All is Darke

A dark, night filled century after Nightmare Moon rose to the throne:

"Stop right there, criminal scum!" The shadow guards raced after a young unicorn with a purple coat and bluish black mane and greyish eyes. Artemis was trying to figure out how he got caught in this mess and why he was running for his life when he turned a corner and found a small, unoticeable cave. Without any misgivings, he slid into the smaller than average opening and hid there, catching his breath as he heard the guards run past.

"Which way did he go?" Guard number one yelled as he ran.

"I think he went this way, lets go!" Guard number two yelled in response as they ran in the opposite direction of the cave.

With his breath slowly coming back to him, Artemis could now properly think back on the days events.

Earlier that day (or dusknight):

"Come on, Artemis, don't be such a wimp!" Cloud Shaker (also called Orion by his friends because Cloud Shaker is such a mouthful) had his hooves on Artemis' shoulders. His wings were making random movements, testament to how frustated he was becoming with his egghead brother. Orion, as you can tell, is the more headstrong of the two and twice as adventurous. He had a wild streak a mile wide and couldn't resist any opportunity to break the rules. In fact, just last week he had already been caught by the Shadow Guards when he and Artemis had decided to go steal apples from a tree growing in an abandoned courtyard. The punishment was harsh: working in the quarries for two days straight with minimal food and water. But that still didn't do anything to suppress his rebellious nature. Already he was concocting a new plan that was highly risky.

"I told you, bro, I don't want to go exploring the outer boundaries of Ponyville! You know what happened the last time the Shadow guards caught us! Can't we just stay inside and read a nice scroll within the safeness of the house?" Artemis (named Charming Blade at birth but switched names like his brother because it was also a mouthful) was shaking his head vehemently. While he enjoyed practicing old forms of swordsmanship at the school, Artemis was much more the academic. It was more likely for you to find him in his study than in any other place in Ponyville, and in fact any other room in the house that they occupied. While coming off as somewhat mild to ponies who don't know him, Artemis also harbors a characteristic adventurous streak that seems to run in the family. This is how he was convinced to go apple stealing with his brother the last time they got caught, though it was more about the abandoned houses "illegal" magic scrolls that had been outlawed by Nightmare Moon's commitee of publications management. Working in the quarries was dusty, but at least it had been for those scrolls. Magic scrolls were hard to come by in this place, as they had all been outlawed by Nightmare years ago to prevent uprisings from taking place.

"Pft, you're such an egghead sometimes! You need to get out of the house more. Seriously, this place is starting to smell." Orion takes a sniff "Phew!"

"It does not!" Slightly embarrassed, Artemis uses his magic to open a nearby window and cycle new air through the old. "The air was just stale, thats all. I've been busy reading an ancient text on some ancient forms of swordsmanship and I found it qui-"

"Yeah yeah, I know how you much you like those swords and stuff, and thats why we need you! You're the smartest and most able bodied unicorn we know, as well as the most magically talented. Think about all that time you spend reading those ancient scrolls just to glean the smallest spell from them!"

"I'm sorry, Orion, but I just can't be bothered with this nonsense over exploring the outside of Ponyville for treasure. Now, if you would excuse me..." Artemis turned back into his chair and started drifting deep into his reading state, oblivious to his surroundings.

"Ugh! You're like the most eggheaded fighter I've ever known! Fine, I'll just have to gather the rest of the gang and go with them. " In a last ditch effort to convince his brother, Orion threw in the hook. "Thats a shame though, we could have used an expert on ancient stuff to decode the hieroglyphs on the walls of the ancient ruins we found..."

Artemis' head flew up. "Did you say ancient ruins?"

Orion shrugged. "You wouldn't be interested anyway, after all that scroll on swords did seem very interesting and I wouldn't want to bother you with our 'nonsense'." He started walking out the door when Artemis said "Wait!"

"So you'll come with us? You're the best brother I've ever had!" It was hard for Orion to contain his excitement. As much as he hated to admit it, he needed his egghead brother to fall back on for support, because there was nopony he could trust more.

"Fine, fine, just let me get my saddlebags ready. And I'm the only brother you've ever had!" Laughing, Artemis headed to his room that he hardly ever spent time in. As he entered, a fine layer of dust was swept up and made him cough violently.

"You alright up there, bro? You sound like an old grandma!"

Artemis sighed. "Orion is a smart aleck as ever," he thought to himself. Better spend more time in here, it's really starting to get that "creepy haunted bedroom" look. After opening another window and dusting up a bit, Artemis finally found what he was looking for on top of his scroll covered desk. "My saddlebag! Still as good as ever." Opening the bag of course released another cloud of dust that invariable lead to more coughing and smart jibes from the lower floor. Inside lay several more scrolls that he had been meaning to read since he got them from the old, completely "legitimate" scrolls store. "Oh, confound it..." Artemis quickly dumped the scrolls in an ever increasing 'To Read' pile and started packing the neccessities he needed for this latest adventure.

"Magnifying glass - check. Scrolls for identifying ancient Equestrian civilizations - check. Omnibus of all written languages since the beginning of Equestria - check. Ooh, magical lantern. That should go in too."

"Leaving within this year would be nice, Artie!" Artemis could hear Orion's wings flapping in boredom downstairs.

"Give me a couple more minutes and I'll be set." Artemis hastened in his packing preparations.

After checking off several more items and filling the last spot with a water bottle for drinking, Artemis trotted down the stairs where his brother was waiting impatiently.

"You take longer to pack than Grampa Silas took to walk across the front lawn! This isn't exactly a camping trip you know," Orion jabbed at his brother. "Come on, the others are waiting for us at our usual spot!" With that, Orion quickly took to the skies, glad to finally be in the air and on their way to what he thought would be the greatest adventure yet.

From the ground, Artemis shifted uneasily in his saddlebags. "Why is it I get the strangest feeling that after today my life will never be the same? I must still be jittery after reading that horror scroll last night." After tightening the straps, he quickly trotted off after Orion on foot to meet up with the others at their usual place.

'The usual place', as was referred to by the friends, was an old storm cellar under an abandoned guard tower. The tower had been in use during Celestia's reign, but now there was little need for it as Nightmare's armies of the night had set up their own structures on clouds all around Equestria. Now, it was a popular roost for renegade griffons, darke birds, and all sorts of woodland creatures that had stayed after the sun went out. Nopony would expect the group of friends to make the storm cellar their ultimate hide out...

Artemis was panting heavily from carrying his saddlebag such a long way when he spotted Orion leisurely resting in a tree by the derelict guard tower. "Figures he would be the first to get here," he muttered under his breath. "Now I can almost hear him say-"

"Man, at this rate we're going to have to rename you slow poke, bro! Can't you trot any faster?" From his tree, Orion held an air of detached nonchalance when the truth was he had poured all of his wingpower into getting here before Artemis did. "He's getting fast for somepony stuck on the ground all the time," he thought to himself. "Better get back to my old flying habits so he's not the one jabbing at me."

"-that." Artemis inwardly sighed. He had been secretly practicing running through the forest as far as he dared to go, but it seemed that his legs would never allow him the speed to catch up to his fleet-winged brother. Of course, he'd never let his brother know this. Should Orion ever find out, it would be material for countless ribbings in the future that Artemis would much rather like to avoid. "Are we just going to hang out here and get caught by the shadow guards or are we going to get into the place already?" he called out.

"You go on ahead, I'll keep watch for the rest of them, no worries. If you hear a whistle, you know the drill." Orion assumed a more hidden position in his tree, keeping his eyes on the horizon in case a shadow guard happened to be coming up the path. Shrugging, Artemis walked into the tower and, while making sure nopony was watching, used his magic to reveal a large door hidden under a desk. He slowly trotted inside, making sure to close the door and move the desk back over it before heading down deeper into the cellar. To his surprise, the lights were already on inside.

"What the hay," Artemis thought to himself. "Is it an intruder?" Assuming battle stance, he quickly opens the door only to encounter his friend Flicker doing some cleaning up around the place.

"Hey there, Artemis. You startled me for a moment, I thought the Shadow guards had found this place out." Flicker's soft voice carried itself across the room to his ears, delighting his ears with its melodious tones.  With her berry punch coat and soft green hair, she was a very attractive and kind pegasus pony. In fact, Artemis couldn't remember the last time Flicker had ever raised her voice at anypony, even when she was upset. She knew how to stand her ground, though, as many bullies soon learned when they had been schoolmates. In fact, a lot of those bullies consequently turned around and became her admirers, a many a stallion professing their undying love for her. Though he himself had no attraction towards her, it secretly gave him enjoyment to watch her as she politely turned each pony down with the excuse that she was waiting for that special somepony to come and change her life forever.

"Nah, you know that brother of mine, he's never let the shadowguard waltz up to this place on his watch, it would ruin his image," Artemis joking replied. He caught a faint whiff of something in the bunker air - cinnamon?

"That is true. He always seems to be ready to prove his greatness as a pegasus and fighter." Flicker laughed softly and Artemis joined her. Everypony in their circle of friends knew Orion's big headedness over certain subjects. They also (though would never say it outloud to him) acknowledged that he had the skills he boasted so many times about in the past.

"Want a cinnamon bun? I baked them myself. Thought it would hold us over until Orion finally gets around to telling us his entire plan."

"Hb hab't tolgd you ygt?" Artemis had already taken one of the offered buns, his mouth full of delicious, melting pastry.

"I mean, he hasn't told you yet?" Swallowing the delicious treat, Artemis once again appreciated Flicker's skills in baking.

She chuckled. "Don't swallow too much at once now, you know what happened to Mishap the last time he had some of my cinnamon buns."

"How could I forget? It was so hilarious when he tried to force down the buns with some hotsauce and only ended up running around begging for water." Artemis had a wane smile. While he doesn't normally laugh at the misfortune of others, Mishap was the running exception. All of the friends had fallen victim to his pranks at least once in their lives, Artemis included. With a mischevious smile and wild blue/purple hair, Mishap was always near the scene whenever somepony found whipped cream in their pillows or hot sauce in their drinks. His tannish body and stout horn soon became a thing to look out for around the cellar, for one could never tell what shenangians he would be pulling next.

Flicker had a slight frown. " I wouldn't go that far, it seemed like he was in legitimate pain for a moment there." Being the way she was, there was no way she would have a laugh at the expense of another pony. At least, not TOO much of a laugh.

Artemis' smile died on his face. "Sorry Flicker, I didn't mean... I mean, you know..." He awkwardly stared at the floor, shuffing his hooves against the ground. Though they were friends, Artemis did not have much experience socializing with girls. Most of the time, he had his snout stuck in more dusty scrolls, but thats a story for another time. He was beginning to wonder when the others would show up when he heard the door to the cellar opening up.

"Heya, everypony! No need to hold your applause!" Mishap waltzed, smile pasted broad across his face as it usually was. "Whats up? Something wrong between you two?" He eyed Artemis in particular, who was still staring at the floor without a word. "Seems to me like another would be suitor just got nipped at the bud."

Artemis' head shot up swiftly. " I did no- She did- There is nothing between us!" His face turned a violent shade of red at the implication.

Flicker also blushed. "He's right, we don't have any feelings for each other. After all, how could I fall in love with him? He's one of my best friends."

Inside, Artemis' heart twinged a bit at the remark, but he decided to ignore it as coincidence. "Anyhow, where's the rest of our friends? Orion's just wild to tell us about this crazy new adventure he's got in store for us today."

"He didn't tell you? They've already gone ahead of us to the ruins to scout it out. We were the last ones to arrive, so we're the follow up party. And might I add, the infinitely more FUN party!" Mishap was already heading out the cellar door when he called back. "You two lovebirds coming or not?"

"Like I said, we are not- Oh forget it, lets just get moving to the ruins." Artemis reshouldered his saddlebag and started off towards the door when Flicker said "Hold on a moment, Artemis. You've got a little something there." She raised a hoof and wiped away some pastry crumbs that had been on his face. "There, we wouldn't want you walking around like that, would we?" She smiled so warmly that Artemis couldn't help but blush. "Thanks Flicker..." He quickly turned away and started towards the door. "We should get going, we wouldn't want to have gone through all this just to miss Orion and his show boating, would we?"

Her soft laugh followed him as they climbed up the stairs. "No, we certainly can't have that now."