Return the Shadows

The mane six backed away in fear, wanting to be as far away as possible from the brother of the most evil unicorn in history. Night turned to his former students. "Was it something I said?" He asked, looking genuinely confused.

Celestia had to supress a chuckle, seeing her shiro confused was a rare sight, but a pleasant one none the less. "You have to understand, Sombra became a cruel tyrant when he thought you abandoned him. When the empire returned, so did he, and he hadn't changed. They were forced to use the Cyrstal Heart on him, to save the Cyrstal Ponies."

Night couldn't hold back the laugh. "Oh the irony. The very thing we created to protect the empire against enemy armies, used to stop one of it's creators. So, where is he now? In a dungeon cell somewhere? When can I see him?" He asked with a warm and happy smile, one that faltered when he saw that eveypony was looking anywhere, but him. "Well, can I see him? Let me rephrase that, MAY I see him?" Still they wouldn't look his way. "What aren't you telling me?"

Twilight was the to break the silence. "I....I'm sorry....but when the Cyrstal Heart was used, it.....it destoryed Sombra....There was nothing left." There was a long stretch of silence. It was broken by the last thing anypony expected.

Night Shadow was laughing.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH, the irony keeps on coming!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" All though he laughing, it was clear to anypony with ears that it wasn't a happy laugh. It was a broken and defeated laugh of a stallion who has nothing to live for. Then they all saw it, blood drops falling from his chin as he laughed.

"I really can't have a pleasant day, can I?!" He bellowed to nopony. "I can't even have the joy of seeing my brother, no matter what's he become, after what I went through?!?!"

He felt a hand rubbing his back, but he didn't need to look to know who it was. "Thank you, Chrissy. I guess it not all bad. At least I got to see you again."

Chrysalis continued to rub as she spoke. "That still doesn't mean the pain will go away, but we can make it better, in time." Night turned to her, not surprised by her sudden wisdom. She must of thought the same thing when he left. Just goes to show how much stronger she's become.

Fluttershy chose this time to voice a question that's been wanting out. "Ex-excuse me, Mr. Shadow?"

"Please, Mr. Shadow was my father, Midnight Shadow to be exact, just call me Night."

"O-oh, okay. Um, Celestia said that you lived for five hundred years, six if your lucky, but you lived far longer than that. How did you do that?" She squeaked out.

At this, Discord chose to make a wise move. "Oh, look at time!" He pulled up his sleeve to look at a watch, but what popped out was a grandfather clock. "I better be off. Got a little work to do before I get to have a little fun. Ta-ta!" In a flash, he was gone.

"Just as well, because you can thank him for my long life." The mares looked confused, so he explained. "Discord put a spell on my body, giving me a powerful healing factor. But it only worked to keep me alive, even going so far as to halt my aging process. I once had my head cut off and you know what happened? My body ran on auto and put my head back on." Everypony became a little bit green.

Then Twilight regained her composure. "But there's something I don't understand. You said Sombra was your brother, but Princess Celestia said you were a Devil Pony. How were you related? Sombra was an unicorn, not a Devil Pony." Celestia spoke up.

"In truth, my student, we said that so nopony would know the truth. Devil Ponies already had a bad reputation. If anypony heard one did what he did, there would of been a hunt for their death." The mares gasped at this revelation.

Night then cleared his throat to grab their attention. "Before we get into the Q's and A's, let me answer some questions before they're asked."

He took a chair, spun it around so it's back was facing the same direction he was and sat down. "Devil Ponies are not much different from normal ponies, aside from the obvious. We have three known tribes, the Terra-Ponies, who are the strongest of the three and have the best noses. The Draconsus, or Draconi for plural, have dragon wings instead of feathered ones and have the best vision. And the Devicorns, our version of your unicorns, have curved horns, can only use an element, like fire or water, and are also the smartest among us. However, there's a few things that all Devil Ponies share. First, we all have fangs and claws, making fighting us that much more stupid. Second, we all have the same eye scheme, draconic eyes with non-white whites. As you can see, mine are pitch black. The irises are either red, yellow, or cyan. Third, we are all immune to magic, meaning that we can't be fought against with magic, but that also means that we can't use magic either. Now, before you start shooting off about how my brother used magic, as I have no doubt you've all seen, know that in place of magic, we have something else. Just as we're called Devil Ponies, instead of magic, we have demonic energy. This is what gives us our love of battle and our unnatural abilities. Devicorns can utilize this in the same way unicorns do with magic, through their horns, but as I stated earlier, they can only use one element, but that also means they can completely master said element. Take my brother for example, he can summon black crystals, can turn into dark mist, and appear anywhere there's darkness. One thing all Devicorns share, however, is that once they master their element, mist of their element flows out of their eyes."

"So, now that's out of the way, any questions?" His telling had left the six mares all slack-jawed, at least until the dinning room doors opened to reveal a white unicorn stallion with a blue mane and tail with white streaks through them wearing violet and gold armor flanked by a pink alicorn mare with a pink, light yellow, and violet swirled mane and tail wearing a light pink and white dress that hugged her form. The unicorn had entered with his eyes closed, slowly opening them. "Princesses, the servants told us that you and your guests would be-" As his eye were fully open, he took in the occupants of the room, freezing in his tracks.

He looked at Night, his skin crawling from his gaze. Then his eye fell upon Chrysalis and her changelings, anger boiling in his veins. "What's she doing here?! Why is that monster here?! What are you planning you-" Before he could continue, or before Celestia silence him, he felt his throat being crushed and his body lifted off the ground. He looked down to see that the black stallion had, in a matter of a second, covered 20-30 feet before he knew what happened. Night stared at the unicorn, rage burning in his soul.

"I should rip out you throat for your words, but I'm in a good mood, so I let you live." He turned to Celestia, unicorn still in hand and 3 feet off the floor. "Is this Shining Armor? This poor, pitiful excuse for a unicorn is your captain? No wonder Chrissy almost won." He then turned to the alicorn. "And this must be your niece. Mi Amor Cadenza, a pleasure to make your acquaintance." He bowed his head slightly to the young alicorn, still holding Shining Armor in his grasp. He lowered him to the floor, but kept his hand where it was. He turned his gaze back to the captain. "I spent 20 years training the royal guard to be the greast force in Equestria, but your incompetence has reduced them to such a paltry force that you need to rely on mares who have no military training to save your worthless hide."

Night tossed Shining to the ground like a piece of trash. "You have all grown weak." He then turned to the sisters. "I don't know how this weakling became Captain of the Royal Guard. If he were under my training method, this level of skill would insure him a constant stay in the hospital." At this, the captain was inraged.

"Who are you to make that claim?! I've spent half my life getting to where I am!! I will not let that effort be insulted!!" He stood defiantily to the large stallion. His reward was a glare that would have reduced a dragon into a whimpering mess.

Luckily for Shining though, Celestia spoke up. "Shining Armor, Cadence, I would like you to meet Night Shadow, sword instructor to me and Luna and former co-ruler of the Crystal Empire." She said with a warm smile.

Shining's face paled to a sickly whiter coat, realizing that he just back-talked a true prince. His companion, however, was in awe. Here was the empire's rightful ruler in front of her and he was, for the most part, polite to the one who took that rule from him. She finally worked up the courage to speak. "A true honor to meet you, good sir. As you have stated, I am Mi Amor Cadenza, but please, just Cadence will do, I never really liked being treated like royalty."

A smile broke out on Night's muzzle. "Ah, I know what you mean. And the way the chefs make your food. I mean really! If I want to see something that looks like artwork, I'll go to the museum! Is a simple sandwich too much to ask?!" The three princesses tried, and failed, to hold back the storm of laughter at how true that statement was. Night held a smug grin and said with a straight face. "Mission accomplished." The laughing slowly died down and the mares looked at him in confusion. "I was told by a very good friend that I couldn't ever, under any circumstances, make a mare laugh if my life depended on it, that I wasn't funny, period." He clarified. More laughter, and not just the princesses this time, rang throughout the dinning room.

Night just smiled as the mares laughed, but Shining was still scared out of mind. "I can't believe I just yelled at a prince! I mean, Prince Blueblood is one thing, but this guy can back up his threats! How do I get myself into these problems?!"

As if fate had a sense of humor, the doors opened once more to reveal none other than Prince Blueblood strolling into the dinning room like he owned it. "Aunty, I heard you have guests. Why wasn't I told of this? I would have came sooner." He spoke in an arrogant and high-and-mighty tone.

Rarity only scowled at the prince, still sore from what happened at the Gala when she was still blind to what he really was. Celestia turned to her ungrateful nephew, managing to keep her smile. "I'm sorry, Blueblood, but one of our guests is an old friend of Luna and I. It must of slipped my mind. Night Shadow, this is my nephew, Prince Blueblood. Blueblood, this is Prince Night Shadow, former co-ruler of the Crystal Empire." She waved towards Night, who looked at Blueblood like he was appraising a soldier. Blueblood, on the other hand, was looking at Night, trying to figure out if this prince was more important than himself.

He held out his hand in mock friendship. "A pleasure to meet another prince, it can get so dull around nothing, but mares." Night gripped Blood's hand, but didn't shake. What did happened was that Blueblood felt a massive chill through out his body, as if something was moving through his soul.

Which was what Night was searching through.

When Night saw all he needed to see, he let go of Blueblood's hand, leaving the prince gasping for air as if he was left underwater. "Tell me something, Tia. How in Tartarus did this pissant come from your family tree? Disrespectful, selfish, arrogant, full of himself, I can keep going, but this is one long list."

Blueblood was furious, this lowly prince wannabe was insulting his pride! He would not stand for this! "How dare you?! I am Prince Blueblood, and will not take this stain to my honor!!" He took out a white glove and slapped it across Night's face, earning a few gasps from the sisters and the elements, but a bloodthirsty growl from Crysalis. "I challenge you to duel!! In the guard training grounds!! Be there, or I'll see to it that you will never walk inside a palace again!!" He turned and stormed out, leaving open-mouthed mares, a grinning unicorn stallion, and an angry queen.

"When I get my hands on him, I'll turn him inside out!!" Chrysalis was already stomping towards the door, when Night stopped her.

"Let him go Chrissy."

Chrysalis was dumbstruck. "But he struck you!! He deserves a pounding!!"

Night grinned wickedly at the changeling. "And he will, when I tear him apart."