What lays behind the chaos.

Chapters

Prologue
Out of control
On the tracks of a better future
Shadows of the past: A new beginning Pt.1
Secrets and Lies
Shadows of the past: A new beginning Pt.2
First clues
Shadows of the past: Forging bonds

Prologue

Prologue

It was a massive event, and the whole world was excited about this specific date, for it was the day of a solar eclipse. What was so special about this eclipse was the fact that it could be seen anywhere in the world, even the side of the planet that was in shadows at the moment wouldn't miss the event, for they had a lunar eclipse. In fact, the parts of the world in which it was night would see the full show. This event had concerned many scientists for it seemed impossible that everywhere in the world this eclipse could be seen, and after many failed investigations they decided that they couldn't explain it so they would just enjoy the show.

The day of the eclipse, or the night if you prefer because all the towns and cities were demanded a black out so the lights wouldn't interfere, everyone was paying close attention to the reunion of the sun and the moon. Those who were watching a lunar eclipse had a great surprise, as the moon and the sun seemed to get closer and closer they could see six bright stars. But the colors of the stars were odd, as each of the stars had its own definite color. They were white, cyan blue, pink, light yellow, orange, and the brightest of them all- purple. But the oddest part about them was that even from the surface of Earth, the colors could be defined perfectly,

When the moon was completely covering the sun, a green glow emerged from it. Those watching the lunar eclipse also watched as the six stars circled around the eclipse as the glow appeared from it. This glow covered the whole planet for a short period of time- as long as it took the eclipse to complete itself and then end, like a normal eclipse does. The green glow frightened most of the people, but when it went away and they noticed nothing had happened, so they calmed down. This calm didn't last long as they soon noticed that people were missing. The following days the news was dominated by this phenomenon, along with the missing people. Scientists tried to explain the glow and the rotating stars, while security agencies looked for the missing, though their efforts were useless.

>--------------------------------------------------<

The thousands of people who went missing were, strangely enough, transported to another world. It seemed that they had all blacked out during the trip, for when they awoke, they found they weren't themselves any more. They had all been somehow transformed into unnaturally colored ponies and were surrounded by thousands of other ponies (their fellow travelers), sitting on what seemed like a giant platform. In the middle of the platform, there were eight exhausted ponies. Two were bigger than the others and had both wings and horns. Alicorns, were they called? The six others were evenly separated into unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies. As soon as all of them got their bearings they took a look around and were overwhelmed with joy. They knew these eight ponies, they knew them very well. They didn't know how, or why, but they were all from a TV show, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. They all had in common a great liking for it, though they hated to admit it. This recognition, trivial as it was, served to calm them a bit.

All the people who were transported to Equestria, the land where they now were in, were exhilarated. They all had fantasies of getting there, and suddenly there they were! After Princess Celestia greeted the newcomers and told them where they were(though they already knew) she told them she had brought them there to live happily, since she knew some of them weren't happy in their home world. She then told them that they could roam freely in Equestria, for they were now considered full citizens. She also told them they would be provided with shelter and sustenance until they had established themselves.

The people, who were now ponies, were given the name of "newcomers". They stayed together for a while before deciding to part ways, and making lives of their own. Some were inventors, others were artists, but they all cared for the future of Equestria and did their best to make it a better place, as they all lived in harmony.

But this peace didn't last long. Soon the majority of the ponies were divided into two sides, based on their ideals for the future of the land. These two sides were "The Lunar Republic" and "The Solar Empire". Each side was lead by the sisters that once ruled together, and some newcomers who lead the armies, this division between the ponies drove the land into a war that divided it. The war continued since both factions wanted full control of the land. The ponies who did not take sides decided to flee from their war- torn home, seeking refuge in other parts of the world.

Both factions started making alliances, having secrets, plotting under the table, until corruption found its way to the top of both sides. Unfortunately those who didn't agree with the decisions of the leaders, no matter how important they could be in the sides they belonged to, couldn't do anything to stop the plans this leaders had for the future of their faction, and of the whole land.

Out of control

Out of control

It was a dark, stormy night. Nearly everypony stayed inside, sheltered from the rain, but there was one who had too much running through his mind to care about the rain.

Shadow Lightning, a young grey pegasus with a black and golden mane and a matching tail, former general of the Lunar army, dashed trough the houses, heading for the castle at the center of the citadel. Upon reaching the front gate, he was greeted by the guards. He ignored them, as he was in a hurry to get to the throne room. He ran into the castle, having all the guards opening doors for him without hesitation.

As he arrived at the throne room he saw his friend Midnight Flare and said

"Midnight! I think something's going on-" he said gasping for air "-I've looked everywhere! I can't seem to find her, and I'm starting to worry. This is not like her. Have you seen her anywhere? Did she come here..."

Shadow stopped looking directly at Midnight, noticing something odd. A strangely wide smile started to form at his face as Shadow explained the situation.

"What do you know about this?!" Shadow said, getting angry at the black pony.

Midnight stood up from his seat and walked towards Shadow, smiling, his dark green mane flowing.

"You seem confused" Midnight giggled, "you also look tired, sit down..."

"Cut the bullshit Midnight!" Shadow interrupted "Explain yourself!"

Midnight's smile faded slightly

"You sound like you don't know." Midnight went on, "I did tell you this was going to happen, didn't I?"

"What do you mean!?" Shadow asked angrily, "What did you do to her?! What did you do to Luna!?"

Midnight stopped smiling completely.

"Since you don't seem to remember I'll tell you again." Midnight started "I told you the time of royalty was over! I told you the rule of the alicorns was due for an end! You seemed to agree with me, don't you remember?"

"I never agreed to THIS!" Shadow replied.

"Of course you did. Or.. were you just blinded by your envy, and agreed with me just to get rid of him?"

Shadow didn't answer, he just turned his head, avoiding eye contact.

"Ha! It was that!" Midnight laughed, "I can't believe it! But don't worry, I took care of him too."

"Why would you do this!?"

"For the good of the Republic, of course!"

"The Republic?" Shadow started "How can you say this was for the Lunar Republic? Have you forgotten how this all started? Have you forgotten WHY this all started?"

"The Republic has changed." Midnight replied "Those reasons are not important anymore, for we have to care for our future now. We have to put an end to the war."

"Don't you see? Without the princess, this can't be done! There is no way you can lead us to victory, and you gave them the advantage Midnight!"

As Shadow said this, a messenger entered the room.

"Reports from the Solar Empire sir!" the messenger said "They say their part of the deal is done."

"Thank you" said Midnight. "You may leave now"

"Yes sir!"

Shadow stood there. Speechless.

"See," Midnight re-started "there is nothing to worry about now they're in the same situation as us."

"What does this mean Midnight?! You plotted with the Empire? Just to fulfill your idea of overthrowing the alicorns? How could you do this?"

"I told you already. It was for the good of the Republic"

"The good of the Republic? THIS!? Are you crazy? You are damning us, Midnight! This isn't what I've been fighting for all these years, and if this is course the Republic is taking, then don't count me in. I won't be part of this! I'm leaving!"

"Leaving?" Midnight asked angrily "Do you think this is some game you can quit whenever you want? This is war, Shadow, and we have to end it! You are not leaving the Republic! YOU DON'T LEAVE THE REPUBLIC! THE REPUBLIC LEAVES YOU! And if it leaves you, you better pray to god you're still able to walk when it lets you go! NO you're not going anywhere Shadow, I don't care how you feel now. You started this and I am going to end it!"

"I started it alright." Shadow answered "And I'm going to end it too, but not like this. I don't know what happened to you Midnight, but I won't let you keep going with this. I'm going to end this!" Shadow started heading for the door "I'm going to stop you"

"I want to see you try." Midnight smiled widely, "let's see who gets who first"

Shadow left the room feeling absolutely livid. He was determined to find out what had happened to Luna, and stop Midnight from ruining the Republic.

On the tracks of a better future

On the tracks of a better future

Shadow left the room angrily, and stomped the ground with every step he took. He was determined to stop Midnight, and he knew he couldn't do it alone. He also had an idea of who could help him. He started running, went down the stairs, and found himself in front in the dungeon of the castle. Only one guard on duty was down there, and the guard saluted Shadow.

"At ease soldier." Shadow said. The guard lowered his hoof. "I will take the next guard shift, you are free to go"

"Thank you Sir!" The guard replied, and left the room.

Shadow waited until the guard had climbed the stairs and he couldn't hear his hoofsteps anymore. When the guard was far enough, Shadow opened the cell's door, and entered the confinement. Inside was one prisoner alone, chained to a wall. The pony was nothing but skin and bones, barely surviving out of the little food that was brought to her daily. Shadow closed the door behind him, reached the further wall and hit angrily with his right hoof.

"DAMN IT!" he said as he hit the wall, the loud noise woke up the prisoner from her sleep.

"Wha-what is going on?" asked the pony as she awoke, "Shadow? Is that you? What is going on here?"

"Midnight started it, Twilight! That's what happened!"

"What do you mean he ‘started it‘?" asked Twilight Sparkle, starting to worry.

Shadow turned to face Twilight, -the sole survivor of the legendary six wielders of the elements of harmony, after the events that took the lives of the other five.- He then released her from the chains and let her walk through the cell freely.

"As we thought, Midnight went mad with power." Shadow started. "He... he took full control of the republic, and is planning to end the war on his terms."

"But how could he do that? I thought Princess Luna had gotten full control of the situation and was keeping the war from going to further measures."

"That's the thing... I don't know how, but" Shadow paused for a second as he was about to cry. "He somehow took her away."

"What!?" Twilight asked in shock and fear, "How could he do that?"

"I don't know, but I'm gonna do anything to stop him, I have to do it! I can't let him do as he wishes, I WILL TAKE HIM DOWN!"

"Calm down, Shadow!" Twilight interjected. "Think about this! You are talking nonsense! Please calm down for a second!"

"Sorry." Shadow said.

"You are usually quick minded and think before acting! What has gotten into you?"

"Is just...Luna. I can't believe she's gone. I-I don't know if I can keep..."

Twilight put her hoof in Shadow's shoulder, comforting him.

"OK." Shadow started again. "Lets think this through"

"That's the Shadow I know. So what do you mean ‘took her away‘? What did he do?"

"I'm not sure, but I fear the worst. I believe he might have killed her"

"This is worse than I thought, do you have any idea how he did it?"

"I don't know, sorry."

"Well if he did it, he must have a really strong power on his side. Something strong enough to take down an Alicorn"

"Whatever it is, he didn't do it alone. For I heard the same happened to Celestia, so I fear he might have gotten into a deal with the empire"

"Celestia?! This is... this can't be true. What is going too happen now, without the princesses?"

"I don't know but I will do anything I can to stop them and give peace to this land once and for all."

"If you plan on doing that, you can't do it alone. You will need help."

"But what can I do?"

"I believe there is only one thing that might be stronger than what Midnight used to take Luna and Celestia down."

"What is it!? What can we do to stop them?"

"There is nothing WE can do. Unfortunately I am confined to this cell, and even if you can get me out, I'm too weak, and I would only drag you down. You have to find the elements of harmony."

"The elements?! But there is no way to use them!"

"You know where they are right?"

"Well yes, I know where the five necklaces and the crown are, but still there is no way to use them, not since your friends-they... I'm sorry."

"You don't have to remind me, and you don't have to apologize again. Anyway, there is a way to use them, as you know the spirits of the elements can be found in 6 special ponies. Since my friends... passed away, a new group of ponies gained the spirits of the elements, and this new group must use the elements now that they are most needed."

"But how am I supposed to find them? They could be anywhere in Equestria."

"The elements are meant to be joined, and I believe you are meant to do this. I trust you. I am sure you can find the five ponies that you need to stop Midnight from dragging this land to its doom."

"Five ponies?"

"You already have the element of magic, and you need to find the remaining five in order to use the elements."

"Still you are the only one who knows this much about the elements, without you there is no way I can find them."

"There is somepony else who can help you. Your friend, Luna's old apprentice, she knows as much as I do about the elements-maybe even more. If you can find her, you can find the elements too. If you really want to stop Midnight, I think this is the only way you can do it."

"Alright, I will find her, if you think she can help." Shadow reached to Twilight and hugged her.

"Thanks you for your help." He then tied her up again. "I promise I will do all I can to stop them, and bring peace back to Equestria."

He turned around and faced the cell's door. As he left, he ended the conversation.

"And Twilight... I'm sorry for everything that has happened, I never expected it to go this way."

Twilight smiled as Shadow left the room. Shadow got out of the cell, closed the door behind him, then climbed up the stairs and headed out of the castle and citadel. He knew what he had to do, but before he could do it, he had something else to do.

He had to find out exactly what had happened, and he knew where he could find out, and to do so, he needed to go to the capital of the Solar Empire and find out how Midnight had gotten their help. Shadow was determined to stop his old friend and his madness, and would do everything in his power to keep the war from going any further.

Shadows of the past: A new beginning Pt.1

Shadows of the past: A new beginning Pt.1

I decided to write my memories down, face the truth of what happened, and try to explain how and why everything led to how it is today. I feel most of this might be my own fault, and if anything happens to me, I want someone to know how it all started.

I still remember the night of the eclipse like it had been yesterday, everyone else was making so much of a fuss about it. The day that was ending had developed like a normal one, I woke up in the morning, drank a cup of coffee, went out to my job, worked until the day started to die- with the necessary lunch break- saved my work, and set off for home. It was a normal, mid-week day, and there was no reason for it to be special- at least that's how I saw it, but for everyone else around me it was a magical event:

"Oh my god a lunar eclipse! Lets turn this whole shit around just for one night, and fuck up everyone's schedules!"

I had worked all day and I just wanted to go to bed and call it a night. It was mid-week, and if the event had happened on Friday or Saturday, I might have considered giving a fuck about it. I thought that if it was so special, I could find the recording the next day on the news or on the internet, and it would even come with a soundtrack.

My plans to stay at my place and sleep were ruined by my sister. Having our family's need to be united all the time(which had died on me a little after our parents passing), she invited me to a party she was hosting to see the eclipse. She insisted that I needed to go out more often, and that I needed a better social life. Knowing I didn't have a girlfriend she also insisted I might meet someone in the party. I groaned for a bit, but knowing my sister, there was nothing I could have said that could keep me from going, and to avoid her nagging any further I just accepted and told her I was on my way out.

I groaned all the way from dressing up to going out, and then walking to my sister's place, I didn't care about the eclipse at all. Don't get me wrong, but even if it was such an event as a solar and lunar eclipse at the same time that could be seen from anywhere, I was certain that a couple weeks later, astronomers would have discovered the reason for the event and would spoil it for the rest of the world taking the magic away, making it just a random event with no special meaning.

I got to my sister's place, and as soon as I got in there, there were family members and friends I had not seen in a long time, intentionally. They all surrounded me and asked how I was, as they really cared. After a few of the most frivolous questions they left me alone to my luck. There was no one new to meet, and most of the people in the party were those who I had been trying to avoid for the last part of my life. I rolled over to my sister and said a general "hello" to those around her, talked to her for a minute, thanked her for the invitation with a fake smile drawn in my face, and let her be.

The rest of the night I spent it with the only relative I could bear with. I talked to him for a while, about work and life. Neither of us cared for anything, but we thought we had to get the news on each other's life after having shared so much of our youth. I drank with him for a while and when the alcohol finally made annoyance impossible to hide, I discretely went to my sister's room and threw myself in the bed. I could hear the party sounds in the other room, and it all went silent at some point. I didn't even worry about it and it didn't last too long, for everyone in the other room started to count down from 10 as the eclipse was about to reach its final moment, and the moon would block the sun.

I remember hearing everyone scream the number 5 before I fell asleep. I woke up after that without having any kind of dream, for the sunlight woke me up- too bright to be inside either my sister's room or my own, and too bright to be anywhere in town as the buildings would normally block most of the sunlight. I didn't open my eyes and I couldn't. I tried to stand up on my legs but I fell down immediately. So I held myself up on all fours for a while. After recovering consciousness I decided it was time to open my eyes, and find out where I was.

As I opened my eyes the light struck, me forcing me to shut them back down immediately. The hangover was killing me, but I managed to get to my senses and think straight for a second. wherever I was at, a solid, flat texture on the floor made me notice it wasn't grass. But it wasn't the feeling of a street either. I finally forced my eyes to open, knowing there was no other way. What I saw first was a white floor, which was the surface I was putting my hands on. At least what I thought were my hands. I looked down and instead of hands there were to hooves touching the ground. I tried to move one, and in fact I was controlling them. I started to recover the rest of my senses, and I could hear the birds flying around. I could smell the sweet spring breeze.

After seeing what had happened to my hands I shook my head quickly and turned to see where I was. Probably get a hold of myself, to understand what was happening. What I saw shocked me. I was surrounded by horses. Ponies to be precise, and they, or maybe we, as I noticed I was one myself, were strangely colorful. I recognized these ponies. It wasn't natural, they looked similar to the ponies from our world but their shapes and colors weren't natural. I knew I had seen this before, and I had seen it in a TV show thousands of times before. These ponies, including myself, came from "My little pony: Friendship is magic". A show I constantly watched.

Some of the ponies were awake like me, but most were still sleeping. I turned my head to the center of where we were standing on, which seemed to be some sort of platform, standing there, exhausted were eight ponies, I recognized them immediately. The bigger ones were two Alicorns, the princesses, Celestia, and Luna. The other six were the six most famous ponies you could imagine: Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack.

I couldn't take my eyes off them for a long moment, until I noticed something in my own body that drew my attention. I noticed two extra limbs in my back, and when I looked back I noticed I had a pair of wings.

I couldn't believe any of it. The ponies, my wings, just everything seemed like a dream. I struggled around looking for a way to pinch myself and wake up, which was difficult with my new hooves. I figured the only thing I could do was bite myself. It was really painful, since my jaw had become stronger than before.

After more ponies woke up I started talking to those next to me, and noticed they were in my same situation. They couldn't believe what was happening either, for they were humans too. After most of us woke up, Celestia pulled a hoof up, and guard ponies stepped on the platform starting to inspect the ponies in the platform. I figured they were counting us, and making sure everyone would be awake. The guards did 3 inspection rounds, and finally nodded to each other then sent a signal to Celestia meaning all of us were awake. Celestia stepped forward and rose her voice:

"Welcome to Equestria!" she started, "I am princess Celestia, and along with my sister, princess Luna, we are the rulers of this land. I'm sure you all have plenty of questions, which will be answered in their due time. Right now I will have to ask you to get off the platform, to the identification center below."

She pointed out the direction we had to take, and we walked down to a large amount of registration tables- in which we were given new names(which we could either keep or choose different ones), indications to follow, and a guide to the town of Ponyville, in which our questions would be answered and new indications would be given.

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Along the way me and the other ponies that were being guided to the town were full of questions as well as a huge excitement about our current situation, we talked along the way, and noticed none of us was scared about the situation, and we were all looking forward to see where it was going.

Upon arriving to the town we were guided to an enormous building. Looking through the windows, I noticed the building was partially full of educational rooms, or rather classrooms. The other part consisted of bedrooms, so I figured it might be some kind of board school. We were guided inside, and once inside the guides called our names, then the new names we had been given before, and assigned us shared rooms (two ponies in each room), they told us to rest. After doing so, they left us to ourselves.

We were all still confused, and the promise of question answering Celestia had made wasn't fulfilled. We argued with each other, trying to complain to the guides, but eventually figured it was no use. We decided to go to our rooms, where soft beds and hot food were waiting for us, for dinner was a time in which we could meet our new room mates more closely- and my roommate and I were eager to make some new friends. His name was Michael, but the name he was given at the registration tables, right after awaking was Midnight Flare. He was a black pegasus pony, with a dark green mane and tail, and on his flank was the image of a green fireball. I introduced myself as Shadow Lightning, and we found it funny to use these new names. After dinner I noticed the bathroom inside the room and went inside, where I had the first chance to look completely at my new body. I had become a grey pegasus, with light blue hair (or mane), a dark blue stripe in my hair and a matching tail. I also noticed the image of two crossed black lightning bolts on my flank and I guessed this was my cutie mark. My eyes stayed their normal color, red. I looked at myself for a while before Midnight snapped me out in his need to use the bathroom himself, so I got out and headed to bed where I fell asleep immediately.

The next morning when we woke up, we found new plates of hot food that contained breakfast, along them was a note saying "Eat it all, and meet you in the front yard".

We ate the food, and headed outside right afterwards. Outside we found princess Celestia again, in company of many other ponies. She greeted us, and asked about our nights, then went directly to the subject of questions. We all had exactly the same questions, so the session didn't last long, and most of us didn't care for the answers. It was something of a need inside us, like an itch in the back of our heads that told us there might be something we should worry about, though this feeling was over shunned by our excitement about Equestria and the whole situation presented in front of us.

After the questions were over, Celestia continued to explain the reason of us being taken to Ponyville and the reason for the building we had all spent the night in. She explained it was a reeducation center, intended to teach us Newcomers (a word she had used to address and had formerly explained was the name Equestrians had given to humans that had arrived to Equestria) the basics of pony life and behavior, along with some of the Equestrian history. I immediately thought it was like going back to school, and I felt annoyed by the idea, though the feeling was forgotten again by my current excitement. She then explained unicorns and pegasi would go on extra education to learn how to use their powers. She then finally announced that each of us would be assigned an Equestrian companion or "chaperone" to go watch over them and check on the progress of education.

She finally stated that this would only be temporary and that soon we would be free to roam around Equestria like any other pony. Once she said this, she asked us to make a line, if we had any idea who would we want as a chaperone. I saw most of my fellow Newcomers ravage over to Celestia trying to be the firsts in line so they could choose any of the princesses, or the six legendary ponies as their chaperons. But I waited patiently for a chaperon to be announced for me, instead of going into a rampage with my peers for a chaperon I might not even get in the end. Celestia decided that as she and her sister, along with the legendary six, had so many ponies wanting them as chaperons, they would decide among the many candidates who would they take as their "protege", after eight ponies got what they wanted and the others had to leave empty hoofed and disappointed, Celestia announced everypony else a chaperon of her choice.

I was assigned to Cloud Chaser, a young bright blue pegasus with a silver mane. She was eager to receive me as a protege, and explained all the ponies in the chaperon list were volunteers for the charge. She also told me she didn't want to do this on her own, as she didn't want to spent much time apart from her sister. Then she asked me if I agreed to take on this chaperon and protege thing with her sister and protege. I didn't have a problem with it, and she seemed happy about my reaction and called out her sister. Soon, a pony that looked incredibly similar to Cloud Chaser arrived. Her twin sister, Flitter, and besides her, her new protege Galaxy Zodiac, Zod for short, a pegasus with a coat of a color that was barely blue almost reaching a grey tone, a black mane with a light blue stripe in it, and a matching tail. we had decided to get on Celestia's plans as a group, and we all agreed to it, and had to spend most of our time together. So we had to get along well enough.

Reeducation and flight school started, and I was always a little bored on the Equestrian history class, so I found the basics of pony behavior difficult, as most of us did. It was hard to learn how to use our mouths instead of hands, pegasi had their wings too so it was an advantage, and unicorns could use magic.

Also, we had to learn how to use our new hooves properly and the rest of simplest acts for a pony represented a challenge for all Newcomers. Flight school on the other hand, was incredible. From the first day I was able to quickly learn the basics, and fly like a natural. I wasn't the only one doing well, my roommate and friend Midnight, along with some other Newcomers were coming along as incredible fliers from the first day. I wasn't only gifted and quick learning. I also became fast, like lightning, and high speed flight became a pleasure and a needing, so I guessed this was the meaning of the cutie mark I had.

I would spend most of my time in flight school hanging around with Midnight, as we had an advantage and had to wait for most of our companions to get a grip in flying, so we could spend that time in our own business. The other half of my time I spent with Cloud Chaser, Flitter, and Zod who were more than just chaperons and teachers for me, for they had become my friends and some of the closest ponies to me. After a while I couldn't imagine my life without them, and wasn't intending to.

These four ponies were the closest to me, and I enjoyed our friendship. I enjoyed our new lives, and couldn't wait to be able to get out and see the rest of it. I knew Ponyville was only a face of what Equestria had to offer, and I was impatient to see it all.

It didn't last too long though, soon enough some of our Newcomer companions started preaching an idea that had disappeared from my mind since we got to Equestria. Some had been joking about it for a while, but these ponies' words were convinced and full of belief. Some ignored their words, thinking it was just a joke, but some of us knew they were serious, and knew they were right.

These ponies were preaching the ideas of a new Equestria, in which princess Luna would be in control. At first the ideas didn't go much more developed than this, and so they would be treated as jokes, and then forgotten with time. But some ponies, including myself, Midnight, and Zod, couldn't get the idea out of our heads, and eventually started meetings in the basement of the reeducation center to discuss about why we were there.

It was the Lunar Republic.

The original ideas that had brought us together disappeared quickly, and were replaced by new ones- lots of them. Within a month, dozens of ponies were preaching their own ideas, much more profound and developed than the original ideas. And the number of attendants, who gave ourselves the name of lunar republicans, was growing fast, and eventually expanded to more than just Newcomers, as some of us managed to get our chaperons to join and follow our new ideals.

Midnight himself started sharing his ideas, and ponies started paying attention to him and follow him. I followed him since I believed in his words, and I held his back as his best friend, we decided to call his group, the "Mitternacht Bataillon" (midnight battalion in German). As his followers started growing in number, Midnight became increasingly nervous, and lost his confidence to talk in public. I did what I had to do for the sake of the Mitternacht bataillon, and of Midnight's dream. When I saw that he couldn't take on the the amount of followers, I took his place as the leader of the bataillon and started preaching both Midnight's ideas and mine. I was able to keep our group strong and made it one of the bigger groups inside of the republic.

In a short time the dozens of different groups dissolved, and the followers found a new leader in the remaining groups. Eventually only six groups remained, including the Mitternacht Bataillon, and the total number of followers was so big we almost didn't fit in the reeducation center’s basement anymore.

Which was a lot of space and ponies...

Secrets and Lies

Secrets and Lies

The sun was starting to break through the twilight, the sunlight seemed more vivid in the citadel, somehow the empire had discovered a way to make Celestia's work more "appealing", but it could only be seen from their own point of view, like a way to make the ponies who lived under Celestial rule see the day as something more beautiful than it actually was.

Shadow got off the train, putting his book in his saddlebag, the sight of the sunlight bothered him, and especially being in the empire -Republicans couldn't say much, they had fallen in love with the night themselves, and they had gotten their way to keep the empire from the sight of their precious moon, as some sort of punishment for their rivalry, as they thought it would be torture to them- as soon as he laid a hoof outside the train he was surrounded by guards, this specific train only came by in special occasions, it was the only train that connected the empire and the republic, it's railroad was installed after the conflict came to it's current state of "cold war", both factions were still rivaling over the control of the land, but they had both decided to put a stop to the battles and deaths, and tried to make an agreement over the main subject of their fighting, but it seemed impossible to reach a decision they would both go fine with.

Shadow had participated in all of this meetings between the factions -which were given the name of ecliptic encounters, as the sun and the moon would join each other for a short time, before separating again, of course this reunions were marked with an actual eclipse, which would warn the ponies of Equestria that a meeting was being held between the princesses- he had became Luna's consultant and right hoof, and this was his only reason to go to the empire in the first place, but this was different, there was no eclipse, there was no meeting, Shadow was there in his own business, and this exalted the guards, making them intercept the pegasus the moment he arrived.

"What brings you here?" a guard said. "there is no business for the republic here at this time!"

"I search for an audience" Shadow replied "nothing more, I'm no threat to the empire in this moment"

"We can't allow you to pass", another guard stated "Lord Solaris is not available in the moment"

Shadow sighed, the sole mention of that name made him angry, especially with the word "lord" before it, but he kept his mind in task.

"it is not to Solaris that I want to talk" Shadow responded. " I wish an audience with chancellor Snowbound! Tell him General Lightning is here"

"Who do you think you are to use that tone around here" a guard frowned "you should have more respect when you could get killed if you try any funny business, I would do it myself if it wouldn't bring the whole republic after me for hurting their little general."

"Calm down" another guard stepped in "I will talk to the chancellor, you two register him to make sure he's not caring any weapons"

"Alright put down the saddlebag and open it" a guard said as the other started registering his wings, Shadow frowned as the third guard walked away.

After making sure he was clean one of the remaining guards took Shadow to the castle's lobby "you wait here" he started "until we are told you can go on"

The guard left the room and Shadow waited a couple minutes before the third guard came back

"You may go on, the chancellor is waiting for you, follow me"

The guard lead the way, and Shadow followed.

"I apologize." the guard started as they walked "for my comrades' behavior back there, but we both have to accept that the relations between our states are more than just unfriendly, and this tends to get to the heads of most ponies."

Shadow just stared as the pony talked.

"I for one" the pony continued "am glad we have reached this 'cold war', I know it's not exactly peace, but at least it will stop all this senseless killing for a while, and I really hope that we can eventually end it forever."

"Why are you telling me this?" Shadow interrupted.

"Because" the guard replied, "I have seen you before, you always come to the ecliptic encounters with princess Luna, and I know what you do in this meetings, you want to stop the war don't you? Well I do too and I think it's great to see both factions are working on it together, it's...almost like the old days, before the Newcomers arrived."

Shadow remained silent, thinking about what the pony had just said.

"Oh sorry! I didn't mean it that way, I know not all the Newcomers are bad, is just tha-"

"Save it," Shadow interrupted "you don't have to remind me what my kind has done"

"I'm sorry, I just..." the guard remained silent until they reached their destination "here we are"

"Thank you." Shadow said "and thank you for being honest about your feelings."

The guard looked confused at Shadow as he entered the room, then went back to his post. It was a small room with a table in the middle, and only a white unicorn standing next to it, he was the first to talk once Shadow had fully entered the room and had closed the door behind him.

"What the hell are you doing here Shadow? Do you think you can just come to Temdusoli* anytime you want? You are risking both our necks here, I know we are not exactly in conflict right now but come on!" Said the unicorn angrily.

Shadow remained calm and stared as the blue maned pony, then he talked: "Snow, I have a little question for you. Could you tell me, where princess Celestia is?"

Snow was chocked by the question unable to make any word come out of his mouth. Shadow went on.

"I find your reaction strange" he said sarcastically "It should be easy just to tell me where Celestia is shouldn't it?"

"Unless" he said as he approached the unicorn "She just isn't anywhere! UNLESS SHE IS WHEREVER THE FUCK LUNA IS! RIGHT?"

"Shadow, calm down" Snow replied "I'm sorry bu-"

"Save the crap! You know something about this don't you? Well, I want you to tell me everything you know about what happened to the princesses."

"Alright" Snow replied "but you asked for it, and you may not like what you'll hear."

"I'm waiting"

"Remember, about two months ago when the last ecliptic encounter was held?"

"Of course, I mean it wasn't really productive, but at least we were able to have a calm conversation for a change. Except for Midnight ans Solaris that is."

"Yes, that's the thing! After the real meeting was over and you and the princesses left, Solaris, Midnight and I stayed there a little bit longer, and as usual they started yelling at each other and insulting each other, like they always do, I left the room to take the report to the archives, and when I got back to the meeting room they where sure enough still yelling. I was about to enter the room again when they both yelled something that sent a chill down my spine, they both said 'I COULD END YOU! END THIS WHOLE WAR RIGHT NOW IF IT WASN'T FOR THAT FUCKING PRINCESS!' After saying this they both remained silent for a while, then they started talking and realized they both felt the same way about the princesses, they both thought that it was them who were stopping the progress of the factions, and that as long as they were still around the war would keep going, they finally agreed that something had to be done. after that they just left the room and Midnight went back to the train with you and princess Luna, the next thing I know is that they are secretly meeting, plotting something, and just now, I was informed princess Celestia went missing, and I know it has something to do with them."

"What do you mean 'missing'?" Shadow worried.

"I'm not certain, but knowing Solaris I don't doubt they might have killed them."

"You can't possibly mean..." the pegasus' eyes widened as the unicorn nodded "But that's impossible! How could they do that?

"I don't know, but however they did it it's really powerful and dangerous. Now lets hurry! We don't have time to lose."

"What's the matter?"

"We are leaving, Shadow, I'm offering you the chance to get out of Equestria with me!"

"What do you mean leaving? Are you suggesting we just let them be?! We can't do that! It's our responsibility to stop them, to end the war we started, without letting any more lives get lost."

"Are you stupid?! we don't have to do anything! Staying here is suicide Shadow, if we start messing with their plans we will get killed first."

"Running away is cowardice Snow. We started this war, we can't just look away as Equestria gets destroyed by our acts, we have to at least try to give it an end, fix what we've done."

"We have done enough! We can't do any good to Equestria, is better if we just leave. Please Shadow consider my position, I have a wife! A family, I can't risk to get killed, not even consider risking their lives. Please run away with Carrot Tops and me, we'll go over the griffon kingdom, to Saddle Arabia, we can start a new life there, in peace and safety. You have somepony too right? I'm sure she won't want you to risk your lives in this war anymore. Take her with us! Start a family away from Equestria, safe yourselves!"

Shadow looked away. "I think it's a little too late for that now."

"I'm really sorry. I didn't know, but you can still come with us! I'm sure she wouldn't want you to die senselessly, wouldn't she take the chance I'm giving to you? Isn't this what she would have wanted?"

"She wanted peace! And I promised I would do everything I can to make her wish come true. I'll do it for her!"

"I see." Snow put his right hoof in his chin thinking. "I see I can't change your mind, but I can tell you to be careful, Midnight and Solaris are way stronger than you think and it will be hard to take them down. If you have a chance to fix this take it. But remember my offer is always valid, if you ever want to get out, you know where to find me."

Shadow nodded and Snow guided him back to the train station, there they said goodbye to each other and parted ways, Snow went back to plan his escape, while Shadow was thinking about what he was told: how could Solaris and Midnight get rid of the princesses?

Shadow still needed information about the elements, and he knew were he could get it. The train left Temdusoli's station and headed back to Plenilunium. Although Shadow ordered the driver to change his direction not long after they had left the city, this new destination was placed to the northwest of Temdusoli, and northeast from Canterlot ruins, they headed for Neighagra Falls.

Shadows of the past: A new beginning Pt.2

Shadows of the past: A new beginning Pt.2

At the end six groups ruled over the gigantic group of ponies that formed our "rebellion":

The first one was the only one lead and mainly formed by Equestrians instead of newcomers, it was the reunion of all the chaperons that had joined our cause, lead by Night Shade, a young mare from Canterlot that had come to Ponyville for what we called "the Newcomer project" (basically the name we gave to reeducation). "The lunar insurrection", as she decided to call it, focused on the Equestrians natural forces (the pegasi' flight, the unicorns' magic, and the earth ponies' strength). The idea was to use these as the main strength of the rebellion instead of depending on machinery to win our battles.

On the opposite side was "Amelioration", contrary to the insurrection, this group focused on the development of new technologies and weaponry to improve the forces of the rebellion so it could overcome any obstacle that might step on its way, created and leaded by two unicorns Sciencio and Valrek, experts on earthling technology, but still respectful of the environment, they wanted to find a renewable source of energy that wouldn't jeopardize Equestria's ecological integrity.

Then we had "the four seasons" a political group leaded by 4 Newcomer mares (each one with a season on their name), it focused on the power of union, their ideal was that if the republic could stay close together, no matter if they were Newcomers or Equestrians, as long as they remained loyal to the cause we would be capable of overcoming anything.

The second political group was called "Unification", and it's objective was to find strength in allies, leaded by a unicorn called Shade Finder they wanted to make alliances with the lands that neighbored Equestria to help the republic grow faster and be able to defend itself, so eventually it could stand by itself.

There were two military groups, the first called "the night angels" was much similar to an earth army, but it focused more on the air force than anything else, so it used pegasi as their main target for the fight. it was created by the pegasus Shuriken Angel, a great military strategist and commander.

The last one was of course the "Mitternacht Bataillon" Created by Midnight Flare, but currently leaded by me, was a military and political movement, the idea was to have the ponies in peace and harmony, keep them together, and keep them safe with the help of a specialized team of soldiers that would be trained to be the best of the best, a group strong enough to defend a whole country by itself. It sounded ridiculous, thinking that a small group could defend a land, but I believed in the ideas and I transmitted my confidence to those who listened to me, that's how I could make the Bataillon survive.

The division of the six groups caused problems among the followers, and it started to drive into fights within the republic, the leaders, who didn't have a problem with each other, or with the other groups, decided to get together hopping to solve the problems the followers had. I was called to be part of this reunion and I told Midnight about it, I thought he was the one who should go since he's the one who invented the movement, but he insisted that I was the face of the bataillon and that it was me who should go to the meeting, and I did as he said.

Only one leader from each group would go into the meeting, since Shuriken, Night Shade, and Shade finder were the only leaders of their respective groups they attended, from Amelioration it was Sciencio who came, since Valrek said he had "more important things to do", from the Four Seasons it was Autumn Cascade who attended, and finally me.

The meeting had two proposes, first, we wanted to find a way to stop the fighting inside the Republic, we knew that if we wanted the republic to grow we needed to become more united, and the fighting made everything more difficult. We wanted to set a general leader for the republic so all the groups could follow him or her, and stop all the fighting. To solve this each of us presented the benefits of their ideals, and how it would help the growth of Equestria and the republic. Unfortunately the Bataillon was the least developed of all the groups, which made me believe it would be impossible for either me or Midnight to be the leader of the republic. Despite this, the final decision wasn't what I expected, we all realized that none of the groups would survive on its own, all the groups needed the help of each other in order to reach the best possible scenario. We decided to form a council, the six of us would lead the republic as a group and every decision had to be revised and analysed by the council. We all agreed to this terms and we started organizing everything at once, planning for the future of the republic and among this things it was decided that Shuriken would take over the Bataillon, it would become a subdivision of the army, as the last line of defense for the republic. Of course this decision worried me, if Shuri was going to take over my work, what was my role on the council? Would I be kicked out? I expressed my concern and was told that I couldn't be left outside the council since I was the leader of the Bataillon and taking me out would mean taking a grand group of ponies out as well. This reply angered me, they had just told me I was just going to be used, that I wasn't important at all and that they only cared for my followers, for what I knew I wouldn't even have a word as part of the council since I was only necessary to keep the Bataillon inside. Shuri jumped at me when I told them all this, as well with a threat of leaving the council. I still remember his words perfectly, he looked me dead in the eyes and said:

"Oh you think you're so important right? You think we need you at all? If it was my decision I would just kill you and get all your followers to join my army! The only reason you are even here is because those idiots listen to every word you say and obey every one of your orders."

I was so angry at that moment I could have thrown myself at him and started a fight, but I was interrupted by Autumn before I could do anything. She repeated what Shuri had just told me, but in a much more civilized way, she reminded me that (as I had already noticed) my group was way underdeveloped compared to theirs' and that it would be consumed by the angels, that was if it weren't for my influence. She explained that despite the lack of dept in my ideals I still had a fairly large group of followers and that was due entirely to my abilities to lead, Shuri interrupted by saying that they would even listen if I told them to jump off a bridge and they wouldn't doubt it for a second. Autumn continued by saying that I wasn't necessary as a military leader, but that I wouldn't just be a face to keep my followers inside, she told me my role was to help them lead the republic, she told me that if I was part of the council and I used my leading abilities we could get the republic further than anything any of us could imagine, she finally asked me to stay and work with them. I thought about what she said for a while, and I figured I would give it a shot, if she was saying the truth I could become the leader of the republic (something I dreamed of) If she wasn't I could still work for the better of the republic instead of leaving them do as they wanted.

The second reason for the meeting was so we could plan the future of the republic, with the council already formed we needed to get everything in order, so we could make the republic bigger and finally acquire control over Equestria. The thing we all seemed to forecast as an imminent and unavoidable necessity for progress was what we called "the fight" as we all saw it, it was a war we had not only to take part of, but to start ourselves, we needed to get the name of the republic known, and if we could surprise the enemy (which at the time we only knew as the Celestian loyals, and nothing bigger or further organized than that) we could get full control over Equestria in a really short time.

We organized a couple more things in that first meeting including an schedule for all the following ones, but we had to change plans when the first phase of the Newcomer project ended, reeducation was terminated and Celestia gave us the option to go anywhere in Equestria that we wanted to go, she would also give us a fee to pay for everything we needed to start our new lives as free Equestrians, she also ended the chaperon project, but only a few Newcomers really separated completely from their former chaperons, they were now friends, or more than friends in some cases.

This gave us the opportunity to expand from the reeducation center's basement, we sent many of our followers into different parts of Equestria so they could spread the word of the republic, we also got our research team infiltrated into the Equestrian so we could develop new technologies for "the fight", luckily we got a large portion of the chaperons following us, and that gave us an advantage on many aspects.

The council got all our fees together and we bought a house on Canterlot to set as our headquarters, we would get reports of our followers around Equestria through the mail, and though a large amount of letters arriving at the same address would seem suspicious, some of our followers formed part of the mail offices and would help our letters go unnoticed. Upon buying and arriving to our new home we noticed that a letter was waiting for us there. It only said

"Meet me at the gardens at nightfall".

The gardens were a public space at the city, but they were usually empty at nightfall, we didn't have a reason to refuse this meeting so we all attended. When we arrived we found a hooded pony waiting for us, she refused to tell us her name or show her face, but she explained that she was there on behalf of the princess. She explained that she had gotten access to our information about the development of the republic and that she had informed princess Luna about it. She then told us she had good and bad news, the bad news were that she had easily gotten this information, and she suggested we protected the information more efficiently, at the moment we had luck only her had gotten access to it, but we wouldn't have been as lucky in the future. The good news on the other hoof, were that the princess had completely approved our actions, she told us the princess trusted us completely to take the lead until "the fight" finally came, and at that day we should inform the princess so she could join us. The last thing the mare said before leaving was that the princess wouldn't need any more reports, she would just wait for our signal, and until that day, the princess connection to the council should remain secret. As she was leaving she told us:

"The princess trusts you completely, so don't let her down."

Now knowing that the princess supported us, there was nothing that could stop us until the day of "the fight". After the meeting with the hooded pony we decided to follow her advice, most of the information about the republic, all our decisions as a council became classified, only the council ponies had access to it and it was secured under a lock that only we could trespass. With our information save we could keep evolving without worrying about anypony discovering our plans. We had set in motion a large group of ponies around Equestria to fulfill various missions, we set a training camp for the army near the forest zone on the west. Further in that direction, near the Smokey mountains, was a construction site set by princess Celestia, it was meant to be a guard post that connected the western ports with Canterlot, but thanks to our influence on our chaperons we could take over that construction to accomplish our greatest dream: Plenylunium (which meant "full moon"), it was our project for our head quarters, a new castle destined to be the capitol of the Lunar Republic, after "the fight" we would use it as our stronghold, and the construction Celestia had commanded was the perfect cover for it to go unnoticed, with our control over the mail system we could fool Celestia making her believe her watch post was being built according to her plan, we just had to make sure no pony would tell our true intentions to the princess.

Another group of ponies was sent with the Equestrian research team in a quest to find a new energy source, we also managed to get full control of this group converting many of the researchers into Republicans with the true promise of developing new technologies using any findings they could make, those who couldn't be converted had to be "taken care of" and to hide their disappearing again false reports were sent to Celestia and these ponies' families.

What the research team found was better than anything we expected, the were able to find mines of crystals, crystals we then decided to call "Magicalite", it was a sort of magic mineral that had the ability to absorb magical energy from the unicorns and then be reused by anypony, both pegasi and earth ponies could use a charged crystal and make spells just as a unicorn would do. The crystals would also get slowly charged with the natural mana of life itself, the energy plants spread, as well as the energy that was produced by the sun and the moon could be held by the crystals, but their power would be much less powerful. Still a strongly charged crystal was unstable, and it could result on an explosion if precautions weren't taken. Despite all this, magicalite was still a great energy source and was soon chosen to be the base of our mechanics and weaponry, as long as we could use it carefully and prevent any accidents from happening.

Eventually a research center was built under Neighagra falls so the flowing of the water could reduce the impact of any explosion.

First clues

First clues

Neighagra Falls is one of the greatest symbols of the Solar empire, it marks the day the Imperialists recovered their share of Equestria from the Republicans. The Empire recovered most of the eastern Equestrian territory when they were finally able to recover from the Lunar rebellion. This terrain included Neighagra Falls, the empire was unaware that the Falls served as a research center for the republic and when they retook the land they found the door to said center although they scanned the place several times they never found proof that something useful could be found in behind the center's doors, and opening these doors would have meant a major damage to the falls' integrity so the Imperial government decided to leave the falls unattended and make it a reminder of "The first Imperial victory over the republican rats". What the empire doesn't know is that the research center remained functional during the Empire's attack, and it's functional still today. It's walls were made of a material capable of preventing any information leak that also made the center invisible to any radar. It was designed so if it's integrity was ever compromised the mountain it was settled into would fall as well and it was expected that this would destroy anything that could be useful to the enemies of the republic. To this day the only way to enter this center is with a special security code that was only given to some very specific ponies: the princess, all members of the research team, the original council and the current council. (the code would be changed when the council did). There are two entrances to the center: the main one is an underground tunnel that connects the center with the Lunar capital Plenilunium. While the other was built by the empire when the center became a meeting place for the imperialists, it had a train station but since the empire was unaware of the center's operations the rails don't go into the center.

The area the center is located is very untraveled, initially it was a great place of meeting for proud imperialists as it was a so called symbol of their victory but when war broke and both sides were faced by the power of their rivals it became a haunting symbol of Republican power, it scarred many ponies away including guards, though it was still checked on during patrols. Despite it being normally unsupervised republicans were still really careful when it came to coming in and out of the center, in an intent to keep it a secret.

Shadow, as a member of the original council, had the access code and was eager to enter the center as he was looking for the elements of harmony that were stored in that place. Since the rebellion the republic took hold of many Equestrian artifacts including the five necklaces and the crown that represented the elements of harmony, those unaware of the center's existence thought the elements to be lost, while the research team worked night and day to unveil the secrets the six objects held, unfortunately without results. Shadow went into the room that held the elements and met with Valrek Sakkhet, director of the whole research center and the mind responsible for all of the Republic's technology. He was a tall unicorn, his coat was grey and he had a silver mane with a red streak and a matching tail.

"Welcome to my research center general Lightning." Valrek said.

In reply Shadow only saluted.

"May I wonder what brings you here?" Valrek asked

"I'm here to ask about the elements, I want to know what new discoveries have been made." Shadow responded

"You too?"

"What do you mean?"

"About a month ago Midnight came here asking the very same question, he seemed to be really stressed. He was very disappointed when I told him we had nothing, and he just ran out again after hearing it. And in a month we haven't discovered anything new so... we have nothing."

"That is unfortunate...But, did Midnight say what he wanted to do with the elements?"

"He was very vague, he said it was important for the future of the republic but he never got into detail and when I asked about it he was too distracted to reply, something was definitely worrying him. I was hoping that you as his friend, and as an original council member would know what's got him so upset."

"I have my suspicions as to what he was looking for, and I'm a both relieved and worried he didn't find what he wanted here."

"Care to explain?"

"I'm glad he couldn't use the elements for his evil ways, but that means he found another way to do them. I would really like to keep you and everypony else out of this Valrek, but I'll tell you one thing: Midnight is doing something unthinkable and I really need to know how he's doing it. I also happen to need the elements if I want to stop him."

"I guess you won't be telling me much more." Valrek replied to which Shadow nodded "And I would really like to help you, I trust you Shadow I know that you are saying the truth even if you won't tell me everything, but like I said before we are still clueless as to how to use the elements without the wielders."

"And do you have any clue as to where to find the wielders?"

"That's a bit of a different story, I do know the elements respond to the wielders and I really hope one day the elements and the wielders will come to be together. But unfortunately everything that could point to their whereabouts is lost in legends, all those legends are written down in the books from Canterlot's library, which we have in Plenilunium, but even more unfortunate is that all those books are written in ancient Equestrian language, which only the princesses understand. Things like that make me wish I had joined the original council instead of Sciencio."

"It's a bit too late to take back that decision now."

"I know, but it just makes me mad that the princess has no time to talk to the research center and that the only pony Luna has taught about the ancient language is a huge bitch who won't help me translate the books!" Valrek eventually regained his composure as he saw the way Shadow was looking at him. "I'm sorry, I know Arthena is your friend but it's still pretty upsetting."

"I understand your feelings" Shadow replied "But I'm sure Arth has her good reasons to keep that from you, I will talk to her when I see her, she might know enough for me to find the wielders in time, I will also try to convince her to be more helpful to the center."

"I appreciate it."

"Well I guess since you don't have a clue either I will have to go back to Plenilunium and wait for Arth to return."

"Well, I have got some theories about the wielders, if you are just going to sit around waiting for Arthena then I guess you can give it a shot, right?"

"I won't loosing anything by trying, will I?" Shadow said "I'm all ears, what's in your mind?"

"I believe maybe there is a bloodline connection with the wielders."

"So you think the former wielders' relatives are the new ones?"

"It would make sense, after all they had really close relationships and it would make sense they shared the same values. I know not all of the wielders had a direct relatives but at least it could be a start."

"That's a good point but I have no idea as where to find them."

"We've got some reports saying that Applebloom and Shinning Armor are part of a small rebel group, but we don't know where they operate. We do know they've reached princess Cadance and that most likely their plan is to free her, I'm sure she knows where they are but you'll need to get her to tell you."

"I really doubt she'll say a word but, again, I won't loose anything trying."

"You know where she is. Go to the Hive I'm sure Phoenix will help you make her talk, but please if you discover anything that may be useful, tell me first." Valrek said with a mocking smile in his face.

"Thanks for the help Val." Shadow said as he walked back to the door. "I'll tell you everything once I get this fixed."

Shadow saluted and Valrek did the same, he then went out the doors and back into his train while Valrek returned to his work. Shadow gave one order to the driver "To the hive" and went back to his seat to keep writing.

Shadows of the past: Forging bonds

Shadows of the past: Forging bonds

Everything was leading to "the fight" and our plans were going just as expected, we had managed to spread the word of the republic along Equestria without being spotted by Celestian guards, but everything was going too fast, and at that rate "the fight" would come before we expected and we wouldn't be ready for when it came, our army wasn't ready yet, and the numbers wouldn't be enough to hold the magnitude we expected for the fight. We knew we needed help, and Shade Finder suggested we could find it in the neighbor lands, it was just left to decide who would try to convince the neighbor lands to join our cause, Shuriken and Night Shade were busy organizing the army, Sciencio was busy on the new research center, Autumn was making sure we stayed unnoticed while our numbers kept growing. Since my duties at the moment weren't more than helping Autumn with this I offered myself to convince the neighbor lands after Autumn told me she could handle the work alone. At first Shade didn't seem to be happy with my self nomination since I had shown my excitement about exploring both Equestria and the neighbor lands, which was my plan after reeducation was over, and it had became impossible after I joined the council. My excitement made Shade think I wouldn't take the task seriously and she offered to accompany me to make sure I did my work instead of going on vacation. She was just making up excuses to go too since she also wanted to see Equestria, something I noticed on our train trip to the south as I saw her marveling at the sight of the Eqastrian dessert as we approached the Zebras' land.

There are four lands surrounding Equestria in all four directions, to the south is Zertic, land of the Zebras, it was a vast dessert with small zebra tribes all around it. It wasn't organized as the other lands including Equestria, there was no capital, the towns weren't as big and the population seemed to be rather nomad than actually sedentary, yet in world history we learned that it has been the land of the zebras for a long time and though it seems small and weak it's a great imposing land of magic and shouldn't be misjudged.

To the East is Gryphus, land of the griffins, almost as big as Equestria it used to hold a strong connection to the flying city of Cloudsdale, it's a big proud land of flyers known by it's great military force, definitely a great ally to have on your side. Something the princesses knew when they formed a strong connection to the land thanks to the pegasi, it eventually became really close to Equestria and it was always willing to fight by it's side if needed.

Up North, passing the crystal mountains is Minos, land of the Minotaur, a great land formed of various big cities, it's surrounded by a great wall that prevents external attacks. It has always preferred to be a neutral land and stay away from business other then theirs, it's also a pacific land and is rare for it to join in a war, the great wall of Tauros usually prevents the fighting to enter Minos and keeps it strong and away from fights.

Finally to the West is the submarine land of Aquestria, land of the sea ponies and another strong ally to Equestria, the underwater city is know for it's great marine forces, nothing trespasses to the city and it's always protected, yet migration to or from it is almost impossible as sea ponies cannot survive on land and ponies cannot stay on Aquestria for a long period of time, due to this we had to take Aquestria out of consideration, as an alliance with that land wouldn't help much on "the fight" since Aquestrians cannot fight on land, this was a shame as we didn't go to Aquestria after taking it out of the options, and it was a place I wanted to see, and I still haven't got to do it.

The other three lands were our destination, we had to go to each of them and propose an alliance between the land and our rebellion, luckily for us the third phase of the newcomer project had started. Celestia had given everyone in Equestria the chance to have a tour around the land and around the neighbor lands, it was a free service and there would be a tour guide for every site on the map, some of these guides were republicans which made it easy for us to get away from the group and talk to the leaders of the lands and propose our alliances.

When we finally reached Zertic we had crossed the vast southern dessert of Equestria and we had reached an oasis, you could still see the dessert around it but the town we had arrived to was in the middle of a green field. Palms surrounded the town while a lake was settled on the middle of it. We had arrived at the tribe of Sīmā, a small community of zebras located right on the frontier with Equestria. Land division on Zertic was different to all the other lands, it seemed to be a nomad species that traveled around the whole world, but this was just a misconception due to the small size of the towns (which were each inhabited by one specific tribe). The land had no concept of centralization whatsoever, there wasn't a town to be called capital, towns were spread all over the land leaving great spaces of uninhabited dessert between them, the tribes lived in peace with each other and the borderlands made their best to stay in peace with neighbor lands, Sīmā made the biggest effort of all these tribes, despite the fact that Zertic has other two frontiers to the west and the south, Equestria is one of the most advanced lands on the planet, and keeping peace with them was better for both lands. Fortunately Equestria shares a bit of history with Zertic that keeps them united, in the beginning Zertic was also the land of the buffalo, but the difference on the ideals of the species made the land divide, when ponies arrived at what is now Equestria they took the portion of Zertic that belonged to the buffalo and made it part of the country, eventually ponies learned how to live with the buffalo and the buffalo could find peace with the zebras, eventually leading the Equestrian government to grow close to the Zertic thanks to the buffalo interaction and mediation.

The only piece of slightly modern structures on Sīmā was the train station, other than it there were a couple huts and tents but no buildings or more complex structures could be found. The guide for this trip was Twilight Sparkle, princess Celestia's apprentice. The task was originally given to Zecora, a zebra living among ponies on the town of Ponyville, but she was resilient to accept the task for unknown reasons, Twilight being her close friend hence knowing a lot about her home land, took the job instead. Once on the town she started explaining EVERYTHING about Zertic culture, their religion, their leadership system and eventually the composition of the town itself, it was then that we learned where to locate the tribe leader and try to convince him, we knew Zertic government didn't work based on a single leader but we thought that influencing the leader of the frontier town could give us a chance to get full help from the land. I for one didn't thought Zertic help to be much useful, seeing the structure of the town and having learned that the rest of the land wasn't much different I thought Zertic couldn't help our rebellion fight Equestrian forces at all. But I was proven wrong.

Twilight became really distracted explaining everything she knew and this gave me and Shade a chance to sneak out of the group and find the tribe leader, we reached a large tent on the northwest part of the town far from the train station, as we approached it it swung open and a young female Zebra let us in telling us that we were expected, which seemed odd enough. Inside we found a fire in the middle of the tent and at the other end was an old wrinkled stallion zebra-we never learned his name- sitting peacefully drinking tea, he signaled us to take a sit on the opposing side of the fire and started talking first. He said everything we were to tell him before we could open our mouths. He explained he understood our goals, our reasons and he respected our wish to move forward with our dream, he finally expressed his own disagreement with our cause and explained the zebras wouldn't be allies to any part, neither us or the 'empire' (the word he used to describe our opposition, it was something I didn't understand at the moment). He said zebras had nothing to do with Equestrian business ans so they wouldn't take part on the upcoming war. Shade and I tried to convince him to change his mind and eventually an idea came to my mind Equestria is already so much more advanced than this land, we could take them down if they don't agree to join us, and with the weapons our engineers are developing they don't stand a chance I thought to myself, and before I could share my thoughts the prophet responded. He rose his eyebrows which made it possible for me to see his green eyes looking right at mine and he said something that brought chills down my spine and made me mark his words even to this day.

"You can always chose to attack our humble land, but we will never follow the armies of another's hand.

If you still wish to attack, you must know that my people won't hold back."

I still don't know what it was, but his words, his voice, his eyes, it all made me want to run away, it made me want to leave that land, get back to the comfort and security of Canterlot and forget we ever came to Zertic in the first place.

We all stayed mute after that and I signaled Shade to get out of the tent and get back to the train station as we might have been left behind by the others. Once at the station everypony was still there and Twilight kept explaining everything about the land, I was paralyzed by the prophet's words and Shade didn't understand what was going on in my mind, it wasn't until little bit after that Twilight gave out the explanation to my feelings. She explained that Zertic was much more than what meets the eyes, that despite seeming small and powerless it's the land where magic started and the land where it's most developed, she explained that Zertic was the land of the most powerful magic that had ever been seen by pony eyes I understood it right away, the prophet warned me about attacking Zertic as it would had destroyed all of Equestria with it's magic, and he used this very magic to make fear grow inside me and help me make the right decision. When the train finally arrived and we were able to get back to Canterlot I just wanted to run away, the farthest from Zertic that I could. During the train trip Shade made me explain her the situation and she eventually understood why Zertic wasn't an option to make an alliance.

Our next objective was Minos, the land to the north. I do know that it would have been easier to go east first and visit the lands in counterclockwise order, but even if our method was less efficient it was the best way to enjoy the sight of Equestria's beauty.

The pony who guided us through Crete, capital of Minos, was Snow Flake, he was a really enthusiastic young pegasus stallion who seemed to have a great military potential, he was also a loyal follower of the republic and of the council, we planned on making him general once our army was organized due to this reasons. I'm still unsure what made Celestia choose him as guide to the Minotaur kingdom. Though strong and loyal he also seemed a little light headed and easily carried away, he was very explosive and that reinforced our decision to make him lead a portion of the army, as for the time given we would need all the front line strength we could get if we expected to win "the fight". It seemed suspicious having such a loyal pony on our ranks that was also in good enough terms with our rival princess so she would let him be the guide to the Minotaur land. So Shuri and Autumn ran a background check on him before we arrived at Minos, to confirm he wasn't a spy. I personally didn't inquire in his relationship with the minotaurs at all and when I was told he wasn't in fact a spy I left him be. He was really educated in the matters of this land and knew almost as much as Twilight knew of Zertic, though he didn't start rambling like she did since he knew the tourists wouldn't enjoy being lectured. He made it easy for us to talk to the Minotaur king and make our absence go unnoticed.

Thus we met with King Tauros the third, direct descendant of the first Minotaur king; King Tauros the first, Builder of the great wall of Tauros. This meeting was as profitless as our encounter with the Zebras, the process was the same: we explained our position and plans to the King and again we were told off, Tauros insisted in Minos' neutrality, he told us there was no reason for the Minotaurs to mingle in Equestrian business. We explained the possible advantages of the alliance and he kept his ground firmly, I kept insisting about the alliance as I thought of Minos as a great military force and would love to have them by our side. The conversation eventually turned aggressive, and when Tauros started thinking we might decide to attack his land if he didn't cooperate he reacted calmly and prudently; he explained an attack on Minos would be much harder than any other land, the wall that surrounded the land would keep them safe from most attacks and they would then use their armies to get rid of the attackers, he convinced us that we should focus our strength on our enemies instead of them, Shade helped me calm myself (it was never my intention to declare war with the minotaurs, but I have to admit I was and still am more explosive than I realize and that I used to have a hard time keeping some things to myself, things like my tone.) we finished the reunion shaking hooves after we decided that Minos would leave Equestria alone and and Equestria would do the same which we thought was the best for both lands.

Disappointed as we were, we had to return to the train station empty hoofed once again, our options were reduced to one last chance and we had all our hopes placed on the Griffins. If we didn't get their help this search would have just been a loss of time, and we would be back were we started: alone, which we believed was an option we couldn't take if we expected to win "the fight".