//-------------------------------------------------------// Gleaming In The Dark -by Artzy Wings- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// The Shadows //-------------------------------------------------------// The Shadows   Solar Eclipse sighed. She just couldn’t get that trick right! She decided she would try again. One more try! She flew up, gathered an exact amount of clouds, flew around them, and made them rotate. She then flew over and gathered more clouds, added them to her cloud batch, circled around them, and then flew to the local pond. She flew in a form to create a tornado, then she picked up some water. She flew over to clouds and placed the water on them over a hole she was permitted to use for practicing, in case some water flowed over. The water flowed down a cloud tube she put in the middle of the cloud mass. She then flew down the tube, then flew up out of it. She then did a flip and then twirled around. She did it! “Woohoo!” Solar Eclipse turned to look at the pony that cheered for her. No surprise, it was Flipwing. “You are awesome!” Flipwing, along with her name, was good with flips. She hadn’t earned her cutie mark yet, and she also idolized Solar Eclipse. Solar Eclipse blushed. “I know, silly.” Solar Eclipse flew down and gave the filly a noogie. “Hey! Stop!” Flipwing giggled. She finally broke free. Solar Eclipse laughed and flew after her. “Where do you think you’re going?” Solar Eclipse increased her speed, and caught Flipwing’s tail. She lost her grip on it as Flipwing flew into a tree and crashed into the trunk and then quickly recovered. She had forgotten she was VERY,VERY afraid of heights. She happened to fly into the highest branch, which was kind of flimsy. She looked down and immediately shrunk down, trying to decrease her weight in the branch. Solar Eclipse had lost Flipwing and had given up finding her. Flipwing called for help. Solar Eclipse couldn’t hear her. “Help! Help!” Flip started softly crying as a black and deep purple blur came and picked her up from the tree branch, turned around, and set her on the ground. He then flew off with almost no time for Flip to thank him. “Thanks..?” Flipwing flew up to where Solar Eclipse was snoozing. She then flew down, not wanting to disturb her. “Who was that..?” Flip muttered as she trotted to her house. The blur that saved Flipwing finally landed and stayed. He had a black coat with yellow eyes and a deep purple, short mane. He had silver armor on, almost the same color as the moon. He had a crest on it that had a mini black sheild on it. His name was Dusk Dawn. Nopony exept his family knew his identity. He belonged to a guard force that flew above parsts of equestria in secret, looking for anypony who might need help. They were in and out so fast the ponies didn’t recognize them. He then flew into the air and remained in secret. Solar Eclipse had seen him. He had sensed it so he flew into the sky immeadiately. Solar Eclipse secretly followed him, watching what he did. He quickly flew down and swiveled around in the sky as he was dropping. He caught a filly and saved her life from an incoming train. He then flew into the sky again. Solar Eclipse wondered what group he was in. She had seen a female in the same armor, so she knew mares were allowed. She quickly flew up to the pony who had caught her eye. She then whispered, “Hi?” Dusk jumped and turned around. He half glared, half chuckled as he saw who had whispered. He then said, “You must go. There is no buisness for you here.” She softly glared at him. “I want to know what group you’re in. I want to join.” He blinked, cleared his throat, then spoke again. “We are the Shadow Savers. You must tell nopony about this. To enroll in training, go to the Shadow Lake. He will be there. Ask him.” After he finished, he flew off. “Shadow Lake…?” Solar Eclipse was confused. She had never heard of this place! She had to find it. She flew very quickly to her home. “Shadow Lake..Shadow Lake…Where is it?” She looked through her chest of ancient books that nopony new about. Only the princesses. “Here it is! Shadow Lake…Shadow Lake..S..S..S..” she looked through her ancient Equestria map book. It HAD to have Shadow Lake in it! “Here we go! Shadow Lake. An old lake Where an olden pegasus lives, waiting for new recruits to enter the Shadow Savers. He makes a haunting sound when you near, but if you speak the words: “ I am shadow ” He will stop and let you come near. He will ask you this riddle once: “If you are Shadow, how do you speak?” to which you answer, “My voice is the rumble of the thunder and rain.” Solar blinked. What in the hay was this book talking about? She guessed she would find out when she got there. She put on a cloth with two holes for her eyes and a strap to keep it on her. Nopony knew the Shadow Saver’s Identities, so she would wear that to keep her identity a secret. She then took the map of ancient equestria with her, then opened it up. She found the location then started her journey. “Left..” Solar Eclipse stopped. “We are hungry for our meal. Will thee be our veal?” Solar Eclipse cleared her throat and recited: “I am Shadow.” The haunting noises stopped. “If thou are Shadow, how do thou speak?” She cleared her throat once more. “My voice is the rumble of thunder and rain.” A pony stepped out of the dark. “Thou have come to train, We see?” the olden pegasus stared at her. “Yes. To become one of the Shadows.” The olden pony nodded. “Follow.” The olden pony led her to the Shadow Lake. “Thee see the cloud hoop? Flip through it and we will begin.” Solar Eclipse flipped through the hoop. “We begin?” The olden pony nodded. “Thou must fly through the obstacle course. If thou pass, thee will become one with the Shadows.” Solar Eclipse flapped her wings on full speed. “We begin.” Solar Eclipse flew through the first part with ease. The second part had cloud razors that would cut you if you touched them. She dodged them easily. The last part had tornadoes with blades in them. She got one tiny scrape. There was a pony on the other side. “Congratulaions to thee. Thee have done well.” Some iron armor identical to the team’s materialized. “Go and protecteth thou kingdom. I now speakest, go and protect.”