I keep dreaming of that night. The night my village was destroyed and I was sent along with the other foals to our village's guardian's cave. The dragon named Rose protected us in exchange for an offering of gemstones every ten years. She was still away on the migration.
We never had to ask her for help, but the village leaders always gave her what she wanted just in case. When we arrived to find it was empty I decided that I should go back while everypony else stayed in the cave for safety.
On the way back a group of Shades had found me. Shades are dark spirits who live on fear and grow stronger from negative emotions. They hide within the shadows when stalking their prey and can take any shape necessary for them to cause fear. It is said that those with the greatest of courage could use them as familiars.
The Shades that appeared before me looked like ravens with long tails that flowed like a liquid and I could tell that they wanted to help me.
I asked for them to use their power to get rid of the dragons that attacked my home. They nodded before flying away. After galloping back to the village I saw that everything was completely destroyed, but no ponies were dead or even badly injured. The dragons were nowhere to be seen and the Shades weren't there as well.
Father claims that a giant black dragon appeared and scared the other dragons away before disappearing, but I know it was the Shades. He had warned me of trusting Shades due to their slowly killing their prey to lengthen the amount of fear that comes from them.
I only dream of the destruction I saw. All the flames that took away everything I knew as my home. After our long travels to Canterlot from our forest home, the princesses put us into a series of pony-made tunnels and caverns within the mountain Canterlot is built into.
"Artemis, are you coming or not?" Pyra, my elder sister, asks as I lay in my cot staring at the stone ceiling. I had forgotten that this is the night she is taking me along with her to her Night Guard training.
"Yes." I answer. I quickly get up and off the makeshift bed and she begins trotting towards the main cavern.
I gallop after her and notice that she has stopped to talk with her friend Astra. They both have discovered the nature of their Lunar Pact and have the marks to show for it. Mother says that I should earn my mark soon, but I do not know how I can do so while living in this mountain.
I slow down and listen in. I'm good at sneaking around and being quiet.
"I just hope he'll be inspired by my training to work on his own Lunar Pact." Pyra says.
Astra laughs. "Well knowing him, he's probably going to have invisibility."
The Lunar Pact is what part of the ancient magic that spawned our kind into existence. It allows each of us to have a power that will enable us to defend and fight for our creator. Over the centuries the powers changed to match the personality of the one using it. It can also only be used during the night.
Pyra has an easy temper and her abilities are based on fire. Astra is a perfectionist and her Lunar Pact is based on energy beams that never miss.
Astra looks around. She probably realized I would be listening in if I hadn't come over to them yet. I step out of the shadows towards them and smile.
"Come on Artemis." Pyra smiles back. "I can't be late."
She leads me to the tunnel that goes out of our space within the mountain. I can tell by the fact that there are bright lanterns hanging from the ceiling instead of torches on the walls, this area is used by ponies who can't see in the dark as well as us.
We go along the path until we come to a door with a guard in front of it. He looks at me and then to Pyra.
"I thought all of your kind have yellow eyes." He says.
"Well some of us have green or blue as well, but we don't know how Artemis here got purple." She explained. "So are you going to let us in or not?"
"Alrighty then." He turn to the door and placed his horn within a hole on the door that is surrounded by intricate patterns. With a glow of magic from his horn the door makes a clicking sound and then swings open. Beyond it is a large poorly lit room. Pyra and I enter and I notice a few ponies scattered throughout the room working with various equipment. I look up and see that there is a balcony around the room where a few prestigious ponies stand watching over the ponies in the room.
Pyra had told me that the higher ranked officers keep an eye on the new recruits to see if any are worthy of being promoted. Usually they do this for the bragging rights of finding an amazing soldier before anypony else.
"Ah, there you are, Nightspawn." A gruff voice says from the left of us. We turn to see a light brown Pegasus in a full set of armor. He is well built and doesn't seem to like us.
"Good evening Vice Captain Shadow Sneak." Pyra says as she salutes him. I bow my head in respect towards the second most powerful member of the royal guard.
"So are you ready for your challenge tonight?" He asks her. "We finally tracked down something you can't defeat with your fancy fire powers."
I start to look around the room more as they talk. I notice that the ponies who were down here before are now on the balconies. The equipment has been pushed aside and a few scattered weapons remain on the floor.
I look towards the direction opposite from where we entered and what I see scares me. A giant door much too big for anything in the room. I wonder what kind of training is going to take place here before Pyra pokes at me.
"You better go up to the balcony. The fun is about to start." She smiles, but I can tell she wasn't happy. I nod and then fly up to the balcony above the big door. There are only a few seats there. I look over towards Pyra as the Vice-Captain flies onto the seat next to mine.
"This time we'll show her." He quietly says to himself. He stomps on the floor a few times and then the giant doors creak open. Suddenly a dragon bursts into the room and targets Pyra.
She dodges the first stream of flame from the dragon, but barely manages to grab a sword after the second. This is no training grounds, this is an arena.
"VICE CAPTAIN SHADOW SNEAK WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" Calls out a familiar voice. Princess Luna, our creator and mistress, now stood before me and the Vice Captain. I bow down towards her.
"Your highness, I did not know you would be coming this evening." He replies worriedly.
"I ask that you train a selected group of Nocturne ponies to be on the royal guard and you capture a dragon to fight with one." The Princess tells him. "You better call that dragon off before I demote you to royal floor scrubber."
"Sorry, but we can't." He says.
I look over towards the fight and Pyra is being more defensive than offensive. I can hear her screaming as she dodges each attack. She's enraged and would activate her Lunar Pact if not for it being ineffective against dragons.
The dragon reminds me of what I had been told about Rose. She is dark red and has numerous spikes along her body like this dragon. They must have captured her and forced her to be Pyra's opponent. My mind is suddenly full of thoughts of my village's destruction.
"FOAL!" Luna calls out towards me.
I quickly turn to her and bow my head. "Yes, your majesty."
"Shadow Sneak claims you're Pyra's younger brother, is this correct?" She asks.
"Yes." I answer.
"According to the Vice Captain, the dragon is under an enraging spell and can only be stopped if it is knocked unconscious." Princess Luna explains. "Since Pyra's magic is based on fire, she can't accomplish this and not even the officers surrounding the arena could fight a dragon as big as this one." She looks around at the stallions sitting along the sidelines with bored looks on their faces. "I doubt they would even want to try."
"So what can I do to help her?" I say eagerly.
She smiles. "There are Shades hiding in your shadow, if they haven't killed you yet, it means they feel you are worthy of being their master."
"Understood." I say. Father has told many stories of Shades choosing a master. They usually turn on the pony after enough time. This is usually if they decide to flee from battle. If I have Shades working alongside me I will not turn away from any fight.
I lept from the balcony, spread my wings, and fly above the dragon. I think to myself as I dodge the dragon's tail that the Shades should hold the dragon down just until I could think of something better. As I am about to give the order I see that my shadow is growing and darkening. The Shades split up and did as I had wanted them to.
Anger was one of the emotions they become stronger from and this dragon must be spewing it with this spell it is under.
Pyra flies over to me. "I can't believe you got Shades to follow you from the forest!" She looks down at the dragon who is fighting to get up.
Slowly it falls asleep and the shades take the form I first saw them in and come around me. I land and so does Pyra. The Shades follow and transform into a cloak over my body. They feel so cold against me I shiver.
Princess Luna flies down along with the Vice Captain. She glares at him and then smiles at Pyra. Pyra bows down towards her.
"It is good to see that you are not harmed by Shadow Sneak's envious actions." Princess Luna says to her.
"I would never let such a beast stop me from achieving my goals." Pyra explains proudly.
"That dragon is Rose, our village's protector." I tell her.
"Really?!" She calls out. She turns to the Vice Captain and activates her Lunar Pact from the pure rage she had been feeling throughout her entire battle. Her violet mane and tail taking the appearance of purple flame. She was going to attack him with it.
"PYRA!" The Princess screams. "I will deal with the Vice Captain. In the meantime you may return to the caverns."
Pyra took a deep breath her mane slowly returns to normal. "Yes, your majesty." She began trotting out of the arena and I start to follow. The shades move back into my shadow.
"Foal, I wish for you to stay." Princess Luna says.
I stop and turn to her. "Why?"
"I see great potential in you." She comes over to me. "What is your name?"
"Artemis."
"Well Artemis, I would like to personally teach you how to use your magic and control the Shades more precisely."
I was speechless at this. I have never been good at anything accept hiding, but somehow Princess Luna wanted me to be her protege. I could not have been happier. She was like our goddess.
Finally I nodded in agreement. "I would be honored for you to teach me."
"Then your lessons shall begin tonight." She smiles.
I turn to say goodbye to Pyra, but she was already gone.
"So your highness, what should we do with the unconscious dragon?" The Vice Captain asks. I look over at the immense dragoness. She seems so peaceful.
The princess trots over to her head. "AWAKEN!" Rose slowly shifted her head and then her eyes shot open as her body jolted up.
"Thorn! Where is my baby?!" She bellows looking around frantically until she spots Shadow Sneak. "What have you done with my son?!" She grabs him in her claws before he has a chance to fly away.
"I assure you he is safe." The Vice Captain answers.
"Rose, I will see that you and your son return to your home without any further interference and the pony you hold is punished not only by Equestrian standards, but also by the Dragon Council." Luna says to the dragon who then proceeds to toss Shadow Sneak into a wall.
He slowly slides down before pointing to the large door Rose had entered from.
"He's in there." Shadow Sneak explains before falling over.
Luna uses her magic to swing the door open. The room beyond it is dark, but I can see that there are cages filled with different creatures within it. It is eerily quiet.
"I will bring him out." Luna tells Rose.
The dragoness nods and then looks over at me as Luna goes into the room.
"I have only seen one other pony with eyes like yours." She says to me.
"Who?" I ask.
"He was known as Vice." Rose answers.
Luna returns with a young green dragon. He has a long slim body, big wings, and bright orange eyes. He wasn't as big as the dragons who attacked my village, but was not a hatchling.
"Oh Thorn, I'm so glad you're okay." Rose says gleefully as he scurries up her arm and onto her head.
Luna looked up at Rose and sighed. "I do not know how you were able to get in here, but I'm sure some of the unicorns in the night guard could easily teleport you two back into The Everfree Forest." She looks up at the balconies. "Isn't that right?"
I look up and see that there are only a few scattered ponies remaining watching. They are nodding in agreement with Princess Luna.
I step back as the unicorns' horns begin to glow and in a sudden burst of magic the two dragons are gone. I turn towards the princess who is watching the unconscious Vice Captain.
"What will his punishment be?" I ask.
"Celestia and I will have to decide, but until then he can stay right there." She answers. "Now then, it is still early in the evening. We should go somewhere a little less grim for your training." She smiles at me. "Would you like to go to the castle gardens for your first lesson?"
"Yes, your majesty." I answer.
"Please call me Luna."