**Shattered Hopes: Chapter 1
Meeting The Shadow**
I awoke after a long and peaceful sleep after a… rather exciting day, only to find myself blindfolded and sitting upright in an uncomfortable position, my wings and forelegs tied up and my back tied against what felt like a metal chair.
“Where am I? What do you want with me? Hello?”
“We need to interrogate you on the matter of the slaughter you witnessed yesterday. By our records you were the only witness we could find still in one piece.”
A voice in the distance chimed, their voice almost a whisper.
“Really? Where do you want me to start then?”
“Start by telling us what happened at the beginning. Don't leave out any details surrounding the event, we need to know everything.”
Since I couldn’t exactly trust a pony who blindfolded me after kidnapping me, I wasn’t going to tell them the fully detailed “incident” but instead a somewhat accurate detailed explanation of what happened.
“Very well, you want to hear it all? Alright, but I'm stopping the moment he starts ripping them apart. It's too, gory, to say the least. Just incase you have a weak stomach and have a need to throw up… Understood?”
“Understood.”
Well, it was a cold day in the frozen north, I was clinging to the side of a modified carriage carrying nineteen or twenty other ponies in full heavy armor. Me being a weak pegasus I wore light combat armor. It may give less defense but it makes it so I can move around quicker and avoid getting hit.
“Scared or something? Don’t be, worst case scenario you get a broken wing.” Another mare pegasus fighter said likely seeing the worry lines under my eyes. I had been conjuring up demented images of “The King of Shadows” in my head so, that probably wasn’t helping.
“W-what makes you say that?” I questioned looking over to the mare. She was wearing a heavy version of the combat armor I wore, but by the looks of it, it wouldn’t slow her down that much.
“Well, the fact we have a legend onboard with us. And how your like what, half the size of a normal pony your age?” The mare chimed with a smirk. I chose to ignore the last statement by the mare. I was confused to what she meant by a legend was onboard. The carriage was full of only pegasi except for one wearing a dark grey spiked crystal looking armor and seemed to not have wings, also having a curved horn. Oh… Yeah she was probably talking about that stallion.
“Legend? Who? Him? I think what you meant was a literal god” A stallion wearing advanced golden plated armor said in an almost sarcastic tone.
I was about to question what he meant but I was cut off by a stallion beside me saying “Hope you all realize he hates attention like that, he doesn’t want to be praised, am I right?”
The stallion in the dark grey armor didn’t vocally respond, he simply looked over at the stallion, nodded, lowered his head looking at the floor in front of him. He seemed to not be able to speak while inside the suit, I don’t think he was even breathing under that suit. He just sat silently possibly shutting us all out now.
“Taking that as a yes” the stallion added, I turned and looked out one of the four silver plated windows out at the ground below. Snow and dark crystal formations for miles, no sign of the crystal empire yet though.
I sort of tuned out the argument looking out the window, I hoped my generation would be the one to see peace return to Equestria, but I knew such a thing would never happen again.
“One more word out of any of you calling me a ‘hero’ will get yourself knocked the buck out.” A deep voice shouted out. I looked back to every pony and they all looked to the armored stallion. That was his voice?! I thought getting slightly worried, I didn't want to get in his way if that was his normal voice.
“But, you are, taking on King Sombra all by yourself! And you made the king of fear, afraid!” A stallion sitting across from me chimed. I didn't believe a word he said though since it sounded ridiculous.
“False information… I just simply got a lucky shot. Sombra wasn't expecting a pony to be able to counter his spells. And I wasn't on my own, if not for - nevermind, it's not relevant to anything we are about to do. So kindly shut up.” The armored stallion said slowly. Like looking back on the event caused him pain.
Every pony did just as he asked, not saying anything after his comment. Then before I could realize what was happening, the entire carriage jolted violently causing us all to fall against the floor.
“We're going down! Jump out now!” The pilot shouted in a state of alarm. I leaped up and saw the armored stallion was gone, I didn't have time to think so I ran to the back of the carriage. The massive door opened slowly, no other pony was standing yet, let alone ready to jump.
I leaped out flapping my wings to fly. The carriage crashed against the ground followed by multiple screams. Below me there were ponies on both sides, fighting to the bitter end. I dived down and kicked one of the crystal ponies in the back of the head. I did nothing but aggravate it… Aw crap.
I flew back into the sky out of the crystal pony’s reach. A cloud of mist rolled over the hill where the carriage crashed down. The moment the crystal ponies saw it they ran alongside other unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies. A painful shout came out from the mist as it changed from white to pitch black.
Three tendrils seemed to form out of the mist, each extending out and wrapping around the crystal ponies within reach. I hovered in the air watching the mist condense slowly into what looked to be the armored stallion from the carriage.
“To the depths with you!” The stallion shouted raising the three crystal ponies into the air, only to slam them back down against the ground with what seemed like bone breaking force.
The stallion then looked to me with bright glowing red eyes visible from his helmet. That's my nightmare fuel for the next few nights.
The stallion then… Turned into a cloud of dark mist, and seeped into the ground. Gone without a trace! No idea how to respond or react to a pony just disappearing out of thin air, uh, okay then.
I just idly watched as both crystal ponies and regular ponies all ran away in terror, together, side by side. It's almost like the simple presence of that stallion was causing a temporary alliance to just simply survive. I was in in the air so I should be okay, but the ponies without wings would be helpless.
A serpent like creature broke out from the ground, having a large curved horn along its head and a mouth full of sharp teeth. It let out a roar that sounded similar to a dragon’s roar, also having bright red - glowing - snake like eyes. The entire body had dark grey crystal like scales along the length.It burrowed back into the ground and resurfaced beneath a group of ponies of both sides, and seemed to swallow them whole. I flew into the air hopefully out of the monster’s reach watching the carnage play out.
The serpent leaped into the air, turned to a large cluster of smoke then turned into the armored stallion. It had made the mistake of landing down in the middle of a large group of the crystal ponies.
It had looked as though the armored stallion would be defeated, taking several kicks to the neck and chest after getting pushed to the ground. I decided I would dive down and help best I could. When I tried to push one of the crystal ponies off the stallion I found myself getting pinned against the snow in a matter of seconds.
The crystal pony raised both their forelegs into the air to stomp on my head. Right before they could deliver the blow, a beam of bright red magic shot the crystal pony’s head, sending them spiralling backwards against the snow. I quickly leaped to my hooves and saw the armored stallion’s armor had been nearly broken. Multiple bodies of crystal ponies lay limp around us, they seemed to be dead and probably were.
“If you can't take down one crystal pony you shouldn't be here.” The stallion said sounding a little angry, but overall calm.
“Yeah, you have a point…” I said in agreement with him, mostly because I didn't want to argue with a shape shifter?
“Wait… You were on that carriage, right?” The stallion said seemingly like he wanted to have a casual conversation, in the middle of a war zone?
“Umm, yes” I said watching the stallion's red eyes glow even brighter.
“You and I were the only survivors, and I think foul play was involved.” The stallion said with a fierce tone.
“Why you think that?”
“Because the carriage caught fire. It was powered by a pegasus pilot, not a Phoenix… So how did it catch fire?” The stallion said sounding as though he was snarling under that helmet.
“Maybe this ain't the best time -” I said just as one of the crystal ponies got back up slowly. The helmet they wore was shattered and had fallen off revealing the face of an enraged mare for maybe thirty seconds. The stallion let out a growl and the crystal pony lowered her head like an obedient dog.
“The Shadow… You... You can't be real...” I heard the mare whisper as she backed away then ran towards the Crystal Empire.
I saw in the distance what seemed to be hundreds of Sombra’s crystal ponies marching in unison towards us. Not the maybe fifty ponies to the west of us, no, they marched towards the two ponies.
“Go, fly high as you can… All of Tartarus has cried out for these traitorous souls! And I plan on delivering!” The stallion shouted in a deep tone, completely unlike his normal voice. Then the stallion took an offensive stance. I didn't argue, flying up fast as I could and hoped I was out of his range. And I was, but not out of viewing range - of the slaughter…
“How quickly did he take them down?”
The voice chimed after I said “slaughter” as though that was the one thing he wanted to know.
“How quickly? Imagine a blade of grass versus a tornado. That's how quick he disposed of them… If I may ask, what type of pony was he! He was changing form, making tendrils come out from his armor- was it just his armor that gave him those abilities?”
I asked not knowing for certain what caused his powers, was it natural for him? Or was it given to him?
“That pony… Is a monster, no other way of putting it. You shouldn't concern yourself with the matters at hoof involving him.”
The pony said, sounding like talking about him caused him pain somehow.
“I disagree, I believe she has every right in Equestria to be concerned… Step aside kindly, I want to say a few words.”
The same deep toned voice as the stallion before cackled, I heard a muffled cry for help and a cracking sound. I couldn't think straight, I was scared beyond measure.
“Who are you!, what are you!”
I shouted blindly shaking my head trying to knock the blindfold off.
“My true name is only known to my closest of friends. But, if you intend to find me later, you can call me the Shadow for now… I will give you a map on where to look. I recommend going alone. Wouldn’t want any unwanted attention.”
The stallion said calmly in his supposedly normal voice.
“And just so you know, I don't plan on going unpunished for the ponies on our side I've killed... ”
The stallion added. Softly I felt the blindfold almost float off my head, I had awoke inside an interrogation room instead of the manehattan guard barracks. No paint on the walls and no windows. I could feel my stomach twist and turn seeing a skeleton of a unicorn before me slouched over against a chair, the flesh picked clean off the bone.
I went to get up but found I was still tied down. So the Shadow took off my blindfold, killed a pony, and just left. After a few minutes of silence and trying to untie myself a pony wearing a ballistic armor plated suit trotted inside expecting to be attacked.
“What happened in here?!”
The stallion shouted looking to the skeleton then to me, probably thinking I had something to do with it.
“I wish I knew, first thing I wake up and i'm tied up and blindfolded in here and some pony is asking me to explain how the slaughter went down. Then something speaks to me and removes my blindfold, but that's it. I think it may have killed that pony too.”
I said clearly telling the truth, not like I could have done anything since I was tied up.
“Really? Something? Was it a griffin or a diamond dog? No? So it was obviously a po-”
The armored pony cut himself off, he slowly backed up away from me and towards the door. The rope holding my wings and hooves down seemed to come undone, I could see the black misty tendril extend out and slip a note under my wing, then pull back behind me. I obviously jumped up and got the hay out of there! Running past the stallion and down a extremely long hallway to a set of doors which had been broken down.
“The unicorn, had been kidnapping multiple innocent military personnel and interrogating them. Once he had what he wanted out of them, he had them poisoned to death. If Princess Sun-Butt! wants to speak with me for killing yet another supposedly random and innocent pony! Then maybe she should actually come and talk to me herself for a change!”
The voice of the Shadow boomed throughout the building, I was almost outside yet it sounded like he was right beside me shouting in my ears. I ran outside and looked back once I was sure I was out of his killing range. I slipped the note underneath my wing as an orange coated unicorn mare wearing little to no armor.
“Um, are you alright?”
The unicorn asked walking up to me, seeming to be looking me over for any cuts or marks, I had no idea what was done to me while I was asleep. I couldn’t answer honestly, so I lied.
“Yeah, I’m okay, just a little confused to what is happening...”
I said hoping the mare wouldn’t catch me lying, only after saying that I realized I was lying to a sergeant, oh… Wonderful!
“This was just an investigation to see what type of experiments Dr. Gift,was conducting. And by the sounds of it, the Shadow had killed him… Wonderful.”
The mare said with a sigh, the way she phrased it, sounded like she was agitated and tired.
The armored pony quickly followed me out of the building that I now see is a run down hospital, looking to be abandoned but obviously wasn’t.
“The… The… The Shadow… I… I looked the Shadow in it’s eyes…”
The stallion muttered trotting past me, his eyes wide and jaw hung open. I was new to Manehattan and all this stuff so was seeing the Shadow’s eyes a sign of bad luck to come? By that logic I should have such bad luck right about now I may as well have an upside down horseshoe on my muzzle at all times. No wait, I guess waking up in some run down hospital with a pony wanting to poison me was pretty bad luck.
“Glowing orange pupils with red irises… I never been more scared in my entire life.”
The stallion said shuddering in his armor. I only remembered seeing just red in his eyes, maybe his armor, somehow only showed red through his eyes, or maybe I just didn't look hard enough.
“Yes that fact is true, care to go on?”
The demented deep voice of the Shadow chided, the black mass of smoke emerging from the building slowly. I looked to the ponies around me to see their reaction, each pony with their face visible looked terrified.
“Why, why are you of all monstrosities here?”
The sergeant shouted up at the mass of black smoke.
“Because… I had gotten information that the now pile of bones known as Doctor Gift had set his sights on an old… friend of mine as a target, to supposedly make my existence a living nightmare. Which ironically would be fruitless because it technically already is, but he is dead now so the threat is eliminated”
The stallion said almost hissing at us, I was just glad he came when he did. Except it seemed he would kill us all if even one of us tried to attack him, so I was glad he was here and scared because he was here… That doesn't sound right, does it?
“Okay… But you didn’t have to kill him!”
The sergeant shouted up to the Shadow as he took a physical form, wearing heavy spiked armor which hid his face and mouth, but not his eyes which glowed a bright blood red. Was the “Shadow” some sort of demon?! Because I am beginning to think he- no, it, was a freakin’ demon!
“I beg to differ.”
The Shadow said sounding like he was purposely trying to get the sergeant angry beyond any reasonable measure.
“You may want to get out of here, before the sergeant decides to attack the Shadow”
A stallion wearing next to no armor walked up beside me and whispered to me. By the way he said it, seemed that it would be close to suicide, and what I saw the Shadow do, only cemented that idea.
I slowly walked backwards away from the scene, passing statues of skeletons… And a metal gate which had skulls engraved on the bars of it… I guess getting turned into a skeleton was a fitting death for a pony who must have really liked skeletons.
Once I walked out of the gate I found the ground to be cracking, I looked behind me and saw the sergeant blasting the Shadow violently in his face, the armor he wore reflecting each and every blast until he retorted by striking both the sergeant, and the gate I had just exited. melting the gate shut, so good thing I left when I did.
“You hide behind your armor! You- you coward!”
A mare in the distance I didn’t see shouted. The armor turned- smokey? It looked like it had turned to smoke, then… Turned to a cloak and the helmet just turned to a slightly epic looking mask of a horned- thing. Probably a demon… Most likely a demon considering how the mask had two goat like horns aimed to the sky and a beard of spikes. He likes spikes I’m guessing.
“Hit me with your best shot little pony, I dare you.”
I heard the Shadow say sounding amused, I could only barely see him, he looked defenseless now. But I still knew it would be suicide going to try and help the other ponies, I just kept walking along away from the fight that was about to break out. No thanks I think i'll pass on fighting the Shadow, I choose life instead.
I could hear screams of pain as I continued to walk away, I did feel a little bad for them but they made the mistake of tempting a killing machine.
After a little while I entered the guard barracks to find absolutely nopony was inside, probably everypony was trying to sort out the… situation at hoof with the sergeant and the Shadow. I pulled out the note that I had pinned beneath my wing and decided to finally see what it said.
It was a torn piece of a map, specifically Manehattan. A massive area of countless buildings were shaded in a grey color and a smaller area in the middle of the city was shaded red.
I assumed the red area is where the Shadow wanted me to meet him. Strange how such a powerful pony only had control over a small part of the city, or he had only just begun taking over the neighborhoods and areas of Manehattan.
Since this was an opportunity to befriend a supposed immortal pony who I saw turn maybe fifty ponies into red paste, I wasn’t going to turn this down. I walked out deciding I wouldn't need any equipment besides my armor. Following the torn map I flew into the air when no pony was looking, then flew straight towards the center of Manehattan.
I had to swerve in between the taller buildings the closer I got to the center. When I finally reached it, I found the building to be an old warehouse with spikes along the walls, and bodies of ponies impaled on most of the spikes. This was probably the right place. What other pony would display their kills like this?
“You have no business here!”
The muffled voice of a stallion shouted at me, but they were nowhere in sight.
“Um, I am looking to meet with the Shadow though, he is here right?”
I said looking to the warehouse before me, it looked abandoned and lifeless at first. But that may just be intentional, wanting to be unnoticed by the military.
“Of course… He has been expecting you…”
The stallion responded walking out from the roof of the warehouse and looking down to me.
“Just watch your step, you can't fly by or else you might get shot down. We have been experiencing trouble from some griffins recently so we got snipers set up in high places, don't want them accidentally shooting you down.”
The stallion added pointing to a pile of gravel, he threw a rock onto the pile of gravel and a bear trap sprung up quickly, fast enough it would have broke my leg in half even without the metallic teeth.
“Thanks”
I said sheepishly then started walking towards the warehouse, something made the trot even worse. It was the constant fear of getting my legs torn off without warning, and I couldn't fly or I would get shot… Down… Wait what? Did they just have unicorns set up in high, hard to reach places? Or did they have something else?
I felt my entire body tense up as my hoof touched something metal under a pile of dirt. I didn't know what it was but I wasn't going to take any chances. Maybe getting shot out of the sky wouldn't be that bad, I mean, it sure beats losing a leg.
I jumped into the air flapping my wings quick as I could. As though there was a shark beneath the dirt, a set of metallic jaws emerged swallowing the dirt pile whole. I stopped flying and landed on my hooves looking around hastily wanting to make sure no pony was taking aim.
“I told ya to be careful!”
The stallion shouted sounding as though he were torn on wanting to help or just stay out of harm's way.
I almost reached the massive door to the warehouse when I heard countless screams echo from behind me. I turned to see griffins, falling out of the sky, covered in blood.
“That, was the last straw! You better be ready to die... Because I shall have your heads for this!”
I heard the demented deep voice of the Shadow shout fueled with rage, coming from the same area the griffins were shot down by what I have no idea. But for all I knew the Shadow was shooting griffins down himself, now he was going to make them pay for trespassing.
The door slowly opened with a creak. A pony wearing what looked to be griffin bones for armor, looked down at me and smiled creepily.
“Oh, come inside, please… He has been expecting you.”
The pony said with a gravelly voice which sent chills down my spine. I passed the pony wearing the griffin bones quickly feeling as though just eye contact with him was sending a creepy vibe through me.
The interior of the warehouse was what looked to be a factory. Conveyor belts moving constantly transporting what looked like, gems? To an unseen location, maybe they sold gems for bits.
The walls scorched and the ground covered in ash. But no sign of the armored stallion I assumed would have greeted me, since he was expecting me… Right? Oh wait, he was probably dealing with the griffin trespassers, shouldn’t take too long.
I had no idea where to go, or who to talk to. Multiple ponies wearing cloth and bits of metal for maybe protection, walked alongside the conveyor belt checking each individual gem, I didn’t want to interrupt what they were doing, but at the same time I didn’t want to just stand around for who knows how long.
I took three steps forward and got a fright when a hoof with the rotting claws of a griffin on its end rest on my shoulder casually. I felt my entire body jolt away from the rotting claw and hit the back of my head against a metal support beam, a surge of pain rippling through my neck, spine and rest of my body.
“A little jumpy I see…”
A stallion said in a deep voice, almost like that of “The Shadow’s” for a moment but lacked something, something I couldn’t quite place my hoof on… I looked to the stallion feeling as though my muzzle was bleeding, then again it probably is bleeding. He was wearing a long feathered cloak, likely made from griffin feathers due to the overexposure of dead griffins being used for clothing.
“Well, a little bit. Are - are you the Shadow?”
I asked feeling a little weak in the knees, I looked the stallion in the eyes, they had green eyes, not glowing red, and not orange like I was expecting seeing as how that’s what color his eyes were before.
“Of course I am!”
The stallion said lying through his teeth. The stallion before me didn’t resemble the shadow at all, not even in the slightest bit. This pony had stitches across their entire body, and wore a dead griffin like a feathered coat. Whereas the actual Shadow wore heavily spiked armor and or a trench coat, and had glowing red eyes.
“Oh really?”
I asked feeling my face naturally scrunch up, I had a feeling this stallion was lying just so I might join him blindly.
“Oh no no no no! I have seen the Shadow, and you look nothing like him!”
I shouted not letting the stallion respond, his eyes narrowed as the stallion took several steps closer to face me until he was practically leaning over me. I could feel his breath on my face, and it was revolting!
“You dare mock me?!”
The stallion shouted showing his teeth, rotting away and yellow with plaque.
“Yeah.. I ain’t scared of you.”
I said obviously lying, hoping my slight shaking wouldn’t give me away.
“Oh you should be…”
The stallion spoke backing away, four ponies wearing similar feathery cloaks to the stallion’s, their gender unspecified due to their faces being covered by large skulls of griffins… What is up with these ponies and wearing dead griffins like they are some fancy clothing! I thought quickly getting into a defensive stance.
One of the ponies hit me once in the jaw, I felt my neck crack and I fell back onto my haunches practically defeated in a moment. It felt like that one hit was the equivalent of flying head first into a brick, filled with utter pain. My vision began to blur, my head began to swim, how weak am I to go down in one hit?!
“Tie the weaklin’ up and lock her up as leverage!”
I heard the distant voice of a stallion shout, I couldn’t see where they were but it didn’t really matter. I was lifted up and carried to a metal cage, which looked like a bird cage. They threw me inside violently slamming the door behind me. I lay on the floor of the cage trying to keep my stomach from turning inside out while my head slowly stops spinning.
