The cave delved deep below the surface of the world, down where darkness was perpetual and absolute. What little sounds were made echoed through the darkness, drops of water on the cave floor, distant breathing, labored at times. Despite this, there was no movement in it, except far down at the bottom, where a collection of chambers lied, connected by narrow passages.
The chambers were so compact and isolated from the narrow passages, that the use of a fire to light it would undoubtedly cause them to flood with smoke. Fortunately, luminescent crystals had been brought down at some point, and dimly lit the chambers so one could scarcely see.
A black dragon lie on his back, his entire body scarred, most notably on his face. With a grunt, he opened his scarlet-red eyes, which glanced around before he slowly sat up from the floor. His gaze fell upon a small amount of gemstones on the floor beside him. Reaching over with his opposite claw, he winced and moved back, his other claw grabbing at his left side. He snarled and braved the pain, reaching with that other claw instead as he grabbed one of the rubies and lifted it to his mouth.
Ponies would never think to look down here. Few knew this cave even existed, and what few knew never wanted to travel down and see where it led. It wasn’t a permanent hiding place, they have had many over the past months, but this seemed to be their best one so far, and so they had decided to stay just a bit longer.
Devouring another one of the gems, the black dragon took a deep breath before moving to stand. His body ached, but it was far better than it had been. Over the past two months, he was forced to recover from broken bones, magic-induced trauma, and more than a few deep scars.
Rising from the floor, he grabbed at his side for a moment before lowering his claw back to his side. Slowly he made his way over to a shallow pool of water fed into by a small trickle from the wall. He lowered himself down on all fours and took a much needed drink. His pupils were wide from the lack of light, and now became his norm, for he had not left the cave since they arrived a week before. Lifting his head from the water, he wiped at his face with his arm, growling lowly as this existence was infuriating to him. Having to hide like some child after he had come so close… so close to achieving his goal. He should’ve grabbed the shadow pony and left when he had the chance, and now his plan suffered for it.
Rising up once again, the dragon stretched out best he could, which hurt, but he forced himself to do it. He hated being cooped up like this, literally waiting in the darkness for the time in which he could come back. He thought through what happened over and over again, and still he couldn’t figure it out.
“How could that red dragon have become so strong?” He asked himself quietly, his voice deep. “How could he contend with me when I had the Etherus Diamond in my claws? It’s impossible!” He winced again upon raising his voice, grabbing at his side again. He had taken a brutal thrashing from Garble the red dragon, Ember the Dragon Lord, and even the princess’ unicorn student, Starlight Glimmer, whose magical power was ridiculous.
“Take it easy, Stormclaw,” A voice from the dark said quietly, earning his gaze. Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings, had emerged from the dark of the exit passage, using her magic to try and ease his pain as she had been for the past two months. “We’ve gone over this countless times; if you want the healing process to accelerate, you have to stop moving around and raising your voice so much.”
Her magic was soothing, and it did its job of stopping the bothersome pain. Stormclaw huffed, his ears falling flat to his head as he lowered his claw from his side. “I know.” He rolled his shoulder around a bit, a few cracks echoing into the air. “Are they still out there?”
Chrysalis nodded, moving to his side. “They are being very persistent, now lie back down.”
Stormclaw scoffed, turning away. “I’ve rested enough.”
Using her magic, the Changeling Queen forced the black dragon down onto his back, a very blank expression on his face as he went down. She smirked at him, her queenly side still loving the fact that she was very much in control of him while he was like this. “You’ve rested enough when your queen says you have.”
Rolling his eyes, Stormclaw crossed his arms. “I think you’re enjoying my condition too much.”
“And you’re brooding over what happened too much.” She replied sharply dropping him just a few inches before he touched down, eliciting a grunt from him. “Quit your petty tantrum and use this time of healing to figure out what our next move must be.”
He glared up at her. “I already know what we must do, I’m just trying to figure out how we’re supposed to do it.”
Chrysalis narrowed her eyes down at him. “Well perhaps if you’d TELL me, we could figure it out together. I’m no stranger to strategy, you know.”
Stormclaw huffed, propping himself up on his elbows. “You were on the right track the last time you plotted against the ponies; the princesses are the cornerstone of their society. The only flaw in that plan was that you underestimated Twilight’s underlings… something we both seem to be doing consistently.”
The changeling grimaced at the comment, but knew it was true. “What do you propose we do?”
The dragon thought about it, having been thinking a way around the truth since they had been in hiding. “I’m not sure yet… but I’ll think of something. Without the princesses, Equestria is weak. But without Sombra, I fear we won’t be able to contend with them should that moment ever come. Despite that unicorn’s flaws, he is more capable of facing them than we are. We must think of a way to get around our current disadvantage, and I think that shadow pony is the key.”
Chrysalis tilted her head a bit. “Him? What good will he do?”
“You let me worry about that,” He replied, lying back down since he knew she wasn’t going to let him stand again. “I’ll think of a way we can use him, you keep focusing on finding us safe places to hide.”
The way he answered her made a certain doubt in Chrysalis’ mind resurface. It started the moment she had heard Sombra’s accusation of this so called “scheme” he had, and hidden motives he was keeping from them. It didn’t hold much merit, but the doubt still lingered.
“Stormclaw?” she asked, in such a way that made him look at her silently. “What did Sombra mean when he said you were just using the two of us?”
The black dragon went quiet for a few moments, but then shook his head. “It was a ploy, Chrysalis. He said those things to drive a wedge between us. You didn’t see what happened that night in the ballroom, I think he was planning on leaving our side to join the ponies.”
This completely blindsided Chrysalis, who looked at him with a slight bit of skepticism. “How did you come to that conclusion?”
“I watched him with Princess Celestia, I saw his plan in his very eyes. He knew about you and me, he knows that if we succeeded, we would have no further use of him.” Stormclaw explained. “I could see it, the moment he established a claim in Equestria, he was going to turn on us. He wants the throne, and he knows that we both want you on the throne instead.”
Thinking about it, it did make sense. Sombra was a master manipulator, if he could manage to convince the princesses to allow him to stay, then he could easily do away with the two of them so that he could just manipulate his way to the top. “But how would that win him the throne in the Crystal Empire? The princesses would never-”
“Who said that’s the throne he’s after?” the dragon interrupted her.
Chrysalis thought about it, and then it clicked. “Wait… it’s Celestia he wants, isn’t it?” To that, Stormclaw nodded, and she continued. “If he has her, he’ll be perfectly positioned to seize it all. He gains her trust, then the throne, and subsequently all of the lands in Equestria…”
“And the Crystal Empire.” Stormclaw added, earning a confused look from the queen. “Think about it; Shining Armor may be the prince, but Princess Cadence holds the true power in the north. She listens to everything Celestia tells her, even though she doesn’t have to anymore. With Celestia under his influence, Sombra could use her to control Cadence, and thereby take not only Equestria, but the Crystal Empire as well.”
Chrysalis nodded slowly. “You’re right… you’re absolutely right, he was going to turn on us!”
Stormclaw hid a smirk from her, stretching out his arms as he shook his head. “It’s just you and me now, but we’ll figure it out. I’ll be the one to place the crown on your head in the end.”
She looked down at him, a wicked smile crossing her face. “With all the ponies bowing down before us?”
“Bowing down before you.” The dragon corrected her.
Chrysalis rested down on top of him, brushing at the mane of golden spikes on his head. “All of Equestria may be mine in the end, but I’ll be yours.”
Stormclaw lifted his claw to her face, which caused her to close her eyes and lean into it. The dark smirk returned to his face the moment the changeling’s eyes closed. “All of the world will be yours, but yes… you will be mine.”
The lowlands between Canterlot and the Crystal Mountains was a quiet land. The highroad and rail line connecting Equestria to the Crystal Empire was the only real traveled route across it. A rather large expanse of nature, the lowlands served little to no purpose to Equestria, remaining as little more than scenery during one’s travels on the highroad either north or south.
Occasionally ponies would venture into this land, but as little more than camping trips. The lands were, for the most part, untouched by those around it. The perfect place to disappear for one who didn’t want to leave Equestria.
A pony covered from head to hoof in a black cloak walked through the forested region. He kept close along a river, though mostly out of sight behind the tree line, just in case somepony did show up. Despite this caution, the pony had not seen anyone since he had entered the lowlands a few weeks ago. He both thanked and cursed his luck for it.
He knew he could no longer let himself be around ponies, or anyone for that matter, again… but he longed for it. He had become so happy, because he had everything, and so now that it was gone, he wanted it back. More than anything he wanted it all back… but at the same time, more than anything, he knew he had to stay away. Walking underneath the green of the trees, all he could think about was how much he wanted to go home.
“You don’t have a home.”
The pony spun around, but there was no one there. He glanced around, eyes searching, but there was nothing. All other sounds faded away from his ears, his senses sharp as a razor’s edge as he waited, watched, and listened. When a few moments passed, he allowed himself a breath.
That voice… it was taunting him, tormenting him, every day since this began. Some days it spoke only once, on others, it was as if he were surrounded by a crowd of invisible beasts, playing at his fears. For two months now, he was forced to contend with this dark will, which crippled his morale as he went from hiding place to hiding place, constantly on the move.
At first he had gone south, but he was quick to realize that his path would be blocked by the Macintosh Hills, and narrow railway towards the great desert to the south. From there went west, over Ghastly Gorge and into White-Tail Woods. Making headway into the Undiscovered West seemed like his best option, until he found that both King Thorax and Dragon Lord Ember had begun searches in the area, which was swarmed with changelings and dragons.
Leaving him with little options, he went north into the Smokey Mountains for a week or so. He then crossed Unicorn Range, and had been in the lowlands since then.
Those two months felt like lifetimes away from his friends. There was no joy anywhere inside him anymore. He ran to get away from them, to save them, from what he really was.
As night fell upon the land, these darkened feelings always got worse. The darkness fed into this madness, this insanity that the voice and his visions were forcing upon him. More and more he felt like the pony he saw in his memories, all those many millennia ago, trapped by what he was and forced to run away from it all.
Thankfully, he had been taught how to make a fire by his friends, which helped with comforting him during these times. The brightness and warmth brought from the flame helped to expel the cold in his body, but at a price. He had to sit close to the flames to hide away from the shadows it made in the area around him, and the closer he sat, the more the flames made him see it… experience it… all over again.
He would close his eyes, but the heat and light striking his eyelids never made it any easier. He curled himself up and forced himself to stay awake as long as he could each night. The flames reminded him of what he saw, but each time he drifted asleep…
He had only closed his eyes for a moment, but when he opened them, the world around him was red. He slowly rose from the ground, looking down at his hooves before glancing around him.
The same place, every time. On a hill he stood overlooking Ponyville, with a decent view of Equestria. He could see Cloudsdale, the Everfree Forest, and even Canterlot, high up on its mountain. Gaze rising up from the land, his heart sank, his legs trembled, and his eyes widened.
Blazing bright as it did every night in his eyes, the red star hovered high over Equestria. The bursting flares and shimmering flames, the Sun and Moon lost in suspension, and all the ponies of the land fleeing. The choral hymn plagued his ears, having now become the song of his nightmares, which he was forced to witness every night. The very sight of his friends huddled and waiting for the end.
Then came the collision. It never changed, it was always the same. The wave of red sweeping across the land, and destroying everything it touched. Canterlot, Cloudsdale, the Everfree Forest, all gone. The wave left nothing but ash and dust in its wake as it swept through Ponyville, claiming them all.
Every night he watched them fade… every night he heard them scream… and every night he stood helpless as he watched the land and all its inhabitants die. It was absolute, there was no escape, the wave decimated Equestria, leaving nothing.
He would awaken in the early hours of the morning with a shriek, every time. For though he had seen it every night, the result was always the same. Tears in the morning, fears in the night. This was his curse now, one that he could hardly bear to witness much longer. Yet still he ran, refusing to allow this nightmare to become real. If being around his friends meant risking them to this fate… then he would spend the rest of his days enduring this torment.
Walking to the river side, the pony lowered his head for a drink. There was a splash across the way, making him stagger backwards in surprise.
A white-furred earth pony looked at him from across the river, having just filled a bucket with water. Her mane and tail were black with a single, silver strand running down the side, and her cutie mark was a runic symbol. “Oh, hey there, sorry if I startled ya.” She said, smiling a little bit at how much of a reaction the mysterious pony had.
“No, no, it’s alright,” He replied, standing back up straight as he made sure his cloak was still completely in place. “Just wasn’t expecting to see anypony all the way out here.”
Setting the bucket down, the mare noticed how withered his cloak was, and how generally tired he sounded, which was easy to tell by his voice. “Ya look pretty beat, why don’t ya come to town with me?”
The cloaked pony hesitated. “A town? Really?”
She nodded. “Charon. It’s pretty small, I wouldn’t be surprised if ya haven’t heard of it. Come on, I’ll take ya there.”
There was a settlement out here in the lowlands? He had to be at least a dozen or so miles away from the highroad, why would anypony want to build a town here? There was an obvious urge to politely say no and keep moving, being that he didn’t want anyone to notice him, but there was also that part of him wanting to say yes. There was no way anyone would recognize him in a rural place like this, how could they? Perhaps he could spend a night on a bed instead of the ground, even if the nightmares wake him again, at least he won’t be sore like he’s been for the past two months.
After having paused for a moment, the cloaked stallion nodded. “Alright sure, lead the way.”
The mare smiled at him and gestured for him to come over. Hopping across a few river stones, he made his way over to her, and followed her into the forest.
“I’m Lucille, by the way.” She said with a smile, looking over at him. “But everypony just calls me Luci.”
Luckily, he had already planned for if the topic of his name ever came up, so he answered her calmly, saying, “Night Daze, nice to meet you.”
Lucille tilted her head a bit. “Should I ask why you’re wearing a cloak?”
He shook his head, his golden eyes barely visible underneath his hood. “I’d prefer you didn’t.”
“Fair enough.” She replied, facing forward again.
The two walked for a few minutes until they came to a clearing. Charon was indeed a small town, more like a village really. There were only a dozen or so small houses with one moderately large one furthest to the back. Some of the houses looked rundown and abandoned, but most of them looked like they were generally well kept.
“Welcome to Charon.” Lucille said with a smile, approaching it with her guest not far behind. Setting the bucket down alongside a few others, she turned and lifted her hoof. “That’s where my brother and I live, and over there is Town Hall, where we have our community meetings and such.”
Looking around, the cloaked pony nodded. Everypony smiled and waved at one another as they went about their business. There weren’t too many of them, perhaps two or three to every tidy house, but the town immediately had similar vibes to him that he got from Ponyville.
“Cozy little town, I like it.” He said, turning back to her. “I have to ask though, why out here? Surely it would be easier to live further south with most the other pony settlements?”
Lucille shrugged her shoulders. “Guess we just like it quiet. Not that we got something against folk down south, but we’ve come to realize just how much commotion happens down there, as well as to the east and west.”
He nodded in reply. “So why not live closer to the highroad? It’s not too far away.”
“Same reason,” She answered him. “We just prefer to go about our lives in peace, away from all the mayhem.” She then tilted her head. “What about you? What’s got you out here all by your lonesome?”
He sighed in reply. “It’s a long story but, to be honest, it’s not too far off from why you are all staying out here too.”
She seemed to have a great respect for that answer, being as she smiled and said, “Well then, feel free to keep it to yourself, don’t let us impede on it.”
The two walked through town and Lucille gave him the quick tour. It didn’t take long at all, just a walk down the center path to Town Hall and greeting a few ponies along the way. By the tour’s end, a question did remain on the cloaked pony’s mind.
“You said there was too much commotion to the south, east, and west,” He said, the two of them having sat down on a wood bench. “So what about to the north?”
Lucille chuckled a bit. “Only thing worth mentioning north of here is the Crystal Empire.”
Having heard more than enough stories about the northern kingdom, the cloaked pony was fascinated by it. In all the time he had been in Ponyville, he’d never gotten the chance to visit. He tilted his head, curious. “Does it differ from the rest to you?”
The mare looked to him for a moment, and then turned to face north. “The empire may have been a place of chaos during its return, but ever since it has been a beacon of light and hope to all Equestria. Many travel there, but few understand just how special it is.”
“What do you mean?” He asked her.
“The crystal ponies, they are more than just ponies with sparkling coats of fur.” She began to explain. “Charon may be small, but it wasn’t always like this, ya know? It was once a great city between Canterlot and the Crystal Empire. We managed the trade between them, and so we were closer to the crystal ponies than anyone else in the world. When the empire disappeared, the city suffered. Without the flow of trade, ponies began to leave, until very few remained.”
The stallion looked at her, processing this for a few moments. “But the Crystal Empire has returned, why hasn’t Charon started growing again?”
Lucille shook her head, looking to him. “Our city dwindled into a town, and that town dwindled into what ya see now. So when the rail ways became laid down for access to the north, instead of coming our way, they just ran straight through the lowlands. The highroad followed suite, and now, it was as if Charon never existed at all, completely forgotten by the world.”
“That’s… I’m so sorry…” He spoke softly, feeling crushed by this.
She managed a small smile. “Don’t be, we hold no reservations on the matter. What I’m trying to say is that crystal ponies are different. Being around them… ya see that life isn’t just about the sad things. The Crystal Heart, it does more than just create an aurora over Equestria; it protects us all, and its power comes from those ponies, who have become a part of it.”
He looked at her, somewhat confused. “Protects us? Protects us from what?”
Lucille thought about that, having pondered it herself. She looked to the stallion, a bewildered smile on her face. “I haven’t the slightest idea, it’s just what we believe. Maybe it’s a piece of them that rubbed off on our ancestors all those centuries ago…”
Pausing, the stallion returned his gaze to the north, where even now the aurora could be seen up in the sky. “Have you been to see it? This Crystal Heart?”
The mare nodded. “I have.”
“And…? What does it make you feel” He asked her quietly.
She sighed and offered a smile. “Hopeful.”
He stayed motionless for a moment, his mind lost in a haze of thoughts. If he went there, there was no way he would be able to go unnoticed for long. If Cadence or Shining Armor saw him, it was over. The others would come find him and the nightmare… it could come true.
There was another side, however. If what Lucille told him was true, then perhaps the Crystal Heart could help him. Perhaps it could free him of this torment. Perhaps it could erase this darkness inside of him and make it so he could go home. He had been running for so long, been so afraid of watching that catastrophe happen, that he never stopped to think there could be a way to prevent it. Hopeful… maybe that was what he needed.
He slowly looked to her, smiling faintly. “Thank you, Luci.”
She smiled, but it was more out of curiosity. “For what?”
He stood from the bench. “I think you may have just helped me find out how I can fix everything… how I can finally go home.”
“Oh, well, you’re welcome then.” She said happily.
“The Crystal Empire… that is where I must be.” He said to her, head held high.
Lucille paused upon hearing that. “Wait… you’re leaving already?”
He too paused, but then nodded. “Afraid so, but I’ll be coming through here on my way back home. I’ll be sure to stop by and say hi.”
She chuckled a bit. “Heh, you better.”
The two shared a smile, and the stallion walked on. Luckily, the town kept the old road to the Crystal Empire moderately well kept, and so it would be the perfect way to get there without being seen.
As he left the town and stepped onto the path, it happened again.
“…you think it will be that easy? That you can just change who you are?”
The pony stopped mid-step. “I know who I am.”
“You are Erebus.”
He then closed his eyes, lowering his head at first, but then lifting and shaking it. “No…”
The chance… the mere chance of this working lifted his spirits to new heights. He felt his determination return to him, even amidst the fear and anguish of watching that red star wipe out the world. He thought of returning to them, his friends… his family… it became a newly found, driving force. Eyes flashing open, they blazed with golden light.
“I am Shadow Light.”