Memories: Empire of the shadows

Today had to be the day.

Frost horn grumbled in irritation, already having gone through the worst day of his life. First, he was roped into taste-testing dozens of apple confections, from apple fritters to apple tarts, and other things he really cared not to think about. Secondly, a hyper pink pony had insisted on throwing him a party. A PARTY. He had to sneak out the back, hoping that the frightening mare wouldn’t notice him. Not to mention his run-in with a distressed yellow pegasus and his escape from a boutique with his original mane color intact. Barely. And all on his way to the library, where he hoped to find what he was looking for. And, just for the cherry on top, fate had decided to hand him one more obstacle; one he simply could not face.

No he could do it tomorrow; he didn’t need it today. Nope.

‘I refuse to do it, I will not, no NEVER go into that blasted library with a chance that the sad excuse for a unicorn that lived there might be home!’ The pony snorted in anger, causing a small cloud of cold air to come out of his nostrils. He reigned in his anger, the atmosphere around him once again resuming its normal temperature.

as the other ponies past, they stared at him; they normally didn’t get to see a stallion with a light blue coat, grey muzzle, and white mane, with just a hint of frosty highlights. A few of the mares were about to stop and ask where he got his mane done, but they didn’t dare to come near the pony caught in a glaring contest with a library. He recited old spells to himself, trying to steel up his nerves as he walked slowly towards the library. He needed the Book of Shadows to continue his research into the Underground. However, he had foolishly left the book in Canterlot all those years ago. Now he was paying the price for his stupidity. He stood firmly across the street from the offensive library, remembering the shock when the pink one had mentioned a purple unicorn moving into the previously vacated space. At first, he blew it off as a coincidence. However, when the bouncy thing had pointed out that she was a student of the Princess, he knew there was no avoiding it. He saw the large tree that the library was built into, wishing to be ANYWHERE but here.

Thump, thump, thump.

Frost Horn knocked, well, more struck, the door three times to see if anypony was home. To his delight, nopony was!

‘This might be my lucky day!’ Frost mused to himself.

As he entered the library, he looked around slowly. At first, the whole thing was kind of stunning. He was used to great bookshelves lining the walls, filled to the brim with tomes. However, even though this collection was tiny in comparison, he still hadn’t expected something like this in a small town like Ponyville. He shook his head, returning to the task at hoof. The book he had been so desperately searching for was fairly easy to find, with its dark spine among the colorful ones. He used his magic to carefully transport it down, and started to walk out the door, thanking his lucky stars that nopony had been home. However, as he was halfway out, a voice spoke to him. It was ghostly tone, coming from inside his head rather than outside.

“Look more if you wish to learn.”

Frost rolled his eyes at the cryptic comment. This Shadow he found tried too hard to be mysterious. In his mind, it just came across as stupid. But he, IT, seemed too friendly for Frost to voice his annoyance. However, he decided to heed the Voice’s advice. He peered around the room, looking for something strange. The first thing he noticed was that Twilight Sparkle was incredibly tidy in the worst of ways. Everything was just so, everything in its place. Though the organization was slightly comforting, it was a little stifling to have everything this…neat.

He shook it out of his mind as he saw something on the desk. It made his heart skip a beat; it was none other than a stone tablet! It even had the Rune of the Shadows on it! That Rune…it could be invaluable in his quest to find the Underground! But, before he could wrap it in his telekinesis, he heard a voice behind him that made him want to start freezing the library. That aggravatingly cheerful voice…it grated against his ears.

“Ummm, hello?” Twilight Sparkle asked, standing directly behind the now-angry stallion.

Frost said nothing, content to keep from having the unicorn recognizing him, as he calmly walked over to the main counter and placed the book to be checked out. He had been planning on leaving without interacting anypony, especially her, but some things couldn’t be helped.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle. And you are..?” she asked, trying to get this pony to speak.

He wasn’t talking. Frost continued to debate whether to continue giving her the cold shoulder, or to simply kill her, the second was becoming more likeable every second.

“Look if you want to check that book out, you need to at least give me your name” Twilight said, a hint of annoyance in her voice. “For tracking purposes.”

“…Frost Horn,” he said coldly.

“…Do I know you?” Twilight said, tapping her hoof on her chin and thinking where she could know this pony from. She never forgot anypony; she was infamous for that. But she just couldn’t put her hoof on where she’d seen this pony before…

Frost, not wanting to stay any longer, proceeded to simply turn and walk out, leaving a confused unicorn in his wake. As he closed the door behind him, he made sure to freeze the hinges so it wouldn’t open if she decided to give chase. Plus it would keep her from getting in her mane. Frost started home, looked back at the library in hopes that Twilight will attempt to open the door. Now that would make his day.

“Bloody ‘ell, remind me again why we are trashing this pony’s home?” Loyal complained as they ransacked through the home of the pony who Flair suspected his other Shadow belonged to. So far, they had only found a few magazines of Odd Things That Don’t Make Sense and Old Mare’s Tales: Fact or Fiction? Flair couldn’t believe ponies actually read those things.

“Because I need my other shadow back if I want a chance at getting the Darkstone. And we need to find my Shadow if you want to get to that treasure,” Flair Wing said for the seventh time within the hour.

“Yeah, but why don’t we just talk to him?” Loyal asked, cocking his head to the side.

“Because,” Flair said simply.

“Because why?” Loyal questioned.

Flair resisted the temptation to facehoof. “Because I have a very large weapon, short temper, and a clear shot at your head,” Flair said simply as he climbed the wall, making a leap for the top of another shelf.

“Why don’t you just fly?” Loyal questioned, biting into an apple he’d found in the kitchen. This caused Flair to stop for a second as a memory bubbled to the surface…

It was a cold, cloudy day. The sky threatened to spill at any moment. A group of ponies wearing golden armor huddle around a fire to keep warm, pushing and shoving to get closer to the small blaze. One of the guards excused himself to go to the washroom. The guard removed his helmet, shaking his black mane out. Suddenly, he hears a sound, like something traveling through the air. Before he could open his mouth and warn the other, the arrow plunged into his throat, blood bubbling out on his gaping muzzle. Before he could even fall to the ground, a second arrow had already gone through his eye.

A blue Pegasus pony wearing leather armor combat rolled out from a nearby bush, looking over his kill. The stallion was dead; there was no doubt about it. Not only were his eyes wide and glossy, but his tongue lolled from his mouth, hanging from his muzzle. A smile playing on the killer’s lips as he put the darkbow down to retrieve “proof” of his kill.

He had his hooves already under the slain one’s forelimbs when he suddenly heard something coming out of the woods behind him. Whatever it was, it wasn’t intent on being quiet. He turned, seeing another guard standing there, shock clear on his face. The guard saw the darkbow on the ground, laying by the assassin’s foot. The blue pony looks up at the guard before galloping towards the weapon, hooves outstretched, but he was too slow. The guard got there first, his hooves wrapping around the dark wood of the handle. He aimed for the head, but the weapon kicked too much, and the arrow flew wide…

…plunging into the pony’s wing.

Flair shook his head, clearing his mind of the thoughts. He could have a flashback later; he had work to do.

"What… the… BUCK!" Frost grits his teeth as he stands in front of his house, viewing a smashed door and the shattered windows. Open shelves lay on their sides with their contents scattered on the floor. Years of important work laid on the floor hoof prints all over them.

Frost barges into his house, snorting frigid air like a bull in winter. He stops to survey the damage a little more closely; nothing was missing or destroyed, other than his door and windows. Holy horsefeathers, that was going to cost a fortune! Frost skids to a halt when he hears a voice, a Scottish one at that, coming from…his bedroom? What they hay was anypony doing up there? He readied his magic, raised his head and ears, which he usually kept down, and charged upstairs.

"Oi, Flair, did you hear that?" Loyal raised his head from the pile of Equestria Science Weekly magazines.

"Hmm? Hear wha-" Flair was interrupted when Frost appeared in the doorway, his expression furious and his horn buzzing with magic.

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, TRASHING MY HOUSE?!?" Frost burst into the room, horn ablaze by now. Flair and Loyal were shivering now the air having suddenly dropped quite a few degrees. Frost glared at Loyal, Loyal turned to Flair, and Flair raised an eyebrow, his hoof moving to beneath his cloak.

"Well?!" Before Frost could say another word, he felt something smash into his face, blood starting to drip from his nose. The blue and black pony had charged him suddenly, smacking him with some sort of wooden contraption…

“Is that a…” Frost looked with surprise and delight as he surveyed the weapon. Despite the pain and the blood, his smile stretched across his whole face. The weapon was none other than a Darkbow. A DARKBOW! And that meant…

“Are…would you happen to know anything about the Underground?” Frost asked, barely containing the want to jump around screaming “YES! YES! YES!” like that idiot Twilight did that one time. Barely.

“I should know about it, seeing as I grew up theerrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeee!” Flair yelped as he felt himself being propelled upwards by the unicorn in front of him.

“YES YES OH GREAT CELESTIA YESSSSSSSS!” Frost yelled as he jumped around Flair Wing, the blue hooves wrapped under the Undergrounder’s forelimbs, bringing him up as Frost leapt with joy.

“THE UNDERGROUND IS REAL! I’M NOT INSANE!!!” Frost screamed to nopony in particular.

“That’s still debatable” Loyal mumbled to himself.

Flair grunted as he felt himself being put down by the unicorn.

“Is this yours?” he held out the Darkite shard; the same shard that the Voice had been coming from. “I am Frost Horn by the way, ex student of Celestia herself!” Frost said excitedly, holding out the Darkite shard containing Flairs other Shadow with a flourish. Flair grunted as he crushed the shard and a fine blue mist leaked into his Rune.

“Ok then, now I guess—” Flair began, quickly being interrupted by Frost.

“Let me guess. You’re here for the stone tablet with the Rune of the Shadow on it, and you need me and Mr. Scottish here's help you retrieve it? If so, I’m in. I have a grudge with Celestia herself I need to deal with.” Frost stated, a sly grin creeping on to his face.

Flair Wing was silent for a few precious seconds before clapping his front two hoofs together. “Well then, it’s deal. The plan is we grab the Darkstone and get it back to the Underground as soon as possible. Everypony wins!”

“Except for the ponies that we are going to kill along the way,” Deception mentioned quickly.

“We could probably do this without pointless death,” Truth stated angrily.

“But where’s the fun in that?” Deception asked, feigning innocence.

Flair groaned audibly; the two shadows constantly bickering in his head caused a constant headache. He’d gotten used to it over the years, but that didn't make it any less annoying.

“Well then ponies, we have one day to make a plan. I already have one, and we’re going to use it, but since I value troop morale, anypony have an idea for a plan that we are NOT going to use because it will fail miserably and get us all killed?” Flair asked, a rare smile on his face.

Knock, Knock, Knock.

Prince Gold Soul knocked on the door of town library, shifting from hoof to hoof. He was told by Princes Celestia via letter to meet her student at the library. However, he had been warned not to mention anything about the war or anything of that nature, atr least not without proper introduction; apparently, she lost all control over her emotions frequently. As Soul’s guards waited a few steps away in-case the librarian was some evil Underground spy or something like that. It’s happened before.

Suddenly, a purple unicorn head popped up in the door’s window. “Ummm…hello there.” Twilight Sparkle spoke, her voice muffled by the fact that she was talking through the glass.

“Hello there. My name is Prince Gold Soul of the Golda Nation. I’m here on the request of Princess Celestia; you should have gotten a message. Could you let me in?” Gold Soul asked, a smile on his face.

“I can’t.” Twilight answered matter-of-factly.

“Err…if you need proof of who I am, I can provide documentation—” Gold started before he was quickly cut off.

“No, I mean the door is frozen shut. I physically CAN’T open it.” Twilight replied, gesturing to the hinges. Now that Gold Soul took a second look, he could see the frost on the hinges and the door, prohibiting the door from opening.

“Right. Probably an angry unicorn’s prank. If you’re by the door, I’d suggest standing back.” Gold Soul backed up, ramming his front two hoofs into the door, causing the door to swing open…well, more like “come flying off the hinges and nearly splinter”.

And it still managed to hit Twilight Sparkle, who hadn’t heard the message to retreat and still had been standing behind the door.

“Are you okay?” Gold asked worriedly. He had been in town for five minutes and may have already caused a situation that may result in a diplomatic breakdown. He was more concerned of the implications of his actions than he was of the purple filly he was standing over.

Twilight opened her eyes, her head pounding from the impact with the floor, to see a fit, brown pony with a golden mane hanging over his equally shining eyes. He bore armor of the same color.

“I’m fine.” Twilight slowly said looking out.

“That’s a relief; I was worried for a second there!” Gold let out a small chuckle, relieved that he hadn’t destroyed the one chance he had to get his hoofs on the one thing that would stopping the shadow ponies of the Underground.

“Well anyway, we are here for the Lightstone!” Gold Soul announced, smiling.

“Princess Celestia will present it to you tomorrow at the summer sun celebration,” Twilight said, standing up and brushing off her coat.

“Great!” Gold soul smiled. He could wait a day…

After all…

What’s the worst that could happen?