Memories: Chronicles of the past

Who are we?

We are the shadows.

We reside in the legendary "Underground". Paired with a pony at birth, each one of us is a part of THE SHADOW: our Master, our Creator...our Mother.

Deception, Truth, Jealousy, Cruelty, Hatred, Greed... We take the names of what we represent...

I am Sadness. I was paired with Silver Light...and this is the story of the beginning of the end.

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Years ago...

"Not to be rude, but I wonder why you get up sometimes. All that waits you outside is death..."

Silver got up and stretched. His room was bleak and gray with a single desk containing his collection of homework.

"Good morning to you too, Sadness." Silver Light said a grin on his face.

"What’s so good about this morning in particular? It's still going to be the same old Underground. Pain, suffering and death..."

"Yeah, still not seeing how that's not a particularly good thing," Silver said, checking the rune on the back of his forearm.

"Huh, you hungry Sadness?" Silver asked, even though the gray outline of the scar told him his shadow required energy.

"I told you already: I do not hunger, but I require energy like all living things to survive."

"Yeah- shit, SHIT! I'm late!" Silver screamed as he realized the time. If he ran, he could just make it to school.

"I still require energy." Sadness said annoyed with Silver’s knack to forget his requirement for energy.

"I can grab something on the run." Silver said to stop Sadness from complaining

Silver Light grabbed his saddlebag and ran for the door. His father and mother waved to him as he left. His parents were always good to him, he would have given them a hug if he didn’t want to not die. Silver sprinted across the bleak streets of the Underground. The large stone wall that surrounded the town was still gray and covered with moss; the red flags blew loosely in the fake Underground wind, and the bleak cracked stone buildings surrounded him. Still, Silver had to give the Underground one thing: it may have been bleak, but the architecture was amazing. Spiral buildings surrounded him, and it looked almost beautiful in a sad sort of way, this may have been because he always saw things in the saddest way possible, a side effect from his shadow.

The Underground was a horrible place to those who had not lived in it their entire life. The killing and death may seem senseless, but they figured if they could only have so many ponies at one time, the weak should not take up valuable space. The cave surrounding the city was filled with jagged rock, and it was dark; not blow-out-all-the-candles dark. It was a somepony-stole-the-sun dark. Luckily, the ponies of the Underground developed a sort of night vision.

The Underground was a testament to their ingenuity, for they had built this town by hoof hundreds of year ago. Yet nopony knows how, well the shadows do, but that’s a secret they won’t tell, stating that the last time they had tried to reveal their secrets, more bad than good came out of it. The ponies of the Underground were proud of their heritage. After all, the Shadows were as old as the sun and the moon. As the Queen of the Shadows says:

"When the sun rose for the first time, it cast a spell which awoke our kingdom and birthed our ways. We rule both the day and night, for even when the sun goes down, you don't fear the darkness; you fear what lurks in the shadows

Silver almost tripped as he ran to the border between the living area, the Upperground, and the Lower area, the Downground

.

Got to stay focused He thought to himself

Sadness started complaining again, so silver decided that it wasn’t worth letting him complain all day. So he stopped in the Middleground, where all the shops and business were located. The place had a strange look to it, shops that were as old as the Underground itself bordered the outskirts of the Middleground lots of smaller, newer stands and stalls were scattered around. Not meany ponies were around at this time, as the children were at school and everypony else was eather off at their job or sitting around at home completing a ritual or practicing their runework.  He stopped at the first stand, a red and black stall that had been there for about eight months and was trying to get a permit to build a real shop.

"Excuse me?" Silver said to the shop owner

The pony turned around. He had sleek red fur and a kindness in his eyes, but there was still a fire in that kindness, he was  big and muscular, and had several scares (probably due to the fact that his shadow wasn’t that helpful in the fight during his time in school.

"’Morning kid,” he greeted, a smile on his muzzle. “What can I get for you?"

Sadness suddenly spoke excitement in his voice. "Hello, Kindness. It's been too long. Excuse me Silver, but Kindness and I are going to catch up on the last fifty years." And with that, Sadness’s presence abandoned Silver, leaving him with an empty feeling in his gut.

Shadows never died. Even when their host pony was killed, they merely went back to being a part of THE SHADOW to be selected for a new host. That is why death was so normal; the day you were born, an old host pony was killed and you were given his shadow, the process was fairly random, you never knew what you would get. There was a steady population of three-thousand ponies, no more, no less, and each pony had their own Shadow. So it was not strange for two Shadows to want to catch up after fifty years of not seeing each other. It also meant, however, that there were a constant number of shadows: 3,000. That would also explain why when a pony is born, a pony is killed (or vise-versa).

Silver smiled at the pony and said, "One darkite shard, please."

The pony nodded, his red mane flopping over his neck. "Over-charge?" he asked as he turned around, his blank flank showing as he went to grab the shards.

A blank flank was nothing strange in the underground, as nopony had a cutie mark. The shadow determined who the pony was, not what their skill was.

Silver pondered this for a second, and then shrugged. "Sure, why not. I have the points."

Unlike most places, bits were considered stupid in the Underground; it was not taken as a currency. (Granted if you HAD bits it meant that you’re not from the Underground. And that means you probably don't have a shadow, and that means you’re already dead, and somepony is bathing in your blood. Literally not metaphorically; it's a ritual.) in place of bits, there were points. Points could be gained from all sorts of places: fighting, allowance, simple jobs and things like that.

"Have a good day kid!" the pony said, smiling and waving at Silver.

"Haha… Oh Kindness…she is such a kidder," Sadness said, returning to Silver Light.

Silver rolled his eyes and held up the darkite shard, the small purple crystal fitting perfectly into his hoof. He then crushed it under his hoof causing the crystal to quickly disappear, flowing into Silver’s body, feeling its power absorb into the rune on his forearm. He quickly checked it, grinning at the dark black outline on the rune-scar. Suddenly, he felt himself fall over with sickness, his vision spinning in dangerous circles. However, the dizziness disappeared as soon as it came. Silver stood, and peering at the rune; it now also had a purple outline that circled the black design. Silver shrugged and continued on his way; the sickness was a small price to pay for the extra energy overcharged darkite gave him.

"You late too?" The voice, which sounded fairly lonely, spoke from behind him.

Silver turned to see a fellow classmate, Flair Wing, a pegasus pony who was a bit taller than Silver Light but much thinner. Blue and black fur lined his small body, along with his signature hair style which was split down the middle, blue on one side and black on the other. A pair of big blue glasses covered his dark grey eyes. Flair was a short-life, which meant the doctors didn't expect him to make it past colt-hood.

"Yeah. Shit, I bet they’re going to throw us in the Spike Room. You’re lucky you can fly; I'll have to walk to the other side." Silver said, his head drooping a bit.

The Spike room is what they called the “late room”, where you were forced to walk, or fly, to the other side of the room which was covered in small painful spikes that dug into the tardy ponies’ hooves. But to stop pegasus ponies from simply flying across, they also wore a saddlebag that was filled with whatever heavy things were near it at the time, be it bricks or weapons. Falling was a slow painful death; if you died, which wasn’t that rare, your head was then put on display outside the school doors.

"Perhaps not…I've been…working on…something…" Flair said slowly as he looked around and whispered in Sliver’s ear. "I stole a…book on magic runes…and my shadows...I meant shadow… helped me decipher it…I think I might be able to harness my shadow’s energy..."

Silver was surprised at this. The rune-scar (or shadow-scar, as most ponies called it) was imprinted in them at birth, sort of like a rash. It allowed them to tell if their shadow required energy; a light gray meant very low, a deep black meant full, and flashing purple meant that it was overcharged. And when they graduated from school, they learned about harnessing shadow energy. Ponies could take their shadow’s power and use it to do all sorts of things, from levitation to their Shadow-skill. The Shadow-skill was a single power unique to the user and their shadow. That could come in many shapes and sizes, such as an offensive spell, (like the old war-pony Tybra Burn and his skill, “Shadow-flame” which created a large shockwave of lava around him) to the ability to never become sick. It depended on who the pony was and what their shadow represented.

The only problem with shadow energy was that it caused a massive depletion of energy, causing your shadow to require power almost directly after use of a single spell. Unicorns were the one exception to this rule as they don’t take their magic from there shadows, but instead use them to enchant there magic making it much more deadly. Darkite was, thank the Shadows, very easy to come by, and some could even grow it if they have the skill. Still, young colts and fillies were deemed too irresponsible to use this, but like mostly everything in the Underground, it wasn't a rule; it was a suggestion. If a young pony got his/her hooves on something that could teach them this, they didn't care.

"I could try to take us there…but we might end up…in a wall..." Flair said slowly.

Silver was silent, debating the choice in his head. An instant death that would be laughed at for years to come, or a slow and painful one in the Spike Room...tough call.

"Meh, what have I got to lose?" Silver said, shrugging.

"Only your life," Flair Wing grinned.

Flair closed his eyes and brought up his hoof to his muzzle, touching his rune-scare with his other arm. A bright purple light flashed and suddenly, they were in the small bleak grey room in which Sliver Light recognized to be his homeroom.

"Shit, it wor- Flair? Are you ok?" Silver asked as Flair Wing simply stood there, unmoving, before falling to the ground. The small colt panted heavily, sweta rolling down his coat.

"I...am...fine...just...took...a...lot...out...of...me..." Flair said, taking a breath in between each word.

Flair stood up and peered down at his rune-scar through blurry eyes. Seeing the weak, light gray outline on his friend’s rune-scar, Silver decided to help. He closed his eyes and generated a darkite shard using his own energy, handing it to Flair. Sure, he was down a bit of energy, but what were friends for?

"Take it. It's the least I can do." Silver smiled as he turned and walked away.

He heard a small clink as Flair slowly stepped on the crystal, gaining a bit more energy.

School, or, as the ponies who went there called it, the Slaughterhouse, got its name due to the fact that every day, two ponies were pitted against each other in a battle to the death. The rules were simple: winner lived, loser died. It was so simple that anypony could understand, and everypony feared it.

The first part of the day flew by, first was P.E. Where they were trained to withstand large amounts of pain, and were taught that only fools follow a code of battle and honor. Next was science, which they learned about, what else? How to kill things more efficiently and what part of the body was the weakest, and now found himself back in his homeroom…

Silver sat in class, watching as his teacher, Blue Burn, demonstrated how to use a Shadow Bow. It was one of the Shadow World’s most creative inventions: it had two bows crossed in an X formation, mounted to a large wooden mechanism with an iron barrel. Underneath this was a large iron cylinder which ponies placed their hoof in. At the end of the cylinder was a trigger which, once pushed, fired the weapon. The weapon also had a small wooden plank mounted on the left side, which has an iron chain attached to it. The other end of the chain attaches to a custom-made saddlebag with a special holster for the weapon, along with a quiver for the arrows. Now, the ponies of the Underground were much smarter than the ponies of the Aboveground; the Underground ponies would not make such an advanced weapon and load it with run-of-the-mill arrows. The “Shadowbolt” is the nickname given to the specific type of arrow used by the weapon. It is an average arrow, other than the fact that the tip is replaced by an unstable darkite shard that exploded after a few seconds once it hit an object hard enough. It was one of the many inventions of the Underground, since the society had no other problems other than "how do I kill this thing faster and easier than I already can?" Advancements in weapons and war were very creative…and deadly. He heard Blue Burn asking for volunteers for anypony wishing to fire the weapon, Silver looked around and saw that Flair had volunteered to try and fire the weapon. That didn’t surprise him, Flair was always fascinated by weapons like the Shadow-Bow. The class burst into laughter as he fell backwards from the kick of the weapon firing. "Don't worry, it happens to everyone the first time," Mr. Blue Burn said, stifling a laugh.

*RING! RING!*

The bell for lunch sounded, and everypony grabbed a darkite shard and a treat and went to the gym to watch the fight. The Shadows allowed their host to feed off them, since most ponies in the Underground didn't need food. But still, it tasted good, so most ponies ate when they found something they liked.

Silver looked to the Board and waited for the names of who would be fighting to appear. It was the last fight of the year, and his name had not been drawn yet. As is sometimes the case, there were leftover ponies. It’s not because their name had not been drawn, but because some ponies loved to fight so much they took the place of others. He waited, twitching slightly, then the first name appeared:

Flair Wing.

Then the second:

Rune Dust.

Silver bit his lip. He had been hoping not to be picked. But poor Flair…Silver knew his friend wouldn’t make it; he was small and frail, and his shadow, Truth, was one of the weaker ones as well. Not a good combination for a fight.

"How sad...Oh well. I told you this day wasn't going to be any different."

"Shut up, Sadness" Sliver snapped quietly.

*SNAP* The sound of a neck cracking surprised Silver; Rune was one for brain destruction, not snapping necks. Suddenly, the crowd of ponies gasped as Flair, each eye displaying a different color, stood over the dead body of Rune Dust. Suddenly it all came together, why he said "Shadows"…plural…

As in more than one.

The effect that a Shadow had when he/she took over a body was a change of eye color. Silver’s personally was a lighter blue, almost gray color...but since Flair was displaying two colors, it showed he had two shadows... And that wasn't exactly allowed. Barely anything in the Underground was a rule, but this is one ponies tend to like to stick to.

The principle ran down, enraged more by the fact that a student had two Shadows when he had one, and less by the fact that the bell for the fight had not rung and a student was already dead. "What is the meaning of this?!?"

"SILENCE!" a voice rang out. Suddenly, everypony dropped to the floor as their Shadows screamed into their ears. Ponies’ voices rung out everywhere. Silver clutched his head with his hooves as Sadness wailed within him.

"Wh- AHHH THE VOICE! MAKE IT STOP!"

"HELP ME! AHHHH!"

"NONONONOOO!"

The Shadows stopped screaming, and all eyes turned to the cloud floating at the roof of the gym.

"WHAT PROBLEM CURSES YOU?" The cloud spoke in a loud, yet kind demeanor.

"Who are you?" Flair asked, his eyes wide with fright.

"I AM THE SHADOW, THE BIRTH MOTHER OF ALL THE SHADOWS THAT YOU POSSES, OR THE QUEEN OF THE SHADOWS IF YOU PREFER." The SHADOW spoke.

The principle spoke to the cloud, shivering in terror. "Well, what do we do with him?" he asked, pointing at Flare.

"...IS HE LIVING?" The SHADOW demanded.

"Well...yes?" The principle answered slowly.

"THEN HE HAS WON. RETURN TO YOUR DAILY TASKS."

The SHADOW announced

"What?!? No I deman-" The principle started to protest before bursting into flames.

"AHHHH!!!!" The principle screamed in pain as he slowly burned to death, as purple flames burst out of the ground and enveloped his screaming form before winking out, the body seemed to disappear with the flames, leaving no trace that anything had just happened.

“DOES ANYPONY ELSE WISH TO MAKE DEMANDS OF ME?” The SHADOW asked, a growl creeping into its voice.

As expected, nopony spoke.

And with that, the cloud disappeared and students began to flock around Flair Wing to congratulate him.

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Later, Silver Light bumped into Flair when walking down the hall.

"Oh...hey," Flair whispered, keeping his eyes trained on the ground.

"So...you have two Shadows?" Silver asked, accusation in his voice.

"Yeah…trust me, all it causes…is a lot of racket up here" Flair said pointing to his skull.

"...Who are they? And how did you get two" Silver questioned quietly.

"Truth, as you know…and Deception. Let’s just say that they don't work well together." Flair laughed nervously. "And for how I got two… My father knew I wouldn’t survive…with such a weak Shadow, so he gave me his... Look uh, I'm sorry I lied but...are we cool?" Flair asked slowly, peeking up at his friend.

Silver looked at Flair for a long time before grinning. "Are you kidding me? You have two bucking shadows. THAT IS AWSOME! Yeah, we’re cool!"

"Yeah...I have to go...I'll see you around." Flair Wing said with a smile before running off.

"Bye..." Silver responded, knowing his friend was too far away to hear.

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In the years to come, the two boys grew up together. Flair and Silver joined the army after school, fighting in the seemingly never-ending fight with the Golda army. After both of them ended up being trapped behind enemy lines and escaping with their lives (barely) and taking enemy intelligence, with them Flair and Silver were promoted to Shadow Commander, and found themselves in charge of a weak, small battalion of solders. However, under the command of Flair and Silver, it soon became one of the deadliest weapons in their army. But the war is getting desperate. The population is going down every day, and Flair and Silver have come up with an ambitious plan: to find the key for the most deadly weapon the shadow has.

But for that, they will have to leave the Underground.