Chapter 1
He was plagued by nightmares. Scenes he wish he could forget. Passing them off as affects from war. All he wanted to do was forget about his time in Saddle Arabia. He just wanted to, for once, have a moment in his life where he wasn’t reminded of the things he saw over there. Shining Armor had just finished his last year of his contract. He was now a free stallion. He no longer had to serve the Royal Guard. However, he still found himself still there due to the fact that whenever he slept he had dark dreams of ponies dying, and small fillies and colts screaming. The only thing that he thought would clear his mind was a trip to see his baby sister, Twilight Sparkle. He hadn’t seen her since she became a princess, and all he wanted to do was stay with her a few days and listen to her wild adventures she had with her friends while he was away.
Twilight could always make him laugh. Many times he would think back to the stories she would tell him and even laugh then, without her even being around. This time was different though, he needed to be with her. “Tomorrow,” he said, “tomorrow I leave. Just one more night Shining, and you’ll be with your sister. You can do it.” He said before laying his weary head on his pillow.
He jolted awake screaming, his horn glowing fiercely as his magic grabbed a blunt object from the corner of his room. “Just another nightmare…” he said, panting through his words. He took to sleeping in a different room, so that his screams wouldn’t wake his wife Cadence, and though she protested, wishing she could help him, Shining Armor wouldn’t have his problems become hers too, he was too stubborn. Putting the club back in the corner, he went back to sleep.
Celestia’s light began to shine through the windows of the crystal spire as Shining Armor weakly rose from his bed, nearly collapsing from the lack of sleep. After leaving his room he was greeted by a worried wife, “Another sleepless night?” Cadence asked.
“Yeah…”
“Same dream?”
Shining nodded, slowly making his way down the hall to the kitchen for his breakfast. “The image is getting clearer everyday though. I know this sounds crazy, but” Shining paused and looked at the ceiling, “I keep seeing Ponyville, with these things beckoning me. Then like every time, this bloody pony with that helmet shows up and just as I’m about to be hacked to bits, I wake up.” He said as he grabbed his plate with his horns magic.
“Well, going to see Twilight will do you some good. That’s what you need honey, a vacation. You’ve done Equestria a great service, you deserve some leisure time.” Cadence said, nuzzling her cheek against his. Shining Armor mustered the best smile he could as he went on to eating his breakfast, silently staring into his coffee as his mind drifted elsewhere. He saw more visions of Ponyville, more shadows calling him back as he began packing his bags.
He heaved a hefty sigh as he gazed out the window at the Crystal Empire, trying his best to ignore the visions. A guard entered his room, snapping him back to reality, “Sir, your train has arrived.” Said the guard.
“Thank you captain.” Shining replied.
“Will you need assistance with your bags sir?”
“No captain, I can handle it myself.”
“As you wish sir.”
The door shut as the guard left, leaving Shining Armor alone again in his chamber. Another sigh left his lips as he turned and left for the door. A sharp siren rang throughout the halls, piercing into his ears causing him to buckle and grit his teeth. Shining Armor looked around him and saw not one soul in the halls. Something was wrong. An attack? No. This was not a siren of the Crystal Empire. This was something he never heard before.
He looked around once more, the air was getting thick and the halls seemed to go dark. The high pitched sound of the siren began to die down a bit, letting Shining gain his composure as he began wandering aimlessly through the halls. As he turned the corner, the walls began to crack and almost rip apart like it was made of cloth, leaving behind metal chains. This was not his castle anymore that much he knew. This place was dark and foreboding. It had an evil presence to it and a sharp stench of death. He pushed on through the now changed halls. The area felt hot now. Shining was nearly gasping for air as he found breathing growing more and more difficult.
SCREEEECCHHHH!!!!
He looked up, his senses now heightened from the nerve rattling sound.
SCREEEECCHHHH!!!! THUD!
It was coming from down the hall, the sound of metal scraping against metal, followed by a pounding noise. His eyes went wide as he waited for whatever was around the corner to show its face.
“Ahhh!” Shining jumped back in shock as he felt something crawl across his foreleg. He looked closer to see some kind of bug. Not just a bug, but several bugs, all coming from that corner where the noise was coming from.
SCREEEECCHHHH!!!! THUD!
It sounded again, but closer than before. Shining Armor froze in fear. He saw the shadow of the thing that was causing the noises. What he saw couldn’t have been real. “This has to be a dream…” Shining said under his breath as the deformed shadow came closer and closer.
“This…has to be…a dream…”
He stepped back, the form was now coming into sight. A long pointed tip of a helmet came into view.
SCREEEECCHHHH!!!! THUD!
With another step, the body of a pony came into view. Its tan coat, splattered and stained with blood followed with a long rusted blade. With each step the figure made it drug the blade across the floor, making an ear piercing screech, until finally it came to a stop. Shining Armor froze up again, staring at this familiar figure with a pyramid shaped helmet.
“It can’t be,” he whispered under his breath, “it just can’t be…”
The tall pony turned its body to face in Shining Armor’s direction. Even though he couldn’t see through the helmet of the grotesque figure, he knew he was staring into the eyes of his death. Shining couldn’t move, his body was locked up in fear. He was standing, face to face, with a being he saw in his dreams.
The figure took a hard step forward, followed by another as the blade scraped against the floor once more. Shining tried to move his legs, but they wouldn’t budge, his body was not listening to him. The figure drew closer to Shining Armor, and like a switch, his survival instincts clicked. His back legs shuffled backwards with each step the figure made. A shuffle turned into full steps, and eventually Shining Armor turned and bolted down the hall to the stair case and down the steps. He didn’t dare look back, the fear completely took over his body, forcing him to continue moving forward.
“Whoa!” Shining stumbled as he came to a complete stop at an edge where the staircase had ended.
SCREEEECCHHHH!!!! THUD!
“You’ve got to be shitting me!” he cursed as the sounds of his pursuer started up again. Shining Armor looked left and galloped down another corridor, finding a closet to hide in. He sat there, waiting. Listening.
SCREEEECCHHHH!!!! THUD!
SCREEEECCHHHH!!!! THUD!
The sounds grew louder and louder, he could feel the vibrations of the pony’s hooves stomping on the ground. He knew the figure was coming closer, but then it grew quiet. Too quiet. Too scared to even open the door, Shining Armor sat as still as he possibly could.
CRACK!!!
The giant sword the figure was wielding came slicing through the door, causing Shining Armor the scream in terror, then…everything went black.
Shining Armor jolted awake on his seat, his heart racing as his head began doing 360’s around the area checking where he was. He was on the train to Ponyville. “Just another dream? But it felt so real…” he sighed and looked out the window, his eyes fixed on the small town of Ponyville quickly approaching.
“Next stop Ponyville, all passengers departing have your bags ready!” shouted the conductor as he made his rounds through all the cabins of the train.
The train came to a stop. Shining Armor, with his saddlebags secure, opened the door and took his fist steps onto the platform. Not too far away was his sister Twilight, eagerly awaiting his arrival.
“Big brother!” Twilight yelped as she jumped onto his back, causing him to fall to the ground as they shared a small laughter.
“Twili! I’ve missed you so much.” He said, slowly getting back on his hooves as Twilight hopped off. “How are the new wings treating ya?”
“Still getting used to them, but I’ve been getting better thanks to Rainbow Dash.”
“That’s good to hear Twili.”
The two siblings shared in another long hug before making their way off the platform of the train station. When Shining Armor saw Ponyville, he paused. The visions had grown stronger and his thoughts trailed off to his dreams.
“Shining?” Twilight asked, nudging him with her hoof.
“Hm?”
“You ok?”
“Oh yeah, just a little stiff from the train ride. Let’s hurry back to your library, I could use a nap.”
“Ok big bro.”
Welcome home Shining Armor, let the story…begin.