Rise of Shadows

Nightingale paced around the Everfree Forest unhappily. Night Shade sighed.

"Mistress, you really must stop fretting," she told Nightingale.

"Fretting? This. Is. War. We have no time for fretting."

Night Shade sighed, done with her mistress's antics. She had been like this for three weeks already, planning her attack. But for some reason she never got farther then getting out of the Everfree.

"I... I just don't know what to do!" Nightingale sighed, exasperated.

Suddenly a crashing noise sounded through the Everfree. Night Shade and Nightingale tensed, searching for the source of the sound.

"Whee!"

Night Shade stepped in front of Nightingale. "Stand back, my lady," she told her.

With a crash of leaves, a pink pony with a pink mane fell in front of the ponies.

"Hehehehe!" she said. "That was fun!"

Night Shade gasped, intrigued, as the pink pony stood up.

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!" said the pink pony.

"Pinkie, where are you?" a different voice sounded from the trees.

No. There mustn't be anypony coming here. One outsider was enough, and Night Shade knew it. "My lady," she warned Nightingale, "we must disappear."

Nightingale nodded, not taking her eyes of the pony. "You're right, Night Shade. You distract the ponies while I sound the warning bell. We must be out in seconds. I'll wait for you in the trees, and then we can go back to Shadow City. Got that?"

Night Shade nodded, waving her mistress off. "Go, I'll take care of them."

Nightingale saluted her and flew off, just as five more ponies came crashing through the trees and shrubs.

"Oh, hello there," said a purple pony. This pony was...peculiar, in sorts. She had wings and a horn, just like the Queen. Night Shade must have looked either disgusted or awed because the pony just said: "it's fine, miss. We aren't going to hurt you."

Right. As if that simple pony could hurt a Shadowbolt. The Shadowbolts could literally disappear in shadows, allowing them to "shadow travel" to a different location. Plus, the Shadowbolts could fly at the speed of light, without creating a sonic rainboom alerting the enemy. It was a real advantage.

An orange one stepped next to the purple one.

"You don't say much, do ya?"  she said.

Night Shade stared.

"Oh! We forgot to introduce ourselves!" The purple one said, clapping her hooves together. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. This is Applejack," she pointed to the orange one, "this is Pinkie Pie," she pointed to the pink one, "Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash."

The next three stepped next to the others. Night Shade gasped. Rainbow Dash...where had she heard the name?

Oh. That's right. Rainbow Dash had ignored Nightingale's offer to be a Shadowbolt. She was a major enemy in Shadowbolt kind. They didn't need a goody-goody.

Lightning flashed. That was the warning sign for Shadowbolts to return to Shadow City. In the distance, using her amazingly sharp vision, Night Shade could see the Shadowbolts ascending into the air, disguised as storm clouds.

Night Shade smirked at the six ponies and ascended as well, accelerating her speed.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" yelled out Rainbow Dash, flying up too.

Night Shade didn't answer. Rainbow Dash could never get to her speed. She was the fastest Shadowbolt of them all.

She was bent on getting to Shadow City, where she would hopefully meet up with her brother, Nightlock. Then they'd eat at the cafe and meet up with Nightingale to help her with whatever she needed.

But Rainbow Dash was at her tail. This was shocking, until Night Shade realized that this was the pony who had made a sonic rainboom only years before.

Night Shade's hopes dropped farther then the ground. She could not lead Rainbow Dash to Shadow City. That would mean revealing the location of her home, which she had sworn to protect for her entire life.

Night Shade gulped back a silent apology to Nightingale and swerved downwards, feigning blacking out. As her eyes shut, she could feel Rainbow Dash's hooves wrap around her to keep her from falling.

"Whoa, there, partner!" said what sounded like Applejack.

Night Shade felt rays of sunshine beam down on her. It was dawn already, which explained why she felt so tired. Soon, the tiredness washed over her, and she fell asleep.

~~~~~~

Night Shade jolted awake, her head banging against the headboards of the bed she was in.

"Hey, you're awake!" said Pinkie Pie, her big pink head looming over Night Shade.

Night Shade grunted.

"HEY GUYS, SHE'S AWAAAAKE!" Pinkie Pie yelled, alerting the other five ponies.

"Oh, darling, are you alright?" said the white one that was supposed to be Rarity.

Night Shade grunted again. Her throat was on fire, and her reptile-like eyes were sensitive to all the light.

"Oh, dear," said Rarity. Her mouth dropped. "Darling, what happened to your eyes?"

At first, Night Shade didn't know what she meant. Her eyes were always like this. Then she realized that the other ponies had different eyes then herself. It seemed weird.

Night Shade shook her head at Rarity. She refused to speak to these disgusting ponies.

''Well, she's not very talkative today," Rainbow Dash said.

Night Shade gave her a look of pure hatred. It was all her fault this was happening!

Oh, stars. Nightlock. Oh, poor Nightlock. He must think she's dead. Oh no...oh no...

But how could she get back to Shadow City? She had no possible idea where it was now. The only option was...

"Take me to the Queen," Night Shade ordered the ponies.

They looked at her with concern.

"My dear," Rarity told her, "there hasn't been a queen in thousands and thousands of years."

"No, there is. The Queen, she lights the way for us. She lives, she reigns, she protects, she creates. She is the reason we live, and she is the reason we die. Our Queen means everything to us. I must find her."

Applejack shook her head. "Sorry, sugar cube, but there is no queen. We have princesses though. If yer lookin' for one of those, you've come to the right place." She pointed to Twilight. "Here's our very own Princess Twilight!"

Twilight blushed. "Yes, I am a princess. Whatever I can do for you, I will-"

"No, you are not the Queen," Night Shade interrupted.

Twilight looked perturbed. Obviously she was too full of herself to admit that she was not the Queen.

"What does she look like?" asked Fluttershy. It was the first time she actually spoke to Night Shade, and she liked it better when she was silent. Her voice had so much sweetness to it, which made it hard to listen to her.

"Like the Night, and the Moon, and everything precious to us," Night Shade told them.

"Us? Who's us?" Rainbow Dash interjected.

"That is classified information," Night Shade replied.

"Hey! That sounds like Princess Luna!" said Pinkie Pie, who was eating cupcakes in a corner of a room.

"Princess?!" Night Shade yelled out. This was unacceptable. "She is a Queen! One of a kind! The ruler of the WORLD!!"

"Whoa, there, partner. You don't have to yell!" Applejack interrupted.

"But this is my LIFE!!! She is a QUEEN!!! She must be ACCEPTED!"

"Okay, okay, Queen Luna!"

Night Shade tensed. "I just want to find her. Please. Let me find my Queen."

Rarity gasped. "Who says we weren't going to help you find her? Right, everypony?"

A chorus of pony voices echoed through the room, agreeing with the unicorn.

"I...um," Night Shade started to say. Instead of finishing, Rarity levitated the pegasus and started to trot outside. Oh, stars.