The Trojan Mare Project

Prologue

Eve of Wraiths

There was an air of discomfort in the atmosphere of Canterlot as Luna's Moon rose above the distant horizon, yet most ponies did not notice this eerie sense for they were asleep in the comfort of their homes. Yet those who were awake could only but help staying indoors in concern of what misfortune would fall upon them if they were to leave the sanctuary of there haven.

It was safe to say that only a few were out and about that night, which include: the Royal Night guard; the Night shift employees across the city; Princess Luna, who was in deep wonder of why the Eve felt odd that night; then there was the one who did not want to be seen and knew exactly why the night was hunting for him, to stop his sinister deed.

"There must be another way?" He thought to himself as he used his stealth spell to sneak past a couple Night Guards, who were in patrol of the streets leading to the Palace.

"Okay Night Shade, hope this works.” our sneaky villain thought to himself, as he completed his spell.  As a former spy for the Equestrian Intelligence Command or E.I.C. for short.  He knew that most stealth spells would not work against the Royal Guard, but this spell was different and simple.  The only thing it did was make you absolutely silent.  Not one sound will resonate from you.  Yet unlike other stealth spells this one did not turn you invisible, which in this case would make the job easier for Night shade.  If he was in fact invisible, the enchanted eyes of the Guard would pick up on a Sub-spectrum distortion trail and could easily track the intruder.

     This new spell however would only give one advantage to the guard, that if they would even just look at the right time, they would see Night Shade in plain sight.  Their disadvantage was that it was Night Shade sneaking around.

Night Shade, being a former spy, had a very special talent,  and that was stealth.  That was why there was just a outline of ninja stars on his flank,  signifying that he was a Ninja-pony by blood.

Finally getting around those guards, he had a clear shot to the Palace.  This was the hard part, evading the Stationary Guards at the Palace Entrance.

Taking a deep breath, Night Shade slowed his adrenaline filled heart down.  He had to think on what to do next, there was no room for error on this mission, none what so ever.  He looked over to his saddle bag and opened it and using his magic pulled out what looked like a black cloth bag that was filled and sealed.  Frowning at the bag, and giving it a look like it was his worst enemy he placed it back into his saddlebag.  That was when the idea came to him, he would have to time it just right.

The Palace had two guards stationed at the front gate, then on the wall a sentry that would come by every 15 min. to check on the guards.  He would need to draw the guards away from gate after the sentry left on the wall.  He knew if he got one guard to pursue the other would stay, as was their code.  Night knew he could fix that problem though, he had plenty of practice after all.

It was that of what he like most about his line of work, the crazy ideas he came up with that were so simple that they could work.

However, this idea was one of his more risky ideas, but there was not much choice in the matter for him.  "Now let’s use your special training against you, shall I?" said Night in a soft mutter.   With that his horn started glowing a deep blue color and with that he vanished in thin air. Night was now invisible.

He then took a step out of the shadow and started walking towards the guards at the gate.  As he approached them, he noticed that they were not even reacting to his arrival like they could not see him.  Shade knew that this was not the case with them.  In full truth he knew that they were well aware of his presence, though  they could only see the light distortion and not him. For that he was glad, because he did not want any one to recognize him.  He had a few friends in the Royal Guard and he did not want them to find out what he was up to.

As Night drew closer to the Guards, his mind began to hope that just maybe that the guards did not see him and he could just sneak past them with no problem.  Just as he was about to pass the Soldiers they used their pikes to block the way and shouted, "HALT YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!" and with that the guards tried to grab Night, only to try in vain. For Night was already running back to where he originally came from.

He knew that one of the guards would give chase but he needed both to follow, so he mustered up his magical strength to multi-task in keeping his invisibility and casting a Rage spell on the remaining guard by the gate.  Night at that point had both guards chasing after him and with that Night smiled, His plan was going as planned.

   After running a good distance away from the palace and into the alleyway's of the high society homes he turned the corner to evade the sight of the pursuing guard,  quickly dropped his invisibility spell and reestablished his special silent stalker spell.

Then using his special Anti-grave horseshoes,  started running up the wall onto the building just in time to lose the guards, who were up to that moment hot on his trail.  Leaving the guards in their confusion, he started to hop from roof to roof until he came back to the path leading up to the guarded palace.  No guards in sight, he quickly ran into the palace, before anyone would notice the missing guard.

Night then proceeded to the chamber where his target dwelt.  Coming up to a tall and beautiful door Night pushed the door  open  with ease.  Letting out a silent gasp, Night could only marvel at the inner beauty of the room.  A long hall with Stained filled Glass that cried out the Glory of Equestria.  As Night walked down the majestic hall he made his way to the end where the Armored Door Stood its place.

This door had a Star like symbol across it, accompanied by six circles, three on each side of the door, and in the very center of the door was a hole.  Night knew that once that room had been opened  that he would not be able to escape.  With a sigh, used his magic to extend his horn to the appropriate size, fitted it into the hole and used his magic to release the doors.  To his surprise the doors began to open, lighting up all six circles. The door then split and slid to the side revealing a wonderful display of five necklaces and one crown.

Opening his saddlebag he levitated the black bag in-front of him.  Not letting himself hesitate, he immediately dumped the contents of the bag onto the Elements of Harmony.  Night being mesmerized by the dark blue powder as it fell over the six trinkets, even as the last speck landed on the crown with the star.  Then the powder began to glow bright, and brighter still.  The glow became so bright that Night had to look away, and then in an instant the Light dissipated.  Night turned to look at the Elements and was surprised to see that there was no sign of the powder that he had just poured on.  "What-" he tried to say just as a Magical wave erupted from the Elements and flooded out of the Hall into the Palace, and carried on and rippled across the land of Equestria.

Night smiled, his task was finally done.  He turned away and sat down knowing a force field blocked the door,  trapping him in  the room.  All he had to do was wait.

At the moment of the magical discharge, a Unicorn with a green coat and Blue mane woke up with his Horn glowing, he smiled.  ”Phase zero, Success!” he thought with a Maniacal chuckle "Now time to start phase one"  With that he sat down and began to Write a letter which began with.  "Dear Cutie Mark Crusaders (Namely: Applebloom, Sweetiebell, and Scootaloo")

That night, over the Small town of Ponyville a young Pegasus slept in her bed peacefully.  Then seeping through the cloud walls of her room came the distorted ripple that originated from the elements.  As the wave ran across the rainbow maned pony, leaving behind a slight dark blue sparkle on her face that soon seamed to soak into her skin leaving no evidence of its presence.

That was when her sleep began to be less than peaceful as she started to show signs of a nightmare starting up.

Rainbow dash was flying across the sky of Ponyville, mastering her latest new stunt.  With a great effort, she started to head down to the ground ready to take a break. However, she settled on coasting in the sky with her wings spread out.  Taking pleasure from the air rushing past her face, she tilted her wing and started to circle the town of Ponyville.

That is when she heard the shouts. Opening her eyes, she looked around trying to find where the shouts were coming from.  Catching sight of the horror  transpiring that was a vile creature on top of the Town hall.  With four legs and a Green head with fangs, and tentacles reaching out of the body of the beast, it was a horror to look upon.  Yet what really drew Dash's attention was the fact that there were three little filly's, known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, standing by the beast backing up in fright.

Upon instinct Dash immediately flew towards the beast to stop it from devouring her sister.  “Scootaloo!” She shouted as she flew in determination to protect her new found sister.  To Dash's fear the beast lunged its head forward to eat the little pony's.

The Crusaders were smart  and decided to jump, figuring that they would have a higher chance of survival.  Rainbow, who was still at high speed, could only watch as Scootaloo fell with her wings buzzing faster than what the little Filly knew possible.  To Dashes relief she saw her friend, Applejack, take place below the falling trio.  With a loud “thunk” she heard Applejack scream in pain as she   cushioned their fall.  Rainbow swooped down to check on her friend, while calling out.

"Applejack are you OK?"  With a gulp, she realized that her statement left her mouth with more concern in its sound than she   wanted, but she swallowed her pride and went over to the group.

When she reached Applejack, she was holding her right knee and gasping in pain.  That was when she heard a snarl from behind her. Gulping she turned around to look at the big, hungry, green head behind her.  "The beast!  How could I have forgot the beast!" she thought, just as the beast lunged forward to eat her whole.

The Cyan Pegasus thrust herself right up from bed.  Panting and bewildered, she looked around and took a deep breath. She was still here in her room, "wheoo" she panted and she placed her hoof on her head to wipe away the sweat.  "It was just a dream."

Rainbow Dash took a look out of the window and saw   it was the dawn of the day.  With a stretch she pulled her hoofs away from her in the two and nine o'clock positions.  After that refreshing stretch, she went down to her kitchen and started making breakfast.  Pulling out a pan  then grabbing out her favorite brand of oats, she prepared her breakfast.

As she waited for breakfast, she went into her living room to do some morning exercises, this was her usual routine since she won that young fliers competition. After doing fifty push-ups and one hundred sit-ups she could smell the oats ripen for breakfast.

Sitting at the table, she quickly ate her meal.  Once she was done, she put her dish in the sink and went out to do Laps around Ponyville.  As she headed out, she was quickly found by Fluttershy, who was trying to find her in the first place.

"Oh Rainbow Dash! I was looking for you." Said the Shy little Pegasus.

Rainbow turning around, faced her yellow friend. "Hey Fluttershy!  Whats up?"

"Oh...well I was wondering, if it is alright with you, if you could spare some time to help me care for some of the animals at my place.  You see last night a mean nasty timberwolf came and tried to harm my little friends last night. Applejack chased them off, but my cute little friends are still frantic and I need some help with them.  If you are too busy though, its alright, I'll be able to manage on my own."  with that said Fluttershy turned around to head back to her cottage.

Dash who was hardly given the opportunity to talk flew right in front of Fluttershy.  "Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing Fluttershy, of course I'll help!" said Rainbow Dash, as she cut off her friend from leaving.

"Oh thank you! Lets go."  Exclaimed the shy Mare as she grabbed Rainbow Dash and started rushing back home, but then she caught her enthusiasm and let go of her friend.  "That is if you are ready right now"

Rainbow Dash could only laugh.  "Yes, Fluttershy. I'm ready right now."

And with that they were off to Fluttershy's cottage.  After a full day of calming all of Fluttershy's animals, which varied from critters like Bunnies to Animals like Eagles, Rainbow looked at the clock. It was 5:00 and she realized she had not eaten since breakfast.  Her stomach growled at the thought just to prove her point, the growl was loud enough for Fluttershy to hear.

She did not jump as she would originally but instead  offered dinner at Sugar Cube Corner.  Rainbow accepted and they went out to get some grub before retiring for the day.  Rainbow was about  to say something to Fluttershy when all the sudden she heard a Shout

"Girls get down from there, you'll hurt yourself!"

Dash looked around drastically to try to find the danger.

"Oh my, Rainbow look at the town hall, you need to stop them!"  Said Fluttershy in a more panicked tone then what Dash was expecting.

Dash looking around the corner saw what the commotion was about.  On the roof of the town hall she saw three all too familiar Fillies standing on the edge of the roof looking ready to jump.  Having a deja vu moment she instantly went into gear, flying as fast as she could to save the fillies. "What do they think they are doing!" thought Rainbow.  Then to her utter horror, the three girls jumped leaving behind a trail of white cloth.  Rainbow instantly knew that the white cloth where cheaply made parachutes, she also knew that there would be no time for  the chutes to open up and catch the air. The fillies would hit the ground at life breaking speeds .  Rainbow now knew that there was no way to catch the girls in time.

As Rainbow was flying she saw Applejack position herself under the fillies,  with a thunk and a loud gasp of pain as she caught all three.  Rainbow finally caught up to Applejack.  "Are you guys Alright?" she asked as she swooped down and landed next to Applejack and the three fillies, "We're OK thanks to Applejack." said the three fillies in unison.  All Applejack could say was "I'll manage." as she got up only to fall over in pain putting her left hoof over her front right knee.  "That's just swell! Last thing I need is to be go'n to the Hospital." she said clenching her teeth.

"What is going on here?" said a Purple unicorn as she came around only to lay eyes on Applejack's condition.  "Applejack! Are you OK?  Do you need to go to the hospital? How did this happen?”  Only to have Rarity to shove her hoof in her mouth to stop her from talking.

"Twilight ill take Applejack to the hospital."  After Twilight nodded only then did Rarity remove her hoof.  With that Rarity picked up Applejack with the help of Fluttershy, who had  arrived around the same time as Twilight and Rarity.

Twilight then turned to Rainbow Dash and asked,  "What happened?"  Twilight gave Rainbow all of her attention, as Rainbow explained. After the explanation Twilight turned towards the three fillies and told them to follow her to the hospital.  Rainbow had no choice to follow.

At the Hospital Applejack walked out of the Examination room. What had happened was that her knee cap dislocated after catching the fillies.  Applejack was pretty upset due to the fact that the doctor ordered her not to buck apple trees for three months to let the knee heal.  The good news was that there was only three weeks left of Harvest season so there was not much left to do.  Twilight had also offered her help to assist Big Mac with the chores.  As Applejack entered the lobby of the hospital she could clearly hear Twilight's voice.

"...Dangerous,  make sure that you have Applejack's approval before you do something like that ever again."   Twilight said to the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Applebloom saw Applejack turn the corner and the little filly immediately ran towards her sister calling out,  "I'm sorry Applejack!"  Then gently gave Applejack a hug.

"Well I would give you the what  right now, however I think Twilight has already covered it.  Besides I'm plum tired, lets just head home.”  Applejack then turned to Twilight and Rarity.  "Where are the others?"

"Well Fluttershy and Rainbow went out to eat," said Twilight. "And Pinkie is probably still a the Bakery."

Applejack  let out a yawn and stretched out, wincing at the soreness in her leg. Then she said. "Well me a my sis' better head home so we'll catch ya in the morn', OK."  After that every pony headed home to retire for the day, completely unaware of the danger Equestria is in.