Once a Shadow

Hopefully this goes without saying: Twilight is NOT an alicorn in this story, and probably never will be. Now read.

So this is how it ends? I never thought it would happen this way. Heh, irony's funny like that I guess. So tired now....huh? I think I hear someone calling me. Leave me alone, I want to rest now. I think I've earned one.

/././

I woke up from a good night's rest, and Rainbow's hooves wrapped around me. It's today, isn't it? Holy shit, it is. Wedding day. Heh, I never thought it'd get here so soon. It's not a bad thing either. I finally get to seal the deal with Rainbow, and I couldn't be happier. I'm glad I got the chance to be here.

Rainbow shuffled next to me, and slowly opened her eyes before letting out a small yawn.

I smiled. “Good morning, Rainbow. Sleep well?”

“Yeah, I did. What about you?”

“Best sleep I've had in a while.”

“That's good to hear. Excited for today?”

“Oh hell yes.”

She giggled. “Glad to hear it.”

“Speaking of which, what time is the wedding?” I said sheepishly.

“You forgot what time your wedding is?” She said with a small amount of annoyance.

I held my hooves up. “Sorry, I just got so caught up in things that I forgot.”

She sighed. “I forgive you. The wedding is at six o' clock by the way. It's eight right now, so we've still got a while. We don't have to be in Canterlot until four, and it will take an hour or two to get there, so we'll leave around two, two-thirtyish. That gives you six hours to do whatever you want until then.”

I nodded. “Alright. First thing's first, I need to take Solemn to school.”

“It's Saturday, Shadow.”

“Oh, well in that case, I'll take her to Cloudsdale for training.”

I really do lose track of time, don't I?

“Alright, that's fine. So who do you have picked to be your best stallion and groomsmen?”

I facehoofed.

“You don't know, do you?”

“I know who I want, it's just that, well....-”

“You haven't told them.”

“Yeah...Well, I should probably go do that then.”

“Yeah, that would be best.”

I sighed. “Alright, I'll be back in a bit. See you then.” I said before getting out of bed.

“Alright, see you in a few.” Rainbow replied before getting out of bed as well.

Rainbow and I went up to each other and embraced in a passionate kiss.

After once again losing track of time thanks to a kiss, we finally broke it.

I smiled. “Later.”

She smiled as well, and nodded.

I left the room and went over to Solemn's.

I knocked on the door, and the door opened, revealing Solemn. “Hey, ready for training?”

She yawned. “I guess.”

“Alright, I need to make a stop at the library before we head to Cloudsdale. It won't take long though.”

“If you say so Dad. You just need to make sure you aren't late to the wedding.”

“No need to worry, I wouldn't miss it for the world.”

“Alright, you just need to make sure you can back those words up.”

“I will, I will.”

When the hell was a six year old able to talk like that? Whatever, I need to get to the library so I can talk to Barry before he leaves for Canterlot along with Twilight and Spike.

We trotted downstairs and left our cloud home.

I knelt down. “Alright, hop on, and I'll get you to Cloudsdale.”

She nodded, and climbed on my back.

I looked back. “Holding on tight?”

She nodded, and I took off towards the library.

When we got to the library, I knocked on the door.

“I got it, Twilight!” Spike's voice called out.

A few seconds later, the door was opened by the little purple and green dragon. “Hey Shadow, hey Solemn, need something before we head off to Canterlot?”

“Just a quick word with Barry.”

He nodded. “Sure thing, come on in, and I'll go get him.” He said as he stepped to the side.

I trotted in, and he closed the door behind me before rushing upstairs. While he was getting Barry, I decided to look through a few books.

“Dad, can we check out one of those Daring Do books that Mom likes to read?”

“So you like the series too, do you?”

She smiled and nodded. “Yeah! They're really cool!”

“Alright then, I'll check one out for you after I talk to Barry.”

“Yay!” She yelled before hugging my back.

Heh, to say no to her is as impossible to me as impossible it is for a pegasus to use magic.

I heard foot (hoof....damnit, I just mind-fucked myself again.) steps coming from the stairs.

I turned around, and saw the neon green coat that belonged to Barry begin to emerge, along with his neon orange mane and tail. “Hey, you needed me?”

“Yeah, I may have forgotten to mention this before, but you're gonna be my best man, or stallion, or whatever.”

“Really?”

“Really to me wanting you as my best man, or really to me just now telling you?”

“Both.”

“Yes and yes. Sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but it slipped my mind given a few recent events. I need to hurry on now, but I'll see you in a few hours. Oh, and before I forget, do you think I can check out one of these Daring Do books for Solemn here?”

He looked at Solemn and smiled. “Sure, for her I think that can be managed.” He said as he picked up one of the various Daring Do books.

I looked back at Solemn. “Does it matter which one?”

“I've read the first one, so whichever is the second one is the one I want.” She responded.

Barry nodded and picked up the book she requested and hoofed it to me. (Yep, hoofed from now on. Screw it.)

I looked at the title. “Daring Do and the Temple of the Diamond Skull.” Well Solemn, get ready for disappointment.

“Is that everything you two needed?” Barry asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, that's it. Thanks man, I'll see you at my wedding as my best man.”

“Got it, see ya then.”

I trotted outside, and took off for Cloudsdale.

“When will I be able to read the book?” Solemn asked.

“Whenever the wedding finishes, you'll get your chance. Until then, you'll be training and at the wedding.”

She groaned. “Fiiine.”

I chuckled. “The day will be over before you know it, Solemn.”

Instead of saying anything else, she just groaned again.

I smiled and continued towards Cloudsdale.

When we arrived, I trotted into the sanctuary to find the entire team plus a few extra faces I haven't seen before.

Spitfire trotted up to me. “I'll take Solemn off your hooves Shadow. In the meantime, I'd like to introduce you to a few ponies. Medic squad, say hi to the fastest pony to climb the ranks since myself a millenia ago.” She said as I gave her Solemn.

One of the ponies trotted over to me. His muscular features and steel colored coat along with his dark blue mane and tail made me think of this guy as the pony you didn't want to fuck with in a bar brawl. He held out a hoof. “Nice to meet you, name's Bloodbank. I've got advanced first aid training, but nothing much more than that in terms of being a medic. I can fight though, so I guess it makes me more like the group's 'bodyguard'.”

I shook his hoof. “Shadow Flash. Good to meet you.”

Bloodbank rejoined his group, while another pony trotted up to me. His white coat and red mane led me to believe he's more the medic type than Bloodbank. He shook my hoof. “Bandages. I've got more training than Bloodbank when it comes to being a medic, but that doesn't mean I'm helpless in a fight. If you get hurt in the midst of combat, I'm the one who's got your back.”

I nodded. “Good to hear. I look forward to working with you in the future.”

Bandages trotted back to his team, and an average sized pony came up to me. The guy had marks all under his eyes on his face, like somebody had carved up tally-marks through his dark green coat, and straight to the skin. He shook his black and green mane out of his eyes to see me better. “Sawbones. I'm the squad's lead surgeon. I've got over three hundred years of experience, so you won't find a better doctor in all of Equestria. It sounds like boasting, but I'm just stating the simple truth. That being said, I'm not much of a fighter. If possible, I stay out of the combat.”

I nodded. “If you don't mind me asking, why does it look like somepony carved up tally-marks on your face?”

“These? I put them there.”

“Why would you do that?! There are like forty!”

“Forty-six to be precise. Although I'm the best doctor in Equestria, that doesn't mean I can heal any wound. There are some beyond my capabilities, and each of these marks is a pony I've failed. They remind me to get better, and be able to heal any injury.”

Talk about hardcore. “Uh, right. I look forward to serving with you.”

Sawbones nodded and went back to his group, and another pony trotted up to me and sized me up. This guy seems different than the last three. More hardass-ish looking with his Big Mac build, brown mane, and red coat. But hey, looks can be deceiving. When he finished, he smiled and held out a hoof. “So you're the one Hornet told me about, huh? Call me Buckshot. You look like you can handle yourself in a fight pretty nicely, so that makes you alright in my book. Honestly, I'm pretty new to this whole Fugiens Mones thing, but I'm no stranger to a fight. I've also got more than twenty years' experience as a combat medic, so I guess this squad suits me more than your spec ops team, or assassins, or whatever your squad is called.”

I smiled and shook his hoof. “You don't look like you're bad in a fight either. There's something different about you, but I can't quite figure it out...”

He grinned. “You're also sharper than you look. I'll let my 'captain' tell you.” He said captain with a hint of reluctance. I wonder why....wait, did he say captain?

Buckshot trotted back to his group, and the last one, this one with a brown coat, approached me with a smile on his face. One of his red eyes was covered up by his half black and half red mane. Wait...whoa, what the fuck happened to this guy? He's got griffon wings instead of normal ones, and some sharp ass teeth. Are those from a dragon?

When he got up to me, I was still staring at his wings. He cleared his throat to get my attention, and I jumped. “Uh, sorry about that.”

“No problem. To be honest, this feel is still new to me. It was a pretty recent incident that made me have to get a few 'changes' made to my body.”

“Wait a sec...I've seen something similar to this before.....necromancy!” I jumped back and activated my hidden blades. “You're an abomination!”

His group got ready to move, but he held up a hoof for them to stop. “Yes, I'm an abomination now. Believe me, I didn't see myself becoming an abomination three days ago, but here I am. I'm not an average abomination though. I've still got my mind, and I know where my loyalties lie. If you calm down, I'll explain.”

I retracted my hidden blades and slowly nodded.

“Thank you. I know my appearance is pretty unsettling to say the least, and I realize that. An accident happened a few days ago, causing me to nearly die. Before I did, however, a known rouge necromancer saved me the only way she could; she killed me and turned me into an abomination.” His eyes lowered. “I know it may sound far-fetched, but this is the truth. I owe my life to that necromancer, because she was kind enough to save it.”

I relaxed a little bit, but still remained cautious. “A rouge necromancer? I'm not sure if I believe you.”

He gave me an apologetic smile. “Yes. I knew it would be a little too much to try and believe given your history with them, so I'll let her speak for herself.” He said before a robed unicorn mare with a white coat and golden mane trotted from behind the medic group.

It took every ounce of control in me not to slash her throat right there. That aside, it was obvious that I was very agitated.

“It's okay Shadow. This is Crystal Tears. She's the necromancer that saved me.” The captain said.

She trotted closer to me, and I kept my eyes on her, just daring her to make a move.

“I understand what you must feel right now, but believe me when I say this; I'm not with them.”

I raised an eyebrow. “And how am I supposed to believe that? What if you just fixed up the captain here so you could get close to our base?”

“That's enough, Shadow.” Spitfire said as she trotted over.

“You believe her, Spitfire?”

She nodded. “I do.”

I sighed. “....Alright.” I turned to Crystal Tears. “But just so we're clear, I'm watching you.”

She nodded. “I understand.”

Just then, the captain let out a breath he was apparently holding in. “Well now that we've got the fact that I'm an abomination out of the way,” He held out a hoof. “I'm the recently promoted captain of the medics, Hornet.”

I thought for another moment, then finally decided to shake his hoof. “If Spitfire vouches for you two, you can't be that bad. Wait, have I seen you before, or is it my imagination?”

“You've seen me before, although it was before I had this happen to me.” He said, gesturing towards his teeth and wings.

“Really? When?”

“It was only briefly, and we didn't speak. I was the one who delivered the information to Spitfire about the necromancers' hideout in the desert while you were present.”

I thought for a moment. “Oh yeah, I think I remember now. You know, I gotta say those griffin wings are barely noticeable, which helps explain why I didn't recognize you.” I said with a bit of sarcasm.

“Thanks, and your big head doesn't make you look like any less of an ass.”

“Now you two-” Spitfire started to say, but was cut off by the Hornet and I bursting into laughter.

We bumped hooves and laughed for a moment longer. “I think we're gonna have a good friendship going Hornet.”

“Heh, I couldn't agree more. Oh, and before we continue on with our conversation, there's one more thing you need to know about me. Well, me and Buckshot.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What is it? It can't be more surprising than you being an abomination.”

“Well, me and Buckshot here are uh, how do I put this so you don't freak out? Well, there's no way to do that, so I'll just say it.”

Oh God he better not be coming out.

“We're human.”

“....Come again? It sounded like you just said you and Buckshot over there were human.”

“Because I did.”

I rubbed my temple with my forehooves. “Ugh, why couldn't it have been something as simple as coming out of the closet?”

“No you ass, I'm not gay. I'm going out with Spitfire.”

My eye twitched. Yep, surprise overload. I think I'm gonna faint now.....aaannyy second....ah, now.

Thud*

I groaned, and could make out a few voices.

“Is he gonna be alright?” One voice asked.

“He'll be fine, he's just being melodramatic.” Another voice said.

“I don't know, Soarin and Ni fainted too.” A third voice said.

I struggled to open my eyes and found Spitfire, Crystal Tears, and Hornet looking down at me.

“See? He's fine.” Spitfire said.

“Ughh...too many surprises...”

Spitfire rolled her eyes. “Yep, definitely fine.”

I sat up and looked at Hornet. “...So you used to be human, eh?”

He nodded. “I won't go into much detail, but I'll tell you the basics. I'm former military, and I was flying a jet fighter before being attacked and killed. I got the chance to come here, so I took it. Soon after, I'm in the Mones. As time passed, Spitfire and I got closer to each other.”

I got back up on all fours. “I never thought Spitfire was going out with someone, because I definitely wouldn't have told Soarin to ask her out if I did.”

“So you're the one who told him to ask me out, huh?” Spitfire said, getting closer to me.

I frantically backed up. “Uhh, what I meant to say was that I-ow!” I was cut off by Spitfire pounding my head

I rubbed my head. “Owww, what was that for?”

“It wouldn't be fair if I hit Soarin, but not you.”

I sighed. “You're not nice, ya know that?”

She shrugged. “I never said I was.”

“Heh, I guess you're right.” I turned to Hornet. “So meeting you means that there's only one more captain for me to meet. Given each of you captains had your own little surprise about you, I'm guessing the archery captain is no exception?”

Spitfire smiled. “Depends on what your definition of the word 'surprising' is.”

“I'll take that as a yes. Oh well, it can't be any more surprising than a former human, now part pony, griffon, and dragon.”

“You say that now.” Spitfire said, grinning.

“Okay, now I've gotta know. What does the archery captain look like?”

“You'll get to see him soon enough.”

I hung my head. “Man, this is gonna drive me crazy trying to figure out what's up with the last captain.”

“You'll get over it. Now, you were out for a couple of hours, so I recommend that you rush back to Ponyville ASAP.”

I looked at a conveniently placed clock on the wall next to me. It's two' o clock, so that gives me....shit.

I jumped up and ran for the exit. “Oh, when Soarin and Ni wake up, tell them they're my groomsmen! Also Spitfire, I need you to take Solemn to the wedding when she finishes training!” I shouted before Spitfire could protest, and left the sanctuary.

When I exited the Wonderbolt HQ, I spread my wings and flew full speed back to Ponyville. I can't believe I was out for that long. I'll have to pick up the pace though, because I need to be back in less than thirty minutes.

Twenty nine minutes later, or somewhere around that.

I panted as I reached the front door. “I...made it...oh God...” I said before collapsing, trying to collect my breath. Just as I did, the door opened, revealing Rainbow.

She raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing?”

“I..*pant*...was...*pant*-”

“How about you get some water first? You look pretty beat if you ask me.”

Instead of saying anything, I just nodded and trotted inside. I got myself a glass of water and downed it.

“Better?” Rainbow asked.

I nodded. “Better.”

I'm still pretty damn tired, though.

“Well, we need to get to Canterlot now. Let's get going Shadow.”

I hung my head. “Okay...” I'm so damn tired...

I got up, and trotted over to the door with Rainbow.

She turned to me. “One more thing, I think you need to go on ahead without me, and I'll go with the girls.”

“Huh? Why?”

She shrugged. “Fluttershy and Rarity kept insisting it was bad luck or something like that to see the bride in the final moments before the ceremony. Twilight said the same thing, but she was reading from a book when she said it.”

I smirked. “A bit superstitious are we?”

“Who knows? Could be true. I'll go with the judgement of my friends and trust what they have to say.”

I sighed. Looks like I'm flying to Canterlot solo. I brought Rainbow in for a kiss, and she gladly  returned it.

We parted for a breath. “I'll see you soon.”

She smiled. “Alright. I love you, Shadow.”

“And I love you too, Rainbow.”

We trotted outside, and flew our separate directions. Rainbow flew towards Ponyville, while I flew towards Canterlot.

I've got a pretty long flight ahead of me, so I might as well tune out from my surroundings for a bit.

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

Sorrow Curse smiled as he rose from his throne made of skulls. He had been waiting in his personal sanctuary ever since the encounter in the San Palomino Desert, thinking over his plans again, and again, and again.

He gave a malicious smile. “The time is nearly at hand. After years-no, centuries of planning, it is almost time to put everything into play.”

He stared into the eyes of the terrified, and bound, yellow coated mare in front of him. He wiped away a tear that had reached her cheek. “Shhh, there there.”

He gave her a kind smile, but she still whimpered slightly.

“There is no need to be upset my dear. I will offer up a prayer for your soul specifically for being so kind as to donate me your blood.”

His smile grew more evil, and quickly began to show his teeth.

The mare panicked, and the tears began flowing. She was hastily silenced by a dagger through her throat.

Sorrow levitated the mare so the wound was just above a small bowl, allowing the blood to drip into it.

Once he was satisfied with the amount of blood in the bowl, he tossed the body away from him as if it were a worthless animal unworthy of existence. He took the bowl, and carefully emptied it out into the air, but using his magic, he kept the blood itself levitating. Once the bowl was empty, he dropped it, and began chanting in a strange language. The blood began to glow, and take shape in various letters to a language long dead and forgotten.

Sorrow stopped his chanting and smiled. “It looks like even the dark gods agree with me. Shadow Flash will die, along with this place's only hope for a savior.”

Back to Shadow.

I gave a powerful sneeze. Probably Rainbow talking about me. Or somepony else. Meh, I'm popular. I do have an uneasy feeling though. I'm hoping my twisted reflection was just fucking with my mind by showing me that vision of my wedding getting crashed by the necromancers. But then again, what reason would he have for lying? We are connected after all, so it would give him no benefit. So, he's either telling the truth, or he's wrong. Oh God please let him be more wrong than he's ever been.

Hopefully we're prepared for that scenario though. After all, three captains, along with their top soldiers will be in attendance, including the princesses themselves, and the royal guard. They may not be as strong as a member of the Mones, but they should be able to hold their own in a fight. Ugh, I wish I could just enjoy my wedding day, rather than have an anxiety attack.

I sighed. Oh well, complaining won't do anything. I should be arriving in Canterlot pretty soon. And speaking of which, I can see it coming up in the distance.

I picked up my pace so I could arrive quicker. Pretty soon, the lone mountain's size gradually increased. The city itself is now visible to me. A few moments later I was in front of the Royal Palace itself.

I landed and trotted over to the main gate, guarded by a couple of, well, guards. They crossed their spears in front of the entrance. “Halt! State your business.”

“I'm here for my wedding.”

“I remember you Mr. Flash. Go on in, and congratulations.” The guard on my left said before nodding to his partner.

They moved their spears to allow me entry. “Thanks, and be on the lookout for any....strange activity.”

The one on the right raised his eyebrow. “Why? Is something going to happen?”

“I hope not, but if you see anything particularly out of the ordinary, don't hesitate to barge in to tell us, got it?”

“Uhh, sure. Is everything okay?”

“For now. Just remember what I said.” I finished as I trotted by them, and into the castle itself.

I was amazed at the décor of the place. There were golden banners on every support beam of a cyan colored pegasus with rainbow hair next to a black pegasus with black and crimson hair. Along with the banners, there were flowers of almost every color in various places. There were wedding pews set up, which were set to face the stand where Rainbow and I will seal the deal. (Not really sure if the place where the groom and bride stand has a specific name.)

There were a few ponies in here still working on everything, but even though it isn't quite finished, it's more than I ever expected.

“Hello Shadow Flash.” A voice behind me said.

I turned around. “Princess Luna. How are you?”

“A difficult question. We are happy for you and Rainbow Dash, but worried about the possible invasion.”

I sighed. “Yeah, it's hard to be excited with all of this tension in the air, isn't it?”

She nodded. “It is very unfortunate, because this is a most joyous occasion.”

“You're tellin' me? I don't think I'll be able to enjoy my own wedding thanks to the crap that's going on.”

“Rest assured, all precautions are being taken. The wedding is to begin in three hours. You may explore the city for two hours, after that, you need to get back here for your wedding.”

I nodded. “Two hours, got it.”

“Remember Shadow Flash, you have the most powerful fighting force Equestria has ever seen at your back.”

“I know, but I'm worried it's not enough.” I said as I turned and left the castle.

Alright, I've got two hours to do whatever. What to do first I wonder?

“Hey!” A voice called out.

A turned and looked for the source of the voice.

“Right here.”

I turned, and came face to face with none other than Shining Armor. “You're the captain of the royal guard, Shining Armor, right?”

He nodded. “That's me. You're Shadow Flash, aren't you? The pony who's gonna marry Rainbow Dash today?”

“Sure am. What can I do you for?”

“Well surely you aren't going to go to your wedding without letting me buy my litte sister's best friend's fiance a drink first, right?”

I grinned. “I wouldn't dream of it.”

“Alright! Follow me, I know just the place to get one.”  He said, turning to lead me to the place where my drink awaits.

He turned to me. “So are you ready to kiss your freedom goodbye?”

“Is marriage really that bad?” I asked.

He chuckled. “Nah, I'm just messing with you. Marrying Cadence was the best thing that has ever happened to me. I've got zero regrets with it. The only problem was the wedding day itself. I wish it could have been done without all of the drama.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I know what happened. It made a wedding to remember though, didn't it?”

He laughed. “It certainly did. Look, here we are.” He finished, pointing up at the sign of the building.

Das Wasserloch *(I told you guys I was gonna stereotype Germans next.)*

Now it's German ponies? Nice.

We trotted inside, and I took a look around. The floor is made of a polished wood, and the walls appear to be made of the same kind of wood as the floor. The place has a pretty simple design. It's a big square with booths lining the outside, with a square bar in the center, surrounded by stools. The place seems pretty empty. There's probably only five or six other ponies here. Probably because it's still pretty early for drinking.

“Ah, herzlich willkommen! Shining Armor, I see you've brought a friend.” The bartender stated in a German accent. The earth pony looked like the German flag. His coat is black, while his mane and tail are red with golden stripes.

“Hey Chugger, how's it going?” Shining asked.

“Mir geht es gut, everything is going well. So, what can I get you two?”

“We'll both take some of your own special brew.”

He smiled. “Wunderbar. Coming right up.”

Shining and I pulled up a stool as the bartender known as 'Chugger' got our drinks.

He got two large mugs, and went over to a barrel and got them filled with beer. He came back and hoofed us our drinks.

“Thanks Chugger.” Shining said before taking a sip of his beverage.

Chugger nodded, and trotted off to attend to another pony.

I took a sip of my beer. “Hmm, not bad.”

“Pretty good, eh?” Shining asked.

“I'll say.” I said before taking another sip.

A silence took over for about five minutes. During that time, we just took a drink of our drinks every now and then.

I decided to break the silence. “So, what'd you really need me for?”

“I'd like you to tell me what you know about the threat presenting Canterlot.”

“So, you know then?” I asked, slightly surprised, but doing my best not to show it.

“Being captain of the Royal Guard, I have many sources of information.”

I chuckled. “More sources than I would've thought. I can't tell you everything, you know. My organization has rules.”

“Then tell me what you can so I can protect these ponies.”

“All I can say is that during my wedding, keep your eye on the ground.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“Exactly what it sounds like. Don't take your eyes off of the ground during my wedding. Hopefully I'm wrong, but just in case I'm right, I just saved your life.”

“Is there nothing else you can tell me?”

“I'm afraid not.” I said before getting up.

“...”

“Thanks for the drink.” I said before walking to the door.

“Shadow.”

I stopped.

“Your life belongs to Rainbow now. If you die, you might as well let her die too.”

“....Got it.” I said before leaving.

That killed about half an hour, and a little bit of my happiness. Now what else can I do for an hour and a half that doesn't annoy me?

I trotted down the streets of Canterlot, looking for something to do. Pretty soon, I came across a familiar alley. I went over to the spot where I had my first run-in with regenerans bestia. Looking at the ground, I can still see some of my blood stained into the ground. This is where it all began, where Spitfire, Soarin, and Blaze saved my life. From there, I was to become a member of the Fugiens Mones.

I heard a noise come from behind me, and I whirled around to see a pegasus holding a knife up to me. “Give me all of your money, and I don't hurt you.”

I took a good look at him. He had a snow white coat, blonde mane (which was in a ponytail...heheh...ponytail) and tail. His cutie mark, which was a blue shield with a gold heart on it, along with innocent his appearance made me assume he wasn't used to the whole mugger thing. That, and he was holding the knife wrong.

I raised my eyebrow. “You don't exactly look like the mugger type. Why don't you put the knife down, and just go home?”

“Shut-up! Give me your money now!”

I sighed. “Alright, if you insist.”

“Good, wait, wha-”

I cut him off by sweeping his legs out from under him, and then knocking the knife away.

I stood over him. He had a look of dismay and sadness on him, but no anger at all.

He started tearing up and punched the ground. “Damnit! I can't even do this right...”

I held out my hoof, making him look at me cautiously.

I nodded, and he took it. I helped him back onto his hooves, and he spoke. “I...I'm sorry.”

“Everything okay? Besides just now, you look like you've had a bad day.”

“Yeah...”

“Go ahead, I've got time.”

“You mean you'd listen to a guy who just tried to mug you?” He asked with confusion.

“You don't look like a bad pony, so I'm curious as to what made you turn to crime. What's your name?”

“It's Pureheart.”

“Yep, not exactly a thug's name. Tell me about yourself, and what led you up to this point.”

He took a deep breath. “Alright. I guess the first thing you should know is that growing up, I never imagined myself in this position. I grew up in a middle class family here. I live with my mom and little sister. My dad died of illness six years ago when I was thirteen, so that left all the pressure on my mom to take care of two kids by herself. I felt like I couldn't leave that pressure all on my mom. I had been studying and training to become one of the Royal Guard. I had just received my cutie mark too. We were just about to have to sell the house, when a pony approached me offering 'work'.”

“I think I can see where this is going.” I said.

He nodded. “Yep, turns out he worked for a crime organization. Everything was going fine at first. All I would do was steal a few things here and there, and get paid good money for it. About a year ago though, my sister came down with a bad cough. At first my mom and I thought it was a bad cold. We soon discovered that wasn't the case at all. She started showing all of the same symptoms of the illness that took my dad. Thing is though, there's a cure now. The catch is that it costs more than my mom could make in a year. I begged my boss for a loan. After days of constant begging, he agreed. The condition was that I have the money back for him within ten months. Well, my time expired two months ago, and I still didn't have the money. Now he's holding my sister and won't give her back unless I come up with ten thousand bits. My mom is in complete despair, because she doesn't know what happened to her.”

Tears started flowing from his ice blue eyes, and he started gritting his teeth.

He took a breath, but it didn't help much. “She's only fourteen, and now I don't think I'll ever see her again. I thought about getting the royal guard, but what would they do to help a criminal? I've become the opposite of my hero, Shining Armor.”

“So, you want to be a royal guard captain like Shining Armor, and your sister is being held by thugs that won't let her go until you pay up ten thousand bits?”

He solemnly nodded.

“I think I can help you there. With both of those problems.”

He looked up, surprised. “You can help me with both things? How?!”

I reached into my saddlebag, and pulled out a pouch and tossed it to him.

He looked at me. “What's this?”

“Ten thousand bits.”

“Bu-how-”

“Being a Wonderbolt, that's not much.”

“You're a Wonderbolt?!”

“Sure am. Shadow Flash, at your service.”

“I think I've heard about you somewhere before....Oh yeah! You're one of their new additions, but you're supposed to be really good!”

“Heh, thanks. As for that other thing, I happen to be an acquaintance of Shining Armor's.”

“You really know Shining Armor?!”

“I do. You've got a good heart, but I think you might be a little confused right now. I'll tell ya what. You go give that money to your boss, get your sister back, then I want you to leave Canterlot and head to Ponyville for a day.”

“What? Why?”

“This place might get attacked later today.”

“What, by who?!”

“I can't say much, but I really recommend you take your family and get out of here as soon as possible. I'm warning you, you don't wanna be here later. Tomorrow, if I'm still alive, I'll find you and your family. I'll teach you how to fight, and you'll be closer to becoming a Royal Guard. I know this is confusing, but trust me. You do not want to be here tonight. I'll explain everything tomorrow if you do as I say.”

He was speechless for a second, then spoke. “...Alright. I'll go get my sister, then get my mom and go to Ponyville. I think I can trust you after saving my sister.”

I nodded. “Good. Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah. Thanks again.” He said before walking off.

“Good luck man....” I said before taking a seat on the ground.

I might have found another recruit. He looks like he can do so much more for the world than he currently is. And it wouldn't help to have a captain of the royal guard as a personal acquaintance after Shining Armor passes the torch.

I sighed. “Well, I better get back to the castle.” I said to myself as I got up.

I trotted back over to the castle, my mind switching between thoughts of Pureheart and his sister, my wedding with Rainbow, Sorrow Curse, and my twisted reflection. When I arrived, I gave a nod to the guards, and trotted on in.

I trotted back into the castle, and scanned for nopony in particular. My eye eventually found Ni just wondering around, looking at the décor.

I trotted over to him. “Hey Ni, if you're here, does that mean the others are here as well?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I've got my top three guys scoping out the rest of Canterlot along with the medic squad. Spitfire, Soarin, and Blaze are somewhere else in the castle. I decided to stay here and keep an eye out for you.”

“Why's that?”

“Because you need to get dressed for the ceremony, you fool.”

I gave a sheepish smile. “Oh, heheh.”

He rolled his eyes. “C'mon, I'll take you to your room.” He said before turning around, and leading me into a long hallway.

“So I should probably just wear my armor, huh?” I asked.

“Well, so it's not too obvious, we modified it slightly.”

“Like how?”

“We just stitched a suit over it. It's still your armor, but it just looks like a tux now. Of course it'll probably get shredded in battle, but for now, its got style.”

“Heh, nice.” I said as he stopped in front of a door.

“Here's your room. I'll let you get ready.”

I nodded and trotted in my room. It was a pretty modest room. It had a chair in front of a mirror, a line to hang clothes, a small bar that had various beverages, and a couch along with various other decorations and wall paintings. Okay, so maybe it isn't that modest.

I saw my suit/armor on the chair in front of the mirror, and went over to it to get dressed. I slipped it on, and trotted back outside, where Ni was waiting for me.

“Alright, so what now?” I asked.

“We've got an hour until the wedding, and the guests are starting to arrive. Rainbow is in her own room along with her friends, and in addition to that, we're on high alert for unusual activity.

“Good, keep it up.”

“Well, we may as well stay here at the castle, seeing as how we've only got an hour until the wedding.”

“Well, I did spot a small bar in my room...”

He grinned. “Why not? I could use a good drink right about now.”

“Right this way then.” I said, leading him into my room.

When we were inside, I trotted over to the bar and got out a couple of mugs. “Colt Lite or Dos Ponis?”

“Dos Ponis of course.”

“Dos Ponis it is.” I said before filling our mugs and hoofing his to him.

He held his mug up. “Cheers Shadow. Congratulations on finding yourself a bride.”

“I'll toast to that.” I said before knocking my mug against his, causing a bit of beer to spill out.

We took a big drink, and took a seat on the couch.

“Hypothetically speaking, what's the plan if we get attacked?” Ni asked.

“Kill 'em all.”

“That's your plan?”

“That's my plan. Well, that and protect everypony.”

“Easier said than done.”

“Yes, but not that much harder. Besides the archers, the entire Mones are here. I don't think it'll be much trouble if we get attacked.”

Ni took another sip of his beer. “You say that now. Careful not to jinx it.”

I shrugged. “It'd probably happen without the jinx. If I jinxed it now, it'd probably mean a fifty foot demon would appear from the sky and rain fire down on the city.”

“....If that happens, I'll know who to blame.”

I laughed. “I'm just sayin'.”

About an hour of chatting idly while sipping on their beers later. I don't really have an hour's worth of dialogue, so there ya go.

There was a knock at the door.

“Who is it?” I asked.

“It's Barry. Get your asses out here, the wedding is starting.”

“Alright, I'll be right there.”

Ni looked at me. “Well that hour went by pretty fast.”

“Sure did. Time to get married.” I said as I rose out of the couch and set my mug on the table in front of me.

Ni followed behind me as I exited the room. Soarin and Barry were waiting for us.

I looked at Soarin, and saw he still had his black eye. I held back a laugh when I saw him.

“Laugh it up Shadow. I want you to savor the next meal you have, poison and all.”

“Heheh, you can't blame me for laughing. See? Even Ni and Barry are laughing.” I said, gesturing towards the two.

Soarin looked at them, and sure enough, they were holding back some laughs.

“You will all die horribly.” Soarin said before trotting off.

We couldn't take it anymore and burst into laughter as Soarin continued on his way to the ceremony.

“All-heheh-alright guys, I think everybody is waiting on us.” I said.

“You're right, lets go.” Barry said.

We all trotted down the hallway, and eventually came to the door leading to the throne room, which is now the ceremony room. I opened the door, and was amazed at the turnout. Tapestries were hung from the ceiling, along with gold and red streamers. Banners were on every column leading up to the pedestal which Celestia was waiting behind. The place was absolutely filled with ponies. Everypony was in attendance. There's the Mane Six of course besides Twilight, there's Dad, Spike, Solemn, Hornet and his squad, Spitfire, Blaze, Shining Armor, Lyra, Bon Bon, Octavia, Vinyl, a few members of the Wonderbolts, Cheerilie, Derpy, Berry Punch (probably because this will be a good opportunity to get wasted), for some reason Dr. Whooves, Silver, Thunder Gunner, the CMC, Colgate, Carrot Top, Fancypants, Jeff Letrotski (It's The Dude!!! Also whatever the ponied names are for Walter, Donny, and The Jesus.),Mr. and Mrs. Cake, their twins, Princess Cadence, Princess Luna, Roseluck, Granny Smith, Big Mac, Cloudchaser, and so on.

I continued on my way with the guys behind me, and walked up the stairs across from the Mane Six, with an absent Twilight, and next to Princess Celestia. She smiled and nodded to me, and I turned to face the main entrance. Music started playing, and everypony got silent and watched the main doors open. Rainbow Dash started walking down the aisle along with Twilight.

Rainbow's dress was stunning. Probably made by Rarity. The bulk of the dress looked as if it were an extention of her mane, matching each individual color and section of her mane to do so. Her veil was the color of a cloud, not completely white, but mostly there. She was smiling the entire way down. She continued walking down the aisle with Twilight until they reached the stairs. They nodded to each other, and Rainbow joined me next to Princess Celestia.

Rainbow and I turned to Princess Celestia, and she began. “Mares and gentlecolts, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of Rainbow Dash and Shadow Flash. Before I continue further, does anypony have an objection?”

So help me God...gah! Motherfucker!

I groaned and rubbed the side of my head, trying to soothe the pain of a wrench thrown by Thunder. I then promptly caught a dagger thrown by Nesral and threw it back at him, purposely hitting him in the face with the hilt, and sending him into sweet unconsciousness.

Princess Celestia coughed. “Well...now that we have those 'objections' out of the way, I'll continue.”

Over to Sorrow Curse.

Sorrow Curse rose from his throne literally made of the skulls of other ponies, and walked down to a door. He entered, and trotted along the hallway in front of him. Torches lined the path, and lit with an unnatural blue flame as he passed them.

'It's time.' Sorrow thought as he continued down the hallway.

He finally came to the end of the hallway, where a large door loomed. He chanted a pass-phrase, and the door opened. He walked in, and walked over to the large stone meeting table in the middle of the otherwise bare room. He took his seat at the head of the table, and looked at the three hooded figures also at the table.

“I know you three have been waiting patiently for this day to come. Your patience has paid off, and you three can now destroy this society. I realize we don't have the same end goals in mind, and two of you three have your own personal reasons for doing what you're doing, but your assistance will ensure my support for your future endeavors. We depart immediately, but before we do, one more thing; Shadow Flash is mine. You can kill to your heart's content, but leave that one for me.”

A smile was seen behind each of the hoods, and all four of them then vanished in black flames that erupted from them.

To Shadow.

“...I'll continue.” Princess Celestia said.

Jesus Christ, that wrench hurts like a bitch.

“Their commitment is clear, and their love, undeniable. Would the two care to state their vows?”

I nodded to Rainbow, and she began to speak. “Shadow, I-”

“Princess...Celestia! The...city is under....attack!” A bloody guardpony said as he barged in, interrupting Rainbow, and the wedding entirely for that matter.

“Fuck me...” I muttered under my breath.

Everypony gasped, and Princess Celestia rushed to the guard. “Who is attacking us?!”

“The....robed figures....”

A lot of ponies started panicking when the guard expired.

“Everypony remain calm! Guards, form a defensive line at the door! Protect everypony in here!” Celestia yelled.

Luna rushed up to me. “They're here, you know what you must do.”

I nodded. “Yes Princess.”

I looked at Soarin and Ni. “Where's Spitfire, Blaze, and Hornet?!”

“They left as soon as the guard barged in. They'll be fine, but we need to get out there as well.” Soarin replied.

I nodded. “Let's go!”

Soarin and Ni nodded, and flew around back for an exit.

Rainbow ran up to me. “Wait, Shadow!”

“I need to go Rainbow, for you, Solemn, and everypony here.”

She looked at the ground. “I know...that's why I want to come with you!”

“Come again?”

“You heard me! I won't let you go out there alone!”

“Rainbow, you know I can't let you go out there. Stay here with the princesses, they'll keep you safe.”

She shook her head. “I can't just stay here and do nothing!”

“Please Rainbow. For me, stay here. Solemn needs you here with her.”

She started to tear up. “But-”

I silenced her with a kiss. While her eyes were closed, I set her hooves down that were locked around me, and slipped away.

I flew towards the exit that Soarin and Ni took, watching for anything that might attack me.

“I'm sorry Rainbow...” I thought aloud.

Alright guys, the rest of this chapter will now be typed in 3rd pony/person perspective, so don't explode.

Over to Ni and Soarin.

Ni and Soarin rushed through an exit in the back, and were shocked at what they saw; buildings on fire, ponies lying dead in the streets, some with heads, others without, and skeletons rising from the ground.

Ni and Soarin quickly snapped out of their trance, and rushed to help a group of children being protected by a lone guard against two skeletons.

“Get back kids!” The guard yelled as he sweated, knowing he'd probably die in the next few seconds.

The skeletons rushed the guard, who managed to avoid the first skeleton's attack, but was stabbed in his side by the other, making the guard grunt in pain.

He raised his sword. “You will not harm these children!” The guard yelled as he deflected another strike by one of the skeletons, and then decapitated the other. The remaining skeleton shoved its dagger into the guard's leg, making him lose balance and fall.

Just as the skeleton readied the final blow, it was interrupted by a literal bone-crushing blow from Soarin's hoof.

The children screamed, and the guard looked up, curious as to why he wasn't dead yet. What he saw was a pegasus in some kind of metal helmet, unable to see the pony's face.

“I don't know who you are, but you have my thanks for saving these kids.”

“You and these kids get inside the castle, it's safe in there.”

He nodded, and tried to rise, but quickly fell over, cursing his wounds. Soarin removed some bandages, and patched up the guard so he would stop bleeding.

“There's not much more I can do for you, other than repeat what I just said.”

The guard nodded. “I'll crawl back there if I have to if it means getting these kids to safety.”

“Good luck.” Soarin said before flying off.

Ni was watching from a distance, but quickly caught up to Soarin. “What now?” Ni asked.

Just then, a large blue explosion was seen behind several buildings.

“That answer your question?” Soarin replied.

“I guess it does.” The black armored Ni replied.

The two turned and flew towards the spot of the explosion, reluctantly ignoring the hundreds of skeletons on the streets. Once they reached their destination, the first thing they noticed was a one hundred foot wide, twenty foot deep crater. The second thing they noticed were the scattered blue flames in and around the crater. The last thing they took notice of was the lone robed figure in the middle. The two nodded to each other and flew down to confront the pony.

The figure looked up at the two. “Are they here to play with us too?” The figure said in a small colt's voice.

“They look like they will have fun with our game, unlike all those other ponies.” A second voice behind the robe said, also belonging to a small colt.

Ni and Soarin looked at each other, then back at the figure. “Uhh, hello?” Ni asked.

A large smile was seen behind the hood. “Yes! These two will play with us!” Two voices said in unison from behind the robe.

“I'm not sure about this Soarin, it sounds like there's two kids behind that robe.” Ni said.

“Those are Necromancer robes Ni, don't let your guard down.” Soarin replied.

“Then what do we do?”

“It's their game for now, lets see what they have in store for us.”

“Yaayy! You're gonna play with us! This game is simple, but for some reason none of the other ponies liked it. All you have to do for this round is not get caught on fire!”

“Wait, wha-”

“Ready! Set! Go!” The voices yelled before a large blue flame erupted from the hood of the figure. The flame picked up rock, dirt, and everything in its way as it expanded.

Ni cracked his neck before standing in front of Soarin. “Do you mind?” Ni asked.

“Not at all.” He replied.

As the flame neared the two, Ni spread his two enormous wings, and brought them down in a powerful motion. This created a massive shockwave, making the flames disappear, along with the ground beneath Ni's wings, creating a pony sized crater beneath him.

“Oooohhh, these ponies got past round one! You two are the first since Mister Sorrow Curse!” The voices from behind the robe said.

“Whatever. What's next?” Ni said.

The robed figure was suddenly less than six inches from Ni. “TAG!!!” The figure yelled as it punched Ni, sending him flying a good thirty feet, making him bounce along the way.

“You're it!” The figure finished.

“Ni!” Soarin yelled.

Ni rose up, slightly bleeding. “I'm alright.”

Soarin breathed a sigh of relief. “Good.”

“It'll take more than that to bring me down. Now as I recall, I'm it?”

Soarin grabbed Ni's 'shoulder' with his hoof. “You're really going to charge him?”

Ni grinned. “The game is tag isn't it?” He said before flying after the figure.

“Here he comes! Let's go!” The figure said before running away at a breakneck speed, but still staying inside the crater.

Ni quickly followed, almost catching up to the pony.

The pony turned its head. “Oh no! He's almost here! Lose him!”

Another blue flame erupted from the figure, and Ni readied himself. Instead of being hit however, the figure had teleported on the other side of the crater.

“Wow, you almost got us that time!” The figure yelled across the crater.

Ni grinned. “On the contrary, I did get you.”

“Huh? You're over there! Wait, where did the other pony go?”

“Right here!” Soarin's voice yelled from the ground.

Soarin erupted from the ground, giving the robed figure one hell of an uppercut, and sending it flying back. The attack had also knocked the robe off of it. The robe slowly descended onto the ground, while the silhouette of a pony hit the ground with a thud, kicking up dust to obscure him.

“Think you got him?” Ni asked.

“I'm not sure, I'm going to go che-”

“You two are clever, aren't you?” One of the colt's voices said from behind the dust.

“So that's a no...” Ni said.

“We can't punish you for breaking the rules, because the one with the helmet grabbed your shoulder, making him it. We see now...”

Suddenly, two pairs of red eyes were seen behind the dust. “Well then, on to round three! All you have to do is-”

The pair of eyes disappeared, then instantly reappeared in front of Soarin. Time slowed down for Soarin, and he had only a split second to observe his enemy. It had the basic shape of a pony, but that was where its 'normalness' ended. The creature was about Soarin's size, a tail that looked like it was made of what appeared to be several hundred string-like bones. Its body had no fur or hair at all. Its skin was warped beyond any measure. Twisted and mangled flesh dominated it. That wasn't the worst part though. The worst part was the two faces it had. Once face was on the left, the other on the right. These faces each had their own horn, too.

Time sped back up, and the creature continued. “LIVE!” It yelled before its two horns glowed.

Soarin was enveloped in a blue flame, making him disappear from sight.

“Soarin!” Ni yelled.

The creature turned. “Too bad, it looks like that one lost. We heard you two calling each other by name. You're Ni, right? Well, we don't really go by our individual names anymore, but Mister Sorrow Curse usually calls us Subject Zero. We aren't really sure what it means, but it sounds funny, and we like it!”

“Subject Zero? As in a test subject?”

“No way! We hate tests! We like games!”

“So Sorrow Curse even stoops so low as to experiment on children...” Ni thought aloud.

“Well it looks like your friend wasn't good enough for this round. We hope you are though!”

Ni looked at the pillar of blue flames, and then back at Subject Zero.

'I take it he's taking a moment to think. Alright Soarin, I'll hold these kids off while you come up with a plan.' Ni thought.

“Anyway, it's your turn now! Here we come!” Subject Zero said before charging at Ni.

Ni ducked to avoid a blow from Subject Zero, but was kneed in the jaw as he did so. He quickly recovered, however, and gave Subject Zero a solid punch to the ribs. This caused Subject Zero (Alright, I'm just gonna call him Sub Zero now for 2 reasons. Reason 1 is because typing Subject Zero every two seconds is getting old. 2Nd is because c'mon. Sub Zero. And to be honest, I didn't realize whose name I spelled until five minutes after I'd done it, but I'm sticking with it anyway.) to  recoil, giving Ni enough time to deliver a follow-up punch to the face. Sub Zero's faces screamed and its horns began to glow. This time, instead of blue flame erupting from Sub Zero's horn, it started to erupt from the ground.

Ni quickly jumped into the air to avoid the flames, and gave a quick glance at the pillar of flames that had caught Soarin. 'C'mon Soarin, hurry it up.' Ni thought.

That glance cost him though, because it gave Sub Zero an opening. Sub Zero jumped ten feet into the air, coming face-to-face with Ni, and grabbed him. He then threw Ni into the ground (and flames)full force before landing on the ground himself.

Sub Zero peeked into the dust cloud that had been created, curious if the job had been done. “Hey, are you already done? Because that wouldn't be very fun if you are.”

“I'm far from it!” Ni's voice called out from the dust cloud.

Sub Zero's faces smiled. “Yay! We knew you couldn't be finished so soon! Let's play some more!”

Ni popped his neck. “Sure, why not?” He said before once more charging at Sub Zero.

Just as Sub Zero started to jump back from one of Ni's punches, Ni revealed a dagger he was hiding, and stuck it right inside of Sub Zero's neck. Sub Zero's eyes shot open, and Ni delivered a devastating kick, sending him flying a good thirty feet away.

Sub Zero got up, and pulled the dagger free. He made no movement at all, and just stood there.

'Something isn't right. That thing doesn't even look like it's paying attention anymore. As soon as I put that dagger in his neck, it completely spaced out. It's like it's acting subconsciously now. Or maybe something else is happening...' Ni thought.

Sub Zero put a hoof to the hole in its neck, getting a lot of blood on it.

“What is this stuff? Wait....” Sub Zero started to say before its pupils shrank.

“Ahhhh!!!!! IT'S OUR BLOOD!!!” Sub Zero's faces screamed. It started thrashing around in panic.

Just as sudden as their screaming started however, it stopped. Sub Zero stood there, completely motionless. Then, without warning, Sub Zero's faces let out a deafening wail. Their horns started to glow, and the neck wound was covered in blue flame, searing it closed. The wails didn't stop, however, and a blue flame the size of the point of a pen appeared between their faces. Half a second later, the flame was half the size of the crater. Ni reacted quickly, and darted into the air, only to meet Sub Zero hovering with wings made of blue flame. Sub Zero shot at Ni with incredible speed.

'Damn! He's too fast! It's like that thing is now going on pure animal instinct!' Ni thought before receiving a barrage of punches and kicks from Sub Zero.

It was impossible for Ni to block. The blows were coming at him too fast, making it impossible to keep up with Sub Zero's movements. Suddenly the punches stopped, only to be replaced by a direct flame blast.

Ni was hurled into the ground, putting another small crater in the larger crater. Ni wasn't allowed any time to recover, however, and as soon as he hit the ground, Sub Zero was already on top of him, and delivered another barrage of attacks.

'What the hell is Soarin doing?! I can't hold out for much longer...'

Sub Zero then delivered a powerful blow to Ni's chest, breaking at least three ribs, and making him cough up large amounts of blood.

'Is this it? Is this where I die?.....NO! I can't die here! I've got too many ponies depending on me! I refuse to die at the hands of a monster! I won't leave my friends, or Derpy so easily!'

Sub Zero struck at Ni once more, making sure it would be the final blow. Just before it connected, however, it was caught by Ni's hoof. Sub Zero struck again, but with the same result. Sub Zero then delivered a barrage of punches, only to have each one deflected. Ni then spread his wings and swung them at Sub Zero with massive force, sending it flying back.

Ni rose out of the crater, and Sub Zero noticed something different about Ni. His black armor was emitting a black aura much like the color of his armor around him. Sub Zero didn't know what it meant, though. One reason being it had never seen it before, and the other because it was now being controlled by animal instinct alone.

“You must be wondering why my armor is emitting an aura. You see, each member of the Fugiens Mones has their own special armor with a unique ability. Soarin has his raw power, Shadow has his blinding speed, Blaze has her fire control, and I...”

Sub Zero whirled around to come face to face with Ni. “can duplicate myself!” He yelled before delivering a solid punch to one of Sub Zero's faces, knocking the figure back.

Sub Zero quickly recovered, only to receive an uppercut by another Ni, sending it into the air where ten more Ni's were waiting. They each delivered a barrage of blows. They number of hooves combined with the speed behind them made it impossible to count just how many hits Sub Zero was receiving. They then swung down at the same time, and sent Sub Zero sailing towards the ground back-first. Just before Sub Zero hit the ground, however, another Ni appeared below Sub Zero, and punched upward, catching Sub Zero, and also snapping its spine in half.

Blood flew out of Sub Zero's mouths, and the creature hit the ground with a thud.

The real Ni started trotting over to where Sub Zero was now at. The clones started disappearing one at a time until only the real thing remained, looking down at the creature. Ni noticed the crazy look in the two faces was gone now.

“Did we....lose the game, brother?” One face said.

“Yeah....I think we did.”

The faces looked up at Ni. “We aren't sore losers, we know when we lose.” The face on Ni's left said.

“That's right. We had fun though, didn't we?” The other face said.

“We sure did. I don't think we've had that much fun since...ever, actually.”

“I'm sorry I had to do this.” Ni said.

“Why are you sorry?”

“Yeah, you were following the rules.”

“Why would you kill ponies and claim it was for a game?”

“Mister Sorrow Curse said they were all playing, and that the ponies we killed weren't actually dead. He said that they were just playing dead because that's what you do when we get you, and that they get up when we leave. When we questioned him, he cast some kind of spell on us. It hurt a lot.”

“That's right, but I guess we were tricked, huh brother?”

“It looks like it. We know you won't believe us, but we never actually meant to hurt anypony. We're sorry.”

“It's...fine.” Ni replied.

“The game still isn't over yet. You still haven't killed us.”

“But....there's no way I could do that!”

“You may as well. We can't feel most of our body now that our spine is broken. And we doubt that we can have normal lives being as we are.”

“Brother is right. I don't want to go on if I can't play anymore. Please?”

“....Alright.”

The faces smiled. “Thank you, Mister Ni. For playing with us, and for helping us go see Mom again. It has been a long time, but we just want to be with her now.”

Ni shakily brought a dagger out, and looked at the two, hoping they'd change their minds. They nodded, however, and Ni stuck his dagger in their heart. They gasped, and then let the last breath they had out.

When the life faded from their eyes, the blue flames around the crater went out.

“I'm sorry, you two.”

Ni sat next to Subject Zero for a moment later before realizing he forgot something. “Soarin!”

Ni rushed out of the small crater he was in, and rushed over to Soarin, who was laying on the ground, unmoving.

“Soarin! Get up Soarin!”

No response came.

Ni fell to the ground. “I thought you were biding your time, thinking of a plan. I had no idea....SOOARRRIN!!!!” Ni screamed into the sky.

“...Zzz”

Ni's ears twitched, and he looked at Soarin.

“ZZzzZzz...”

“What the...”

“ZZzZZzZzZZz”

Ni's eye twitched, and he punted Soarin across the crater. “YOUR ASS WAS SLEEPING?!?!?!”

“Ahhhhh!!!” Soarin screamed before slamming into the side of the crater opposite of Ni.

Ni sighed and flew over to the impact area.

Soarin dug his head out of the ground and glared at Ni. “What the hell, Ni?!”

“What do you mean, 'what the hell'?! I almost died and your ass was asleep!”

“Relax, I knew you'd be okay! Besides, I hardly got any sleep last night!”

“So you manage to go to sleep in some freaky blue flames while I fight a monster?!”

Soarin shrugged. “I saw it as my best opportunity to get some shut-eye.”

“.....Five.”

“Huh?”

“Four.”

“What are you-”

“Three.”

“Are you-”

“Two.”

Soarin's eyes shot open. “Oh shit!” He yelled before flying off.

“One! Get your ass back here Soarin!” Ni yelled as he chased him.

Over to Blaze.

As soon as the guard pony barged in, Blaze, Spitfire, Hornet, and his squad were on the move.

They rushed out of the building, and instantly came up against dozens of skeletons.

“Clear these skeletons out! We need to make sure that none of them get inside!” Spitfire yelled.

The group nodded in response, and began to fight the skeletons. Spitfire took on about twenty by herself, Hornet took on around fifteen, Blaze battled a dozen, and Hornet's squad took on the other thirty.

Blaze rushed over to the dozen skeletons that were rushing to the castle's doors, and grabbed two of the skeletons' heads. She then slammed them together, completely smashing them into dust. The other ten reacted quickly, and soon had her surrounded. They all growled at her, waiting for her to make a move. Instead, Blaze calmly awaited their move. Three of the skeletons got impatient, and rushed her.

The first one that reached Blaze swung at her with its strange curved sword. Blaze responded by ducking the attack, and after it passed her, it continued right into the skeleton next to her, decapitating it. The third skeleton went in to grab her, but Blaze jumped into the air, making the skeleton miss. She then came down with an elbow(knee, whatever.) and crushed the skeleton's skull. The last one that remained brought its sword down in a vertical motion, only to have it caught by Blaze with her left forehoof. She took advantage of the moment and closed the distance between her and the skeleton, and snapped its neck.

The remaining seven realized what happened, and then swarmed her. She flapped her wings in a powerful motion, and shot up ten feet into the air. She then unsheathed a scimitar that she had.

'Time to see if all of that training with this thing against Spitfire paid off.' Blaze thought.

Blaze then flew at the crowd of skeletons below her. They raised their swords for her attack, but with one horizontal motion with her scimitar, she cut every one of their rusty weapons in half, rendering them useless. Blaze wasn't finished, however, and flew back to the skeletons. The first skeleton she came across, she decapitated. The second attempted to swing at her with a hoof, but she barreled away and gave it a powerful kick to its back, snapping it in half. The last five weren't about to give her the chance to attack again, so they jumped into the air around her and prepared to strike.

Blaze smirked at their stupidity, and did a barrel roll (stfu Slippy, this wasn't for you) with her scimitar extended out. After she passed by the skeletons, she landed and sheathed her blade, and started to trot back to the others, ignoring the several pieces of skeleton falling around her. It appeared that the others were also done with their fights.

“Alright, good job everypony, we've secured the castle courtyard. We need to move out and deal with the rest of these things. Hornet, your squad is with me. Blaze, you think you can handle yourself?” Spitfire said.

Blaze nodded. “Of course. I'll be a bit lonely, but not much thanks to my new companion.” She responded, gesturing towards her scimitar.

Spitire chuckled. “Right, how could I forget? I did introduce you two, after all.”

“That's right. After I felt so useless that time you saved me from that demon, I wanted to learn how to use a weapon. Thanks for teaching me.”

Spitfire waved a hoof. “Just looking after family. Now, we need to get a move on. Good luck, kid.” She said before flying off.

'Well, I guess I should be off too. Let's see if I can't save anypony.' Blaze thought before flying off in a separate direction.

Blaze scanned over the area below her. Several buildings were on fire, and skeletons littered the streets. Corpses were everywhere, and she couldn't seem to find anypony that was alive. Just then, a large blue explosion caught her eye. She stopped, and looked in the distance in the direction towards the explosion. She could make out two figures flying in the direction of it.

Blaze smiled. 'Those two can handle that I guess. I'll continue looking for survivors. Good luck Ni and Soarin.'

Blaze continued onward, continuing to scan for survivors. She suddenly heard something to her left, and froze just in time to let the arrow fly less than two inches from her face. She then quickly flew in the direction the arrow came from; the city's park.

When she landed next to a large oak tree, she scanned for the shooter.

“You dodged my arrow, just like I predicted you would.” A stallion's voice said.

Blaze jumped back just in time to avoid another arrow.

“And you avoided that one as well, as I predicted.”

“Where are you?!” Blaze demanded.

“Can you really not tell where I'm at by now? Sigh* Alright, I'm coming down.” The voice said.

Just then a rustle came from the tree above her, and a robed figure jumped down. The figure landed ten feet away from blaze, levitating a strange looking crossbow.

“Those robes....you're a necromancer, aren't you?”

“Nah, nothing so dramatic. Yeah, I've got the robes, but only 'cause that Sorrow Curse guy wants me to look the part while I'm here.”

“If you're not a necromancer, why align yourself with Sorrow Curse?”

The figure shrugged. “There are four of us. Sorrow Curse, Subject Zero, Whatshisface, I forget his name, and myself.”

“Right...and what's your name then?”

The figure raised a hoof, making Blaze raise her guard.

“Relax, I'm only taking my robes off. They aren't my style anyway.”

The figure grabbed his robe, and began to pull it off.

'What's this freak gonna look like, I wonder? Most of these guys have some weird appearance behind their robes.' Blaze thought.

Her eyes widened at what she saw. “But...there's-”

“No, there's nothing wrong with me, jeez. Why you ponies always assume there's a hideous monster behind these robes, I'll never know.”

He was right, he looked like a regular stallion. His coat was black, while his mane and tail were a deep purple. His mane was styled in a ponytail, which went around his head, and hung slightly lower than the left side of his face. His cutie mark was a magnifying glass.

“...”

“Oh come on, is it really that shocking?”

Blaze shook her head. “Yeah, it kinda is.”

He rubbed his forehead. “Even though I knew you'd say that, it's still annoying.”

“Alright, what's with you saying that you knew I'd do something?”

“Because I do know what you're going to do. My special power is the ability to see into a pony's future. A pleasure to meet you, and to answer your earlier question, my name is Providence.” He said before giving a slight bow.

“You don't seem anything like the necromancers. Why join up with them?”

“As I said earlier, there are four of us. I guess you could call Sorrow Curse our 'leader', but I use the term loosely. All he really did was bring us together. All of us except Subject Zero have our own personal goals. We saw that it was best to unite, and work together to help each other out.”

“Then....what are your goals?”

“I'll tell you what. You beat me, and I'll tell you.”

“You want to fight me?”

“It's nothing personal, and to be honest, there's nothing I hate more than having to fight a girl. Then again, there's nothing more interesting than it. But orders are orders whether I like them or not, and you look the type that can interfere. Sorry, but I can't let you live.”

Blaze unsheathed her weapon. “I'm guessing there's no peaceful solution to this?”

“Afraid not.” He said before aiming his crossbow at her.

An eerie silence took hold, but was soon shattered by the sound of the crossbow going off.

'He isn't telling me everything-whoa!' Blaze thought.

Whoosh*

Blaze raised her scimitar and deflected the bolt. “You're gonna have to do better than tha-”

Whoosh*

Blaze raised her scimitar just in time to deflect the second bolt. “What kind of crossbow is that? It just fired a second bolt without you having to reload!”

Providence smirked. “This here is my own creation. It has three hidden chambers in it, allowing me to fire three bolts before having to reload.”

“But you only fired-”

Whoosh*

Blaze deflected the bolt. “Alright, I believe you now.”

Providence then levitated out a cluster of three bolts, opened the top on his crossbow, placed the bolts in, and slammed the lid closed in less than three seconds before once more taking aim at Blaze.

Blaze jumped into the air as Providence fired more bolts at her.

'Damn, he's accurate. It's difficult to avoid these things. I need to come up with a plan, and fast.' Blaze thought.

Meanwhile, Providence continued firing his crossbow with an almost bored expression. “You can't keep this up forever, ya know.” He said.

'He's right. At this rate he'll just end up hitting me. I need to find a way to close the gap between us. But how-”

Blaze yelped as a bolt pierced her left wing, causing her to make a hard landing. Blaze clutched her bleeding wing.

Providence sighed. “Look, I honestly don't want to kill you. Promise to leave here, never come back, and I won't kill you.”

Blaze grinned. “It's gonna take a lot more than this to make me give up!”

“As you wish.” Providence said before aiming his crossbow.

'It takes him three seconds to reload that crossbow of his. He has already fired two bolts of the current cluster. When he fires that next one, I'll rush in. I'm not sure if I'll make it to him in time though, thanks to my current inability to fly.'

Whoosh*

'This is it!' Blaze thought before charging the bolt. She deflected it with her scimitar, and headed straight for Providence.

“I've got you now!” Blaze yelled as she swung her scimitar at Providence's neck.

“Is that what you really think?” Providence said before pulling out a bolt and using it to deflect Blaze's attack.

“Wha-”

“These bolts aren't made of ordinary material just so you know. They're made from a rare element, and individually enchanted to have a greater density.”

Providence then took a cluster of bolts and reloaded his crossbow using his horn, then aimed it right at Blaze's head.

She jumped back just as the crossbow fired, narrowly avoiding death.

Blaze panted. 'The way this keeps up, I'll be dead within the next five minutes. I guess I have no choice.' She thought before lowering her scimitar.

Providence raised an eyebrow. “Have you finally accepted your fate?”

Without a word, Blaze's Wonderbolt uniform started to glow. She then placed a hoof on her scimitar, and then slowly moved her hoof from the hilt to the tip. As she did so, her hoof left fire in the place of metal.

Whoosh*

Blaze raised her scimitar that was coated in fire, and the bolt disintegrated.

“Hmm, I saw it happen before I fired my bolt, but I just wanted to test it for myself...” Providence said.

“Apparently those bolts don't do so well in temperatures that exceed ten thousand degrees fahrenheit.” Blaze commented.

“Well then, since you're not holding back anymore, I guess I shouldn't either.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh come on, you should've known I was going all out against you. That's certainly an impressive power, but mine is better. I've only been toying with you the whole time, hoping you'd come to your senses and just leave. Obviously that isn't going to happen, so now I think I'll use my farsight ability to its fullest.”

Blaze rushed over to Providence, and swung her fire coated scimitar at him. He ducked, and shot an arrow at her. Blaze extended the flames on her scimitar to loop around and catch the bolt. He then jumped back, attempting to gain some distance.

“Oh no you don't!” Blaze yelled before extending the flames of her scimitar once more. Instead of attacking Providence, she dragged the fire on the ground around the two, carving it up and leaving fire in its place. When she was done, a giant circle of fire was created, trapping Providence.

Blaze once again tried to close the distance between her and Providence. She extended the flames of her scimitar, and swung at him. As if knowing what she'd do, Providence avoided her attack, and fired another bolt; this one hitting her in the side.

Blaze gasped and jumped back. She looked at her wound. It was deep. A good portion of the bolt was stuck inside of her. 'I can't fight with this damn bolt in my side, and I can't pull it out without bleeding out. Ugh, this is gonna suck, but it needs to be done.'

She then grabbed the bolt, and yanked it out, making her scream in the process. She then grabbed a small amount of fire from her sword and placed it against her oozing wound, searing it shut. The pain was almost unbearable for her, but she managed to push through it.

Providence raised an eyebrow. “You're persistent, I'll give you that. You might as well just give up and let me finish you. I promise to make it painless. You're no match for me.”

'Looks like he's not in the sparing mood anymore. Not that it matters, because I wouldn't give up anyway. I need to think. If he can read a pony's future, I wonder if there's a limit on it. Or maybe...that might be it! I need to test my theory though. Well, here goes nothing.' Blaze thought.

Blaze once more charged at Providence with her fire coated scimitar, but this time she was being more cautious, looking out for another counter-attack. Instead of thinking about her next attack, she let it come subconsciously, that is to say she attacked based on instinct rather than planning her moves out. She was surprised when she struck a glancing blow against Providence, inflicting a small cut on his right foreleg.

Providence's eyes widened and promptly jumped back.

Blaze smirked. “I think I figured you out finally.”

“Is that so?”

“That's right. I figured out you can't read the future at all, you can only read a pony's complicated thought pattern. Yes, that is still very helpful, but only if your opponent hasn't figured it out. You can't detect my basic instincts at all. That is another reason I'm the perfect opponent for you; I was trained in both thinking my attacks through, and attacking by letting my instincts flow.”

Without another word, Blaze jumped in the air, and extended the flames on her blade to go underneath her. She landed on the flames, and extended the blade further, shooting herself at Providence at an incredible, and deadly, speed. When she came within two feet of him, she jumped off of the flames, and began attacking based on her instinct alone. Providence managed to deflect a lot of the attacks, but every now and then, an attack would land. It wouldn't be a serious wound, but she was hitting him nonetheless.

'Damn! She's got me figured out! How was she able to figure me out so soon? What is she? No normal pony could possibly figure that out so soon while being under a barrage of arrows! This is the first pony to ever figure me out! I never thought I'd see the day!' Providence thought as he struggled to block Blaze's attacks.

He was steadily growing tired, and realized he wouldn't be able to keep up his defenses for much longer. He eventually missed a block, and Blaze gave him a solid fiery slash across his body and a jab in his side. The blow staggered him, and Blaze pressed her attack. She gave him deep gashes in each of his legs, making him fall to the ground.

Blaze stood over him. “This is it for you.”

“Heheh...”

“Wha-”

“Hahahahahaha!”

Blaze was confused by the sudden outburst of laughter by Providence. Was he going insane? Or did he have something else up his sleeve?

Providence slowly regained his composure, but couldn't help the smile on his face. “Yeah, ya got me. Ya really got me. I believe I said I'd tell you what my goal was if you beat me, didn't I?”

Blaze nodded.

“Heheh, alright. Lean in, and I'll tell you. These wounds you gave me were pretty fatal, so you might wanna hurry if you're so curious.”

Blaze cautiously leaned in for Providence's words. “The main goal I had was...”

Blaze's eyes went wide as Providence told her his ultimate goal. “That's insane! Why would you-”

Blaze frowned at the now dead pony in front of her. She sighed and picked him up. She carried him over to the tree that had somehow remained intact during their battle and leaned him against it before trotting off.

'All he wanted was to find a pony that could outsmart him. You idiot....there were better ways to go about it. Then again, maybe he wanted to be outsmarted in combat. In the end though, all he wanted was to find a pony smarter than him. I guess some ponies are too stubborn in their ways though. Goodbye Providence. At least you died with a smile on your face.'

Over to Shadow.

After leaving the building, Shadow continued flying towards town. Something caught his ear; the sound of clashing steel. He looked in the direction the noise came from and rushed over a block or so to find two guards attempting to hold their own against three skeletons. He wasted no time in rushing in to help. Before the skeletons even had time to react, one of them had already been decapitated by him. The other two skeletons turned around to face Shadow, only to end up letting their guard down, allowing the guards to vertically slice through their skulls.

The two guards looked at Shadow, and the one on his left spoke. “Hey, aren't you Shadow Flash?”

“Huh? Oh, it's you two.”

The former castle entrance guard nodded. “Yeah, it's us. We weren't really sure why you said to keep our eyes on the ground, but we had a feeling it was best to be on the safe side. After waiting around for a while, the ground started to tremble, and around five or six of those creepy skeletons rose out of the ground. Thanks to us being more prepared than most other guards, my partner and I managed to take down two of the skeletons before they completely emerged. The remaining skeletons drove us over here, where we managed to take down two more. The last three, however, were going to be too much, even for us. Lucky you showed up when you did. We owe you.”

Shadow smiled and shook his head. “You don't owe me anything. As soon as you catch your breath, you need to get inside the castle to help defend all of the civilians in there.”

The guard on his right nodded. “Good idea. We'll head there as soon as we're able.”

Shadow turned. “Alright. Good luck.”

“Wait!”

Shadow stopped and turned.

“Where are you going? While it's apparent you can handle yourself in a fight, I doubt you'll be able to take on all of those things by yourself!”

Shadow smirked. “That's why I've got a team.” He said before flying off, leaving the two guards to watch him as he disappeared from sight.

Shadow flew over the city, which was now largely destroyed. Without warning, a large blue explosion occurred near him, and he instinctively raised a hoof to shield his eyes.

“What the hell was that?!” Shadow yelled aloud.

He took a closer look and saw a robed figure standing in the middle of the crater. Before he got the chance to rush over to it, however, Ni and Soarin were already there.

Shadow knew that they could handle themselves, so he continued onward.

As he continued to scan the ruins of the city, he eventually came near the park. He halted in mid air when a gigantic ring of fire was formed in it.

'Damn, it looks like Blaze is at it too. I wonder how Hornet and Spitfire are doing...' Shadow thought.

“Help us!”

Shadow turned his attention from the park to a young earth pony mare and stallion. The stallion was the only thing standing in between who appeared to be his marefriend, and a couple of skeletons. Shadow then wasted no time in rushing to the ponies' aid. He activated the hidden blade on his left forehoof, and jabbed it into the back of the skeleton's skull on his left. The skeleton fell, and before his partner could react, Shadow was behind him as well. He grabbed its neck, and with a clean motion, snapped its neck, making it turn a full 180 degrees.

Shadow looked at the two ponies he had saved. The stallion had been stabbed in his left hindleg, and slashed across his back. The mare seemed relatively unharmed save for a scrape or two.

“Can you move?” Shadow asked the young green and white stallion.

“Ugh....yeah...damnit! It hurts, but I think I can move.”

“Good. Get to the castle as quick as you can, the path there should be clear.”

“You-you're sure it's clear?” The mare worriedly asked.

Shadow nodded. “I wouldn't tell you to go to the castle if I didn't think the way was safe. The guards and ponies are all rallying there, so it should be safe.”

The stallion nodded. “Alright, thanks.” He said before struggling over to his marefriend and onward to the castle.

Shadow ascended into the air and looked for anyone else he might be able to help. He soon came across what appeared to be a town square. Four large streets met at it, and it had a large fountain in the middle. In between the roads that connected in the center was several shops and cafes, now mostly rubble. He landed next to the fountain and looked around.

“Well well, I finally found you Shadow Flash.” A voice above said.

“That voice....” Shadow looked up to see the smiling, and levitating, Sorrow Curse.

Every logical thought that Shadow had instantly evaporated, and rushed Sorrow Curse with absolute blinding speed and swung the hidden blade on his left forehoof at him, only to have his hoof caught.

“Tsk tsk Shadow. You're much better than this. Well, I'd hope so anyway. After all, aren't you supposed to avenge that pretty little civilian I had converted into an abomination back at the fort?”

“SHUT UP!” Shadow screamed as he struck out with the hidden blade on his right forehoof, only to have it caught as well.

“You're gonna have to do better than that, Shadow.”

Shadow continued to struggle in an effort to free himself, when it finally dawned on him; he has the hardest head in the world. Shadow reared his head back and slammed it full force against Sorrow's, making him recoil in pain and loosen up his grip on Shadow. Shadow took advantage of Sorrow's temporary predicament and delivered a solid jab to the gut. Sorrow's eyes widened as the blow forced blood out of his mouth. Shadow then did a flip and brought his rear legs down on Sorrow's head, launching him into the ground. Dust and pavement shot up due to the crater created by Sorrow's body.

'Did I get him?' Shadow thought.

The dust cleared within seconds to answer Shadow's question.

“Not bad. Not bad at all.” Sorrow said as he dusted himself off.

The previous blow had knocked Sorrow's robe off, giving Shadow a clear view of Sorrow Curse. His coat was a dark shade of green, while his mane and tail were an average shade of red. The things that really caught Shadow's eye were his features though. His eyes were bloodshot red for one. His cutie mark was that of a pony walking on its hind legs while the forelegs were outstretched, giving the impression of a zombie. The most notable things though, were the various places on his body that were missing skin, muscle, or blood vessels. All you could see on those patches was bone.

“What the...” Shadow started to say.

“Startled by my appearance?” The green and red unicorn asked.

“I'd say that's an understatement...”

“Nothing much to say, really. A spell backfired, and did this to me. While it did make my appearance rather....different, it did make me immortal.”

“Well that explains one thing at least...”

“Indeed. Now, where were we?” Sorrow said before swiftly levitating up to meet Shadow.

Shadow rushed Sorrow, and the two barraged each other with kicks and punches faster than the untrained eye could keep up with. Sorrow managed to land a punch on Shadow's neck, making him gasp for air. Sorrow wasted no time in taking Shadow's right foreleg, and snapping it like a twig.

Shadow cried out in pain, taking his leg back from Sorrow. Sorrow then went for a punch, but had it blocked by Shadow's gauntlet. Shadow then roundhoused in the air, giving Sorrow a deep cut along his face thanks to the hidden blade Shadow had.

Sorrow jumped back to hold get a moment of reprieve.

“It won't be long now until you're dead.” Shadow said as he held his broken foreleg.

“And why is that?”

“These blades are all coated with a special poison. You'll be dead in minutes. I've won.”

“....heheh...”

“Wha-”

“HAHAHAHA!! You honestly think you can kill me with poison? No, however, keep talking like that, and you might make me die from laughter!”

“But how will the poison not kill you?!”

“If you haven't noticed, most of my body is already dead, so there isn't much for your poison to kill. No Shadow Flash, you are the one who is about to die. With that broken foreleg, you won't last much longer.”

'Damn, he's right. I won't be near as effective now that my right foreleg is broken. I'm not sure how to activate my armor's power either. I'm just going to have to figure out a way to beat him...' Shadow thought.

“Trying to come up with a plan, are we?” Sorrow asked in a mocking tone.

Shadow readied himself. “I don't need a plan to defeat the likes of you!” He yelled before charging at Sorrow.

“Oh Shadow Flash, you couldn't be more wrong.” Sorrow said before readying himself for Shadow's attack.

As Shadow approached Sorrow, Sorrow raised his forelegs in anticipation of a punch. Instead of punching him, however, Shadow wrapped his legs around Sorrow, even though it was especially painful for his right foreleg.

“What are you doing?!” Sorrow yelled, attempting to break free from Shadow's grasp.

Shadow silenced Sorrow with a massive headbutt. He then flipped the both of them upside down, and flapped his wings furiously. Sorrow tried in vain to break free of Shadow's grasp as the ground approached them at over one hundred miles per hour.

“TAKE THIS!!!” Shadow yelled before Sorrow's head was pile-drived into the ground, making Sorrow's body go limp.

Shadow finally released Sorrow's body, and let himself fall to the ground next to Sorrow's limp body.

Shadow panted for breath. “It's...it's over....I did it.”

“Did what, exactly?” Sorrow's muffled voice said from the ground.

Shadow's eyes widened. “No...there's no way! Your skull should be in pieces!”

Sorrow freed his head from the ground. “Oh, it most certainly was. Being immortal does have its perks, however.”

Sorrow slowly approached Shadow, who was still lying on the ground. “Make your peace, Shadow Flash. This next blow will be the last.”

'Shit! He's almost here! C'mon you friggin' armor, work! Work, damnit!' Shadow frantically thought.

Sorrow reached Shadow, and his horn started to glow red. The spell discharged, and completely enveloped Shadow. When the beam evaporated, nothing was left.

“It is done. Now to finish off the rest of them.” Sorrow said before turning around.

“What's done, exactly?” Shadow's voice said in a mocking tone.

“Wha-” Sorrow was cut off by a right hook from Shadow. Sorrow flew across the ground, bouncing as if he were a rock skipping over a pond. He was finally caught by the fountain in the middle of the square.

When Sorrow emerged from the fountain, he noticed a couple of things about Shadow. The first was that Shadow had regained the use of his right foreleg. The second was the ebony and crimson aura around him.

'So this must be his armor's power activating.' Sorrow thought.

An instant later, Shadow was right in front of Sorrow.

'He's fast!' Sorrow thought before receiving a barrage of punches and kicks that was impossible for him to keep up with.

With every punch, Shadow broke another bone in Sorrow's body. If the bone that was struck was already broken, it just broke into smaller pieces. If one of those pieces was struck again, it would simply turn into dust. Sorrow Curse was absolutely helpless against Shadow's superior speed and strength.

Shadow decided to get one more blow in. He grabbed Sorrow's head, snapped it around one hundred and eighty degrees, then threw him by the head with all of the strength he could muster into the ground. The crater that was formed was easily twenty feet deep.

'He'll be back up again soon.' Shadow thought.

As if on queue, a blinding beam of red erupted out of the crater. Once the beam was gone a few seconds later, a skeleton with a green mane and tail, and a torn robe, rose out of the crater.

“Wha....where's Sorrow?!” Shadow demanded of the levitating skeleton in front of him.

“You mean you don't recognize me? I'm hurt, Shadow Flash.” A familiar voice said.

“SORROW CURSE?!”

“Of course. I didn't see anypony else in that hole, did you?”

“What happened?!” Shadow demanded.

“You pushed me to my limit. Congratulations on that. However, you won't get any further.”

“We'll see about that.”

Sorrow's horn glowed, and a strange black aura enveloped each of Sorrow's hooves. “Have at me then.”

Shadow zoomed over to Sorrow in fractions of a second, and went in for a jab with his right foreleg, only to have it caught by Sorrow.

“Last time I broke your leg. This time I shall eliminate it entirely.”

Shadow's eyes widened as the aura that surrounded Sorrow's hooves began to creep up Shadow's right foreleg. As the aura continued up, it left nothing behind it.

Shadow quickly jumped back and watched in horror as his right foreleg continued to completely disintegrate.

'It won't stop! At this rate, there will be nothing left of me!'

Then, without hesitation, Shadow used the hidden blade on his left foreleg and cut off his right foreleg just before the aura reached his body. The rest of the right leg fell, and soon disappeared from sight as the aura finished eating it. Shadow then tore the hood off of his armor, and used it as a makeshift bandage for his wound.

“Not bad Shadow Flash. You realized what was happening and wasted no time in removing your leg. However, it won't do you any good in the long run.”

“What the hell was that anyway?! What the fuck did you do to my leg?!” Shadow demanded.

“Ah yes. This aura around my hooves is due to a spell I cast from down in that crater you helped create. Anything these hooves touch, if I so will it, will disintegrate entirely. I can control it, yes, but the spell itself does have a price. For instance, look at my body. If a normal pony tried to cast the spell, they would die. Not me, however. Thanks to being immortal, I can survive the disintegration of all of my skin, muscle, and organs. Another drawback about the spell, is that I only get two hits out of it. I don't mind telling you this, because even if I do end up taking only another leg from you, it'll still be all over”

“That's....terrible actually. You aren't even a pony, you're a monster...”

“I'm wounded by your words, Shadow Flash. In fact, I might just explode in anger at them!” Sorrow yelled before charging towards Shadow.

Shadow frantically dodged Sorrow's attacks, knowing that if even one blow connected, he was a goner.

'Shit! Even with my armor's power, I'm still having trouble in keeping up with him! And there's also the trouble of my missing leg! If I keep this up, I'll bleed out, even with my makeshift bandage!'

'Then let me take over. I can handle him.' Another voice in Shadow's mind said.

'No way! I'm not letting you take over my body, you psycho!' Shadow thought back at his mirrored self.

'You won't have a choice pretty soon. I'll be waiting for my opportunity. Good luck out there, tough guy.'

Shadow could tell that the other side of him was gone for now. However, it still didn't help. In fact, it made things worse. Now Shadow had to worry about Sorrow's attacks as well as his mirrored self's attempts to gain control.

The rapid attacks from Sorrow Curse continued, and slowly but surely, Shadow was getting tired. Shadow prepared to dodge another of Sorrow's punches, but was surprised by a headbutt from the skeleton.

The blow not only stunned Shadow, but it also probably fractured his skull as well.

Sorrow knew Shadow would be unable to dodge his next blow, so he delivered another headbutt, this time making Shadow go still. He stopped flapping his wings, and fell to the ground with a thud.

Sorrow descended to the ground right next to Shadow. Without a word, Sorrow raised his left foreleg in preparation for a finishing blow.

'I...can't move...that last headbutt did something to me...'

“Now die, Shadow Flash!” Sorrow yelled as he brought his hoof down.

Just before Sorrow's hoof connected, however, something hit it, redirecting the blow to the ground inches from Shadow's face.

'What the hell just hit Sorrow's hoof? Was that.....no way...'

Sorrow Curse turned to see what had prevented him from finishing off Shadow, and saw a dark blue earth pony with a crimson mane and tail. What struck Sorrow as odd though, was that he was carrying a sack of wrenches.

“As entertaining as it might be to watch somepony take my apprentice down a notch or two, I can't let you kill him. If you really want to make an impact, throw a wrench or two. That usually works when I want him to get something done, or I think it's funny.” The pony said.

“And who might you be to interrupt this battle?” Sorrow asked, more curious than angry.

“Name's Thunder Gunner. And the idiot you're beating up on is my former apprentice. I'd appreciate it if you stopped.”

“And if I refuse?”

“Well, then you'd have some angry ponies on your hooves.”

Sorrow laughed. “And what 'angry ponies' might you be talking about?”

Thunder pointed behind Sorrow. “Those ponies.”

Sorrow turned around to look at the several not so happy ponies. Some he recognized, others he did not. Of those he recognized were Ni, a few of Ni's men, Blaze, and Princess Luna. He did not recognize the purple unicorn, the large white unicorn with royal guard armor, or the rainbow maned pegasus.

Princess Luna stepped forward. “Former Head of Research Sorrow Curse, for crimes against Equestria's citizens, along with the murders of several others, we sentence you to death!”

Sorrow stared at her for a moment, then laughed. “Forgive me Princess, but the death penalty doesn't exactly apply to me any more!”

“In that case, we'll just destroy you outright!” The princess yelled before everypony charged at Sorrow Curse.

Twilight and Shining Armor charged their horns as they sprinted towards the skeleton, and unleashed a combined spell at him. Sorrow's horn glowed, and a red barrier formed in front of him. With a slight struggle, the barrier warded of the spell. Then, Twilight, Shining Armor, and Princess Luna charged a spell, and aimed it at Sorrow. Sorrow raised another barrier just before the spell struck him. For a few seconds, it looked as if the spell might break through. That hope was quickly shattered, as the barrier prevailed, and sent the powerful bolt of magic into the sky.

“My turn now!” Blaze yelled before unsheathing her scimitar and coating it with fire.

She closed in on Sorrow, and slashed at him several times, each of her attacks missing. Sorrow then decided he'd had enough of her, and gave her a powerful elbow to her skull, knocking her out.

“Blaze!” Ni yelled before his armor started to glow.

Ni created around ten copies of himself to distract Sorrow while another clone got Blaze to safety.

'Why are they even trying? Don't they know it's pointless? He can't be killed. It's not possible...' Shadow thought as he watched his friends try in vain to defeat Sorrow Curse. He closed his eyes for a few minutes, due to a severe migraine.

After a few minutes, Shadow forced one of his eyes open to see the last of Ni's clones, as well as everypony else, get defeated.

As Ni fell, a rainbow blur rushed to Sorrow. For a while, Rainbow Dash actually managed to avoid getting elbowed by Sorrow. It didn't last, however, and she was soon thrown back.

After seconds of tumbling on the ground, Rainbow ended up next to Shadow.

“Shadow...are you still alive?” Rainbow struggled to say.

No answer came from Shadow.

“....Shadow? Please answer me...”

Sorrow Curse, now free of distraction, trotted passed all of the ponies he had defeated on the ground, and up to Shadow and Rainbow. “Now that we have that out of the way, I think it's time I finished you.”

“Not so fast, you foul demon! Shadow Flash is my prey!” Nesral yelled as he jumped out of nowhere and landed on Sorrow's back.

“Get off of me you idiot!” Sorrow yelled before levitating Nesral off of his back, and throwing him into a nearby building.

“Waaahhhh!!!” Nesral yelled as he flew towards the building before crashing against it.

“Shadow...everypony here is trying to help you. Now you have to help us...please. Shadow! Wake up!” Rainbow continued to yell as Sorrow once more started to trot over to the two.

/././

Shadow slowly looked around. It looked like he was still in Canterlot, but with nopony around. All of the buildings appeared intact as well.

Shadow sighed. 'So this is how it ends? I never thought it would happen this way. Heh, irony's funny like that I guess. So tired now...huh? I think I hear someone calling me. Leave me alone, I want to rest now. I think I've earned one...'

“So you're giving up now, is that it?” Shadow's mirrored self said as he appeared.

Shadow looked at him. “Oh, it's just you. I think I've earned a rest now, don't you?”

“Is that how you're gonna be? You make it this far only to give up? Man, I'm ashamed to be part of you.”

“And what the fuck do you know?! You haven't been the one fighting!”

“I know that I wouldn't give up when the going got tough you little bitch!”

“....Why are you so smart one second, then completely insane the next? Answer me that.”

“I'm not just one personality opposite from you. I'm many personalities that you don't show, wisdom and insanity being the two strongest. Both of which have a strong desire to be free.”

“.....Part of that first sentence was an insult, but I'll ignore that for now.”

“Look, I need you to live. If you die, I die. I don't want that happening. You've got a lot of ponies counting on you, and you don't want to let them down. How about we make a deal; you give me temporary control of your body, and I'll deal with Sorrow Curse. How does that sound?”

“And how do I know you won't try and keep control?”

“You don't have any more options. Either let me have temporary control, and have a chance to live, or don't, and get yourself, and everybody you love, killed. You might wanna decide fast, too, because Sorrow Curse is standing right above us.”

“.....”

“Well?! What's it gonna be?! You need to decide now!”

“Alright! Do it! Save my friends and family!”

Shadow's reflection grinned, and then disappeared from sight.

“I hope I made the right decision...” Shadow said to himself before having a seat.

/././

'Finally, no more interruptions. I can finally do what I came here to do.' Sorrow Curse thought as he stood above Shadow's body.

“No...leave him alone!” Rainbow, who was still next to Shadow, yelled.

“Oh don't worry young one. You'll be joining him soon enough.”

A tear rolled down Rainbow's face, and with all of her strength, she threw herself on top of Shadow to form a human (pony) shield for Shadow.

“If you don't move, you'll taste death sooner rather than later, now out of my way!” Sorrow commanded, his patience now worn out.

Rainbow shook her head defiantly. “No! As long as I can still move, I won't let you hurt him!”

Sorrow's horn glowed, and raised Rainbow off of Shadow up to Sorrow's eye level. Rainbow Dash looked dead in the face of the skeleton, defiance still in her eyes.

“As I said, you-” Sorrow was cut off by Rainbow spitting on his face.

“If that's how you're going to be, then I won't mind seeing you devoured alive by my spell! Now die like your precious Shadow Flash!”

Before he was able to strike Rainbow with his hoof, however, something that sounded like an explosion erupted right next to him. Sorrow turned his head to see that Shadow was gone. Sorrow quickly realized what happened.

“You may be alive Shadow, but your marefriend won't be for long! Lets see if you stay sane after seeing the one you love rot in front of you!” Sorrow yelled before swinging his hoof at Rainbow Dash.

Sorrow's hoof was caught by a crimson hoof. Sorrow, as well as Rainbow, turned their heads to look at the owner of the hoof.

Rainbow was stunned. The pony had a crimson coat, as well as crimson mane and tail, with a black outline on them. He wore an armor that both of them had only seen on one other pony. Another thing about the pony; he was missing his right foreleg.

“Sh-Shadow?” Rainbow managed to say.

Shadow ignored Rainbow, and kept his focus on Sorrow. Then, he suddenly gave an insane smile to Sorrow. “Sane you say? Sane....sane.....nope! Nobody sane over here!” He yelled before grabbing Sorrow's horn with his left foreleg, and ripping it off. Rainbow fell to the ground now that the magic was broken, but couldn't move due to the pure shock from what she was seeing.

Sorrow roared in pain, but soon stopped as his horn grew back. “You will pay for that, you worthless maggot!” Sorrow yelled before striking at Shadow with an aura coated hoof.

Shadow caught Sorrow's hoof without so much as a struggle.

Sorrow grinned. “Not exactly the smartest move you could have made. Now you will be disintegrated!”

After a few seconds of nothing happening, Shadow took Sorrow's leg that struck at him, and broke it completely in half.

Sorrow gave a small scream of pain before jumping back. “Why...why were you not eaten by my spell?!”

Shadow stared at Sorrow with a bored expression. “Because you're not the only one who has a strong aura.”

Sorrow took a closer look at the hoof that he had struck, and noticed something he thought impossibe; his spell getting beat back by another pony's aura. “But...that's not possible!” Sorrow yelled.

Shadow shrugged. “Apparently it is. As long as my power is equal to or stronger than yours, then your spell will have no effect against me. Well, that was my guess anyway.”

“You mean you'd risk death over a gamble?!”

Shadow shrugged and grinned. “Maybe. It did seem to pay off though. I didn't much feel like turning into dust anyway.”

“The insolence...” Sorrow murmured.

Shadow closed his eyes for a second, then the insane smile appeared again. “You're boring me though, so I think I'll just go ahead and kill you!”

“Wha-” Before Sorrow could even finish his first word, Shadow was already in his face and delivering a series of punches and kicks.

Even with a missing leg, it was impossible for Sorrow Curse to dodge or block all of the attacks he was receiving. The green maned skeleton did all he could to deflect the barrage, just barely keeping up. However, Sorrow soon slipped up, and allowed a blow to get passed him.

'Damn!' Sorrow thought before the blow connected. It stunned him, giving Shadow enough time to close the distance and unleash a hell like no other upon Sorrow Curse. Once Shadow broke a bone belonging to Sorrow, it didn't heal.

“What is this?! Why am I not regenerating?!” Sorrow yelled while still being thrashed.

Shadow, never losing his psychotic smile, or stopping his punches, spoke. “Aww, what's the matter?! Can't regenerate your limbs?! Hahahaha! That's because my power is so strong, that every punch I throw is breaking your bones down on a molecular level! Sure, you can regenerate large pieces of yourself at once, but what happens when I break you down molecule by molecule?!”

If Sorrow had a face, it would be one of terror.

'No! This isn't possible! There's no way that I can be beaten! I've still got so much to do!'

By this point, Shadow had broken down Sorrow's entire body save for his skull. Shadow grabbed it, and threw it into the ground. He then approached it, ready to deliver the finishing blow, until Sorrow spoke.

“You think....this changes anything? This...changes....nothing. I was....only the first....of many. Enjoy this small victory while you can....because even though it won't be me to do it......another will kill you. It has been foretold.....heh....heheh....HAHAHA-” Sorrow's laugh was cut off by Shadow crushing his skull.

Shadow didn't stop there, however, and continued pounding at it. “Heheheh! Again! Again! I want to kill him again! Give me something else to kill! Hahahaha!”

Rainbow couldn't believe what she was seeing. Was Shadow going insane? Did he defeat one of the greatest threats Equestria has ever seen only to go mad?

Shadow finally finished punching what little remained, when he frantically looked around. “More...heheheh! More! More to kill!” He yelled while looking around before his eyes finally settled on a cyan pegasus. He slowly started to trot towards her, his mad giggles still going on.

Rainbow lay there helpless as Shadow approached her.

“Shadow?” Rainbow said in a scared voice.

Shadow now stood over Rainbow Dash, and stared down at her with his smile.

“Sha-” Rainbow was cut off by Shadow grabbing her by the throat and holding her in the air.

Rainbow struggled for breath as Shadow never loosened his grip. Tears started streaming down her face. “Sha-Shadow....please....stop...it's me....Rainbow Dash....”

Shadow's eyes shot open, and released Rainbow from his grip. He then collapsed on the ground next to her.

/././

Shadow's mirrored self appeared in front of a Shadow more pissed off than the chimp you flipped off at the zoo that one time. (Seriously though, he's pretty damn pissed.)

“YOU....YOU GODDAMN PIECE OF SHIT!!!” Shadow screamed as he flew at his mirrored self, blades drawn.

(Gonna call Shadow's mirrored self Shadow's mirror from now on.)

Shadow's mirror grinned insanely as he easily caught Shadow's attack. “You...you interrupted me before I got to taste her blood....now I think I'll taste yours!” He screamed before biting Shadow's neck.

Shadow screamed and did his best to get his Mirror off of him. He managed to get his Mirror off, but not before he ripped a chunk of flesh off of Shadow's neck.

Shadow instinctively grabbed his wound and tried to keep it from bleeding further.

“Heheheh! This blood...it's delicious! I mean, it's technically my blood, but it's so amazing!” Shadow's Mirror said before licking his lips clean of blood.

'What the fuck?! Do I really have a side of me this insane?' Shadow thought.

Shadow's mirror then flew at Shadow, screaming maniacally. His Mirror then delivered a series of blows to him. Shadow was frantically trying to keep up with his enemy's movements, but it was nearly impossible.

“Hahaha! This is exactly what happens when your own reflection is faster than you! Yes, now die! Die, die, die! Hahahaha!”

Shadow was slowly being pushed back, and slipped up in one of his blocks, allowing his Mirror to get in a shot with the hidden blade on his left foreleg. Shadow quickly jumped back to make sure his wound wasn't serious. Thankfully, it was just a scratch. It was hardly even bleeding.

'Thank God for that lucky break...'

Before Shadow could set his attention back towards his opponent, he was already once more being assaulted. Shadow dodged punch after punch, already being backed into a corner.

Shadow's reflection grinned, and then delivered a jab to Shadow's ribs, cracking at list three of them. He then used his hidden blade to stab Shadow in the side. Shadow grunted in pain and then flew into the air.

Shadow's mirror just watched as Shadow ascended higher and higher. “Where ya going?! There's nowhere to run in this place!”

Shadow turned around, clutching his stab wound. “And who says I'm running?!”

/././

Two days ago, while training with Spitfire

“There are two pre-requirements to learning this move. It's called the Inner Fire. Well, that's what I call it anyway. You might need to change the name, because it won't suit you.” Spitfire told Shadow.

“Why? What are the two pre-requirements, and what is the technique?” Shadow asked, now curious.

“The first pre-requirement of this move is to be a level four member of the Fugiens Mones, because your body wouldn't be able to handle the move otherwise. The second pre-requirement is the ability to perform a sonic rainboom, or in your case, a shadow pulse. In my case, a fire bomb.”

“Wait, you can perform one of those?” Shadow asked, slightly surprised.

“Of course, you didn't think I got captain of the Wonderbolts because I'm a captain of the Mones did you?”

“Well...kinda.”

Spitfire rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I'm about to teach you how to harness your shadow pulse. By that I mean I'll teach you how to control it, and absorb its power.”

Shadow's eyes went wide. “You...you can do that?”

Spitfire nodded. “Sure can. Watch and learn.” She said before ascending into the air.

Once she was a good couple thousand feet off the ground, she divebombed. Within seconds, she broke the sound barrier. The explosion behind her looked like a freakishly large bomb went off. As Spitfire continued to fly down, it looked as if she left the air she touched on fire. She approached the ground without showing any signs of stopping.

Shadow went wide eyed as Spitfire continued her divebomb towards the ground. She was showing no signs of stopping. He cringed when she did hit the ground, a large explosion appearing when she did. Shadow was awesruck at what he just saw.

'Did something just go wrong? There's no way she can still be alive after that! She flew into the ground at speeds easily over mach 20. Wait, is that...' Shadow's thought process was completely shattered when he saw the dust clear.

As the dust settled, Spitfire became visible. But there was something different about her that, as observant as Shadow was, noticed.

“Holy shit it looks like you're on fire!” Shadow yelled in surprise.

“It looks that way because I'm still technically doing a fire bomb. If I choose to, I could fly from here, punch Soarin in the face at Cloudsdale, and be back here within half a minute.”

“But...Cloudsdale is hundreds of miles away!”

“Exactly.”

“....TEACH ME!” Shadow yelled as he got down on his knees and kissed the ground beside Spitfire's hooves.

“Alright, getting kinda creepy there Shadow.”

Shadow rose up. “Eheheh, sorry.”

“And yes, I will teach you. The first thing I need to tell you about it is how it's basically done. You watched me, but now I need to explain it. The first step is breaking the sound barrier. The second is flying full force into the ground. You cannot afford to lose any speed when doing so. Third, the ground should slow you down fast enough to give you exactly two seconds to focus. Lastly, when you get focused, you channel the power released from the explosion you created when you broke the sound barrier, and harness it. However, once you get it right, you're gonna have to call it something other than you're inner fire.”

Shadow grinned. “And I think I've got just the name.”

/././

Back to Shadow's mind, present day.

“And who says I'm running?!” Shadow yelled as he turned back towards the ground.

Shadow built up his speed to the point just before breaking the sound barrier. He then pushed a little harder to create an explosion of black and crimson behind him.

'What's he planning?' Shadow's mirror thought as he watched the spectacle unfold in front of him.

Shadow was now rapidly approaching the ground, not showing any signs of stopping.

'He's crazier than I am!' Shadow's mirror thought as Shadow slammed through the ground.

Shadow's mirror approached the dust cloud that was created, looking for any sign of movement. 'Did he just willingly give me control of his body? No...he wouldn't do that....then why-' Mirror's thoughts were cut off by a hoof that reached out of the dust cloud that grabbed his neck.

Shadow's face soon emerged from the dust, with a black and crimson aura around him. Shadow then completely stepped out of the cloud, looking as if a black fire were evaporating from him.

“Wha-what the hell did you do to yourself?! What is this?!”

“My inner demons.”

Shadow's mirror's smile disappeared from his face for a second, but quickly reappeared. “Inner demons you say? I dare say you're staring at them!” He yelled before headbutting Shadow.

He then grabbed Shadow's hind legs, and slammed him into the ground. Shadow quickly recovered just in time to block an uppercut. Shadow then grabbed his Mirror's head, and gave him a fierce knee to the face. He then wrapped his left foreleg around his Mirror's head, and fell backward, slamming his head into the ground. He wasn't finished there, however, and pulled his Mirror up by the mane. Shadow then tossed him up in the air, then quickly took flight after him. He flew just above his Mirror as he was still rising from Shadow's toss, and then delivered a mid-air applebuck to the gut, sending his Mirror back into the ground.

Shadow's mirror quickly flew out of the dust cloud created with his hidden blades activated. Shadow then wasted no time in reaching into a pouch on his armor with his mouth, and pulled out a dagger just in time to meet his Mirror's hidden blade.

Various flashes of light were seen across the battlefield, followed by the clashing of metal. Neither one of the two allowed themselves to get a scratch on them. That was until a cry was heard. It froze Shadow completely in his tracks, for he'd  heard the voice before.

'Was that Rainbow's voice?!'

“Shouldn't leave you're guard down!” Shadow's mirror yelled as he brought his blades down on Shadow.

Shadow managed to hold back most of the force, but not all of it. Shadow's mirror's blade was brought down where the tip was dragged vertically across the middle of Shadow's face. Shadow shook it off, and tried to focus on his opponent, but the cries of Rainbow only grew louder.

“Those cries are quite the distraction aren't they? Whaddya say you hurry up and let me finish you so I can go slice up that pretty mare next?”

Shadow's black and crimson aura exploded, making his Mirror shield his face. “YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HER!” Shadow screamed before rushing at his Mirror. His mirror brought up his blades in defense, only to have them break as Shadow brought the dagger in his mouth down.

“What?!” Shadow's mirror yelled in surprise.

“I told you, you will not harm her!” Shadow yelled as he stuck the dagger held by his mouth in his reflection's chest. Then, keeping the dagger in his mouth, flipped around his opponent, and stuck his hind legs' daggers inside his Mirror's back.

“Now die, you psychotic fuck!” Shadow screamed before bringing the blade on his left foreleg across his Mirror's neck, and then jumping off.

Shadow's mirror tried desperately to cover up the slash across his neck, but didn't realize the cut had actually went through half of his neck, making his head flop to one side. With a few more gurgles, Shadow's mirror went down, struggling until the end.

/././

“Shadow! Shadow! Please wake up!” Rainbow cried into Shadow's chest.

Cough* Cough* Cough*

Rainbow gasped and looked at Shadow as he coughed up blood. She was about to cry even more, until she saw him open his eyes.

Shadow looked over at Rainbow and smiled. “So...we getting married or what?”

Rainbow giggled, a few tears still rolling down her face. “You idiot...of course we are.” She said before putting her lips against Shadow's.

Everypony that had been defeated by Sorrow gathered around the couple. Ni was the first to speak. “I think we should get these two some medical treatment.”

“Say no more.” A voice behind the group said.

Everypony turned to see Hornet and his squad, along with Spitfire.

“Don't worry, we've got 'em.” Hornet said as Bloodbank and Bandages trotted passed him to look at Rainbow Dash and Shadow.

Spitfire looked around. “Where's Soarin at?”

“After giving him a second black eye for a reason I'd rather not think about at the moment, we agreed to split up. I was to come here, and he was to go back to the castle and make sure it was secure.” Ni replied.

Spitfire nodded. “Good.”

“Where were you though? You weren't here to help us fight Sorrow Curse! Everypony here was nearly killed, and Shadow lost a leg!”

“Speaking of that missing leg, Sawbones, I think you should get Shadow to surgery ASAP. I don't know how, but he's still alive after taking some pretty serious punishment.” Bandages called out.

“On it.” Sawbones said as he rushed over to Shadow.

Spitfire looked at Ni. “Hornet's squad and I had our own fair share of trouble. Besides, I had faith you could do it.”

“If you say so...”

“C'mon, we need to see everypony here to some medical treatment. Let's get out of here.”

Ni nodded. “No arguments here.”

/././

Within a few days, most of the damage had been cleared from Canterlot thanks to everypony pitching in. There was a service held for those that lost their lives during the invasion two days after it happened. All three princesses spoke at it. There wasn't a dry tear in the audience that attended. A lot of ponies had lost their son, their daughter, their mom or dad, their brother or sister, their grandchild, or their grandparents. The service was concluded with a memorial erected in town square, so nopony would ever forget.

Three days after the service

“...I now pronounce you mare and colt.” Princess Celestia concluded.

The crutch-supported and bandaged Shadow Flash leaned over to meet Rainbow in a passionate kiss before turning to the cheering crowd.

“IT'S TIME TO PARTY EVERYPONY!” The pink ball of energy yelled.

And queue the theme song I decided on for this story.

Search for the answers I knew all along

I lost myself, we all fall down

Never the wiser of what I've become

Alone I stand, a broken man

“Never leave me again, Shadow.” Rainbow said.

Shadow laughed. “I don't plan on it.”

All I have is one last chance

I won't turn my back on you

Take my hand, drag me down

If you fall then I will too

And I can't save what's left of you

“So Hornet, does this give you any ideas?” Spitfire asked.

“Yes, does it?” Crystal Tears added in, both mares eyeing him seductively.

“Uhh, look over there!” Hornet yelled, making the two mares turn their heads before dashing off.

Sing something new

I have nothing left

I can't face the dark without you

There's nothing left to lose

The fight never ends

I can't face the dark without you

A tear hit the floor.

“Grandpa? Are you okay?” Solemn Justice asked her adoptive grandfather.

“Yes....in fact I couldn't be happier.”

'Our boy's all grown up now, Abby. I know the circumstances are unusual, but I hope you're watching.'

Swallow me under and pull me apart

I understand, there's nothing left

Pain so familiar and close to the heart

No more, no less, I won't forget

“Sigh*”

“What's wrong, Vinyl?” Octavia asked.

“It's nothing.”

Octavia frowned. “You're not upset that it isn't you up there, are you?”

“Of course not! It's just...that was the funnest night of my life, and I can't even screw with him now that he's married!”

Octavia rolled her eyes. “You worry me sometimes, Vinyl...”

Come back down, save yourself

I can't find my way to you

And I can't bear to face the truth

Soarin chuckled and took a sip of whiskey. “Congrats, Shadow. I'm happy for ya. I wish you two the best of luck. Just remember my words when the time comes though...”

Sing something new

I have nothing left

I can't face the dark without you

There's nothing left to lose

The fight never ends

I can't face the dark without you

“They make a good couple, wouldn't you agree Shining?” Princess Cadence asked.

Shining Armor nodded his head in agreement before taking a drink of his beer. “They sure do.”

“They already have a kid, ya know.”

“PBBFFTH!” Shining spit his drink all over an annoyed Cadence before giving a shy smile.

I wanted to forgive

I'm trying to forget

Don't leave me here again

I am with you forever, the end

“Well sister, I guess I have some explaining to do.” Luna said.

“No need. I already know everything.” Celestia replied.

“Wha-...but how?!”

Celestia grinned. “I'm the goddess of the sun, Luna. It isn't that hard for me to figure out one of my little sister's secrets.”

Luna stared at her sister with a speechless face, making Celestia giggle.

Sing something new

I have nothing left

I can't face the dark without you

There's nothing left to lose

The fight never ends

I can't face the dark without you

“Why don't we just take him by force?” One voice asked.

“Because he's earned himself a rest. Besides, it's a happy occasion, so drink up.” Another voice replied.

“Have you forgot that we have a mission?”

“Relax, the note I left him back at that old fort is probably still fresh in his mind. He'll figure out whose initials they are sooner or later. Besides, it's not like we have a time limit on our mission. Our employers don't exactly age too much.”

Holding the hand that holds me down

I forgive you, forget you, the end

Holding the hand that holds me down

I forgive you, forget you, the end

Shadow and Rainbow parted from another kiss, still embracing each other.

“I love you Shadow.”

“And I love you Rainbow.”

Do you have feels yet? You fucking better, because I just typed ten thousand words over my quota. Anywho, that's the finale chapter you guys. To answer the question that might be floating around there, no, this is not the end of Once a Shadow. I kinda set that up with the mysterious note at the fort and whatnot. I'd like to give a very special thanks to Toshiro121 (fimfiction) for actually writing a side story to this. I was quite surprised when I saw that someone actually wanted to write a sidestory to this of all things. I strongly suggest you all go read it. Hornet, and his entire squad are oc's developed by him, and if you want to actually see the battle they went through with the last robed guy, you'll need to read his story. The next thing I'm going to do is edit the first few chapters, because I think they are very bad. I also would like to apologize for how long this chapter took to release. It has been nearly two full months, when I probably...actually definitely could have released it by the 20th of January if I really wanted to. It's just that my procrastination level is ridiculous, so forgive me. I'll also hopefully be posting the next chapter of From War to War pretty soon, so look forward to that. Also for those interested, that song was 'Without You' by Breaking Benjamin. It actually gives you even moar feels if you listen to it while reading that last bit. Alright guys, I've taken up enough of your time now, so I'll let ya get back to it. Shadow Brony, AWAAAYYYYY!!!!

OC's:

Shadow Flash, along with most others-Mein

Ni-Dragon'z Wrath (fanfiction)

Hornet-Toshiro121 (fimfiction)

Nesral-SupahBrony300 (fanfiction) Also has a fimfiction, SupahBrony301

Pureheart-Llink148 (fanfiction)

Uber special thanks (in addition to the oc people):

Battle Damage (fanfiction)

Normal special thanks (feel bad ;)

Straight Edge Assassin (fanfiction) Also on fimfiction, Straight Edge

DarkRabbit77 (fanfiction) Also on fimfiction, Demon Lord Inganno

Finaleon9 (fanfiction) Also on fimfiction, Silverwing Strong

whynotzoidberg (fanfiction)

JohnyBGoodpro (fanfiction)

Spider-Man (fimfiction) And as some of his comments suggest, yes, he is the one from several of my most fucked up quotes.

AfterTouch (fimfiction, and also because even though I've played like 0 minutes with you, you were still the only one who wanted to play xbox with me. That'll have to change soon.)

And last but certainly not least, all of you beautiful people who took the time to read my story, or stories. I wuv u all, and I'll see you again soon. (fanfiction and fimfiction)

Chuck Norris fact of the saga: In one episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Chuck Norris replaced Carlton for a whole scene and nobody noticed.

Quote of the saga: “Wanna see a magic trick?” -An aquantance of mine to a girl during his P.E. Class. He pulled out his dick through his pocket somehow, and promptly got expelled.