For a city of nearly a million ponies, Canterlot was rather calm on any normal evening. This eve, however, was no normal evening. Ponies everywhere ran, screaming, packing up their homes, and fleeing the city by air or hoof, fleeing for their own lives. Riots broke out for no reason other than fear, fear of the new princess, if she even can be called a princess anymore. The wisp of night that used to be the nocturnal princess slithered its way through all the riots and the turmoil. It made its way unto a darkened ally, seemingly untouched by the chaos that progressed outside. Luna's body reformed as her consciousness rematerialized, the shadow becoming flesh and bone.
Shaking off the few remaining shadows from her form, no longer injured from the battle, due both to the shadow's healing and her own physiology, Luna walked from the darkness of the alleyway and gazed upon the atrocity that was Canterlot. Blinking back several tears, Princess Luna walked from hiding, and towards the edge of the city.
The edges of the city, as is true in most cities, are where most of the seedy areas are located. The dark alleyways home to many sorts of crime. More than once has a pony gone to these areas and not returned, only to be found in an abandoned building barely alive or worse. These area were the places that royalty ignored, and smart ponies tended to avoid. Luna feared not these areas, but was still cautious of the ponies therein. One obviously inebriated stallion, still holding a bottle of what Luna assumed to be some form of scotch, stumbled up to the princess.
“End of the world, sweet-heart,” his voice slurred as he spoke, betraying the amount of alcohol he had consumed. He took another swig from the bottle and continued, “End of the fucking world!”
Luna thought for a moment on her options, then simply replied, “Have one on me.” The drunkard raised his bottle and stumbled away, unaware that Luna had not given him any money.
Continuing on her journey, she walked further toward the edge of Canterlot. The city became more and more sparse, and the buildings became smaller as small, single-story, stores took the place of the apartments that dominated inner-Canterlot. Also increasing were the number of criminals that ran to and fro, ponies with stolen goods ran around the streets, fighting amongst themselves. Luna largely ignored the malefactors, focusing on the edge of the city. One thing she could not ignore was a Earth pony mare, a pale yellow thing with salmon colored hair, being brutalized in the middle of the street. Two male pegasi beat the poor thing down, as her cries for help went unanswered. The bigger of the two pegasi began to drag the bruised and bloodied mare into an alley before Luna stepped up.
Luna said nothing as she reached out with her magic and crushed the windpipes of both pegasi, watching calmly as they writhed in pain, their bodies shutting down from lack of oxygen. The bigger of the two managed to wheeze out, “please stop” before falling unconscious. Luna however did not let up, she held her grip until she felt all life fade out of their bodies. She stood over the two and growled at the two lifeless corpses beneath her. It took several seconds for Luna to realize what she had done, and she stepped back hastily, a shocked look on her face.
Luna turned to face the mare, barely conscious, and leaned down to assist the yellow one. The mare looked up at her, her eyes begging for relief. Luna smiled as a mother would to a foal and placed her horn on the forehead of the mare. Lending the broken body her own power, accelerating the healing and restoring the life energy. After a few moments the Earth mare stood to her hooves, smiling softly at the matriarch. Luna nodded to the pony, who bowed quickly and ran off out of sight.
Luna looked around, watching as several stores were vandalized right in front of her. She looked around, and chose one that stood out to her, the glass still intact, and the store itself unscathed. The sign above the door read Shadow Safes and Storage. The front of the store was red brick, and the sign a dark purple, punctuated by the orange text.
As she began walking up to the store, three stallions ran forward and began to break the attempt to break the door down. The stallions in question, a Unicorn and two Earth ponies, had seemingly crazed looks in their eyes. The unicorn, brown maned and with a coat of dark blue, appeared to be leading both the red earth pony and the green one.
Upon failing in the endeavor to break down the door, the red earth pony picked up a discarded stone, likely from the vandalisation of the nearby stores, and chucked it at the window. The window shattered, showering the inside of the store with glass dust, the rock itself knocking over several of the safes inside.
The store owner, hidden in the shadows, began firing off random magical bolts at the intruders. The first two bolts caught the red earth pony, who fell over outside the window. The unicorn responded in fashion, firing off several of his own, while barking orders at the remaining earth pony to get inside. The lime green pony hopped the barrier and grabbed one of the safes, tossing it outside the window.
By this time, Luna had reached the store, and decided to make her presence known. She walked behind the unicorn, and watched for several seconds as the fight continued, rolling her yes at the display. She found no need to kill these three, and had no doubt that the owner would eventually prevail. She watched as the owner in the back was struck several times with bolts, and yet kept fighting to protect his store.
“CEASE THIS AT ONCE!” her voice, magically enhanced, rang out stopping the three in mid motion. The Earth pony turned around slowly, eyes widening and irises shrinking to pinpoints when he saw who had addressed them.
The lunar princess watched as the unicorn turned quickly and attempted to attack the source of the voice. A single magical bolt fired off, splashing into nothingness when it hit the princess. Luna gave him a bemused smile and a chuckle as he quickly turned tail and ran down the street, disappearing into the shadows. Stepping forward into the shop, the lunar princess walked past the petrified earth pony, who shook violently when she passed. Walking towards the back of the store, Luna ignited her horn to provide illumination from the shadow at the back of the store. Upon reaching the counter she flapped her wings once to gracefully hop over the counter to eye the store's owner
The store owner was the same unicorn who had requested the grant from her nearly two weeks prior. He groaned slightly as she walked towards him, burn marks evident on his torso and neck. However injured, he remained standing, looking up at his savior.
“Thank you, your majesty,” he spoke, voice shaky. Upon an attempt to bow, he collapsed onto the floor, moaning from the pain. Luna bent down to help the unicorn rise, but a shaking hoof warded her off. After a few moments, he reached up and grabbed the countertop, using it to hoist himself into an upright position. When he had his hooves under him, he looked to the princess and smiled.
“Silent Shadow,” Luna began, positioning herself to catch the pony should he collapse again, “I should have known I would run into you again.” Her voice was soft, and she smiled upon him.
“I am glad you did, I would be dead if you had not.”
Luna's smile faded slightly, “You are aware of the happenings in the palace?”
Shrugging slightly, the unicorn groaned at the movement, “Only basic things, I have heard the yelling in the street. Something about the princess killing ponies, a dark lord, and something about the end of the world, but not much else, no specifics.”
Luna nodded, “I am not sure what the dark lord refers to, and I will die before I see the end of the world happen due to actions of my own or my sister's. The Darkness has returned, the very same one that had corrupted me has now corrupted my sister. I am not sure how it is possible, Darkness cannot thrive inside a being made of Light. I was easy to influence, I am the antithesis of my sister's power. The Darkness should not be able to survive inside Celestia.”
A crash outside the store caught the two's attention, Silent tried to stand tall, moving to place himself between the sound and Luna. He lit his horn to prepare for any oncoming attackers, steeling himself and baring his teeth to whatever may come. Luna lit her own horn and watched as many heavily armed solar guards walked into her view. She noticed the pink eyes nearly immediately, and spoke under her breath to the unicorn beneath her. The now de-petrified earth pony hopped out the window and ran after his comrade, never turning to look back because he dare not out of fear.
“This is a battle we best be not a part of.” she spoke quickly, and flared her wings out into a fantastic display of plumage. The guards outside, all at once, lit their horns, and instantly began to pelt the store with solar magic. Luna acted upon instinct and covered her charge with her wings, reducing the both of them to shadow and mist.
The guards continued to bombard the store for several minutes before finally ceasing, the store having been reduced to rubble. Small fires burned on the inside, the walls collapsed in on themselves, and the merchandise totally annihilated. After they were satisfied that whomever was inside was now dead or dying, they marched away, leaving naught but fire in their wake.
Several minutes passed, and nothing stirred in the dark, until finally a dark mist rose from the rubble and reformed into the two ponies. As the darkness cleared, Silent Shadow stumbled forward, in shock and blushing profusely.
“That certainly was...intimate,” he said looking down and brushing shadow off his coat. He felt amazingly refreshed, the burn marks on his chest and neck completely healed.
“A side effect of two ponies sharing the same consciousness for several minutes, nothing more.” Luna smiled gracefully, shaking her own body free of the darkness. She preferred not to share a shadow with another pony as it had some...interesting side effects. The two ponies sharing the same shadow, shared each others thoughts and memories. It was literally impossible for you to be closer to another pony. Of course, Luna had long since learned to block her own thoughts and memories from the other pony, a defense which her companion unfortunately lacked. Also included was the feeling of a complete and utter connection to the pony you shared the darkness with. It usually left un-expecting ponies feeling attached to, or in some cases infatuated with, the other pony.
Luna looked around carefully, spotting her exit vector with ease, a simple ledge overlooking the Saddle Lowlands, and as a result, a straight shot to Ponyville. Walking towards the ledge, her wings flared out as she braced herself for a swift flight. A soft cough brought her mind back to where she was, and she turned to face Silent. Sighing softly, she motioned for him to come to her. Kneeling down into a crouching position, she allowed the stallion to climb on her back. Luna grumbled slightly, feeling the weight of the stallion pressing on her backbone. Luna was not a touchy feely kind of pony, she preferred ponies to keep their distance, but seeing as leaving him here would be condemning him to death, she decided to do the honorable thing.
“Nopony hears about this understood? I am not a taxi service.” She looked back as the unicorn climbed to straddle the wing-joints, surprising Luna, she had assumed that most ponies would have tried to take the more comfortable position at the small of her back, which in turn would have inhibited her wing movements. Perhaps there is more to this stallion that she thought.
He nodded once to her and smiled, eliciting a soft smile from the matriarch. After he had become situated between the wing-joints, the nigh princess rose up to a standing position, loosening up her wings. “It has been a long time since I carried someone other than myself, best hold on tight.”
Giving the stallion no chance to respond, Luna catapulted herself upward, bringing her wings to bare and gliding forward towards Ponyville, but more importantly, towards the cavern housing six young mares, and the Elements of Harmony they represented.