"Sweet Celestia that hurts!" I cried out as Silvermelody wiped a white substance over my bloodied shoulder. She was using her wing as the feathers would be lighter than a hoof on the wound.

"Just hold still, it isn't even that deep." Silvermelody said, wiping more of the substance on my shoulder. Blue stifled a laugh and turned to Pippin who was leaning against a tree. After a desperate sprint towards the clouds and forest, we found a small clearing with leaves acting as a roof to protect us from the rain. My shoulder had taken quite a blow from the ground and left a small gash in it and from what Silvermelody could tell, Pippin's nose wasn't broken.

"That doesn't mean it won't sting." I argued. She glared at me and then slapped more of the substance on the wound, hard. I hissed in pain and tried to scoot away from her. She gripped my leg with a hoof and rubbed the wound, the tip of her wing was starting to turn red from the blood that sat on my shoulder. I fell silent and watched as she worked on my shoulder for a little longer before stopping and sticking her wing out in the rain to clean it off. I looked at Emeraldlight who was watching where we had come from. He was more alert than usual and even had his weapon out in front of him.

"Will you put that away, you don't know how to use that thing." Blueblitz took the words right out of my mouth as he stepped in front of him. Emerald looked up at the pegasus,

"Someone has to at least try to keep us safe, Blue, it has been at least an hour since we have gotten here and Blackheart has yet to show up so you expect me to believe that the changelings haven't killed him." He said, dragging his weapon behind him as he walked past the pegasus. Blue looked at him with concern.

"You shouldn't have to stress over this Em, Blackheart can obviously take care of himself and if he is not here we will continue to this town ourselves and get Sil's mother and continue on." He told the Emerald without hesitation. Everypony turned their heads toward Blue.

"Who put you in charge?" Silvermelody questioned arrogantly.

"Yeah!" Neo agreed. Blueblitz smirked,

"Well I did, after all, I am our most physically fit pony and-"

"And, you lack the mental strength to lead a group of ponies, not to mention you are a very arrogant pony." Blackheart said, scaring all of us as he appeared from the shadows. "None of you are worthy enough to be a leader, not yet at least, but hopefully in the future one of you will be able to take on that role. Emeraldlight has taken a step in the right direction and could've been the reason you all got away safely from an ambush." Blackheart mentioned our friend, who smiled in return. "But, he did fail to mention my arrival," he turned the compliment around as he shook his soaked body, throwing off as much water as possible.

"Well it was you, why should I have to let-" Emeraldlight started.

"Why? Because I am your teacher, and your teacher does not want to walk in on a bunch of upset ponies, who are arguing over leadership!" Blackheart cut off, his tone raising slightly. He sighed and looked at all of us. "You will all learn this someday, and I plan to teach you on our path to find the Elements, but for now we need to get moving, those Changelings are not far from us and we have at least an hour until this rain stops." He moved past us and went into the trees. We all looked at one another and followed.

Either Blackheart doesn't like the rain, or this threat is actually scaring him. I thought to myself, catching up with the others. I winced as a large drop of rain hit my wound, Silvermelody didn't have time to wrap it up. I silently prayed for a quick recovery and not an infection.

We continued our trek through the trees, the rain soaking our fur and making some of us shiver. Blackheart had been wrong about the rain, it definitely had been more than an hour and the forest was getting darker, night was upon us. We were all silent, knowing that we could be followed as of that moment, we did not want to reveal anything about our destination just in case. Emerald slipped and fell into a small puddle of mud,

"Oh sweet Celestia my mane!" He whined as he stood back up. He then proceeded to wipe at his wet mane with a hoof. "Ugh, it will take at least three showers to get this off!" He continued to whine and protest. Blackheart did an about face and looked at the coltish stallion.

"You are kidding right, please tell me you're joking! You think mud is a problem, well imagine changelings capturing you! They wouldn't have to do much to get information out of you would they? 'Oh please! Not the face I will tell you anything!'" Blackheart mocked in pure anger. Pippin stepped in front of Blackheart cutting off his view of Emeraldlight.

"Now ya listen here! You ain't gonna mock one of our friends and th'nk you git away from it!" He told the angered pony who smirked in return.

"And what are you going to do about it tough guy, your mother did the same thing for another pony against me. Do you want to know who won that fight?" Blackheart threatened, towering over the usually large stallion. Pippin snorted and through a hoof into the right side of Blackheart's face. Blackheart barely flinched, a small cut in his cheek started to leak blood. He laughed and sat down his hoof wiping the blood off.

"No pony talks about my momma like that especially a pony who hit her!" Pippin threw another punch, but it was stopped by Blackheart's hoof. Blackheart stopped laughing and looked at Pippin.

"That's just it kid, I never laid a hoof on her, she did stand up to me at one point, but we never hit each other unless it was training, the same thing I just did to you." Pippin ripped his hoof out of Blackheart's and looked at the pony. "That anger that you used on me, is a weakness," Blackheart told him as he lifted his own hoof back, "now try and stop my fist." His hoof flew straight into Pippin's chest, sending the pony back a couple of steps. My mouth was wide open, Pippin was a really big pony in terms of muscle, no pony had ever been able to knock him down or back like that. Blackheart looked at Pippin and then the rest of us.

"Those changelings are masters of disguise, which means they are going to do their best to provoke you, bring out the anger inside of you, or make you hesitate long enough to stick a blade in your chest. That was your first lesson, now let's continue, we don't want them to beat us there...trust me." Blackheart turned and continued on as Blueblitz helped Pippin up.

Blackheart still looked tense, it was strange, he was almost always alert. His ears would twitch and the slightest movement from a bush would have him looking at it for a moment before continuing. From what I could tell we were heading towards a small hill in the distance, but these trees were getting thicker and it was getting darker. We could still hear the rain but the canopy had long since blocked the water from hitting the ground around us. We would stop every now and then while Blackheart would run back and get rid of any tracks and then continue once he was done. It was a rhythm we followed for at least two hours until we came to a big open clearing with the hill right in front of us. Blackheart looked around and then faced us.

"Our destination is less than a day's travel from here, but tonight we camp here. Before we leave here tomorrow, we will begin training, starting with your weapons. You will learn how to use them, so get some rest, or you will get hit...a lot," Blackheart told us as he sat down and pulled out some kind of fire pit. He picked up some sticks and put them in the pit before using two twigs to start the fire. Afterwards he place a type of lid over it and the smoke and flames slipped out of the sides, giving us some form of warmth.

I studied the pit, it was shaped like a bowl with holes on the sides the lid sealed the fire inside and the smoke traveled up and quickly dissipated. It was a device that wouldn't let the smoke travel too high up so we wouldn't be followed. It was interesting that was for sure. I put out a small sleeping bag that was inside my travel bag and watched it extend into a full sized sleeping bag. I slithered inside of it and felt rather warm in it. I turned to ask Blackheart if the sleeping bag was enchanted to give the pony inside warmth, but he had disappeared. I watched as my friends settled into their bags and stared into the fire, sleep not taking any of us.

"Did any of you see where Blackheart went?" I asked quietly.

"He went into the forest, he's probably checking for anything threatening." Neo told me with a smile. She was always happy and usually loud, but it looked like this journey had gotten to her too. "I'm so nervous and excited about meeting Silvermelody's mom! I guess you could say I'm nervouscited!" Neo almost jumped out of her bag, but decided against it.

"Shhh...keep it down, do you want Blackheart to know we are still awake." Blue ordered quietly.

"Wow I didn't know Blackheart had scared you that much Blue," I teased the stallion who snorted in response. "I don't know if you noticed Pippin, but Blackheart said something about your mom standing up to him earlier." Pippin nodded.

"Ah did, Pa always told me stories of her, how she defended Equestria and saved ponies daily, but Ah just figured they was stories ya know." He smiled as he talked about her.

"Yeah and I'm guessing Blackheart was like this before with them too," Silvermelody pitched in. "I mean if your mom had to stand up to him too, then that means he has always been like this. I kind of wonder what made him like this." I nodded in agreement.

"Blackheart is very secretive, did you notice how cautious he was today?" I asked.

"Isn't he always cautious?" Emeraldlight questioned.

"Well yes, but he seemed even more cautious, like he would check every bush that rustled, he didn't do that in the Everfree," I told them as I sat up.

"Maybe he just new to this area?" Neo defended.

"I doubt it, after all he knows where we are going. Do any of you think there is something other than Fluttershy that he is trying to hide?" I questioned. Everypony shrugged in response.

"He is a very secretive pony, Dusk, I doubt any of us could just ask him." Silvermelody read my mind.

"Yeah but there will be a pony who does know Sil, your mom." I said.

"Good point, but I don't think I want to meet my mother and just start asking questions about some other pony that she knows." Silvermelody told me. I sighed and agreed,

"Mothers first than Blackheart." I told her as she turned over. I looked up at the starlit sky and sighed one final time before closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep.

..............................................................

I looked down at the group of ponies as they slept. After I had set up the campfire I had left to check the area for anything that could have been a threat, like a spy, a scout, or just a dangerous animal. When I had returned and jumped into this tree, I had been listening to their conversation with a sad smile. I did regret hitting Pippin earlier, but I was happy to have a way to explain why I did it. The truth was, I was already on edge and seeing a pony complaining about their mane just pissed me off.

This curse of mine was starting to get out of control again, just a bit longer, and then it'll all end. I just need to find that last piece. I thought as my heart throbbed in pain. I heard my name amongst the conversation the group was having and listened in. that kid of yours is very observant Sentry, I am going to be careful from now on. I thought as I looked down at the group and then at the hill. Let's just hope he has more in store to surprise me than some observational skills. Otherwise training might hurt tomorrow.

..................................................

I watched the field of magic blink as it surged through the bubble.

"Sir, General Armor is requesting to speak with you." I pulled my helmet off and looked at the unicorn messenger below me.

"Pull him up." The guard nodded and a screen appeared in front of me. On the screen sat a pony with a blue mane and white fur, new wrinkles were starting to show and his muzzle looked a little gray. His purple and gold armor sat proudly on his muscular body.

"Captain Sentry." He said my rank with a nod.

"General Armor." I replied with my own nod.

"Have they left yet?" He asked with a stern look.

"Yes sir, they left two days ago with Blackheart as their guide." General Armor rubbed the back of his head with a hoof.

"Twilight won't be to happy about that, I know Celestia isn't." I shook my head.

"She needs to be, after all only Blackheart could protect them and remain anonymous," I told my superior. The stallion on the screen sighed.

"True, but you know how are, Celestia will never trust a pony with a black heart, and Twilight, well, you know how she is." I laughed.

"Yep, but right now I just hope for a safe return with no casualties." I said. General Armor nodded in agreement.

"Amen to that, how's Ponyville holding up?" I laughed.

"Its doing fine, you forget how many times this has happened in the past, the ponies here are used to it." I said in confidence. The General laughed,

"Very true, I will be sending in myself and some troops to help defend the location three days before they arrive, it's a risky maneuver, but it will buy them some time to get back." I looked at the General.

"It'll be good to have you here sir." The General sighed.

"Once this has all settled I'm gonna set something up for all of us to catch up, the kids are going to want to see their moms without intervention before school starts back up," he said before turning and talking to a guard off screen. He turned back to me, "I gotta go, I have some paperwork to do," he said.

"Understood, Sentry out," the screen faded and the messenger left the room. I grabbed a picture off of the small table next to the throne. It was a picture of Twilight and I with a smaller version of Duskshine. Twilight had small bags underneath her eyes from staying up late with the foal. This was the night Dusk had figured out he had magic and was teleporting all over the castle. I smiled and looked at my wife with tears in my eyes.

"Please come back home safely, and please let us all be back together again..."

.........................................................

"Fix your form Dusk, a baby changeling can knock you over with how you are standing!" Blackheart yelled. I bent my knees and struck at the tree again with my sword. I wiped the sweat off my brow and stabbed at the tree again. We had been training for the past two hours, the sun was now over the hill. "There you go Silvermelody! Treat those arrows like they are apart of you, same with you Emeraldlight, you must move your weapon like it is you, otherwise-"

"Ahhh!" Emeraldlight fell over clothing his forehoof in pain as it became blood red. I watched as Blackheart sprinted over and levitated a bottle out of his bag and over to Emeraldlight.

"Drink this, quickly before you lose too much blood," he poured the green liquid down Emeraldlight's throat and told the stallion to swallow. Emerald swallowed it quickly and then winced as the blood faded and his wound slowly closed itself. Blackheart then stood back up and looked at the rest of us, "what are you looking at, get back to it," I opened my mouth to intervene. "Its a potion made to heal a pony and give them a slight boost in adrenaline, the ingredients are very rare so I only have a few, so don't up and hurt yourself." He told me as he helped Emerald back on his hooves. He looked like nothing had happened and actually looked excited. I thought back to the cabin when Blackheart came in with a limp and then reemerged as if nothing had happened.

I turned and fixed my form again, this time getting the hang of my weapon and moving the blade faster across the tree. I heard hoofsteps behind me and the saw Blackheart in my peripheral vision.

"Good, good, but instead of moving quickly and sloppily, try focusing on certain points of the tree." Blackheart moved to the other side of the tree and removed both swords from their sheathes. He held a very similar stance to mine and the made three quick cuts into the tree before stabbing one of the blades into it. I moved to his side to see what he had cut. It was triangle with his singular stab right in the middle of it. "The more accurate, the more lethal your strikes. The more lethal your strikes, the quicker your opponent goes down. The quicker your opponent goes down, the safer you become. An old mentor of mine told me that." I looked at the stallion as he returned his swords to their cover and then went to yelling at Neo who was struggling with her weapons, two chakrum that floated around her.

From what Blackheart had said the weapons were enchanted to follow their owner's mental commands and avoid the physical body of their owner. It was an ancient pony spell and if mastered could become a very deadly spell on any weapon as it focused on the mind. Pippin's hammer operated very similar, except he had to wear a special band on his hoof to use it. The aura almost looked like a leash that held the whole weapon at bay. I stopped for a second to see how Blueblitz was accommodating to his weapons. He had two blades on his wings that he could take off and use in his mouth or hooves if he wanted to, and from what I could tell he was a natural at them.

Blackheart glared at me and gestured with a hoof for me to turn around and attack the tree.

..............................................................

When I had tasked the six ponies with their training routine, I wasn't expecting any of them to do decent with their weapon choice. Their mothers were especially terrible at first, but these ponies were different. Silvermelody especially caught my eye, instantly figuring out how to work the bow and even using methods that I didn't believe were possible with a bow. Blueblitz seemed like he already knew his weapons, doing spins and even throwing the blades before catching them in his hooves or teeth and swinging them that way. I could only guess this was Soarin's doing as only he and Rainbow Dash truly knew how to use those. Emeraldlight was having trouble, especially since he was a male, but he was catching on, almost treating the weapon like a ribbon in a ballet dance. Pippin was doing well, only really having an issue with spinning the weapon behind him.

Neo was having the hardest time with her chakram, they had just mindlessly hovered when she had first tried to use them. I had to realize her brain worked like Pinkepie's, no control or focus of what was happening in her head. So I had to use the same method that I had used on her mother, which consisted of forcing her to focus on the blades and then slowly but surely moving them forward. Now she was swinging them quickly and rather violently, it almost had me scared. Then there was Duskshine, the pony with potential but little to no skill. He was struggling with just holding the blade, afraid of cutting himself, then as time went on he was changing his form and swinging violently without any care. The sword was the most simple weapon to use, but it was the hardest to master. He had finally grown accustomed to the sword whenever I had finally showed him how to use accurate strikes rather than quick blows.

Of course this was only the beginning of their training. I took one final look at the group, they were sweating profusely and I could tell that they were getting tired. That was my cue to cut them off, four hours from when we started.

"Alright, that's enough for today!" I called out to all of them, "now gather around for breakfast," they all returned their weapons to their bags and then pulled out the bread that I had given them. I grabbed my slice of bread and joined them.

"So, how do you all feel about your weapons?" I asked as I took a bite. Neo was the first to speak.

"Honestly my head hurts from focusing on those things, but I think maybe after I don't know, a day or two, I will have it down!" She said before tearing another piece of bread off and chewing it. Pippin swallowed his bite and then looked at me.

"The hammer is heavy, but Ah feel like Ah can handle it soon enough." He said confidently.

"My dad had taught me a little bit about the those blades, he said something about them being used by the Wonderbolts during some war many years ago, but they haven't been used since. They feel great, and I think its pretty awesome that I get to use them." Blueblitz said.

"I have studied the bow in my free time, but this is my first time ever holding one, it almost felt like it belonged in my hooves already, so I just used what I could remember from the books I read, it felt like I was doing good, but in reality I could have done better," Silvermelody told me, biting into her bread once more.

"That weapon reminds me of a ribbon almost, just heavier and well, deadlier. I tried to use it as a whip, but after my injury...I decided to use an old ballet technique from one of my classes. Afterwards it was easy." Emeraldlight mentioned. I looked at him,

"Now to figure out how to adapt that technique into a lethal technique." Emerald nodded in response. I looked at Duskshine who had just finished his bread. "How about you, how did the sword feel?"

"It felt interesting, the weight of it in my magic was unbalanced, forcing me to put more effort into the blade and less into the hilt. Learning that there isn't a specific set that you have to use, but that all techniques involved precise strikes in different manners intrigued me. I will have to learn my own way around the sword, so I can use it without failure." He lectured, swinging the bag onto his side and clipping it around him.

"Remember there is no such thing as perfection, I even had to tell your mother that." I told him.

"Speaking of which, what were they like?" He asked. Everypony froze and looked at me. I sighed and stood up, wiping my cloak of all the crumbs and putting it back on.

"Your mothers were very good ponies, Fluttershy being the most innocent and the most kind, but she is the Element of Kindess, so she had that going for her. I thought your fathers would have said something." I told them as I clipped my own bag to me.

"They did, but they never told us about the bad, they only spoke of them as if they were dead." Blue said, stretching his wings.

"Well, they had many flaws. Fluttershy was always so timid and nervous, she almost tried to heal the enemy several times, she was too kind in a sense, but also too assertive at times. Pinkie was always so hyper, she never saw the dangers as dangerous until too late, Rainbow Dash was always too cocky for her own good and would always end up in some sort of trouble. Applejack could be too honest at times, and would get herself hurt over doing things and would even let her anger get the best of her. Rarity was too self-conscious about herself and her image and would sometimes lash out because of it, but she did her best to maintain everything, overworking herself. Then there was Twilight, their leader and overall the reason that they became the Elements of Harmony, even earning her wings and the title Princess of Friendship. Unfortunately, she was always so invested into her books and her princess work that she never cared for anypony else, and when experiencing new emotions she did things that she would end up regretting. She was the most flawed, but most leaders are. I guess that's why Celestia chose her as her pupil." I told them. They all looked at one another before looking at me.

"I think I speak for all of us when I say, thank you Blackheart, we now know more about our mothers than we ever did know." I nodded at Emeraldlight. I wish I could give them a genuine smile, but alas I could not, my heart wouldn't let me.

"Now let's get going, we are losing daylight, and I am pretty sure Fluttershy would like to see her daughter before the moon rises." I also hoped that I could see who I wanted to before the moon was in the sky.

Author's Note

And that was Shadows of the Past. The next part will surely be an interesting one as I have now mapped out the whole course of the book, I even decided to use certain notes for later chapters, which is why I'm able to get these out so quickly...also because I really want to take this story and make it, well really good compared to the other stories I have been writing. Otherwise I will talk to y'all in the next chapter...