The Shadow of Equestria

Light Show walked down the streets, shivering. His meeting had not been as unpleasant as he had feared, but it still was unsettling. To find out that he was tasked with killing an alicorn, who possibly possessed more power than Celestia herself? He wasn't sure that he could handle it.

As he approached the train station, several younger ponies looked up. They wore grins plastered on their features, and they weren't the warm, inviting kind. They got up as one and walked towards him. He stopped and waited for them to approach. They moved into a circle surrounding him.

"You Light Show?" One of them asked as he sized up the older pony, mockery in his tone.

The unicorn stared straight at the pony, until the younger pony looked down. "Yes, I am," he said. "The better question is, who are all of you?"

Another pony spoke up, practically bouncing with energy. "We're the team, sir," she said energetically. "We're gonna help you kill the princess!"

Light Show gave her a look of disgust. "How about you speak a little louder? I don't think the whole town's heard you yet." The mare slapped her mouth shut, and looked around nervously. Light Show sighed. It seemed he'd been dumped with the dregs. Ever since the new guild master had taken over, skill had been less of a requirement for their hiring. And now he was expected to get these idiots to kill a princess. And if HE was there-

Well, this job would get a lot more interesting.

"Alright, let's get going. The train's just pulling in now. One way or another, this will all be over by the end of the day."

...

"Now you're getting it!" Rainbow energetically called out to her latest student. Stratus had been assigned to her for the day, to learn about loyalty. Although he was a pegasus, he had never manipulated weather before. Rainbow had to admit, he was a quick study. Still not as good as HER, of course, but then again, who was?

They had been clearing the skies all morning, and were only just getting started. Remnants of a large storm were scattered all over Ponyville, and weather teams had been hard pressed trying to clean up. As their work progressed, Rainbow turned over what Rarity had told her in her head. The unicorn had been her usual dramatic self, and Rainbow felt that much of it was exaggerated.

"So, he had hard times?" Rainbow thought to herself. "I don't buy it. Something in that backstory seems fishy."

"Stratus!" She called out. The pegasus in question turned from the clouds to look at her. "If you raised yourself on the streets by yourself," she asked, "Where did you learn to fight like you did? I mean, ponies don't just instinctively learn how to take down a full gang of thugs."

Stratus' face remained mostly passive, but Rainbow felt that what he said next wasn't true.

"You learn a lot on the streets," he said. "I had to fight off dogs, rats, even other ponies just to get food. One fight's just like the next."

Rainbow could tell she wasn't going to get any straight answers out of him, so she simply went back to her work. As her gaze turned to the next cloud, she noticed something peculiar. Her brow furrowed in confusion.

Stratus, noticing this, followed her gaze. Outside of Twilight's castle, several ponies were entering.

"That's weird," said Rainbow. "Twilight's been having several audiences now that she's a princess, but I didn't think she held open court on Sundays. Oh, well, guess she changed it this week." Turning back to Stratus, she noticed his look. It was one of concern, and- was that anger?

"Stay here." Without any further conversation, Stratus zoomed down towards the castle. Rainbow, caught by surprise, hesitated for just a moment.

"What's going on?" She asked herself. Then, with a shrug, she zipped down after Stratus.

...

Twilight sat in the library. She was reading through some files Celestia had sent her. At the moment, she was consulting the Canterlot hospital records, in an attempt to see if she could find out where Stratus had come from. So far, she had been having very little luck.

Spike casually strolled in, rearranging some books she had dropped. He noticed her look of concentration, and realized she was working on stressful research.

"No luck, eh?" He asked, as he climbed a ladder to reach some higher shelves. She looked up and groaned.

"There's no information on any ponies named Stratus, in any of the records I've checked! It's like he just appeared one day!"

Spike hopped down from the ladder. "Well, maybe it got lost," he said, "Or maybe it got destroyed." He looked Twilight over. "How about I get you a snack?"

Twilight smiled at him. "That would be nice, Spike," she said. "Thank you." Spike smiled at her, and walked out to the kitchen.

As Twilight settled down to resume her research, she heard a knock on the library's door. Frowning, she opened it with her magic. Outside were several ponies whom she didn't recognize.

"Can I help you?" She asked politely. One of them, a well groomed unicorn, smiled at her.

"Good morning, princess," he replied with a small bow. "We're here for today's audience."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Twilight said. "Audiences aren't on Sunday."

"Really?" The pony responded, surprise in his voice. "We were under the impression it happened every day."

"No," Twilight said with a kind smile, "I'm sorry. I'll be having them tomorrow. If you come back then, I can make sure you get in first."

The unicorn shifted. "I'm sorry, princess, but I'm afraid we won't be able to come tomorrow. We'll have to be heading home then, and, well..." Twilight got a sudden sense that something was wrong. Feeling a tingling on the back of her neck, she turned around.

Standing just a few feet behind her, an earth pony was crouched, holding a dagger in one hoof. When she saw him, he lunged forward. Screaming, Twilight instinctively flinched away and closed her eyes, waiting for the dagger to impale her.

WHAM!

Twilight opened her eyes. The pony about to kill her was now standing by one of the bookshelves- with a dagger running through his neck, holding him there. The dagger's owner simply pulled it from the corpse, and wiped it clean  on the assassins robes.

Stratus turned around, facing the ponies. A mask covered the lower half of his face, but his eyes burned with malice. "Alright," he said casually, as if nothing had happened. "Who's next?"

The whole group of assassins visibly leaped backwards at Stratus' appearance. All except the unicorn, who simply stared in shock, as if seeing a ghost. Rainbow flew in a split second later.

"Jeez, Stratus, you really move when you want to," she panted. She then noticed the group. "Wait, what's going on?"

"I thought I told you to wait outside," Stratus growled at her.

Rainbow stuck her tongue out at him. "Please, like I was just gonna wait outside. Why did you run off like that, anyways? Who were those ponies?" Just then, she noticed the corpse. Her face froze.

"Oh," she whispered.

The assassins all began to grow nervous at the approach of two more enemies. One of them leaned up to the unicorn in charge.

"Light Show," he hissed, "What do we do?"

Light Show turned around and looked at him. Then, his horn lit up.

The pony felt a strange sensation in his throat. Looking down, he saw one of the unicorn's daggers sticking out of his neck. He gazed up with wide eyes at his leader.

Light Show stared back at him. "You don't need to do anything." He took a deep breath. "I, however, need to help out an old friend."

...

Twilight had never seen anything like it. One second, she was about to be killed. Suddenly, the killers became the killed as the leader stabbed one of his followers. Now, there was open chaos and confusion. The unicorn she had been talking to was suddenly killing all of his men. Rainbow Dash was flying around, attempting to distract the assassins, and Stratus-

To say it was terrifying would have been an understatement. Twilight had thought that only Rainbow could move with such speed, but the thief was like a tornado of death. Twilight remembered a book she had read once, detailing how ponies in the east had developed forms of fighting that were almost artistic, and graceful to watch. But Stratus fought with one goal, and that was to kill any pony who stood against him as quickly and brutally as possible. Twilight herself aided as best she could, shielding her friends and firing beams at the enemies.

As suddenly as the battle had started, it stopped. Panting, Twilight looked around. Littering the floor of the library were bodies. Blood stains covered the walls. Books had been knocked off of the shelves, tables had been overturned, and several sections were covered in scorch marks.

"What just happened?" Twilight panted, trying not to throw up. The unicorn who had come in turned to face her, then his eyes widened with shock.

"Look out!" He shouted. Before Twilight could move, she was seized from behind. One of the assassins was still alive, covered in cuts but still breathing. Wheezing, he pulled out a knife.

"Death.. To the... Princess..." He gasped, as he raised his knife.

CLANG!

The pony fell to the ground. Twilight fell with him, clutching at her throat. She could still feel the sensation of cold metal pushed up against her throat. She turned around to see what had saved her.

Standing over the now dead assassin, a small dragon stood, holding a dented platter. Littered about the floor were hay fries, and the remains of a sandwich. Spike was staring at her, tears in his eyes.

"Twilight?" He asked, his voice close to cracking. "What's going on? Who are all these ponies?" Twilight gave no reply. Instead, she picked Spike up with a hug, squeezing him tightly. Spike clung to her like a life raft, tears now freely flowing down his face.

The mysterious unicorn turned around to face Stratus. When his gaze finally rested on him, he began hyperventilating. His eyes widened with surprise, as if he didn't truly believe what he saw.

"Stratus," he said with shock in his voice, "It's been a long- GLCKKK!"

Twilight's head jerked up at the strange choking sound. Stratus had suddenly leaped forward, tackling the unicorn to the ground. In a second, his knife was in his hoof, poised to strike. The unicorn made no move to resist. Instead, he simply closed his eyes and resigned himself to his fate.

"Stratus, wait!" Twilight shouted. The thief barely turned to look at her.

"He needs to die," he hissed. Twilight reeled back in surprise. Whenever they had talked, Stratus had never had any hint of emotion, except for occasional sarcasm. But now, pure malice seeped out of his voice. The princess gulped.

"He could have tried to kill us, but he didn't," she said in an attempt to calm the pegasus down. "We should at least give him a chance to explain."

Stratus stayed in his position for a moment. His breath came heavy, and he struggled against the urge to kill the pony before him right then.

"Give him a chance, Stratus."

Stratus looked up. Standing before him was the same mare he had seen in the Apple's Orchards. She smiled at him.

"He used to be our friend, you know," she said. "You at least owe it to him to hear him out."

Twilight watched as Stratus stared off at an empty space in the air. Following his gaze, she saw nothing. After a few more tense moments, Stratus got off of the attempted assassin.

"You have one minute to convince me not to cut your throat out," he growled. "If you so much as look at any pony in this room in a way I don't like, you won't even have time to feel pain."

The unicorn shakily rose to his feet, clutching at his throat. "I suppose I do owe you all an explanation, don't I," he said, chuckling to himself. Then he turned back to Stratus, all jokes gone from his face.

"Stratus, she's been marked," he said, motioning to Twilight. "The guild will be using it's full resources to hunt her down now."

"Tell me something I don't know."

Twilight looked at Stratus with shock. "You knew?" She said in a quiet voice. "You knew that they'd be coming for me?"

Stratus turned to look at her. "Why do you think I came here?" He said. Twilight recoiled in shock. "After that attack at the theater, I realized that you and your friends were marked for elimination. Did you really think the guard took me that easy by luck?"

Twilight stared for a moment, then she looked down. "I thought you really wanted to change," she said sadly.

Stratus stared at her for a second, then turned away. "You don't know me very well."

"I guess not."

Rainbow Dash coughed. Every pony turned to face her. "So, what is this guild we're talking about?" She asked. "Cause it sounds like they want us a little bit dead."

Light Show nodded. "They do. You've all been declared a..." he paused, as he searched for the right words. "...an impediment to the goals of the guild. As for what guild, we're commonly referred to as the Thieves Guild of Canterlot."

Twilight frowned. "Didn't Celestia destroy that organization years ago?" She asked.

Light Show grinned at her. "It serves our purposes well to maintain that illusion," he said. "Ponies will believe what they want to, especially if it means they don't have to face their problems." He turned back to Stratus. "Listen, I know you want to kill me, but this is bigger than either of us. We need to work together if we want to protect the elements."

Stratus grit his teeth at the unicorn. "We? I trust you about as far as I can throw you, and don't make me test that. I seem to recall that what your best at is stabbing your friends in the back. It's what you did then, and it's what you're doing now. With this pattern, we're next."

Light Show's eyes widened, and his voice began to crack. "Stratus, you have to believe me, I had NO idea that was going to happen."

Twilight looked between the two thieves. "What happened? Where do you two know each other from? Why do you keep talking like you used to be friends?"

Light Show opened his mouth to reply, but Stratus growled, "Don't answer that. She doesn't need to know." Light Show's mouth snapped shut. Twilight bristled up indignantly.

"Stratus, you need to tell us!" She practically shouted at him. "Our lives are on the line! I thought you were over hiding your past!"

Stratus glared at her. Twilight slowly shrunk down under his gaze. "That was different," he growled. "This is personal." He straightened up. "Here's what you need to know. I used to be in the guild. I had a disagreement with the leadership, and left. Since then, I've been messing up their plans."

Rainbow gave him a look of surprise. "So that's where you learned how to fight!" Stratus looked over at her. "You lied to me! You said you learned everything on the streets!"

"I did learn quite a bit about fighting on the streets. I didn't lie. I just didn't tell the full truth."

"Oh really? And how much else of what you've said has been 'not the full truth'?"

"Rainbow!" Twilight shouted out. Rainbow stared at her in surprise. "That's enough! If he doesn't want to tell us, that's his business. He'll tell us when he's ready." She lowered her voice, but Spike could still hear her. "I hope."

"So, what do we do?" Rainbow asked. "We can't just sit back here and wait for them to try and kill us!"

"You're right."

Every pony jumped at the sound of Stratus's voice. He was staring at his dagger. He could just make out his reflection in it, partially hidden by blood. The way the dagger was being held, it appeared that the blood was his own. "I've been on the defensive for too long." He looked up at them. "Time to go on the attack. We're going to Canterlot. Then, we're going to end this."