Chapters It was a beautiful day in Canterlot, no disasters threatened the peace of the city, no problems from Ponyville. Yep, it was a great day for all.
"BUCKING HORSEAPPLES!!!!"
Scratch that, a great day for all, but a certain chaos god named Discord.
Discord was searching through the royal library, trying to jog his memory of an event he forgot. "GHAAA!!! I know there was something important I forgot about, but what?!?!" The guards by the doors just stared, silently cursing their luck in having to deal with the draconequus. As he searched and searched, Discord soon went through the entire library, or at least, where he was aloud.
"This is getting me nowhere. I know I did something really bad while I was imprisoned, when the sealing was weak for an instant, but WHAT?!?!" The walking puzzle bellowed.
"HEY!!! I take offense to that you know!!"
Really? You're going to break the fourth wall in the first chapter?
"Maybe if you watch what you type, we wouldn't be having this discussion."
Get back to the story, or I'll rip your balls off and play ping-pong with them.
"Shutting up."
Good. Now, where was I?
Oh right-Discord was pacing back and forth in mid-air like there was a walk way. "Let's see. Torment ponies during chaotic reign? Check. Escape from stone and create mass chaos upon said escape? Check. Get reformed by Fluttershy, have friends, and turn good? Checkaronie. Fix every single problem I caused before reforment? Not check." He huffed in frustration, before an idea came to him, and with a snap of his fingers and a flash of light, he was gone.
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Meanwhile, back in Ponyville, in a familiar library, six mares were having a slumber party. They had just reached the truth or dare portion of the night.
A lavender unicorn with a darker violet mane with a bright violet and hot pink strip through it, same with the tail, in a dark violet top and white panties reached for the bottle and gave it a hard spin. As it slowed, it landed on it's target; a cyan rainbow maned pegasus mare with a dark blue top and black panties. "All right Rainbow, truth or dare?"
Rainbow smirked, so sure there wasn't a dare she couldn't handle. "Dare me, Twilight!"
Now was Twilight's turn to smirk, she thought long and hard for the perfect dare for Rainbow. "Ok, I dare you......to wear one of Rarity's most feminine dresses and not say one thing about it not being cool." Twilight kept her smirk as Rainbow's face turned a slight shade of white.
"Well now, that's certainly a low blow, darling." A alabaster unicorn with a dark violet mane and wearing see through night gown with black laced bra and panties underneath spoke. "But it does give me a chance to give Rainbow a much need make over!" The unicorn now known as Rarity clapped her hands in glee.
"Twi, when said you weren't messing around, you weren't kidding." Rainbow said with a defeated sigh, she knew there was no way out of a dare. "When do I need to do it?"
Twilight's smirk softened to a caring smile. "Tomorrow's good, but we all need to there to see, or it won't count." Rainbow gave another sigh and went to spin the bottle, before it spoke.
"Don't spin me!" It said in a mexicolt accent.
The mares jumped away from the bottle in fright. Rainbow, wanting to see if it really talked, went to spin it again.
"I said 'Don't spin me!' " It said in the same accent.
Now the mares KNEW something weird was going on, but Rainbow decided it was for the best to leave it alone for now.
"U-um, sorry for spinning you Mr. bottle?" A yellow pegasus with a pink mane and tail with a green top and cyan panties asked in a quiet voice.
"S'all right." The bottle replied in a deeper tone, but in the same accent. Then a pair of yellow eyes with red irises popped out of the bottle and rolled under pillow and in a flash of light, Discord appeared, laughing his flank off.
"DISCORD!!!!" Four of the six mares yelled at the laughing god, doing nothing, but making him laugh harder.
"Oh please, that was good and you know it!!" He choked out before reigning himself in, while a pink Earth-pony mare with a darker pink mane and tail that looked like cotton candy wearing yellow bra and panties with blue polka-dots was still laughing from his prank. "Don't worry though, I be out of your manes in no time."
"Why ARE you here, Discord?" Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow. "And I think that's enough Pinkie." The pink mare finally calmed down.
"I'm trying to remember something I did awhile back, before I was reformed, but I can't put my claw on it. It's on the tip of my tongue, but I can't make it out." Discord replied while speed-reading through the library's inventory, quickly getting agitated.
"The royal library didn't have anything to jog your mind?" The unicorn ask with a little surprise in her voice.
"No, and since I'm still not aloud into archives, that led my search here. GHAAAA!!!!!" He roared from irritation. "I know I did something REALLY bad, but WHAT?!?!"
"Fluttershy, you better calm him down, or Celestia knows what would happen." Rainbow whispered to the yellow pegasus now known as Fluttershy.
She nodded, then went to calm the draconequus down. "OK DIscord, just calm-"
She never completed her request as Discord fired a magic blast in anger at a mirror. When it didn't explode, the seven stared as a dark form could be seen. It began to grow at a alarming rate, and before anypony could do anything, a black figure flew out and crashed into the opposite wall. When the figure laid still, they ponies and Discord approached.
The first thing they noticed, was the amount of blood that was leaking out of it, and the large black sword in it's hand.
"DISCORD!!!" Twilight screamed while red in the face.
"Don't look at me!!! I don't know what happened either!!!"
"Applejack?"
An orange Earth-pony mare with a blond mane and tail wrapped in red bands wearing denim short shorts and white tank top stared at Discord with narrowed eyes. "He ain't lying, Twi."
"Fine, I write the princess a letter, while you all get this thing to the hospital." The five mares nodded, but before anypony could do anything, Discord chimed in.
"You know, we could be at Canterlot in a blink with my powers." Twilight face-palmed for forgetting about that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A young man in a black leather jacket, a pure black T-shirt, black denim pants, and black leather steel toe boots, was fighting for his life, sword in hand, at the edge of a cliff. His body was riddled with holes from the attacks the quincy capture squad launched. His breath was ragged, his legs were jelly,his left arm was dead, and his spine felt like breaking, but he kept fighting. For every major wound he had, 17 lay dead at his feet, leading up to 85 visible dead, countless more over the cliff and into the sea.
"Damn, don't know how much more I can take." He weighed his options, he could try and fight his way out, but there was a great chance he would get captured. He could take his own life, but his curse prevented that, plus, they would just need his corpse. That left him with one option.
He looked over the cliff, steeling himself for what he was about to do. "This is going to hurt." He looked back to the quincies, gave them the bird before jumping off while shouting. "I'LL SEE YOU FUCKERS IN TARTARUS!!!!"
As he fall to the waters below, he noticed a flash of light, but paid no heed before he blacked out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The man's eyes shot open to find a white ceiling. As he looked around, he saw a machine hocked up to him, reading his heartbeat, a plastic bag with clear fluid also hocked up to him, and his clothes in a pile next to the door.
"A hospital? But how? No, nevermind that now, have to get out. If the quincies don't get me, the damned government will." He thought as he pull on his clothes. When he was finished, he saw that his sword was missing. "So they got Moon Shade? No matter, I can call her when I need her."
He tried the door to find it was locked. "Heh, they think this can hold me?" Bracing himself, he delivered a spartan kick to the center of the door, tearing it off it's hinges and slamming it into the wall. "Better move, don't know how much attention that called." Looking down both halls, he saw no one was around and haven't for some time. Taking this as a silver lining, he bolted down the hall on the right.
After a few turns, he came upon another door, but when he tried to kick it down. "Reinforced?! Damn!! And I've wasted too much time going this way. There has to be-" His thoughts were cut off when he spotted a ventilation shaft over the door. He deadpanned at the sight. "You got to be kidding." With a sigh, he proceeded to remove the cove of the shaft, before crawling in. "A shame Yahiko isn't here, he'd be perfect for this."
Ten minutes of crawling and he was rewarded with light. Peering through the vent cover, he saw another white room. Having no other option than to go back, he kick out barrier in his path, and dropped down. But before he took a step, he froze in his tracks.
He began sniffing the air like a wolf on a hunt. "This scent. I know this scent. But....that would mean...." Before he could finish his thought, the walls disappeared, and in their place, stood 8 humanoid ponies, each a different color. Two ponies each had a horn, while two others had wings, while two more had neither. However, the two that had his attention were the ones that had both wings and a horn.
OST
He could their eyes upon him, but when he was about to speak, a hated voice sounded. "You see, even I don't know what he is, or how he healed so fast."
A snap could be heard in the quiet room, shortly before the man roared at the draconequus. "DISCORD!!!!!" He banged against an invisible wall that kept him from his prey. "WHEN I GET MY CLAWS ON YOU, I'LL RIP OUT YOUR SOUL AND DEVOUR YOUR CORPSE!!!!!" The ponies look at the man in shock, a few even a little green, before the white pony with wings and a horn and flowing mane and tail of lime, pink, and cyan in a beautiful white gown and wearing a gold crown snapped towards Discord.
"What did you do?" She demanded with venom in her voice, something that made most off the other ponies back away in fear.
But before she get an answer, the sound of glass breaking grabbed her attention. When she turn back to the man, however, he wasn't there, but she could hear Discord cry out in pain. What she saw terrified her.
The man was holding Discord by the throat, his eye promising nothing, but death and blood. Faster than anyone could move, he slammed his prey into the floor, spider-webbing it from the impact. He then began to repeatedly smash his fist into Discord's face, not showing any signs of mercy.
So focused on killing Discord was the man, that he didn't notice the tail before it wrapped around his throat and threw him into the nearest wall, creating a man shape imprint. This didn't stop him, however, only slowed him down.
His head snapped up, hate filling his eyes, and ripped himself off the wall. "Your tricks won't save you this time, abomination." He raised his hand over his head. "Come."
On the far side of the room, everyone could hear sounds like something smashing through walls coming closer. That's when the black claymore sword that he arrived with came crashing through that very wall, revealing a trail of holes showing where the sword came from left in it's wake. It flew through the air till it reached it's master, who grabbed the hilt in reversed sword style and began swinging and spinning it like a staff, before swinging it down in front of him, just an inch from touching the floor.
"You're going to die." He spoke in such a cold voice, one would think he was a corpse. As he was about to resume his attack, The white pony from before stood in between him and Discord, this time accompanied by the smaller dark blue pony with wings, a horn, a flowing mane and tail that resembled the night shy with it's stars and night shy like blue color, and wearing an equally beautiful dark blue grown and a silver crown.
"I don't know what Discord has does to you, but I'm afraid that if you continue to attempt to kill him, we WILL interfere and stop you." The white pony spoke with kindness, but with authority.
"I can't let him live, not after what he did to me. Please, stand aside Princess Celestia, Princess Luna." All the ponies looked at him in shock, not just from how he ignored the princess's warning, but that he knew both their names. "I don't want to hurt either of you, so please, I beg of you, stand aside."
"H-how do y-you know our names?" Luna asked in slight fear. The man looked at Discord with hate once again.
Why don't you ask him, what he did a thousand years ago?!" As soon as he said that, the memory came flooding back to said chaos maker.
"Oh dear." Discord spoke with fear pouring out of him. "Celestia, Luna, trust me when I say that you DON'T want to hold back if you do fight him." Sweat already form a puddle underneath him from the fear. He then pulled out his own sword, a twisted broad sword covered with polka-dots. The sisters looked at him surprise, never expecting the god of chaos to be afraid of anything. The pulled their own blades out, Celestia's a gold, yellow, and sunset red broad sword, Luna's a pair of indigo and silver scimitars.
The man looked at the sisters with sad eyes. "I see you made your choice, then I will respect it. BY NOT HOLDING BACK!!!!" And with that, the true fight began.
Unlikely return and even more unlikely ally
OST
Luna was sent falling into a wall, leaving an imprint of herself, while Celestia and Discord were fighting with all they had against the man. They would've used their magic, but they would need time, time that the man wasn't willing to give. A hard kick to the gut and Celestia joined Luna in her wall breaking game.
"Ow." That was all either could say, as they never had faced a foe this powerful. "This doesn't make any sense, how is he so strong that he fight off all three of us an still keep fighting?" Luna asked nopony in particular.
Celestia had just freed herself and was now freeing her sister. "I'm not sure Luna, but he knows us and says he was around a thousand years ago, if what we heard so far is any clue." She pulled Luna to the floor, helping her to her hooves.
"But it still doesn't add up. If what he says is true, then he would be immortal like us! And I'm sure we would remember such an odd creature!" Luna was starting to lose her mind from trying to figure out the mystery.
"Well, we'll think about it later, right now Discord looks like he could use some help about now." Sure enough, Discord, the god of chaos, was being pushed back, completely on the defensive. The man, unrelenting in his attack, used everything on his person, from his sword, to his fists, to his boots, and even to his own head, rage and bloodlust burning behind his crimson red eyes.
Discord caught a lucky break when his assailant missed on a downward swing, allowing him to retreat back to the sisters. "Jump in anytime, girls! No rush!" He panted out, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
As Celestia and Luna got ready for another fight, the man relaxed his stance. "I see my present power isn't enough, very well. Witness the end result of what he did to me." He stabbed his sword into the ground, resting his hands on the top of the hilt.
"Brillo, sombra de luna." (If you want the translation, copy and paste to google translate on Spanish to english.)
A bright flash of black light blinded everypony, but when it faded, what stood in the mans place was a suit of jet black armor with two dim, but noticeable red eyes in the helmet, with a blood red sword.
"This is the first form I took to when Discord threw me into that pit of misery. I became widely know by the inhabitants as 'The Black Knight'." It spoke with the man's voice, albeit muffled from the helmet. With speeds unheard of, he was already on Discord again, who just barely blocked the swing to his skull.
Before he could continue, however, Celestia was upon him, using every ounce of strength she could draw out to hopefully beat him into submission. But the knight blocked all her attacks with ease. "You have grown stronger from since we last dueled. However." He stuck back with a palm strike to her chest, sending her back a few yards. "That power is useless if you can't hit your target."
On the outside, he was calm and steady, but under his helmet, he blushing up a storm. "Damn, I accidentally cupped a feel. I REALLY hope she didn't notice. But they were really so- NO, BAD BRAIN, BAD BRAIN!!!"
He sensed a hostile presence from behind and swung his sword in a sweep as he turned, only to block an attack from Luna. "You have gotten faster as well, I almost didn't feel you coming. But again." He completed his swing, sending Luna into the wall she just made friends with. "Even if your fast, you need power behind your strikes. What's the point in getting in close if you can't really hurt your target?"
He turned back to Discord, eager to end this fight. "I grow tired of your games, it's about time you died, demon!!" He charged and in a blur, he was on the chaos god again, trying to sever him in half. While he was hammering at Discord, Celestia and Luna were having a mental conversation.
"Luna, how long can you keep him busy?"
"Not long, about five seconds. Why?"
"Because I'll only need three. Just hold him and I'll handle the rest."
"Okay, be careful sister."
"You too, little sister."
With the plan set, Luna darted across the battlefield, slamming her blades against the knights and began to attack at such insane speeds, there was a faint whistle that came as the swords were swung. However, her opponent still blocked her onslaught like she was in slow motion. "This again? You've become a slow learner, Prin-" His eyes widened when he realised her motive. While he was distracted, Celestia moved in from behind and used all of her alicorn strength for a downward slash. It hit it's mark, tearing the man's body in two from the right side of his neck, to his left hip. It seemed they had finally won, if only it didn't end with a loss of life.
That is, until the body vanished into thin air, leaving both sisters' mouths agape, their eyes bulging out.
"I see, so you used each others strengths to make up for your own weaknesses. There being two of you just makes the tactic all the more deadly." The princesses turned to see the man in armor standing two feet from either of them, arms crossed, nodding as like a master would when his student did something well. "Had it been anypony else, that would have worked. But the world I was trapped in was filled with cutthroats and muggers that used the same moves, so I was prepared with an afterimage."
Celestia was awestruck. This creature had the strength to go hoof-to-hoof with not only her, but Luna and Discord as well, all at once no less. And he still hasn't used any magic, or at least, non they could see anyway. Luna on the other hand was pissed, not only had he been able to knock them around like rag-dolls, now he was treating them like they were foals!!
Discord, however was still scared pissless. "How?! How could I have forgotten about HIM?!?! I don't know what happened in the world I sent him to, but it's made him all the more stronger than he was before I sent him.!!" He ceased his mental rambling when he saw a shadow coming closer. He managed to bring up his sword just in time, because had he been an instant slower, the tip of the mans blade would've been poking out the back of his head.
The force of the thrust sent Discord back quite aways, but he didn't continue the attack. Celestia and Luna teleported to Discord, getting ready for round three. So when their enemy lower his sword into a relaxed stance, it came as quite a surprise.
"It's about time I show you what a real fight is all about." He took in a deep breath before letting it out slowly. He stared for a short time, then he got serious.
"Bankai."
A black sphere enveloped the armored man, hiding him from sight completely. The black mass writhed as if in agony. Suddenly, it stopped moving at all. Dead silence lingered in the air for a few moments. Then the top of the sphere broke apart and slowly disintegrated downward till it was no more. What was once an armored man, now stood a black robed man. In his hand, the sword changed again. it was about an arm and a half's length and it's shape looked like a thin sharks fin, but the barbs on it's back looked like a wolf's fangs. It was curved slightly, but it was enough to show it's purpose.
The greatest change, however, wasn't the weapon or what the man was wearing, it was the man himself. Before, he had short black hair and red eyes, now, he still had red eyes, but the whites had turned pitch black and his hair had lengthen past his shoulders, overlapping his eyes. When he opened his mouth to speak, his canines had turned into fangs.
"This is what I became when the undead spirits attacked me. I didn't choose to become this, it was either kill or be killed." He raised his sword till it was mid-level with his abs. "I still have a few tricks up my sleeve, here's my favorite."
He disappeared in a blur of movement, before appearing above Discord.
"HITEN MITSURUGI RYU!!! RYU TSUI SEN!!!"
He swung straight down, splitting Discord in two. Due to his chaos powers, however, he simply turned into two Discords. He had split himself in the instant before the blade connected. "You're starting to really piss me off."
"And you weren't pissed before?!" Left Discord asked, horrified that he only caused him to get mad.
The man answered by dashing to the right Discord and slashing at light speed, turning the clone to dust. Without missing a beat, he charged at the remaining Discord and continued the battle.
While they fought, Celestia came up with a new plan. "Luna, I have an idea, but I don't know if it'll work."
Hearing her sister in her mind again, Luna responded. "If it can give us an edge, then go for it."
"All right, I'm going to channel my magic into you, turning it into strength. If you use your speed with your new might, we might have a chance."
"We've never done anything like that with either of us. Do you think I can handle that much magic."
"Your my sister and the princess of the moon, of course you can handle it."
Reassured by Celestia, Luna gave her the all clear. Soon enough, she began to feel her sister's magic flow into her, giving her unbelievable power. When it was finished, she disappeared like the man did not long ago. She reappeared over the battle and saw the one thing she never thought she'd see outside the Elements of Harmony being used.
Discord was losing. Badly.
His body was cover in wounds one just under his left eye, he was breathing hard, and he could barely hold his sword. It was a miracle he lasted as long as he did.
Luna wasted no more time, as she put herself between Discord and the man. As he swung to sweep her away, she counter-swung and stopped his sword cold. His eyes widened at this, realizing her strength was far greater than before. Using the pause in his attack, Luna push him back by swinging her blades out. This sent the man soaring through the air and into the respective wall.
Or it would have if he didn't right himself in the air and planted his feet in the wall instead, causing cracks to spiderweb out two yards.
He used momentum caused by the landing to shoot himself back at Luna, catching her off guard. He grabbed her throat as he passed, taking her with him as he flew. He stopped by slamming Luna into the oncoming wall, knocking the breath out of her. Before she could retaliate, he pulled her out of the wall and in close to his face, his eyes sending shivers down her spine. "That was a good idea, but you need time for your body to get used to the new power, or it locks up like it's about to right about......now."
Luna suddenly felt like her whole body just shut down and locked up on her, she couldn't move an inch. Placing her gently on the floor, the man turned back to Discord. "You're pathetic. You don't want to atone for your wrongs and hide behind the princesses for protection. And to think, you were the one that sent me to that Tartarus pit."
Before Discord could make a comeback, a light shined off at the end of the room. Turning, they saw the six mares from before were floating, five of them wearing necklaces and the lavender unicorn wearing a tiara. From their sides shot out two rainbows that spiraled upward and then shot downwards towards the man.
Celestia smirked, confident that they have already won now that the Elements were used, but that same smirk changed to a frightened frown when she looked at Discord, who was pale with fear.
As the beam came close, the man made no effort to move out of the way. Instead, he just raised his arm to intercept it and waited.
When it hit, it split back into two separate beams, leaving him untouched. The attack ended, leaving the mares that used it exhausted. When Twilight raised her head, her face held a shocked look. "H-how....it....it's not possible.....the elements never failed us before!!!"
The man just lowered his arm back down and replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "Because I'm still seen by the Elements of Harmony as one of the Bearers."
That brought everypony's thought process to a screeching halt. Luna woke up just in time to see the Elements fail, but she was just as dumbstruck. Celestia was the first to break the silence.
"B-but that's not possible. If what you say is true, then that would mean-" Before she could finish, however, the doors to the room were blown open, send smoke and dust everywhere. Everypony could hear hoofsteps coming from the cloud of dust, which when cleared, revealed black pony like creatures with holes in their hooves and hands, insect wings and jagged horns. The one in front stood out the most however, with it's small crown and large horn.
"Ah, are we interrupting anything?" She asked with a sinister grin.
Celestia bared her teeth in rage. "CHRYSALIS!!! What are you doing here?!?!"
Chrysalis' grin just widened. "Why, just to greet our new friend here. You've been so rude to him that I thought I could give him a helping hand."
The man, however, looked at the newcomers with confusion. "Changelings? So they've become bolder since I've been gone."
The queen looked at him with a seductive smile and half lidded eyes. "Oh? You know of our kind? I'm honored."
The man frowned at this, not affected in the slightest. "Cease your seduction, Chrysalis. Your magic won't work on me."
Now it was Chrysalis' turn to be confused. This creature had spoken to her with such a familiar tone, but something did in fact seem familiar about him. "Who are you? Why do I feel like we've meet somewhere?"
OST
The man smiled warmly at the changeling queen, which caught everypony off guard. "Because, we meet when you were just a filly. Look at how you've grown."
At the still confused look of the queen, he raised his arm towards Applejack. Her Element of Harmony began to glow, then was pulled off her neck by the same glow. It floated to the waiting man's hand, after which he placed it on his own neck.
What happened next was nothing short of breath-taking.
His entire body glow white hot, before dimming to reveal the man had disappeared. In his place stood a pitch black stallion with a lighter black mane and tail with a few blood red streaks running through them. He was wearing armor that looked like the Royal Guard armor, but with a hint of Night Guard to it. His sword was gone, but now he had razor sharp claws. His body was ripped! Where there wasn't armor, veins and muscle could be seen. His height was something else all together. Standing, at least, 7 and a half feet, he stood taller than even Celestia, matching Discords height perfectly.
His eyes were the same, as were his fangs. Still having that warm smile, he spoke with a tone that made him sound much older than he looked. "I've been away for far too long, my little Chrissy."
Chrysalis' eye widened at the sight and even more at the voice, but it was when he called her 'Chrissy' that they started to water. "It...it can't be....Uncle....Night Shadow? Is it really you?"
Night Shadow's smile widened into a grin, showing off his fangs more. "You know anypony else as devilishly handsome as this?" He said while rubbing his chin like he was looking at a mirror.
The changeling queen slowly walked towards the strange stallion, tears threating to fall. When she came up to him, she looked into his eyes, as if trying to see a lie. Her hands caressed his face, while his eyes closed as he leaned into them. Then her arms wrapped themselves around his large barrel chest, while she bawled into said chest. Slowly,as if handling fragile glass, he returned the embrace, soothing the crying changeling, his warm smile never leaving his muzzle. "Shhhhh, everything's alright now. I'm here and I'll never abandon you again. You must have been so scared."
Everypony else was dumbstruck, seeing a ruthless queen breaking down like a filly after a nightmare. Celestia and Luna both stared in wonder, then the full weight of what was going on hit them like a mountain. Their eyes began to tear up. Celestia was the first to rise, then Luna after her body had feeling again. They both approached the hugging pair, catching their attention. Luna was the first to speak.
"It really is you, isn't it? You're alive. We all thought you were dead." Celestia and Luna then bowed to a knee, shocking everypony. What Celestia said next shocked them even more. "Welcome home, Master Shadow."
Author's Note
How that for a twist. And no, I'm not trying to make a gary stu. This is just a new way to show a little missing history in Equestria.
[Just switch out the reapers with quincies, the main cast with the mane six, and Ichigo with Night Shadow]
Two fingers were smacked on the top of Celestia's head. "OW!!" She rubbed her head in pain.
"How many times do I have to tell you? Call me 'Shiro'! Now, mind telling me why you seem to have a grudge with Chrysalis, Nulo?" Night Shadow asked while berating her.
Celestia was a little peeved that he was calling her that old name he always called her and her sister in the past, but she was more happy to have her old teacher back.
"Um, I can answer that uncle." He turned to the changeling in question. "Some time ago, I tried to take over Canterlot to harvest all the love for my subjects. We were desperate, we had no other-" She was cut off by a loud slap across her face and a deep scowl on Night's, making it look like a fierce glare. She cupped her cheek as it became red while her eyes teared up in shock. But she knew that look. This was the first time she ever got it, but she had seen it before.
Night wasn't pleased, not one bit.
"I'm disappointed in you. Have you forgotten EVERYTHING I taught you?!?! Diplomacy first, THEN last resorts!!!" Steam was puffing out of his nostrils, making him look much like a dragon.
Chrysalis was hurt, not her face, but her heart. She had never made him this angry before. She was about to break down again, but a pair of arms wrapping around her stopped that. "W-what?"
Night Shadow was dying inside. He had never struck his little Chrissy before, so it killed him when he did. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have hit you like that. While you still shouldn't have done what you did, I understand why you did it. You were scared. Without me to guide you, you felt like you were trapped and did what you thought was best for your subjects. I'm not happy that you tried to take over Canterlot, but I am proud that you thought of the well-being of your fellow changelings."
That truly broke the damn. Chrysalis just cried into his shoulder while choking out apologies, not just to Night Shadow, but to Celestia, Luna, and her changelings. Said changelings were confused as to why their queen was acting like this, but they were outraged when the strange stallion struck her. The second-in-command after their queen took matters into his ow hands. "That inferior creature's manipulating our queen!! Kill it and we can conquer Canterlot, then Equestria!!!"
OST
That snapped everypony out of their reunion, which pissed Night Shadow off to no end. "Just one fucking moment, is that too much to ask?!" He screamed to nopony in particular. He intercepted the attacking changelings, intent on teaching life's lesson number one; Don't piss off Night Shadow.
Each drone had a halberd and a short sword, but none of that concerned Night. In truth, he just saw them as a warm-up.
He caught the first by the halberd's staff, just below the blade, and ripped it out of it's owners grip. He slammed the flat side of the blade on the chest of the changeling, breaking it off and turning the weapon into a normal bo-staff. Night used his new weapon to knock out any changeling that got to close, giving the impression of a small herd a rabbits against a hungry wolf.
Twilight and her friends were still dumbstruck, wondering how a powerful enemy just became their greatest ally. Celestia cleared her throat, braking them out of their trance. "I can assume that you all have questions, right?" They all just nodded.
Twilight was the first to ask her questions. "Princess, just who is that and why did you call him 'Master'?!" Her eye was twitching and her mane was frizzed like she hadn't slept in days.
Rainbow was next. "And how come he's so strong?!"
Rarity spoke up. "And why did he protect Chrysalis?!"
Pinkie shot off. "And how come he was a meanie mcmean pants before, but now he's super coolieo?!"
"And why d-did he try to k...kill...Discord?" Fluttershy squeaked.
And finally, Applejack asked. "And why did my element float to him?!"
Celestia sweat-dropped. She loved her subjects, Twilight and her friends even more so, but sometimes they can be a little overwhelming. "In order? His name is Night Shadow, but his friends just call him Shadow. He was mine and Luna's sword instructor a thousand and fifty years ago. The reason he so strong is because he's a member of a near extinct race called Devil Ponies. They're masters of combat and tactical geniuses, often receiving general ranks in our military. They love to fight and can live for at least five hundred years before age sets in, then they have a hundred years left before they pass on. The reason why he protected her is a bit of a mystery to me. He was a 'meanie mcmean pants' before because of something Discord did, and he's 'super coolieo' now because he just mad. I cannot stress this enough my little ponies; DO NOT MAKE HIM MAD. I don't know why he tried to kill Discord. And the reason why your element of honesty floated to him is because he was the bearer of honesty before you, Applejack." She said in one breath.
Slack-jaws were the theme for the ponies, as all of them were blown back by the information given to them. They looked back to the one-sided fight to see the changelings were already beaten, groaning in pain, showing they were all still alive.
Standing there without a bead of sweat, Night huffed in annoyance. "As stress relieving as that was, I still have one more thing to take care of." He dropped the staff and disappeared again. Everypony heard a loud crash, but when they turn to the source, they were surprised and, at the same time, not surprised to see Discord on the floor with Night Shadow's claw around his throat, the other posed to strike. "I still have to make you pay."
Celestia and Luna were on him, trying to pry him off. "Shiro, please don't do it!! He's changed, I swear!!" Luna pleaded.
Before he could reply, Night felt a murderous aura in front of him. He raised his head to meet with one of Equestria's natural forces; Fluttershy's 'Stare'.
"How DARE you!! Just because he messed up in the past, doesn't mean you can kill him!!" She stared deep into Night's eyes, intent on making him back down.
"The Stare?! Fluttershy, isn't that a little extreme?!" Rarity pleaded with Fluttershy, knowing it was useless. But then something happened that, aside from Discord, they thought couldn't happen.
'The Stare' didn't work.
Night glared back with eyes promising death to all who stood in his way. "You can drop the act. My little brother was the last Element of Kindness and his glare was far more terrifying than what you're doing, and I was immune to that. What makes you think your little 'Stare' is going to do anything?" Fluttershy's rage died like a flame in water at that, causing her to cower under his gaze.
Night Shadow returned his attention back to Discord, who was trying, and failing, to get out of his grasp. "It's no use. When you sent me into that pit of pain, some of your chaos magic rubbed off on me. That's what stopping you from using any of your magic." To prove his point, he tightened his grip around Discord's throat.
"Wait!!! I've changed, honest!!! I've been reformed, I only use my magic for good now!!! And I've been trying to remember what I did all those years ago, but when you mentioned back then, it came back to me!!! Please, you have to believe me!!!" At this point, Discord did something nopony thought would ever happen till the end of time; he was crying in fear.
With Celestia and Luna still trying to pull him off, Night Shadow pondered Discord's words while keeping his gaze. "You're a deceiver, a trickster, and a manipulator of innocents." Everypony believed this was when he would kill him. "But the one thing you are not, is a liar." That is, until he said that.
Night got off Discord to let him stand. He turn his back to him. "But know this. Because of you, I've lost seven wives and a child. Eight wives and two children if you count my family from before you tore me from my home." A few gasps could be heard. He looked to the still groaning changelings. He walked to the one that gave the order and lifted him up by the collar of his armor.
"Going to kill me now? Do it then, prove that changelings won't surrender before death!" The commander taunted. It was to everypony's shock that he set the changeling down and dusted him off.
"You were only concerned for your queen, that why you attacked. You showed courage in attacking me, even knowing what I can do. You also showed valor in charging with your fellow changelings, not wanting to sit on the sidelines while your brothers and sisters fight. I would've been honored if you were in my army." The commander was in awe. No creature, outside of his fellow changelings, ever show this kind of respect to him, and then say they wanted him in their army.
"Shiro!! Are seriously thinking of letting changelings into the military?!?! Celestia demanded. When Night Shadow slowly turned his head to her, it sent shivers up her spine.
"Do you honestly think that I only had ponies in my army? I had changelings, griffons, minotaurs, zebras, and even a few dragons in my services!! I will not overlook valuable allies just because of their species!!!" Celestia look down in shame, knowing that's the reason why Equestria has been weak in their few centuries of peace. "Now." Celestia looked back up."I think it's about time we catch up on what I've missed while I've been gone." Now it was Luna's turn to look away in shame, not looking to explaining her little tantrum.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everpony, and changeling, moved to the dinning room for more space. Night Shadow was not happy with what he heard.
The Nightmare Moon incident, Discords escape, his reforment, the Canterlot wedding invasion. Before they could continue, he stopped them to process what he heard.
"So let me get this straight. Luna gets jealous of Celestia, turns into this 'Nightmare Moon', gets banished to the moon, comes back a few years ago and is turned back to normal by the new element bearers. Then Discord escapes, turns said bearers to their opposite selves, gets resealed when they rediscover who they were, THEN gets released, by your order no less, Celestia, and is reformed by the element of kindness. Then FINALLY, Chrissy nearly takes over Canterlot, not by using force, but by using deceit. Before I continue, I just want to say that I'm still not happy that you did that, but I can't help, but be proud that you used some of my teachings in said invasion." Chrysalis blushed from the slight praise.
"Which brings me back to the subject at hand." He turned to the sisters that earned his ire. "ARE YOU BUCKING FOALS?!?!?! Not only did you give in to your emotions, LUNA, but YOU didn't think to make time to meet her when she came back, Nightmare or no, CELESTIA!!!! And a thousand years?!?! You're lucky she didn't lose her sanity!!!! Then you expect me to believe that you knew that Discord would escape, but didn't have precautions set in place because you thought you had TIME?!?!? THEN, you release him and place him into the care of one of the Elements?!?! Are you both idiots?!?! Do you have any idea how many ways that could have ended badly?!?! By my count, 1,482 different ways!!! Then FINALLY, the wedding!!! Not only did you receive word that somepony was about to invade the capital, but you couldn't tell that this princess of love was replaced by a changeling that acted the exact opposite of her the entire time?!?! And if I heard right, Twilight right?" Twilight nodded, a little intimidated by a pony who could yell at the princesses and make them scared of his wrath.
"Twilight here found out that she was an imposter, but not one of you thought to look into her claims?!?! Not even her own supposed friends?!?" The other elements sunk low into their seats. Night Shadow took deep breath to try and calm himself down. It worked, a little. "Celetsia, I thought I taught you enough about deception to spot this kind of problem before it could happen. And while we're on the subject of the wedding, WHERE IN TARTARUS WERE YOU LUNA?!?!" Luna flinched from the sudden raise in his voice, while the other ponies and changelings were covering their ears. His voice could put the Royal Canterlot Voice to shame. "Did you not think that maybe the well-being of your subjects was more important than your self pity?!?! This is exactly why you were the better student in that class, because you could spot things that Celestia would miss!!!" Luna started to tear up from the verbal lashing, until Rainbow Dash stepped up.
"Hey, what's your problem?! Maybe she had other things to worry about? Did you think about that?!" All that earned her was a bone chilling glare from the stallion, making the often brave and brash mare wilt like a dying plant.
"My PROBLEM, is that I train both of them in the arts of war and tactics, and what do they do? THEY GET SOFT!!!!" Both sisters flinched this time. "Celestia!!! What's lesson number one?!" He demanded while keeping his anger at an all time high.
"When you have peace, that just means you have to have a tighter guard." Celestia answered in shame, forgetting that particular lesson.
"Really? Cause from what I'm hearing, that's exactly what you didn't do!!!" He turned to Luna next. "Luna!!! What's lesson number two?!"
Luna was on the verge of tears again. "Swords first, hearts second." That only got her a snort of anger from her teacher.
"Is that so? Because, AGAIN, that's exactly what you DID! NOT! DO!" Night Shadow was livid, his two best students screwing up everything he did for them.
He took a deep breaths, calming himself greatly. "I'm so disappointed in both of you. The way I see it, the only ones to have any praise are Chrissy and Twilight. Chrysalis bested you, Celestia, in an art that I only thought her a little about, when you were an expert. What does that say about me? Am I a poor teacher who's students couldn't learn anything because he was a failure? The fact that she fooled you is a sign that you haven't been taking my lessons seriously."
He wasn't done yet. "And if I'm hearing this right, it sounds like you've been taking gambles on your own student and her friends. Counting on her to make friends and find the Elements of Harmony, returning Luna to normal, stopping Discord, reforming Discord. What's next? You're going to trust her to help save an empire?" Night Shadow rolled his when said that last part. But then he saw that Celetsia and Luna were eyeing away from him nervously. "Wait. What happened to the empire?" He ask with slight fear.
Celestia found her voice, though she wished she didn't. "After....after you disappeared.....Your brother....I'm sorry.....we had no choice.....He became a tyrant.....we banished him, but he place a curse and took the empire with them." An audible breaking sound like glass could be heard.
Night Shadow's world was dying around him again. Tears began to form in his eyes. "And....what of my wife and daughter....how did they die....?" It took all his will power to hold back the tears.
It was Luna's turn to break the news. "When you....you know....your wife was devastated. She wouldn't eat or sleep. She died in a month from heartbreak." More tears formed. "Your daughter was stronger. She lived a good life and found a good pegasus who loved her, like her mother loved you. She brought her son into this world, by leaving it."
The damn broke. For the first time since his father died, Night Shadow cried in sorrow.
OST
But his weeping wasn't as passive as Chrysalis'. No, he broke the table in front of him in anger. Anger at Discord, anger at the sisters for keeping him alive, and anger at himself for not coming home sooner. He cried tears of blood. His wails, which sounded like a manticore mourning it's mate, could be heard by all in the castle. Everypony got out of his way just in time to avoid being thrashed. Twilight and Fluttershy went to try and calm him down, but they were stopped by Applejack of all ponies.
"Applejack, what are you doing?! We have to calm him down before he hurts somepony!!" Twilight tried to move past her friend, but the mare proved to be more stubborn than usual.
"I can't let you do that, Twi. He needs to let it out." Her face held a somber look, her eyes full of pain of her own.
"He can let it out without destroying the castle!!" Twilight pleaded with the apple farmer, but she wouldn't budge.
"Twi, if you found out that your brother, or your parents for that matter, died becaused they thought you were dead and you came back to find out it was, in a way, your fault, wouldn't you feel like breaking something." Twilight didn't have a comeback for that. She didn't know what she would feel like doing, but she knew she would be devastated.
As the stallion in question continued his rampage, Chrysalis, after whiping away her tears for her uncle's pain, chose this time to bring up something that has been nagging at her mind. "Celestia?" The solar monarch turned to the changeling queen. "I haven't seen any guards since we came here, my changelings and I were unopposed the entire treck through the castle. Where are they?"
In all the excitement, Celestia nearly forgotten about that. "I sent them away when Twilight and her friends brought Shiro in. At the time, we didn't know who he was, so I had my guards leave in case he was a threat and was too much for them. I'm really starting to think that was a good idea right now. If any of them saw this, they would no doubt try to stop him and risk getting killed." She shed a few tears for her old mentor and friend.
"I remember his filly, she was my best friend. We always played when I came over." The queen shed a few more tears for her late friend. At this point, Night Shadow was on his knees in the center of the room, blood tears pouring out of his eyes like waterfalls. He was dead inside. There was nopony left that he could hold and love. Sure, he had his students and Chrysalis, but they were immortal and they couldn't give him what he needed.
He felt a hand on his left shoulder. He turned to the one who broke him out of his depression to see Applejack staring at him with sympathetic eyes and a sad frown. "If it's any help, I know what your going through. I lost my parents a while back when they went out looking for me when I was just a filly." She already had tears flowing from her eyes.
Night Shadow dropped his head, slightly glad he had somepony to share his pain with. Applejack slowly wrapped her arms around his still form, trying to give whatever comfort she can. It was welcomed, but not returned.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a few minutes, which felt like hours, Night Shadow had regain his composure. A new table was brought in by the servants that stayed dispite their princess' order. Night sat in silence for a while, thinking on what to ask. "So, what's the progress on the empire? Has it been brought back?"
Celestia perked up, glad that her long time friend wasn't reduced to a hollow shell. "Yes. It came back a few months ago and now has a new ruler."
"I assume it's your niece, this 'Cadence', correct?" Celestia nodded. "And her husband is, or was , your captain of the guard? A 'Shining Armor'?" Again, she nodded. "The same shining Armor that Chrysalis fooled easily and had under her spell, literally?" She paused, but nodded just the same. She could tell, this wasn't going to end well for the unicorn.
The mane six all bolted up in shock and late realization. Rarity was the first to address the elephant in the room. "Hold on. You mean to tell us that the empire you're all talking about is the Crystal Empire?" The sisters both nodded. "Then that would mean...."
Night got up and turned to the mares. "That my brother is King Sombra, Wielder of Darkness and former bearer of the Element of Kindness."
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."
"Um...you don't really mean that, do you?" Night turned to Twilight, his grin never leaving his muzzle. "I mean, yeah he's a jerk, but you're not going to hurt anything more than his pride, are you?" She was starting to wonder if he was joking about the beating.
"Well, I was going to simply beat him down till they decided to change his name from Blueblood to Redblood. But now that I think of it, I might just crack his horn to the point where using magic will be painful." Night said with a straight face. Twilight and her friends paled from the vivid scene in their minds.
Night then remembered a small detail. "Oh that's right. I almost forgot." He walked over to Pinkie Pie and shoved his hand into her mane, earning dropped jaws from the other mares. "Let's see, nope, nope, whoop, that ain't it. Hmm, AHA!!" When he pulled his hand out, he pulled Discord out with it, by the tail. He dropped the draconequus and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and picked him up like a cat. "Now, before I go through with this duel, YOU need to fix something."
Discord looked like he was going to lose his bladder control at any moment. "W-why whatever are you talking about?" He asked while not trying to faint from fear. Night may have let him live, but that could change at the drop of a hat.
Night was in no mood for 20 questions. "I mean, get rid of this curse you put on me. I'd rather not have to wear this just so I can be normal again, and take off this supped up healing factor too. I will not have an unfair advantage in a duel, no matter how out classed my opponent is." He dropped Discord and waited for him to work his magic. (Pun not intended)
Since he wasn't dead yet, Discord worked fast before that changed. A snap of his fingers and a bright light enveloped Night, removing his from sight and blinding everypony else. When the light died down, Night was still standing, unchanged.
He reached up to the element around his neck slowly, as if it was going to strike at any minute. He grabbed the necklace, his grip uneasy, worried that the god of chaos might have failed. He ripped it off like it was overheated, and waited from the change.
A few minutes passed. Nothing.
A smile that could rival Pinkie's broke out across his face, which with his face made it a lot more creepy. "FUCK YES!!! I'M FREE, I'M FREE, I'M FREE OF THAT DAMNED BODY!!!!" He was doing back flips out of shear joy, Chrysalis giggling from how silly her god-father was acting. After a few minutes, he stopped and looked at Applejack. "Catch." He tossed the element to her, his smile never still there. "I won't be needing that anymore, so you don't have to worry Applejack."
Applejack's eyes widen when he said her name. "Whoa there partner, Ah never told you my name. How'd ya know who Ah am?" She narrowed her eyes, just waiting for when he slipped up.
Night's smile just widened, if that was even possible. "When I put on the Element, all of your memories of the times you wore it came flooding into my mind. As the former Element of Honesty, that was bound to happen. So I know not just your name, but the names of everypony else." He looked to each bearer as he called them. "Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy."
It was this time when Twilight had a thought. "What a minute, you just said that you saw her memories, so wouldn't you have known Shining Armor and Cadence before being told about them?"
Night deadpanned at her. "If you were paying attention, I said 'of the times you wore it'. I can't see into any other memories."
Twilight looked away sheepishly. "Oh, right."
Night turned to Celestia and Luna. "Now, I know it's been over a thousand years, but do you still have my wardrobe from when I would come and visit? I REALLY want to get out of this armor." He looked down at said armor as he said this.
The sisters both chuckled in good humor. Luna was the first to speak. "Yes we do, Shiro. I placed them in a time spell to keep them as fresh as the last time you wore them, after they were washed, of course." She added with a cute smile.
Night beamed at her. "Great. Now if I can get an escort to where they are, I can get changed for the duel."
Celestia spoke up. "Of course, follow me." She got up and walked out of the room, Night following close behind.
When they both were out of earshot, all the mares gathered close, even Chrysalis. Rainbow was the first to start. "So what do you girls think of him? He seems a little too happy for somepony who just heard what he did."
Chrysalis and Luna both looked at each other, a little unsure who should tell them. Luna nodded and spoke. "He was always like that. The day his father died, he was destroyed. He wouldn't talk to anypony, wouldn't eat or drink, wouldn't respond to anything. Then one day, he just walked out and devoured the food stores in the palace and just continued like there was nothing wrong. He cries for those he lost with everything he has, then just pushes it aside." She finished with a few tears in her eyes, and she wasn't the only one.
The other mares were close to crying themselves.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While the ponies were talking in the dinning room, Celestia and Night were catching up. "So there really was no other way? He really couldn't be saved?" Night asked with a sad gaze.
Celestia shared his gaze. "I'm sorry, if only we were faster, maybe we could've stopped him and brought him to his senses, but...." Night placed a hand on her shoulder for comfort, even though he was the one that needed the comfort.
"You did all that you could, I'm not blaming you." Celestia spun around and embraced him like a daughter would her father. Night slowly returned the gesture, just wanting to make the feeling last as long as possible.
"I've missed you, so much." Celestia spoke through the few tears that broke out.
"And I you. I thought I would never see you or your sister again." Night tightened his hold, wanting to keep one of his angels close.
Soon though, she broke the hug and guided him down the hall, neither saying a word, no words were needed. They reached a door that looked like it went seven wars it was so battered. "Your old room, we kept it the way you left it. We couldn't bring ourselves to get rid of it, even at the requests of some of the nobles." Night smiled and opened the door.
The inside looked like a mix between a war room and a royal suite and aside from a little dust, it was it perfect condition. He walked over to the wardrobe and opened it to find all his old clothes still in one piece. "Well, hello baby. Did you miss daddy? Daddy missed you." He reached in past the clothes and pulled out a demonic bow. Most of it was black with two red gems at either side and two small axes at the ends, making it the perfect long and close range weapon.
"It's been so long since I've held you, and yet, it fells like I haven't even been gone a day without you." He slid his hand down and up the bow like it was an old flame. Night placed it on a nearby table and went back to the closet. He bared his wicked grin. "Now, time I dressed for the occasion."
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"And then he comes walking in, completely oblivious that it was the mares bath, and he drops everything he's holding, getting all the mares attention. The look on his face and the scream that came out from the bath was worth the extra painful lessons we got later that night!" Everypony burst out laughing from Luna's story. Luna caught her breath after a few minutes. "Ah, things were never the same after he disappeared, nopony would act the same around us as he would. But the other elements were still comforting, until Sombra believed his brother left him." She finished with a sad sigh, the events still fresh in her mind.
Twilight took this moment to speak. "I still can't believe that Sombra was a bearer of an element, and the Element of Kindness no less. Somepony as cruel as him, it just doen't make sense." She soon had a look that, to her friends, showed that she was thinking hard about the subject.
Luna just smiled at her. "You have understand, he wasn't always cruel. Before he went off the deep end, he was the most kind and caring you would ever meet. His kindness earned many allies and when that kindness earned him enemies because they thought he was weak, his strength took care of that. But he always hated fighting, which was unusual for a Devil Pony, but he still loved sparing with his brother and the other elements." Luna then looked away with a tear in her eye. "He became one of my best friends. When I wasn't training with Shiro, I would talk with Sombra. His mastery over darkness often made others fear him, but my sister and I saw past that. It broke our hearts when we had to fight him." The tear fell as she finished. She whiped it away and looked back with a smile. "But at least his brother is alive and well."
Rainbow then had a evil grin as she looked at Luna. "So, tell us Princess, have you ever seen all of Night?" Luna looked confused, so Rainbow went further. "You know. What he looks like out of his armor, or everything for that matter?" She asked still keeping her grin, which widened when Luna blushed so hard, her whole head turned bright red.
Luna was trying to come up with quick lie, but knew she would just be digging her own grave, so she relented. Her head, still red, drooped hiding her eyes as she spoke. "Yes, when Tia, me, and the maids were peeking on him when he would bath." At this, the other mares, even Cadence and Chrysalis, blushed just as hard as Luna. "He is, well, let's just say he's not going to disappoint any mare that beds him." Everypony went silent, a pin could be heard it was so quiet.
The doors opened to reveal Celestia walking in with a noticeable blush. It doesn't take long to see why.
OST
All the mares jaws dropped at what they saw. In comes Night walking in, wearing a dark red shirt that hugged his torso, showing off his 8 pack, pecks and every muscle in between. He also wore slightly baggy dark red and black pants that left very little to imagination, not tight, but not too loose either. Over his shoulder was a sinister looking bow with a black quiver filled with arrows that seemed endless.
All in all, he looked ready to hunt big game.
He noticed the stares he was getting, a few drooling, and decided to mess with them. He held his hands behind his head and pushed out his chest. "You ladies see anything you like? I know it's hard to look away, but try not to stare for too long." The girls stared a few more seconds before what he said was heard, at which point they turned away with a massive blush on each of them. "All joking aside though, I got to get to the training grounds. I got a duel to get to."
Rainbow snapped out of her daze. "Wait, THAT'S what you're wearing for the duel?! What about armor?!"
Night stared at her for a moment. "I've beaten Celestia, Luna AND Discord in a three on one fight without getting so much as a scratch. Do you really think that I even NEED armor?" She looked away sheepishly, clearly embarrassed for forgetting something like that.
"If anypony wants to see a pompous prince get his flank handed to him, follow me." The mares and Shining got up before Night spoke again. "Oh, and Chrissy? I think it would be for the better if you and your changelings shifted for now. Don't want to start a blood bath, right?" Chrysalis smile slightly and nodded. She became a dark green unicorn, while the other changelings turned into royal guards.
"Now then, let's head for the training grounds." Everypony followed Celestia to the grounds.
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When they arrived at the training grounds, they could see Blueblood practicing his forms while a few bleachers were slightly filled with mostly Lunar Guards and some Solar Guards, many of whom were mares, and looking quite bored. Night looked at the sight with a skeptical look. He turn to Celestia. "Are we having a duel, or a ladies night at a club?"
Celestia barely held back her laugh, but managed to respond. "No, it's just that the mare-to-stallion ratio is 5-to-1. Stallion births are rare and it's getting more harder to have mares birth a stallion."
Night looked back to the grounds, a thought bouncing around in his head. "Thank Faust Silver isn't here. He wouldn't be able to keep his hands off of them." He began walking to ring where the duel would be held.
It was at this time that Blueblood noticed the group, or more specifically, the one who insulted him. "So you came after all. I guess you really want to be humiliated in front of every mare here." He held a smug look as he said this, one that turned into a slack jaw when he saw what Night was wearing.
OST
But before he could say anything, a loud shout came from the bleachers. "WHOO!!! HEY SEXY, LOOK OVER HERE!!!"
There were more where that came from.
"I THINK I'VE DIED AND GONE TO THE VALLEY!!!"
"SHOW US WHAT'S UNDER THOSE CLOTHES HANDSOME!!!"
"YOU! WILL! BE! MINE!!!"
Night just walked by without looking at the mares. He remembers how he used to get this kind of attention a thousand years ago, then he married and the mares backed off out of fear of his wife. He walked into the ring and took a fighting stance.
His right fist was under his chin, his left at his chest, his hooves were spreed out at shoulder length, and he was slightly bouncing. (Think Ryu's stance from street fighter.)
Blueblood found his jaw and finally spoke up. "What are you wearing and what are you doing?! This is a duel not a brawl!!!" He had steam coming out of his nostrils and a few veins under his horn.
Night just smirked. "I'm going to prove that one can win a duel without a blade. That ones fists are all that are needed."
OST
Without waiting for the start, Blueblood charged Night in anger. He would teach this upstart a lesson he won't soon forget!
He started off with a thrust to Night's head with his rapier, only to have Night move his head slightly to the right at the last instant. Blueblood pulled back and thrusted again, but when Night dodged to left, He moved the strike to match Night's moves. Just as the tip was about to make contact, Night turned his head more to the left, causing two things to happen; the blade barely missed grazing his cheek and his neck cracked.
After pulling back, Blueblood turned a little green at the sound. Seeing no follow up attack, Night turned his head to the right till the same crack was heard again, his stance never changed. His smirk had never left his face the entire time.
"What's the matter, scared?" He taunted to his soon-to-be punching bag. Blueblood charged again, hate in his eyes.
But before he reached even half way, Night's smirk faded for a serious frown. Blueblood could have sworn his eyes glowed for an instant before he disappeared.
Night reappeared behind the frozen Blueblood, his left hand on his left knee, his right fist resting on the ground while kneeling, and his eyes closed.
A loud slam could be heard. When everypony look back at Blueblood, they saw him being jerked around like he was attacked by an invisible enemy. This went on for a few more minutes before he was slammed into ground, cracks spider-webbing out from the impact, and red blood slowly pooling in the mini-crater.
Everypony, even Chrysalis and the sisters, were slack jawed at the scene. They all slowly looked at Night, who hadn't move an inch during the spectacle.
Then, in a calm voice, he spoke.
"Deadly fist technique number one, Phantom Palm."
Author's Note
So, how did I do? It took a while, but I finally finished chap. five!!! Can anypony point out the reference I used. Also, I'm thinking of mixing up the next chap. a little.
What do YOU want to happen?
A: An old and still living friend dropping in.
B: A little flash back to show Night's time with Chrissy or the sisters? (choose which one or the other)
C: Send him to Ponyville already for the craziness to begin.
D: Have the girls (and I mean the mane six, the sisters, and chrissy, not Night's new fans) ask more questions. (any questions will do)
or E: your suggestion. (I'll pick one I like)
Pick a letter and give a little detail. Let me know what you like and don't like, and I'll do what I can to answer and fix what I can.