Memories: Empire of the shadows

Flair gasped as he awoke. His chest seemed to burn from the inside out, his heart pouding, his lungs aching for air that only came in short, shallow gasps. He instantly realized he was having a power attack. He shook violently as he clumsily reached for the small pouch on his back. After fumbling with the drawstrings, he pulled out a small purple crystal, crushing it under his hoof. He calmed down when the energy flowed into his rune on his forearm, easing his aching body and stopped the quivers that ran up his forelimbs. He stopped shaking and slowly stood up.

‘Hmmm…this doesn’t look like the Everfree forest that I read about…my calculations must have been off.’

Flair looked around to see he was in the middle of a farm; apple trees surrounded him on all sides. The sun sat high above, as if watching him with a stern gaze, sending down small patterns of light that cast dappled patterns on the ground.

‘Well, all I can do now is wait for the rest of the squad,’ he thought to himself.

Suddenly he felt a surge of energy as another pony appeared beside him. Instinctively, Flair knew that it was one of his own. However, in the light of the sun, even Flair’s eyes needed to adjust slightly; being in a dark cave for your whole life had its disadvantages. But he could already tell something was wrong with the soldier. The stallion was out of breath and coughing…

Plus he had a large iron axe sticking out the back of his head.

“…sir…” he wheezed, blood pouring out of his mouth, “…Goldinians…knew…we were there…at…the Darkport…” the solder weakly said. Flair immediately enveloped the soldier in a gray mist of magic: a Shadow-Energy Barrier, meant to keep whoever was inside alive by means of the user’s own strength.

Flair filled with rage, picking up the pony and lifted him into the air.

“Who was left?” Flair ground out, no sympathy in his eyes. Only a cold rage met the frightened and weary gaze of the stallion.

“Silver…me…and two others…rest…stayed behind…buy us time…” The solder was dying, but Flair use his shadow energy to keep him alive. He needed answers, and he wasn’t about to let his only source of information croak, even though the stallion had to be in great agony.

“Please…let me die…” the solder begged, his eyes filled with unbearable pain.

“Mercy is for the weak,” Flair snarled back at him. “Now tell me what happened” Flair Wing barked.

The soldier hacked, spitting blood onto Flair’s muzzle. The commander simply wiped it off, waiting for the soldier to continue. “Underground…sealed off…lockdown…can’t survive…for long mission…top priority…” The stallion couldn’t hold his voice over a whisper at that point, his head drooping against his black chest pitifully. His entire body shook as he was wracked with a coughing fit that rattled the tree.

Flairs eyes softened slightly. “Good work, soldier. Alga frari, and rest well.” And with that, Flair released the spell, letting the stallion slump to the ground. His pale eyes peered lifelessly at the sky, as if staring at his soul that now rested alongside Celestia’s sun. Flair frowned, the poor fellow had enlisted for the mission almost eminently after training, but he knew the risks of coming.

Flair closed the eyes of the soldier before going to work. First, he took the solders Darkite; he wouldn’t be needing it anymore. Then, he emptied the bag of currency, Bits if he could remember right, and emptied them onto the ground. That brought his total to 150 bits. After that, he dragged his body into a bush and stashed it there; unfortunately, there was no time for a ceremony. Promising himself that one day he would come back and give the stallion a proper ceremony as a hero for the information he brought.

Flair realized standing there among the endless apple trees wouldn’t give him any advantages, so he started moving. And regretted it instantly.

‘DEAR GODS, IT’S SO BRIGHT!’

Flair shielded his eyes as he stepped into the light, blinking rapidly before remembering to pull up his hood. Thankfully, the rune on the hood made it dark enough for him to see properly. He cowered in the shadow that his cloak made, searching about for a landmark. He found it in the form a sign that rested above the dirt path: Sweet Apple Acres.

‘Well guess that where I am.’ Flair thought to himself, starting off towards the large barn that sat right in the front of the property.

He stopped in his tracks as his gaze fell upon a single, maroon stallion that looked like he could take on an entire squadron of shadow solders alone, after being hit by a TUMMS (Tactical Unicorn Magical Missile Strike). And with that, Flair thought…

‘And now it's time for me to no longer be where I am now.’ Even though it was embarrassing, especially to one of his rank and stature, he quietly tiptoed out of sight, breathing a heavy sigh of relief when the burly one failed to notice him.

Flair Wing slowly walked around the outskirts of Ponyville, keeping his head down and his hood up. He felt nothing but contempt for the ponies of this town; they had no faith. Where was the killing? The ritualistic genocide? The ponies just lacked class in his mind, but he calmed himself down by muttering aloud. Not only did it soothe his mind, but it also warned the other ponies to stay away.

“Soon Flair, after every last Golda solder is dead, then you can deal with these idiots,” he mumbled to himself, sorely missing Deception’s agreement or Truth’s annoyance at his refusal to accept that he was of the same race as some of the ponies up here. It pained to him to even think that they shared a common form.

Suddenly, he felt something watching him. Something big, hairy, and with saliva dripping down its jaws. He turned slowly, coming face to face with a very large bear. It started growling at him, the spit on its chin vibrating with the rage.

Flair calmly reached underneath his cloak for his shadow-bow, enjoying the excuse to kill something. He would be bathing in blood in no time; it had been a bit since he had had the opportunity to partake in that ritual. He wondered how bear blood smelled. Was it different than a pony’s? Or did it hold a certain type of musk that one could only find in wild animals?

However, before he could even take the weapon, out a yellow and pink pegasus pony shot across his vision, her small wings proving to be more than capable to hold her up. “Now you stop this right now!” she yelled, staring the grizzly down. Flair’s hoof slowly came out from under his cloak, his mind seething at the missed opportunity. “Just because you’re having a hard time is no reason to take it out on other ponies! Do I make myself clear?” The bear started to growl louder, raising up on his hind legs. But, before the creature could do anything rash (and before Flair could whip out his bow), the small pegasus glared at the brown bear, subduing him with no words at all. The bear trundled off, whimpering slightly, its small tail tucked between his legs.

The pony turned to apologize to him, hiding a good portion of her face behind her pink mane. Flair had always hated pink. Not because he didn’t like the color or anything; it just had no practical use. Nopony could use it for camouflage in any kind of situation. “I’m so sorry about that,” she mumbled shyly. “He’s just really stressed; his son broke his leg yesterday, and his wife has a terrible cold.”

Flair, of course, couldn’t give a flying buck about the stupid bear’s problems.  After all, he wasn’t in the best of moods; he had just been robbed of two good opportunities (two!) to kill. Flair turned towards the pegasus, coldness in his gaze. “Keep your bloody pet in check or next time I’ll snap his neck.”

Fluttershy was shocked by the lack of emotion in the stranger’s voice; it sounded like he would do that many times a day. She tried not to think about that. She weakly tried to defend her friend, her heart racing in fear. “H-he’s not a pet, an-and you should apologies for hurting his feelings, if tha—” Fluttershy stammered out.

Flair, who was not use to ponies talking back, cut her off, anger clear in his voice. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Next time, I won’t snap his neck; I’ll dislocate his spine before finding his family and making him watch as I kill every single one of them, youngest to oldest. Making him lay there unable to do anything as I take away everything he loves, sounds lovely don’t you think? And after that? I’ll leave him there to starve.”

Flair Wing finished, an evil grin plastered on his hooded face thinking of all the ways he could probably kill the bear’s family. Maybe hanging? Or a Shadow-bolt in just the right place; not enough to kill, but just enough to hear their delicious screams.

Fluttershy gasped at the stranger’s heartlessness and cruelty, her eyes growing wide. She could almost see the horrific scene happen in the stranger’s very eyes. She broke down, hiding her face in her hooves as he flew off, dipping in the sky once or twice. The bear tailed after her on the ground, growling consolations to the distraught pony.

Flair stood there, watching the pegasus fly away. ‘What’s this feeling in my gut? Is it my subconscious telling me I did something bad? Do I feel bad for making her cry?’ Suddenly Flair let out a burp and chuckled coolly. ‘Nope, just indigestion.’

Shadow ponies were cruel. You could sugar coat it all you wanted, but that was the truth. In foalhood, they were allowed a softer level of cruelty, but once they hit School, they began their training. Regardless of whether they were a baker or a solder, they learned how to kill, hunt, and survive. As only three-thousand ponies could live in the underground at once, being weak was tough, and they wouldn’t make it to become a full-grown mare or stallion UNLESS they were exceptional at some other skill. Intelligence, for example, or maybe sneaking or simply being cruel. Some would call them heartless; this isn’t true. They didn’t know better. Their entire life revolved around war and death without mercy.

Flair quickly made his way towards town, ignoring the shocked and furious stares he was receiving. Enough playing around; it was time for him to find his Shadows.

Fluttershy sat in her cottage, her head buried in her pillow and her light gold body wracked with sobs. She couldn’t believe that pony! The things he said were so horrible, and that coldness in his eyes…he meant every word he said. She shuddered as she thought of his cool, deadly eyes… Angle Bunny slid up next to her, stroking her mane gently.

Fluttershy jumped as somepony knocked on the door, and, for a second, Fluttershy feared the pony had returned to complete his threat. She was about to rush and warn Mr. Bear when Rainbow Dash’s voice rang out.

“Fluttershy? Is something wrong? Let me in!” Rainbow called.

Loyal rummaged through all of his stuff. It HAD to be here! It had to be! Loyal let out a sigh of relief as he found the bag of bits. ‘Ok, so the voice didn’t break the deal about the sign part, but now what?’ he thought to himself. How would he find a single pony in all of Ponyville?

As he looked out the window, he saw that, among the batch of normal ponies, there was one who looked lost. Really, there was no other way to describe it; he didn’t look like he was from around Ponyville. In fact, he didn’t look like he was from Equestria. He had a black leather outfit on, with a particularly menacing looking black cape flowing behind. He wore black boots, with blue cuffs on the front of the first two. A black hood was pulled over the stallion’s face, but Loyal could see he wore light blue glasses, and that a black goatee decorated his muzzle. The hood covered most of his mane, but Loyal realized it was half blue and half black. Not a very common combination of colors. He looked like he was trying to blend in, but the poor pony blended in about as well as polar bear did in the desert.

“…I told him that he wouldn’t blend in that well,” the voice sighed. “Take me to him, and you will complete your side of the deal".

Loyal dashed outside and ran towards the pony, ignoring the fact that everypony seemed to avoid him like the plague.

“Hey, you!” Loyal called out the hooded pony. The stranger took one look at Loyal Hoof and fled, his hooves spraying up dust. He didn’t fly away, but he simple turned and ran. Loyal, being the fit athletic earth pony he was, caught up to him fairly easily. The stranger in the hood led Loyal down a series of twists and turns, loops and cut-backs through the alleys, before finally coming to a stop in a dead-end.

The cloaked one turned around and hissed at Loyal, “It would be better for your health if you didn’t chase me.”

Loyal rolled his eyes at the pony. He seriously doubted that the small, puny thing could take him on. He put that aside, though, gripping an object in his saddlebags. “Well, I have something you might be interested in.” Loyal started, putting on his best salsepony smile.

“Not interested” the hooded pony interjected.

“Really? Fine. See if I care. But I guess that means you don’t want this back.” Loyal held up the glowing purple crystal, letting the glow cascade over them both.

The hooded pony’s attitude instantly changed. “Deception? Or Truth?” the hooded pony questioned. No reply was given, but the stranger smiled as if somepony had, in fact, replied. The pony took off his hood to reveal that Loyal was correct about his mane’s colors.

“Well then, off we go to find my other Shadow!” Flair said dramatically as he walked off, leaving Loyal in the dust, still holding the crystal.

“What do you mean “we”? I gave you your voice-crystal-thing. That was the deal,” Loyal stated, crossing his hooves.

The blue and black pony looked angry at having to explain, but any traces of anger drained from his face as he put on an obviously fake smile. “I thought you would be interested in finding the treasures of the Underground. But if you aren’t, hey, who am I to question.” He shrugged nonchalantly, staring at the alley wall as if it was suddenly more interesting than the burly stallion in front of him.

The word “treasure” sparked Loyal’s curiosity. “What treasure?”

The pony put on a genuine grin as he spoke. “Where I come from, gems are useless to us; they grow on the bloody walls. Emeralds, rubies…diamonds…”

Flair took note of the pony’s growing greed as he heard the tall tale. Of course, he was simply making it up as he went along. No reason for the other pony to know, though. “And when I get the Darkstone and defeat Golda…well, there is going to be a LOT of useless gold that we would be more than happy to give away to a brave pony who helped us.”

Loyal stared at Flair, his mouth dripping saliva as he envisioned the bounty that the hooded creature was explaining. “…Well, when you put it THAT way, we are wasting daylight!” Loyal held out is hoof, grinning widely at the stranger. “Loyal R. Hoof at your service!” the pony spoke a wide smile on his face.

As Flair held out his own hoof, he smirked as he realized how easy it was to manipulate the greed of Loyal. Flair had a feeling he would be back before the sun rose tomorrow.

Oh how he regrets feeling that.