Shadow Wars: Dawn of a New Empire

All across the Imperial-occupied cities of Cloudsdale, Las Pegasus and Trottingham, innocent civilians could only watch in helplessness and shock as Droid Soldiers dragged screaming foals away from their families, who could only do nothing, lest they end up dead.

Nightwing's reign of terror gripped the nation in a blanket of fear and darkness. Any form of resistance was instantly snuffed out with mass arrests and public executions. The Droid Soldiers were brutal, as they were droids with no emotions, they had no mercy and would often kill innocent civilians in cold blood.

All the way in Manehatten, Princess Celestia could feel the despair, that her subjects were feeling, to make matters worse, they were now receiving shocking reports that there was a group of aura-wielding creatures that were working directly for Emperor Nightwing, himself. They were being dubbed the red blades, for they also carried red magiscabers.

Celestia wanted to investigate this new threat and discover what their purpose was as well as who they were before they attacked Canterlot, however, eveypony else had decided that they needed the plans, urgently.

Celestia walked down to the Skyport to wish her sister much-needed good luck. Luna and Defender along with an elite unit of Royal Guards were going to attack Canterlot. While they were going to be attacking the castle, a squadron of Wonderbolts was going to attack the Skyports in both Canterlot and Cloudsdale so that the Imperials wouldn't be able to provide any air support.

"Luna, I have a terrible feeling that something is going to go wrong," Celestia told her sister worriedly.

Luna chuckled, "Tia, when does any plan go right?"

Celestia didn't find her words funny and instead replied seriously, "Luna, this might as well be a suicide mission. You are greatly outnumbered."

Luna sighed, placing her hoof onto her sister's shoulder, "Tia we will be fine, I faced down enough of those droids to see that they are both fragile and incredibly stupid."

"Well good luck, sister, I fear you are going to need it," Celestia said before leaving.

Both Luna and Defender looked at each other and Defender asked, "Will she be okay?"

Luna sighed again, "Honestly, I don't know, ever since Voi-Canterlot fell, she changed. She became a shell of her former self."

***

Emperor Nightwing looked at his new Shadow Lords. They were a small group of aura-sensitive creatures that had fallen to the dark side, their main task was to hunt down elementals as well as to capture any aura-sensitive creatures that were not elementals so that they could convert them into embracing the dark side and becoming shadow lords.

A wolf called Lord Grey Fang, who was the Supreme Lord and leader of the Shadow Lords, announced, "I can sense an impending danger."

"Your senses are clouded, while my source has informed me that an attack is coming, this attack is no danger. No, it is an opportunity to destroy Celestia and the Equestrian Army," Nightwing revealed.

A changeling named, Lord Orchid spoke up, "My emperor, if you do not mind me asking, who is this source that you speak of?"

"That is on a need-to-know basis." he snapped.

Suddenly a pony ran into the room, his identity was concealed thanks to the Shadowtrooper armour that he was wearing. "My emperor, two Equestrian fleets have been spotted, one fleet is heading straight for Canterlot, while the second fleet is heading for Cloudsdale," The shadowtrooper informed them, his voice sounding artificially through the helmet.

Nightwing had decided that until he had enough shadowtroopers to shut down the droids, he would use the Shadowtroopers as his personal guards.

Instead of panicking, Nightwing chuckled, "Tell Cloudsdale to activate all Anti Air cannons, Lord Thunderstruck, Lord Morthius go to Cloudsdale and lead the defence," A pegasus and a hippogriff jumped up and instantly flew out of the throne room

Lord Grey Fang asked, "What should we do, my emperor?"

"Only activate the AA cannons that are around the Skyport and mobilise all API squadrons and tell them to attack the fleets, Shadow Lords will hold the line near the castle entrance along with a contingent of shadowtroopers, Droid Soldiers can defend the Skyport." Emperor Nightwing commanded.

"My emperor, shouldn't we have all AA cannons activated, they'll be able to land soldiers in the city," Orchid said before beginning to splutter and clutch at her throat

Nightwing watched as the changeling gasped for breath, her hooves pawing uselessly at her throat, as he kept his hoof raised, "Do not question my orders again, Orchid, remember your place." Nightwing then dropped his hoof as Orchid dropped to the ground, panting. Nightwing then turned and exited the throne room.

***

Princess Luna, Defender and Cerberus, who had also joined them, were on the main deck discussing tactics. "Me and Defender will sneak in through one of the old tunnels, while the guards will deal with the forces at the main entrance to the castle," Luna explained.

Cerberus then spoke up, "I shall deal with the Skyport before meeting back up with the guards at the main entrance."

Luna and Defender both nodded, when a deckhand pointed towards the Skyport and shouted, "It's those flying things, again!"

They all looked over towards the Skyport, where they could see several APIs taking off before turning in their direction. Cerberus cursed as the approaching APIs opened fire, their magic bolts striking the ship causing wood and shrapnel to fly in every direction.

Cerberus then shouted, his voice hard to hear over the sound of the screaming APIs, "All of you head down to the city, while I hold them off, just stick to the plan!"

Defender, who was about to retort, reluctantly nodded and then followed his master over the edge of the ship. The Royal Guards glided over the main entrance to the castle while Defender and Luna flew over to the nearby park, where the entrance to a secret tunnel into the castle was located.

As they flew Defender, noticed that there were AA cannons, that appeared to be dormant, this made him slightly nervous, he then shouted over the rushing wing, "I think we're heading into a trap!"

Luna shouted back, "So do I, be ready when we land!"

Defender nodded and followed Luna down to a clump of thorny bushes, Luna used her magic to move them aside so that they could see the entrance to a tunnel that was in between the roots of an old tree.

As soon as they landed, they activated their magiscabers and swung them around but were surprised to see that the coast was clear.

Luna, who noticed that Defender was beginning to relax, warned, "Keep your guard up, they may still have enemies in the tunnels."

Defender nodded and kept his magiscaber raised as he followed his master into the dark tunnel, their magiscabers illuminating the way.

***

Meanwhile, back on the ship, Cerberus ignited his purple magiscaber as he stared at the APIs he then jumped into the air and began to deflect the magic bolts from the APIs, he then swiped at the APIs with his magiscaber, causing them to explode in mid-air. Once the APIs had been dealt with, he gathered a squadron of Wonderbolts together and then led them towards the Skyport.

Once he was over the Skyport, he destroyed several APIs that were about to take off before turning his attention towards the Droid Soldiers.

The Droid Soldiers shot at the Elemental, who used his magiscaber to deflect their magic bolts. He then leapt at the droids using both his magiscaber to slash at them, cutting their robotic limbs off, making them useless.

The Wonderbolts also assisted in the fight by diving at the soldiers, using their speed and weight to crush them sending sparks and causing crackling sounds to fill the air

They had successfully taken the Skyport but their victory was short as Imperial reinforcements began to arrive...

***

Using Luna's old knowledge of the castle, they had managed to locate the secret workshop. Their plan had worked, both the main attack on Cloudsdale, the entrance to the castle and the Skyport had made excellent distractions as the castle had been made deserted or so they believed.

As they entered the workshop, they both suddenly felt cold, however, they both ignored it and walked over to a round table in the centre of the room.

In the centre of the room, there was a large hologram projector. Pressing a button on the table and it began to reveal the secret blueprints of all of Nightwings inventions.

“How do we take it?” Defender asked.

“Hmmm, I believe, we can copy it over to a magiscreen, however, it will take time to transfer all the blueprints,” Luna said.

As Luna began to transfer all the blueprints Defender began to look around the secret workshop, where he stumbled across another hologram projector. Pressing a button a hologram of, what appeared to be a massive sphere, with a circle on the side. A female voice then spoke through the hologram.

“Project Supernova is the plan to construct a massive secret weapon that is powered by kyber crystals, once fully built it will have enough power to destroy an entire city.”

Defender’s eyes grew wide as he realised what he was looking at, he then looked up at Luna had the same reaction.

Suddenly the room felt colder as the hairs on the back of their neck began to rise, suddenly they heard a sinister chuckle.

“I have been waiting.”

They turned around to see Emperor Nightwing igniting his red magiscaber.

“You’re evil, what you are building could kill thousands of people!” Luna shouted, her own hatred beginning to appear.

“Exactly, that is what makes it a super weapon,” Nightwing exclaimed.

Luna ignited her purple magiscaber and yelled at Defender, “Go get the blueprints, while I deal with this monster.”

Defender flew towards the blueprints and cursed as they still had five minutes to transfer.

With a swift motion, Luna charges forward. Nightwing meets her advance, their magiscabers clashing in a brilliant explosion of light and sound. The workshop reverberates with the impact, causing instruments to rattle and delicate glassware to shatter.

The lights also turned red as alarms began to blare.

Nightwing grunted and pushed back all the while snarling, “You’re out of your depth, Luna!”

Luna’s wings flare as she leaps back, using the momentum to bring her saber down in a powerful arc. Nightwing parries, his prosthetic eye calculating each move with cold precision.

Nightwing chuckled as he felt the cold anger emanating from the princess, “Your emotions betray you, princess. Use that anger, embrace the dark side and together we will the rule the land as emperor and empress.”

“I WILL NEVER JOIN YOU!” Luna screamed.

Meanwhile, Defender felt useless as he watched his former friend battle his master. He then looked at the blueprints and saw that they still had three minutes left.

The fight intensifies. Luna spins gracefully, her magiscaber a purple blur. She uses her wings to manoeuvre quickly around Nightwing, landing strikes that he barely deflects. Nightwing responds with brutal efficiency, his red magiscaber cutting through the air with deadly intent

Nightwing shouted menacingly, “I will rebuild this world in my image, and you will not stand in my way!”

With a surge of strength, Nightwing forces Luna back, his red magiscaber blazing. Luna skids across the floor, her hooves scrambling for purchase. She glares at Nightwing, her resolve unshaken.

Drawing upon her inner strength, Luna rises, her purple magiscaber glowing brighter. She charges at Nightwing with renewed vigour. The clash of their magiscabers sends a shockwave through the workshop, knocking over equipment and causing the red lights to flicker.

Rechecking the blueprints, Defenser was glad to see that they had successfully transferred.

He grabbed the magiscreen and then ran over to Luna and helped her up.

***

Meanwhile, outside, Cerberus had managed to repel the Droid Soldier counter-attack and was running towards the Castle entrance, when he arrived he was shocked to see that all of their Royal Guards lay dead.

Standing above them were a wolf and a changeling both of them wielding double-bladed magiscabers. They both smiled sinisterly.

“Who are you?” Cerberus asked, raising his own magiscaber.

The wolf then introduced themselves, “We are the Shadow Lords and the creatures that are going to kill you.”

Before Cerberus could even react, Grey Fang raised his claws and sent a flurry of aura lightning towards him, sending him flying.

The changeling then shifted into a cheetah and ran towards them at lightning speed using her cheetah claws to slash at him, sending blood spraying.

Cerberus used the aura to push her off him before rising back to his talons, wincing as he did so. He knew that he was way out of his league.

“This is where the mighty Cerberus shall fall,” Grey Fang sneered before striking at him with his magiscaber, however, the old griffon managed to block him.

This left an opening that Orchid exploited as she swung down with her magiscaber, slicing his arm off and causing him to howl in pain.

Grey Fang smiled as he swung his own magiscaber around sending his head flying off in one direction while his body fell to the ground.

“NOOO!” Defender screamed as he and Luna came rushing out of the entrance. Luna then grabbed hold of him, “No we have to take them out.”

“We can’t, we have to get back to Manehatten.” Luna grunted as she grabbed the pegasus in her magic before flying off.

The two Shadow Lords watched as they flew back towards their fleet.

Grey Fang stopped Orchid from giving chase, “There is no need. We now know where their secret base is located.”

Orchid gave him a perplexed look, “We do? How do we know that?”

“Did you not hear what Luna said?”

As she opened her mouth to respond, she then began to chuckle as she suddenly remembered what Luna’s last word was…