the garden of shadows

by Shadow fire

Rating: everyone
Tags: Alternate Universe, Adventure, Tragedy
Length: 3241

with the threat of an unknown empire rising over the horizan, it is up to a new unicorn to save a world he has never known, with the help of 6 ponies he has never met.

with the threat of an unknown empire rising over the horizan, it is up to a new unicorn to save a world he has never known, with the help of 6 ponies he has never met.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-06-08 19:34:58 UTC

Prologue- the chase (re-write)

*Prologue part 1

Everfree forest*

time: around 8 pm

As I ran, I could feel my heart beat fast, almost in unison with every hoof step I took. I glanced back and I saw them, Vesperti(1) chasing after me, and one of then I knew personally.

"STOP!" The leader yelled as he galloped after me, followed closely by four others.

"Forget it Dark Wing, I'm not... going to let you... or.... anypony else execute me when I did nothing wrong!" I yelled back taking strained breaths. Course what else do you expect if you pushed yourself to run for five hours straight. I could hear a growl of frustration come from my former friend.

"So be it Night Hawk!" He yelled back. That's when I could hear wings start to flap. I knew what they were doing, taking to the air in an attempt to over take me in speed. So I gave a smile and began to charge a spell. Causing four others of myself to separate from my body. One stayed in the original position as I separated to the right with one other, while the other two went left. A simple spell I had learned in the dream realm, allowing one to make illusions of himself or herself. Were I learned such a spell you may ask. Through a dream of course, the dream of an Alicorn Princess. Sadly I never got her name, but she was a lavender color.

"Bucking Hell! which one is he?" A voice called out, clearly confused.

"The far left, the far left!" Another voice called out as they began to chase one of my fake selves. I simply gave a grin as I turned to my right, following the path. The forest I was in was rather dark, mostly because it was night, but also it gave off an unnatural darkness too. Once or twice I had heard the name in the dreams of the pony's I've visited. "everfree forest..." I said in a low mumble, glancing back for a few seconds as a slowed to a trot. That's when something unexpected happened, I bumped into something... lavender!?!

"Umph!" I moaned as I fell to the ground, the being before me surprised. Suddenly there was a flash of a bright light, causing me to cover my eyes. It was almost as bright as the sun, which I only ever seen a few times in my life, being the nocturnal creature that I am.

"What the..." The female voice rang out as she herself fell to her flank. Though this voice I heard before, the one from the dream. Okay, if this is confusing you, let me clarify this, I'm a dream traveler, as in, my job is to travel about the dream realm, and pear into the dreams of other pony's. If these ponys are having nightmares, I step in, and assist them in turning that nightmare into a dream, though this wasn't what I was suppose to do. In actuality, I was suppose to do the opposite, turning dreams into nightmares. But I was the white sheep amongst a herd of black sheep, so to speak. I could never really harm anypony on purpose, be it physically or in a dream. And yes, I mean black sheep as evil and me a white sheep as good. You see, my home is the garden of shadows, an empire started by a cult that wanted to take over the world and all that stupid comic book stuff. Surprisingly, they were the ones that created the miasma, that corrupted princess luna and turned her to nightmare moon. But enough of that, I guess that's a story for another time.

I glanced up after shaking the dizziness from my head to see an Alicorn the color of lavender. For a few seconds, I had watched as the Alicorn sat there looking at me with confusion and for a while, our eyes met. I knew right there she saw how my eyes. I was glad the, seeing as how I had put a spell over my eyes to hid how they truly looked However, my eyes still glowed a blood red in the dark, something I could never hide.

"who... are you?" She suddenly asked me out of confusion, before she turned her attention to me or was that the hoof steps coming from behind me... oh buck.

My ears turned to pick up the sound more quickly, and instantly they went back. I knew for a fact I was in trouble at this point. those bat Pegasus were back once again.

"Well, well ,well. look at what we got here, a false princess and a unicorn traitor, well boys, lets kill them." The leader said in a intimidating tone as the others began to spread out around the three, giving off low growls. Their wings adorned with blades that actually shone from the light of the moon reaching down through the thick canopy of trees overhead.

Behind me I heard a gasp from the Alicorn. I could believe this, they were going to attack them just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. not to mention she was an Alicorn, and Royalty no less, I was sure of that much.

I turn back to look at the Alicorn, and I could see fear in her face. I knew what I had to do. I gave a smile and in a hushed tone I spoke. "don't worry, I'll protect you with my life..." And with that I turned to face them. Intent on defending both myself and those behind me. "So thou want to dance Dark Wing, okay, let us dance. But thou better be warned, I wont make this easy for thou." I said in a regale voice, sounding royal. And what else could I say, I was related to princess Luna(2).

And with that the battle began

Prologue- the fight (rewrite)

I stood there, looking at the bats with determination. Then, they charged at me with full force, fangs showing and pure hate in their eyes. The hate, was exactly how it looked in my brother's eyes.

~~~~~

"Come on Nighty, you need to see this!" A female voice said.

"Come on Moon Drop, I'm a unicorn, not an earth pony like you!" I answered as he trotted up to her, gasping for breath.

"Silly filly, you need to get out more, build those leg muscles..." Moon drop said in a hounding tone. Which caused me to give a half annoyed chuckle.

"Moon Drop..." I said as she trotted over, grabbing my hoof and pulling my to the edge of the cliff. I gave a smile as I stared into her eyes, a beautiful green color that I could lose myself in. then I heard laughing.

"well well, if it isn't my younger brother and the outsider." A voice called out, causing me to turn.

"you! get away from us BROTHER!" I yelled, I knew at the back of my head what he wanted, but at the time, I didn't know what lengths he would go to achieve them.

He knocked me aside like a rag doll. Then approached Moon drop. All I could do was watch as he sent her over the edge and smiled sinisterly at me. "Guards! arrest him for murder!" My brother yelled. I knew then and there that he had done the extreme, the unthinkable.

~~~~~

Once the flash back ended, I knew I had to get revenge, for the one I loved.

"Take THIS!" I yelled as a charged a high leveled spell, waiting for the write moment to release the magic. But something was off, I felt a surge of energy build quickly as the sound of Moon drops scream echoed in my head.

"Ahhhh!" I yelled letting the spell go at the last second, right before they were on top of me, and in a flash of blinding light they were gone. I felt my heart race as I stood there, my limbs felt dumb and my vision blurred. I... did it... I thought as I stood there with a smile. Turning back to look at the Alicorns I gave a smile.

"hey, are you alright?" the lavender Alicorn asked before my vision faded. instantly I felt myself fall but I never felt the ground meet me, as I slipped into a dream.

~~~~~~

"hey, are you alright?" twilight asked, only to watch as the unicorn collapsed to the ground. taking a few steps over, twilight positioned herself in front of him, looking down. for a few moments, twilight just stood there, looking curiously at him. so, enveloping him in magic, twilight lifted night hawk into the air, and placed him on her back. and she began to make her way to ponyville.

~~~~~~~~

Golden Oak Library

several hours later

"Hey sugercube, sorry I'm late, was finishing the har... WHO THE HAY IS THAT!" Applejack said as she came into the bedroom. She couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the unicorn passed out on twilights bed.

"Now AJ, calm down." Twilight said in a calm voice. Seeing AJ like that was annoying for one, sense she was over protective of her friends.

"But who is tha guy!" AJ asked, still standing there confused, trotting over to twilight as she held a sponge for Night Hawks forehead, just above his horn.

"I don't know, but he save my live from these weird looking Pegasus." Twilight answered, lifting the wet sponge away from the unicorns head and dipping into the chilled bucket of water.

"Wha do you mean, weird Pegasus?... Twi?" AJ asked as she looked her over for a few seconds.

"Well, remember when Fluttershy turned partly into a fruit bat." Twilight said after a long moment of silence, placing the wet sponge back on nights forehead. She glanced at AJ and saw her nod. "Yea, just like that. Only, intelligent." Twilight shuddered for a moment.

"What's wrong Twi?" AJ asked.

"It's what he did that's surprised me, he teleported those, bat ponies away, all five of them in one go." she said as she looked down, letting out a sigh. "I've never seen a pony teleport five others at once without teleporting himself, it was just... so unreal..." Twilight turned to look at Night Hawk with concern. "He used a lot of magic, honestly, I'm surprised he didn't kill himself with that spell, nopony has completed that spell before, at least nopony I know of..." Just then, twilight placed a hoof to her chin, in deep thought.

"well, if yea wana know what I think twi, why not ask him when he wakes up."

"well, I would, but there's something else bothering me, he was wearing a cloak with princess Luna's cutie mark on it..."

"WHAT!" AJ said with shock, now that was heard to believe.

Just then, Twilight grabbed the cloak from a hook on the wall with her magic, bringing it over and showing her. AJ looked at it for a moment, shocked that luna's mark was on it, but then something clicked.

"wait, doesn't that look more like..." AJ said.

Twilight gave a nod as she continued to dab the unicorns forehead with the sponge. "yea, Nightmare moon's mark, I just don't know if I can trust him or not, what if he's a cultist or something."

AJ shook her head. "well, if you ask me, ah think you should heal him, give him the benefit of the doubt before accusing him of something, for all we know, it could be a disguise or something."

"well, I guess..." twilight muttered as she turned to look at night hawk for a moment. "thanks AJ. you always know what to say."

"awe, no problem Sugercube, that's what friends are for right?" AJ said with a smile, finally turning and trotting out of the room.

"SPIKE!" Twilight yelled just as spike poked his head into the room through the doorway.

"Let me guess, 'take a letter'?" Spike said with a grin as he stepped into the room with a quill and scroll. Twilight giggled for a few seconds.

"Yes Spike, take a letter." she said as spiked walked up to her with a smile. "Dear Princess Celestia..." she started.

prologue- the dream (rewrite)

Slowly, five bat winged pegasi entered a dark room. At the far end of this room, opposite of the door, stood two braziers with a menacing looking throne. Atop this throne sat a unicorn as black as the shadows in the room, his eyes glowing a dark green as bluish green flames danced off his eyes. Slowly the leader of the group that had entered the room stepped forward, kneeling into a bow before the unicorn.

"Mi-lord, we have failed to apprehend the one known as Night Hawk..." Dark Wing said in a low tone. Just then a bolt of energy shoot out from the unicorn, striking Dark Wing in the chest, sending him back, sprawling to the ground. One of the others mad to check on Dark Wing but the unicorn rose a hoof, dismissing him.

"Touch him and you die as well..." the unicorn spoke in a regal voice. Causing the one to back up slowly giving a bow. The unicorn just smiled as he sat there, dead silence filled the room for seconds, then those seconds turned to minutes. And those minutes felt like hours before the unicorn spoke again.

"This news does not bother me in the slightest, in fact, I can see this working to our advantage..." The unicorn said, his eyes blinking once as he gazed at the four that remained. "You four shall go back to the Everfree forest, retrieve the pedestal and fill this chalice from the fountain that resides there. Once your task is complete, return here for further instructions, do I make thy self clear?" The unicorn said in a stern voice. the four gave a nod and a bow, back up for a few seconds before turning and walking out of the room. The door closed behind them and the room was silent once more.

"Arise corpse, arise and serve me in death." The unicorn said as he sent a beam of black magic to the dead body in the middle of the room. Slowly it began to shake, as if having a seizure, then the body grew still once more. Then the corpse stood up, its glowing eyes no longer the brownish red they were before, now looking more like the creature was blind. the unicorn smiled. "Go join the others, soon my pet, we will attack the regale sisters and the land will belong to us." The creature the turned to his left and began to trot away.

"Soon, brother dear, eternal night will come and the tyranny of the sun will end."

~~~~~~

PonyVille

Castle of friendship

3:00 am

Guest room

Were am I? I thought as I floated in a sea of darkness. Am I dead? I thought, hearing my voice echo amongst the blackness that surrounded me. soon, the darkness faded away, revealing a clearing on the edge of a cliff. I then sighed, I knew it was a dream, though I still had no control over it. and I knew what was going to happen, I was going to see her death once again.

"Why, why must you torment me so?" I spoke in a sad tone, walking up to the edge of the cliff, unable to control my own body. slowly tears rolled down my face as I tried to fight whatever force was compelling me to step forward. Though it was all in vain.

Down, at the bottom of the cliff laid a body of a Pegasus, bloody and beaten. Then, it began to move on its own, slowly rising. however, that's as far as it got this time around as the creature vanished from sight, along with the cliff and the bare clearing. soon it was replaced with a small park at night time. "what?! what happened..." I said, confused at the sudden change of area. and looking to my left I saw the last thing I ever expected to see.

"Fear not, you are safe now." A midnight blue Alicorn said, as she walked out from a tree line. instantly, my eyes grew wide and a few words slipped out of my mouth in pure shock.

"Mother of the Moon..." I said in a soft tone. The Alicorn however, tilted her head in confusion at the words I said.

"I, have never had anypony call me that before, tell me, who art thou?" The Alicorn said looking strangely at me.

"N-night hawk." I spoke out, going into a bow.

"well, Night hawk, tell me, why were those Vesperti, twilight told me about, chasing you?"

I stayed there bowing, silent. after a short time, I let out a sigh. "because... my brother has betrayed me, taking the crown of the empire I lived in that I was suppose to inherit, and, pinned murder on me after... he killed my love." the words left my mouth before I could even refuse to speak. why did I just tell her the truth? it was like something in me changed.

the alicorns face turned from confusion to shock, and then, sadness, or was it pity? "I... I am sorry Night, I didn't know anypony was capable of such an act, but your own brother, why?" she asked. there, that feeling again, I know that spell, she's tweaking my personality in my dream so I would be more open. a smirk drew upon my face as a looked up.

"Very clever princess, manipulating my personality in my dream, though, I guess you aren't the only one with dream walking skills, though I can still tell you if you wish." my tone was happy, for once, though it turned to sorrow at the end. the princess however looked surprised at me.

"You... you know how to dream walk?!" She suddenly asked, her face lighting up with both shock and happiness.

I simply nodded, lowering my head down again a moment later. "Yes, though, I'm certainly not as skilled as you, seeing as it took me so long to notice you manipulating me."

However she shook her head. "No, im quite impressed actually, I've never met somepony else who could use this skill before, here I though it was only I who could. But enough of this, back to my question, why did he do this?" She asked.

"Because he wants to resurrect nightmare moon, and bring eternal night. I tried to stop him, but I'm not strong enough, I... I failed you.... and I failed her..." At that a tear formed and rolled down my face. I had turned away, hiding the tear.

For the longest moment, she just stood there, silent as she looked at me, calm as ever. In all honesty, it was unnerving really. Suddenly she spoke up. "I'm sorry, my time grows short, and day is slowly approaching, we shall talk more tomorrow night, hopefully, face to face. Oh and night." She said looking at me with a smile. I glanced up and looked at her, confused. "Its time to wake up..."

Suddenly the world around me vanished, and slowly, I began to become aware of were I was. "oh, my head..."