MLP FiM: Lock of Shadows.
Author: Xeroed_1n (Cameron D)
Chapter One:
The night was cold and dark, the shadows a silent miasma flowing over Canterlot.
Les Luna, the Moon, hung like a huge baleful eye, pale and watchful in the cloud streaked sky above the sleeping populous. A lone figure trotted through the streets, walking with confidence down the stone paths that he had walked so many times before. His name was Zero Gee, a cream and brown colored pegasus with a close cropped mane that managed to stay straight in even the strongest wind. The party had finished at a little past 10 o'clock, a party celebrating the anniversary of Fancy Pants and Fleur de 'lis, and now all the party-goers had begun to toddle off to their respective homes, full of food and joy and each a little bit giddy from the large mugs of cider served.
Zero Gee stopped and looked up at the castle in which Princess's Celestia and Luna resided, then at Les Luna, which stared back and comforted his solace. He turned homeward and then decided to take a shortcut through a nearby alleyway, his house was eight blocks away after all. Before he entered the brick passage he gave one last glance at the buildings behind him, one last look at the shadows that layered the tops of their roofs then turned and trotted away down the alley....towards a home that he would never reach.
Behind him the shadows lay on the rooftops like a blanket of black over the rough surface of the tiles, amongst the moss grown from rainfall. Then one of the shadows stirred, opening a reptilian red eye that narrowed and followed the path of Zero Gee. The shadow stretched it's legs, flicked it's tail and cracked it's neck and then was off, skittering over the close packed rooftops in silent pursuit.
Zero Gee was nearing the end of the alleyway when he heard a noise.
Skritch.
His heart caught in his chest and he involuntarily held his breath, listening intently to the darkness that all but surrounded him.
Skritch.
There it was again, but closer this time, almost....above him. Zero whipped his neck upwards to spot where the noise had come from. Nothing. His tail swished over the ground softly and he nickered in fear. Skritch....skritch.
"Hello?" he called into the night, "Anypony there? Hello?"
Silence answered him and he turned to carry on his way but was stopped by a sight that chilled his blood and made his coat stand on end. Two blazing crimson eyes floated in the shadows that gathered at the end of the alleyway, blocking his exit. They were reptilian, slit-pupiled and blazed with a fury, or an ambition, that Zero couldn't comprehend. A voice hissed out from between the eyes, those eyes that locked Zero in his place.
"Miiiiiiiiiiiinne..."
Zero made the biggest mistake of his life then, he let the voice know that he had heard.
"W-What's yours?" he asked, fear adding an extra quiver to his question. His body began to shake uncontrollably as he began to think of what fate might befall him. But his heart really almost did stop when he heard what came next.
There was a sharp intake of breath that seemed to suck in all the air around them then,
"Your wiiiiings."
Those eyes flashed in a blur of motion, sucking Zero into the infinite darkness of their pupils and then his screams rent the air, ripping through the silence of the night.
And as always, Les Luna watched impassively from the sky.
Chapter Two:
"Out of the way! Out of the buckin' way!" Twilight Sparkle dashed through the crowd in a purple, pink and sapphire blur of hoof-beats, having to actually shove her way between mares and stallions of all shades of the rainbow. An actual rainbow, this being one of her best friends Rainbow Dash, kept easy pace with her wingbeats and jogging along behind her was her loyal confident Spike, sweat streaking his purple dragon scales. The crowd parted before them like a hot knife through butter and even the burly stallion guards ringing the yellow KEEP OUT tape stepped aside to allow them to pass, because after all who hadn't noticed the prestige of Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's top student.
Celestia herself was already at the scene of the crime, her unmissable cloud of a mane flowing a full foot over the head of Nurse Redheart who was also in attendance. Among the few allowed in were the rest of Twilight's friends; Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy who was hiding behind Applejack's orange hide, peeking over the top at the shockingly white corpse laid out on the ground.
Twilight stepped under the tape and held it up for Spike, who scooted through while Rainbow Dash dropped down out of the air, took one look at the body and then turned away gagging.
"Nurse, is he....?" Twilight let the question hang in the air, not daring to finish the horrible thought. Nurse Redheart nodded sadly, "Yes, he's gone."
"But I see no blunt trauma marks, or magical residue that could have done this."
"It was hypothermia actually. Something sent this pony into shock and dropped him where he was....and it was cold last night."
Twilight nodded in thought, "But what gave him the shock?" she wondered.
Horn twitching, she dropped down on her front hooves and looked at the corpse in intricate detail, from every angle, lifting the legs and sifting through the mane, all the while fighting back the feeling of revulsion that boiled in her stomach. The creamy brown coat looked familiar somehow...
"Spike, take a note." she said and then after the rustling of paper had finished, she continued, "Homicide, cause of death; lethal pneumonia. Stallion, middle aged, creamy brown coat, earth pony..."
"No, that's wrong," said Rainbow Dash hoarsely, perturbed by the corpse "He's a pegasus pony, his name was- is Zero Gee."
"That can't be right Dashie," said Twilight, staring at Rainbow like she was a mad pony, "He has no wings, therefore he can't be a pegasus."
"Exactly my point Twilight, he has no wings, but he did. I'm no pony anatomy expert but I know that wings are directly tied into a pegasus's nervous system. Whatever it was that took his wings, sent him into shock at the same time."
"Taken his wings?" Twilight mulled over the idea, unconsciously rubbing her jaw at the same time. "Celestia, is that possible?"
Princess Celestia looked up at Twilight with red-rimmed eyes, it was evident that she had been crying. Zero Gee hadn't been directly tied to the Princess, but it was still saddening to find one of her citizens cut down in her own city. She swallowed back her tears and after a moments hesitation nodded solemnly, "Yes, yes. But it's old magic. Necromantic and lost in time."
"Necromantic?" asked Rarity.
"It means of the dead." said Twilight, "Ages old magic, designed only for the resurrection of evil. I understand that Discord had a hand in creating it."
"Good Lord." whispered Rarity, remembering the horrifying ordeal of fighting Discord and the embarrassing encounter with Thom the Diamond.
Twilight turned back to Celestia, "When you say 'lost' Princess you mean that the instruction scrolls are in the Canterlot Archives?"
Celestia shook her head, "No. Luna and I destroyed the scrolls quite some years ago. I watched them burn and their ashes float into the sky."
Twilight looked around them. The previous crowd had been dispersed by the stallion guards, but some still milled around craning their necks for a peek. No doubt Diamond Tiara would be looking for her latest scoop.
"Uhm....Twilight?"
"Yes, Fluttershy?"
The yellow pegasus scratched at the ground with her hooves, peeking out from under her bright pink mane. "I'm going to go home now....if um, that's okay with you."
Twilight could see how nervous she was around the death and turned to the others, "Thanks girls, you can all go home now. Spike, I'll see you back at the library." Spike nodded and hurried off with the others, aiming to catch the last train back to Ponyville.
"Celestia." Twilight nodded curtly to the Princess and turned to leave as well.
"Wait!" exclaimed Celestia and Twilight turned back to her teacher. "I want you to find out who did this and report back to me....whatever means necessary"
"Got it, Your Highness," said Twilight with a smirk, "I'll make them pay."
Chapter Three:
Twilight slammed the library door shut with enough force to rattle the windows and shake the book cases loose. Having vented her frustration, she groaned at the compulsion to reshelve all the loose books. That would have to wait until morning.
"Spiiiiiiiiiiike!" she called, rubbing her hoarse throat afterwards and then watched as he came rolling down the staircase. Literally rolling, she watched as he lost his footing on the 5th step and landed face-first in front of her. She snuffed a laugh at his unintentional blunderings.
"Take a note?" he asked.
"Nope. Hot cocoa and a blanket: stat. Then bring up every book, omnibus or scroll we have on the Old Magic. It's going to be a long night."
Moments later, Twilight was nestled under a fuzzy blanket with a steaming mug of cocoa next to her and surrounded by three or four piles of books. Spike had gone to bed just recently, and his snoring drifted softly down from the staircase. Her familiar owl, Owlowicious was perched on the stack directly in front of her, staring with huge brown eyes that bored into Twilight. She smirked, "Go do something else Owlowicious, I'll be up for hours."
Owlowicious hooted softly and then let his eyes close and his beak dropped into his chest. Twilight waited until his feathered breast was rising and falling in a steady rhythm and then levitated the first of the the heavy leather-bound books onto the floor in front of her.
Cue dust.
A History of Magic. Nope.
Starswirl the Bearded: Rune Theory. Nope.
A Brief Summary of Magical Locks, Shocks and Rocks. Nuh-uh.
Supernaturals: Natural Remedies and Cure-Alls that are Simply Super. "How the buck did that get in there?" Twilight murmured to herself.
From Earth to Sky.
Before Time Began.
Spells from the Past.
A Celestial Guide to the Old Magic.
Nope, nope, nope and also nnnnope.
At least 60 different books and still nothing. It was as if the universe did not want Twilight to unravel it's secrets and solve the mystery. With a barely suppressed scream of rage, she blasted all the books back to their respective places and then stood to crack her back with a whip of her tail. Shaking the pins and needles from her legs, Twilight teleported over to the kitchen with nay but a twitch of her eye and then deposited her cup in the sink. Looking back at where she had been, she remembered back to her early days when teleportation had used to cause her great headaches. How far she'd come in that time.
She trotted out onto the suspended veranda and sat there watching Les Luna as it climbed to it's apex. With Princess Luna as a friend now, Twilight had come to appreciate the beauty of the night, just as intricate and complex as the day. But while the daytime was all revealing and illuminative, Twilight could see how the nighttime was secretive and shielding, deceptive almost, a time for everything to be unmasked and turn into something entirely different.
Owlowicious began to hoot softly behind her and as she turned to look at what had distracted him, he swooped over her shoulder in a flurry of feathers and up into the sky.
Twilight tracked his flight with dark purple eyes, watchful that he didn't fly off too far. Owlowicious swooped through the heavy night air with ease, loop-de-looping and pulling off barrel rolls with ease. He rose up to Les Luna, a tiny silhouette against a pale backdrop and that was when Twilight saw it.
Another silhouette crossing the moon.
Her initial reaction was for her brain to scream "Mare in the Moon!", but as she looked closer she became increasingly fascinated and disturbed by what she saw. It was the black shadow of a pegasus pony but something was....wrong about it. Angles that shouldn't be there, angles that couldn't be equestrian and with each wing beat Twilight could pick out another feature that made this mystery even more intriguing. This new comer had leather, bat like wings protruding from the shoulders. No pony, absolutely no pony had leather wings. Even Luna's personal guard's leather wings were but an enchantment designed to give the illusion. Leather wings were not natural.
Twilight watched, eyes narrowing with intent, as the shadow dropped out of the sky and and alighted onto a house further out near to the business district, and then onto the street below. Silence reigned for what seemed to be an eternity and then a scream split that night, a scream that chilled Twilight's blood. Lights flickered on frantically all over town.
"Oh my Celestia...." Twilight murmured and then was off, 'porting onto the street below and then galloping full tilt through the streets of what had quickly become a nightmare town.
And as always, Les Luna watched impassively from the sky.
Chapter Four:
Ponies of all colors and sizes were already to beginning to enter the streets when Applejack and Rarity plowed through the crowd, racing towards the source of the scream. They came stumbling around the corner of an alleyway and almost smashed into the blue coat of Rainbow Dash, who was flying at street level, weaving in and out of the multitude of ponies that were standing on the streets.
"Hey watch were you're going!" She exclaimed then recovered quickly when she realized that it was in fact her best friends she was speaking to, "Oops, sorry guys. Anyone seen Pinkie Pie?"
Rarity answered, "I doubt that I'd miss seeing Pinkie darling, where's Fluttershy?"
"Somewhere under her bed. Do you want me to go get her?"
"No time for that!" exclaimed Applejack, huffing and puffing, with sweat clearly standing out on her forehead. "There's Twilight! Let's find out just what in tarnation is goin' on!"
And sure enough Twilight was there, a full pony and a half ahead of them, running at a speed that betrayed her bookish demeanor. They slowly caught up with her, vaulting over shop booths and dodging decorative fountains as they ran silently side by side. Rainbow Dash ascended a few feet and skimmed over the rooftops with ease, head shaking from side to side as she desperately searched for the source of the scream.
"Yo! Over here you guys!" she yelled, pointing frantically at the ground a few houses away.
Twilight and her friends upped the pace, other ponies blurring into inperception as they skidded around another corner and almost fell into a jumbled heap.
Applejack was the first to recognize where they were, "We're outside Sugarcube Corner!" Rarity and Rainbow Dash dropped low to the ground and spread out, creating a perimeter while Twilight stepped over to the pony that lay on the cold stone pavement, deathly pale and still. She recognized this victim as Chessy Cat, a local cat-obsessed unicorn, now lying spread eagle on the ground, tongue lolling out and her eyes rolled up into her head, showing only the whites. But she was still breathing and Twilight pounced with her magic, spreading a nearby blanket over Chessy's fragile form and crying out, "Someone get help! Nurse Redheart!". The nurse herself came bursting through the crowd and skidded to a halt next to Chessy, immediately checking her pulse and temperature. While the nurse worked, Twilight slowly walked around the body examining it from every angle, much like what she did with Zero Gee, looking for any clue, any imperfection anything out of the ordinary.
And there it was. Chessy's purple and white horn was gone. Missing. Non-existent.
"How is this possible?" thought Twilight. What was it that Rainbow Dash had said? '....tied directly to the nervous system....'. Same with a unicorn horn.
With a nod to Twilight that said, 'saved' Nurse Redheart called her assistants, Twitcha Twitch and Color Scheme, and with their help she lifted Chessy away on a stretcher and back into the crowd which began to disperse.
Twilight should have relaxed then, she should have exhaled and hung her head and turned home to her bed, but something seemed wrong tonight and she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, a shiver down her spine like somepony was watching them. Her friends trotted in slowly and Applejack reached out to rub Twilight's back, the rest of them looking around nervously in the dark.
"Such a dreadful shame for another one to be lost," said Rarity, "Chessy Cat was a good friend"
"Really? I just thought she was a bit weird." Rainbow Dash blurted.
"Dashie! Don't be mean. Shame on you" Rarity admonished.
"Sorry 'princess', but I get stingy when I'm nervous."
Twilight interrupted, "Calm down girls, just go back home and get a good nights rest."
Her friends nodded in agreement and turned to leave for their respective homes. Twilight also flicked her tail and turned south to face the path towards the library, looking forward to a good nights rest, but then her breath caught in her chest and the air chilled around her as she saw something staring down at her from the roof of a house some 12 metres away. The silhouette from the moon before was now perched on the slatted wood roof, the same grotesque angles, the same unnatural leathery wings and now a ghastly pair of red eyes held her locked in an embrace of fear. Twilight looked at the silhouette closer, she could have sworn that the shadow that passed the moon was a pegasus, but this was undoubtedly an alicorn. A male alicorn as well, a race that Twilight had been led to believe had died out centuries earlier. She held the stare, liquid red to a soft purple, a stare that was different somehow, almost....mesmerizing....
Then Twilight blinked and the shadow was gone in a flicker of hoofbeats and a displaced cloud of the hay that covered the rooftops. Her instinctive curiosity took over, "The culprit?" and she shot off in pursuit, having to crane her neck in order to catch but a glimpse of the shadow as it bounded across the rooftops at astonishing speed. She could hear her friends shouting behind her, "Twilight! Where are you going?!" but she ignored them, instead concentrating on not losing the mysterious alicorn that was like smoke slipping through her hooves. The strange chase continued through the darkened streets, dodging signs and powering around corners, criss-crossing paths and looping over again until finally Twilight took a wrong turn and found herself facing the mocking brick of a dead end alley. The silhouette swept off into the night with barely a whisper.
"rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Twilight half-screamed, half-growled in frustration and beat at the walls with her hooves. Her friends came running up to her, concern etched on each of their faces.
"Twilight? What in the hay is goin' on?" asked Applejack, "You cain't jus' run off into the night like that, not with everything that's been happening lately."
"Sorry girls," whispered Twilight and sat down dejectedly, "I can't explain what I saw, it's just been such a frustrating few nights."
"But doesn't this stuff happen all the time?" asked Rainbow Dash from where she was hovering above their heads.
"It's true that ponies die every day, Rainbow Dash." said Twilight, "But this is the first murder in some 200 years, the absolute first. That's a big deal."
"Back up there, sugarcube. Yall say that someponies doing this?" Applejack began to nervously trot from hoof to hoof.
Twilight looked up at them, "I don't know what I've seen. All I know is that it's imperative I see Princess Celestia right away."
"Good Twilight," said Celestia, descending silently behind the group. "I've anxiously been waiting for your report."
