A shadow in the light

Shadow Stalk lingered from a rooftop watching his prey walk through the street ally with his deep ocean blue eyes. His long black main sat still on his neck as he peered over the edge or the rooftop. His dark navy blue horn, following the colour of his coat, hid himself from any prying pony who may happen to look up for no apparent reason. His short cape was a the colour of a dark red. Shadow had very little sense of fashion in every way possible. He was more of a practical pony, only using the cape on his assignments to hide his daggers from the general public. To everypony else he looked like a guy that you may read in the newspaper who has mugged some helpless mare during the night. He wasn't strongly built, in fact he was small almost the same size as a mare, but this didn't faze him one bit, this made his body quick, agile and most importantly light hoofed.

It was another night on the job for him, following strange ponies down streets and watch them from afar to see if any suspicious activity were to occur. Although his 'assignments' were different than most. Shadow was specially trained for his missions and even though he took little pleasure of it, he knew how necessary it was for him not to fail or budge with his resolve. His Job? Simple, eliminate his target. Yes, his name probably gave it away but Shadow Stalk was indeed an assassin of sorts. Although his job was simple, he didn't just stay up all night accusing everypony he saw. He was associated with a special team devised to monitor activity within the city and to deal with it. Shadow's 'assignments' only included one type of problem. Changelings.

Shadow works within the bounds of Canterlot to help his society against any kind of invasion or threat they may face from changelings. Tonight he followed a grey Pegasus down the streets through back alleys. Although it was dark, Luna's moon brought a small ray of light to the city. Shadow had worked at night for a year now and was quite capable of adapting to seeing just as well at night as anypony would during the day.

His target moved his way through the dark blue stoned alley only to stop right in between the two main streets. Shadow was unable to do anything until he was sure his target was guilty. He had made the mistake of threatening an innocent pony before he had the hard evidence to back it up and it almost cost him everything he had. He sure in Tartarus wasn't going to make the same mistake again.

Just as Shadow was doubting his thoughts the ground around the Pegasus began to flare up in green flames. It consumed his body for a moment only to die down to reveal the true creature hidden under it. From experience Shadow knew that most changelings couldn't perform any magic while in a transformed state and therefor must let go of their mask before hoof.

The changeling brought out a scroll and quill writing some points down that seemed to be information of some sort. Perhaps it was a letter to his queen to tell her of weaknesses in Canterlots defenses, or perhaps it was a grocery list. It didn't really matter what was written there for changelings have been banned from all cities and small towns. Just being here was a crime that sadly was punishable by death. Even if he didn't want to Shadow knew his duty and where his loyalty lied. Having doubts about the parchment and what it could contain, Shadow had to act quickly before the scroll was magically sent off in a poof of smoke.

As the letter was rolled up using changeling magic it was caught out of the air in front of him and attached itself to the ground along with a small knife that stabbed itself through the center of it. The last thing the changeling would remember was looking up to see the silhouette of what seemed to be a mare without a cutie mark before a glint of steel met his forehead.

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Shadow reported to the night crew and told them where the body lay. He later returned home walking through the long hallway towards his room. The Canterlot Castle always seemed to make him feel comfortable no matter what the events of the day had laid upon him. The long halls allowed him to think before he reached his door, the royal red carpet felt like a massage to his hooves, the night guards were trustworthy and always had time to give him a nod as he passed. Home is where the heart is, and Shadow Stalk knew where his heart lay.

Before he greeted his bed, he stopped a few doors down from his room. He turned and looked up at the arch of the door. Upon the arch was a crescent moon, half way between a full moon and a Luna eclipse. He knocked the door as he did almost every night as was relieved to hear a familiar voice usher him in.

"I hope your assignment was successful," Luna began. "That or I hope it was a false alarm, you know I don't like you being out so late it feels as if you like doing this kind of thing,"

"I promise you Luna that I take little happiness from taking a life whether it be from evil or good," Shadow continued. "Once again the only reason I do this is because I know that I am the only one In Canterlot that is willing to take a life. That and the satisfaction of keeping everyone safe is nice to know,"

"I understand, I just wish there was more to your routine than sleep and work. Ever since I hired you, you have been almost like a son, I just want you to live like everypony else,"

"Don't worry about me I love the position I am in and couldn't for anymore than I have got. You have given me everything and I will do everything I can to make you proud. Now it is only a couple of hours before the sun rises, you should get some sleep the ponies won't be dreaming during this stage,"

"You're right, thank you Shade I will get what rest I can before I must lower the moon."

Luna lay on her side in her bed, she closed her tired eyes and within a few moments was asleep. Shadow on the other hoof walked to the balcony and just watched the nights stars twinkle like he did when he was little.

Shadow also had a second task he had to fulfill before he could rest.

Every night around this time was the most dangerous for the princesses for Luna had to sleep to have enough magic to move the moon and Princess Celestia obviously slept through night time. Due to Luna's recent arrival from being turned back from Nightmare Moon, there were still ponies with unknown reasons and whereabouts that wanted Luna dispatched of in case she were to turn again. One incident long ago proved that fact. It was Shadow's job to keep her safe during these hours. Celestia didn't need protection because she was seen as a great leader that everyone respected. Not once was she targeted by anypony.

Shadow used his Magic to cast a detection spell around the area enabling him to sense most ponies presence nearby. It was a simple and weak spell but it did the job.

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He was never any good at certain types of magic including force fields, because of this he trained his body to compensate for lack magical talent. He didn't lift weights or buck trees, his body wouldn't allow him to make great use of strength for he grew only the the size of a mare, whereas other stallion grew at least half a head taller. His legs were much smaller than most stallions in which were muscular although he was still recognizable as a male but not at a first glance. Instead of training his undermined strength he ran, and ran, and ran some more only stopping for quick rests before he began a new exercise. His light body was adept in speed, stamina and agility. After a few hours of training his body he would begin with skills. Using both his fore hooves he picked up two of his four blades, each had been hidden in a sheath under his cape and strapped to his body. He would slice at a tree stump time and time again, making sure he was quick with each dagger and leave a smooth slit in the bark every strike making sure he kept moving unpredictably around his target.

Even though he was a master in the eyes of all the guards from both Luna's and Celestia's quarters, Luna had never let him forget his magic training. He began his training with levitation. A simple spell in which even filly's and young colts could do with ease, yet he struggled to more a quill. After hours of reading he decided to try something a little rebellious. Dark magic. All the spells in those books looked so cool to him even if they were complex and had a high risk of ruining his body. He shrugged off the fact that he could have ended up losing a leg and the fact that it was forbidden magic. As he tried his first spell (which turned out to make the entire room as dark as the night without a moon), Luna walked in to check on her star student. For a few moments she stunned at the fact that there seemed to be no window in this room, but she soon realized what had happened. Luna, being the princess of the night immediately countered the spell and returned the room to it's original light to find a colt standing in the middle of the room in shame. She slowly walked her way towards him making sure that every step could be heard throughout the silent room. She then noticed the book and read the cover. 'Daring Darkness'.

"Tell me, did you use a spell from THIS book?" Luna demanded an answer. After a short sigh Shadow replied.

"Yes, I'm sorry, I just wanted to try something new out, something different, I didn't expect to be able to do it, I know it's forbidden it's just so frustrating not being able to do any other kind of magic. I'm really sorry!" Shadow was ranting he was scared of the punishment just as much as the disappointment. Suddenly a response came from above him.

"Well, I do think that you should be punished," Luna exclaimed. "this magic is not a joke to be meddled with" Shadow's heart lurched forward begging for forgiveness. He just wanted be good at some magic, he had seen how amazing it was in talent shows. "But I can't deny that you have successfully cast an advanced spell, even for me this would have taken a while to do correctly," Shadow didn't know what to think at this point. He should have been chained up and put in a dungeon for a week, he wasn't sure what do to and just waited for a response. "I suppose if i talk to my sister about your... ability, she would be content with me training you in this art, as long as I supervise you when you train that is!"

Shadow raised his head and placed an innocent smile on his face. Months later only then did he realize, that was the day he got his cutie mark. His cutie mark consisted of one colour, black. To represent his skill in the dark magic. It was almost impossible to see the difference between his cutie mark and his dark coat, only in the light of the bright sun could one see a slither of difference.