Into the Night

Prologue – Shadows

***

THE STREETS OF CANTERLOT were darker than they usually were at night, for clouds covered the moon Princess Celestia had recently raised, and the light was dim. Few ponies walked the streets, and those that did hurried. No one wanted to be out on a night like this, when it was so dark.

Celestia stood on the balcony of the palace she had settled into a month before, and breathed a deep sigh of unhappiness. Her gaze was turned toward the Everfree Forest, which had made it impossible for her to live in the castle she and her sister had called home. Its creeping vines had slithered stealthily into the castle’s inner workings, and the day Celestia had gone behind the organ to find out why it no longer worked was the day she had moved out.

She looked up at the moon, and the familiar outline of the Mare in the Moon made her eyes fill with tears. It had only been six months since that fateful night when Princess Luna’s jealousy had transformed her into Nightmare Moon, and the pain of having to banish her sister to what was almost an alternate universe was still deep. Celestia missed Luna, more than anyone could ever have imagined. She missed her bright voice in the morning, urging her “lazy lay-about sister” to rise and shine. And she missed standing beside her at dawn and dusk, and how they harnessed the sun and the moon together.

Now, she stood alone.

Celestia’s reminiscence was broken by a soft noise behind her, as of a near-silent hoofstep. She turned quickly, and there was one of her guards.

“Princess, I am sorry to have startled you,” he said, and by his long indigo horn and gruff voice she knew him to be Nightcrusher – the middle-aged Captain of the Royal Guard, whose name was the reason Luna had been scared of him for a year.

“That’s all right,” Celestia replied, her voice quieter than normal.

“I came to remind you of the lateness of the hour, my liege.” Nightcrusher stepped farther into the weak moonlight, and his silver and gold armor glinted for a moment as a moonbeam broke through a hole in the clouds. As quickly as it had come, the light was gone. “The griffon envoys come tomorrow, and Queen Grizelda would not be very impressed with an exhausted foreign ruler.”

Princess Celestia shook her head. “No, she would not. Thank you for the reminder, Captain Nightcrusher.”

He lowered himself briefly in a bow. “You are welcome, Princess. I now retire to my own bed for the night.” With those words, and without saying goodnight, he turned and trotted out of the room, his armor clanking quietly and the feathers of his wings rustling.

The door shut with a soft click, and Celestia sighed again. “Oh, that I could have peace for even one day...” she whispered to herself. “The griffon envoys this, the dragon troubles that, the conference meetings and all these endless royal duties...sometimes I wish it all was gone.” Wearily, she removed her royal outfittings not by magic, as she usually did. Tonight, for some inexplicable reason, it felt good to feel the weight of the metal in her hooves.

She set her crown on her nightstand, ready for when she would don it for the raising of the sun the next morning. Then, with a final exhausted exhale, she climbed into bed, folded her wings so they rested comfortably under the covers, and fell fast asleep. So quickly did she descend into dreamland, that she didn’t see the shadow slip past her window and drift across the grassy courtyard, disappearing under the palace’s great double-door entranceway.

She slept for a good fifteen minutes, while at the other end of the castle, the shadow folded itself up and slid behind a locked chest while a unicorn guard passed. She dreamed as the shadow flowed through the air, doubling in length until it reached a secret door that no one but Celestia and Nightcrusher knew about. She turned over on her side and dozed while it floated into the chamber beyond the secret door.

She slept, as the shadow pressed itself to the wall, moving along it until it found what it was looking for, a raised bump in the wall...and pushed its entire being against it.

Celestia awoke with a startled gasp as an alarm sounded faintly. Her eyes widened, the lines under them growing deeper as she realized what the wailing meant.

“The Book!” she cried aloud, and leaped from her bed. In her haste, the fact that she could teleport completely slipped from her mind as she threw the door open and galloped down the hall. She nearly bumped into a guard who was rushing the opposite way, and forced her body to halt as he did the same.

“Princess, are you all right?” the guard asked, not in relation to the near collision.

Celestia panted out, “There is a secret door down the farthest hall from here – find it and protect the book inside at all costs! Tell as many guards as you meet about it!” Then she ran, her hoofsteps loud on the stone floor.

“Princess?” the guard called after her, and she skidded to a halt.

“What?”

“Forgive me for asking, but...why aren’t you teleporting into the room?”

Celestia smacked her forehead. “Duh,” she muttered under her breath, then called out a quick “Thank you!” to the guard and disappeared in a flash of golden light.

The guard stood, not sure what to think of this development. The princess had never thanked him before! After a moment of brooding on the incredulity of this fact, he shook his head to clear it and stirred his hooves once more, this time heading in the direction his liege had started to follow.

“Follow me!” he barked at the first guard he saw, and at the second and the third. Soon, the word spread farther than their little band, and Captain Nightcrusher joined them, sending out a rally call with his extraordinary horn. All who heard it joined them, and every single guard in the palace, save those at the Elements of Harmony room, those whose positions Nightcrusher deemed too important to leave unguarded, and the four outside the palace thundered down the corridors.

The sound of the alarm grew louder, and at last it reached an almost unbearable pitch. Nightcrusher and the guards pounded down the hall, toward the door at the end.

Suddenly, the sound of the alarm vanished. As the group came to an abrupt halt in front of the door, there was absolute silence for a few seconds – and just as Nightcrusher was about to open the door, the stillness was broken by an unmistakable scream.

The guards surged forward, and Nightcrusher at their head flung the door wide. For the first time in his life, he was nervous at what he might see as the door swung open.

Celestia stood frozen, a look of shock on her face. Her eyes didn’t blink, her mane didn’t move. Nightcrusher’s cry of “Princess, are you all right?!” brought no answer. Drawing closer, the indigo captain’s face drained of color.

Princess Celestia was cold as ice, and her skin made a faint pinging sound when Nightcrusher’s metal shoe touched it.

She had been Petrified.

Feeling more terrified than he had ever been in his life, Nightcrusher followed his immobile ruler’s gaze – and gasped.

There were deep gouges in the stone wall where the Book of Eternity was supposed to be. And the Book itself...was gone.

The captain tried to control his racing thoughts. What do we do?! his mind shouted at him.

And then there was another scream, this time at the rear of the guard body...a scream which was ominously cut off.

All of the guards and Nightcrusher together turned around, and a horrible sight met their eyes.

A monstrous, wispy shadow dragon had formed of every single shadow in the entire castle, and it held the limp body of who had once been a member of the Royal Guard in its claws. It snarled.

Nightcrusher knew this was one creature they couldn’t fight, for the dead guard’s spear lay on the ground behind the dragon; clearly, weapons wouldn’t work. They would have to escape, to get as far away as possible, and try to find a way to defeat this beast of smoke. Nightcrusher cleared his throat hastily, trying to keep his voice from trembling with the fear that coursed through his body.

“It’s pointless to fight it. Just try to get past it. NOW!!” he roared, his horn lighting up with blue fire as he turned towards Celestia.

All at once, the remaining guards rushed forth, some bursting right through the dragon’s shadowy body. The creature roared and swiped its free hand along the moving mass, its claws making an awful screeching sound as they raked the guards’ armor. Some of the metal split, leaving dark lines of blood on the backs of the now unprotected. But they ran on, faithfully obeying their leader’s orders.

The shadow dragon hissed at the rapidly disappearing Royal Guard, tossing its worthless limp prize down onto the floor. Then it turned, and its glowing white eyes saw Nightcrusher, freeing Celestia from her Petrified state. Just as the dragon lunged, Nightcrusher turned, and he cried out to his liege, something intelligible only to the princess. Though weak, Celestia nonetheless fired up her horn and the two teleported in a bright flash – not a moment too soon, for the dragon shot straight through where they had stood an instant before.

Outside, Celestia screamed, “I WANT MY BITS BACK!! I DON’T WANT THIS CASTLE ANYMORE!!”

“I agree with you completely, Your Highness,” Nightcrusher shouted over the angry roar of the dragon.

Celestia’s magic was spent from the energy it had taken to teleport so soon after the Petrifying, so she and Nightcrusher galloped almost parallel to each other. Nightcrusher slowed his pace as she slowed hers, and cried, “Faster, Princess! That beast could come after us any second!”

“I, know!” Celestia gasped, stumbling over a rock. “I’m, trying!” She half sank to the ground, and knowing to attempt to rise was futile, she spread her wings to try to gain the air instead. And she succeeded, each wing-beat shaking off the feeling of being literally frozen as she rose higher. Nightcrusher followed her, glancing behind. The dragon’s roars were nearly deafening, but there was no sign that it was following them – yet.

All of a sudden, a great and terrible earthshaking SCREAM erupted from the shadowy creature’s throat back in the castle, and the very air trembled violently at its force as the dragon beat its own wings, which were far from wispy now, and rocketed upward. It tore through the castle’s roof, and the entire thing collapsed at its going with a mighty sound to rival that of the dragon’s awful keening.

The dark beast hovered in midair for a moment, its voice holding triumph in its notes, before turning – and catching sight of the two alicorns.

“FLY, CELESTIA!!” Nightcrusher practically screamed, leaving out all formalities in his sudden terror. “FLY AS YOU NEVER HAVE BEFORE!!”

Celestia obeyed, bolting forward and beating her wings almost frantically. Her eyes were wide as Nightcrusher followed.

The dragon shrieked, and out of its mouth came forth a blaze of fire such a pale blue, it was frightening. Nightcrusher knew this wasn’t a frost dragon, and he yelled, his voice raw with panic as he dived, “OH FOR THE LOVE OF EQUESTRIA, IT’S A SUPERDRAGON! GET OUT OF THE WAY!!”

The blast disintegrated a few feet short of its goal, but the damage was done. Celestia couldn’t get out of the way fast enough, and the searing heat blistered her wings, which instantly stiffened. She let out a strangled scream as she began to plummet, and as the dragon, yards away, began to flap toward her. It knew prey when it saw it.

Princess Celestia would certainly have fallen to her death in the shadow dragon’s claws that night, if Nightcrusher hadn’t been there. He caught her quickly, and shot through the air, his horn blazing blue. He didn’t dare trust his body’s strength alone to get his ruler to safety.

The dragon let out a screeching, terrible noise of disappoint and disgust. It flew back to the remains of the royal palace and settled there, ignoring the various citizens of Canterlot, who were running about in the streets below it. The creature knew it would be a failed attempt if he tried to follow the indigo stallion now, for Nightcrusher’s magic was strong. It half-closed its white eyes and let out a deep sigh.

For now, it would sit in its newly claimed territory and plot out what to do. Later, when it had bided its time so those silly ponies would be off their guard...It snickered at its own pun. When they were off their guard...then it would attack.