Shadows of Equestria

Dark sat on the seat of the wagon pouting, he longed to fly to Ponyville but was swiftly rejected

“Think about it, they’re expecting an air attack” Double had pointed out “They’ll probably arrest you as soon as you hit the ground”

Burning sat on the seat nearest the exit looking at the winding rocky dirt road leading to Canterlot as he played a poorly constructed banjo which he used mainly to relieve stress and right now he felt the weight of a nation on his shoulders as it Equestria was dependent upon him , Double and Dark which to be quite fair it almost was. The wagon jolted and sent Double’s book onto the floor of the wagon and he watched as it slid along the floor onto the dirt path to which he pulled out another book and studied that instead. The journey had seemed to drag out for years as they all repeated the same routine, Burning with his Banjo, Dark pouting and Double studying the texts concerning the political structures of Stalliongrad which had intrigued him quite a lot

“Are we there yet?” Demanded Dark to the wagon driver

“We’ve got a good 30 minutes left until we arrive” Replied the wagon driver calmly “Just settle down and sleep or something”

“He’s right you know” Muttered Double “You really need to calm down” he turned another page in his book and uttered a noise of approval, Burning had just finished a song on his banjo and he placed it on the floor of the wagon as he threw a small metal canteen to Dark

“And this is?” Inquired Dark

“Cider shut up and drink it, hopefully it’ll knock you out cold until we arrive” Replied Burning agitated as he picked up his banjo and began playing another song

“You utter...” Began Dark only to be interrupted by Double

“Both of you morons shut up” Double stated “You’re both deserving of being knocked out cold” he turned yet another page but with no noise this time. Dark took a swig of the cider and lay back on the seat

“Hopefully there’ll be some different animal species or something over at Ponyville that I can occupy my time with” Smiled Dark trying to calm himself “And then maybe I can relax for once”

“I’m all for the relaxing, but I’ll be more occupied with brawling” Grinned Burning as he strummed the banjo slightly more violently and faster “And then I’ll be recognised as the strongest pony in Equestria” Double was getting irritated at the fact the two were speaking

“And maybe you two will shut up so I can relax and then I’ll be able to organise a game plan successfully” Stated Double killing the flow of all the enjoyment he glanced up from his back and into the horizon

“We’ve got about 10 minutes left, Dark” Double said as Dark waved off this comment

“I’ll be asleep, wake me when we’re there” He replied slowly

The sound of Burning’s banjo awoke Dark as the wagon bumped over a large rock sending a violent jolt through its passengers

“We’ve arrived” Pointed out Burning which was rewarded with a slow applaud from Dark and a chuckle from Double. The routine of a normal day was occurring in Ponyville which should be expected as they were, as far as the residents of Ponyville were concerned, normal Equestrian citizen and not a Division of highly trained stealth ponies sent on a mission to prevent any further political disasters between Equestria and Stalliongrad. They weren’t violent drunks with a tendency to bicker or argue between one another not at all. They were normal Equestrian citizens. The 3 stepped down from the wagon and pulled cloaks over themselves and began to walk aimlessly around the town.

“The everfree is somewhere around here” Stated Double

“You don’t say?” Teased Dark “Maybe I could fly up and look around for the forest, can’t be that hard to miss”

“And by that logic we can find it on foot” Argued Burning who was wandering into a street full of market stalls and ponies. As the three wandered in they became separated from one another which did them more good than bad

Burning wandered the town eagerly looking for cider as he went completely ignoring the fact he was barging a tonne of ponies out of his way as he did so, he spotted a stall with an apple on the top and assumed that would be the place to go for cider. As he approached he saw no cider and instead a few buckets full of apples and an orange mare with a Stetson hat atop her head his face dropped as he could so no cider but decided inquiring may be worthwhile anyway and he trotted up to the stall

“Howdy” Began the orange mare “Haven’t seen ya around these parts before, you must be new”

“Got any cider?” Blandly asked Burning, completely uninterested in anything other than the fabled drink the orange mare was taken aback by this attitude

“Well no actually” She replied “It isn’t cider season”

“Dammit...” Burning muttered under his breath “Any place to get cider nearby?” and so he resumed his task of finding a local source of cider

Double happily weaved his way between the crowd receiving odd looks from everpony, he thought it was probably because he hadn’t been seen by the locals before and assumed that everypony knew everypony here. He continued to trot through the crowd until a lavender mare emerged and bumped into him sending a stack of papers and ink into the air the ink container burst open and ink began to spew out. Double remained calm as the crowd scattered and levitated the ink back into the container before it made contact with any manes in the crowd after that he slowly levitated the papers and ink back to the lavender mare

“My bad” Chirped Double and resumed his course leaving the lavender mare stunned at the sudden display of magic

“Hold on!” The mare said trotting after Double “How did you react that quickly?” and just like that Double was put on the spot by somepony he’d never met and found himself struggling for an excuse

“Idiot...” He thought “Utter idiot! Normal ponies don’t have reactions like that!”

“It was...” Began Double, unsure of what to say

“It was?” The lavender mare inquired eagerly

“I went to a private magic school...” Slurred Double even he didn’t know what he was saying “And we were taught to react really quick... anyway... I have to go” and with that he turned away

Dark leapt onto the rooftops where he was closer to the sky than before, he wanted to fly but he knew he couldn’t. As he paced along the rooftops scanning the crowd below for Burning and Double he bumped into a pony

“Wha?!” He exclaimed almost falling off of the rooftop the other pony had a similar reaction as they looked each other suspiciously in the eye. The pony in question was a Pegasus mare with magneta eyes and cyan coat with a rainbow coloured mane

“Okay now I’m more confused” Muttered Dark louder than he intended

“Why would that be?” Inquired the mare

“Did I say that out loud?” Stuttered Dark shocked at himself the mare simply nodded

“How’d you get a rainbow mane?” Inquired Dark eager to change the subject

“I get asked that a lot” The mare replied rolling her eyes “But you don’t know who I am?” she was trying to change the subject to? This wasn’t going to end well

“Nope, never heard of you” Replied Dark in an upbeat tone which seemed rather heartless of him to do so. The mare looked enraged

“I’m Rainbow Dash! Best flyer in all of Ponyville and I hope to join the Wonderbolts!” She exclaimed standing on her back legs and wearing a pair of sunglasses Dark simply sighed

“Been there done that...” he sighed under his breath

As all three of the Shadow Division had got midway through their conversations when a loud noise erupted from the forest alongside the sound of snare drums being beaten in a military fashion as a large wave of Stalliongrad soldiers emerged from the forest

“All right! We’ve got a party!” Yelled Burning in delight as he clicked his neck. At about the same time as this Double and Dark also yelled

“Well that’s inconvenient... seems stealth won’t be an option...” Double had yelled

“Yes! I can fly again!” Yelled Dark simply with a large grin on his face