nothing but emptiness and blackness. It was like some sort of abyss. Matthew picked himself up, feeling a great amount of pain in his chest and gut. He remembered how he had been finished off by Celestia.

“So this is what happens when you die huh? This… really sucks,” he said out loud. He coughed once and gripped his chest. “Damn, she actually beat me. Celestia actually fuckin beat me.” He sighed heavily, still feeling the pain in his chest. But now, he felt pain in his pride. He had lost, and now Fluttershy and all of her friends were at the mercy of Celestia. All Matthew could do was sigh. He didn’t even feel angry. He just felt sad.

Deciding that he might as well do something, Matthew started to walk. He found that he was actually able to walk on nothing. It started to get weird for Matthew to walk on nothing, not to mention he was still in a great deal of pain. He decided to take off in his eagle form. He flew through the abyss for what felt like forever. He had nowhere to go, nothing to do, or anyone to talk to. He was alone.

Or so he thought…

“Hello Matthew,” a voice called out. Matthew stopped flying forward and started to hover. He changed back into a human and started to look around.

“Who’s there?” he responded to the voice. No response. Matthew was completely unarmed as well. Just like during his time acquiring his eagle powers, the upper half of his outfit was gone, leaving only his leggings and robe pieces. This didn’t bode well for him, seeing as though an ominous voice had just called out to him.

“I have been watching you. I must say, your struggle interests me greatly,” the voice called out again. Matthew continued to spin around in confusion.

“Show yourself!” he called back to the voice. All he got in return was laughter.

“My, my, you really are an angry fellow aren’t you,” the voice mocked.

“Only when people like you start to piss me off, now show yourself!” With another hint of laughter, the shape of a human body formed in the distance. Matthew readied himself for the worst, raising his fists in defense. As the figure completed itself, it spoke.

“Put those down, I mean you no harm,” it spoke.

“No offence, but you don’t exactly give off the “I’m a good guy” vibe,” Matthew responded.

“Well of course not. None have ever believed me to be good, in fact, I truly am bad. Bad is a poor word to describe myself though. I would describe myself as the Darkness.” The figures face finally formed. It was almost like a mask, but with eyes so devilishly evil that they could pierce the heart of God himself. Matthew felt genuine fear flow through his body just by looking into those eyes.

“I know you are afraid, but I assure you, I have not come here to harm you.”

“Have you seen your eyes? Like hell you mean me no harm. Why would I trust you?”

“Because, I can give you your life back, along with a little something else,” the being replied. Matthew raised an eyebrow and lowered his fists. He actually managed to calm down a bit, but he remained vigilant.

“So, your name is the Darkness?” The being nodded and smirked. “What do you mean you can give me my life back? What’s this “little something else” you’re talking about?” Matthew’s mind raced with both fear and cautiousness. He didn’t know whether or not he could truly trust this… Darkness.

“Allow me to explain, Matthew. You see, I am the end for those who have suffered through life without joy or happiness. I take those who have lived lives with nothing but sorrow and grief. Sure, you may not be such a person now, but you were. Once someone has felt misery, I follow them until death. You have recently been living a life that you wish wasn’t real. You want to be with Fluttershy, but not like this. You want to live happily, in peace, not having to worry about some crazed pony Princess bitch trying to kill you. But, she finally got you, and now you are here.”

“I know all that, cut to the chase,” Matthew interrupted. The Darkness merely smirked.

“Very well. Well, most of the time, I just take the souls of those who have suffered like you. But, your fight amuses me. I actually want you to win. This little conflict with Celestia has been quite fun to watch. I want to see more. I want her dead. I cannot claim her soul for myself, but I just want to see that Princess turned to dust. So, I offer you this. I will give you your life back, along with a touch of my powers.” Matthew raised an eyebrow and looked at the Darkness quizzically.

“You’re just going to give me my life back, along with some new powers? I don’t buy it. What’s the catch?” Matthew asked. The Darkness smirked.

“I admire your keen eye. Well, whenever I make deals such as this, they come with a heavy price. In your case, you must kill Celestia before you die. Should you die before you kill her, your soul shall belong to me, and you shall suffer for an eternity in the Abyss of the Darkness. Kill her first, and you may die peacefully. Truthfully, you would be a fool to not accept my offer. The odds of you dying with my powers are very slim. Besides, I’m sure Fluttershy would love to see you again,” the Darkness taunted. Matthew cringed at his mentioning of her name.

“I’m sure you would love to know what happened to those ponies. Here, I’ll show you.” The Darkness waved his arms, and an image formed. It started to show the ponies. Matthew looked on in amazement.

He saw the Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity, together. They were in a cave, hiding from Celestia. Fluttershy was crying over Matthew’s body, while the other ponies simply comforted her. A question formed in Matthew’s mind.

“How long have I been dead?”

“One week. Fluttershy refuses to leave your side, and she weeps day and night. Shortly after your death, Celestia tried to attack the ponies. But, the one known as Rarity managed to teleport you all away from the Princess. Applejack found that cave, and they have all been in hiding since. They really do miss you, and I’m sure you would hate for them to have to fight Celestia on their own,” the Darkness said. His words felt like knives cutting away at Matthew’s body. He sighed.

“Alright Darkness, I accept your offer.” The Darkness was a little surprised by Matthew’s sudden decision.

“Really? No second guesses, no doubts, no negatives to think about?”

“Well it’s no better than just staying here. Just one thing. Will these powers change me?” The Darkness simply smiled.

“You do indeed have a keen sense for the wicked. Well, normally yes, but because you asked, I assure you that the powers will not change you. They will simply help you defeat Celestia. If you wish to have a little test run, here,” the Darkness said, and he flicked a ball of shadows at Matthew.

As the shadows faded into Matthew, he felt a surge of power rush through his body. He felt his wounds healing and his strength growing. His head jerked back as the power simply continued to grow. He cried out, but not because of any pain, but because of the immense power. Matthew fell to his knees, and he lowered his head. Shortly after, markings started to form on his body.

The markings originated from his eyes. They were sleek and colored pure black. They ran from Matthew’s eyes, down his cheeks, and ended at his neck. Shortly after, rings formed on the upper halves of his arms, from his biceps to his triceps. Two spikes formed on each ring, along with two strands of the markings flowing down the tops of his arms. At his hands, the markings joined together to form small Assassin’s Crests, just like the ones in Assassin’s Creed. Matthew looked on in awe, but it didn’t stop there.

On the lower half of his ribcage, near his stomach, the markings formed a strange set of wings. They were made of three horizontal streaks of the markings, and they were connected to one strand running slightly diagonally. It almost looked like a pair of wings. In the center of the wings formed another Assassin’s Crest, one that was much more noticeable. The markings finished forming as Matthew’s eyes glowed brightly.

The powers of the Darkness were now at Matthew’s command. He looked himself over, amazed by the markings that had formed on his body.

“You look very good Matthew. Here, see for yourself,” the Darkness said, forming a full body mirror for Matthew to look into. Matthew was amazed by what he saw. He was already able to see the markings on his arms and body, but he was amazed to find the markings on his face, running from his eyes down to his neck.

“I assume that these powers provide me with more than some cool looking markings?” Matthew questioned. The Darkness let out a bit of laughter.

“Of course you fool. All you need do is think about what you want to do with the powers, and then do it. Think about making a blast of shadow, and then it shall be done,” the Darkness instructed. Matthew did as he said. He thought of a powerful shadow blast. He shot his right arm forward, and a blast of shadows exited from the palm of his hand. He stared at his hand in amazement and smiled.

“Cool. What else can I do?”

“You can do many things with these new powers. For example, if you should find an area of shadow, you can literally blend with those shadows. Here, try it,” the Darkness said, gesturing to an area of more noticeable shadow. Matthew stepped over the patch and thought of blending with the shadows. Shortly after, Matthew found that he was literally one with the shadows. He moved across the area to a different location, popping back up and surprising the Darkness a bit.

“You learn quickly Matthew. One of my more favorable tricks is forming shadow creatures. I tend to create shadow soldiers, but you can create whatever you want.” At that, Matthew smirked. Beside him spawned six shadow wolves. They all heeled at Matthew’s side, loyal to their master.

“Fucking awesome. Ok, it’s settled, I want these powers.”

“Of course you do, why wouldn’t you? And, of course, you have my word that these powers shall not affect your… goodness, in any way, shape, or form. You will remain the person you are. However, I must warn you, anger is not something that mixes well with the shadows.” Matthew nodded and stepped towards the Darkness.

“So, now what?” Matthew asked. The Darkness chuckled and smirked as he started to gather energy from around him.

“Good luck Matthew, and may the shadows be with you,” he said, floating into the air and blasting Matthew with a burst of shadows. Matthew closed his eyes and felt his soul moving back to his physical body.

Fluttershy continued to weep over Matthew’s body. Her friends could do nothing for her, so they decided to sleep. It was late in the day, and sleep was all they could think about. Fluttershy’s tears stopped flowing after her mind told her that it was time to sleep. She had lost the one person that she loved, and now, she was alone. Sure, she had her friends, but it wasn’t the same. She started to fall asleep.

Moments later, she felt a hand on her head.

Matthew slowly opened his eyes. Once they were fully opened, all he saw was the greyness of the cave the ponies had brought him to. He remembered that he had been dead for an entire week, so he was sure that he would get a huge welcome back from the girls.

He leaned his head down to find Fluttershy’s head resting on his lap. She was asleep, and she was absolutely adorable. Matthew let out a soft smile, and he went to rub her head. He was stopped when he noticed that there was an Assassin’s Crest on his right hand, along with black markings running up his arm. His eyes widened as he realized that he did in fact still have the shadow powers gifted to him by the Darkness.

Matthew scanned the rest of his body to find all of the markings remained. His left arm was just the same as his right, and the Assassin’s crest on his abdomen remained as well, along with the wings that accompanied the crest. Matthew couldn’t help but smile even harder than he already was.

The upper half of his body was still barren of his outfit. But, to his surprise, the marks of where Celestia had struck remained. There were two patched up holes where she had shot Matthew, along with one hole where she stabbed him. But, he didn’t feel any pain. His ribs were fine as well. Just like when obtaining the eagle powers, obtaining the shadow powers fully healed Matthew.

Moving past the sudden realization, Matthew placed his hand on Fluttershy’s head, running his hand through her hair as he did so very often. Her eyes slowly opened, and she turned her head. At first sight, her eyes widened and her mouth fell open, quivering all the while. Tears started to form in her eyes once again.

“Hey Fluttershy, did you miss me?” Matthew said softly. She jumped up and held him in a tight embrace. He returned the embrace with just as much passion. Fluttershy started to let her tears flow, and so did Matthew. Matthew felt her tears running down his back.

“I th-thought I l-lost you. I thought sh-she k-killed you. But, y-you’re alive. I love you so much Matthew!” she said, still crying. Matthew couldn’t help but lose all control of his tears. His tears started to flow like a fountain, much like Fluttershy at the moment.

“I love you too Fluttershy! I’m so, so sorry. I promise, I will never leave you again!” Matthew replied, his voice almost cracking. The two released each other, only to look into each other’s eyes for a moment before sharing a passionate kiss.

The theatrics of the two managed to wake up the rest of the ponies in the cave. When they realized what was happening, they were all completely shocked.

“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! MATT’S ALIVE!” Rainbow screamed out, and she jumped up and flew over to Fluttershy and Matthew holding them both close. Matthew was a little surprised by the emotion being shown by Rainbow.

“Jeez Dash, I never thought you’d be so happy to see me.”

“Heh, well, you know, you’re like my second best friend, so of course I’m happy to see you,” she said, releasing both Matthew and Fluttershy. The other ponies were just as happy as Rainbow.

“Why Matthew, where did those interesting markings come from. If I may say so myself, they make you look stunning,” Rarity said, not taking her eyes off of Matthew.

“Yeah! They make you look super cool, like you’re ready to kick some Celestia flank! Oh, let me guess, you got some new super cool powers!” Pinkie chimed in. Matthew started to chuckle. He wasn’t totally surprised by Pinkie’s being able to guess that he had obtained new powers.

“Well, as a matter of fact Pinkie, I did get some new powers. But, I’m sure you’d all like to hear how.” All of the ponies nodded, and Matthew told of how he had met the Darkness.

“Golly, that fellar don’ exactly sound like a nice guy. Why’d he giv ya them there powers if he’s so evil?” Applejack asked.

“Apparently, he likes my entire goal to fight against Celestia. He actually wants me to win. He wants to see her die. I can’t exactly disagree with him, but he just seemed so… passionate, for lack of a better word, about it. I don’t know, but honestly, who cares?! I’m back, and I’ve got new powers to boot,” Matthew replied.

“Speaking of which, why don’t you show them off a bit dude. I wanna see what the big bad Darkness gave you,” Rainbow jumped in, eager to see Matthew show off.

“Alright, alright. Let’s see what I can do.” Matthew got up from where he had been laying up against a rock. He got up with a surprising amount of ease. He forgot how he had been healed and had expected to have to use a bit more effort to get up. But, regardless, he fully stood up, readying himself.

Matthew focused on a decently sized boulder in the room.

“You girls may want to get behind me. I’m not sure if that rock will explode after I do this.” The girls all heeded his warning, moving behind him. He turned back to the boulder.

Matthew thought of blasting it with a burst of shadow. He shot his right arm forward, unleashing a powerful blast that sent shards of the rock across the cave. A few shards went towards Matthew, but he was quick enough to form a protective barrier of shadows in front of him. He barely had to think of it. It just formed.

All of the ponies looked at Matthew in amazement. But, he decided to continue. He thought of lashing out a shadow tendril at a smaller boulder. He lifter it and flung it across the room. He formed smaller tendrils to catch off the debris, placing each piece on the floor. Fluttershy looked on in amazement.

“Matthew, don’t you think that this may be a little… dangerous?”

“I can understand your concern. I made sure that the Darkness would make it so that these powers wouldn’t turn me into a jerk or something. Don’t worry, I’m fine. I actually feel great. It’s like these powers don’t hurt me when I use them, but instead, using them makes me feel more powerful. I guess I’ve just never gotten to do stuff like this before.”

Matthew continued to show off his powers for another minute before he had done everything he could think of. The ponies all rested beside Matthew as he sat down to rest.

“So, what do we do now Matt old buddy old pal? Now that you’ve got these new powers, you could TOTALLY beat Celestia and live happily with us all,” Pinkie said. Matthew took a moment to think on Pinkie’s words, but he came to a conclusion.

“To be honest, I don’t want to kill her. However, that presents a problem. You see, to get these powers, I had to make a deal with the Darkness. I have to kill Celestia before she kills me. If I die before I, and I alone, kill her, my soul will belong to the Darkness. I have to kill her, but at the same time, I don’t exactly want to do so. But, then again… well, nevermind. I say we should just sleep on it.” Matthew looked to all of the ponies who nodded in response. The five ponies started to fall asleep, all except Fluttershy.

“Matthew, are you sure this is safe? I mean, I’m glad that you’re alive, but this just seems dangerous. What will happen if you die again?” Fluttershy asked, her voice filled with concern.

“The next time I die, it will be after Celestia is dead. Don’t worry, we will win this, I promise,” he responded. Fluttershy lowered her head, only to have it lifted back up by Matthew. “Hey, I love you, and you know that I’ll do anything to make sure that we can be together. If it means I have to use some dangerous powers to protect you, then so be it,” he said, and he kissed her on the cheek. She smiled softly, and her head fell onto Matthew’s chest.

“I love you too Matthew. Don’t ever leave me again,” she said, looking up to him. He smiled back to her, and they fell asleep together.

Matthew and Fluttershy shared their dreams once again. This time, they saw something that seemed very odd for the both of them, but mostly Fluttershy.

Both Matthew and Fluttershy, along with their five friends, were in the Canterlot Castle. Standing at the head of the room was Princess Celestia. Matthew stood back from Fluttershy as Celestia blasted Fluttershy with a powerful beam of magic.

Moments later, Fluttershy floated down to the ground. As the light faded, Fluttershy became visible. She had been turned into a human. After a moment of just Matthew staring at the new human Fluttershy, she spoke.

“What do you think?” she asked.

“You look… amazing,” Matthew responded. Fluttershy tried to walk forward, but fell to her knees. She didn’t know how to walk as a human. Matthew rushed to her side. A few moments later, Matthew led Fluttershy out of the room. As they exited, the dream started to fade.

Although the dream did indeed seem strange to both Matthew and Fluttershy, it gave Matthew an idea for a plan. A plan to finally defeat Princess Celestia.

Author's Notes:

Give yourself a mustache if you guessed that the Darkness would appear. If you read Fluttershy and Me, it is almost too obvious.

Anyway, now Matthew has more awesome powers, and a plan to defeat Celestia. What is it? You will have to wait and see.