Shadows Over Equestria

The sun shines on them. It shines with an unparalleled, forced radiance. It shines as if it is in its death throes. Perhaps it is. Gazing upon the luminous sphere both brother and sister quickly turn their gaze to each other and head out. From a strained light they feel a sense of foreboding greater than the Blood Moon could ever give them.

They head towards Ponyville, where their Outfitter resides. They make wonderful time in the morning light. The undead and what shadow-dweller that prowl Equestria retreat into their dark pits. To them the caress of light is like a poison, an acid that burns the skin and soul. So they hide and they wait like patient dogs tied to a leash. They wait for the night to return.

The twins make it to Ponyville well before then, though the hour closes in on dusk. What greets them is a great sphere of sapphire wrapping around the city. A massive protection spell; something to keep the shadow-dwellers out.

“That’s a surprisingly bad idea.” Aeon mutters as she raises a hoof and touches the shield. It ripples like water, but like stone it refuses to bend. “Should we break it?”

“Pretty sure that would cause a panic.” Her brother remarks. “Better to just slip through without causing a commotion.”

“That’s no fun.” Aeon complains but agrees regardless and steps forward. The barrier is meant to keep the foulblood out, Equestrians though are granted free passage.

For now anyway.

The twins bear witness to a town that has been attacked countless times by now. The walls and buildings are scarred and the carriages are broken. The denizens are boarding up their windows and wondering, whispering about why this is happening. They are scared. They have a right to be. Something like this has not happened in this lifetime, or previous ones. They don’t understand the meaning behind the continuous blood moon nor the beasts that now wander the night.

The twins look about, seeing the city and it’s folks. The young have already been pulled off the streets, kept close and behind locked doors as the hours slowly crawls on. The adolescent and adults however, are still here, for now and turn their attention to the outsiders. Wondering, questioning who and what they are doing here. For a great many of them they shy away once the twins turn their gaze, their beast like eyes pushing them back. If that doesn’t do it, surely their weapons do the trick.

One who does not shy away is an old mare, with grey hair and glasses. She stares them down. As they approach her gaze turns upward she stares at the twins. Their taller than her, that’s easy to notice. “Please tell me you two are from the Capital.” She all but begs the pair.

“Sorry to disappoint you.” Aeon states as she adjusts her hood, shooting the mare’s hopes down. “But we are here to help.” She adds before looking around. “Gotta say we aren’t this popular back home.” She admits staring at the hundreds of others still watching them. “It’s oddly nice.” Seeing what the mare meant the older - if shorter one just apologized.

“I’m sorry, we’ve been waiting for help from the Capital for a while now.” The mare stated as she looked off into the distance. Following her gaze the twins look to a mountain, and see what appears to be a city hanging from it’s side as they make a noise. “Regardless if you’re here to help, thank you. I am Mayor Mare, I’m the Mayor of this town.”

‘Who names their daughter Mayor?’ Astray wonders to himself. “Astray Rose.”

“Aeon Rose.” The twins introduce themselves as they look back to the Mayor.

“If we met under better circumstances I’d say it’s a pleasure to meet you but-”

“We know.” Astray starts. “The blood moon is making a lot of ponies uneasy.”

“Speaking of which…” Aeon begins as she turns around and looks about the sun. “There’s still some time before the moon rises again, think we can sit down and talk till then?“

“Of course.” The Mayor states as she looks at the pair and starts to turn. “Please follow me.” She instructs as she starts to walk, leading the two into the city. They head towards town hall, and once inside they settle down in her office. A crowd cautiously follows them, ten ponies slowly growing into twenty and then thirty.

Astray and Aeon just take their seats, though one of them takes a moment to look out the window and sees them muttering amongst themselves.

“Do you…” The mayor began. “Do you know what’s causing all this?”

“Yes.” The twins say together. “Do you really want to know what's causing this though?” The mayor opened her mouth before falling silent.

“No…” She admits after a minute. “But many, ponies are starting to blame Princess Luna for our situation and… I’m starting to believe them.”

“Princess Luna?” Astray mutters. “Do you mean Nightmare Moon?” He looked at his sister.

“Yes, she returned a few months ago, during the Summer Sun Celebration.” The Mayor admitted as she rubbed her temples. “Many thought she had been reformed.” The mare admits. “Others however thought she was just biding her time for something… else.” She muttered before sighing. “I’m afraid to say that that might be the case.”

“It’s not.” Astray stated with a stretch.

“Excuse me?”

“It’s not Nightmare Moon.” The twins say together.

“It’s something else.” Astray adds.

“Thank Celestia…” The Mayor mutters as she looks at the two. “Then what is it, what’s causing this?”

“Tartarus.” Aeon stated as she looked outside, her attention shifting from the townsponies to the sun. “Still plenty of time…”She muttered. “You’ve heard of it right, Tartarus? The Infernal Prison?”

“Oh yes.” The mayor stated. “Everypony knows those stories. Tartarus as the prison for the greatest prisoners in Equestria.”

“Understatement but yeah.”Astray states as he looks back at his twinblade. “Tartarus is guarded by Cerberus, the hound of Hades. Thing is…”

“Cerberus left his post and wandered off for a bit.” Aeon finished as the mayor seemed to think. “Yes… yes that makes sense. We saw Cerberus here two weeks ago…”

“Cerberus was here?” Aeon asked as she looked to her brother. ‘Of all the places Cerberus could go…’

‘He came here?’ The twins narrowed their eyes for a moment before crossing their hooves. “Do you know what happened to Cerberus?”

“Was he injured?”

“Which way did he wander off too?”

The Mayor looked between the two before answering. “Cerberus looked fine last I saw him, and no I don’t know exactly what happened to him… but Twilight said she led him back to Tartarus.” Aeon raised an eyebrow.

“Who’s Twilight?”

“Twilight is a young mare that moved into town during the Summer.” The mayor stated. “She was give permission by the Princess to stay after she helped purify Princess Luna from Nightmare Moon’s influence.”

“That so?” Aeon filed that away for later. “How did she know where Tartarus was?” She asked and the Mayor didn’t answer for a moment. Tartarus’s location was a heavily guarded secret, it wasn’t even written in books. Only a select few know it’s location.

“I’m, I’m not quite certain, perhaps Princess Celestia told her.” Astray looked at his sister. That would make sense but still… no one, not even the Princess of this land would just tell someone where Tartarus was.

Not unless she had a reason to.

They talked for a bit longer, ending when the Sun was just moments from setting as they stepped out. Looking at the two Mayor Mare just adjusted her glasses as they looked towards the barrier.

“That barrier can protect us at night, so you two don’t have to worry.” She states as the twins look back to her. “You should get some rest while you can. There’s an inn you can stay at, if you’d like I can show it to you.” The mare stated. “Tomorrow I can show you around town

“That’s kind of you.” Aeon states as she looks at the fading sun. “Even with our stamina reserves, I think we wasted most of it just getting here.” She looks at her brother. “I wouldn’t mind a rest, you?” Astray shrugs.

“It doesn’t sound like a terrible idea.” He admits. “We’re going to need our strength for later.”

“Ain’t that the truth.” Aeon stretched as he got to her feet. “By the way.” She turns to the Mayor.” “Who’s responsible for the barrier?”

“That would be Twilight Sparkle.” The mayor admitted with a touch of pride. “She stays at the Golden Oak Library right now.”

“Can you take us to her tomorrow?” Astray asks. “We have something important she needs to know.” A curious look crossed the mayor’s face, but she nodded nonetheless. It was a bit strange to her, one moment they didn’t seem to know who young Twilight was, now; now they had something to tell her. The change wasn’t something she’d just ignore. Still as it stood it wasn’t her place to say anything. At least, not yet anyway.

The inn wasn’t much to look at. It wasn’t falling apart, but it had seen better days. The attacks from before the barrier was raised showed themselves and the mayor watched as Aeon glided her hoof over the scars before stepping in. She and her brother shared a look, what it meant though, that escaped the mayor. At the same time something told her she didn’t want to know the meaning behind it.

There was something strange about these two, maybe it had to do with their eyes, or maybe their weapons, or perhaps it was something else all together. The mare just couldn’t put her hoof it. All she knew was, there was something strange concerning the two.

Still, she lead them to Ponyvile's inn, and bid them goodnight, something they returned before she sprinted to her own place of residence.

Back in the inn Aeon stares at the rising Blood Moon. annoyance on her face as she her brother set his weapon beside one of the two beds. He stared at his sister, raised an eyebrow before setting himself down.

“What’s up?”

“One month.” Aeon muttered as she stared at the moon. “We have one month to save to the world.”

“No pressure right.” Her brother muttered, leaning back to stare at the ceiling.

“Think we can pull it off?”

“That’s what we’re here to do.” Her brother states. “Grandmaster wouldn't have picked us to come here of all places if she didn’t believe we could do it.”

“She believes in us.” Aeon admits. “But what about you?” She asks. “Do you think we can do this?”

“We have to.” Astray admits. “We were trained for this… we were born for this.” He grumbled as he stared at his hooves. “That's the price of being born into a family of Hunters. We have to do this, we have to save the world from those that crawl out the dark corners of the world.”

“I guess you're right.” Aeon muttered. “Its one of the things I hate about our bloodline.” Aeon admits. “The fighting, the blood, the death we’re exposed to. The weight of having to protect the ponies and the world when the time comes.” She trailed off for a minute. “Sometimes I wish we were born into a regular family you know.”

“I do know.” Astray stated looking at his sister. “We’re twins, our minds are linked and when our thoughts intersect, they resonate. You think as I do.”

“And you feel as I do.” Aeon stated with a light smile. “We both want more than this life, we’re selfish that way.”

“Mom and dad would say there’s nothing wrong with that.” Astray released a weak smile. “Everypony deserves to be a little selfish every now and then.”

“Yeah.” Aeon returned her brothers smile. “But we got a job to do now. We can be selfish later.” Astray nodded his head.

“Come on, lets get some rest.” Aeon didn't say anything just staring at the blood moon for a while longer before following her twins advice. She turned in.

Both found themselves lost in a restless sleep.