The heavenly sun rose in the distance of Canterlot covered by the thick gloomy clouds, as the burned mansion crumbled to the floor, the support finally giving way. And in the far corner of Canterlot, the assassin laid underneath a giant bell in a clock tower, or so he thought. After the fire, Silver felt that the first thing he should have done was flee from Canterlot, but he stayed, and as he laid asleep in his torments a loud bang scared him from the ground. He realised he chose a bad position to sleep but had not much of a choice, he needed somewhere secluded away from the guards that would be hunting him down to rest for the night and this area was deserted when he came. Killing everypony in that room had sapped his strength to continue forward but with so much blood on his hands, there should have been no reason for him to stay. The bell cut off Silver’s thought and made him disoriented, making him nearly stumble off the small space he was on, that was when he realised, he was at a school. At the gates, the big words ‘Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns’ glared right at his face. ‘I have made a grave mistake,’

The bells rung in his ear again making him lose track of what he was thinking, he needed somewhere away from the constant ringing. And the only place was up. He started to climb up to the highest point of the school. He could have zipped to the top with the rope launcher but it would be suspicious with something fast-moving up the school, he didn’t want to be caught the same as last time. Nearing the top he started to relax, having a bird’s eye view of his surroundings. He took deep breaths as the buzzing in his ears stopped and the location of several things were brought to his attention, but it all fizzled in his head afterwards. ‘Why eagle vision, why do you stop working, when I need it most,’ Silver thought frustratingly as colts and fillies unicorns skipped and pranced to school. It was then he noticed several things, parents dropping off their children before going to work, and for some reason several guards patrolling the area who seemed to be asking too many questions to his liking.

One particular unicorn caught his attention, Twilight Sparkle, who appeared to be cheerful and was with several other ponies and a dragon walking towards the front of the school. Twilight’s friends were an array of different colours, that Silver still wasn’t used to, it was almost like he was looking at a rainbow. The dragon caught Silver off guard though, the light purple scales with a cream white underbelly and dark green spikes, but it wasn’t the colour configuration that confused him or that dragons existed, he remembered from a lifetime ago Shards the crystal dragon, the one he raised. It was the fact that the dragon was standing on 2 legs and had a collar around it, like a slave or being herded. ‘I must be going insane, dragons are not meant to ever stand on two legs like a human, they have always stood on 4 legs in the books. Twilight looks better though, I wonder what Cadance did to you?’ Silver came to notice his general surroundings looking for a way to escape, the guards were closing in on his positions, he needed to move. Many props appeared to be leftover from Nightmare Night, webs, hanging sheets with eyes, skulls, bats and other various novelty items where all being cleaned up meaning a lot of ponies to dodge and evade. Silver understood the general idea of it was to scare fillies and colts but it seemed a little extreme and for what purpose would Celestia gain from this. It was then by chance that Twilight happen to look upwards and stared right back at Silver perched on the roof, who was too deep in thought looking for routes to take. Twilight’s head crashed with pain making her stumble across the cobblestone walkway, her friends quickly rushed towards her before she could fall flat onto her face.

“Twilight, are you alright?” Minuette asked, while Lemon Hearts helped Twilight up. “It looks like you just saw a ghost, Nightmare Night finished already,”

“I dunno, I thought I saw something up where the spires were, and now my head hurts,” Twilight replied, feeling a headache coming along. Spike hugged her forearm, mewing with the intent of helping her up but his measly claws didn’t do much. However, Twilight smiled and patted him on the head, he was getting better at learning things. For the past year, she had tried so hard to accommodate for Spike growing up and taking care of him but training him was a nightmare. He would always interfere with her schoolwork and made her always late in handing in assignments. He had become such a nuisance that she had complained to Celestia, but only once because she was given the biggest lecture of her life. However Twilight agreed on what Celestia had to say though and it now taught her the responsibility that she carried; Spike was no pet. Spike would be a pony at heart and be like a child to her.

“I am going to report this to the guards, they said if anything strange happens we immediately report it to them,” Moon Dancer, and already left. Twilight looked back towards the spires but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

“Tw...i...light, Twi...light, Twilight!” Spike stuttered, Twilight beamed with joy and immediately forgetting about her incident, excitement exploded within as the new possibilities filled her mind in what could Spike learn. Teaching Spike to speak took so much dedication, with him being always distracted by anything and everything around him. But she knew her hard work and commitment would pay off, the only trouble she didn’t know was would Spike as a dragon be the beast type of dragons that were like animals or the societal one.

“Yes, yes, my name is Twilight,” Twilight smiled, she kneeled to Spike’s height, and looked into his eyes. “I don’t think you be needing this anymore,”

Spike’s red collar was dropped onto the floor, and Twilight hugged him. ‘He’s growing up so fast’ Twilight looked behind herself to see Minuette, Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine had tears in their eyes, the scene overwhelming them.

“That was beautiful!” Minuette cried while hugging Lemon Hearts and proceeded to put the collar in the bin. Twilight couldn’t believe her friends were that emotional or dramatic, but she loved them nevertheless and looked back towards the spirals feeling troubled. The weird feeling that she was being observed, but she couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

“My mind must be playing tricks on me,” Twilight murmured and was about to go when she was confronted by two guards. But when she saw who one of them was, she jumped up in glee, and immediately hugged him. “What are you doing here, Shining, I thought you were at school and didn’t start your job as an E.U.P Guard until next week,”

“I thought the same but there’s some top-secret stuff going on lately and they’ve called for more intake in recruits,” Shining whispered, looking towards the other guard as if for approval but he wasn’t even looking towards Shining’s way and was instead pointing out orders. All of Twilight’s friends and herself included made ‘Ooooooh’ noises, all already formulating conspiracies on what was happening. The consensus they came up with was that there was a ghost and that Twilight got spooked by one.

“I’m not afraid of something that doesn’t exist!” Twilight snapped, but was ignored. “Anyway if you didn’t know, this is my BBBFF, I mean my big brother, Shining Armor who's now a E.U.P guard.

“WOW!” Twilight’s friend goggled, and were all captivated as if Shining Armor was in holy light.

They all tried to start asking questions like curious fillies in which the other guard was paying attention and laughed. Shining took control of the situation by asking his sister the truth, ignoring her friends so that no sensitive information was leaked because that would be a disaster. Twilight recounted what she saw, but trying to describe the thing she saw was blurry in her head as Shining looked upwards at the spires wondering if the creature was still there as he listened. Shining shifted his armour, feeling uncomfortable and immediately becoming more concerned about her sister. The bell however rang again signalling the start of classes, as Twilight and her friends all quickly said their goodbyes before running off to class, leaving only Shining and the other guard.

“Hey kid, so what did you get from all this,” Dark Eyes questioned, who was both Shining's mentor and Captain of the E.U.P Guard. They didn’t call him Dark Eyes for nothing, with gold luscious fur and an unneat maroon mane he looked perfectly normal until you saw his eyes. Oddly enough there was always dark rims around his eyes as if he had no sleep or was really old or was always punched in the eye or possibly all three of them at once. Shining couldn’t really take him seriously at first with the eyes but when he started yelling out punishments right off the bat, Shining begrudgingly started to listen.

“Not much Captain and stop calling me kid, I have a name,” Shining whined, the captain had been repeatedly called him kid and whelp and never called him by his first name or last name which was getting up his nerves, heck recruit would have been better and it was his first day on duty.

“Firstly you’ll earn your name when you have shown your duty and honour as a E.U.P guard, that was written in the E.U.P guide book, section 1 paragraph 5 and secondly what do they teach you whelps at school these days,” Dark Eyes sighed, and immediately pointed towards the spires of the school. “Up there you see, less than 5 minutes ago, the assailant was just up around that area, meaning that it still lurks around and is trying to escape. In those 5 minutes of the disturbance, I have already set up a perimeter, meaning that the creature has nowhere else to go.”

“Ok,” Shining said distractingly, taking in all the information and at the same time not paying attention, continuing to look up where the spirals were. He could feel a long road ahead of him until he became of the same rank as Dark Eyes but he needed his priorities right. ‘First I need to pass being a recruit,’ Emptiness was all he saw but was the alien gone? When his captain turned away to talk to the rest of the guards on standby, Shining teleported to a steady flat part of the roof.

*Start Discovery - Tyber Core*

As he slowly climbed across the roof of the school to reach the balcony of the attic he kept his eyes peeled for clues of a creature of some sought, not really knowing much details because of the huge secrecy of the mission. Shining would never question Celestia's judgement in all these matters, his little sister Twilight spoke so highly of her in every aspect but it appeared to him that some information was being held. Important information that could have made the job a lot easier but orders were orders. Shining joined the E.U.P guards and dropped out of school because both his parents were of very high ranking officers and have been well recognised for their efforts, he wanted to follow in their hoofsteps and be the first to obtain a role as Captain of the Guard. They worked tirelessly every day to send Twilight and Shining to school and he knew that they would keep working past retirement. They never had any time to go on holidays, much less be a proper family, with Cadance always having to look after his little sister. However, he was forever grateful for them and he was going to change all that and make sure that both his parents can relax and stop working. A dream so close to becoming a reality as he turned to view his surroundings. The balcony he was now on had broken glass everywhere on the floor, the glass doors shattered at the handle and left wide open. He was going to capture this strange creature to earn himself a proper ranking. Poking his head into the hallway he couldn’t see anything. Jittery in his golden armour, he sneaked across the carpet floor holding out his sword from its scabbard, trying to find any clues for the creature. It was the first time he was on his own and he was still learning techniques of the sword but he was determined.

The school's attic he was in had been used for storage and held props for the play, textbooks and lot's of lost stationary. Many crates and cardboard boxes littered the room with the exits being the same dimly lit hallway he was in and a bright white door visibly opposite to Shining. He surveyed the area creating a magical orb of light in the air. The darkness faded by a bright blue orb but to Shining, nothing appeared out of the ordinary. Closing the balcony door behind him, a loud clatter caught his attention and on the floor was a knife. Shining crept slowly, knowing it was a trap of some sought and was on edge, knives do not drop from the sky, especially inside. He picked up the metal blade with magic, inspecting the craftsmanship to find a very solid blade but incredibly light. He deduced it was used for throwing and found stained blood on it. ‘Was this used for the murders’ In reality he was trying to hear for something out of place. That was when he heard, someone or something shifting up above him and creating a slight rustle of material or cloth. The cloaked creature came down striking hard and knocked down Shining off his feet. The arms of the creature stabbed downwards ready to kill but to its surprise found the unicorn that should have been dead blocking with the flat side of the sword. The expert shielding happened to make it seem that Shining had experience but was in fact luck of the greatest kind which he managed to flick the sword at the right moment without looking. The creature's arm was over-extended and Shining managed to kick off the creature and scramble away to get some distance between them. Shining held the sword with magic at the creature’s face as it slowly got up.

“Not another move!” Shining yelled, while looking for a way to tie up the thing he just caught. He looked into the cloak of darkness to find nothing but silvery grey eyes, eyes he could not decipher. Many things became prominent to Shining one being the height of the creature. It was much taller than him being roughly twice the height of himself but appeared to be standing on two legs with arms. Shining tried to figure out the enigma of what or who but to his surprise, he was stumbling backwards from a strong kick to the chest. Grunting in pain Shining crashed into boxes as the mysterious figure started running.

Shining was having none of that as his blurry vision cleared to see the creature kick down the doors and run outside. Sheathing his sword, he galloped full speed and followed it with all his might but carefully avoiding the edges of the roof. It was fast, like riding on the wind fast, it started leaping towards the roof of the school and across the different faculty buildings. Shining tried to follow but some leaps were too big of a gap for himself and required him to find another route. He lost valuable time and distance and surveyed the direction it was going towards to see if he could cut the figure off. To him, it appeared to be heading to the train station, ‘To escape!’. As it neared the pegasus guarding the south side of the school, the alien managed to evade both of the guards simultaneously. The pegasus alerted by Shining’s warning leapt into action and flew directly up to the figure, ready to subdue. But to their surprise the figure jumped on their heads, using them both as platforms before landing onto the school wall and rolling onto the floor outside of the school gates.

Shining cantered across the rooftop, instantly teleported down to the ground and already smashing through the school gates while signalling the two guards on the floor groaning to call for reinforcements at the train stations. There he could see the figure running across the roofs as he tried following from down below on the ground. Colours blurred through Shining, trying to catch up with the figured and he tried to not crash into any pony while looking upwards. Majority of the citizens didn’t even notice the hooded creature above and Shining was getting tired while narrowly avoiding several ponies. The train station came into view with several guards patrolling the area but that did not deter the cloaked figure as a train approached the station.

Shining started panicking, he realised this was going horribly planned, he tried to signal to his fellow unit about the assailant rushing towards their way but they couldn’t hear him over the train noises.

“Calling Battalion Unit 100, the assailant is approaching you from the north side of the train station!” Shining called through the special guard frequency.

“I read you loud and clear Shining Armor,” Spearhead replied, as he told the rest of his group to be on the lookout for the creature they had to find.

“Over there!” yelled a guard pointing towards the figure running across the roof. The figure was moving faster than expected and with precision was able to jump across roofs with perfect execution. They were all expecting a fight for their lives when the hooded figure landed right in front of them. Spears all immediately pointed towards the throat and the figure was surrounded, with sweat visible on the guards. They all had heard stories of the capabilities of this creature and didn’t want to take any chances with it. Seconds past with the creature raising his arms above his head as if it was surrendering, the guards closing in to restrain, only to be tricked with the figure flew to the roof of the train station like it was magic.

Shining knew better as he saw the ropes latched onto the top and the assailant flying upwards but he realised the train was about to leave. The final train whistle blew loud and clear signalling the departure of the train and made him panic. He placed the whole mission into jeopardy and for what, only the glory of becoming someone within the ranks and not upholding the principles of what it means to be an E.U.P guard. He scowled at himself for being so reckless in his actions and already dreaded the punishment that was to come but knew he deserved it.

“Captain Dark Eyes is going to have my hide for this,” Shining panted as he burst through the train station, he needed to get to the rooftop as fast as possible. Discretion was utmost important for this mission, under the Princesses Celestia’s orders and Shining realised he failed in almost every way possible. Everypony in the room was staring right at him at the sudden barge in with much concern, the extra security wasn’t of much help as the citizens knew something was going on. Especially with Shining acting tired and appearing to be chasing some pony. Shining saw the sign of the rooftop access and quickly ushered himself with silence, there was no time to warn them about the danger if there was any. Shining was out of breath when he finished climbing the stairs and only found the hooded figure to be already mid-jump onto the train that was already leaving the platform. Shining dashed alongside the roof of the station, the wheels of the train were rolling and picking up speed knowing he had only one chance before the creature would disappear for good.

He aimed for the last cart and hoped that it would work, as his feet left the rooftop. Leaping off the roof through the air was terrifying, the feeling of being a pegasus for a few seconds was exhilarating and felt like an eternity until he rolled on the roof of the train. Grunting in pain he picked himself off the ground to find the figure already turned towards him. Shining brought out his sword in determination, maybe hope wasn’t lost for him.

“You are under arrest by Princess Celestia’s order, you are going to answer for all the crimes that you have committed. There’s nowhere else to run!” Shining yelled over the thunderous wind, not knowing if the figure could hear him from the deafening roar of the train wheels. The figure drew the sword from it’s back, ready for a fight which Shining did not like one bit. The figure being taller and stronger was definitely an issue for Shining as he was looking for weak points. With a hooded cloak, it appeared to him that the figure had no armour and would allow Shining to incapacitate it. The sword was covered in a sharp glow making Shining’s fur stick up, ‘If I get hit by that sword...I don’t want to know what would happen to me’. He felt very uneasy with the power held within the figure’s grasp but didn’t falter in the slightest. The highest honour was being the captain of the guard and he wasn’t ready to lose that chance.

Shining charged forward, sword held high and slashed downwards. The figure parried the strike and front kicked Shining in the chest. Shining grunted in pain while skidding on the floor and almost fell in-between the gap of the carriages. His stomach flared in pain, he had to think differently or he would never overcome the creature. He swiped across the feet of the figure with his sword to give himself some space and scrambled upwards before shoulder charging the figure. The figure was surprised by the sudden tactic and almost stumbled off the edge. The train started to hit a curve which shifted the carriages making the battlefield unstable but Shining wasn’t going to let that stop him. Swords clashed, locked against each other but slowly the glowing blade was pushed closer and closer towards Shining. He was having a hard time with his footing, with the figure being much stronger. The blade made Shining shiver, a weird feeling of indescribable energy, the aura of unimaginable power. He needed to stall for time, to figure out a plan on beating this creature.

“Who and what are you?” Shining grunted, the swords touching his own horn, the strength of the figure was unrelenting, and he was stuck defending his face.

“My name is Silver, Shining, but know this, nothing is what it seems,” the Silver replied, shocking Shining, he couldn’t believe it, the figure spoke. Celestia never said anything about whether the creature could speak only that it was a demon capable of killing and wanted it to be captured alive and Shining couldn’t tell if being a demon was in a literal sense or a figurative one. At that moment Shining was disarmed and hit in the temple with the hilt of the sword. Shining lost concentration of holding the sword with magic and it sailed behind Shining landing several carriages downwards.

“How do you know my name!” Shining spat, his head now swirling, trying to think clearly was getting harder by the minute, especially with blood trickling down his forehead.

“I have been listening to what you were saying to your sister,” Silver held out the sword at Shining's throat but there was hesitation. Shining could see the sword slightly wavering and he took that chance. Shining realised he had been looking at the problem wrong, instead of fighting with Silver's strength of swordplay, why not fight it with something different. Magic burst out of Shining’s horn and directly into the Silver's chest.

“STAY AWAY FROM MY SISTER!”

*End song*

Shining stood up from his kneeled position and took a stance for magic. The smoke cleared to reveal no damage on Silver but instead the glowing sword, burning brighter than ever before which confused Shining. Charging another spell, he blasted another bolt of magic, only for it to be absorbed into the sword. ‘Well ain’t that a problem’

A game of tag was played, as Shining tried to blast Silver with multiple bolts of magic but would only dodge or absorb the magic while Silver tried to hit him with non-lethal strikes. He didn’t release any full blast of magic as there were innocent ponies on the train, he didn’t want any collateral damage on himself. Shining picked on the subtle change in hostility, where the figure tried striking with the hilt or the flat side of the blade and was trying to use it to his advantage but Silver was fast. The fighting was getting pointless, both Shining and Silver seemed to be running out of breath and the train didn’t seem to be stopping. One mistake was all it would take for Shining to almost plummeting off the side of the train and down a cliff and he acknowledged it trying to stay within the boundaries while also trying to avoid the strikes. Trapping the creature with chains had been impossible with Silver’s magical sword was able to cut through the magic like butter and it was the final thing before Silver came to close for magic usage. A very strong left hook knocked Shining towards the side of the train making him almost stumble down the cliff but he stopped himself with his front hooves. He wasn’t ready to lose yet and bucked with all his might but didn’t anticipate Silver being so close to him that his kick was more of a push. They both went there opposite ways, with Silver landing safely on the train while Shining was about to fall off. He was about to go head into the cliff but managed to turn around in the nick of time and hold onto the edge with teeth. He struggled with his footing, scrambling upwards with all his strength left in his tired aching legs and tried to grab onto anything but slipped.

Ponies on the train could only see the dangling naked white legs and were blinded by the sudden appendages flailing about. The passengers had been hearing thumps and magic being used like there was a battle on the roof of the train and were all troubled by it. Shining closed his eyes in fear waiting for the inevitable and was about to use magic to absorb the impacts and hopefully not become a splat on the cliffside when he suddenly stopped falling with something warm wrapped around his horn. The scenery of jagged rocks and terrified Shining as he looked down in confusion but realised that he was saved. Looking back up there was a sharp tug at his horn, and Silver trying to bring him back up.

“If I wanted you dead, you would have been already Shining,” Silver huffed, grabbed his hoofs and pulled Shining back onto the train.

“Why save me? You gain nothing from helping me. I won’t allow you to run freely from this, you just murdered 15 ponies, and all for what. You burned a mansion down to the ground leaving so many homeless, caused grief to a now single father and worst of all, you scarred a little filly who might not even recover,”

“I...” Silver paused, struggling for an answer.

“And you don’t even know why you did it, you monster!” Shining looked in disgust, realising that the train was coming to a halt, from all the action that happened up here or because they were at a scenic lake.

“I did it to save Celestia!” Silver blurted out, his sword placed on his back, he needed to leave or there was going to be a lot more trouble.

“You’re just saying that to save yourself. YOU DESERVE TO BE PUT IN JAIL!” Shining shouted, placing a bubble around Silver and tried to tighten the space. He knew that wouldn’t hold Silver for long, he needed a different plan but what could he do. Silver was becoming more frustrated, whipped out his sword and sliced the bubble of magic like it was nothing. He charged faster than Shining could comprehend, closed the distance, grabbed Shining by the neck and unsheathed the hidden blade. The blade just touching his throat, almost piercing. Shining gasped for air, the unbelievable speed scared him, ‘How in Celestia’s name did he do that,’

“It may seem like I murdered 15 ponies, but I can reassure you it was without reason. I stopped all of them from Celestia’s assassination,”

“And how do I know you're not lying? How do I know that your not making any of it up to save your own fur...skin for the matter being,” Shining wasn’t convinced at all, he read the report given to him by his mentor, nothing stated anything related it to being an assassination unless Celestia withheld information? Shining hoped for his battalion or anypony to come as reinforcements, he could see the instability that Silver was, the eyes through the darkness of the hood were of pain and longing.

“I have a map, with all the future assassinations that are being planned out, all the names and locations, is that enough evidence,” Silver said, not knowing what else to say, it was his last bargaining chip. Pulling out a rolled map of Equestria with the various names and locations. ‘I am going to stop them all, for Luna's sake,’

“You’re still hiding something else Silver and unless you turn yourself in, there is no other way to prove your innocence,”

“I am stopping these assassinations whether you like it or not,”

“And for what purpose, give me one good reason why I should let you go and not come after you!”

“I am done playing games, Shining, if you won’t listen to me fine by me, but if you try to capture me, I will not hesitate to kill you,” Silver threatened, and pushed Shining backwards onto the train.

Shining looked in confusion as Silver jumped off the train almost immediately, a steep dive into the pristine lake and landing perfectly. Shining realised he was on a scenic tour train which would go through the various landmarks of Canterlot's region, but he was in shock. ‘Crazy, why in Celestia's name would Silver do that, how will he survive that fall, a leap of faith, madness!’

His one chance was gone, with the train still stationary. He wasn’t prepared to jump down from the cliff, Shining valued his life heavily more than a title and laid down looking up to the now bright noon. That was when a furious looking train conductor poked his head from the carriage gap, the moustache fuming. All Shining could hear for the rest of the trip back was being berated on how a guard shouldn’t be on top of the train but he wasn’t listening. He couldn’t say anything also because the mission was concealed to the general public. Shining kept on repeating the words ‘Classified’ until his tongue was in a knot and the conductor left with fury. Shining could only stare at the window while he waited for Canterlot’s stop, but he did not see the beautiful scenes of lakes and forest, only Silver, a face of unknown origins. He was filled to the brim full of questions about, was he alive, who was he, what relations does he have with Celestia, where will he go and who will he kill next? That last questioned burned Shining’s mind, as he brought out the throwing knife, with stained blood. ‘Maybe hope isn’t lost,’

Author's Note

As promised the next Chapter,
So I hope you enjoyed it and I will see you in the next chapter (Next week(ish))

P.S I am currently in need for an editor, my english sucks a lot and there's probably loads of grammatical errors and general ways of improving my story, so please if you want this story to continue PM me and hopefully we can work something out. As of now been running through the text via grammarly and prowritingaid