Scarred Dusk

The moment Sword Shade took a step through the majestic doors to his personal chambers he knew that something was wrong. He paused, his normaly bored gaze sharpening and becoming as hard as granite. A carpet of rich crimson lay before him spaning the entire length of the spacious guest room. He had made sure that the entire tower had been cleared out and rented to him. His experiments could get a little noisy and although he didn't have any immediate plans to start summoning demons from beyond the Gates of Tartarus it was better to err on the side of caution.

"Something`s wrong." he thought.

He ran a hand through his hair, a nervous habit he’d picked up during a campain in Thunderhoof Mountain. The lightweight Lunar Armor he wore seemed much more constricting then they were a minute ago and only seemed to grow more so as he took in the atmosphere.

The air seemed thick with magic, an imposing aura that battered at his senses. Books lay scattered on the floor, pages ripped and torn. Crumpled pieces of paper with scrawled writing covering them had been thrown all over the room. Several bookshelves had been turned over and there were empty bottles of alcohol all over the floor.

It was exactly how he had left it.

Sword Shade’s senses stretched over the room. The power needed to truly harm him was beyond most and he’d suffered fatal wounds on more than one ocasion and came back kicking. There was neither flutter of wind nor any sign of movement as several figures surounded him.

Dark blue armor gleamed in the moonlight that filtered through the opened window drapes, speares of gleaming Equestrian steel stood pointed at his neck and wings equiped with sharpened blades were spread between the four figures blocking any chance of escape should the respective spears not reach his neck in time. Their faces, he absently noted, were hidden by black featureless masks and hoods.

"Those are SO not standard issue !" he thought while trying to maintain a calm facade.

"Aren't you bold," Shade said quietly. His lips twitched as his own wings flared slightly, a sign of his slight unease at being ambushed in his own chambers.

"There aren't a lot of people who could sneak past me like that. I suppose you've come for your initiation ?" he asked.

The figures shifted and a smaller, more feminine one slightly to his right spoke in an apologetic whisper.

"We’re sorry Sir but our orders still stand,” she paused taking a battle stance before continuing, "and we can’t afford to fail!"

Shade nodded slightly, a small smile gracing his lips.

"It’s alright Blitz, I understand the pressure you’re under right now," his smile changed into a more ferral grin "though I hope you’re aware that despite this, I won’t be surrendering any time soon."

Quicker than any of the would be assassins could have expected Shade ducked under their spears, their users reacting a second too late in driving the tips through his neck and instead causing the four speartips to colide above his head with a loud screech. Shade quickly flared his wings as much as he could and with a mighty heave brought them down in a single movement, the wind generated being caught by his assailants own wings and sending them stumbling a few steps.

Reacting quickly he reached out and grabed the hilt of a backup sword from the closest pegassus assassin just in time to block a strike from the petite mare, Blitz, who recovered faster than the rest of her comrades. He quickly took stock of the situation, the three larger assassins were recovering fast and a four-on-one fight in such close quarters wasn’t a thrilling thought, he needed to finish this quick.

He traded a few quick blows with Blitz before surprising her and stepping into her guard bringing the pommel of his stolen sword towards her abdomen. She tried to take a step back, not noticing the comfortable looking armchair that was blocking her escape, until the back of her legs touched the unfamiliar object making her pause and taking the debilitating strike full on. She let out a pained wheeze, slightly muffled by the dark mask she wore, as she released her weapon and colapsed in the awaiting armchair.

One attacker dealt with, Shade quickly turned towards the other side of the room where three pissed off assasins recovered and prepared to charge him.

"I need to separate them!" he thought and without any warning he grabbed the recovering Blitz by the arm and promptly hurled her towards the charging killers-in-training, making sure to twist said arm quite savagely before releasing and earning a sickening pop from the poor girls shoulder before she colided with two of her comrades.

The third goon kept his focus solely on him and, by the way he was clutching is spear, apeared ready to rumble. Shade decided to indulge him and and quickly grabed Blitz’s fallen weapon before he met the angry aggressor mid-charge.

His oponent was well trained in pole weapon combat, his stance was solid and his moves were efficient, with no exagerations or wasted movement. He was also quite fast and light on his feet making his dodges quick and hard to predict. All in all, Shade was actualy a bit impressed with the lad’s efforts. Unfortunately time waits for no pony and he was in a bit of a hurry. With quick movements he sliped the blunt end of the spear past his defences and jabbed the young pegasus quite painfully in the gut causing him to bend over and expose the back of his neck, which was promptly met with the spear shaft. The lad crumpled to the ground unconscious.

Behind the knocked out agressor he saw the last two rise and ready their weapons, Blitz was clearly out of it from the pain and elected to sit this one out apparently. Shade stabed the tip of the spear through the crimson carpet and into the hardwood floor beneath, before leaning on it and assessing his remaining opponents. One was shorter than the other, and the shorter one caried himself with a lot more grace than his comrade as he shifted in an unfamiliar stance. The larger one was taking a similar stance as well with his spear held out almost identically. Then they started moving and he realized with surprise that their combat styles were reflecting greatly in the way they walked, each step measured and in sync with the other.

"So cooperation’s their game, well that’s no fun." Shade quickly ripped the spear out of the floor and, before they could react, hurled it at the aproaching assassins causing them to dodge in different directions.

Drawing the blade he’d stolen previously he moved to intercept the larger one on the left and was prepairing to strike when suddenly Shorty moved in his path and brought one of his wing blades to bear against his sword. The big guy didn’t waste a second in jumping into the fray, wielding his spear with practiced eficiency.

What followed was one of the best examples of cooperation and synchronsed combat Shade had seen in a long while. While trading blows he noticed how their strange stances complemented each other, covering each others openings and ,between the two of them, ensuring an almost perfect ballance between atacks and blocks. Almost.

They traded blows, each party trying to get a feel for their opponents atack patern. Shade would have liked to continue this little combat session a while longer but he was on a tight schedule and this unexpeced distraction, while pleasant, was unplaned and well... distracting. He needed to finish it quickly and, dodging to the right of his assailant, this time the big one, burried his knee in his abdomen. The lad colapsed on his own knees in pain. Another hit, this time to the face, snaped his head back and shattered a good chunk of his mask. An elbow to the temple later and the third one was down for the count.

The last one was quite easy to subdue. Without his partner the stance he used had some glaring holes in it, plus it was clear the incapacitation of said partner and indeed most of his comrades had rattled his confidence. He decided to vary it up a bit by bringing the pommel of his sword directly to his temple this time, ensuring his would be killer a few hours guaranteed sleep.

He took a few deep breaths to calm his heartbeat before turning to the figure that appeared in the middle of the chamber almost as soon as the small skirmish ended.

She was shorter than him, not counting the dark blue horn on her forehead. Her features were radiant, perfect, too perfect to be mortal. Her hair looked like something akin to a piece of the night sky, a curtain of darkness and starlight that fluttered in a nonexistent breaze and wings of dark blue plumage, matching her flawless skin, fanned out behind her. She stood before him in light wavy dress of almost-transparent blue silk, her voluptuous body barely concealed by the hazy fabric. The Ruler of Shadow and Darkness, the Princess of the Night, his teacher, Princess Luna.

She didn’t seem impressed.

"They need more practice" Shade said in a jovial tone, motioning to the incapacitated assassins. The princess just sighed in exasperation.

"The recruits before thee are considered, from what we’ve been told, to be the best and brightest of their generation." she replied.

"Several instructors have recomended them for early promotion so we decided to proceed with the initiation," she turned to their crumpled forms, a frown of dissapointment adorning her beautifull features,"clearly we were mistaken."

"Bah, the only reason the instructors recomended them for promotion was to try and fill the ranks of the Lunar Guard."

Shade was glaring at the knocked out recruits. "Still..." he turned to the princess "they actually managed to sneak up on me," a grin was spreading on his face "that takes skill, we need skill in the ranks."

Luna nodded in understanding. By some unknown signal various Lunar Guards, previously hidden by powerfull cloaking spells, materialised in the room and immediately began checking up on the knocked out recruits. With barely a glance at Shade or the the Princess they picked up the bodies and teleported away to the medical wing of the castle.

While this was happening, the Princess took the time to evaluate her apprentice.

He lounged idly against a nearby bookshelf, hands in his pockets, feet crossed at the ankles, half-hidden by the shadows of said bookshelf. He had hair like a crow's feather and skin the colour of cream, crisscrossed here and there with slivering scars, some newer than others. His build was lean and strong and he was quite a bit taller than her. Eyes, golden like honey, stared at the Princess, their expression one of languid amusement and no small amount of appreciation, while the lower half of his face was concealed by a strange, dark blue, ethereal looking scarf. The scarf’s ends trailed behind him, between his folded wings, fluttering in the same rhythm as her hair.

"Sooo..." he started, drawing out the last sylable, "what’s the ocasion ?" He acompanied the question by motioning to the wavy silk dress she wore.

"Our sister is holding a feast in honnor of the Solar Apprentice’s latest victory on the battlefield." she said.

Shade noticed a distinct lack of enthusiasm that normaly acompanied the thought of such festivities. He couldn’t help but sympathise with her. The Solar Apprentice, Prince Solaris, had an ego three times the size of Equestria and tended to believe that his various victories on the battlefield have earned him a right to power far greater than any other pony in the Royal Court. Certainly, Solaris never shoved his achievements in anyone’s face but if you didn’t consider them acts of greatness all the same ... he would probably execute you on the spot if he knew he could get away with it.

"Then again, he probably could." Shade thought bitterly before turning his atention back to his Princess.

"Perhaps thou would care to join us as our escort, Aprentice?" she asked, though judging by her tone she already knew his answer.

"Yeah... I’d rather not Your Highness" he scoffed "You know how Prince Solaris apreciates my witty sense of humor, he’d rather swear his aleagence to the Griphon King than aprove me atending one of his fancy soirees."

"That is not the Solar Aprentice’s decision to make." the Princess replied in an exasperated tone. "Thou hast as much right to partake in such festivities as any member of the Court. Perhaps more so, thow art our Apprentice after all." she finished with a hint of pride in her tone.

A small smile, hidden behind his scarf, spread on Shade’s face at hearing those words. Still, he was on a tight schedule, and had no time to waste in the company of sychophantic Court aides and annoying colts like Solaris.

"Regardless, I have other stuff to take care of at the moment Your Highness. Though by all means, go enjoy yourself, dance, drink, embarrass your sister or something. I’m sure she won’t mind." He said with a small chuckle.

The Princess sighed in exasperation, already used to Sword Shade’s cheek.

"Very well Aprentice," she turned her back to him before continuing " but before We leave, should We ask what exactly thy plans are for this evening?"

In spite of Luna having her back to him, Shade straitened himself and with a completely serious tone replied.

"Kicking pirate’s asses on the high seas. Wanna join me?"

Without missing a beat the ruler of the night replied.

"Shade, if you were half as funny as you think you are, you'd be twice as funny as you are now." before vanishing in the shadows of a nearby corner. Ones that Shade could have sworn weren't there a second ago.

Once the Princess's presence had completely vanished from his senses, he afforded to relax completely. He hated lying to her but a new campaign would be starting soon and he needed to take advantage of every moment he had access to his lab. He turned, steping over various bottles, whose previous contents were questionable at best and downright illegal at worst; crumpled parchment that, should anyone bother to check, where covered in almost illegible scrawl and nonsense.

He aproached an innocuous portion of wall and placed a gloved hand on a specific part of the wallpaper before pushing a small bit of magic in it, ignoring the familiar burn accompanied with channeling magic. Like water, the wall seemed to ripple before vanishing completely and revealing a completely different chamber within.

A long table streched in the center with three tables along three of the stone walls. A clear space was present in the center where an intricate arcane circle was carved in the floor. Shelves over the tables were stuffed with all manner of items, from books and ancient tomes to magical ingredients and alchemical compounds. Unlike the main chamber, this one was clearly maintained and kept organised, and with good reason. Some of those compounds were highly volatile.

With movement born from habit Shade aproched the main table, which was covered in scrolls filled with diagrams and hand drawn sketches. The movements of celestial bodies and their influence over the ambient magic of Equestria; runic markings and their potential in rudimentary spellwork; the magic-channeling potential of unicorn horns and how it could, theoreticaly, be altered. For the last 3 years, Shade had focused almost all his efforts in completing his most important order. His "Final Mission" so to speak.

He paused, his gaze wandering to the various shelves that surrounded him.

He still remembered that day. The day his ideals, his beliefs and his life were utterly and irevocably shattered and rebuilt. The day one of the most brilliant and respected practitioners of the magical arts, a pony who had innovated almost every aspect of spellcraft, had asked him to sacrifice his life for the greater good of Equestria.

He remembered how he politely knocked on his chamber door and awaited his belated response.

He remenbered how he was asked in a completely serious tone if he would accept one of the most dangerous missions anypony could be given and how he was asured he’d be granted the best tools to complete the job.

He remembered how he’d accepted without a thought, eager to prove himself.

He remembered how the Court Magician, Star Swirl the Bearded, coldly ordered him to plan out the assassination of Empress Celestia.

And he remembered how his entire world, along with his body, came crashing down with a rather unimpressive ’THUD’.