//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: The Silent Shadow // by Onyxfire408 //------------------------------// Chapter 5 The hostages were safe and Night Shade was left alone with about 18 more pony thugs left to kill. One thug came at him directly but Night Shade slid both of his hind legs at his target making him fall on his back making Night Shade pop his hidden blade into vertical position and slammed his blade into the thugs throat. 2 more thugs came at him from different directions with daggers around their hoofs. The thug on his right was about to stab Night Shade's head, but he ducked making the thug stab his buddy in the neck killing him, Night Shade quickly got up re-positioned his blade and stabbed the thug through the skull. Night Shade turned around and quickly found a barrel full of Applejack's cider, he ran disconnected it from the wall and threw it towards a group of 10 thugs, Night shade quickly readied his hoof and fired at the barrel causing a mass explosion of flames burning 11 thugs to death. With 5 remaining left They all charged towards Night Shade, Night Shade had to react quickly, he looked around and grabbed an entire table and bucked it making it sliding towards the thugs making them all trip, one of them had a knife which flew off his hoof, when he landed he opened his eyes and only saw white, his knife fell straight in his face. 4 remained, 3 of them charged towards Night Shade. Night Shade popped out his hook blade and pulled a dead pony using it as a shield, it blocked off all of the stabs and Night Shade shrouded the dead body with magic and flung it towards the 3 thugs causing them to fall stuck on the ground. Night Shade reacted quickly and stabbed all 3 of the thugs, dead. The last thug pony was presumed the leader, indicating the red crown tattoo on his neck. The leader was sick inside his gut, all of his thugs were dead, easily killed, and the worst part, The Silent Shadow had no scratches on him. He ran outside but as soon as he did, Camo approached from the rooftop and stabbed the leader in the chest leaving him partially alive. Night Shade walked outside towards the injured leader. He looked at him, giving him a nod. The leader understood, and he took out a dagger and stabbed himself in the neck. Night Shade again nodded to him and released these words from his mouth. "Yasuraka ni nemuru." And with that he closed his eyes, giving him peace. Camo nodded towards Night Shade and left without saying a word. Night Shade walked back inside Sugar Cube Corner, he looked at all of the dead ponies because of his actions. He grabbed his straw hat and shouted "Everypony It's safe, you can come out now." he announced. Upstairs everypony heard Night Shade's announcement and walked down the stairs. The horrors were unimaginable to everypony, Mr. Cake even threw up at the dead corpses that lay before him. Fluttershy approached forward seeing Night Shade covered in blood and with a hidden blade out of his hoof. Night Shade saw Fluttershy, she was in tears, he slowly shook his head and slipped out a small tear. "I'm sorry" he said and he galloped away, towards his house. Twilight saw the hidden blade as soon as he left. "So he was him this whole time. Night Shade is The Silent Shadow. I can't believe it, he killed all of those ponies without hesitation." Twilight took Fluttershy home to help her in her pain, everypony else went home in safety. Mr. and Mrs. Cake called the police telling them the whole situation. Fluttershy was heart broken, her love was a murderer, he lied to her, and he had been the perfect stallion for her, but now it's all gone. Night Shade arrived at his house, and inside was waiting a medium sized dragon with dark blue scales and red eyes. "So Night Stalker, it's really you, after years and years... it's good to see ya." "So I heard about the massacre at Sugar Cube Corner, nice job." "Don't torture me Night Stalker. I just.......I just betrayed my friends. I need some time alone, I need to disappear, care to help?" Night Stalker nodded in agreement "What's the plan?" "Get some cider, we need to get rid of any evidence, let me pack up a few things, you got a place in the Badlands?" "Yea... I got some space." In a matter of hours Night Shade had packed a wagon with most of his items, Night Stalker drenched the whole house in cider, dawn was rising and Night Shade needed to make one final move. "Night Stalker, can I use your sword?" "Of course, it's your funeral." Night Stalker handed him his sword, Night Shade took the sword in his mouth and stuck in in the ground blade first. He then took his straw hat and placed it on the handle of the sword. Night Shade took a moment of silence remembering his friends and actions, he faced towards Night Stalker. "Do it." Night Stalker nodded and with one breath, the entire house was engulfed in flames leaving no trace of Night Shade. "lets go" he said as they left for the Badlands. -------------------- Twilight, Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack, and Fluttershy were all traveling towards Night Shade's house. "I can't believe he was the Silent Shadow this whole time." said Twilight "When I find him, I'll make him wish he wasn't the Silent Shadow." Rainbow angrily announced "You and me both Rainbow" Followed Applejack "Fluttershy darling, are you okay? You don't have to come if you don't want to." Fluttershy was silent, her eyes were red, she hadn't had any sleep at all, she had been crying all night. The ponies arrived at Night Shade's house. Which was but a pile of ash, debris, and ruin. Everypony was shocked to find this, the beams were broken, burn, while the trees around his house were destroyed. Fluttershy found a sword stuck in the ground, she slowly walked towards the sword and found Night Shade's straw hat. She looked at the end of the blade and found a note stuck to it. Twilight separated the note from the sword. My Friends, If you are reading this then I am dead, I couldn't face myself with you girls. I know I shouldn't have lied to all of you, especially you Fluttershy. If you are still wondering, yes I am the Silent Shadow, I didn't do it on purpose but I felt like Ponyville needed justice. Though I can't hold power in hooves that don't know power. I did this not only to protect Ponyville but to protect my friends. I burned anything that i may own, please leave that sword as it's final resting place for me, as for my hat, somepony needs to care for a lost soul. Your friend Night Shade and Sayōnara. Fluttershy couldn't believe it, he couldn't believe he was dead. Her friends walked her home, she cried and cried, she was now alone and lost her special somepony.