The Shadow of Equestria

Chapter 3

One Crazy Night

Nightmare looked at me with a large smile before her horn lit up again. She stood still for a few moments until a beam shot from her horn and into the sky.

"Get close to me Zhane; it is time for our grand entrance."

I complied and stood on her right side as close as I could.

"Any second now." Nightmare said as she stared into the sky of the realm.

I did the same and hoped to find what Nightmare was looking for but to no avail. She seemed to be looking for nothing, the sky was still white. Seconds later, I was surprised to see a dark twinkling in the white sky. Almost like a star in the night time sky but with the colors inverted.

"There it is, let's get out of here!" she shouted as her horn lit up again. This way different, instead of a beam, a mist came from her horn and surrounded both of us, completely engulfing us in a tornado of darkness. I was starting to freak out again; I was back in the blackness I had begun in. However, I knew Nightmare Moon wouldn't put me back, she knew what I was, she's seen my past. She told me herself that I was a rare find, even though I didn't know what that meant exactly. I knew for a fact she would cast me aside, so I calmed down and decided to wait it out.

As I waited, I noticed a small light in that darkness. It was small like a star in the nighttime sky, not able to give light but was bright enough to be seen. Eventually, the light got bigger and bigger until it completely engulfed me. The light was so bright I was forced to shield me eyes. After a moment, I moved my arm and found myself standing next to Nightmare Moon on a raised platform in some kind of build. I looked out into the crowd to see more ponies like Nightmare Moon except none where exactly like her. Some had horns while some had wings. There were even some that had neither. As I looked around the room, the look of fear was prevalent. That day, I couldn't tell if they were afraid of me or Nightmare or me. We were receiving the same amount of attention.

"Oh my beloved subjects." began Nightmare. "It's been so long since I've seen your precious, little, sun loving faces."

"What did you do with our Princess!?" yelled a Rainbow colored pegasus that was in the crowd below. The pegasus then proceeded to try and fly towards Nightmare but was held back but another pony who had a hold of the Rainbow pony's tail.

Nightmare laughed slightly. "Why, am I not royal enough for you? Don't you know who I am?"

Another pony in the audience began to name of several names before have an apple shoved in its mouth by the same pony holding the Rainbow one's tail.

Nightmare leaned over to a yellow and pink pegasus that was close to the balcony.

"Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for 1000 years?"

Nightmare leaned over to another pony that was close as well, a white unicorn with a purple mane.

"Do you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?"

Before Nightmare could continue interrogating the unicorn, a voice rang out from the crowd.

"I did!" yelled the voice. "And I know who you are. You're the Mare in the Moon. Nightmare Moon."

Once this was said, every pony in that building gasped loudly. It was almost like Nightmare's name was taboo.

Nightmare and I looked down at the crowd to see a lavender unicorn with purple and pink hair. The ponies around her had backed up and formed a circle around her, easily revealing her position.

"Well, well, well." said Nightmare as she flapped her wings. "Somepony who remembers me. Then you also know why I'm here."

"You're here to... to." said the lavender pony as she looked around with a terrified look on her face. Instead of answering, the pony just looked down at the ground.

Nightmare noticed this and began to laugh manically.

"Remember this day little ponies for it was your last. From this moment forward, the night will last forever!"

Thunder began to boom as Nightmare began to laugh. Suddenly, her wavy mane began to twist and twirl until a large tornado was formed above us.

"Seize her and that beast with her! Only they know where the Princess is." yelled another pony from the crowd. I turned my head to the left and noticed as three pegasus ponies, all wearing golden armor began to fly directly towards us. As a reaction, I grabbed one of my daggers and readied it. Nightmare noticed the guards as well and turned her attention to them.

"Stand back you foals!" she yelled as her eyes began to turn white. The thunder boomed and this time, three bolts of lightning struck and hit each of the guards. I watched as they fell to the ground and slowly got back up.

"Zhane, make an example out of them! I want the ponies here to know not to mess with us!" Nightmare yelled as she smiled.

I nodded gladly and readied my push dagger. As the first guard made his way back up to us, I grabbed the collar of his chest piece and shoved the push dagger into his throat. He gave little fight before he stopped moving all together. I threw his body to the ground and waited for the next guard. The next guard's left wing was burnt from the lightning but somehow was able to keep himself a float. I changed that.

As the guard approached, I smashed my fist into the side of his helmet causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground. Before he was able to fall, I grabbed him by his head and jerked it to the left as hard as possible. I was satisfied to hear a loud crunch as his neck looked very out of place. I took his body and threw it off the balcony, close to the first. Now the last guard was making his way up to the balcony. Before he got there, I turned to Nightmare.

"They'll know not to mess with you after they see this." I said.

"I'm excited to see what you'll do." she said as an evil smile crossed her face.

I turned back to the guard to see that he had almost reached us. However, if he wasn't so weak from the lightning blast he would have avoided his fate. As he got close, I grabbed him and placed him on the ground at my feet. That's when I noticed that he had that look, the pleading look in his eyes. I loved that look, the one that says more than a large story. One that puts the saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" to shame.

Slowly, I began to lower my push dagger towards the guard. He tried to kick and get away from me but his efforts were in vain. The dagger got closer and closer until I slowly began to push it into his neck. I stopped before I went any further, what was the fun of killing this guard if I wanted to send a message. I had to do something worse, something that would get across faster than being killed.

I pulled my push dagger away and look down his body, there had to be something else I could do than killing him? There had to be something I could do that would be better. As I said this, my eyes caught sight of his slightly singed wings. It was perfect, I knew exactly what to do. I moved my push dagger around his body and placed them on his wings. He noticed what I was going to do and tried to persuade me.

"Please don't do this!" he yelled in a panicked voice. "Please, I'll do anything, I'll give you anything, just don't do what I think you're going to do!"

I smiled; this is why I do what I do. To get this feeling of power, to know that you have complete control over people simply because they fear you. Sometimes, it's even more fun to show them why they should fear me.

I push the dagger into the base of his wing and was assaulted with the pained screams of the guard. However, I wasn't deterred, I continued to push and push until the dagger had protruded through the other side and had completely severed the base of the wing.

The blood began to spill from the wound like a fountain, this would surely send a message to those how try to oppose Nightmare. I message I hope they understood. I picked up the guards and severed wing off the ground and held them over my head.

"Take this as a warning!" I yelled to the crowd. "If you try and stop us, you'll end up like this poor, little guard. Chopped into pieces."

As I said that, I threw the body and wing down to the ground and watched as the ponies around it started to back away. I then turned to Nightmare.

"I believe they got the message." said with a smile.

"Indeed they did. Get close to me Zhane, we're leaving." I nodded and got back into my position next to Nightmare. The tornado surrounded us and once again the darkness was all around me. With that we left the ponies to collect and decide what to do next.

Once again, I saw a small light and watched as it got bigger and bigger. Anticipating what was about to happen, I closed my eyes and waited a moment before opening them. When I did, I was met with the smiling face of Nightmare Moon.

"You're turning out to be far better than I had hoped Zhane."

I smiled slightly. "I just did what I do best Nightmare, kill. There's nothing to it really." I paused before continuing. "If you don't mind me asking, what are we doing here?"

As I asked the question. I noticed that we were standing in the ruins of what looked to be an old castle.

"We're here to get one thing, The Elements of Harmony. A magical artifact that wields great power. I would like to remove them from the palace before anypony has a chance to find them."

I watched as Nightmare motioned towards a moss covered statue. Upon closer inspection, the statue was a pedestal that held five stone orbs, each with a different carving.

"These are The Elements of Harmony. As of now there are only five on the statue for the sixth has been lost to the ages."

Nightmare then turned towards me.

"I would like you to remove those five stone orbs and get them ready to be moved. I'm going to make sure no guards or pesky little village ponies interrupt us."

I nodded and watched as the same dark blue fog surrounded Nightmare and made it way out of the open roof of the destroyed castle. With Nightmare gone, I began to do as she asked and move the five stones away from the statue.

"I've only been in this place for maybe 20 minutes tops and I'm more confused than my whole life back home. I need to make SOME kind of sense of all of this."

I began to go over the details in my head.

'Nightmare wants revenge on her sister for locking her up but her sister did so to stop Nightmare from making nighttime forever. Now we're in some destroyed castle to get a magic artifact because Nightmare is paranoid that someone would use it against her. To top it all off, I'm supposed to have some kind of magical properties according to Nightmare. When I said I didn't, she told me all humans had magical powers. That just brings up another question. What human or humans did she meet? I'm pretty sure that she didn't meet anybody from where I'm from. Does that mean that humans existed in Equestria too?'

I let out a long sigh and rubbed the bridge of my nose. All of this was too much for me to handle. I decided that once we moved these Elements, I was going to ask Nightmare about these things. Maybe she would be able to shed some light on that subject. She should have done so in the first place but I'm not complaining, she did save me from that awful place and I am grateful.

I pulled myself out of my rant to see that I had done as Nightmare had asked and readied the Elements for transport. Now the only thing left to do was wait for Nightmare Moon. So to waste time, I propped myself against one of the nearby pillars and shut my eyes. I hoped that maybe I would be able to get some rest before we moved the Elements.

Sadly, fate was not on my side that night and did not allow me to sleep. However, instead of the sound of the frogs and insects outside, I heard the clip clop on hooves on the stone floor. I was confused; maybe Nightmare had brought a pony back.

"Whoa!" said one of the ponies that walked in. That definitely didn't sound like Nightmare, it sounded like that rainbow colored mare with the temper. If she was here, that meant Nightmare wasn't.

"Come on Twilight, isn't this whatcha been waitin' for?" said another voice in a heavy accent.

"The Elements of Harmony! We found them!" yelled another. As soon as I heard that I jumped up onto my feet and waited for the right time to reveal myself. As I observed the group, I recognized all of the ponies. The short temper pegasus, the orange earth pony that held her back. The all pink pony that called Nightmare those funny names. The purple and white unicorn along with the yellow and pink pegasus that Nightmare was the closest to when we arrived at that building. Lastly was the lavender unicorn with the purple and pink mane. She was the only one that knew about Nightmare, the only one that recognized her. That must mean they're looking for the Elements, maybe they were seeking to take them as well. As Nightmare ordered, I was not going to allow that to happen.

"What a second, why are they on the floor? Has somepony already been here?" asked the lavender unicorn to the ponies behind her.

I decided that now was right time, so I moved out of the shadows and approached the ponies.

"I would suggest that you turn around and leave at once." I said as I pulled out one of my push daggers.

There was a collection of gasps before any one the ponies decided to speak up.

"You're that thing that hurt those guards!" yelled the rainbow pony as she snorted loudly.

"It was three guards, probably low rank. I doubt anyone will miss them. You know why?" I asked as I got closer. "Because they were expendable. I bet that your precious Princess will replace those guards when she gets the chance." I cleared my throat. "Now like I said, step away from the Elements before I do to you what I did to those guards."

The six ponies backed up far enough that I was able to stand in front of the Elements, blocking them.

"Why are you helping Nightmare Moon?" asked the lavender unicorn. "We need to stop her from making night eternal. Can you please give us the Elements?"

"You don't think I don't know what Nightmare Moon is trying to do? I know what her plans are and I'm for them 100%. Nightmare Moon saved my life and in return I pledged it to her and that means doing what she asks. She told me to keep the Elements safe and that is what I'm going to do. So you better stop talking or you'll end up annoying me, and that won't be good for you or your pony friends."

A concerned look crossed the unicorn's face as I finished my long winded speech. A look that yelled fear but also doubled as a look of sadness. I didn't care what that unicorn thought or said, I wasn't giving those Elements up.

'Zhane are you still with the Elements?' yelled a voice in my head. Due to the sound, I assumed that it was Nightmare speaking.

'Yes Nightmare, but there are six ponies here that tried to grab them. I'm keeping them away until you get here.' I thought as I tried to communicate with Nightmare.

'Those annoying ponies have been a thorn in my side all night. Keep them back for a little more Zhane I'm almost there. Once I'm there, jump into the mist and we'll be out of here.'

'Gotcha.' I confirmed as I continued to watch the ponies with a careful eye.

"Please just give us the Elements." asked the lavender unicorn again. "You have no idea..."

I stopped the unicorn there.

"You best stop there, I'm not giving you these Elements and all you're doing by constantly asking is annoying me."

The wind started to pick up and I noticed Nightmare's mist enter from the broken roof. Suddenly, the familiar dark blue tornado formed behind me and sucked the Elements up with it.

"So long unicorn." I said as I jumped through, straight into the blackness. Once again, the light appeared and blinded me once more as we exited the mist. I uncovered my eyes to see Nightmare to my left but she was focused on something. I followed her line of sight till I saw what she was staring at. That lavender unicorn had followed us. She must have jumped in the mist right before it left.

'Damn that unicorn' I said as I stood up and readied myself. Nightmare had picked up the Elements and had them orbiting around her. She let out a loud laugh as she heard the unicorn's gasp of terror. That laugh died down once the lavender unicorn snorted and dragged one of her hooves across the stone floor. Apparently, Nightmare thought that this was some sort of joke.

"You're kidding. You're kidding right?" she asked as she looked at the unicorn with a confused gaze. Her gaze turned from confused to anger once she saw the unicorn charge her horn and start to run at her. Nightmare looked back at me.

"Stay with the Elements."

I nodded and watched as she dashed towards the unicorn. They got closer and closer until they were about to meet in the middle. However, as they got close, the unicorn's horn lit up brighter and with a flash, the unicorn disappeared. Frantically, I looked over at the Elements to see the unicorn with her horn pointed at them. I took off into a dead sprint as I readied my push dagger. I got close and thrusted my dagger forward, aiming for the unicorn's neck. Before I could do this, a spark emitted from the stone orbs that sent both the unicorn and me flying back. The unicorn only landed several feet away, I wasn't so lucky.

I flew back and hit on of the stone pillars behind me. I wasn't going slow either; I hit that pillar going pretty fast. To make it even better. I slid down the pillar and hit my head on the stone floor. As of that moment, I felt completely disoriented. I tried to pay attention to what was going on but my vision kept blurring and my balance became almost none existence. The next few events became blurs. I remember loud laughing followed by the sound of glass shattering. The next was a blinding light and a loud, panicked scream from who I thought was Nightmare.

At that point, I couldn't take it anymore. I pushed myself to my feet and tried to get over to Nightmare but was stopped by a loud crumbling sound. I looked up to see that the ceiling was falling apart for some apparent reason. I tried to move to Nightmare as quick as possible by was stopped by the feeling of enormous weight all around me. After that, I lost consciousness.

The next thing I felt was pain. It was like the pain I had felt running away from Agent Warren. The next thing I felt was the warm, wet feeling of blood. Was it mine or was it someone else's? At that point, I would have been surprised if it wasn't mine. Breathing was hard under that rubble and what made it even worse was a blinding light that flooded through the cracks between the rocks. My eyes widened as I realized what light that was, it was the sun's light. That meant one thing, Nightmare was... gone. Those damned ponies had done something to her and now she was gone. The thing that saved me from an eternity of loneliness and I would never see her again. It was starting to feel like what happen when Agent Warren had found me.

'Is this it for me?' I asked myself. I then remembered the panicked scream Nightmare did before whatever happened to her happened. It pained me to remember this but it also filled me with rage, a blood-lust. I wanted to make those ponies pay, I wanted them to suffer, and I wanted them to bleed. I made up my mind and begin to shift through the rock. The pain in my chest was trying to stop me from moving so I ignored it and kept going. I kept shifting and shifting until my hand breached the surface of the rubble. From there, I used that leverage and began to pull myself out. Once my head was out, I got a good look of everything.

The sun had risen and my suspicions were confirmed, Nightmare was gone. This was again evident since the helmet she wore was laying one the stone floor next to the rubble. I looked in front of me to see another Alicorn, like Nightmare, except some was all white with a mane full of cheerful colors. That had to be Nightmare's sister, Celestia. Celestia was currently hugging another Alicorn that looked somewhat like Nightmare Moon. Her colors matched but at the same time, she wasn't the same. As the two continued to hug, I found a chance to attack. I then pulled my feet out of the rubble, lost my grip, and started to tumble down the pile straight to the floor. I would have been fine except for the fact that I landed on my chest and the pain returned once more. I gasped in pain as I started to cough and I put my hand to my mouth. I removed it and saw something that made me go wide eyed. Blood, my blood, was in my hand. I cursed silently as I got back up. Surely I have already been seen and there was no changing that.

I looked up to see that all the ponies were looking at me. They were all looking at me with a frightened look in their eyes. All of them except for Celestia, she looked surprised.

"Twilight, is this the beast you were talking about?" she said to the lavender unicorn.

"Yes Princess, that's the thing that helped Nightmare Moon." said the unicorn who I assumed was Twilight.

The Princess turned and looked at me in amazement. "In all my years, I never thought I would see another human."

"What are you talking about Princess?" asked Twilight. "That thing is a monster that killed three of your guards and helped Nightmare Moon. Why are you so interested in it?" asked Twilight.

The Princess turned to Twilight. "Because Twilight, Humans have be extinct for 2000 years. The last human I ever saw was before Luna and I became the rulers of Equestria."

My eyes widened at the mention of that. I wanted to freak out but I also wanted blood. I guess the freak-out would have to wait. I began to walk forward as fast I my feet would carry me, which was not very fast. As I walked towards the ponies, I reached to my belt and pulled out another push dagger. Here was the dilemma, in front of stood two ponies I wanted dead but I could only kill one. I looked at Twilight and made my decision and changed course towards the lavender unicorn. Apparently, Celestia saw this and stood in front of Twilight.

"Human." she said firmly. "I ask that you stop your advance and give up. You are badly injured. Please, I do not wish to hurt you."

"Then I'll kill you first." I said as I approached the Princess and raised my push dagger. I plunged it forward but it was stopped and my hand was surrounded by a bright yellow aura. Suddenly, my wrist twisted, causing me to release my dagger and fall to the ground in pain. I looked back up to see Celestia's horn in my face.

"Sorry but I have to do this." said Celestia as her horn lit up and released a bright light that hit me directly in the face. The last thing I remember seeing was all the ponies surrounding as I laid there slowly blacking out.

Here's Chapter 3 for everypony enjoy.

Now, I am making the decision to post two a week by Friday. If a new chapter doesn't go up by Friday, then I have decided against it. If it has, you guys can expect a new chapter every Monday and every Friday.