Shadow Knight: An Untold Legend

The last we left our heroes, Shadow is being confronted by The Ghost Pony of The Sky. Shadow was staring into the white pony's light green eyes and was standing at the ready for an attack. "I mean you no harm, Shadow Knight. I'm just here to keep you and the others safe from harm." The Ghost Pony said. "And how can I know I can trust you?" Shadow asked. "Because I was sent here by Princess Luna herself." The white pony explained as it pulled out a scroll with Luna's writing.

Shadow let his guard down and sat next to fire, he watched the pony and the perimeter of his camp site. The Ghost Pony was standing facing north, Shadow was now getting drowsy. He fell asleep as The Ghost Pony stood watch through the night. It sang a tune that was mellow and lovely, it made Shadow feel safe for once. "Here I stand watch over a flock. Here I stand with my eyes lock. On the darkness that is kept at bay. By the light of the day. Creatures be ware of my might. Because I'm on guard tonight. Sleep ponies of the north. Sleep next to the fire for warmth. Wake in the morning for your quest. That will put you to the test."

Morning was here and Shadow awoke to find The white pony gone. He awoke the others, then continued back to Appleloosa. They managed to get back to The Farm House to freshen up. Shadow began decrypting more ancient text and Twilight was able to find some coffee to perk up the stallion. The other five passed the time by chatting amongst themselves. "Did any of you hear singing last night?" Rarity asked. "I didn't I was to deep into sleep." Rainbow Dash said. "I did, it wasn't Shadow's voice. It sound more higher and sweet." Fluttershy said. "Yeah almost like a lullaby." Pinkie said. "It was probably nothing, besides we need to grasp the concept that Equesrtia is still in danger." Applejack said.

"Got the next location!" Shadow announced. "Where are we heading to this time?" Twilight asked. "The Galloping Gorge." Shadow said. "All way in near Vanhoover?" Pinkie asked. "Yep and we need to get moving. The Elements await." Shadow replied. They left the Farm House paying the owner handsomely, they reached the station to grab the next train to Vanhoover. The train ride was longer and more boring than the last, and the girls were getting uneasy. They fell asleep agian, but Shadow was getting a feeling as they got closer to Vanhoover. A feeling that a powerful presents was near, the presents of powerful magic. It even woke up Twilight, who looked at Shadow as if to say, "I feel it too.".

The train stopped and let its passengers out, but their was no pony to greet the travelers. No pony even stopped to say hello, all the locals just walked on with a scowl on their face. Shadow decided to ask a mare for directions, "Excuse me. Miss!". "Buzz off creep!" The mare yelled, Shadow was stunned. A stallion walked over to then and said, "You must be the ponies Princess Celestia was talking about." The stallion said. "Yes it's been a long train ride and we wish to rest. "Well, follow me and don't try to communicate with these ponies. They hate newcomers." The stallion said while walking away. Shadow and the girls followed the blue stallion to a hotel called "The Retreat." "Their should be some pony inside to take care of you. By the way my name is Chaotic Rush." The blue stallion added. "Thank you for your help Chaotic Rush." Shadow said. "One more thing. Be sure to not go in the woods at night, a powerful unicorn is said to live in them. She is very dangerous." Chaotic warned befor leaving.

They walked into a almost empty hotel, where a middle aged mare was running the desk. "Welcome to The Retreat. We have a nice suite prepared for you upstairs." The mare said. She guided the heroes to the very top of the building where they stopped at the suite. "My name is Glorious Star, if you need me I'll be in down stairs." The mare said before giving them a room key and left to attend to other maters. Shadow opened the door to the suite, revealing a gigantic room. It had seven soft beds, a kitchen, a large bathroom, and a note on the counter. "My gift to you seven brave ponies. Love Princess Celestia and Princess Luna." "I have died and gone to heaven." Rarity said. "Mighty nice of Princesses to do this." Applejack said before jumping into her bed.

"They even have food and beverages!" Pinkie Pie said. "The view here is amazing!" Fluttershy said while looking out a big window. "How about we have nice meal then head out tomorrow." Shadow said. "Sounds like a plan to me." Rainbow said. They prepared a big meal, they partied and had a great time. They also sleeped well through the night, except Twilight. The magic she felt coming from the forest near Vanhoover made her uneasy. "Twilight?" A voice behind her said. She turned to see Princess Luna behind her. "Why aren't you asleep?" "I can't sleep, there is something or some pony that is radiating high levels of magic." Twilight replied. "It's from an evil unicorn in the forest, and she has been taking fillies and colts from Vanhoover and conducting horrible experiments." Princess Luna said. "We have to stop her. At all costs." Twilight said "I know that's why I have alerted Shadow of the situation, The Element is with the evil unicorn so be careful." Princess Luna replied before disappearing into the darkness.

In the morning, it was getting harder to wake up for the seven ponies. Mostly because of the comfort of the hotel, but they had a mission to complete. Shadow began debriefing The Mane Six,"Alright girls, Me and Twilight have been informed by Princess Luna that an evil unicorn has the element we are looking for. She is using it to conduct terrible experiments on the children of Vanhoover. We need to be careful and stay sharp, stay with me and we'll save Vanhoover's children and obtain the element." "Yeah we'll show that witch of a unicorn!" Rainbow said. The girls all cheered and fellowed Shadow out of Vanhoover and into the forest to Galloping Gorge.

The forest was creepier than The Everfree, if you could believe that. It was also darker even with the sun at it's high point. It made it hardier on the seven ponies to trek in the forest. "Hold your position." Shadow demanded. The ponies all stopped and looked to Shadow Knight. "We nearly fell off the edge of the gorge." Shadow said while pointing to the tunnel of light. They all looked down to see a five story drop into darkness. They turned around and sat down. "Twilight give me some light." Shadow said. Twilight casted a light spell, creating a ball of light to float above Shadow. Shadow drew something on paper. Then placed it on the ground, "Tovokcan Tek." Shadow said. An series of odd symbols appeared before Shadow glowing with magic.

Shadow then touched a few with his hoof, then a beam of light made a path for the ponies to follow. "Come on we need to hurry." Shadow said. They ran through the forest to where the path stops in front of a house, made of candy. "Yay! A gingerbread house!" Pinkie yelled before dashing for the house. Shadow stood in front of her to blocker from getting any closer to the house. "Haven't you heard of the story of Hanzel and Gretel?" Shadow asked. Pinkie nodded, "Then you know what's in that house right?" Shadow said. Pinkie nodded again, "Then follow my lead and don't eat the house." Shadow said before leaping into action. The ponies followed the best they could, Shadow lead them to the window to peer in.

They saw fillies and colts in cages, a green unicorn stood near a stove and stirred a black cauldron. Shadow motioned them to the back off the house. "Alright in order to get the children out we need to bait her into letting her guard down. Pinkie Pie, you'll be that bait." Shadow said. "Me? But I'm too big to be a child." Pinkie said. "True, but that doesn't mean you hate to eat gingerbread houses?" Shadow said. "I love sweets!" Pinkie said. "Then I need you to distract her by eating her house." Shadow said. Pinkie pie giggled in glee. "The rest of us will grab the children." Shadow said. "Right." The six ponies said. "Lets do this." Pinkie said before chopping on the roof.

The unicorn took notice of these and rush out side. "How dare you eat my roof!" The unicorn shouted. "It wasn't a dare, I wanted to eat your roof." Pinkie said. The unicorn grew anger and shot a bolt of magic at Pinkie. Pinkie jumped out of the way and said, "You missed!" Pinkie then stuck out her tongue and chomped on the chimney. "Mmmm. Peppermint!" Pinkie said, another bolt of magic was shot at her. With the unicorn distracted, Shadow opened the cages and began giving children to the girls. The girls placed them near a tree and told them to stay there.

"Silly witchy unicorn, you couldn't hit a fly on your nose." Pinkie said before taking another bite out of a chocolate bar shutter. "Who are you and why are you eating my house?" The unicorn demanded. "Pinkie Pie and I love sweets!" Pinkie said before biting a gumdrop. "You'll regret, messing with the Unicorn of the Vanhoover forest!" The green unicorn yelled. Pinkie giggled and ate more of the house. Shadow gave the last child to Twilight and gave Pinkie the signal. Pinkie frowned and stop eating. "Why have you stopped?" The unicorn asked. "Because the cavalry is here." Shadow said. The unicorn turned to see Shadow and the other ponies staring at her. "Fools! I still have my staff!" She shouted before summoning The Element to her side. "Come any closer and I'll destroy you!" She yelled.

"I wouldn't if I we're you. I have the highest level unicorn ready to take your challenge. You'll perish before you use a spell!" Shadow yelled back. The unicorn laughed evilly and said, "But I have little children that you wouldn't risk harming." "What children?" Shadow said with a grin, the green witch looked at her half eaten house to see that the children were gone. "No! Prepared to die, you fools!" The witch cried. Twilight stood in front of Shadow and the girls to protect them. The unicorn shot a spell at them, but Twilight reflected it and countered with a fire spell. The unicorn leaped back and hissed, "You little parasprite!" The unicorn shot another spell at Twilight.

Twilight absorbed it and sent it back to her, it froze the unicorn in place giving Twilight a chance to preform a longer spell to summon her armor. The witch broke out of her icy prison, and attacked again. Twilight blocked and attacked the witch with her sword. The witch blocked and countered with another spell knocking Twilight back, but caught herself in the nick of time. The battle when on for a long time, finally Twilight swabbed her in between the eyes. Magic poured out and the witch screamed, then bursted into dust. "Twilight that was awesome." Rainbow cheered. Along with the others praising Twilight. Twilight smiled and Shadow grabbed The Element gave Twilight a pat on the back.

When they got back to Vanhoover, ponies began screaming and cheering in joy because the children were back and the witch was gone for good. The children hugged their heroes and so did some of the adults. Twilight got the most praise from destroying the witch. Twilight just played modest and kept her pride concealed. They finally reached the hotel to get a rest from the ponies of Vanhoover. "Twilight your like a celebrity now." Rarity said. "I know, but Equesrtia is our bigger picture here. We need to find the next location of an Element." Twilight said. "Spoken like a true knight." Shadow said while studying the old Equesrtian text. "While his finds the next location, maybe we can entertain ourselves." Rarity said while collecting paper, quills, and ink.

"How so?" Applejack asked. "With a game called Draw and Guess. Every pony gets five shreds of paper. You write an object, animal, place or pony. You place them in this hat. We shake it up, and pick one and start drawing. The others will have to guess what it is." Rarity explained. "Sounds like fun to me." Twilight said So they began along and exciting game. Shadow meanwhile, was still decoding the text. He read through each code and draw a line to one location, then another erasing the first and so on. The text lead him to a place close to home, a place that only few have entered, a place where it all began. The Castle Ruins in the EverFree Forest....be continued.