the dark blood bonds

Chapters

the void
Pain from the past
The train to ponyville

the void

As a foal I always heard stories of great heroes who had suffered and received their "happy ending"... Just lies, white lies made for small foals and fillies to think that life is easy and "fair"... Just lies... I have lived my life with only misfortune, I wake up every morning and see myself in the mirror only to see the blood and the lives disappearing just in front my own eyes... I have seen towns being burnt down to ashes and piles of bodies on the sides of the roads... Equestria is falling in pieces, and no pony was even suspecting we were being attacked and a secret war versus something beyond the great wall, an ancient tribe of abominations... they feed out of love, like a mosquito of blood, draining a pony until he becomes an empty shell, but that's not the worst... the worst is their hunger, eating the flesh of those who they attack leaving a trail of bones and blood everywhere they go, bodies rotten on the sides, their flesh ripped off their bones and the wide grassland colored by the red of the spilled blood, the smell of death itself... this is my story, i'm the one who has been drowned in the darkness and has come back as a shadow, a mere silhouette... but my master found me, it showed me what magic is, and the pain slowly faded away.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

The motel room was really old and crappy... the smell was unbearable, it smelled like manure and old sweaty socks... it was rather small, there was only a bed and just down a really narrow aisle there was a door stained with who-knows-what, the door opened slowly with an annoying creek, one pegasus went trotting to his bed, the sheets were stained with small traces blood and many other things (maybe a biological hazard), every wall was stained, it look like the cleaning staff just quit and gave up on this bio hazard... a long time ago, the noise was really stressing... I think I don't need to describe what sounded like... but it was really loud.

"just one night" he whispered to himself while rubbing his eyes with his hooves "tomorrow I will go back to my cottage" he then took his eyes into the small envelope lying on his right, in the middle of his uncomfortable bed, he sighed and look up for a while "today is the day, the one you told me about" he was looking at his front with a blank stare "I hope that I'm ready for the fight..." he was interrupted by a loud noise coming from the outside.

"what the..." then a big BOOM, he rushed to the door and saw as the night was illuminated by a big fire going in a small building, it was a apartment complex just in front of the low class motel, he went running to the site, a lot of firecolts were trying to put off the fire, he could hear weak screaming... well a really weak screaming coming from the inside and could easily see why nopony tried to go inside, there were some gas tanks inside the building "maybe 3-4 minutes... buck!" he then, spreading his wings, and with a excited but nervous look on his face,a small drop of sweat dropped from his forehead and before it touched the ground he entered the burning building at full speed, they tried to stop him... but who could really beat the speed of his, a wonderbolt not only stubborn but hotheaded, plus if he is the captain of one of the elite squads, this means he needs to be faster than everypony on the outside.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

"HELLO!..." he was screaming as he evaded the blazing wooden beams that were falling to the burning ground, the two-story building was as hot as hell and the smoke made his eyes sting but he couldn't get distracted... he got to the second floor and could hear some murmuring so he rushed, he wasn't going to fail anypony anymore... not now not ever again... "come on! is there anypony there!?" he heard a faint scream coming from the room on his right, then with a really big kick the door crumbled, the first thing he saw was the flames raising above his head and the burning debris, he could distinguish two small silhouettes, maybe a mare and her filly, ones was on the ground, maybe she fainted or was lying on the ground, by the trembles he figured out he only had about 30 seconds.

He just stood there, the flames brought him some dark memories, he then heard ponies crying, screams of pain as the buildings were consumed by a green-dark color, he could hear the voices screaming at him, asking him why?... why couldn't he saved them he started crying, only to be awoken from his nightmare by a voice, a small filly "h-hello is there anypony there?... please i need help, mummy is bleeding and she can't wake up... please help us..." she started to cough from the smoke, he then knew what he needed to do, he passed trough the flames, they were burning his skin but the pain was nothing compared to his determination, he felt a warm feeling inside of him... or they were just the flames... either way, he wasn't going to leave them... not now not never, then he could see the small filly, it was a small pink unicorn with a mint blue mane and her mother, a brown mare with the same mane as her daughter, she was lying on the ground... alive, but really injured.

The filly stood there, she saw how he grabbed her mother with his right hoof than came to where she was and said " hang tight", he then grabbed her with his other hoof, he spread his wings and with a big kick he destroyed the whole wall... the whole roof begun to crumble and just when they were outside the whole building was covered in an intense fire, just a millisecond later the whole building exploded, covering the whole square with a rain of fire... the mare was able to open her eyes and see her savior, it was a pegasus, he was standing in two hooves, with one of his front hooves was was grabbing her from the waist, just like grabbing a small barrel, and in his other one she could see her small filly, grabbing tightly the hoof of the stallion, blood was flowing from his forehead and falling to the ground, the night was illuminated by the big sphere of blazing fire as his wings were extended to protect them from the falling debris and wore a smile to try to soothe them both.

"Are you okay?" said with a soothing tone.

"Y-Yes..." she said agitated "thank you..."

"you're welcome..." he said while putting her on the soft ground "see you around another time" he then started trotting slowly to the obscure horizon.

"W-Wait!" said trying to stop the stallion "aren't you injured? don't you need a doctor?"

"No..." he said in a low tone "don't worry they are just flesh wounds"

"Then..." she then got up and trow a small gaze to him "tell me... who are you"

"oh..." there was a deep silence, then a small breeze could be felt... he then looked up to the stars then on the horizon the sun could be seen showing his morning light, the silence was deep and somehow comforting.

"so?" she said raising a eyebrow in a confused manner "what's your name"

"you can call me..." then taking a deep breath and making a long sigh he responded "Night Shade... you can call me Night Shade" the mare stood there with her jaw dropped, she knew about him... everypony knew about him! he was a legend and there he was... flying to the horizon, she couldn't believe that she just met the only apprentice of general Solaris and Merlin... the greatest wizard of all the history, and the first one to master the great powers of magic being just a simple griffon.

Author's Note

This is not me, don't worry, this is another character that i made for this story, this is just a beginning of night shade... do you have any ideas how this story could be unfolded?... i do, and i hope you all like how it unfolds itself, i will try to make new updates every weekend, maybe some more in vacations...

so, hope you liked... if you do comment and give it a like or a thumb's up... i will try to reply the fastest i can... and don't worry, this story is just beginning!

and sorry if it looks like this, it's 12:00 am and i'm really tired, i will add more details as the series advances.

Pain from the past

Before life was created... two beings existed, light and darkness, once together, they created the first living being... life, life was the moderator of the new world... but every being that was born had to decay, after light and darkness went to a long sleep they created the moon and the sun, two powerful sisters that helped his brother in the world named earth... but after life became death... they were separated into many powerful kingdoms... powerful beings were born from the ashes of the titans and they created new kingdoms... the sisters had to create, with the help of several tribes of earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns, a new kingdom named Equestria...

What is this pain? Where am I? I could only see darkness… only one thing kept me conscious… the screams, the ponies inside this crumbling city were dying and I was helpless, I was badly injured by the ruins of what was before, the tallest building in Trottingham… but what was this pain that I could feel in my lower left leg… the blood coming out from my injuries was being absorbed by the cold concrete, I couldn’t see how bad my injury was… the big piece of building had landed on top of me and it was pressing my inferior against the ground, but I could see how a metal rod was piercing through the rock and through my leg… I couldn’t feel the end of the leg anymore… as I brought my eyes to see my other wounds I could see how bad I was… I had two options… Die there… or cut my leg… but the pain wasn’t the only thing that made me want to do that kind of action… a voice from outside was yelling my name… it was her… I could hear she was in pain and I couldn’t do nothing… so I did it, first with my strength I lifted the big piece, but that made the rod move from side to side… it was extremely painful, then grabbing my spear I cut the muscle, it wasn’t enough strong to break the bone… the pain was unbearable, but I had to do it… then grabbing a rock of a rather big size I struck my leg, the sound of the bone cracking and the extreme pain, made me scream in pain as I became free of the metallic deathtrap.

Now only one obstacle was standing between me and my family, the pain didn’t cease, but I had to bear with it if I wished to saved them both… grabbing my spear and with all my strength that I had left I made a small hole in the wall, enough to get out… it was like hell outside… I could see the green fire burning the buildings, melting the steel and stone that was on its way, as I got out the building crumbled into a pile of rocks that began to be consumed by the hellish fire, I had to crawl to get out of the blazing debris… I knew that fire and I knew what it did to you if you were touched by it… the scene on the outside was awful, everything was being consumed by the flames and the agonizing ponies were scattered all over the broken streets and I could hear ponies yelling names, trying to localize the others… this was worse than Tartarus itself, with corpses lying all over the streets, agonizing earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns trying to save their loved ones with their strength… only to find the disfigured bodies of the ones they used to call the closest to them.

Where is she? Where is her scream coming from? I tried to find her from what was left of the hospital in front of the building that had just crumbled and fell hiding the remaining ponies that were there… I knew she had just gave birth, I knew she was really weak, I knew I couldn’t make much in the state I was… but I need her to scream and tell me where she is “N-Nightshade…” I could hear a weak shout under the pieces of concrete, ignoring the pain, I found a force that helped me get all the debris out of my way and by the second the voice was becoming weaker…

“P-PLEASE TWINKLESHINE!” I was desperate to find her “DON’T GIVE UP…” I knew I was bleeding too much… I was about to lose conscious so I did something rushed… I burned around the leg to make the hemorrhage stop, the feeling of the fire burning the flesh of what was left of my leg was too much to handle, I screamed as the pain was overtaking my body and the feeling of adrenaline was filling my veins making me start to lose conscious faster, but my military training taught me to withstand the pain because on war you have to make decisions that might end in the worst pain you could imagine… from surgeries without anesthesia to amputation of damaged members in heat of battle… it wasn’t pretty, but it will work for now, I continued with my duty, to save not only my wife, but to save my small newborn.

“This is not good” I was sweating, I couldn’t bear with this much longer… the pieces were heavy and the only thing I could use was one leg, without my staff I couldn’t do any kind of spell to lift the concrete and the more time I spent the more dangerous the situation was, I could hear the noise of my bones breaking thanks to the heavy rocks but I wasn’t going to give up, the voice was staring to hear closer and closer until I finally reached the end, there was a small hole that was covered with some rocks, I knew I was trying to remove the debris from the second floor… the first floor appeared to be ok and the reinforced walls allowed the whole floor to survive the attack, I jumped to the level below, I could see some survivors… but as well as bodies and pieces of what was before ponies… on the back of the hallway I could see her, lying on the wall… she was weak and on one side she was embracing a small orange filly, a small Pegasus “T-Twinkleshine!” I tried to ran the fastest I could… but I fell to the ground three times, my 3 legs were exhausted and the pain of the wound made me scream each time I got up again, I caught the attention of everypony as I trotted around the room with what was remaining from my leg, they saw my determination to get to where my wife was… they started to help me, two colts helped me by putting themselves on my sides and carefully lifting me up, the grey with red mane on my right and the brown one with the white mane on my left… I was being transported by them… I was helpless; when I got to her side they sat me on the corner on her left side… close to her… I could hear her heavily breathing, exhausted and I could see my filly, with a beautiful purple mane and eyes… she was seeing me than went to sleep again… “H-Hey…”

“Hey night shade” said the pink mare as she got closer to me, her beautiful metallic pink mane was disheveled and some, she was weak but those blue eyes still made me fell in love… “Look at her, isn't she gorgeous?” she had a smile.

“yes…” she was the cutest thing I ever saw “she looks exactly like your mother…” she truly did, but this small filly brought me a warm feeling inside me… something I wished for since a long time “finally we have a family filled with beautiful mares…” my tone was low and smooth to not wake up the small Pegasus…

“So how should we name her?” she said to me, she had her eyes closed and was resting in my shoulder.

“I don’t know…” I always wanted to name my first foal “how about Scootaloo… that was your mother’s name, right?” I remember her mother; it was thanks to her that I found Twinkleshine, I remember when I was in the war, everyday coming to her house to eat since her husband died and I had to give her the news, I went because she was sick and I helped her do the cooking, she raised Twinkleshine and at first Twink and I weren’t “friends” but time cures injuries and she forgave me… it was never my fault, but I took responsibility every time I had to deliver the news to the families, taking hate from almost everypony… but miss Scootaloo was different, when I lost my home she offered me a place to stay and when I was tired a place to sleep… but then her disease caught up to her and she died shortly after… I married Twinkleshine a year after.

“It’s… it’s” she was tired, and was starting to fell asleep; she gave a yawn “It’s beautiful” then fell asleep and as she slept I began to hum the lullaby that made me remember every time I went to that colorful house, tears of joy began to drop and I fell unconscious as I heard some yelling coming from the outside… finally some help has arrived…

The memory started to fade, leaving me on the middle of Ponyville

“DAD!” Said Scootaloo as she ran to his father’s side “where were you?” she began to cry and sob “I was worried *sob* dad!” she was hugging my right leg.

“Don’t worry Scoot” I said softly, trying to comfort her “the train was late because it had to stop in Manehattan, so please stop crying”

“B-But dad!” she was scared “the witch and… and the ponies… t-the witch has captured p-princess Celestia!”
The word went through me like a shock of electricity “W-what?” I don’t know what she is trying to tell me… it’s this a game or a dream? Am I still sleeping in the train?

“S-She said she was called N-Nightmare Moon” now I know this is real… but now? Why? I thought she was still imprisoned in the moon… was this what Celestia tried to warn me about?

“Where’s vinyl?” I remembered that I told her to guard the entrance of the everfree forest “Let’s go Scootaloo, I will leave you in home” I knew the myth, I knew it was real… but why now? We aren’t prepared for something like this, we have problems all over the kingdom that we need to solve, and we don’t have enough soldiers to fight off the changelings, plus is relatively close to a town filled with civilians, we ran to the cottage made out of beautiful brown with a touch of red and a wonderful smell, that combined with the morning mist, made me relax. The terrain was big and it was just outside the everfree forest, it was a large house, on the right side there were some small sheds filled with tools and some weaponry, as the door opened the moonlight entered, then I turned on the lights with the small switch on the wall next to the door.

“Dear Scoot…” then opening a small closet door in a hallway just between the kitchen and the living room “go upstairs, bath yourself and go to bed.”

“And you dad?” she was still agitated, but I think she was more tired “are you going to bed?”

“No…” I said while searching through all the trash inside the surprisingly big closet “I will be… late” then grabbing a helmet from the ground and putting it on… “I have some business to attend to…” she obeyed and went upstairs, she knew me; she knew what I did and what I always fought against to… she just has to bear with it… she is stronger than me, but I never knew my father nor my mother, I tough of good memories with master… her wife prepared the most wonderful meals, his son was my best friend, almost my brother… I had no siblings so it was hard to know the feeling, and master was the greatest person I knew and the only one who inspired me to grow stronger… they died in front of my eyes… I was putting my armor on my body, I had no tears, because they died by my own hoof...

*_*_*_*_*

“MY HOOVES HUUUUUUUURT” vinyl was whining out loud “come on Tavi, do we really need to save them?”

“Yes, they are civilians…” she was just like a little filly, she does not want to take the responsibilities she has acquired when we were assigned to this mission, I wished we could go back home and have some wonderful dinner… but somepony has to do it, but I’m still curious… what was that mysterious figure we watched earlier, I am certain it was not a pony nor animal… it was almost a mass of energy that was levitating and then disappeared from sight… maybe everything will become clear when nightshade comes back from his reunion with the leaders of the light alliance… but for now it will remain a mystery “now, hurry before they end up in a lot of trouble…” as I was about to finish a light illuminated the whole forest, I could tell the source of such and it was just ahead… “maybe too late” then one strong wind blew from the site, the trees started to being lift up in the air as an enormous sphere of light consumed the terrain and the earth started to crumble as it broke into pieces, from the center a beam of colored lights was fired to the skies and six lights of different colored levitated at the sides and were connected by a beam of light making a massive hexagon around the sphere, we had to run, the shock wave was coming our way and anything that was struck by it force was ripped to pieces… pieces of rock and trees were threw as we ran at full speed… what was this great force… It was almost like…*BOOM* “WHAT THE…”*RUMBLE*the shock wave was too fast “VINYL” we were airborne, the powerful wind destroyed almost the whole ground… What the hay happened!? The sphere just disappeared and was replaced by a column of dark matter and a hellish fire of a black color was burning the forest… oh no… no, no, no, no, NO! “VINYL! GET OVER HERE!” we have to use the spell… we were flying at full speed towards a big wall of rock… “FAST”

“I'M TRYING!” She jumped from rock to rock, still the powerful wind was destabilizing us and the wall was approaching… we had no time now, it was in slow motion, just as we were about to hit the wall a big flash appeared and then the next millisecond we were crashing in the ground… we transporter outside of the forest… from the point where we warped to where we are now… we rolled pretty much, I had some cuts and bruises but nothing serious.

“Are you ok Vinyl?” I approach to her and with my hooves I helped her to get up from the grass field “Well you seem to be in one piece… except for your shades, they are broken…”

“Damn it… three times this week” I knew her… she wasn’t responsible enough to take care of any-thing… “Well…*Sigh* they were old anyways”

“Well… you had used them since 10 years… and anyways, you have a spell that can fix them” I said to her.

“Yeah…” she replied taking off the dirt of her white mane “But I’m lazy” at least she can admit it…

“It is pretty simple…” I was interrupted by a loud *BANG* then the ground started to shake as an enormous explosion destroyed what was left of the ruins… the explosion embraced the six lights and then a second one threw them toward our direction… something was happening… and it was pretty big…

-10 minutes ago-

I was ready to kick some flanks now, I had my golden armor with obsidian decorations and rubies in the front of the helmet, my spear was made out of unichrome and the blade at top of it was made from pegasium… they are long lost materials left by the gods and the spear was given to me by Celestia… those were the strongest material on existence, even now it’s hard to get 1 milligram of pegasium hardly pure enough to be called it by that name… my sword and my gauntlet (an acient glove with “fingers”, it worked by using magic to move them, it was really hard to learn but when you know how to use it, then it’s pretty easy and a neat way to grab stuff) were made out of the same material… lucem ac tenebras, a powerful alloy made from two rare metals… once put together I could transmit magic to it (as a Pegasus I needed a tool to use magic, after almost a year of research, my master found an amulet that… after using some strange spells, his properties and powers were sent to me and I became a Pegasus with the ability to use spells and complicated magic… I recall the name of it… alicorn amulet…) then I was able to create a great damage.

“Tenebrosam Noctem!” I shouted at the darkness and from the ground a shadow appeared, then, as coming out of some dark goo, a dark figure spreading enormous wings and shouting a frightening cry came out of the shadow, the figure was a enormous bird and his red bright eyes pierced through the night, it had a long tail and a black fire was coming out of its back… it looked like something that came from the darkest pits of Hades. It was a umbra phoenix, unlike the nocte phoenix (ice) or the nova phoenix (fire), this was the guardian of the Tartarus and darkness, in night a frightful creature, but in day a majestic bird… we were together since a long time ago and one of my most powerful and trusty companion, then with another cry the bird became a solid form “come on, you don’t have to be so formal Tenn” I knew him… he was giving the shout of war, much too formal for my style.

“Sorry, master…” the deep voice of his, had as well, a tone that always gave him certain knowledge or wisdom, he was too my own personal encyclopedia, he was, from all the birds of destiny, the wiser “this is a tradition for my kind and…”
“Don’t worry…” I really liked him acknowledging me as his master, but we were companions, but now wasn’t time to be formal, it was time for action “we have some work to do…” then I heard a voice, It was a small violet dragon with green scales coming at me with some kind of scroll in his hand…

“H-Hey!” he was out of breath… he ran a mile or so… that’s how far our home is from the town… he looked somehow familiar… “a-are you nightshade” he had in his hand… oh no… a red paper… this was something only reserved to the top of the top of the academy… in simple words… me, Shining Armor or the right hand of the princess…

“Where did…” I was interrupted…

“Princess Celestia…” he couldn't talk much… he was nervous, tired and out of breath… this was serious.

“What!?” With full force I grabbed the item and with a serious look on my face as I began to read…. This was awful; the whole Canterlot guard was defeated by some kind of unknown silhouette… and the princess was kidnapped, this was sent from her right hand, Day Spark, a unicorn mare with a great magic and one of my most admirable rivals for the head of the Royal Canterlot Army… occupied by Sharpblade, the earth pony with the power to slain dragons with his hooves… for her to write this kind of documents meant this was an all-out war against this menace… at least I know what I’m fighting against, but that didn’t affects the odds… as I read I knew I needed my whole team (I only had Vinyl and Octavia… for now).

“I-I wish I could fight…” then he remembered the experiment and the egg… it was him “I met this mare and…”

“I can help you… but I need you to come with me to my cottage…” if he was him… then he would be just like his old self… “But it’s all in your claws…” he was really agitated… maybe his adoptive family was in danger… “You want become strong?… or do you want to become stronger?”

He stood there thinking… then “Y-yes…” by the look on his eyes he was serious, I could tell he was exactly like his old self…

“Come with me…” I started walking towards the house as the darkness began to consume my silhouette… “Tenn… go” as a response he gave a powerful shout and flew at full speed towards the place where vinyl and Octavia were… who was I to guess that right after that cry a big sphere of light began to consume the forest… then a column of black fire replaced the light and the six lights surrounding that sphere started to fly towards the point where vinyl and Octavia were when I assigned her to guard the entrance… “Hurry…”

Author's Note

well... new update... i'm sorry the time... i was going to update a week ago, but i had tests to do in highschool, projects, etc. but no worry, i will try all i can to update 1-2 chaptes for week... and sorry if you don't like it... but this is just the beginning of a LONG (im being serious with this long) series and a really confusing story... so bye.

The train to ponyville

The train moved gently from one side to another, the sleeping ponies were scattered all around the train in small room, the hallways showing the doors to access those rooms was narrow and the only sound was the small wheels pushing against the cold metal of the rail road, my room was quiet, I was alone inside this wagon… I fought to not sleep, but the night called me, but today I must stay up… today is the day and I shall not sleep.

The train stopped softly, you could see the city of manehattan on night, the lights were bright and clouds covered the beautiful moon as well as the stars… It was so quiet, abnormal for a city as this one, it made me remember those dark memories… GET OUT OF MY HEAD! I knew the shadow that haunted me… the blood that covered me and my past still stained my hooves… only darkness would consume me… only darkness waited at the end of my path.

I could hear somepony… galloping to my room… the door opened slowly as a young unicorn entered the lonely room “sorry…” he stood outside the door for a small time “M-may I come in?”

“Yeah…” I said softly with a smile, he smiled back and entered the room putting his bag in the top shelves on top of the seat… finally somepony to talk with “…so where are you going?”

“No-where…” he said looking at his bag while organizing his stuff “maybe to the training grounds in the east… I want to be a Royal Assassin…” he said while sitting in the comfortable seat “and where are you going?”

There was a small silence but I then decided to tell him my destination “to ponyvillle…” at first he was confused then he remembered that today is the summer sun celebration “I want to see the sun rise in there… the beautiful grassland and live peacefully in my small cottage"

“That’s cool” he replied.

“But… Why do you want to become an assassin?” I tried to ask him what reasons he had and why at such a young age…

“I really don’t know…” he said while looking at the window… the stars were decorating the clear sky, we were really far from Manehattan and the pegasi seem to had cleared the sky for the summer sun celebration… it was a quiet night “maybe because I want to be of use to Equestria… I don’t want to be a useless thug anymore… or I just want to be like my father”

The silence was comforting, I’m having trouble trying to stay awake and the silence isn’t helping “so…” I tried to talk a little bit more “your father… ”

“He was an assassin…” by his tone, I knew what happened to him… “He died in the great war when I was really young… in the last battle of the whole war” he began to cry… I knew that feeling too well and the loss was too big.

“I remember that battle…” I tried to tell him how much I suffered at that damned war.

“W-wait…” he said rubbing his hooves in his eyes, his tone change and he took off those hooves to concentrate in my tale… the memories began to appear in my mind.

*_*_*_*_*

What is this sound? Where am I…? I tried to talk and scream but my voice was not coming out and the pain didn’t go away… the blood was flowing like a river and my companions were dying… I tried to run away but I couldn’t move, the fear reached deep in my mind, I was making me crazy… that noise, the noise of those wings flapping… like insects in a hive… the sound of the screams and the flesh that was being ripped off the bones of my companions… I wanted to fight but no force was coming out of me… only weakness.

The smell of death could be perceived far away from the battle ground and the white snow was stained with pure red blood, only one pony was standing… only one pony was alive… me.

“Why did this happen!? WHY!? ” I was going crazy, I don’t know how many nights I was alone, I can’t recall any happiness, only tears covered my eyes and the smell was unbearable… but I kept my promise to my allies… my dead companions… I will stay there, fighting the menace that wanted to destroy Equestria… I will stand tall for them… I WILL BE BRAVE!

I remember… 10 days and 10 nights… I fought without sleeping on those 10 days, the reinforcements arrived on the final day… but I was really exhausted and I fainted just before the battle ended.

I woke up in a hospital room in Canterlot, 3 weeks after the war ended… 3 weeks after the battle ended… 3 weeks after the nightmare ended… in total 10,495 troops died in that day, and only 1 survived… me.

*_*_*_*_*

“Sir… what will happen now?” I was talking to general Solaris, a tall stallion unicorn with a white coat and orange disheveled mane, he and I were looking at the piles of bodies being transported to the cemetery “Are we not needed anymore?” I was angry at myself, at Celestia and at that shining armor… my only friend… now my worst enemy… I hated him with every fiber of my body; everything was his fault… his fault… “Why didn’t they try to help us?”

“Please son…” he looked shadowy and his tone was really empty… he lost his son as well as I lost all my companions… my friends… I wasn’t strong enough, he too considered me like his own son… we were really close and his son was one of my most trusted companions… I considered him my brother… now a piece of me was dead, killed by those monstrosities called changelings “don’t blame nopony… everything was my fault… I wasn’t there to… to…” he started to cry intensely and I was his only shoulder to cry on… I too was crying, but we won the war…

The next day they found his body… he committed suicide and he left a letter signed by him:

This is the last entry of my diary and my final words for everypony, I will make this quick because they are after me:
I’m general Solaris Matutinus III, great general of the assassin force in Equestria and a complete failure to my companions, I was supposed to protect my people as well as my army… but I let them down, they needed me, but I wasn’t brave enough to help them.
As leader of the Royal Assassin Army of Equestria I should had been stronger, but in reality I’m weak. But there was somepony who stood up for this Kingdom and fought for himself against the menace… He is the hero and I was a weakling… as last words I name Nightshade general of the R.A.A.E.
Forgivemyweaknessforgivemyweakness forgivemyweaknessforgivemyweaknessforgivemyweakness forgivemyweaknessforgivemyweakness…

He filled pages with those words… he wasn’t weak, he was a hero but he couldn’t live with the death of thousands… he couldn’t live with that weight alone… I lost my spirit to fight when I realized… I had to inform everypony about the deaths of those close to them… break the heart of young mares, destroy the dreams and incinerate the heroes of those small foals… but I needed to do this alone… I was now alone in this dark world and no aid was coming to me.

*_*_*_*_*

The silence was deep… all I did was cry… “S-sir… I-I’m sorry…” he was impressed that I was crying… I was staring at the ground as the tears began to fall to the cold floor… I wasn’t sobbing nor breaking in tears… only crying, tears that were falling from my cheek without any facial expression… only tears… he didn’t know about me nor my past… my shadow still follows me and my darkness is the blood that runs in my veins.

The silence started to become uncomfortable, my tears didn’t stop…. All those souls that were lost… he gathered all his strength to ask me just one question “did you lost somepony there?”

“Only…” I could still remember the blood and the pain of those days… “my soul” he just looked confused, I lost my light… the real spirit that enable me to fight for what I want leaving a blank space inside me…

“so you fought in that battle!?” he facial expression changed from a confused one to a amazed… I was a legend inside the army… around the world… Equestria and every other kingdom in this world… I wasn’t proud… it was a curse… a curse that is killing me second by second…

“Yes…” I began to tell my story to him… “That battle was just a nightmare that came true… I saw with my own eyes the blood that stained the whiteness of the snow and the screams that broke the singing that me and my comrades were enjoying… they attacked us from the no-where… they came from the darkness and killed us all… except me… I was able to fight them all… but the others were attacked without mercy…” the tale was just beginning and this part is where it really began “they died because we were vulnerable and they knew we didn’t stood a chance against them… they were too much for us… and I suffered for 10 days in that place without hope to win against those beasts.”

I stopped for a moment to begin with the saddest part… “The war just brought to me suffering and left me with nothing… only emptiness…”

“I’m sorry…” he interrupted me “I shouldn’t have asked…”

“No…” I tried to comfort him “it wasn’t everything suffering… I lost my family… but I gained a bigger family than before… something that truly makes me happy and trying to raise my daughter without a mother is really difficult” I smiled because I remembered the good times I have with my small filly and with all my friends… “but well… it stills hurts from the deepest parts of my soul… but somehow it fills me with happiness and joy… thanks to those events I have something that I truly love… that makes me really happy”

“So…” he was a little confused “you lost everything but at the same time you gained everything?”

“You could say that” I was smiling “ I now live in a peaceful town with a peaceful pet and a peaceful family… well not so peaceful” I was laughing with a low tone…

“I want to ask you something sir…” he looked at me trying to focus in my… oh, no… I forgot my bandage and my injuries are showing… “it has bothered me since the time I came in… for those injuries you must have done something extremely dangerous and with that tale I had confirmed my suspicions” I know he has figured out my identity… well I hope he doesn't know… “You are Nightshade the general of the Royal Assassins?” Buck…

Well there were 3 options: 1.-jump out of the train, but I’m too injured to do that; 2.- Kill him before he starts to ask more questions, but that’s betraying my kingdom laws… and it’s wrong to kill ponies… so there’s option 3, tell him everything… sigh… “so… is it true that you destroyed a whole kingdom alone?” he seemed to react as a small foal when you tell them that you are a superhero… so… what was option 2?

“I-I… that’s classified” I tried to make him stop, but…

“No it isn't” his tone was the same… at least his smart “thanks to princess Celestia’s law of total governmental transparency, this kind of events are not classified… I learn it in law school… it was the only time I went” oh, Celestia I swear… one day I’ll kick your Royal Plot… “And even your whole life has been made comic…” wait… WHAT!? “But only those stories… nothing personal… I was able to recognize you thanks to it… the red mane and the brownish coat… even your red eyes are completely equal… wow, they look like rubies. My sister always reads your comics saying that one day you will…”

“I-I think that’s enough” I was laughing nervously and my eye was twitching…

“ooohh… okay…” the silence was deep and the atmosphere uncomfortable… for me, well I think it’s better than… “So is it true?” now he was smiling like a small foal in a candy store… sigh.

“Yes… they are true” I gave up… he wasn’t going to leave me alone “they are all true… I killed the king, destroyed their army and burned their houses… oh, and drank all their cider and ate all those pies” what? It was an order from Celestia herself and I love apple pies… “But I didn’t kill everypony… just the ones that were a menace to the kingdom.”

“You are awesome…” he was really interested… thankfully the train arrived to ponyville just in time…”oh… well then see you next time in the training ground… stay awesome"

“Be brave…” I said to him while grabbing all my stuff and opening the door… but I needed to tell him something before I went… “oh, and try to aim your ambitions higher than a soldier… keep that attitude like always, don’t let them win always be on the offensive and of course… be careful, see what you aim for before you shoot your spear, because a spear can be more trustworthy than your own companions… the screams and the fake companions are always in the battlefield… you need to be cold if you want to make it in a fight…” as I left the room I remembered one last thing… don’t ever hold the hoof of somepony… you may sink with it” he was amazed that I was that cold… but I have experience in war… I know this is cold, but is the right judgment in a battle… you don’t know who is a changeling or a companion.

“YES, SIR!” I heard when I was already outside… “My name is Cloudpiercer, the Pegasus that will surpass you!” I stared at him, he had his bright blue eyes aimed for the objective of surpassing everyone… just like me… he opened the window and slightly got out but he was sustaining himself from the window frame he was smiling his cyan mane was waving in the wind and his silver coat was moving with the soft breeze… he then made a salute.

“Good luck with that!” I was laughing then putting my red cap again with the words WONDERBOLTS in blue an my cutiemark in the right… a spear, a six pointed star in the background and 3 clouds with a dark thunder coming out from them… the train began to move… “Goodbye soldier…” I said in a low tone and a small smile… the night was beautiful and… wait everypony is panicking… I *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

“What the-” *BOOOOOOOOOOOM* another explosion followed by a by tremble and a big dark cloud that started flying away from the town hall… “SCOOTALOO” I saw as 6 ponies went running to the horizon… well the library… the building started to crumble “SCOOTALOO! WHERE ARE YOU!?” I hear her voice behind me…

“Dad!”…

________

There were 2 silhouettes… maybe two mares, they watched how 6 ponies entered to the everfree forest at a slow pace.

The silhouettes were from a small earth pony and a unicorn… “Where are those dumbplots going!?” said the unicorn.

“Please stop…” said the earth pony “if you keep calling everypony that kind of names I will be forced to use brutal force”

“O-Okay…”replied with a fearing tone backing a little from the earth pony “B-But he told us that nopony should pass and it was an order from Celestia” now a whinny tone.

“You never grow up do you? *sigh*” she facehoofed herself “you just want to bust open their skulls right?”

“Yup” She was childish but she had a point… tonight Celestia told everypony to not go near the ruins neither to enter the everfree forest… but still she was childish and the earth pony just stared at her“*sigh* okay, I will not hurt them…”

Then the mare gave a deadly look and started walking to the inside of the everfree forest.

“… much” she began to smile as she began to walk…