The Sacrifice
There was a storm going on and there was a full moon out, Fluttershy was outside her cottage getting her animals into shelter just before she went in for the night. When she was walking back to her cottage she heard a scream of pain and anger followed by a flock of birds flying away from the Everfree forest.
She stared at the forest frozen in fear, she eventually broke away from her petrified state and ran into her cottage not waiting for whatever made that horrific scream. Once inside she locked the door, whatever that thing was it wasn't a pony,
She stood in front of the window looking outside.
With a flash of thunder she saw a bipedal silhouette standing near a fallen tree, it stood at around 6ft tall and wore a torn fabric like material around it's neck blowing in the wind, she hid just under her window and closed her eyes, it felt like an eternity has passed for Fluttershy. She decided that she would take one look, she slowly raises her head just enough so she could see out the window.
When Fluttershy looked out the window she noticed that the Bipedal creature was gone, she decided that she was seeing things because of how exhausting the day was, she went to her room and collapsed on the bed, she spent the next couple of hours trying to fall asleep but couldn't because she felt like something felt off.
She stared at where she saw the figure, she wasn't actually sure if she saw something out there or if it was the storm, she went back to her bed and laid on it, the only sound that could be heard at that moment was the rain battering against her window.
She woke up the next day later than she normally would, she went downstairs and made some breakfast for herself, she was approached by her pet bunny Angel. "Did you see it too last night, that... Figure who stood outside?" she asked the bunny, he just responded by shaking his head indicating that he did not.
"How very strange..." she thought.
a day earlier, Iridescent, A new recruit for the Canterlot guard was on duty patrolling the area around the Everfree forest during the storm. She was walking just at the edge of Ponyville when she heard a masculine howl of agony and pure rage coming from within the forest followed by a flock of birds leaving the forest.
She proceeded towards the source of the howl, she gazed into the bushes, and with a flash of lightning there was the bipedal silhouette which dashed towards her with unprecedented speed and agility pinning her neck against a fallen tree using a crescent shaped ornament attached to his forearm.
She looked at the creature with pure fear as she stared at his sundered visage. But then he threw her over the tree and threw her with enough strength to cause her to black out.
Iridescent woke up in Ponyville hospital the next day with a broken forehoof and a few broken ribs, she looked around to check her surroundings. "Ughhhh... My head... What happened?" she thought as she tried to remember what happened,
She looks to her side and see's a note on the table, she stretches out her non injured hoof to grab it.
The note was a letter and it contained the Royal seal on the letter, she looked at the letter once again and opened it, she tried to read it but her head was still spinning so she couldn't read it. She decided that she would read the letter once she was much healthier.
"How are you doing recruit?" Shining Armour said after he entered the room, Iridescent didn't reply at first and just stared through Shining Armour. "What?" she asked Shining Armour as she snapped back to reality, "oh yeah... Apart from the broken forehoof, yeah I'm fine" she answered.
"The doctor says you're fine to leave the hospital whenever you're ready and due to your current situation and the fact that you've been unconscious for three days you are temporarily unfit for being a guard," Shining Armour Armour explained to her.
"Oh... Uhhh... Ok," she replied to him.
Umbra ran through the forest as the rain battered against him, he let out a howl of pain and anger, his head snapped in the direction of a sound he heard. And through the bushes he saw a female equine wearing armour made from gold.
the equine started approaching the bushes so he dashed forward pinning her against a tree using a golden crescent shaped ornament attached to his forearm.
The Equine looked at him in fear as the mask began to mould over his sundered mask, he threw her over the tree which knocked her unconscious, after which he looked at a nearby tree which seemed to be a house of some sort and fled back into the forest which caused his scarf to catch on a branch and tear a small portion off it.
As he ran from the tree he ended up running right into a manticore. He backed up but the manticore wasn't having any of it, as the manticore was getting ready to attack him he howled which had a radial effect temporarily blinding the manticore and anything that was sneaking up on him.
He summoned a blade made of pure light and cut the manticore down, then he continued running through the forest. He ran across an abandoned castle which had a chimera inside it, but it didn't matter to him as he cut it down too, he got on his knees and meditated for the next few hours.
A squad of royal guards were investigating the area that Iridescent was attacked during the night of the storm. One of the guards found a torn piece of fabric attached to a branch of the fallen tree followed by unfamiliar footsteps leading into the forest.
"Squad follow those footsteps, I'm going to give this rag and find out if it has anything on it," one of the guards said to the rest of the group. "You heard him lets go!" another guard said as he headed into the bushes with the other two guards.
The one guard who stayed behind walked towards a makeshift camp they had set up just outside sweet apple acres, he sat on a foldable chair and examined the fabric closely, "Its... Course?" he thought, as he was examining the fabric Princess Luna came up from behind him.
"What dost thou have there?" the younger princess said to the guard who was examining the torn rag, "I dunno... Evidence probably?" the guard said to the princess Luna. He gave the rag to Luna and she scanned it using her magic, "What... This isn't possible..." princess Luna said clearly in shock, "What's wrong princess?" the guard asked.
Luna looked at the guard, "It... The rag... It contains traces of dust only found on the moon's surface..." Luna answered to the guard with her face turning slightly pale, "How... Is that even... Possible?" the guard asked Luna as she looked at him,
"I... Do not know how... But it surely cannot be a coincidence," Luna said to him.
"Do you have any idea of what that thing in the Everfree might be?" the princess asked the guard once again, "We... Don't know what it is... The guards just seem to call it the Shadow of the Everfree... There's enough evidence to prove it exists but we can't seem to find it..." the guard responded to the princesses question.
The trio of guard ponies were following the tracks left by the creature that attacked Iridescent. As they walked through the bushes they came across a dead manticore which had lacerations which have been cauterised by an unknown magical force, such as concentrated pure light.
They examined the area for any extra evidence and clues to where the creature may have gone, "Find anything recruit?" one of the guards asked the new recruit, "still searching sir!" the recruit looked to her superior before responding,
"Then keep looking it must have not gone far" as the guard was saying this he got a letter from princess Luna.
One of your guards has bought back a torn rag from the investigation and after examining it we have discovered traces of moon dust and traces of unidentified magic so be careful, we still do not know what that thing might be,
The letter from the princess said.
"We got a letter from the princess and she warns us that what we're looking for is a being of great strength, continue with caution and call out if you find something," the unicorn guard who received the letter said to the rest of the group,
They continued on through the bushes until they reached the castle of the two sisters.
As they're walking by the ruins they notice a bipedal figure in a meditative state inside the ruins of the castle, "could that be it?" the recruit asked the other guards, "the description that Iridescent provided seems to match, so this must be it we should move in before it knows what happened," the highest ranking guard said to the rest.
The guards rush the ruin which awakens Umbra from his meditative state and causes his to summon the exalted blade. Umbra jumps up and clings onto one of the walls before slamming himself into the recruits rear hooves causing her to scream in pain as Umbra broke her rear hooves.
The now panicked Unicorn guard picks up a giant rock with his magic and forces it towards the back of Umbra's head while he was distracted with the other guard. The rock hits Umbra causing him to collapse onto the floor, just then Luna flies past while going back to Canterlot and see's the trio of guards.
Luna casts a powerful sleep spell on umbra to prevent him from waking up and slaughtering the trio, "Take it to Canterlot and lock it in the dungeons we must find out what its doing here and why it attacked Iridescent," the princess ordered as she picked up the recruit with her magic.
"You two take the prisoner, I'll take the recruit to Canterlot general hospital," She flew away towards the city, "Lets go you weird looking thing," one of the guards said as they picked up Umbra. They started walking out the ruins and towards Ponyville.
After a several hours they arrived at Cantelot, "I'm surprised that It hasn't awoken yet," one of the guards said, Umbra was now awake but only moved his head ever so slightly. "Yeah... Wait... Did it just move?" the other guard reacted to Umbra's sudden move, "calm down you're just being paranoid," the higher ranking guard responded.
"Alright we're here put it in so we can get away from it before it wakes up" the higher ranking guard said to the other guard, they put Umbra into the cell, "We've done what we were ordered lets get out of here" one of the guards said, the other one agreed and they left the dungeon.
Umbra got back onto his feet once they left the dungeon, he looked in the direction that they left before trying to open the cell door to find out that it was locked. He approached the small barred window in the dungeon and looked out, he noticed that he was somewhere on the side of a mountain.
Umbra turned back from the window and examined the cell he was trapped in noticing that the only things in the cell was a cot made of straw on the floor and a ramshackle table and chair in the corner of the cell, his head snapped towards a noise coming from the general direction of where the two guards went.
Before him was a dark blue Alicorn just a bit shorter than he was, she stared at him as he rapidly looked around the room for a way to escape, "What are thee?" the Luna asked umbra to no response, after no reply she tried again. "What are thee?" she said more harshly this time but again to no response.
"Do you even know how to speak?" she asked impatiently but yet again no response, she then had an amazing idea, she used her magic to summon several sheets of paper and a quill, she threw the Paper and quill on the floor before him which he picked up and stared at it.
"Can you understand me?" she asked, he looked at her with Quill and paper in hand, he thought if he should be cryptic or write normally. He decided to be cryptic, he wrote something down, after he was finished she used her magic to take it from him. All it said was "Willow Tree," she stared at Umbra with confusion.
She stared at the paper for a moment... "Is that... Your name?" she asked still confused, he just stood there with his arm crossed, "I'm assuming not..." she said to him, he went up to the bars and snatched the paper from Luna's magic which she didn't expect.
He added some words to the paper before he threw the paper at her, Luna picked up the paper which now said "Bring Willow Tree," Luna looked at him now having a rough idea of what he wanted, "Will you talk if I bring you a willow tree?" she asked which caused him to nod in approval.
Iridescent was limping back to her home in the small town of Ponyville from the hospital, she opened the door to her house and went inside, she closed the door behind her and put her guard armour onto her couch, she slumped on her couch sat there in boredom.
She didn't realise that she even fell asleep as she was woken up by a knocking on her door
"Coming..." she said as she went up to the door an opened it to see Fluttershy, "Oh hello Miss Fluttershy, what bring you here?" Iridescent asked Fluttershy.
"Um... Hello Iri, I hope this isn't a bad time right now..." Fluttershy said kindly to Iridescent as she waited for Iridescent to reply, "No, its not a bad time, come in and make yourself at home while i go put the kettle on" Iridescent said, Fluttershy nodded and went inside to the kitchen where Iridescent was.
"So... I heard you got Attacked... by some Bipedal creature on the night storm... Are you well after that?" Fluttershy asked as she reminisced back to that night, "Yeah I'm fine... It did bang me up pretty good... Do you know if they found what it was? Iridescent asked with a hint of curiousity.
"Um... Word around town is that some guards captured some strange Bipedal creature inside the Everfree... So maybe that would be it?" Fluttershy responded to Iridescent, "There's a chance that you might get called to Canterlot to see if its the right creature that they captured" Fluttershy added.
"Its a possibility that they might do that," Iridescent replied as she poured them tea, Iridescent went up to where Fluttershy was sitting and put a cup of tea infront of her before sitting down as well, "anyway... How have you been Fluttershy?" Iridescent asked with genuine curiosity.
"Um... Nothing that interesting has happened, apart from that bipedal Creature" Fluttershy responded as she sipped her cup of tea.
Princess Luna went back into Canterlot dungeon with a weeping willow tree sapling in her magic. She approached the cell that Umbra was confined in, he stood up upon the sight of the willow tree sapling, Luna gave him the sapling which he put onto the table and picked up the paper and quill.
"What do you want to know..." was written on the paper as Luna read the paper, "Why did you attack that pony..." Luna asked Umbra with a threatening tone, he started writing on the paper again with the quill, she read the words on the paper yet again, "Think... everything in that forest was trying to kill me."
"What do they call you?" Luna ordered Umbra, he began writing on the the paper using the quill, Luna read the words on the paper which said a single word.
"Umbra."
An exhausted guard quickly ran into the dungeons, "Princess... Changelings... Attack... Canterlot..." the exhausted guards said in between breaths, Luna looked at the guard... "Well Umbra? how would you like to earn freedom?" she asked as she opened the cell door, "all you need to do is butcher every Insectoid equine you see... But be warned they're shapeshifters, " Luna warned as she let him out.
Umbra stepped out the cell and looked at Luna before heading towards the exit, once he was out the dungeon he approached a window and gazed out, What he saw was a whole Invasion force of Insectoid shapeshifting creatures, he ran a few of them dragged a guard straight through the window shattering the window into a million pieces.
Umbra summoned the Exhalted Blade and slaughtered the four Changelings that flew in, he dragged the injured guard into the dungeon and left him for Luna to take care of, he ran back out the dungeon and ran down the hallway filled with more changelings who shape shifted into ponies upon seeing him.
He backed up against the wall as the changelings surrounded him, he howled which caused them to revert back to their original form. He grabbed one and slammed him against the wall multiple times before grabbing another and throwing it into another changeling, he kicked one out the way and grabbed another and threw it across the hallway.
He tackled one causing him and the changeling to go through the window and into the gardens below. In the gardens there were more changelings which got ready to attack, he picked up the changeling he used to dampen his fall and uses it as a weapon to fight the other changelings. He vaulted over the last changeling and came down upon it with his parazon.
Once all the changelings in the gardens were dead he moved on before reinforcements arrived. He walked through the throne room and into an unknown room which turned out to have a wedding going on. He stared at the guests as they stared at him, "What is that hideous thing doing at my wedding? GUARDS!" Cadence exclaimed with disgust.
Iridescent looked at Umbra in horror as she sat next to Fluttershy, Umbra felt that something was wrong so he backed up against the wall as the guards approached him. He released a radial howl which caused Cadence's real form to become revealed and the guests to become blinded for roughly five seconds as Cadence was now revealed to be Chrysalis. Chrysalis' eyes widened as she stared at Umbra in horror as he dashed towards her pinning her with his crescent shaped ornament against a marble pillar.
Celestia stared at Chrysalis with hatred as she charged up her horn before discharging it causing every window in the room to shatter and sending the changelings and Chrysalis over the horizon. Umbra fell onto his knees as he felt the shockwave pass over him.
"How... Did you get out the cell?" Celestia asked with a tone filled with confusion.
"He doesn't talk much... " Luna says to Celestia, "Sister... please take your project elsewhere," Luna gestured to Umbra for him to follow her, Iridescent's blood runs cold as Umbra stares her as he walks past while following Luna, "No point of keeping you in the dungeons... Now where will I keep you...." Luna thought out loud.
"You know what... You're gonna stay with me..." Luna said as she headed towards her room. She eventually reaches her room and goes inside with Umbra, "Do whatever you want, you earned it," Luna said as she laid down on the bed, Umbra left the room and headed back towards the dungeon.
"What... where are you going?" Luna shouted as Umbra walked away, then she remembered what she said... "Guess I did say do whatever you want" she thought to herself, Umbra walked back to the dungeon and picked up the willow tree that he left in the cell.
He decided that he would explore the castle before returning back to Luna, he wondered around the multiple halls of Canterlot castle with his Willow tree in hand. Eventually he turned a corner and walked right into Iridescent, her face went pale as she stared at him with fear.
He leaned down and booped her as he continued walking on, she still stared at him but not in fear but in utter confusion, after god knows how long umbra eventually returned back to Luna's chambers. "What took you so long?" Luna asked with a hint of annoyance.
Umbra's only response was to put the tree he was carrying around and put it on the table before entering his meditative state in the corner of the room. Umbra stayed in the meditative state until the next morning.
Luna awakened the next morning to see that Umbra was gone, "Where has he gone now..." she got up and headed towards the dining room where she found Twilight, Cadence and Shining Armor, "have any of you seen Umbra anywhere?" Luna asked the trio, "Who?" Twilight asked with confusion. "Oh, its that thing she secretly has a thing for..." Cadence answered Twilight.
"CADENCE... SHUT..." Luna said with anger at Cadence's remark. "Cmon auntie why else would you send so much time with it in the dungeons? I also heard from some of the guards that it booped Iridescent, does that make you jealous?" Cadence said Mockingly at Luna.
Umbra was returning back to Canterlot castle with several beast hides on his shoulder which came from the Everfree forest, the guards just stared at him with disgust as he walked past them, he went through the halls and up the stairs back to Luna's chambers. Once inside he started making himself the Zato gear, Once he was done with his makeshift outfit he left the room and walked into Luna.
"Where were you? she asked then she noticed what he was wearing, "um... Never mind I think that I know the answer," She responded to her own question. "Just... Tell me where you're going, or leave a note or something, anyway I have to go to Ponyville today so you're coming with me so have this book," she added to her statement while giving him the book.
Later that day the both of them were in Ponyville, Umbra pulled out the book and wrote in. "What are we doing here?" He wrote in the book she reads it and freezes as she has no answer for his question, "Um... Uh... We're uh... Visiting Twilight..." Luna said but she did not sound sure about what she just said.
She now had to forget about what she wanted to do so she went up to the golden oaks library with Umbra and knocked on the door, Twilight opened the door with confusion, "Luna? What brings you here" Twilight asks, Umbra gave looked at Luna, Twilight sighs. "I think I know what you're doing here" Twilight says, "Anyway come in make yourself at home" Twilight adds as she lets the two in.
"Luna... if you don't know what to do, you two can take an airship trip, and hey it will be fun!" Twilight proposed to Luna. "I guess we could..." Luna replied as Umbra was walking around the library, "actually I have two tickets right here... I wasn't going to use them so they're yours if you want them." Twilight said as she handed Luna the tickets.
"Thank you Twilight, I appreciate it," Luna said as she called Umbra before leaving the library.
The next day Luna took Umbra onto the airship trip, It seemed like Luna was enjoying the trip but nobody knew if Umbra even felt anything under that emotionless helmet that seemed to be fused to his body. "You having fun on the trip?" Luna asked Umbra.
Umbra didn't respond as he faced out towards the horizon, "What are you looking at..." She asked, Umbra pointed at a small speck in the horizon. "That must be nothing," Luna said as she waved dismissively, she left Umbra to his thoughts, she watched him from a far as he sat on the edge doing nothing.
A few hours pass and Luna goes back to Umbra who was still sitting in the same place as before. "Come on Lets do something!" Luna whined, Umbra stood up and followed Luna. "Umbra meet my nephew Prince Blueblood, Blueblood meet Umbra" Luna introduced the pair as Blueblood stared at Umbra with Disgust.
"Auntie... What is this failed experiment of yours you bestow upon my royal eyes?" he rudely said to Luna, "BLUEBLOOD!" she shouted as she smacked him upside the head. "What? I'm only telling he truth!" he whined, "He's the one who saved your Cousin from the changelings!" Luna argued.
"That thing saved Ca..." he was interrupted as something rammed into the side of the airship, when everyone got re-orientated Umbra ran out onto the deck to see another heavily armoured airship right next to them. "Watch this Blueblood" Luna said as Umbra jumped onto the other Airship.
The armoured airship Umbra Boarded was filled with diamond dog pirates, the diamond dogs went wide eyed as they glared at Umbra. They snapped out of their fear induced trance as they prepared to attack Umbra. One who ran at Umbra with a sword was picked up by him and thrown overboard.
Another diamond dog ran at Umbra but Umbra reacted quickly and round house kicked another diamond dog, another diamond dog went to attack Umbra but he got picked up by Umbra and thrown at another diamond dog. The diamond dogs decided to try to attack Umbra not individually but in groups.
Umbra howled blinding the diamond dogs when they tried to attack in groups, he took two diamond dogs out before they could see again. One climbed onto his back as another tried to beat him, Luna stared at the sight in horror as Umbra was being surrounded by more diamond dogs.
Umbra howled again which blinded the diamond dogs again, then he saw another armoured airship going towards them, he fought hard to reach the airships wheel. He changed the course of the airship to collide with the incoming one but the diamond dogs noticed what he was trying to do.
The diamond dogs cut the cables that attached the deck to the airships hydrogen balloon, but they were too late, both the airships went up in a fiery explosion as they collided into each other. Luna fell onto the her hooves as she watched Umbra perish along with the Diamond dogs.
"No... No no no… That did not just happen..." Luna whimpered as she looked over the fiery wreckage.