The Shadow of Equestria

With a loud whistle, the train came to a stop in Canterlot Station. As soon as the doors opened, a mass of ponies rushed off, desperate to leave the confined space. Situated in the center were eight unassuming ponies and one dragon. No pony paid them much heed, having much more pressing concerns on their minds. This suited the ponies just fine. The fewer who knew of their arrival, the better.

Fluttershy shivered. She wasn't sure how she felt with all of this cloak and dagger going on. Ponies were breaking into their homes in broad daylight, and now they couldn't even get on a train without some form of deceit.

She threw a quick glance over at the mastermind behind their operations. Stratus had been even less talkative than usual, refusing to contribute a word to their conversations. He merely came up with the plan and told it to them, no questions asked. But after what she had just found out he had been through- If she had been in his situation, she didn't think she would have the willpower to stay sane. More recently, she had begun to  think that he didn't either.

Once they had merged with the normal throng of ponies in Canterlot, Stratus turned to them.

"Head straight down the street, right to the inn at the end. It's a little shady, but they'd never think to look for us there." His gaze swung to the unicorn in their group. "Light Show, I'd like to speak to you a moment." He walked a short distance away.

Gulping, Light Show nodded the rest of the group along, then went to confer with his associate. Stratus fixed him with a knowing look. "You told them everything, didn't you." It wasn't a question.

Light Show shook his head. "No, I told them an unrelated story." He said. "Any relation to ponies living or dead is completely coincidental." Stratus stared at him, but couldn't keep a slight smile from coming to his face.

"Just like old times," he whispered wistfully for a moment. Then, his voice turned serious. He scratched the back of his head. "Listen, Light Show, I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I said some things that I probably shouldn't have when we first met. I was still confused, and I didn't know what to believe."

Light Show smiled back at his friend. "You don't have to apologize for a thing. You had every reason to think I betrayed you. In fact, I should be apologizing to you. It's my fault most of this happened. You watched Cloud Dancer's back, but I was supposed to watch yours." Stratus smiled back and heaved a sigh of relief.

"Just one more question." He looked around for a moment, and leaning closer he whispered, "Do you believe in ghosts?"

Light Show reared back a little in surprise. "What, like the dead coming back?" He asked. Stratus nodded. "What brought this on?"

Stratus shook his head a little sheepishly. "It's nothing, it's just- ever since that night, I've been seeing her. She just sort of, appears, at random times. Like when I saved Applejack's farm, or when I spared your life. She's just always there to help me."

Light Show furrowed his brow in concern. He knew that it was a common side effect for ponies who had been through traumatic events to hallucinate. He didn't want that to be happening to his friend. "Stratus, I'm sorry to say it, but Cloud Dancer died. Nothing we can do will change that. She's gone, and all we can do is remember her like she was."

Stratus looked doubtful for a moment, then nodded his head. "You're right, of course." He said. "Thanks. Now come on. Let's go make sure the others are okay."

...

Twilight looked around the inn in disgust. The lower floor was completely taken up by a sleazy bar, with a dirty pony serving drinks from behind a counter. Several tables sat around the establishment, coated with old, dried stains. At these tables sat many ponies, drinking and gambling. Twilight gulped upon noticing every one of them was armed.

She and her friends simply stood there for a while. Eventually, Stratus and Light Show entered the bar. The second they came in, the bartender looked up. His face broke into a grin which was missing some teeth.

"Light Show!" He called out, walking out from behind the bar. "So nice to see you! How have you been!"

Light Show quickly shushed him. Pulling him aside, he whispered, "We need to talk, but not here. Do you still have the old rooms?" The bartender looked at him, then looked at the group. As his gaze fell on Stratus, his jaw dropped. Looking back to Light Show, he quickly nodded, his mouth still slightly ajar. He walked off, motioning for them to follow.

They passed behind the bar, into a hallway Twilight hadn't seen at first. As they reached the end, the bartender pulled on a torch sconce. A hidden door swung open, and they were quickly ushered inside. As soon as the last pony got through, the bartender turned and shut the door. Turning about to face the party, a large toothless grin appeared on his face.

"Stratus!" He cried out with happiness. "Thought you were dead! What happened?"

Stratus smiled. Without answering, he turned to Twilight and the rest of the ponies.

"This is Toothless," he said. "He's the former keeper of the guild's quarters. Until Lurker said he was getting too old."

The pony called Toothless scowled, and spit to one side.

"That's right! Too old my flank! Lurker just wanted to get rid of anypony who had been loyal to Wind Runner, didn't want us interfering with his plans, see." Light Show nodded.

"Lurker's conspiracy had been going on much longer than we thought. I did some digging after the coup, and found out nearly every pony he had recruited was in on it. He scheduled for me to be out of the hall on that night, so he would have one less pony to worry about. But Stratus and Cloud Dancer were scheduled to die. They were too dangerous to keep around." Toothless, still scowling, looked at Status.

"Guess he failed with that. So, how did you survive, Stratus?" Stratus grimaced.

"Painfully," he muttered. "After I fell out the window, I was in pretty bad shape. I got lucky, though. Lurker decided I was already dead and didn't send any pony to finish the job. I dragged myself to a small cellar, stayed there for a few days. As soon as I got better, I started plotting to take down Lurker. Just a few weeks ago, I found out about a plot to eliminate the Element's of Harmony." He looked at Twilight and her friends. "All of them," he said for clarification. Twilight felt a small shiver run down her back. "So I foiled there first attempt. I realized the best way to halt any further attempts would be to stay close by, which is why I accepted Celestia's sentence."

"So, you knew that those ponies would attack me?" Twilight asked in disbelief.

"I planned on it," said Stratus.

As Twilight's mind reeled, trying to accept this, Light Show hastily added, "You were never in any real danger. The ponies Lurker hires aren't very skilled at all. He's too concerned that one of them might be able to overthrow him. You could easily have taken down any one of them." He redirected his focus to the rest of the group. "Right now, we should focus on the present. The most powerful criminal organization in the world wants us all dead, and we need to destroy them first. To do that, we just need to cut off their head. If Lurker dies, the rest of them will give up."

Toothless walked back in from a back room he had entered. Twilight jumped a little when he re entered. These thieves could simply walk right out, and she would never even notice. Toothless unrolled a large piece of parchment. Sketched on it was a rough diagram of a large building. Light Show looked at it in shock, his eyes wide.

"How did you get this?"

Toothless chuckled. "You young whipper snappers aren't the only ones with a few tricks. This here is a fully detailed, up to date map of the Thieves Guild."

"It's got every detail on it," Light Show confirmed, sounding impressed. He pointed at a large drawing of a door. "That's the entrance to Lurker's room. It's virtually impenetrable."

"I can get us in," said Stratus. Light Show looked at him doubtfully.

"Are you sure?"

Stratus looked at him with a condescending expression. Light Show nodded. "You're right, stupid question." He scratched his chin. "We'll need to draw away the guards. A distraction here could do it." He was pointing to a large room labeled 'vault.' "If an attack happens there, the guards will be all over it. But that will also alert them. If Lurker knows we're in there, our job gets much harder. He'll pull back his best guards to his room for protection. We'd need at least two ponies to do the job."

"Okay," said Rainbow eagerly, loving every second of these tactical talks. "So you and Stratus go take out Lurker, and the rest of us distract the guards!" The rest of the ponies nodded eagerly.

"That should work," said Light Show. "What do you think, Stratus?" The pegasus wore a frown on his face after hearing the plan. He looked at Twilight.

"Are you sure you'll be able to do it? This isn't a game. These ponies will want you dead, and they won't hold back because they feel sorry."

Twilight put on a smile. "We'll be fine," she said. "Remember, this isn't even the worst threat we've ever faced."

"Alright, so that settles it. We attack tomorrow. I suggest you all go get some sleep." Light Show concluded the meeting, as Toothless began to lead the mares to their rooms. Turning to his friend, he noticed Stratus was still frowning at the map.

"What's wrong?" He asked with concern.

"We're sending them to die, aren't we?"

Light Show was taken aback by the question. "No, of course not! They'll be able to hold the enemy off long enough for us to bail them out."

"But can you really guarantee that none of them will die?" When Light Show didn't answer, Stratus lowered his head. "I didn't think so. I just don't want any pony else to die because of me. I'm sick of losing every pony I know, and I don't want it to happen to these six. They don't deserve that." With that, he walked off to his room. Light Show sighed, then turned and followed him. Closing the hidden door, he didn't see the dagger Stratus had stuck into the map, right over Lurkers room.

...

Early the next morning, Fluttershy woke up. Her sleep had been fitful, plagued by nightmares of the next day. She felt the rays of the sun comfortably warm her cheeks, calming her nerves. She basked in the light, blissful.

Her relaxation was cut short as her door swung open with a loud bang. Giving a small "EEP!" She pulled her covers up to her eyes. A wild eyed Light Show stood in her doorway, looking around frantically.

"Have you seen Stratus!" He quickly barked out. Terrified, she shook her dead. Light Show unleashed a string of curses that would have made a sailor cringe, then ran off. Fluttershy lay still for a moment, petrified, before working up the courage to go see what was happening.

Upon exiting her room, she saw that the others were all up. They were all standing outside of Stratus' room, talking among themselves. She walked over, looking into the room they all stood by. Inside, the bed sheets lay undisturbed, with nothing else inside.

...

Street Rat shifted his weight. Ever since he had been appointed guard duty, he had been bored out of his skull. He had talent, the boss just didn't see it. He could be the best thief this guild had ever seen, if they just gave him his chance! His feelings bubbled to the surface, and he turned to face his partner to rant about it. But his partner looked - different somehow. Had he always worn that hood? And who was that pony he had just killed?

His partner turned to face him. Street Rat never even got the chance to realize what was happening.

...

Lurker sat in the throne room. Listening to the tenth pony that day was grating on his nerves. These politics bored him, and he was tempted to simply execute the pony then and there. Shifting his gaze away, he reflected on a time when things were simpler. But soon, his plan would be complete, and these issues would no longer bother him. He just needed Light Shows report back to confirm the deed was done.

"GLCKKT!"

His head whipped around at the strangled gurgling. The pony he had just been talking to lay dying, gasping for breath from his slit throat. Standing over him was a pony with a black cloak, and a hood concealing his features. He was wiping off his dagger on the ponies clothing, in a robotic manner. His eyes never once left the unicorn.

Lurker stared at him for a moment. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

"You know damn well who I am, Lurker."When he heard that voice, Lurker froze. A second later, he burst out laughing.

"So, the rumors were true, were they? You really are that hard to kill." He leaned forward, leering. "Too bad your mare friend wasn't."

Stratus stood still for a moment longer. The speed with which he suddenly leaped forward caught Lurker completely by surprise, and he was barely able to lift his short sword up in time to block the thrust. But Stratus didn't stop, pressing the assault. Lurker felt himself be pushed backwards by the fury of the attack. Then, little by little, he managed to regain control. Before too long, he was matching Stratus blow for blow. He grinned. Now, he would get to kill his worst nemesis with his own two hooves.

Stratus  grunted. The unicorn was quick with his sword, without a doubt. The two of them were extremely evenly matched.

The pegasus feinted with his knife, then stabbed at the opening it left. With satisfaction, he felt his dagger strike flesh, running up along his enemies  side. The unicorn fell backwards slightly, clutching his side.

"You'll pay for that," he hissed. Stratus began to leap forward, before an invisible force seized him and dragged him backwards. As he was flipped around, he was just able to catch sight of Lurker's glowing horn.

With a sickening crack, he slammed into a wall. Dropping down, he felt a lance of pain shoot through his front hoof as he tried to stand on it. He received only a moments respite before he was flung into another wall. This time, he felt several of his ribs crack. He fell to the floor painfully, clutching his side.

Lurker, looking on, laughed. He leaned down next to the injured pegasus to gloat. Just then, he heard a voice echo through the hallway.

"Stratus!" Shouted Twilight. Lurker grinned, and turned to face Stratus.

"Look at that, my prey has come to me. Looks like I get to kill yet another of your friends, and you get to watch." He turned around, walking to the door, casually cleaning his sword. Stratus watched him walk off, panting for breath.

Lurker suddenly felt himself go flying to one side. Stratus, with his last remaining strength, had flung himself forward, tackling the unicorn to the ground. As they fell, Lurker stabbed at his opponent, feeling his blade punch deep. Grunting, Stratus seized the blade in his hooves, wrenching it out of his side. As Lurker began to regain his feet, Stratus leaped forward, plunging the blade through his head. Lurker gasped as the blade punched straight out of his mouth, completely impaling his brain. Stratus pulled the blade out, and swung it one final time, separating the unicorn's head from it's neck.

The corpse fell to the ground, slowly pouring it's blood onto the cold stone. Stratus stood triumphantly for a moment, then fell, clutching his leg in pain.

"Stratus!"

He lifted his head. The shout had come again, slightly closer. Now, the sounds of fighting could be heard as well. Struggling, he pulled himself up. Lurkers last sword thrust had punctured his lung, and he could already feel blood pooling, making it difficult to breathe. With a super pony effort, he stumbled a few feet forward, before falling down with a cry of pain. His leg was shattered.

"I'm going to die," He realized with a shock. With a ferocious shake of his head, he shook of those thoughts. He tried to pull himself up again, before falling once more. Breathing heavily and without the strength to lift himself up, he began dragging himself towards the door.

"Have - To find - Twilight. She can - help. Cure - me." He dragged himself just a few more feet, before his legs fell flat from exhaustion. Weakly, he lifted his head one last time. Without a sound, his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed onto the floor. And then, all was still in the chamber, where now two bodies lay.

...

Twilight blasted another thief with her magic. Back in the inn, as soon as they had found out that Stratus had left, they set out for the Guild. Just before they left, Toothless had pulled her aside.

"Stratus will have gone straight to Lurker," he said. "He's skilled, but this is one fight he cannot win. Push straight to the throne room. Out of every pony here, you're the only one who has even a chance of saving him." Twilight had gulped and nodded. Now, with every second that passed, she felt her chances of success go down.

All around her, her friends battled. They all fought hard, even timid little Fluttershy.

"Twilight!" Shouted Light Show, fending off two enemies at once. She turned to help, but he shook his head. "Get to the throne room! Help Stratus!"

Twilight turned, and quickly teleported past the guards blocking her path. Racing down the corridor, she shouted Stratus' name a few times. As she neared the door, she heard a guttural cry of pain. Lowering her head, she ran as fast as she could. The door sat slightly ajar. Twilight blasted it fully open and charged into the room.

Within the room, she saw a headless unicorn who she assumed was Lurker. And laying just a few feet away, in a puddle of blood, was the body of Stratus.

Twilight felt her body go cold. Her hoof involuntarily leaped to her mouth, and she shook her head in disbelief.

"No," she whispered, her eyes beginning to grow moist. Her attention was so focused on Stratus, she didn't notice the change in Lurkers body. A thick, black smoke had begun rising from his head, pooling in the air above it.

Twilight, feeling a cold shiver on the back of her neck, turned around. The cloud had begun rushing towards her! As she opened her mouth to scream, it rushed into her head, blinding her. She could feel it enter her mind, ripping away everything about her.

And while this happened, she could do nothing but stand there, unable to act.

...

Light Show sat numbly. He knew there was rain pouring down over his coat, but it didn't feel like anything. It just added extra weight onto his shoulders.

He and the mares had entered the room to find Twilight weeping. She had standing over the body of his friend, letting tears flow freely. A puddle of blood had formed around the dead pegasus, painting his features red. The only consolation to be had was that Stratus had clearly succeeded in his task, and slain the traitor.

That had been just yesterday. The funeral service was quite small. Stratus had been relatively unknown in more recent years, and many of his old friends were dead. The only ponies standing by the grave besides cemetery staff were Light Show, Toothless, Spike, and the mares. His headstone was a simple, undecorated piece of rock, reading simply, STRATUS.

Light Show choked back a sob. He had spent the last few years of his life trying to right his wrongs, and just when Stratus had forgiven him and things were going back to normal, he had lost his friend a second time. His mind was struggling to cope with the loss.

He heard his name called to give his eulogy. Slowly, he walked over the grave. Turning around to face the ponies, he sucked in a deep breath of surprise. Seeing this, the other ponies turned around, freezing in place as they did so.

Entering the cemetery, flanked by two royal guards was the princess herself. Celestia wore black, mourning garments, partially concealing her features. As she came, Twilight ran over to her.

"Princess!" She said, temporarily forgetting her sadness. "What are you doing here?"

The princess looked at her with sorrow. "I heard what has happened. I came to pay my final respects to Stratus." Upon hearing this, Twilight couldn't bear it anymore. She began sobbing openly. Celestia wrapped her up in a hug with her wing. Twilight stood, crying on her shoulder.

While all this happened, every pony in the cemetery bowed to Celestia. Light Show, however, couldn't bring himself to kneel down. One of the guards noticed him standing.

"Bow to your princess!" He commanded, moving over to force the unicorn to his feet. Celestia looked up.

"It's fine, Bright Shield," she said. "He has been through much." Looking at Light Show, she motioned for him to continue his speech. Light Show took a deep breath to steady himself.

"Stratus," he began, "was a good pony. He suffered much in his life, but no matter how bad it went for him, he never gave up. When his parents were lost, he taught himself how to live. When he lost his friends, he taught himself how to stand alone. He -" Light Show cut off. "I'm sorry. I just - I can't do this." He turned around and simply walked away. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to be alone.

...

Light Show sat on a bench under a tree in the park. Staring at his reflection in a puddle, he felt nothing but disgust. All he could see was weakness. He was nothing like Stratus. He couldn't change lives, and he couldn't protect those he cared about.

He heard a small cough behind himself. Turning around, he saw the small dragon Twilight had been with. Spike, he remembered the name was.

"Are you okay?" Asked Spike with concern. "Every pony is worried about you." He noticed the empty spot next to Light Show. He hopped up and sat down. The two of them sat in silence for a while.

"I talked to him, you know."

Light Show looked over at his companion. "Back in Ponyville. The Flim Flam brothers were trying to buy Applejack's farm, and they had the resources to do it. He came in the night and asked me to help him steal it all. I helped carry out some of the bags of coins. Afterwards, he mentioned an old partner he used to have. He seemed to really care about them."

Light Show snorted and looked away. "He was talking about Cloud Dancer, not me. She was his partner on most of the heists he went on. I only helped a couple of times."

"Why do you do that to yourself?" Asked Spike. "Why do you beat yourself up?" Light Show began to open his mouth, but he was cut off. "I mean, when Cloud Dancer died, you blamed yourself, but that's exactly what Stratus did too, right?" The dragon shook his head. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, it's not your fault whenever anything goes wrong. Every pony is responsible for when a problem happens. You just have to learn how to pick up the pieces and move on. That's what Stratus did, and I guess that in some weird, twisted way, he did accomplish his goals. So, how are you going to get past this problem?" Light Show looked away.

"I don't know," he muttered. "All I've wanted for so long was to have friends I could trust, and who could trust me back. And just when I almost had that, I lost it because he didn't trust me to help." Spike stared at him in shock.

"How can you say that!" He almost shouted. "Of course Stratus trusted you! He trusted you more than any pony else! You were one of the only ponies he trusted!"

"Than why didn't he tell me what he was planning!" Snapped Light Show. "We talked after last night's planning. He said he didn't want to risk any of you, and I realized he wanted to attack without you. But I assumed he'd tell me before he did. Turns out, he decided I created more of an obstacle than help."

"He didn't leave you behind because he didn't want you! Don't you see? He cared for you, and he didn't want to risk you dying. He wanted to guarantee that you would be safe even if he failed."

Light Show gave Spike a small smile. "You know, for someone so young, you're pretty smart. I can see why Twilight has you as an assistant." He leaned back a little on the bench. "So, Stratus recruited you for a heist, did he? How did that happen?"

The two of them sat on the bench, talking about their lost friend for a long time. They didn't even notice when the sun went down. And for the first time in many years, the city of Canterlot slept at peace.