//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: The Dividing Chronicles: Calm Before the Storm [Book One] 
// by Moonshine9012 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 3
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“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.” 
― Howard Zinn




Shadow Wing trudged along with his friends down the deserted and muddy road. The constant rain and wind tore at him and the others around, billowing their cloaks. He had on his traditional master's attire, with his hidden blades beneath his sleeves and his bow and quiver angled across his back so it wouldn't get in the way of his wings.

Beside him walked Princess Luna, head turned slightly to the side so as to shield her face from the storm, even if just a little. She wore a plain, dark navy blue cloak that dropped down over her hooves, almost scraping the mud below. The Princess had a large hood pulled over her horn and muzzle, concealing her features. Her only weapon was her horn, hooves, and magic.

Slightly behind them and to the left was Night Bringer and Octavia. Night had gone for the more modern style clothing: white and blue with a smidgen of red somewhere. With him, he brought one of the new weapons the blacksmiths at the guild called 'firearms'. He too had both hidden blades under his sleeves and across his back, also angled to not interfere with his wings, was a sword.

Night was accompanied by Octavia at his side. She also wore the traditional attire but instead of white, silver and red; it was grey, silver and red. It was grey so as to match her coat color. She also wore weapons under her sleeves but she had a different variation of the hidden blades. While the others had actual blades hidden under their sleeves, the cellist turned assassin had two, short, sharpened bows.

The bows were made from the finest of wood so they would not shatter or crack. The strings of the bow were not strings but rather razor thin, razor sharp blades with barbs. The 'blades' were easily concealed but had to treated with the utmost care, otherwise you would cut your hoof off without realizing it. To top it off, resting on her back was a deadly looking, medium sized mace.

Then beside the pair, a bit behind Luna and Shadow and to the left, was Moon Shine and Rainbow Dash. Moon wore a midnight black cloak with silver designs running all along it. He too had a large hood pulled over his face, covering it. He also had no weapons beside his horn, hooves and magic.

By his side trudged along his wife, Rainbow Dash. Dash had on a dark master's cloak with silver trim and a hint of red through it. It made the rainbow maned pegasus look both mysterious and lethal. She chose to equip herself with only one hidden blade on her right hoof but on her back were two swords crossed over each other, careful as to not restrict her wings.

The finely clad group of ponies continued along the road, murmuring amongst themselves. Both the alicorn and pegasus stallions in the back kept a constant wing around their respective loves. They partially did it for sentimental protection and just the fact that they enjoyed being close with their significant other.

For some reason, Shadow could not help but glance back at the Prince and Dash time and again as the group walked. There was a reason why he kept looking but he thought he had gotten over that a few years ago. Glancing back at the black wing draped over his fellow assassin, he shook his head and forced himself to look forward again. He couldn't help but feel a bit of sadness and self pity at the thought of another in his place.

Voices managed to reach his flickering ears despite the storm going on around them. He recognized the voices as the murmurs of the ponies behind himself and Luna. He realized with a little shame that he hadn't spoken a word to the Princess since they had left Canterlot for Manehatten.

Looking over at the darkly clad mare beside him, Shadow felt a twange inside of his stomach suddenly. He studied her for a few moments as they walked. He was reminded of things he couldn't take his eyes off of. He could see some of her face and he couldn't stop looking at the way water ran and dripped off her bangs. How they fell in front of her face. 

He could barely make out the well toned curves of her body. No, I can't think like that! There's more to a mare than just looks! he scolded himself. He pushed those thoughts aside for the time being and focused on making conversation with the Princess of the Night.

Clearing his throat and moving closer so she could hear him, he asked, "So how far to Manehatten now?"

She also leaned close and replied, "Umm, if my estimations are correct then there shouldn't be more than thirty-five minutes left."

"Oh well then, it shouldn't be that long now..."

Glancing back for a moment at Moon Shine, Shadow asked, "So what's the story behind the Prince back there Luna? If I might be so bold to ask."

Smiling a little, Luna turned her head slightly so she could look him in the eye. "You may be so bold. It is quite a long story though Shadow Wing, are you sure you would like to hear it?'

Looking around at the dreary landscape about them and feeling the rain splatter against his already soaked cloths, he leaned back in close to her. Luna noted he was closer to her then he had previously had been a few moments ago. 

"Well, it doesn't look like I'm going anywhere soon" Shadow said with a grin.

Smiling that beautiful smile of hers at him again, she began, "Okay then. Well, it all started back when Moon was just a little foal, which was about a thousand years ago; before my banishment. Back then there were four alicorns in the royal family: Tia and myself, along with our brothers, Moon Shine and Flourishing Star. Each had their own respective title: Tia and Flourishing Star were the Prince and Princess of the Sun while I and Moon were Prince and Princess of the Night.

Things were quite peaceful during those times. Tia, Flourish, and I all were teaching Moon Shine the responsibilities of being an alicorn. He was only three at the time but alicorns mature much faster than their bodies so while his body was still that of a young foal, his mind was equal to that of a colt of almost ten years old.

Then, everything changed. An ancient evil awakened by the name of Death Stroke. I won't go into details about this beast but the point is he wanted power. Specifically, Moon Shine's power."

As Luna paused to take a breath, Shadow took the opportunity to ask, "So this thing, Death Stroke, was after the Prince's darkness bending?"

The Princess, having caught her breath, continued, "Well, sort of. You see, getting Moon's darkness bending was merely a perk. What the beast was really after was Moon Shine's Guardian Element." 

Shadow looked confused but what shushed when Luna stopped him by saying, "Yes, you've probably never heard of the Element of the Guardian. It was once part of a trilogy called the Elements of War. These elements were synthetically made from the residue energy that came from the Elements of Harmony. The trilogy consisted of the Elements of the Assassin, Berserker, and Guardian."

"You keep speaking in past tense. Were the other two elements stolen? Lost perhaps?" Shadow inquired.

The Princess shook her head and said, "No, they were neither lost nor stolen but rather buried. I'll get to that in a moment though. So, when the beast struck at us and came for Moon Shine, we were forced to make a decision: we could either try and fight off Death Stroke or send the young Prince away. Sadly, in the midst of battle, when we saw we could not protect him, we were forced to send Moon to the planet Earth. While we did save the young foal from certain destruction, our plan backfired on us. 

First, in the process of spiriting the Prince away, he lost his memory in both the teleportation and shape shifting into a human. Second, Flourishing Star tried to fight off the beast named Death Stroke and save the day. My late brother always was a sucker for heroics. In his split second decision, he doomed himself forever. While fighting the beast, Flourishing Star succumbed to the evil words of Death Stroke and was corrupted almost to his very core. He turned on Celestia and I and destroyed almost all of Canterlot before we could drive him and the beast off. My brother became the slave of that monster for over the next thousand years.

The last incident is one of the most famous in Equestrian history and is the biggest shame of my very long life."

"You mean...." Shadow Wing trailed off beside her.

"Yes Shadow, I am referring to the Nightmare Moon incident. When my brother, the Sun Prince, was corrupted by the words of the monster, I to was also corrupted. While I did not turn suddenly and completely like my brother did, the words of Death Stroke planted the seed of jealousy and hatred inside my heart. Over time, that seed continue to grow inside of me, whispering it's evil words to my naive ears. Slowly, I succumbed to the darkness and evil within me and started to become the power hungry, insane monster that ponies today only hear in legends past."

Luna's voice had started to become shaky as she started to explain this part to Shadow and before long, silent tears had begun to fall to the ground; methodically in sync with the rain around them. He could hear the faintest of sniffing beside him and when he looked over at her, he saw that her gaze was downcast and melancholy.

Cautiously and ever so slightly, he slowly lifted a soaked wing and placed it over Luna's back. He was able to do this because the Princess, and the Prince behind them, had shrunken down to an average ponies size so they could blend in. As his wing finally rested over her, he was relieved to know she hadn't flinched or move away. He did feel her stiffen up a little though.

He leaned in a little closer and said soothingly, "Princess, you don't need to keep blaming yourself for that. It's been seven years since you've been forgiven and cleansed. It's ok, you can let it go."

She stayed silent as she continued to shed silent tears. Shadow continued to console her as they walked down the mu filled and gloomy road. After a few minutes, he said, "Do you want to finish the story Luna? It's ok if you don't."

She sniffed once more before lifting her head and shook. "No, no, it's ok, I can finish. So after I came back from... from my banishment seven years ago, I had to get back into rhythm with the modern world. While Tia was helping me with that, we still kept a continuous on Moon while he was on Earth.It was a very peculiar thing to see too. You see, it had been a thousand years here in Equestria but on Earth it had only been about fifteen years."

Shadow's eyes widened as he said, "So you're saying the Prince is only eighteen years old?!"

Luna laughed and said, "He hides it well, doesn't he? It's amazing how much he has matured since he came back. Anyway, while we watched him from afar, we wanted desperately to bring him back but we couldn't. If we did that then the beast would have found out and come after him again. Moon ended up coming back anyway when the Death Stroke, after a thousand years, had finally found him on Earth. 

So after he had been found, Tia went and tried to save him from the beast on Earth. Again, a few thing went wrong. While Celestia was able to run Death Stroke off, Moon Shine was hit by a magical bolt trying to protect his sister. He was sucked into a sort of 'black hole' and transported to Equestria. It took us almost three days to finally find him after Celestia returned.

After we had located him, we found that his memories were still missing. So we had the arduous task of trying to explain everything that had happened to him. Apparently he knew a limited amount, not from his memories but ,out of all things, what people on Earth call a 'television show'."

Shadow scrunched his face up in confusion as he asked, "A 'television show'? What is that?" His tongue rolled over the unfamiliar word with some difficulty.

The Princess laughed again and said, "Yes, a strange word isn't it? It's even stranger if you see what it is but I'll tell you more about that later. So, the same day we went and found him in Ponyville, Death Stroke attacked the town and us. He captured my sister and I, while injuring Rainbow Dash and almost beating Moon Shine to death in the process. Before the beast left the town, he told an almost unconscious Moon that the only way to get back my sister and I was to bring the Elements of Harmony and the Element of the Guardian.

Long story short, the Prince came without the Elements to the beast's lair and a huge battle ensued. While fighting, Celestia and myself were both freed from our prisons and protected the Elemental bearers that had come with Moon. During the battle, Rainbow Dash jumped in the way of a magical bolt to save the Prince, much as Moon had done for my sister. As a result, the Prince also got himself struck down by going after the beast.

My brother, Flourishing Star, was fighting me when our little brother was almost killed that day. It could have been seeing his brother almost die or the fact that he was fed up but either way, Flourish broke free of the corruption in his heart. Turning on his former master, Flourish covered us as we escaped the beast's lair.

Eventually, the mountain we were in, which was called Mount Pegasi, collapsed in on itself due to all the magic that was shooting around the inside. It buried my brother, Prince Flourishing Star of the Sun, the beast called Death Stroke, and the two Elements of War: Berserker and Assassin. We made it back to Canterlot, where there was celebration for one Prince's return but mourning the loss of another. Shortly after, Moon Shine and Rainbow Dash were married."

That's when I lost her Shadow thought as he bowed his head slightly.

"Are you alright Shadow?" the Princess asked, concern evident in her voice.

Looking up at her, Shadow offered a small smile and said, "Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you for the story Luna, it's not everyday I get to hear storytelling skills such as yours. Especially from one as pretty as you."

Luna blushed and said, "T-thank you Shadow Wing, I don't get to hear compliments such as yours very often."

The assassin smiled back at her, a warm, friendly smile, before looking ahead again. He couldn't see much through the fog but thankfully the rain had slowed down almost to a complete stop but the clouds still hung around. The group walked for about ten more minutes, just enjoying each other's company.

Shadow's wing was stilled draped over the Princess but she did not mind. She found it quite warm and inviting, as opposed to the biting chill of the air. The stallion beside her was also enjoying this serene moment. He found it a bit comforting to be near her and not have her shy away from him.

As the road became more refined and eventually paved, they knew they were nearing their destination. They kept walking towards the city, hearing shouts, bangs and crashes coming from the normally bustling metropolis. 

"Keep an eye, sounds like things are worse than we thought" said Night Bringer to the other five.

The rest nodded in agreement and pulled themselves away from their respective other, readying for anything that could come. Shadow reluctantly pulled his wing off of Luna and folded it against his side once again. He was a little sad the moment had to come to an end and plus, his side was cold now.

After about two minutes, Octavia perked up and said, "Somepony's coming."

They all looked through only the fog, for the rain had given them a brief respite, and saw a figure starting to forming. 

"Who do you think that is?" Shadow whispered to Luna as the figure began to take shape as a pony.

"I suspect it's a sentry to the city" she replied, also in a whisper.

"Why do you think that?" As he said this, a small explosion went off somewhere in the city; the flames could barely be seen through the overcast clouds.

The Princess looked over at him, an eyebrow raised and a knowing look on her face.

As the group came to a stop, Shadow raised his hooves and said while smiling, "Alright, alright, stupid question."

Nodding her head and smirking at the assassin, the two looked forward at the guard pony that had appeared in front of them from the mist. The other two pairs in the group came to stand beside them as the guard stared them down with a blank stare and calculating eyes.

"Who are you?! Identify yourselves!" the stallion commanded in a deep, baritone voice. He continued to walk forward, stopping about four feet away from the six. He was a large, rather buff looking earth pony with what looked like maroon fur underneath the white and gold armor. If the armor was anything to go by, then the stallion was either a Private First Class or a Corporal.

"We are but weary travelers in search of a place to rest and eat!" Shadow called out to him. Technically, he wasn't lying to the guard. They were in need of food and a place to sleep, they were just going to do a bit of poking around while they were at it.

"No can do sir. The city is under martial law by the Equestrian Military. Nopony is able to enter at this time." 

As the guard said 'Equestrian Military', Luna looked at him with confusion. She was about to speak but was beat by the Moon Shine as he said, "What do you mean 'Equestrian Military'? I was not aware of Equestria bearing a military of any kind except for the Royal and Nocturne guards of Canterlot."

"I am not at liberty to give any information concerning the newly formed military but I can tell you travelers that we were made under the decree of Princess Celestia herself. Now, as I said before, the city is off limits to all outsiders so if you will turn back.."

Night Bringer stepped forward and said, "We're not outsiders though, my friend over there is from Manehatten." He pointed over at Shadow as he said this. The guard seemed to contemplate this for a few moments, mulling it over in his head.

Finally, he said, "I'm sorry sir but that means that only he can enter city; now if you will just-"

There was an angry huff that cut the guard abruptly off. Dash frustratedly said, "Oh for the love of Spitfire!"

She bolted forward and uppercutted the guard right underneath the muzzle, eliciting a cry of surprise from the stallion. The guard crumpled to the mud caked ground in a heap of soaked armor. 

Dash turned back around to the group and said, "I was getting tired of that colt's ranting."

The others looked at each other before simply shrugging their shoulders and started walking again towards the city. Octavia was sure to move the unconscious body to the side of the road and under a bush, so he wouldn't accidentally inhale mud and water from the road and also just to hide him.

The group eventually came upon the outer city limits to Manehatten. They were loathed to see a camp set up around the giant city. The camp made a ring around the concrete jungle, which was a hint of how many guards or, soldiers were actually there.

"The fog should keep us hidden from afar but just in case we run into anypony up close, we'll be covered" said the Princess as she charged a spell on her horn. 

Slowly, the group began to fade into nothingness as the invisibility spell took hold. Satisfied that they would not be seen, the pairs resumed their walk through the collage of leather, silk, and tough materials that were the tents. As they walked, they saw that the outermost tents were filled with both sleeping stallions and a few mares that looked as if they had been in quite a few of skirmishes.

The farther they trekked into the camp though, the more tents they saw deserted. Entering the actual buildings of the city, the group could hear more clearly the sounds of rioting coming from the center of the city. Luna released the invisibility spell on the pairs and they rushed toward the sounds.

As Shadow ran, he couldn't help but look around sadly at all the littered streets, alleyways, and run and broken down buildings. So much has changed he thought

Luna noticed his downcast demeanor and asked as they ran, "Are you alright Shadow?"

He looked over at her with a sad smile and opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by another small explosion. Looking forward again, he noticed they had reached their destination. In front of them now, in the very center of the city, stood two opposing forces. 

On one side were the rioters: unarmed ponies of all sizes pushing against the 'military' that was trying to occupy their city. The other side consisted of the royal guards, police force, and Shadow even caught a glimpse of a white cloaked figure throughout. 

The two giant groups were competing for control of the center of the city, which was in the shape of a square. More than a  few ponies on the 'military' side were armed with some of the new inventions called 'firearms'. The small explosions that kept occurring were when bullets hit something flammable on the streets or in the nearby buildings.

The six ponies waded into the throng of rioters, careful not to let themselves be separated from one another. As they got to the other side of the mob, as they had cut a horizontal line through the center, they took cover in the doorway of a nearby shop and watched as the two groups continued to fight.

Moon Shine looked around and said, "Well, so much for 'small incidents'. Tia is going to get it when we return."

Shadow pulled a nearby stallion over and shouted over the noise of the crowd, "What's going on here?!"

The stallion shouted back, "What do you mean 'what's going on'?! How could you not know?!"

The assassin rolled his eyes and yelled, "We just got here! So again: what's going on here?!"

The old colt shouted with glee, "The revolution my boy!"

"What revolution?!"

The old stallion looked at them like they were the stupidest ponies in Equestria. "The revolution! Surely you've heard of it! It's been going on for weeks now!"

The group just shook their heads 'no'.

The colt sighed and shouted, "The revolution is-"

Suddenly, there was a great chorus of screams as shouts and bangs were heard. The all turned around and saw the giant mob of protestors scattering in all different directions. Looking at the 'military' assembled, they were horrified to see them start to fire a barrage of magical bolts and bullets.

The rest of the non-unicorns who were not armed with guns, drew their weapons and charged most of the unarmed civilians. The unfortunate few who had armed themselves were target first and either cut down by sword, bullet or magic. Blood started to coat the streets as the 'soldiers' continued their brutal and unorthodox slaughter, waving Celestia's banner all the while.

Shadow's blood boiled as he watched. "This is complete bull-shark. This is murder against unarmed innocents" he growled. 

Beside and behind him, the others either growled or grunted in agreement as they got ready to do battle. Princess Luna pawed at the ground with her hoof, rage in her eyes. She and her brother transformed back into their regular sizes and threw off the cloaks they had adorned themselves with.

"They will not get away with killing my subjects. Celestia won't be able to walk for the rest of her life; however short it might be" Luna stated, venom dripping from her voice.

As if on an unspoken cue, the six all charged at the unsuspecting royal warriors, protecting those still retreating the carnage. In each and every eye of the small band of ponies, was the insane lust for blood, vengeance, and justice.

The storm boomed and lightning flashed as the rain began to pour onto the battling ponies below.