(Note: Yay, my first story! This story stems from a book called Stand By You (SBY) that I am cowriting with Blackjewel101. Unfortunately, she does not want me to post that story on here due to personal concerns. But I respect her concerns and wishes. Anyway, Shadow Bright is a character from SBY and this is part of his backstory. I am super excited to be able to share this with everyone XD So I hope everyone enjoys. Also, all characters represented are owned by me, other than Lord Tirek and Prince Scorpan which I lay no claim to and are owned by Lauren Faust and Hasbro. Plus, just another warning that there are gay relationships, so sorry if that offends anyone :P Thanks! Enjoy, and now on to the story...)

Shades and Tails

Prologue

It was cold and the fur lining and extra saddling on the armor didn't really help. The ice crept in, not helping with nerves. My gun was held in my magical grasp of white light. The light through the darkness. My darkness…

My fellow hoofponies were around me, but I knew I couldn't be the only one with nerves. But I was probably one of the few who didn't let it show. I didn't let it get to me.

"Shadethrower! Cardkeeper! Watch out!" came the sudden shout of our Sergeant, an orange Earth pony. It was an ambush.

My name is Shadow Bright. I'm a unicorn stallion, black coated, and my dark purple mane with it's lighter colored stripes was in a buzz cut. I was a hoofpony in the Royal Guard. My callsign is Shadethrower, as my Sergeant had just called out.

It was an ambush! Cardkeeper was right next to me, and I dove at him, losing concentration on everything but that one action. I lost my gun, but I saved my friend.

Laying on top of him, he thanked me. I was looking around, scanning for danger. I could hear shouting, but me and Cardkeeper were alone.

I got up, lending a hoof to help the golden eyed, white and blue striped pegasus up. His cutie mark was covered, but I knew it was a large spade situated between a smaller heart and diamond. My cutie mark was a bright white light shining in the shape of huge 8 pointed star.

Cardkeeper got to his hooves, but as soon as he stood straight, he gasped and nearly collapsed. I caught him, "Card, you okay?"

"No…I think—I think I was hit by shrapnel." His small voice was nervous, and he looked at me with frightened eyes.

Hoisting his left arm over my shoulders awkwardly, he and I began limping back to camp.

"Wait, where are we going?!" he cried.

"We have to get you laying down and that armor off." I grunted.

"No! You should just…leave me and…rejoin the battle…" by now he was panting.

"You're hurt, I'm not leaving you behind."

"But—"

"Non-negotiable." I snapped.

"You're starting to sound like Sarge." Cardkeeper chuckled.

I didn't say anything. Card and I may have been friends from basic training, but he knew me. I wasn't good at this. I knew you were supposed to say something, to keep the injured pony talking. But Card knew this was enough. For me, this showed I cared. Of course, I'd have rescued anypony. I would never leave them to die.

"The camp is just over this ridge," I huffed, and Card nodded. I saw his bottom lip quivering, his eyes tearing up. He was doing his best to hold back the pain. "You'll be fine," I tried to reassure him, but something told me otherwise.

"He'll die," whispered my demons. Shadows that followed me everywhere, haunted me. I did my best to hold them down, to keep them hidden, but I didn't always have complete control over them, and sometimes they'd come out. Thankfully there weren't many at this point, and Cardkeeper hadn't noticed.

We reached the top of the ridge, and the camp came into view. We stopped in our tracks. Even I, as unfeeling as I usually was, had never seen anything like this. "Death."

"Is it safe?" Card asked me, his voice quivering.

"Probably not," I answered bluntly. I began to move down the hill slowly, and the incline caused Card to begin whimpering. I couldn't imagine his pain. His was physical.

I found a tent that was still intact, so I used my magic to lift the flap. I helped Card lie down. After I took off my own helmet, we worked together to take off his armor, layer by layer until we found the wound.

Pieces of grenade had gotten caught in Card's armor, and had scraped huge gashes into the flesh of his stomach. Some were deeper than others, and there was certainly a lot of blood. Card gave me a look, and said in a barely audible whisper, "Shadow Bright…"

He'd said my name. Not my call sign. I froze, everything in me going cold. "Don't," I shook my head. He wasn't going to die, I wouldn't let him. "You don't know that," sang my shadow creatures. I wasn't listening. Not to anything. Not to my demons, not to Card, and not to—

Taking my hooves off him for a second, so I could look around for something, anything, to staunch the bleeding. That's when all Tartarus broke loose. Cardkeeper had heaved himself up and in the split second it had taken me to even move my head, he'd thrown himself at me. That's when I heard gunshots, then "Oomph!" as Ace of Spades, my friend since training camp, went slack in my arms. He had saved me, taken the bullet for me. The bullets from my own gun.

I didn't have time to think about or feel for the death. The only thing that consumed me was an uncontrollable burning rage, one I'd never felt before. It melted all the ice, and jumping up, I stood over Cardkeeper's limp body.

I could feel a powerful energy, and the shadows around me were in a frenzy. I didn't think, I acted, and released every last ounce of magic I had in me in one big powerful burst. The shadows shrank away from the light, and the pony who'd killed Cardkeeper fell forward, her whole front half charred and bloodied and the pistol dropped from her hoof, sliding to a stop by my feet.

I didn't look at it. I didn't want to. Beneath me lay Ace, dead. In front of me some other unknown pony also dead. Her blackened face was a mask of horror and disbelief. That only made it that much more worse as realization sunk in. Two ponies were dead, and it was all my fault. Not only that, but—

I walked forward a couple steps my jaw working. I didn't know what to feel. I could only stare at the pony my trained eyes saw as a civilian. A puppet pony. I had killed my best friend and an innocent…

I slammed hard to the ground on my butt, disbelief and shock setting in. I heard more hoofsteps approaching, but I was too far gone to care. I'd barely cared about anything before this, why should I now? When all caring brought was death?

Dead, dead, dead, ran round and round in my head. "Shadow Bright?" came the voice of my Sergeant.

The voice snapped me back to reality. A reality I couldn't face, and I immediately began to cry. It was a weakness, a weakness I wanted never to show again.

"It's okay Shadow Bright. You have us." The shadows converged on me, caressing me, trying to give me comfort and reassurance. It was something only I knew. Sarge thought he was the one calming me down. But all I had were my shadows. They're all I've ever had.

"We're all you'll ever have…"

(Chapter 1 set for 1/11/17 12:00am CT
Hey guys, I'm so glad this already has some views. Hope you enjoyed it enough to stick with it. See ya soon! Love ya!)