The Shadow of a Stranger

by Sugar_and_Sins

5: Remembrances

Author's Note:

This chapter will be told as though Shade is telling the story, enjoy. ^^

So... Where do I start? When I was just a colt I lived in a small town on the western edge of Tanarfal, it wasn't the best, but it was home. I lived there with my parents and my younger brother, Sweep, my mother was a housewife and my father was Princess Celestia's head wizard, a tough job, but someponys gotta do it.

We were a happy family, nothing bad between us except for the occasional scuffle, but then who doesn't fight with their siblings from time to time? My brother and I went to the same school, we were both bullied due to our father's occupation, why? I haven't the slightest clue... Jealousy? Maybe, dislike of the princess? Possible, I stuck up for us both regardless and got my flank kicked more than once while doing so...

The night the Vaash came was utter panic, ponies fleeing for their lives through the streets, buildings burning, foals left alone by their parents... You see, fear does that to ponies, makes them forget their morals and their ethics and places self-preservation as their top priority... Not my father though, he stayed to fend off the Vaash while me, my mother and my brother escaped, he said he'd meet us on the edge of the forest a couple of miles out of town.

While we were running away from the chaos, a couple of stray Vaash found and cornered us... My mother whispered to my brother and I and told us to run as she grabbed a burning piece of timber next to her as a defence, so we did... We ran and ran and ran till the town wasn't in sight any more, we were safe, but we never saw our mother again after that...

We waited for days on the edge of the forest with no sign of our father, we were both tired and hungry so I journeyed further into the dense mass of trees to find food, leaving my brother behind in case our father showed up. I barely managed to find anything that wasn't poisonous, I'd only accumulated a small hoof full of berries when I heard a scream that chilled my very bones, it was Sweep's...

I ran so fast I tripped over countless times, a strong feeling of panic had overtaken me. When I reached the scene I saw Sweep hopping on three legs away from the biggest bear I'd ever seen, his face soaked with tears, a deep gash on his right foreleg and three deep scratches across his left eye... I worked up my courage and sprinted to the bear, shouting a bucking it in the side as to get it's attention away from my brother, a quick side swipe from the bear and I was knocked against a tree and blacked out, hearing my brother scream ever louder as I drifted off.

---

I awoke on a bed in a small, dimly lit room, my head throbbing with pain. After a quick scan of the room, I saw I was the only pony there, I sat up on the bed and sat there for a while with my head down in thought, I'm not entirely sure how long I stayed like that. Eventually, somepony walked into the room, I lifted my head to see who it was, my father stood there right in front of me, a smile on his face and a tear in his eye, "Hello son..." Is all he could muster through that quivering lip of his, as he pulled me into a hug I asked where my brother was and with a despairing look on his face he led me out of the room.

After a short walk down a corridor, my father turned to open a set of double doors with misty glass windows and a sign above them that said "Medical Treatment". Walking through the doors we arrived in a large room with countless beds all lined up next to each other, each with ponies laying on them who all appeared to have serious injuries and nurses and doctors running between each bed, it was chaos... As my father led me through the room not once speaking a word, I looked to all the beds I passed, trying to quickly survey some of the injuries the ponies laying in them had, head injuries, deep wounds, you name it and somepony in that room had it.

"Here he is..." My father said quietly only just breaking me out of my trance, as I turned to wear he was looking I saw my brother... His Right foreleg had been amputated as the wounds on it were deep and infected and he was blind in his left eye with three deep scars across it, I immediately ran to his bedside crying out that it was all my fault and that I shouldn't have left him him there in the forest on his own and he turned away from me... He was truly blaming me for all that happened and rightly so... My father eventually pulled me away from the bed and led me away to the room I was in before.

When we arrived back at the room I asked my father where we were, he told me, "This is an underground rebel base, it was originally a bunker for innocent ponies to hide in while wars waged on up above, you'll be safe here." When I asked him what he mean by that he replied, "The shadowy beings that invaded our town have spread and are all over Tanarfal, if we don't find out how to stop them well... Don't worry son, everything is going to be alright," and with that he left... After that our time at the base was a blur.

Eventually my father ventured out to seek help from the rest of Equestria and upon discovering the barrier, he returned and began work on the clasp here on my cloak. After Sweep was out of the hospital section, a stallion by the name of Order taught us both how to fight, he used to be in the royal guard so he knew his stuff when it came to combat. He taught us everything he knew, from hoof-to-hoof combat to swordsmanship, both my brother and I took particular interest in the sword fighting side of things so we both continued to hone our skills in that department as the years went on, soon enough we joined the rebel guard...

My brother developed a very close relationship with Order as time went on, i'd even go as far as to say he saw him as his true brother after he'd practically cast me out of that spot in his life when I 'abandoned' him... Order was loyal, brave and strong, but, strength only gets you so far... The night my father finished the enchantment on the clasp that he had toiled over for 6 years, the Vaash found the base and all tartarus broke loose...

We managed to fend off the Vaash onslaught for a good few hours while all the mares and foals evacuated, after a while though we started to tire, we were picked off one by one.. Eventually the only ponies left were me, Sweep, Order and couple more stallions, I shouted for everypony to fall back but nopony listened... Sweep was eventually grabbed by one huge Vaash, Order leapt at it shouting, "Let him go!" and he... He was impaled by the claw of one of the smaller, agile Vaash and was killed instantly... My brother flailed uncontrollably, screaming Order's name at the top of his lungs with tears rolling down his cheeks in the shadowy claws of the large Vaash, as it carried him off...

Holding back my despair I retreated to my father's room to check whether he had evacuated, as I opened the door the only thing I was met with was the golden glow of the clasp against the light of a candle and a note, "Use this and be free my children..." was all that was written... I took the clasp in my hoof, placed it on my uniform and ran out of the door towards the evacuation point.

What I arrived to was nothing short of a slaughter, guard's and refugee's corpses strewn about the halls with large claw shaped holes and cuts along various parts of their bodies... I stood staring at the massacre with wide eyes, I scanned for my father's body praying to Celestia that he wasn't there, I stood there for a long time, too long... I was cornered by the Vaash in the halls and captured, all I could think about as I was carried off was Sweep and my father, I hoped they were ok...

---

I awoke on a table in a large chamber with braziers placed all around the room giving off the faintest light, I tried to move but was held back by chains, I struggled till my legs tired from the strain and eventually I just gave up. I laid there for hours and nopony came, I tried to think about why I was there but my head was clouded, whenever I closed my eyes to think about something all I could think of was, well, nothing! Then out of nowhere a voice said, "My you are a tough one, i'm surprised you aren't dead yet," it cackled. I whipped my head around the room looking for the source of the voice but nothing came of it.

I asked the voice who they were and they replied, "I am Umbrex and you are my host, this is the inner sanctum of the Dark Citadel, you are here because you were captured by my kind and had me implanted into you for the sole purpose of joining the ranks of the Umbral Vanguard," the thing actually read my mind and answered all my questions for me... I told it I would never join the Vaash's conquest, "I can't blame you, I don't like taking orders from anything either," it laughed, "Listen kid, I'll help you escape if you promise to help me," I refused of course.

I can't remember how many days passed in that chamber, all I remember is that for some reason I couldn't sleep, I didn't feel hungry or thirsty and that Umbrex wasn't giving up on trying to convince me that he was genuinely not a bad Vaash and I on several occasions reminded him i'd never met a good one, first time for everything I suppose... "I know where your brother is," those were the words that convinced me. He said that if I trusted him he could help me escape and rescue my brother and in exchange I take him to the Echo and release him from my body, that is our deal...

Umbrex imbued my body with shadowy energies and it gave me this unreal strength, I broke free of my shackles and ran in whichever direction he told me to. I ran through corridor after corridor, destroying any vaash that stood in my way with my new found power until we reached the room where my brother was supposed to be held, bursting through the door I was met with nothing but a large empty room with a stone slab in the middle, much like the one I was held in, "Hmm, they must have moved him..." If I could I would have strangled Umbrex right there and then.

We escaped the citadel with our deal still in place and it still is to this day, rescue my brother and release Umbrex. Shortly after our escape, Umbrex told me of all the things that the vaash have been doing with ponies, put vaash inside of them to try and create soldiers that have full functionality in the day and night, but it turned out that when the vaash fused with pony bodies they either killed the ponies instantly or it greatly enhanced the vaash's power, with the ability to augment body parts and morph their body shapes to be stronger or faster and since the vaash don't get hungry and thirsty and don't age, the merging of the pony and the vaash made the ponies have the same traits, but, the success rate was so minimal it was made into a special unit called the Umbral Vanguard.

Umbrex has helped me take down thousands of vaash and ponies alike that prey on the weak, we've taken down units of the Vanguard and destroyed vaash outpost all across Tanarfal, most in search of my brother and some just out of the kindness of our hearts, not that vaash have hearts... When we saw the barrier weakening we knew it was time to enact a plan to destroy the vaash once and for all and finally find my brother if he's still out there...

So Twilight, here's how it is, my name is Shade, I am 1012 years old, I come from the town of Westshire, my mother died protecting me, my father disappeared and my brother was captured by the vaash, my mission is to destroy the vaash, unite Equestria, find my brother and uphold my bargain to Umbrex. Now, if you have any objections to my goals and no longer wish to help then it's fine by me, but know this...

I need your help...