Shadow of an Empire

When the Crystal Empire returned, so did King Sombra. He was thought to be the only danger hidden in the ice surrounding the long lost city. He wasn't, there is yet another enemy that could bring the entire world of Equestria to it's knees.

That enemy is the Heartless, ruthless monster that are formed from the darkness in one's heart. They're skin is pitch black and they have 2 arms and legs along with a pair of paralyzing yellow eyes. They wield unsurpassed strength, and are lighting fast and can appear out of nowhere. The last time the Heartless were unleashed, Celestia used the Elements of Harmony to seal them away in the ice cap, long after the events of Sombra and Nightmare Moon. As the story of the Heartless was passed down, more and more ponies began thinking that it was just an old pony's tale, meant to scare little fillies into behaving themselves.

But the danger is all too real, and we begin now here, just outside the Crystal Empire in the arctic circle surrounding it. A lone white stallion was wearing a scarf and goggles and was trudging through the snow on his usual patrol. He had a blue mane and bore a shield with a six pointed star inside and three more stars above. He was a unicorn and held many titles, such as prince, captain, and BBBFF. He was known as Shining Armor, captain of the royal guard, and co-ruler of the Crystal Empire. The harsh blizzard made temperatures dangerously low, and obscured most of his vision.  After Sombra's return had nearly destroyed the Empire a second time, Shining Armor took it upon himself to perform regular patrol's around the barren wasteland, residing outside his kingdom.

He looked around a bit scanning the area for any sign of trouble. After seeing nothing at first, He decided to continue when something caught his eye. It was very faint but he could just make out a gas of some kind. It appeared to be smoke, but what could possibly be burning out here? The temperature was too cold for any kind of heat to be obtained without the use of a spell.

Having his curiosity piqued, Shining Armor made his way over to the mysterious smoke. The crunching of the snow his only companion besides the howling wind torturing his exposed fur and ears. He stumbled a few times from the fatigue starting to seep in, but he continued wanting to have some proof that it was nothing threatening.

Shining Armor came up on the Smoke and saw where it was emanating from, a tiny crack in the ice. The wind shifted a bit and some of the smoke was blown into Shining's face, suffocating him with it's toxic scent. Shining Armor pulled away with haste, coughing from how foul the gas was.

It's not smoke, it feels...evil. Like the embodiment of fear and darkness itself. What in Celestia's name is this?

Shining Armor regained his composure and cautiously made his way over to the smoke once more in an attempt to discover it's source. He swept away some of the snow with his hoof, further lowering his body temperature. As he cleared more of the snow from the spot, he noticed something black in the snow. He moved away more snow using his levitation and put it aside to get a better view.

What he saw made his heart stop.

There, beneath the ice, and the source of the satanic fog, was a Heartless. The legend's and stories were true, he had thought they were fake until now. Shining Armor's eyes grew wide with fear as he gazed upon the creature, it's beady yellow eyes staring back at him, the blackness of it's body making his blood run cold and his mind freeze up with fear. Time had appeared to stop as Shining realized the severity of the situation at hand. He was looking at the deadliest, and most evil creature known to ponies. Then the beast blinked it's eyes.

And all hell broke loose.

The Heartless shattered the ice with incredible force knocking Shining Armor back 10 feet from his position and burying him in snow and ice shards. Shining Armor immediately shot up, his instincts taking over as he fired up a spell to defend against the Heartless. Unfortunately the beast saw the attack coming and sidestepped the attack, launching a counterattack slash and nailing Shining right in the side, sending him flying a good 8 feet back. Shining felt his bones crack and his muscles strain from the blow. But it didn't matter now, the adrenaline coursing through his veins giving him all the strength he needed to hold his own against the demon.

The Heartless lunged forward again swiping with his hands, his claws trying to grip the stallion's body and attack. Shining Armor prepared himself this time and put up a protective spell, which did little good as the Heartless still managed to penetrate it and strike him square in the face. Shining Armor knew he was in grave danger, not only was the battle tiring enough, but the sheer cold was sapping his energy like a leech, slowly draining him and killing him from the inside. He started to feel blood trickling from his nose onto his muzzle. The pain intensifying with each passing second.

The Heartless, seeing his prey weak, lurched forward with such speed and agility that you wouldn't have been able to see him with the naked eye. He started his rapid succession of attacks aiming each one at a different part of the unicorn's body. The pale stallion was being torn apart from the inside, each blow taking it's toll as he grew weaker and weaker. The Heartless ended the assault with a quick jab straight into his chest, winding him and knocking him flat on his back. He started sputtering and coughing up blood, the red liquid staining the pure white snow beneath him. The Heartless twitched a little before slowly walking to his victim.

Shining Armor was down for the count, he was absolutely helpless as the monstrosity approached him, preparing to finish him off.

No! I...will not...lose or...give in! I have to escape! Shining Armor thought for a moment, time was of the essence and then it hit him.

A teleportation spell! It's my only hope.

Shining Armor summoned every last ounce of strength his body would muster and prepared for his escape. The Heartless was now mere inches away from him, getting one last good look at it's opponent before lifting it's hands up and preparing to strike.

With mere milliseconds to spare, there was a flash of light and the Heartless slammed it's hands down on the spot where the white stallion was laying. The sound of the impact slightly muffled by the howling wind still going strong. There was a significant dent in the ice where the beast had struck and it looked around for any hint of the unicorn warrior. With no sign of him, the Heartless turned around and began heading back to it's resting place. Shining Armor had not discovered one Heartless, but a whole horde of them! The lone Heartless's eyes rested upon it's commrades still encased by their frozen prison. Without warning the Heartless started beating the ice, in an attempt to free them. He slammed the ground with a force powerful enough to destroy an entire building, each strike shattering more and more of the icy prison.

Finally he struck gold as one of the other Heartless hidden away blinked their eyes, then another, and another, and another! Until the whole horde was moving and struggling to free themselves! The ice had finally shattered, unleashing the spawn of the devil himself upon the world. The pitch black horde gazed around for a moment before all of their eyes rested upon a glowing city in amongst the dark shroud of snow and shadowy clouds. They all started migrating towards their first destination, the first in a chain of terror and fear. The Crystal Empire.

As the Heartless were gathering outside for an attack, something of the upmost importance was going on within the castle walls as well. In the throne room was Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or Princess Cadence as she would prefer. But enough with the formalities, on with the story.

Princess Cadence was sitting in the throne room with a very bored expression on her face. She had one hoof on the arm of the chair and was using it as a head rest, rocking her legs back and forth wishing for something interesting to happen. She awaited her husband's return from patrol, she had expected him to come back with the usual 'everything checks out.' or 'Nothing's wrong'. What she didn't expect was him to teleport onto the rug with cuts and bruises, coughing up blood and shouting 'The Heartless' over and over again in rapid succession.

The rosy alicorn was shocked for a moment before sprinting to her husband's side and supporting him firing questions at him left and right.

"Oh my gosh, Shining are you alright?!" Cadence then mentally facehoofed

Of course he's not alright you fool! He looks like he just had a fight with a dragon!

Shining Armor stood up and wobbled a bit before falling and leaning of his wife's shoulders for support. He frantically searched for the strength to warn the Princess of the impending danger.

"Cadence..."

Cadence immediately looked at the stallion with pleading eyes, full of worry, concern, and fear.

"What is it Shining!? Who did this to you?"

Shining Armor felt his strength fading, he was losing consciousness fast, and was quickly succumbing to hypothermia. He muttered one word that made Cadence freeze up and terror fill her mind.

"Heartless..." Shining Armor fainted and went limp against his support pony.

Cadence's blood ran colder than the snow outside, her eyes dilating and her body shaking from pure terror and fear. She had heard the rumors and about how terrifying they were, but she never thought she would ever have to deal with them herself! She wasn't prepared for this! The alicorn then started processing the things she would need to do for today.

1. Warn Celestia about the demons that had been unleashed

2. Prepare the Empire and the guards for the impending battle.

3. Help Shining Armor recover

and 4. Alert Twilight and the elements Asap.

Cadence called over one of the guards and barked orders at him.

"Guard send a letter to my Aunt telling her that the Heartless have been reawakened, get somepony to help Shining here, and Alert Twilight and her friends telling them I need them to come to the empire right away!"

The guard raised his hoof in confirmation and replied hastily "Anything else Ma'am!"

Cadence nodded and gave the guard a look that he'll never forget.

"Prepare youselves. War is coming with all it's glory, and all it's horror. We need to be prepared."

"Yes Ma'am!" The guard then pulled a 180 degree spin and galloped off to fulfill his assigned tasks.

Cadence then sighed heavily and muttered something under her breath.

"May Celestia help us all..."