Rise of Shadows

Night Shade sighed as Rarity fussed over her, pulling on dresses and trinkets and bows. Totally not her style.

"Remind me why we're doing this again, Frilly," she asked her.

"Rarity, sweetie."

"Oh. Yeah, sorry."

"It's fine, sweetie. The answer to your question is you can't go meet the Princess-"

"Queen."

"-looking like this!"

"What's wrong with the way I look?" asked Night Shade, not angry but intrigued.

"Oh, well...it's just bland," replied Rarity, a look of pity on her face.

Rarity fumbled over her dress. Finally, she pulled off the dress, sighing exasperatingly.

The dress tugged over her head, and Night Shade felt something snag.

"Oh! You didn't tell me you had a necklace!" Rarity said in awe.

Necklace? Night Shade didn't remember any necklace.

Looking down, she realized it was one Nightingale had given her years ago. It was a pair of wings connecting to a lightning bolt, a symbol of flight for pegasi everywhere.

"Oh, well, it was from a friend," Night Shade told her, careful to hide Nightingale's identity.

"Oh!" Rarity said. "I must incorporate this beautiful necklace into the design! Oh, the ideas I have now!"

Rarity began to fuss with some fabric, murmuring to herself about fashion trends and such.

"You can go, dear," she told Night Shade, who stepped off the chair and started to walk outside.

Outside, the sun burned Night Shade's skin. She flew upwards, and sat on a cloud. She sat there for a few minutes, laying on the softness of it.

"Look out below!" A voice sounded from the sky, and it was none other then Rainbow Dash, crashing from the heights.

She slammed into the cloud, causing Night Shade to stagger back a bit.

"Hey, Night Shade!" said Rainbow. "I have the most amazing awesome-est amazingly amazing news!" She stopped for a bit to catch her breath. "Princess Celestia has given us seven tickets to see the Wonderbolts in Canterlot!"

"Wha...What?"

"I know right! So while we're there, we can see the Wonderbolts perform live, and the best part is..." she stopped again to emphasize the "awesome-ness", "that we have a BACKSTAGE PROMOTION TO SEE THE WONDERBOLTS!"

"Wh...when?"

"TOMORROW!"

All of Night Shade's conscience told her not to go. To fly away real far away from this place, and never speak of this again.

But if she saw the Wonderbolts, she could tell Nightingale all about it when she returned.

So, against her better judgment, she agreed to the hopelessly ridiculous notion.

~~~~~~

Night Shade had never been on a train before.

She had also never been on a train with Equestrians.

But yet, there was so much nostalgia coming here, in the train, feeling the wind beneath your mane, listening to ponies chatting.

Rarity tapped Night Shade's shoulder.

"Darling, I have a surprise for you," she said, pulling out a suitcase (one of four, and Rarity claimed she "packed light"). "I was up all night trying to make a fashion that suited you, you know, for the show. I made a different one for all of us, but yours was the most creative, and it made me think for a while." She levitated a gown out of her bag.

Night Shade gasped. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. It sparkled like the night, had hints of moons on there to match her colors, but the design was the prettiest. It was an elegant fit, and it had a few patterns of the necklace she had.

"I...It's beautiful, Rarity," Night Shade told her, her eyes tearing up.

"I'm so glad you like it, darling. We will all look amazing for the show."

Suddenly the train came to a halt, beckoning everypony to get off. The seven ponies got off the train, chatting in excitement with each other.

"How long until the show?" Twilight asked Rainbow.

"Three hours," she replied.

"Great! Just enough time for makeup and hair and everything!" Rarity sighed, clapping her hooves together.

The ponies started to murmur excitedly again, while Rarity led them to a friend's salon, where they would pamper the seven.

"Ah, Rarity, my dear!" cried out Hoity Toity when he saw them. He walked up to Rarity and kissed her cheeks in a way that would only really happen in Manehattan.

"Oh, darling, you look splendid! Is that a new shampoo I smell?"

"Why it is! I'm so glad you noticed!"

Applejack looked nervous. "Great. Now there are two of 'em?"

"I think it's nice Rarity has a friend like her," Fluttershy cut in, her voice barely a whisper.

~~~~~~

The two friends talked the entire time the salon ponies fussed about their hair and such.

Rainbow Dash looked bored, checking the clock every two minutes. Suddenly she leaned closer to Night Shade. "Are you excited?"

Night Shade nodded. "Yeah, I can't wait! I've never seen the Wonderbolts perform before!" But something seemed so...normal about going to see them perform, almost as if she had seen it before.

No, it was impossible. It might have just been remembering the Shadowbolts perform their daily flight patterns.

But was it?

After two hours, which zipped by very quick for Night Shade, the ponies were ready to head out, dressed in the beautiful gowns made for them by Rarity.

The Canterlot streets were bustling with ponies. It was populated by fancy mares trotting around shopping for the Summer Sun Celebration after party which would come in about a month, colts running around trying to keep up with the mares, and so on.

It was a wonderful sight. Shadow City was normally so depressed and run-down. This was the complete opposite. Happy, bustling, and modern!

The Wonderbolt stadium was bustling, too. Ponies were talking, laughing, and having fun with each other in the stadium.

Night Shade thought it was beautiful.

Suddenly a deep, sickening feeling destroyed her happiness.

She would have to go soon.

The Queen would most certainly send her back home as soon as she tells her the problem. Night Shade would never see these ponies, Canterlot, or the Wonderbolt stadium again (for surely Nightingale would never let her be in the rebellion after this). This will all be a dream, memories long gone.

Twilight Sparkle sat next to her, trying hard not to accidentally open her big wings. Rainbow Dash sat on the other side, trying hard not to scream from happiness.

Nightingale has it all wrong, Night Shade realized. These ponies, even Rainbow Dash, are amazing.

Rainbow Dash tapped Night Shade's shoulder. "They're starting!"

Sure enough, they were. The first three Wonderbolts stepped onto the stage. A bright orange one was holding a mike, and her voice boomed across the stadium.

"Welcome, welcome, everypony! As you know, I'm Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts. This is my co-captain, Soarin," she pointed to a colt standing next to her.

Night Shade squinted her eyes. She knew these ponies...all of them!

"Spitfire, Soarin, Blaze, Fire Streak, High Winds, Lightning Streak, Misty Fly, Rapidfire, Surprise, Silver Lining, Wave Chill, Fleetfoot..." Night Shade said unconsciously.

"Hey, how do you know all of their names?"

Night Shade snapped out of it. "I...I don't."

"Yes you do, you've just told me all of their names!"

"Um... I don't...Hey, look, they're starting!"

The Wonderbolts stood in a V-formation, ready to start flying. The whistle blew, and they took off, flying into the air. Night Shade couldn't believe her eyes. They were amazing! They flew into the air, turning at the same time, flying into oblivion.

The first ten minutes zipped by for Night Shade. Her wings unconsciously did little motions that she remembered from Shadow City, when Nightingale would teach her.

Night Shade was always the best at flying. Nightingale said it was "in her blood". Everything about flying made sense to Night Shade. It was led by pure instinct.

Then the mood changed as the first Wonderbolt went down. A flash of lightning zapped another, and she fell down too. Rainbow Dash screamed, lurching forward.

"No, Rainbow!" Night Shade told her, pulling her back. "Don't go, you'll just get hurt!"

"No! I have to help them!"

"YOU CAN'T, RAINBOW! AND I DON'T WANT YOU TO GO DOWN TOO!" Night Shade yelled to her. The emotions flooded her body, and she was filled with adrenaline. Rainbow would not go down the way that they did.

For Night Shade knew what made the lightning. What shot down Wonderbolts.

They had found her.