Guardians of Light: A Shadow Forms

by Alphadude007

Pulling the Strings

Guardians of Light: A Shadow Forms

Chapter 30-Pulling the Strings

-Crystal Empire: 1,020 years before Nightmare Moon's return-

"Ahh." The king sighed as he looked at his empire that stretched before him. King Malachite looked out at the crystalline houses on the ground below, each of them reflecting the moon's soft silver light. The multitudes of stars above looked down on his empire, their eyes twinkling against the blackness of the night sky. "Such a wondrous evening." He said with a smile as he turned back around to go inside his bedchamber.

The king undressed, taking off his royal purple cape and crown and set them on a light blue crystal-carved nightstand that stood next to his bed.

The king's eyes grew sad as they looked at the bed. Oh how I miss thee, Aqua. Malachite thought.

His queen, Aquamarine, had died several years before of old age. He recalled her soft light blue fur, the pink curls she had for her mane, her deep purple eyes, and her joyful and loving personality. King Malachite sighed as he recalled his memories with her. He remembered how they played in the fields surrounding the castle as children, the times he courted her in his youth, the first years of their rule... They'd lived a long and happy life together. But all good things must come to an end, unfortunately. The day she died was the day that Malachite swore to never marry again. Even though Aquamarine never gave him an heir, Malachite knew that her love could never be replaced by another. So he decided to live out the remainder of his life alone with only the memories of his queen to put him to sleep, that he might see her in his dreams.

Malachite lay his head down on the pillows of the bed and closed his eyes, seeking those happy memories once again.

---

A shadow slithered along the streets of the Crystal Empire, its presence undetectable by the night. It slid down the streets towards the castle that rose up above the city, its target the only thing present in its mind.

It all begins tonight. The Shadow thought, a sly grin spreading on its face as he glided along the stone walkways towards the castle.

You have the poison, my lord? Siphon asked.

Of course I do, Siphon. The Shadow replied. With how old the king is, the concoction should easily pass off his death as a heart attack.

Siphon's voice chuckled as they began climbing up the side of the castle. Long live the king.

Indeed. The Shadow agreed as they made their way towards the king's balcony. The shadowy figure slithered over the railing and onto the balcony itself.

The Shadow rose out of the shadow on the ground and stood tall in the doorway of the king's bedroom.

His yellow eyes narrowed as he levitated a small vial out of a saddlebag, a yellow magical aura surrounding the glass. Inside was a sloshing black liquid. To think that something so small will set our grand scheme into effect. The Shadow thought as he slowly walked over to the sleeping king's bedside, his hooves not making a sound.

The Shadow smiled as he magically lifted the golden cap of the glass vial. The Shadow concentrated his magic on the king's lower jaw, opening it slightly to not disturb his slumber. Seeing his mouth open, the yellow-eyed alicorn delicately turned the vile over, the black liquid dripping out and into the king's mouth.

The Shadow's nerves jumped at seeing the king smack his lips before turning on his side, sound asleep. The Shadow wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but not here.

Sweet dreams, King Malachite. The Shadow thought with an evil grin as he melted back into his shadow and slithered out of king's room and down the balcony from whence he'd come.

-North Equestrian mountain cave: 1,000 years before Nightmare Moon's Return-

In the middle of a large cavern lay two royal sisters. Celestia was in the middle of the rocky room while Luna slept in a corner next to a stalagmite. Celestia and Luna, after half an hour of wandering the tunnel to find a large cave opening, had found the cavern they currently slept in and agreed to sleep and conserve their energy.

As Luna slept, a shadow slid across the cave floor towards her.

---

Luna looked around the Dreamscape. A gloominess lay over the land. Dark grey clouds covered the bright blue skies. Cold wind tore across the landscape, the grasses and Luna's mane blowing in it.

What presence could be causing this to happen? Luna wondered, her blue eyes scanning the Dreamscape.

"Princess Luna." A voice behind her addressed. She recognized that voice.

"What is it thou want?" Luna asked, turning around to see the grey alicorn before her.

"Can't a stallion simply ask for a conversation?" He asked innocently.

"With others, maybe." Luna said warily. "With thee, no."

The grey alicorn sighed, hanging his head. "What is it thou want of me, Princess?"

Luna's eyes narrowed. "The truth."

The grey alicorn shrugged. "What is truth but what we choose to believe."

"I have been advised by another entity to not trust thee, that thee will lead us to destruction." Luna said in a steely tone.

"And what exactly did this entity show thee, Luna?" The stallion asked, a soft smile playing along his features.

Luna recounted what she was shown. "If I follow in what thee tell me to do, I was shown a battle in the future. Thousands will participate. Hundreds would die should that fight take place. What would we do that would cause that future?"

"The future is never concrete, Princess. It is always prone to change. Such is the way of time. I'm sure thy advisor Starswirl would agree with that statement." The alicorn said plainly.

"That is not the question." Luna spat. "What would thee do to cause such a future to happen?"

The alicorn nodded. "Thou were in that battle, weren't thee?"

Luna's eyebrow arched. "Yes. I was at the head of the charge."

"It is a shift in power, Luna." The alicorn said, slowly walking towards her, the grass under his hooves withering with each step. "It is a battle between thyself and thy sister."

Luna's eyebrows rose at the statement before furrowing together. "Thou lie." She growled.

"After thy confrontation with Sombra, Celestia will see how powerful thou truly are." The alicorn said slyly. "She will feel threatened. That maybe a dual monarchy is too much trouble to work with. Why not have it to herself?"

"Thou art lying!" Luna shouted. "Celestia is not some selfish tyrant!"

The alicorn's yellow eyes stared into Luna's. "Rulers would go to considerable lengths to protect their thrones. Thou can attest to that. The battle thou saw was the final confrontation between thyself and Celestia. Her sun was behind thee, was it not?"

Luna nodded.

"See? Even Celestia's power will be forfeit in the wake of thy own. Her power stripped from her, she will become desperate. She will raise an army against thee and try to retake the throne that rightfully belongs to thee." The alicorn said, his tone barely above a whisper. "With our combined power she will be defeated. Her jealousy will be the end of her. And finally, thou can rule. The ponies that once worshipped Celestia for her sun will worship thee for the moon as well as the sun. All the power can be thine."

Gears turned in Luna's mind. It all made sense. The vision she was shown was now clearly envisioned. The sun on her back, she would defeat Celestia and rule Equestria with a fair hoof.

"All thou have to do…" The alicorn continued. "Is wait."

Luna nodded. "I can wait." She said, a determined look in her eyes.

"Excellent." The alicorn smiled. "Thou have a second castle, correct?"

"Yes." Luna said, bobbing her head. "We have a second castle in the Everfree Forest."

"Go there after thy fight with Sombra. From there we can show Celestia our true power. When she acts out of jealousy, thou may strike." The alicorn said with a fanged smile.

"I will go there and await thy coming, alicorn." Luna said, a grin of her own growing on her face.

"Then farewell, Princess Luna. Or, as I will be addressing thee in the future, Queen Luna." The alicorn said, vanishing in a bright yellow flash.

---

The Shadow separated from Luna's sleeping form on the cave floor. His yellow eyes glowed with determination.

My plan is almost complete. After tomorrow, nothing will be the same again. He thought, turning to look towards the tunnel that led to the cave entrance. Beyond that tunnel was a world that was his for the taking. All he needed now was for the night blue alicorn sleeping at his hooves to go through with his scheme.

-Canterlot: 1,000 years before Nightmare Moon's return-

"Where am I?" Clover the Clever thought aloud, his bright green eyes scanning his surroundings. From what he could tell, he was still in the Canterlot Archives. One thing was different, though. The black crystal that had protruded from the middle of the room was gone. In its place was solid wooden floor like the rest of the library.

"Clover." A stern voice called his name from behind.

Clover turned around to find Starswirl standing over him.

"Why art thou lying on the ground?" The dark blue unicorn asked, his eyes narrowing at his student.

Clover's eyes darted from side to side, unable to find an answer. "Um… I do not know, sir." He admitted, bowing his head.

"More of thy laziness?" Starswirl asked, heaving a sigh. "Enough is enough, Clover."

"Sir?" Clover asked, his eyebrow arching upwards.

"Do not call me 'Sir' any longer, Clover." Starswirl ordered, Clover shrinking from his tutor's tone.

"I apologize." Clover squeaked.

"You apologize now, but when thy sloth acts up again, will thou truly be sorry?" Starswirl demanded. "I cannot take it any longer, Clover!"

Clover slowly stood up on his hooves. "What do thou suggest I do to prevent future disappointment, Starswirl?"

Starswirl answered by pointing a wrinkled hoof to the door on the other side of the book-filled room. "Leave so that I may no longer be disappointed in thee."

Clover's eyes widened. He's expelling me? He thought frantically. "But Master-"

Starswirl shook his head. "Enough with the titles, Clover. Seeing as thou art no longer my student and I no longer thy teacher, thou should not have to address me as such."

Clover's ears drooped. "N-not thy student?" He asked shakily.

"I did not stutter, did I?" Starswirl asked coldly. "Thou… art… no longer… my… student."

"But why?" Clover asked, near tears. "Mast- Starswirl, why am I not thy student anymore?"

"Far too many times have thou disappointed me, Clover. I never said anything because I thought thou could improve thyself. Apparently I was wrong." Starswirl said in a pitying tone.

A tear rolled down Clover's face. "Starswirl. Aside from thy teaching, I have nothing. What am I supposed to do?"

"Find a new way of life, Clover. Thankfully I won't have to participate in thy failures again." Starswirl said, pointing to the open doorway again. "Now leave this place."

Clover looked at the door and back at Starswirl. The old unicorn gave Clover a stern look that Clover didn't wish to argue with. Bowing his head and letting the tears spill over, he trudged out the doorway.

Immediately his vision was covered in blackness. Clover was startled at first but then bowed his head again and accepted his position in the black.

Clover didn't care. He was a failure.

---

"Princess Celestia." Starswirl addressed as he fell prostrate before the sun goddess. Has she returned so soon? He wondered as he returned to his former standing position.

Starswirl's concern grow when he saw the princess's light fuchsia eyes narrowed at him, a sneer spread across her lips. "Why art thou still here?" She asked.

The unicorn wizard's eyebrow rose. "I'm sorry, Majesty. But what did thou ask me just now?"

"Why art thou still here?" Celestia repeated. "I thought I had the royal guards remove thee from the castle grounds."

Alarms rang in Starswirl's mind. "W-what ever for?" He asked, flabbergasted. "What did I do to deserve to be thrown out?"

"Thou know all too well, sorcerer." The sun goddess spat. "Thy work here in the castle is done."

Starswirl's mind was going a mile a minute with trying to figure out what was going on. "But, Princess. I've worked under thy care for so long. Tell me, what did I do to earn banishment?"

"Wishing to bask in the consequences of thy deeds?" Celestia asked, a look of disgust on her features. "Very well. The information you told us was incorrect. King Sombra had already destroyed most of the Crystal Empire. The remnant of its citizens was too shocked to respond to us when we asked what had happened." Starswirl shook his head in denial at hearing this.

"We were too late to stop whatever had happened." Celestia continued. "The blood of those purged by Sombra's rampage is on thy hooves, Starswirl the Bearded. For that, I cast thee from this palace." She said, thrusting her hoof towards the large golden throne room doors behind him. The flung open, revealing nothing but darkness beyond the doorway.

Starswirl became panicked as a sudden wind began blowing against him towards the open doors.

"Wait!" Starswirl cried. "I did not know! Princess, thou must believe me!"

"I thought I could." Celestia responded coldly. "And for thy actions, thou art banished from Equestria. Good luck elsewhere, Starswirl."

The wind intensified, blowing the old unicorn wizard off his hooves.

"No!" He shouted, as he flew into the darkness, the entrance to the throne room the only thing he could see, the doors slowly closing, enveloping Starswirl in darkness.

Starswirl felt as if he was floating. He looked below him to see the same blackness that surrounded him. "What is this place?" He wondered.

"Please, mister. Save me." A small voice to Starswirl's left said. Suddenly Starswirl found himself in the middle some sort of throne room. A purple rock-surrounded black throne sat atop a collection of small stairs. White walls lined with light blue rocks rose up from a polished grey floor. On the floor was a large purple rug that ran from the foot of the throne to a pair of purple doors at the far end of the room.

The wizard turned his head to see a small light blue filly standing before him. Starswirl's eyes narrowed at the filly, studying her features. Light blue fur, purple mane and tail, hexagonal irises… wait. He thought, looking closer at the filly. Her fur was akin to crystal reflections and her irises were hexagonally shaped. He'd seen this kind of pony one other time. A crystal pony?

"Please, mister unicorn." The filly repeated. "I need thy help."

"Of course, my child. What is it that troubles thee?" Starswirl said, walking closer to the filly.

"He's coming for me." She said fearfully, her eyes darting towards the doors.

Starswirl's eyebrows furrowed. "Who's coming?"

"The king." She replied. Suddenly the doors burst open, no pony behind the open doorway. The filly shrieked. "Please! Help me get out of here!"

"Away from who? There's nopony there." Starswirl asked, suddenly confused.

"Don't you see him?" The filly asked. "He's coming right for me!"

"Nonsense. I don't see anything there but an open doorway." Starswirl responded, trying to sound brave. But then again, doors do no open themselves. He thought.

"Mister! Please get me out-" The filly began to say, but couldn't finish the sentence. Suddenly the filly's throat was cut open, blood spurting onto the rug. The filly tried to say something, but gurgled chokes came out. The filly fell to the ground, a thud echoing off the throne room walls.

"Too late, wizard." A steely voice said, a trace of happiness in the voice.

A pony materialized behind the bleeding filly. A grey alicorn with a messy black mane and tail, a black gauntlet fastened to his hoof, a red-stained blade protruding from it. In the alicorn's bright yellow eyes was a look of mad glee.

Starswirl gritted his teeth at the grey alicorn, the crystal filly's glistening blood pouring onto the purple rug.

Once more blackness enveloped Starswirl's vision as he felt himself floating again.

"Starswirl!" A male voice shouted to his right. "Save me!"

"Starswirl!" A higher pitched female voice cried. "Save me!"

"Starswirl! Save us!" The voices said, more and more piling on with every second.

Starswirl looked every which way to try to find the ones calling to him, but he could see only the blackness in front of his eyes. "I want to help you! But how!?"

"Save us!" the multitudes of voices cried their awful chant. "Save us! Save us! Save us!"

"HOW?!" Starswirl screamed at the invisible voices, tears streaming down his cheeks. "How do I save you?"

"SAVE US! SAVE US! SAVE US!" The voice shouted, their voices reaching a crescendo. "SAVE US! SAVE US! SAVE US!"

Starswirl collapsed, burying his face in his front hooves. "I'm sorry." He choked out. "I don't know how save you."

"Starswirl! Wake up!" A different voice shouted.

Starswirl looked up. He recognized that voice.

"Snap out of it!" The voice said, a bright light blinding Starswirl as the brightness enveloped him.

Starswirl's eyes opened to find himself lying on the floor of the library. His eyes travelled upwards to see a concerned pair of dark blue ones staring back at him.

"Art thou well, Starswirl?" Commander Storm asked.

The tears fell from the old wizard's eyes as he buried his face into his hooves and cried.

-Changeling Hive: 10 years before Nightmare Moon's return-

Raspian held his breath as he beheld the entryway to the queen's chambers. The tall black stone doors made the changeling feel puny as he waited to be allowed to enter. He didn't know exactly why he was here. All he knew was that he'd been summoned by the queen herself to come to her chambers.

Did I do something wrong? Raspian thought, a bead of sweat trickling down his brow. Maybe I miscalculated how much love could be extracted from the pods once or twice. Is that what this is about?

In truth, all he wanted was to please those in power over him, even if it meant bending over backwards to do it. Maybe someone had noted this and recommended his services to Chrysalis. The thought of that made his heart leap. However the uncertainty in his mind caused that excitement to drop as quickly as it had sprung up.

Raspian almost jumped when he heard one of the stone doors open up, a changeling guard in the open doorway.

The changeling's blue eyes looked over Raspian for a moment before looking up to address the uncertain changeling. "The queen will see you now, Raspian." The guard said gruffly, his dark blue armor glinting green from the pods that hung from the ceiling.

Raspian nodded and walked through the doorway. As the guard shut the door behind him, Raspian froze at the sight before him. I'm actually here. He thought in wonder.

Before him was Queen Chrysalis's inner chambers. This was where everything important in the hive was decided. Guards surrounded the perimeter of the room, their crooked black spears in their perforated hooves and at the ready. The room was cascaded in green from a small cluster of pods that hung from the ceiling of the room. In the center of the room was a large table carved out of a black stalagmite, various maps and papers scattered about on its surface. Above these articles of paper was a stack of smaller papers close to half a foot tall. Slowly his eyes travelled to a slim figure behind the table, his breath hitching as he identified the lithe creature that was staring at him from behind the table, her green eyes studying his every feature.

"Welcome, Raspian." Queen Chrysalis soothed, Raspian's nerves softening at her words. The changeling queen waved her hoof in a circle, looking around the room. "Are you impressed with my inner sanctum?"

Raspian slowly nodded. "Y-yes, your E-excellency." He stammered, trying to collect himself. You're in the presence of the queen for buck's sake! Nut up or puss out! His mind yelled.

Chrysalis gave Raspian a slight smile. "I have heard multiple reports about you, Raspian." She said, glancing at the stack of papers on the stone table. Raspian's eyes widened. "Your willingness to work diligently has been noted by several of my scouts."

She's had scouts watching me? Raspian thought, not sure to take that revelation as a sign of warning or good fortune.

"Others have said that you are eager to take charge in situations. The caravan of ponies that were… unfortunate enough to venture too close to our cave was one such instance." Chrysalis said, Raspian's mind going back to that event. He'd led the attack and coordinated the capture of the ponies to be used as love sources.

"A third feature one of my scouts noted was your dependability." The queen said. Any thought about this meeting being a bad thing had vanished from Raspian's mind. This was no doubt an opportunity the queen wanted to give him.

"They have seen how willing you are to help when it is necessary. Be it in finding love sources in the wild or helping the hatchlings learn how to hunt." Chrysalis said, a hint of admiration in her tone. Raspian felt a smile tug at his face.

"That is why I wanted you here." Chrysalis said, her green eyes narrowing at the changeling. "You have the qualities that I look for in my guards. They are the cream of the crop of this hive. The elite." Chrysalis glanced at the guards surrounding the room. "Loyal, dependable, and able leaders in times of need. Which brings me to why I requested your presence, Raspian. I am presenting you the opportunity of becoming a guard of the hive."

Raspian's heart thumped against his chest as he felt like jumping up and down for joy, but he maintained his composure.

"But keep in mind." Chrysalis continued. "Should you decline this offer, it will not be requested of you again. You will continue being a normal changeling in the hive, carrying out daily duties and preparing feeding pods. But…" She said, her tone becoming more excited. "Should you accept, the rest of your life will be dedicated to protecting myself and the members of this hive. You will no longer be a laborer, but a member of an elite guard that has existed for centuries. So what is your response, Raspian?"

Raspian stared the queen of the hive directly in the eyes. No turning back now, Raspian. He thought as the words rose out of his throat.

"Queen Chrysalis, I accept your offer."

Author's Note: