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// Prologue 
// Story: Lightning Strikes Equestria 
// by Tardy the Man Pony 
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Prologue

This world is not as it should be. There are many dark forces that work to control the world from beyond the shadows. The leader of this dark movement is known as The Shadow Lord. This vile man has mastered the art of dark magic, humans can learn magic but only after years of hard work and dedication. One day when studying darker tomes, The Shadow Lord discovered a way to imbue living things with the power of the elements. The only drawback was that it had to be done to a newborn baby, each having a different mother who was to be sacrificed during childbirth. And so The Shadow Lord set out to have the children that would help him rule the world.
When The Shadow Lord was done he had performed five rituals and in turn had five sons. He only kept the one boy who he could train, Grave. The others were all left on the doorstep of the nearest orphanage. When each of his sons turned eighteen their parents were killed and they were sent a letter telling them who they really were and how to find their father. Each of them in turn rebelled, Grave even running away after being told the truth. All of them except for Shadow had gathered together, plotting against The Shadow Lord.
A couple of days before Shadow’s eighteenth birthday he ran away to his old orphanage where he learned his parent’s had been killed. He flew into a blind rage and destroyed the town where the orphanage was located with his powers, also finding the necklace that would transform into his sword. He woke up outside the wreckage of the town with a letter from his brothers instead of his father. He then went to join his brethren in the fight against The Shadow Lord.

And so the story begins…