Rising Shadows

About a week later Shadow had gotten back from helping Pinkie throw another party in which he promised to DJ for since Vinyl was too tired from throwing her own raves that week, between that, teaching Twilight how to make a Beacon in case of an emergency, and him practicing using the Bass Wave all week he decided to call it a night even though it was still early for him even at 9pm.

Shadow slept comfortably through the night, that is, until he was plagued by a nightmare, in his nightmare Equestria was in ruins, his friends and cousin Twilight were all badly injured, the Princesses had fallen and Canterlot was destroyed, Ponyville was intact for the most part, but only because the dark figure in his nightmare had been using it as his kingdom, for there was a large and ominous castle erected next to the town with a red eyed figure watching from a balcony on the tallest tower.

Everywhere Shadow looked he either saw lifeless bodies, injured ponies, or ponies in chains being forced to work, all of which caused his blood to boil.

The dark figure let out a dark and evil laugh that made Shadow snap awake, he shot up in his bed in a cold sweat.

At first he figured he had the nightmare from being worried about Strife's return, that is, until he felt a tightness in his chest, and felt a dark and ominous presence, even though he could sense that it was far away from Ponyville, it still caused Shadow to worry.

Remembering Twilight's words he got out of bed and quickly sent a message to Twilight to let her know that he could sense that Strife had returned, he looked over at the clock before he got ready to leave, noting that it was 2am.

Twilight was awoken by the bright light that was being produced by the gem at the top of the Beacon, Twilight was about to ignore it when she remembered that she told Shadow to send her a message if he sensed Strife's return, when she touched the gem her fears were confirmed.

"Twilight, you need to send a message to Princess Celestia and tell her that Strife has returned, this isn't a false alarm, I know for a fact it's him, I don't know how but there's no mistaking it, I'll be over there as soon as I get ready," the message said in Shadow's voice.

Twilight quickly wrote a letter to Princess Celestia and woke up Spike and told him what was going on and had him send the letter, about a minute letter she got a reply from Princess Celestia.

Twilight decided to wait for Shadow before she read it, just as she made that decision she heard Shadow knocking at her door, she ran downstairs and opened it, when Shadow walked in he had on his normal clothing and his carrying case.

Twilight told him that she had received a reply from the Princess and was just about to read it, Shadow nodded and listened as she read it aloud.

"Dear Twilight and Shadow, thank you for alerting me to Strife's return, we had already made preparations last week when you and Shadow came to visit and we will arrive in Ponyville with some troops to protect Ponyville, I fear that Strife will go after Ponyville first since that is were Shadow has made his home, your mentor, Princess Celestia."

Shadow nodded before speaking, "Lets split up and get the others, I'll go tell Pinkie, Vinyl, Dash, and Fluttershy."

Twilight nodded and they both left, about thirty minutes later they arrived back at the Treebrary together with their friends.

Just as they got to the door they saw Princess Celestia and a large squad of guards, among them was the Captain of the guard himself, Shining Armor, riding next to Celestia in her carriage.

As Shadow stood there watching watching their approach his head started to feel as though it was about to explode as it was filled with noise like thousands of voices all trying to speak at the same time.

Shadow fell against the Treebrary and couldn't hear as Twilight and the others asked him what was wrong.

Shadow couldn't fight the noise any longer and passed out, Celestia could see what was happening and took flight, she landed just as Shadow fell unconscious, immediately picking him up with her magic and carefully carried him inside.

Twilight was worried for her cousin and kept asking what was wrong, after Princess Celestia had placed Shadow in Twilight's bed she decided to finally answer.

"He's fine Twilight, its probably just Nightshade's memories of Strife flooding Shadow's conscious mind at the same time, now that he's unconscious the memories will flow more smoothly as Nightshade share's his knowledge of Strife with Shadow," Celestia said.

Twilight looked at Celestia confused, "What do you mean Nightshade is sharing his memories with Shadow."

Celestia understood why she was confused, "Nightshade and Shadow are one in the same but have separate souls and minds, when Nightshade died his son was the next to carry his soul, this continued over the past thousand years until Nightshade's and Shadow's souls came to share the same body, Nightshade decided it was time for him to guide Shadow and share his memories and experiences from fighting Strife for so many years."

Twilight came to understand this new information but was puzzled by one thing, she looked back at Princess Celestia and began to speak.

"I thought Nightshade died before he had any foals of his own," she said.

Princess Celestia shook her head, "No, after he finally defeated Strife the first time he got married to somepony he cared deeply for, they were married for two years and she had given birth a year before she was forced to betray him by a few remaining Agents of Strife, they forced her by threatening the life of their newborn foal, after Strife had taken over his and Nightshade's fused body, the Agents of Strife left the newborn foal in the village unharmed with his mother, who was heartbroken at what she was forced to do. It's thanks to Nightshade's son that we were able to learn of Nightshade's soul being apart of his reincarnation, besides Shadow, Nightshade's son is the only other pony to ever be able to communicate with Nightshade after he died. So even after death he was still able to guide and watch his son grow."

Twilight nodded and looked over at Shadow's unconscious figure.

Shadow was standing in an all white world inside his mind, he was processing all of the information that Nightshade was sharing with him at a faster rate than even Nightshade could believe, Shadow figured that it had to be because he was a fast learner, after a few more minutes he had processed all of the information that Nightshade had shared with him.

"Next time can you warn a pony before you try to cram a ton of information into their skull all at once," he said.

"I am sorry but I had to share the information with you as soon as I could, and I didn't think you would be asleep anytime soon so I had to take my chances," Nightshade replied.

"Well you got a point there, with this knowledge of how he fights and with my new swords, he won't stand a chance," Shadow said confidently.

"I don't think your new swords will be able to help against him," Nightshade said.

Shadow stared blankly at where he hoped Nightshade was watching from.

"Can I share some information with you," Shadow asked.

Nightshade was silent for a moment before speaking, "You may, just concentrate on the information you want to share."

Shadow nodded and then began concentrating on all the information about his swords, specifically their final form and the Bass Wave.

After a few moments of silence Nightshade finally spoke again, "I stand corrected."

Shadow burst into a fit of laughter. "If you think that was awesome then check this out," he said.

He then began to concentrate on his two Rage Shift forms and the fact that he can enter the first at will.

After Nightshade had processed the information he finally responded, "Hmm, impressive, that should put you on even ground with Strife until you unlock your hidden powers."

Shadow was too busy still laughing to hear what Nightshade said about him having hidden powers.

"So what now, Nightshade, do we wait for Strife to come to us, or do we go to him," Shadow asked completely serious now.

"We wait for him, I have no doubts that he can sense us and is on his way here already, here you have the advantage of being ready for him," Nightshade replied.

Shadow nodded in agreement before letting a look of complete seriousness appear on his face, "I'll make sure to kick his plot so hard that he'll never attempt to be reborn and carry out his revenge again."

Nightshade gave out a small laugh, "He's a stubborn one that doesn't know when to give up, however, I have faith in you because you're stronger than I ever was, you also have the support of your friends and family behind you, before you go I have a favor to ask of you."

Shadow's face now showed the kind expression it normally did.

"Name it, dude," he said with a smile on his face.

Nightshade was silent for a moment before he spoke, "Can you tell my nieces Celestia and Luna that I'm proud of who they have become, also let Luna know that I was never disappointed by her even when she became Nightmare Moon because I always knew that she would find her way back in time, and have watched them grow over the years, and that I will always love them."

Shadow nodded, "Ofcoarse, you have my word, cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," he said while making the appropriate actions.

"Thank you," was all Nightshade said before Shadow woke up in Twilight's bed.

Shadow could hear everyone downstairs talking, he picked up his sunglasses and carrying case, both of which Celestia had placed on the nightstand after she had finished answering Twilight's questions, and put them on.

He then decided to join everypony downstairs, when he got downstairs he noticed that had gotten quiet and that everypony was looking at him.

"Okay whatever it was, it wasn't me, I have an alibi, I was unconscious upstairs," he said.

This made Twilight roll her eyes but managed to get Celestia to giggle.

Shadow turned to Celestia and began to speak, "I have a message from your uncle for you and Princess Luna, and no this is not a joke."

Celestia nodded and Shadow continued to speak, "Nightshade says that he's proud of the mares that you and your sister have become, he also wants Luna to know he was never disappointed by her becoming Nightmare Moon because he knew she would find her way back, and he has watched you grow over the years, and that he will always love you."

After he finished he noticed that Celestia had tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Are you okay Princess Celestia," he asked.

Celestia nodded before wiping the tears away and speaking, "I'm just so happy to hear those words from my uncle, I've always looked up to him, even now I still think about what he would do in a situation, you're a lot like him in a way, Shadow, he always liked to make everypony laugh."

Shadow nodded, "So here's the plan, Nightshade says it's best to wait for Strife to come to us, that way we'll be ready and we'll have the advantage."

Celestia nodded, "I agree that that is our best option. Shadow, you should go retrieve the swords you spoke of from your home and have them ready."

Shadow smiled before replying, "No need, Princess, I have them right here," he said levitating the eight pens out of his carrying case.

Celestia looked at him confused, so he decided to show her instead of explaining, he used his magic to press the button on each pen at the same time, all eight pens quickly transformed into swords which he then stabbed into the ground so he would not have to levitate them anymore.

"Before you ask, its thanks to magical gems from Rarity and special devices from Pinkie and Vinyl that allow them to not only compress into a pen but also combine together to form more and more powerful swords. Each color indicates their attribute, blue is speed, red is power, gold is magic, and silver is elemental. Each sword has a gem inside it with a messaging spell placed on it, allowing me to send messages between the swords and Beacons such as the one upstairs. Also when all eight swords are combined I can swing the sword creating a wave of blue energy and can destroy several targets at once, I call this attack the Bass Wave. Any questions," he asked trying to catch his breathe.

Celestia quickly recovered from her stunned state and replied, "No, I think you covered everything."

She let out a small giggle, "Do you know how far away Strife is?"

Shadow closed his eyes and tried to focus on the ominous presence.

"He's pretty far away, it should take him a day or two to get here even at the speed he's traveling at," Shadow then opened his eyes, "But we should be prepared incase he arrives sooner than that."

Celestia nodded in agreement, "I think the seven of you should get some rest, my guards and I will keep watch while you sleep, I had my guards set up some beds for the rest of you downstairs, and if Strife arrives while you're still asleep then Shadow will wake up anyway so there's no need to worry."

Twilight wanted to refuse by she was too tired to argue, Twilight went back upstairs to her bed and the rest went downstairs to the beds that the guards had set up.

Shadow moved over to the closest bed and layed down after taking his vest, sunglasses and carrying case off, when his head hit the pillow he was almost immediately asleep.