//------------------------------// // Chapter One - Walking Shadow // Story: Shadow Of Night // by AmethystProtector //------------------------------// Businesses all across Ponyville were closing for the night. While all it's visitors and inhabitants were preparing to end their day, one pony was preparing to start theirs. The sun was already on the edge of the horizon as he began preparing himself for the job ahead of him. He drank from the stream leading into the town and began washing and grooming, hoping to give his employers the best first impression that he could give. He ran the social niceties over in his head, needing to bring them to the front of his mind since he rarely gets much use of them. “Good day Mister and Missus Cake,” he began. His naturally deep voice came out ragged and slurred. He cleared his throat and took another drink from the stream. “No, too informal. These are my employers and my spokes-ponies, I need to greet them with courtesy and respect,” he said aloud to himself in a much cleaner voice. “Greetings Mister and Missus Cake. My name is Starless Night. Mister Weathervane has sent me from Appleloosa.” Now his voice hung on the air like the sound of wind-chimes on a still evening, finally back to normal. “Maybe too formal now, but they need me to do a job, not be their best friend.” Finished cleaning himself up, he carefully packed away his sleeping bag and equipment and placed them into his cart, then cleaned the makeshift campsite until it appeared to have never been used. With everything done, he took his position at his cart and began walking into Ponyville. //----------------// The sun had set over an hour ago as Mrs Cake sat outside Sugarcube Corner, keeping an eye out for the pony Mr Cake had told her was sent to help them. Although she was pleased that there was help on the way, she couldn’t help but feel worried about the lack of information on this pony they plan to leave the bakery to over the next few nights. The door next to her had opened and Mrs. Cake turned to see her husband walk out of their shop and take the seat next her. Mr. Cake could clearly see the worry on his wife's face and quickly tried to put her fears to rest. “Don't worry Honeybun, I'm sure he'll be here soon. I'm sure the long distance he’s traveled has caused him to be late is all. Weathervane said Starless has never missed a night's work since he hired him.” Mrs Cake could not be put at ease that easily and replied earnestly. “But Carrot, we're leaving not only our life's work, but our home in the hooves of a pony we don't know and never stays in one place for long. How can we take that chance?” Mr Cake looked at the sky and took a deep breath, taking a moment to experience his surroundings before answering. He feels the same fears that she does, so how can he just expect her to set them aside because they need to? His ears perk up at the sound of a distant cart rolling along the cobbled streets but ignores it, turning to his wife. “I feel your fear Cup Cake, and under the circumstances, I wouldn’t dream of doing this. But Spinning Weathervane is our friend and he has sent us this pony in our time of need. We should trust him just like he has trusted us.” They remain quiet as they ponder the situation, looking to the stars as if the answers to there problems lay there. Moments pass when Mr Cake sits up suddenly tense, being alerted by the sound of a cart almost right on top of them. Before them, slowing to a stop, they see a tall, thin Earth pony with his coat, mane and tail colored a deep black, the shade of the night itself, pulling a well aged cart. He looked back and forth across the street at the signs over head until his eyes met Sugarcube Corner's. He carefully pulled up to the bakery's wall and up to the pair, saying in a voice that filled the air around them, but didn't travel far, “Greetings Mister and Missus Cake. My name is Starless Night. Mister Weathervane has sent me from Appleloosa.” The Cakes stood in silence, taking in the strange pony as he silently slipped out of the cart's harness. With the closer look, they could see that Starless' entire body was one even shade of black. No, black was not the word they were looking for, shadow was. Not another color marred him, not even a cutie mark. That one point was beyond strange to them since he looked to be almost as old Big McIntosh, but slightly shorter and a lot thinner. They watched as he retrieved his messenger bags and tossed them onto his back, their color matching his coat so well that they seemed to melt into his sides. He came to a stop in front of them allowing them a clear look of his eyes. His irises were the same color as his coat and what should have been the whites of his eyes were the color of a deep swirling fog, seemingly endless in its depth. Mr. Cake was the first to come out their shared shock and quickly stammered out a greeting, “I...I...It's a pleasure to meet you Starless, uh, do you mind being called Starless?” “If Starless is makes you comfortable, please do so,” he said in that voice that filled the air around only them, not seeming to be bothered by their reaction. “Well, Mrs Cake and I are ready to leave for the night, so if you'd like, I'll show you around and get you started.” With a nod of approval from Starless, Mr Cake leads him and Mrs Cake inside. //----------------// Having finished raising the moon and stars for the night, Princess Luna stands at her private balcony surveying the land for things out of place before using the nearby telescope for her nightly stargazing. All seemed to be in its proper place, but whenever she would look towards Ponyville, a small inkling of caution would call out to her from the deep reaches of her mind. She wasn’t a stranger to that feeling when looking at Ponyville, seeing as the town was located so close to the Everfree Forest, and with Twilight and her friends being at the center of so many dangerous situations that her sister and herself would always be alert for that sensation. But tonight, something was different about it, something that made her stay on edge. The minutes had ticked away, with her concern for Ponyville making her feel every second as it slipped by. After almost an hour peering into the darkness, she spotted the inconsistency that made her uneasy, a light. One that never shines at this time of night. Luna knew the habits of the people of Ponyville, having kept her eye on it for almost three years. Luna took her seat at the telescope and began working the mechanisms to turn and point it towards Ponyville. The powerful tool, meant for viewing distant stars, had no difficulty showing her the streets of the quiet town, and her acute night vision allowed her trouble free sight. After several moments adjusting the telescope, she keyed onto the offending light source. After fine tuning the focus, she saw that the light came from Sugarcube Corner, a shop she had never been to since they were closed for Nightmare Night, but she knew of the owners and she had sampled the treats that her sister Celestia had brought back for her on several occasions. Luna watched for a few moments as the Cakes looked up at the stars, bringing a small smile to her lips. Suddenly, Mr Cake was alert and soon he and Mrs Cake were on their hooves, looking down the street. A quick adjustment showed her that they were looking at a slowly approaching cart. A cart moving on its own? But they show no fear of it, more of a stunned amazement. If the cart was just rolling free, their reaction would be different. Surely a cart rolling free must be of a somewhat common occurrence. Luna rubbed her eyes. A warning that there was something wrong with what she was seeing was again calling out to her. She steeled herself and peered though the telescope again. With the cart closer to the light from the bakery windows, she could now see an Alicorn with its coat and mane so dark she had missed it the first time she looked. She couldn’t tell from this distance if the Alicorn pony had a cutie mark, but the horn and wings were unmistakable, especially when it reached into its cart and put on its equally dark messenger bags. After a few moments, The Cakes and the Alicorn exchanged a few words, and a clearly flustered Mr Cake escorts everyone into the bakery. Luna falls back into her seat, heart racing in time with the implications running through her head. An Alicorn secretly meeting with bakers under the cover of darkness. But how could this Alicorn have sneaked through the market district without arising suspicion? Even with the cover of darkness and the matching color of its body, the cart it pulled was just bare weathered wood. Just the appearance of the cart apparently moving on its own would cause heads to turn, then with the sight of an Alicorn pulling it, the town would quickly become alert. “I mean really,” Luna whispered in frustration, “I know that town is sleepy, but for such an unusual event, it would have to be in a coma...” At the thought, her breath caught in her chest. Mr and Mrs Cake! Were they just admiring the starlit night? Or were they entranced by some spell? But a spell of the magnitude to affect the whole town would require immense power and time to execute, any of the unicorns in town would feel the power and sound an alarm before it finished. The more she thought about it, the more insane she begun to sound to herself. She knew she needed more information before even calling her guards to investigate. She peered into the telescope once more and watched the door to Sugarcube Corner, waiting for something to happen. Minutes passed as she watched the steady light emanating inside. Soon three shadows broke the monotony, gathering in the lobby. A moment or so later, one shadow leaves and she could see a light in the upper floor turn on. Soon the light turned off and the shadow rejoined the others, and another moment later the Cakes and the Alicorn walked out. The Cakes each held a child and loaded messenger bags while the Alicorn now donned a gray work apron. They exchanged some words and the Alicorn went back inside. The Cakes talked for a few moments, as they did, their demeanor lightened and they walked off into the night. Luna sat back again, her senses still tingling, but she noticed that the ring of danger was not there. It wasn’t the entire time she was focused on this small part of Ponyville, but she knew that there was something out of place with this whole situation, and she knew it wouldn’t leave her alone until she found out the truth. She went to her balcony door and called to the head of her guard quietly patrolling inside. “Princess Luna, is there something wrong?” Rocinante asked, curiosity and concern clear on his voice. “I hope not, but I need to make sure. Send someone to Ponyville and have them quietly check out the town for the next few nights. Have them send word if anything is unusual or out of the ordinary. I expect at least a preliminary report before next night fall.” With receiving a nod of understanding, she dismissed him and returned to the balcony, awaiting the daybreak while keeping an eye on that small town. //----------------// “Okay Starless,” Mr Cake began walking towards the back of the bakery where all of the food production was done, “we have been working very hard these past couple of weeks making treats for the Summer Sun Celebration and orders were crazy this year. The work load was very heavy as we’ve had orders come in from many cities and towns. So, especially over the last few days, a thorough clean-up has been impossible.” As Mr Cake takes them around, the chaos was clear. Every dish, pan and utensil was dirty from food preparation and customer use. Not a single surface was untouched by flour or other food stuffs. The customer area had also taken a beating from the traffic of the day's event. From sun-up to sun-down there were people through-out the town celebrating. “Unfortunately,” Mr Cake continued, “we have a food safety inspection scheduled in four days and we won't be able to clean-up in time and stay open. Even then we'll cut it close. Mr Weathervane said that you'll be able to gets us ready in time on your own...” Mr Cake asked cautiously, hoping that his friend hadn’t over sold the abilities of this worker. “It looks like you live here as well,” Starless stated. Mr Cake nodded confirmation and Starless looked around quietly. “I can help a lot, even doing some household work that you may have neglected during the chaos of your work. Over all, it will take me three nights’ work including tonight. As long as you don’t add too much to my load while you're open I can have half done tonight, strictly down here for your food service. Over the next two nights I can do the remainder, including some house work,” Starless stated mater-of-factually, ignoring the stunned look of surprise from the two Cakes. With a nod of approval, Mr Cake led them into the lobby and Mrs Cake excused herself to gather the children and some items for the next few nights. Mr Cake turned to Starless, a sudden seriousness shadowing his face. “Although I'm happy that you can do all of this, but I must ask, how can an Earth pony accomplish so much in such a short time?” “I will be honest with you Mr Cake, just as I was with Mr Weathervane. I'm not sure how I do what I do. As long as its night and I'm given the freedom to work on my own and at my own pace, I can do a great deal in a short time. But I can only do so for a few days before I tire-out, then I need a few days rest before doing it again. Luckily, the trip here did not take a lot of effort so I can start immediately.” “I understand,” Mr Cake said with kindness seeping into his voice, “we all have our special talents, and it seems like your are beyond description. Mr Weathervane said I'll understand why you don’t have a cutie mark once I met you, now I feel like I do. But about your pay...” “The amount agreed upon is fine for this workload, and I'll only accept it upon a satisfactory completion of my duties.” As he spoke he took out his gray work apron from his bag and put it on. Starless spoke with confidence, as if he had never had his services found anything but satisfactory. This brought a smile to Mr Cake's face as Mrs Cake came down the stairs with the children in tow and bags for both of them. He left a key for Starless on the table and quickly took a bag and child from his wife and they proceeded outside. Mr Cake turned to Starless once they were all outside. “I know its too early to do this, but I wanted to thank you. Just knowing that you are here to help lessen our load is a great relief to the both of us.” With a cautious nod, Starless replied, “I must thank you for putting your trust in me. But rest assured, your shop is in good hooves. Now, I will let you both get some sleep. Have a pleasant night.” With a curt nod, he slipped back into the shop. Now alone, Mrs Cake's expression turns to doubt as she begins to worry again. “Carrot, do you think that this is really our best choice?” Mr Cake looked into his wife's eyes and spoke from his heart, “Honeybun, I know how you feel. Until I had some time to speak with him, I couldn’t help but doubt this young stallion’s intentions. But,” he paused, a wistful smile slowly spreading across his face, “I see potential in him that has yet to be fulfilled. We are lucky to reap the benefits of his personal journey in our time of need.” With that, he steps close to his wife's side, nuzzling into her and feeling her tension melt away and they begin to walk to the Ponyville Hotel. //----------------// Shining Armor was in his personal quarters preparing to go to sleep. He was tired from managing the royal guard here while planning the changes he wanted to make with the royal guards in the Crystal Kingdom upon his return. He had spent a long time getting the Crystal Guard ready for their duties while he was here in Canterlot, fulfilling his duties for Princess Celestia. He hated leaving his wife Princess Cadance, but until their rolls in the Crystal Kingdom were finalized or he decided to leave his position as Captain of Celestia's Royal Guard, they had decided that he would alternate between positions until an outcome was decided. He was putting away the reports from his guards when a stern knock fell upon his door. He was confused at the interruption since he had thought he had made it clear that he shouldn’t be disturbed after his shift since he had a higher workload that he was tending to. Then he realized that there must be an urgent issue if some-pony had thought it necessary to disturb him. Upon opening the door, he was surprised to see Brigadier Rocinante, the head of the Lunar Guard, in his work armor standing before him. “I apologize for disturbing you sir, but do you have a moment?” he asked in a level tone. Shining knew that Rocinante was a pony who was dedicated to his position, whom made him proud to have under his command. They talked rarely outside of their duties, but when they could find the time to socialize together outside of work, they always had a nice time. But with the formal greeting, Shining knew that he had important business to bring to him. “Of course, Rocinante, please come in.” Rocinante walked just inside the doorway into Shining Armor's living room, leaving him enough room to close the door. Shining guided him near the couch then took a seat while he remained standing. “Sir, I'm here because Princess Luna has requested me to send a guard to Ponyville. Her orders are to check out the town for any unusual activities or occurrences over the next few nights.” Shining Armor perked up at the unusual orders. Many questions ran though his mind, but he started with the most simple and obvious one, “Princess Celestia has not told me that she felt anything out of the ordinary, does Princess Luna think there is something wrong there?” “She says she thinks not, but wants to send somepony to make sure. I've come to you for two reasons. The first is the strangeness of the order itself. If it was not anything unusual, I would of put in a request for your review in the morning, but I felt that this would require an immediate notification. “The other reason is our staffing issues. We still have not recovered our numbers since most of the guard had left under protest for having to protect 'Nightmare Moon'. Although the remaining guards no longer think of Princess Luna that way, the stress of maintaining security with our limited staff prevents me from sending one of our own to investigate. As it stands, we have the local doctors and nurses come weekly during the night shift to check out the guards and keep us in good health. If even one of us gets sick or can't do their duty, it may cause a chain reaction that could severely weaken security.” Shining Armor leaned back into his couch. He knew that the Lunar Guard was understaffed and recruitment efforts had failed to bring in enough ponies to keep the ranks in top condition. Most ponies still feared Princess Luna and refused to work around her. Members of the day shift would sometimes take a few nights of work to ease their load, but the extra staff that was stationed here are now in the Crystal Kingdom helping to train the new ranks there. It was an oversight that only he was responsible for. Shining Armor knew his options were limited, both sets of staff were thinned to their max, but he knew that the Lunar Guard was taking the brunt of it. They did get new members every now and then, but even with the lessened stigma of working for Luna, the tough workload and limited rest periods due to the equally limited staff meant that it was difficult to keep recruits. Most of the current Lunar Guard have been on service since Princess Luna had returned almost three years ago, and they have been working long shifts and patrolling huge areas, mostly on alone ever since. Rocinante was right, something needed to be done before things fell apart, but he had a plan. “Your right on many levels Rocinante, I'll make sure that something happens to get us back on track,” Shining said as he stood and put his hoof on his friend's shoulder. “You don't need to worry, I’ll make sure you have a preliminary report by nightfall tomorrow.” Rocinante bowed his head slightly, a clear sign of his burden being lifted, “Thank you, Shining. And its good to have you back.” With that, Rocinante showed himself out, needing to return to his duties. Shining Armor had waited until the door closed and the fall of steps faded before beginning to grab the reports he had set aside earlier and about a weeks worth of blank field reports. He gathered just the essentials and the gifts that he had brought back from the Crystal Kingdom for his sister and her friends. Cross referencing the current time with the train schedule, he knew he had enough time to drop off the reports to his brigadier for the day shift and explain his urgent departure without causing a commotion, then he'd catch the next train to Ponyville. If all played out right, he could sleep on the train there, then start his investigation upon his arrival.