Prologue - We’ve been watching, we’ve been waiting
Deep inside the Everfree Forest, in the ruins of an old castle, they were waiting.
Many centuries had passed since Goddess had spoken to them for the first time. At that time they were mere ponies, not knowing about their true destiny. Not until the Goddess had opened their eyes.
They were the fastest, most skilled and strongest fliers among the Pegassi. They should’ve ruled over their kind. Instead they were servants of a selfish sun princess. Slaves instead Queens! Fools without a true purpose! But she could give them back their rightful place in exchange for their undying loyality.
As they stood there and listed to the words of the Goddess, they realized that she had spoken the truth. So they followed her into the shadows and became her most loyal warriors.
In the Name of the Goddess they fought countless battles, crushing everpony who dared to oppose her. Soon Ponies all over Equestria whispered their name in fear: Shadowbolts.
But the sun princess was jealous. She refused to accept that the Goddess was the rightful ruler of Equestria and fought against her. The followers of the Goddess were imprisoned and the minions of the sun princess spread lies. The Goddess was called a monster and a tyrant. Sadly, many believed those lies and even some of her own followers started questioning the Goddess.
She quickly punished those fools, but it was too late. The lies of the sun princess had poisoned the minds of most of her followers. More and more of them betrayed her, sneaking away like the cowards they were. The Shadowbolts, however, remained at her side all the time.
For many years the Shadwobolts fought against the sun princess and her followers, despite being heavily outnumbered. The Goddess was now a fugitive, chased by her sister and eventually they took shelter in the cursed forest.
And here in the dark heart of the cursed forest, with no other place to run, the Shadowbolts fought their last battle. The sun princess offered them mercy in exchange for their betrayal but the Shadowbolts stood firm. They fought with great bravery and died with the name of the Goddess on their lips. After a long fight, the sun princess emerged victorious and with dark magic she imprisoned the Goddess on the moon.
Centuries passed, many generations of ponies were born and died.The Goddess was nothing more than an old-mares-tale to scary little fillies.
Deep inside the Everfree Forest, in the ruins of an old castle, they were waiting. Waiting until the Goddess would return. Until the stars would aid her in her escape.
Then after thousand years the Goddess finally escaped, still as beautiful and proud as on the first day, to claim her rightful place. She called for her loyal servants and the Shadowbolts came, ready to sever her again.
All they had to do was to stop six young mares with nothing but their courage from reaching the palace. It seemed almost too easy.
The blue Pegasus was so proud, so arrogant, so full of herself. There was no way that she would refuse to the offer from the Shadowbolts.
But they had failed. They had failed at the most important time.
Without bodies the Shadowbolts could only watch helplessly as the minions of the sun princess entered the palace. Again dark magic was unleashed and the Goddess was destroyed. All that remained was a grotesque parody, a shell that was a mere shadow of her former glory.
The ponies celebrated the death of the Goddess and quickly moved on with their lives like nothing had happened. The Shadowbolts, however, hadn’t forgotten. They would never forget! The Goddess may be gone, but as long as there was one Shadowbolt her memory would live on.
Deep inside the Everfree Forest, in the ruins of an old castle, they were waiting.
All they needed was one simple pony. One simple pony that was worthy to become their new Captain. Then they Shadowbolts would fly one last time and Equestria would pay for betraying their one true Goddess…
***
In Canterlot, on a balcony on the highest tower of the royal place stood the Princess of the Night, watching over the sleep of her loyal subjects. Her gaze wandered over the nightly Canterlot, illuminated by the light of the moon. The only sounds that disturbed the silence of the night were the hoof clacks of the Night guards.
Luna, however, couldn’t enjoy the peace. Since weeks she felt restless. Like something bad was about to happened and the last days were just the calm before the storm. What made this kind of frustrating was the fact the she couldn’t explain why she felt that way. There were no signs of an upcoming threat: Discord was still a statue in the garden, Tartarus was well-guarded by Ceberus and they Changlings hadn’t made a move in the last half year.
So all Luna could do was looking for signs of an upcoming disaster. Sure she could’ve told her sister about all this, but what if she was wrong? She couldn’t just trust her gut in that matter. Celestia already took care of so many things; she didn’t need to worry about Luna’s vague feeling of impending doom, too.
One last time her gaze wandered to the horizon. Being the Princess of the Night had many advantages. One of them was her incredible visual perception: She could see in the night as good as in borad daylight.
Her eyes wandered over the nightly silhouette of Ponyville and the large Everfree Forest at the town’s border. The dark wood was hiding many secret, some of them older than the Princesses.Many strange creatures lived under its leaves, some friendly others... not so much. He was beautiful and terrible at the same time. And he had its own rule. Sometimes Luna wondered if the forest was alive.
She noticed that the trees were swaying in the wind: A storm was brewing. This wasn’t an unusual occurrence: Somehow the weather in the forest worked on it’s one without the help of ponies. Most of the time the storm clouds would stay over the Forest and the few times they moved toward Ponyville the nightshift of the weather team had dispatched them quickly.
So there was nothing to worry about, it was just another quiet night. In a few hourse Celestia would rise the sun and Luna could get some much-needed sleep. It was going to be a long day.The Wonderbolts were holding a try-out at the Canterlot stadium and Luna was the guest of honor.
Luna yawned and trotted back inside. The pale, transparent Pony that had stood right next to the Princess the whole time watched her with sad eyes. Then she spread her wings a flew into the night.
