Chapter 1
I was lying in my bed, with my wife, when I had heard a noise. I opened my eyes to see that it was still dark outside. By my guess it must have been around six O' clock in the morning. It soon occurred to me that the noise was coming from my foal's room. I lifted my left front leg and began to stretch to help wake up. My wife, Fluttershy, started to stir and I set my hoof on her head.
"Go back to sleep honey, I'll take care of them," I whispered, and then I got out of bed. I walked over and opened the door with my magic and slipped out of the room quietly, so I wouldn't disturb her. I walked down the hall to my foals' room and I opened the door. The room was clean with a toy box at the left of the room and a crib at the far end of the room. Dusk Moon, my son, was on his hind legs and leaning on the crib. Whisper, my daughter, was kicking the covers off her and cooing. Dusk was a unicorn with a dark gray coat and electric crimson mane and tail color. Whisper, on the other hoof, had an electric yellow coat and her mane and tail were both paradise pink.
"Hey, you two," I said as I walked up to the crib. Dusk then reached out for me to hold him and I outstretched one of my front legs to pick him up. I then lifted Whisper out of the crib with my magic, and as I did so she started to giggle. She always loved it when I lifted her up with my magic. I carefully lifted Dusk out of the crib and I walked over to the rocking chair with the two and I sat down in it. I brought Whisper, who was still giggling, over to my other front leg so I could hold her as well. Afterwards I start to slowly rock in the chair so I could get the two back to sleep. After several minutes of rocking in the chair the two finally fell back asleep. I got up from the chair and I set the two in the crib. Seeing them sleep made me smile and I went back to my room. As I entered Gold lifted her head and I put a hoof to my lips, signaling her to stay quiet, and she sat down her head. I walked back to my side of the bed. I put on my wedding ring, grabbed Harbringer and I put on my cloak. I kissed Fluttershy on the cheek and I walked out of the room.
I climbed down the stairs and went into the kitchen and got something to eat. When I finished Sagittarius poked his head out from his nest near the door. I reached up and pet his head and I opened the front door. As I walked out he gave a small squawk and I shushed him and told him not to wake the others and that I would be back in a few hours. I closed the door behind me and I made my way to Sweet Apple Acres. As I was approaching the entrance I saw Applejack waiting for me. She has an orange coat, her mane and tail are blond, and her cutie mark consisted of three apples. She also represents the element of honesty, which is sometimes scary in my opinion but can be funny when she tries to lie.
"Howdy Shadow, ready to get to work," she asked with a smile. I nodded and she tilted her head. "You alright sugarcube," she asked and I nodded.
"I'm just a little tired. I ended up staying up late, working on some papers Grandfather sent me," I explained while rubbing an eye. She nodded and turned towards her home and I followed.
"Guess that is what happens when you become a prince," she said as we turned onto a path that led us to the western fields.
"Yeah, I might have been late if it weren't for Dusk and Whisper. They ended up waking me up and I put them back to sleep before I could leave," I said. Honestly I felt really groggy; it was around two in the morning when I went to sleep. We stopped in front of a few trees and I saw Big Mac pulling a cart with a few baskets in it. Big Mac had a red coat, his main and tail were both orange, and his cutie mark was half an appleWe walked over to him and we started to place the baskets around the trees.
"Shadow, you and Big Mac will buck the trees around this area while I buck the trees in the area over there," Applejack said while pointing to another small part of the land. Big Mac and I nodded and we started to get to work.
Several hours later we finished everything we had to do and I went off to go to my team's headquarters. When I arrived at the headquarters Autumn and Igneal were already in their training gear. Autumn is an Earth pony with a green coat, her mane and tail were blond and her cutie mark was a leaf. We used to be enemies but since I spared her life she has dedicated herself to helping me fight the darkness and King Will, leader off Zorthos. Igneal is a dragon, with light blue scales, his underbelly is magenta and his eyes and spines were red. He is also an old friend of my grandfather's. He has a bit of a temper and seems a little scary at first but when you get to know you will learn that he means well. Anyway, I've had to train them for the past few months. I am doing this because a few months ago I was sent to the future, along with the changeling named Queen Chrysalis. In the future Equestria was taken over. I don't want that so I am doing my best to prevent it.
"'Morning," I said as I walked up to the dragon and pony. Autumn looked up and smiled.
"Good morning Shadow," Autumn said with a smile. She looked over at Igneal who was adjusting a few straps and he finally noticed that I was there.
"Oh, sorry, was trying to get this thing adjusted," he said, and then he went back to adjusting the straps.
"You’re going to have to get used to wearing armor, even though you are technically dead, that does not excuse the fact that your underbelly is your weak spot," I said and he finally stopped messing with the straps. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.
"I've been in many battles, Shadow. I don't need armor," he said. I could tell he was getting annoyed but I pressed.
"Remind me, I seem to have forgotten how you died," I asked and he huffed with a few embers coming out.
"By disembowelment," he said with a growl and I nodded. I looked over at Autumn who had a raised eyebrow. It occurred to me that I never explained to Autumn how Igneal died.
"Even though you won't be able to die, you will still feel the pain. Do you want to feel it," I asked and he responded by shaking his head. "Good, and trust me I have considered wearing armor but I might just wear gauntlets. I'm not saying you have to wear full body armor, just wear the chest plate," I said and he nodded.
"What about me," Autumn asked with a bit of a nervous look.
"Well you could switch from heavy to light armor, that way you have more mobility and it will make you a bit more agile," I explained. She nodded in agreement and I heard the door open behind me. I turned to see Seig and Sunset Blossom coming in. Seig is an earth pony with a blue coat, his mane and tail is teal and his cutie mark was a sword and shield. Sunset Blossom was a unicorn with a white coat, her main and tail were gray and black, and her cutie mark was a dagger with star at the end of the blade.
"Hey Shadow, what are we doing today," Seig asked as he and Blossom made their way to us.
"Well today I want all of you to try and battle each other. We need to work on team work during training. I myself will be participating but I am not going to transform though," I said as I started to walk to the training room. I opened the door and they all gathered inside. The room was about the size of a gymnasium in a normal school. Weight equipment was on one side of the room, and on the other were some mats with circles on them. The room itself was painted almond and the floor was made from an old oak tree found in the Everfree forest. I took off my cloak and set Harbringer on top of it. "Alright, let's get started," I said as I turned to face them.
