Nightingale will do anything to get the Shadowbolts into Equestria, even if it means defying her leader, Princess Luna. Too long they have been ignored, but no more. No, Nightingale will lead the Shadowbolts to victory, no matter which ponies she has to betray to get there.

Night Shade must help her mistress. It is her duty to protect their leader and the mysterious City of Shadows all her immortal life. It was all she ever knew, and ever known. But when she is captured by peculiar ponies from the land of Equestria, she notices how…great the Equestrians really are. Even the Shadowbolts' enemies, the Wonderbolts, appeal to Night Shade, and she finds herself falling in love with a pony named Soarin. But there is something peculiar about this country of Equestria. Something…familiar. Was Nightingale hiding something?
For this is it. This is the retribution they have been waiting for.
This is the Rise of Shadows.

This story is told by two perspectives, the perspective of Night Shade and the perspective of Nightingale.