Chapter 1: And so it begins

The light blue unicorn hurriedly ran through the corridors, hearing his faithful followers far behind him fighting to hold off the Royal guard.
"Damn them, damn them all to oblivion" He muttered to himself while tearing of his dark garments. He had known that the guards were on to him, known that they would barge in to arrest them.
But they had been prepared; they had barricaded the gates and put guards up ready to ambush them. And the ceremony would call fourth an entity from beyond even princess Celestias knowledge, an entity that would bring an end to this world.
And it had gone so well too. The captured mare had easily been drugged and placed upon the altar, the ritual had gone through flawlessly and was just about to finish with her death that would end it all when IT had showed up. Whoever or whatever it was he had showed up right behind the high priest as if out of nowhere and stabbed a black sword right through his heart, effectively stopping the ritual.
It cannot have been… It is just a story. He thought to himself. But he had stood there, blood covering the dark blade he held in his right hoof and with that mask… Oh that mask, resembling a unicorn skull with two blood red rubies as eyes. For a moment they just stood there, in terror while watching him as he stared back at them.
"K-k-kill him! We must complete the ritual" The cult leader had shouted to his followers and they had obeyed. Or, they had tried to… IT tore through them like a tornado, effectively separating them from the bound mare, still trapped in her drug-induced haze. Then, the guard had broken through, ending all hope for the apocalypse.
The unicorn leader were no fighter, he had a silver tongue and the charismatic spell to make lesser ponies follow him unquestionably. But he was no fighter, and so he ran. The last thing he noticed from the chaos was that IT was gone, disappeared just like he had appeared.
He had taken one of the many hidden passages the building held and successfully escaped, abandoning the other cult followers to their fate.
"Doesn't matter, I'll rebuild. I'll get new followers, and next time, we will be more careful, acting out from the shadows, we will BE shadows. And all of Equestria, along with the rest of the world, will burn."
Still he could not help but feel bitter anger over this utter and complete loss. With this, every cell in the cult had been crushed, like a poison slowly killing a tumor. The guard had been busy, choking out their hidden outposts and desert enclaves.
But that did not matter anymore, he had learned his lesson and would return stronger for it.
Heh, in a way I should be thanking them. After all, how much of a victory will it be if it is not earned through hard work and dedication? He chuckled to himself as he reached the exit. Freedom, Safety, once he's in the streets of Canterlot, nopony will recognize him without his gown. He-
He never noticed the cold metal on his throat, never noticed how it sliced ever so gracefully, making his life, in the shape of blood spill out of the open wound. The last thing his eyes could see was the light from the busy streets of Canterlot, just a few steps away, before he became one with the darkness, and only the silence remained.
The mysterious pony with the mask cleaned the blood off the blade before letting it silently sheathe back into its handle and putting it back in his belt.
"Be at peace Gloomy Ember, you poor unfortunate soul. May you find the love your life never gave you in the Evergreen Meadows."
With that, the mysterious pony closed the unicorn's eyes and then simply vanished like the shadows that were his namesake.

In Canterlot castle, princess Celestia sat in her study with her prized star pupil Twilight Sparkle and discussed modern Equestrian myths.
"Princess, what about the Shadow of Equestria? The mysterious unicorn in the darkness killing and abducting ponies all over the land. There are some who says he only targets criminals though, but-"
"And where would he find these criminals my student? Unless my own guard is lying to me, there is not nearly enough crime in Equestria to make a pony like that necessary. Besides, there is no evidence to support this myth."
Twilight Sparkle blushed slightly for not thinking of this. "I know princess, I just thought that some myths always have a small corn of truth in them so-" Here, Twilight was interrupted by a knocking.
The door opened and the Royal guard on duty poked his head in.
"Forgive me your majesty, but you asked to tell you when captain Shining Armour got back and to let him in immediately."
Celestia nodded. "Yes, please show him in." Then she turned to Twilight. "I'm sorry Twilight, but we will have to continue this some other day. I need to speak to your brother in private."
The princess's star pupil immediately got up and bowed.
"Of course your majesty, but umm…" She hesitated. "Could I wait outside? It's been so long since I got to see my brother and-"
Celestia gave a light chuckle. "But of course Twilight, so long as you do not try to eavesdrop on us, it will be fine."
Twilight's blush got even bigger at this but before she could answer the door opened and the captain of the guard stepped in.
"Well, if it isn't my favorite little sister." He smiled.
"Shining!" Twilight ran up to him giving him the biggest hug she could.
"Mmmm, I've missed you too Twiley, could I just get a word with the princess and then I got the entire day with you."
"Okay BBBFF!" Twilight happily ran out the door before the guard on duty closed it behind her.
When Shining Armour turned to face his princess his smile quickly faded and changed into the stoic expression that was the trademark of the royal guard.
"Your majesty" He gave a bow.
"Please captain, at ease, how did the raid go? Is the threat gone?"
Shining stood and took a more comfortable stance.
"The cult has finally been crushed, without any losses on our side, but the cultists…" Here, the captain was not sure how to continue, he knew how much the princess valued life, even that of her foes.
Celestia on the other hoof had already prepared herself for the worst. "It is alright captain, just give me the numbers."
Shining straightened his pose and looked right at her. "We captured most of them, forty-five to be precise, but when we arrived, there were already twelve dead, including their high priest. I'm afraid the leader managed to get away though."
To this Celestia gave a long sigh. "So much pointless death."
"Your majesty, permission to speak freely?" Celestia only gave a nod.
"Was it truly necessary to send him ahead? He only leaves death in his wake and could have compromised the entire mission, not to mention the leader got warned and left before we managed to barge through the gates."
Before the alicorn princess could answer though, they heard a dark, quit voice, almost like a whisper. "He did not get away captain, he lies dead in one of their secret passages. I believe one of your guards must have found him by now."
With the voice, the shadow of Equestria himself appeared. A unicorn with a skull mask made out of metal stepped out of the dark corner next to the balcony entrance. His colour and cutie mark were concealed by an ancient black and dark purple uniform that had been worn by the night guard before the rise and fall of nightmare moon almost a thousand years ago. The hooves were covered with black boots of specially made leather that gave off no sound no matter where the owner stepped. It was completed with a black hood covering the head until it connected with the mask and a belt containing a sword handle, a few odd looking cylinders, a pouch and a bolt quiver for his hidden hoof-mounted miniature crossbow attached to his left hoof. He placed himself next to the captain and gave a quick bow to the princess.
"The mission was a success your majesty."
Shining Armour let out a growl-like sound. "Shadow…" The name gave a bitter taste in his mouth, this agent of Celestia seemed to always make his mood go down.
"Your actions today go against the laws of a royal guard, we must not use lethal force unless in wartime or when we have no other choice! And the leader was to be taken alive, not dead!"
Shadow slowly turned to Shining and let his blood-red artificial eyes stare into his for a moment before answering.
"The leader was killed for he could never be held in a dungeon, he is too smart to be contained."
"That's not certain. We-"
"He could, and would escape. And then he would be free to make another cult, destroy more lives and possibly succeed in his ending ritual, thus destroying us all."
"But that does not justify you rushing in to kill twelve of them and warning them of our raid. You were just supposed to be there as support, not take things into your own hooves!" Shining Armour's face was practically red at this point, if he did not know better, Shadow would think that his nostrils would start blowing steam. That thought made a huge smile creep across his face. Thank the shadows for his mask.
"Your ignorance and carelessness almost cost us victory today, and the cultist members you killed, they were only being controlled by the leader and the high priest through an advanced mind-control spell. In fact, it was you that told us so!"
The smaller stallion stayed silent through the entire lecture, only giving a light chuckle when he was finished.
"Necessary sacrifices for the greater good…"
Shining stared at him in shock, disgust and anger at this. But before he could continue, Celestia spoke.
"Enough! I too believe that Shadow went too far this time, but what done is done, we cannot change the past. And I would have a word with Shadow alone captain, if you would?"
Shining forced himself to calm down but hesitated to give an answer.
"He will be punished for his actions captain, rest assured."
This seemed to satisfy the guard captain, he gave a bow and turned to walk out the door, stopping momentarily to calm down and force a smile on his face.
Shadow watched in silence as he got out and they heard a happy squeal before the door was closed yet again.
"Shouldn't she be sent to "make friends" soon? The longer you wait, the longer-" He turned back to the royal alicorn that stared at him with an even worse anger than the one Shining had felt.
Here we go again. He thought as he calmly looked back.
"Necessary sacrifices? Necessary sacrifices!? Twelve lives, Sky. Twelve ponies whose families will never get to see them again! I can't believe you would just say that to justify such murders, this is unacceptable Sky, I should-"
"If you had let me continue with the good captain, you would have heard my reason for interfering. The guard was too slow, had I not interrupted the ceremony by killing the high priest, the mare would have been impaled on the dagger and you would have had to deal with an ending world right now. And the cultists I killed? Had I simply left with the mare afterwards, the guard would have walked into an ambush and been slaughtered. And then you would have to explain to your precious student why she would never get to see her "BBBFF" again."
"SILENCE!" Celestia did not use her royal Canterlot voice often, but when she did, it was enough to make even a dragon shiver in fear. Oh, and it did not help when her eyes started glowing white and her very mane seemed to be on fire from the anger she felt.
"You will not bring Twilight into this, she has enough ahead of her as it is. And your actions cannot be justified like that, you are still a murderer, a sickening, disgusting-"
So far the shadow had simply stared back at the princess defiantly, rage slowly building up inside of him until he snapped.
"YES! I am a murderer, a killer and a monster! But not by choice Celestia, because it was YOU that made me into what I am. It was YOU who needed an agent of the dark. Someone to handle everything you, your guard and eventually the elements of harmony cannot handle. And you knew that this required evils to be committed in small enough doses. You KNEW what was to become of me!"
This was very unusual for him, he was usually always calm and emotionless no matter what, so this sudden outburst made the princess take a few step back in shock. It seemed to calm her down a bit as well, for her eyes returned to normal and the fire in her mane disappeared, like it had not been there at all.
They looked at each other's for a moment in silence, until the shadow took a deep breath, calming himself and taking his mask and hood off. Underneath was a young stallion's face, crimson red fur with a short brown mane tied up in the back of the head as a pony-tail. (Oh irony, how I love you.) When you would first see him, you would guess him to be in his early twenties, and you would be correct. Twenty-one years of age. But if you would take a deep look into his pale, icy-blue eyes, you would see a pony that has had enough. You would see him as he was deep inside. Tired, worn out… Old…
"I'm sorry your majesty, I was out of line. If you have a punishment for me, I will accept it without complaint." With the mask gone, his voice no longer sounded like a dark wisper, but instead had a deep and gentle tone to it.
The princess herself let out a long sigh before answering him.
"No sky, you are right. I should not be so angry with you for it is also my own fault that you are like you are. A mistake I hope to remedy." Her agent perked up at this.
"So send me somewhere with no crimes Celestia, somewhere where I can relax between missions and simply be myself, believe me, it will be very good for me to relearn the values of life. Who knows? It might make me, you know, less murderous."
Celestia gave him a suspicious look.
"And I assume you have already determined which place you would go to?"
"You know me too well princess, yes I have. Ponyville to be precise."
"Sky we have talked about this, Ponyville-"
"If Twilight sparkle is to wield the element of magic, she will need to find and befriend the rest of the bearers. My informants have already confirmed the existence of five mares in Ponyville that could very well be these bearers. Now all I need to do is go there and confirm if they are the bearers or not."
Princess Celestia was pacing back and forth in her room while he talked.
"That does not explain why you should remain there afterwards Sky.
"Simple, if this works and we have the elements of harmony at our disposal, the other nations that would do us harm or evil organizations and the like would like to neutralize this threat before it becomes a problem for them. And since you will not send any guards to such a peaceful little town, it would be best if they received a secret guardian. If I go there now, I will have already established myself as a local by the time you send Twilight there, thus removing any suspicion."
Celestia sat down in deep thought. The minutes went by as her agent stood at his place, waiting for the answer he knew she would give.
"Fine Sky, you get as you want, we will have to begin preparations for you immediately though, I will send somepony to build you a house there and-"
"Already taken care of that princess, the house was finished two days ago and the furnishing has already been installed. I am ready to go in a matter of days."
This surprised Celestia. Already done?
Oh that clever little pony. She thought. "Why do I get the feeling you planned for this?"
"Because I did Celestia, I did" The stallion laughed as he walked into the shadows behind the balcony curtain, seeming to not only blend in with them, but to become one with them, before he simply vanished.