//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9: The Three New Colts in School 
// Story: The Prince of the Crystal Empire 
// by Prince_Dark_Bane 
//------------------------------//

(Ponyville, 2 weeks after chapter 8.)
All of Equestria was in a slight panic when the princesses released the information that the tyrant king of the Crystal Empire was brought back to life by his son who has mastered dark, changeling, and most likely many other forms of magic. The citizens where even more scared over the fact that not only the tyrants of the Crystal Empire wanted the world under their hooves, but Dark Bane had used his magic to bring back Nightmare Moon. The nation was over joyed though when they heard that two groups had joined them in the fight against the dark lords. (I know horrible.) Ponyville residents weren’t all that scared since they out of everypony should know what happens when all of Equestria and most likely the world are at stake. They liked having two groups that had an axe to grind with the dark prince in town with them. The groups where kind and friendly to everypony except each other. Well some of the older adult ponies showed hostility to each other, but the children and teenagers got along well. (Some of the teens even started dating each other much to some of the older members horror.) Although there was now a lot more ponies in town, neither of the groups have sent any of the children into the town's school system yet. The colts didn't mind since the girls started to give all of their attentions to them. At the moment the children were running to school so they wouldn't be late. As the last of the kids got in their seats, the bell ranged and Miss Cheerilee walked in with a lovely smile on her face.
"Good morning class." Cheerilee stated to the class still with that smile on her lips.
"Good morning Miss Cheerilee." the entire class replied to their teacher weather they wanted to or not.
"Now class I have exciting news." Cheerilee stated as she was now smiling like Pinkie Pie which scared some of her students. (Mainly the CMC.)
"Is school canceled for an unknown time period with the tyrants of the Crystal Empire on the loose." Diamond Tiara replied hoping what she said was true. (Most of the class was hoping with her.)
"Thankfully not." Cheerilee stated and then heard most of her class sigh out of disappointment.
"So much for that possiblity." Silver Spoon stated while she and Diamond Tiara got a scalding look from Cheerilee.
"Are we going to learn about the Crystal Empire?" Sweetie Belle asked as her hoof was in the air.
"No. We have three new students." Cheerilee answered and was rewarded with a sigh from most of her students and looked to see that the colts seemed to be praying for some reason.
"What are their names?" Applebloom asked as she was hoping they were blank flanks like her, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle.
"How about they introduce themselves and say something special about themselves?" Cheerilee answered with a question of her own as she side stepped to reveal three colts. (You should know which three they are.)
"My name is Silver Shield. I am an earth pony from the Guardians of the Light." he stated as he gave every student a little bow and getting sighs of love from most of the fillies while getting angry glares from all of the colts that were seated.
"I am Wolf Bane. I am a unicorn from the Children of the Night." he stated as he also gave a bow getting the same reaction from the class.
"Well my name is Blizzard, and well the only thing I can think of that makes me special is that Fluttershy is my great-cousin." he stated as he had a hoof to his chin to think and somehow getting the same reaction from the class.
In the back of the room there were three colts glaring at the three new colts since they saw that the CMC seemed to be staring at them with a lot of interest. These colts where Rumble, Pipsqueak, and Featherweight. These three have had crushes on the CMC for as long as they could remember. Pipsueak loved everything about Applebloom, but loved how she sticks with her friends no matter what. Rumble loved Sweetie Belle all together, but he loved her voice the most. Featherweight loved Scootaloo all together, but he loved her never give up attitude. Even though they never said anything to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they knew that they would love them. (I mean the CMC would love the three of them.)
"If any of those new guys try to take my Applebloom from me, I'll buck them all the way to Canterlot." Pipaqueak whispered to his friends as he glared at the silver earth pony the most.
"The same goes with my Sweetie Belle." Rumble whispered back as he glared at the grey unicorn the most.
"The same goes for my Scootaloo." Featherweight whispered as he glared at the white pegasus with the oversized wings.
"Now, where to have you three sit? Oh, how about you three sit next to Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo?" Cheerilee asked as she pointed a hoof towards said fillies getting every other filly in the class to sigh out of disappointment.
"That's all right with me Ms. Cheerilee." Blizzard replied with a smile.
"Very well Master Cheerilee." Silver Shield replied surprising almost everypony in the building. (The only ones that were not surprised were Silver Shield himself [Duh.] and Wolf Bane.)
"Ok Sensei Cheerilee." Wolf Bane replied surprising each pony from before.
After those three took their seats, (Each sitting with the same type of pony.) Cheerilee started to give a lecture on plants and how important it was to take care of the environment.
"Is that why Princess Celestia doesn't have Everfree Forest cut down?" Diamond Tiara asked as she had this dying of bored look.
"That is one of the reasons. The other reason is that the Everfree Forest has wild magic and monsters like the timber wolves. If the forest was to be cleared then they would have no home and they would need to look for food. I'm not sure about you, but I would rather not be a meal." Cheerilee answered as she looked at her class with a cheery smile.
Cheerilee went back to giving her lecture, but after about 10 minutes the bell range signally for recess. While everypony ran outside to play, the new colts were a little confused on what to do.
"What is this recess, and what do we do during it?" Silver Shield asked as he looked at his fellow new students.
"I was home schooled up to today. I never even heard about this." Blizzard replied as he looked at the others. (He did not lie. He lived in the Castle of Nightmare [The dark twin of Canterlot Castle.] for as long as he can remember.)
"I think this is where we practice our stealth and recovering skills." Wolf Bane answered as he saw some classmates playing hide and seek.
"That's not what recess is for. Recess is for us to play." Diamond Tiara stated as she, Silver Spoon, Snails, and Snips came walking up.
Moments before the three walked out:
"Hey Diamond." Silver Spoon stated as she looked down.
"What Silver?" Diamond Tiara asked as she saw her friend has a blush.
"Do you like, I don't know, the new colts?" Silver Spoon asked as she was now blushing like mad.
"I do like them, but I want that cutie of a colt, Blizzard." Diamond Tiara answered as she drooled a little bit.
"I want that handsome Silver Shield, and you know what they say. You can never have enough silver." Silver Spoon stated as she drooled a little bit as well.
"Hey girls want to play with us?" Snails asked as he and Snips walked up to them with nervous smiles.
"How about you help us get the three new colts in our little group, then we'll play with you." Diamond Tiara stated using all of her charms on the poor, stupid boys.
"OK!" both of the unicorns yelled as they were hopelessly under the bullies' powers.
Present:
"Playing. What a waste of time. Back at the first Temple of Light, we members only had four things to do. Train, study, eat, and sleep. We all had to be doing something productive." Silver Shield stated as if the very act of doing nothing productive was evil to him.
"At the Temple of the Moon, every member between 5 to 13 can play for one hour then it's off to train. I am to become the next leader so I must learn a lot. Dad would have me play a game of chess with him every day so I'll learn strategy." Wolf Bane replied as he looked at his first true friend.
"Anyway...Want to join our little group? Only the coolest can be a part of it and then there these two." Diamond Tiara stated and then gestured to the two boys.
"Hey." both Snails and Snips stated as if hurt physically.
"You remind me of a filly I know. She was horrible to be near." Blizzard stated as he looked at Diamond Tiara with a look of annoyance.
"Because they're bullies. Their favorite past time is to make fun of blank flanks." Applebloom stated as she and her friends (Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. You should have figured.) came over.
"Bullies." Blizzard stated as a question as he tilted his head to the left.
"Damn that is cute." Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara both thought as he looked confused.
"It means that both of them make fun of other students just because they have nothing to do." Sweetie Belle explained as she glared at the earth pony brats.
"From what I just heard, both of them would be banished and sent out into the woods to fend for themselves." Silver Shield stated and getting a nod of agreement from Wolf Bane.
"The Children of the Night know that in-fighting would destroy the order, but in this case I would say that the community would be the one that would be in danger." Wolf Bane stated as he glared at the two fillies that he found out where mean to others.
"Snails and Snips here do whatever they tell them too." Scootaloo stated as she sent the two boys a disapproving look.
"Is that so?" Silver Shield asked as he looked at the two boys with a raised eye brow.
"Yah. They think if they do whatever they tell 'em to do that they'll get to date those two." Applebloom answered as she glare at the four.(I have never used the word 'they' so many times in one sentence.)
"They would be banished too." Silver Shield stated as he glared at the four.
"Get out of here. Any pony that acts like that has no place among members in either order we are from." Wolf Bane added as he was enraged at what these ponies did.
"Those two fillies would be welcomed into the Children of Nightmare. Maybe I'll see if they will help in bringing the true queen back her crown." Blizzard thought as he knew that his parents wanted him to be ready if he ever becomes leader instead of his sister.
Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, Snails, and Snips left while they glared back at the CMC and the new students. Diamond Tiara gave a rather nasty glare at Scootaloo.
"Sorry, but we haven't introduced ourselves yet. I'm Applebloom. Mah big sister is Applejack the Element of Honesty." Applebloom stated to the colts as she smiled at them.
"I'm Sweetie Belle. My big sister is Rarity and she's the Element of Generosity." Sweetie Belle stated as she smiled at the colts as well.
"The name is Scootaloo, and Rainbow Dash, the Element of Loyalty, says she sees me as a sister." Scootaloo stated as she smiled as well.
"Nice to meet all of you." the colts replied as they looked at the fillies.
The six then started to talk about themselves until they had to go back to class. The rest of the school day was spent with the class trying to learn about nature.
"That was horrible. I hope by the time I have foals, that Ponyville is more like Canterlot or that I move somewhere that is livable." Diamond Tiara stated with a frown as Silver Spoon agreed like she was some sort of robot.
"Blizzard, where are you?" a unicorn mare with a blinder yelled as she walked past everypony as if she could see perfectly.
"Who is that weird unicorn?" Silver Spoon asked as she looked at said unicorn.
"Night Veil, what you doing here?" Blizzard asked as he looked up to her face.
"Who's this Blizzard?" Scootaloo asked as she looked at the grey unicorn reminding her of a story she was told by her mother, when she was very young, about a grey unicorn tyrant king and his son who he dragged into darkness with him. (Yes I have done this.)
"This is my big sister. Night Veil these are my new friends. This is Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Silver Shield, and Wolf Bane." Blizzard stated as he pointed at them while saying their names.
"As long as they don't use you I don't care. Now come with me. We are heading home and I don't want that pink pain in the flank to find me again." Night Veil stated then both her and Blizzard shuddered as they remembered Pinkie Pie somehow got into their house before they got back from going to the store. (She gave them a Welcome to Ponyville party and well Night Shade had Pinkie Pie arrested for breaking and entering.)
"Do you mean Pinkie Pie? Well sorry about that, we've been asking Mayor Mare to get a warning sign about her." Sweetie Belle stated as she remembered the pink party pony very well. (Who wouldn't?)
"I suggest you try harder, but for now time to go home Blizz...ard." Night Veil replied but seemed to get her attention taken by something.
"What's wrong there new comer?" Applejack asked as she, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash came walking up.
"Blizzard, get behind me now!" Night Veil ordered as her horn light up with magic.
"What the hey?" Diamond Tiara yelled as she and Silver Spoon nearly got tackled by Zecora who was out of breath.
"Zecora, what are you doing here?" Rarity asked as the group walked up to her.
"Darkness has come turning the forest even more wild and dangerous." Zercora stated as she steadied her breathing.
"Then why didn't you bring your stuff?" Applebloom asked the potion maker.
"Where did that zebra go!?!" yelled a stallion that must have been angry.
"They are the reason my craft is not with me." Zercora stated as the troops of the Legion of Shadows came storming out of the forest.
"There's the zebra captain." yelled an earth pony soldier as he glared at the zebra.
"Forget about her. Half of the Elements of Harmony are here. They are our main target." the captain (a unicorn) yelled as he looked at the three.
"So you’re going to try to kill us now." Rainbow Dash stated as she flow up.
"Remember, Prince Dark Bane wants each of them alive and healthy, but he didn't say they had to be conscious or have all their limbs." the captain stated as if he didn't hear Rainbow Dash.
"You leave our big sisters alone!" the CMC yelled as they glared at the soldiers.
"Sugar cubes, this is brave in all, but get out of here now." Applejack ordered as she and her friends got in front of all of the colts and fillies.
"I have to agree with you three, but I would like to protect my niece if you don't mind." said a voice of a mare that the foals knew since she was the biggest DJ. (Not to mention Pinkie Pie was able to get her to the big royal wedding. Yes I went that far. I mainly did it since I don't like the orphan, sister of one of the Mane 6 [Daughter is fine.], or abusive parent. Well I don't mind if she's like a runaway but it has to be a good reason.)
"Is that DJ PON-3?" a colt asked as he looked at the DJ. (She hand her glasses on at the moment.)
"Auntie Vinyl Scratch!" Scootaloo yelled as said DJ came up and rubbed her head. (Imagine the head rub that Rainbow Dash gives the small winged pegasus.)
"Now everypony take a step back. I got this." Vinyl Scratch stated as her horn glowed with her magic and strangely so did her throat.
"This is going to be loud. Especially since she didn't bring the bass cannon. (Don't say it!)" Scootaloo stated as she covered her ears causing everypony to follow her lead.
Vinyl Scratch took in a deep breath and then unleashed a sky opening scream that shattered every piece of glass at most in a one square mile circle. (That would be a mile from one point to the corresponding point where they make an angle of 180 degrees, and it was a good thing the town was not within that mile and that there was no glass at the school except correctional glasses some students need.) When the DJ stopped her yell, the crystal legionnaires had large cracks all over their bodies. Each crack had dark purple mist coming out of them all.
"If I was any of you, and I'm glad I'm not, I would start running. I got my cutie mark after I amplified my voice and then broke every glass object in my house before I even started elementary school, so I'm basically a specialist in sound magic." Vinyl stated as she looked at the badly damaged crystal constructs. (The scream brought the other half of the Mane Six.)
"That was some yell." Pinkie Pie stated as she looked at the damage the DJ did.
"Well she did make the bass cannon." Twilight replied as she looked a little shamed since a unicorn would make such a thing.
"Oh my goodness. Zercora, are you all right?" Fluttershy asked when she saw the zebra with a small scratch on her side. (The scratch was a really small one that most wouldn't be notice not even by the zebra herself. [Think about it. She has to look after animals that most likely rough house around so she has to see the smallest wounds even the ones that mean nothing.])
"I am in perfect condition. My home may not be." Zercora replied to the shy pegasus.
"Don't worry. If they try anything I'll just give them a second round of my scream." Vinyl stated as her throat glowed again from her magic.
"If that doesn't shatter them, then I'll burn them to ash." Flame stated as he flew over them.
"No offense sir, but pegasuses can only use sky magic." Scootaloo stated as she looked at the pyromancer.
"That's not what we saw up at the Crystal Empire Scoots." Rainbow Dash stated as she looked at the fiery pegasus.
"His magical field. It’s like fire. Who is this pegasus?" Night Veil thought to herself as she saw the shape of a pegasus engulfed in flames.
"Our prince will get you six, and when he does he will be able to summon the Elements of Nature." the captain stated before the mist stopped leaking from the entire squad's bodies.
As soon as the mist stopped coming out of them, they lost everything that showed they had life except the armor they wore, and that's when the crystals that once lived crumbled into piles of crystals from the cracks that had technically killed them.
"That's not good." Night Veil suddenly said as everypony looked at her with confused faces.
"Why was that not good?" Applebloom asked as she looked at the blind unicorn.
"The magic that gave them life it’s not leaving the area. If it stays like this it will kill all plant life within a mile." Night Veil answered causing everypony including Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to look scared.
"Then I'll burn it away." Flame stated as he started to make fire appear around him.
"Burn the crystals and everything around them. You can't leave any trace of the dark magic. If you think you got all of it unleash more fire until I say so." Night Veil nearly yelled as she ordered the fire user.
Flame made a large circle around the crystals and blasted them with so much power that a pillar of fire vaporized everything within the circle. (No pony could hear a thing from the roaring flames.) For a whole minute Flame just unleashed pure fire power on it.
"Is it all gone?" Flame asked as he was a little breathless.
"It was gone half a minute ago. I failed to recognized the amount of power you have." Night Veil stated as she used her sixth sense spell to see that the hole was 10 feet deep and 3 feet wide.
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?!" Eclipse yelled as she Shadow Stepped (Pinkie Pie named it that the week before.) there looking rather angry.
"My scream didn't bring you here, but that pillar of fire did." Vinyl stated more as a question.
"I was reading a book about plants and couldn't put it down. The main reason is I'm use to loud noises is since Dark Bane loves to play his pipe organ whenever he has free time, but I felt darkness for a moment." Eclipse stated as she looked rather angry still.
"You can feel the presence of dark magic." Night Veil stated as she used her sixth sense spell to see that this unicorn has dark magic within her but it was very small.
"Yes I can, and I felt the death of other crystal ponies made by Dark Bane." Eclipse stated as if it was annoying her to talk to this blind mare.
"No all the ponies made by Dark Bane are shadow ponies." Pinkie Pie corrected and got a sigh from Eclipse.
"Well any way, time to go home, my favorite little niece." Vinyl stated as she hugged Scootaloo.
"I'm your only niece." Scootaloo replied as she hugged her aunt back.
"There for you are my favorite niece." Vinyl stated as she released Scootaloo from the hug.
"I guess that makes sense." Scootaloo replied as she looked up at the white unicorn.
"Oh by the way, I'm going to be leaving tonight at around 7 and I'm not going to back until around noon tomorrow. Octavia will come check on you every ounce in a while. Do you understand Scoots?" Vinyl asked as she looked at the orange pegasus filly.
"The usual plan." Scootaloo stated as if this was a regular thing.
"Why does it sound like you're use to this?" Applebloom asked as she looked at the pair.
"I'm the most popular DJ in Equestria. I'm just glad I have a friend close by that can look after Scoots here." Vinyl answered as she had this thankful look.
"Friends are a wonderful thing to have." Twilight replied with a smile on her face. (I just had to put that in.)
"Now come on Scoots. I need to make you some dinner. How does lasagna sound?" Vinyl asked as she surprised everypony with the fact she can cook.
"I love your lasagna!" Scootaloo yelled then licked her lips.
"Yah, I know." Vinyl replied as she and Scootaloo left to their home.
"We have to go too. Come along little brother." Night Veil stated as she and Blizzard left to go to their home.
"We all should go home." Twilight stated as everypony agreed and left for their homes. (Zercora is staying with Fluttershy since her home puts her in more danger than normal with the Legion of Shadows now living in the Everfree Forest. Zercora still does not know about the Children of Nightmare yet.)
Home of Night Shade and family:
"Are Mom and Dad home Night Veil?" Blizzard asked as he looked at his sister.
"They are at the castle at the moment Blizzard." she answered as she moved through the house with easy.
"When will they be back?" he asked as he looked at his sister.
"They will be back in the morning." Night Veil answered as she moved her head towards her brother.
"It's a good thing we know how to take care of ourselves then." Blizzard stated as he walked over to the kitchen.
Scootaloo's and Vinyl Scartch's house:
"So have you made any new friends?" Vinyl asked as she and Scootaloo walked in and the DJ walked into the kitchen.
"I made friends with three colts today." Scootaloo answered as she placed her saddle bag by the couch.
There was then the sudden sound of glass shattering. Scootaloo walked over to see that her aunt had gotten out Sweet Apple Arces brand apple juice (What do you think they would make? Orange juice.), and there were two broken glasses on the floor.
"Are you ok Aunt Vinyl?" Scootaloo asked as she looked at her aunt.
"Oh yah. It was just a slip of focus. Don't worry about it. It's just some broken glass." the older mare stated with a nervous smile while she used her magic to pick up the glass and grabbed two more glasses.
"Well their names are Blizzard, Wolf Bane, and Silver Shield. They are very nice. Blizzard seems to be hiding something though. Maybe it has something to do with his over protective sister." Scootaloo stated as she looked at her aunt pulling the lasagna out of the oven. (She's a unicorn. All she has to do is teleport to the school and back. So there's no danger.)
"They must be if you're talking about them in such high regard, and I wouldn't worry about it at the moment. When the time is right he will tell you." Vinyl stated with a bit of forced joy.
"Are you sure you're ok?" the younger mare asked as she look at the older mare.
"Of course I am." the mare answered with a forced smile.
"If you say so." Scootaloo replied as she then grabbed the juice, plates, and silverware then left to place them on the table. (She balanced it on her head and her back.)
"How can I be alright with this? She's not supposed to get interested in colts until she's a teenager." Vinyl thought to herself as she took the glasses and the lasagna to the table.
Sweet Apple Arces:
Applejack and Applebloom came walking in to their home to see that Big Mac and Granny were in the house. Granny Smith was on her rocking chair while knitting a scarf. Big Mac was reading a book about apples that will hopefully bring more money for his family.
"How was school Applebloom?" Granny Smith asked as she knitted a scarf.
"It was great. I made friends with the three new colts in class today." Applebloom stated with a big smile on her face.
The rest of her family was a little shocked that their little bloom has made friends with three colts and that made them a little uneasy.
"If any of those colts try to hurt my sister, I'm gonna hurt them." Big Mac thought as he became the over protective brother he was.
"If any of them try anything with Applebloom or her friends, Ah will make it so they will never walk again." Applejack thought as she had this hard look on her face.
"Their names are Silver Shield, Wolf Bane, and Blizzard. They are so nice, and Silver Shield is so protective of those he sees as his friends." Applebloom stated with a smile on her face.
"I remember when fillies wouldn't take any interest in colts until they were Applejack's age." Granny Smith stated while remembering when she was a little filly herself.
"It's nothen like that!" Applebloom yelled as she blushed the same color as her older brother.
"If you say so little, Applebloom." Granny Smith stated as she went back to knitting.
"Anyways, how about we eat supper and then we should all go off for bed." Applejack stated as she went to the kitchen to go make supper.
"Hey Mac, can you help me with my homework? We are learning about the environment and such." Applebloom asked as she gave him a look that he couldn't say no to.
"Alright Applebloom." Big Mac replied back as his youngest sister got out her homework.
Carousel Boutique:
"So how was your day?" Rarity asked her little sister as they walked up to the house portion of her store.
"I made friends with the three new colts in class." Sweetie Belle answered as she looked at her sister with a smile.
"What are their names?" Rarity asked going straight to fan girl mode.
"Well their names are Wolf Bane, Blizzard, and Silver Shield. They are sooo nice, and Wolf Bane is so honorable." Sweetie Belle answered as she had this dream like face.
"They all sound nice, but from the sound of it, Wolf Bane is a great colt. I can't wait to meet him myself." Rarity stated as she gave her little sister a wink causing the younger unicorn to blush heavily.
"It's nothing like that!" the filly replied as she tried to hide her blush from her sister.
"Anyway how does a lovely dinner sound?" the mare asked as she looked at her sister.
"That would be great." the young unicorn quickly answered with a blush still on her cheeks.
Rarity just laughed at how her little sister was so flustered.
(None of the Mane 6 has personally met any of the colts. Not even Fluttershy with her cousin or his family. Those two just wrote to each other.)
Temple of the Light:
Clockwork was reading a book on his order. It may have been little more than two weeks, but he still had a lot to learn to lead the order properly. He just hoped that his first act as leader was a good one. You see the members may see each other as family so if you hurt one member the entire order will come after you, but Clockwork knew that the best way for others (The other ponies in Equestria.) to accept the order was to get involved with the community. One of these was to get the children to get involved with other children outside the order. The teens have been doing well since they actually wanted to learn about their sister order. (One order was for Celestia and the other was for Luna so they are technical sister orders.)
"Hello Grand Master Clockwork, I have returned from the school. I can safely say that I have made friends with five ponies outside of the Guardians of the Light." Silver Shield stated as he looked at his leader.
"And on your first day. What are their names?" Clockwork asked as he decided it was time to take a break since he has been reading for almost every waking moment for the past three days. (Neither of the orders could make a temple in a few days. Both finished at the same time which was three days ago.)
"They're names are Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Wolf Bane, and Blizzard." the earth colt answered as he looked at the older stallion.
"I believe Wolf Bane is in the Children of the Night. I also believe that those fillies are sisters and/or friends with the Elements of Harmony, but this Blizzard I do not know." the unicorn stated as he remembered when the CMC came running up to greet their sisters and friends, but the second colt's name didn't sound familiar.
"He's one of Fluttershy's great-cousins on his father side of the family." the young pony replied as he looked at the time gazer. (He's called that since he can see small details of the future like a pony, a date, or a situation.)
"Oh. Well I hope this will show everypony that we are here to help." Clockwork replied as he knew that there where ponies thinking that the order was willing to do anything to give Celestia full power over Equestia.
"What do you mean? We are the ponies of Celestia. We are her disciples." the young colt asked as he looked to the closest thing he has to a brother.
"That's just it. Someponies think that we see her as the great creator and will do anything to win her favor." Clockwork answered as he sighed since he knew the rumors would start soon from the looks they got from Canterlot ponies.
"But we aren't like that! We seek to protect all of Equestria from evil!" Silver Shield yelled as he was outraged at this statement.
"And this is the reason! How would you feel if a group of ponies just suddenly showed up one day and said that they would do whatever one pony told them!?!" Clockwork yelled back as if he was scolding his own son.
"I think I understand now." Silver Shield replied as he looked down with a little shame.
"I do feel sorry for the Children of the Night though." Clockwork stated as Silver Shield agreed.
Temple of the Night:
Snake Eyes was reading up on what he needed to know to lead the order until Wolf Bane reaches the age of 18. (I know I have been not open about age but I can't tell how anything ages except dragons so I'm having them age the same way as humans. I do know that dragons will live for a few thousand years. Spike is only like five to ten years old and with creatures that live for so long that would still be baby years. Plus as far as I know dragons in this series only get larger when they get greedy. Dear lord have I explained so much.) Unlike with their sister order, the leader of the order stays within a family unless the family shows they are ill fit to lead and the order will choice a new family that shows that they truly can lead the order better. (They put up to a vote between all the families that are in the order. At least that's what the order hopes.) There has only been one time when a family was removed from leading and that was the night of Nightmare Moon came to be because of Dark Bane. (Well that leading family and others where technically thrown out of the order.) The order does not know what has happened to the family that said that corrupted shadow of Princess Luna had righteous furry, but some of the books of their history theorizes that the family leads the Children of Nightmare. The order did have a plan if the leading family died, and the order would do the same thing as if the family is ill fit to lead.
"Hello Sensei Snake Eyes. I made friends today at the school house." Wolf Bane stated as he walked to the temporary leader.
"Who are they?" Snake Eyes asked as he looked at the younger unicorn with a smile like he was Wolf Bane's uncle.
"They are Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Applebloom, Silver Shield, and Blizzard." the young unicorn answered as he looked at the older unicorn.
"The fillies I know to be close to the Elements of Harmony, Silver Shield is a part of the Guardians of the Light, but who is this Blizzard?" Snake Eyes asked as he looked at the future leader of the order.
"He's Fluttershy's great-cousin." Wolf Bane answered as he looked at the temporary leader.
"Oh, and how was your day at school?" Snake Eyes asked as he was lifting books, scrolls, and other forms of text up to read. (He's a multitasker.)
"A couple of the other colts called me a Nightmare Moon lover." replied the unicorn colt with sadness in his voice.
"It will take us some time before we are seen as protectors of Equestria instead of its destroyers." the older unicorn replied as he looked down.
"I told them that the Children of the Night are nothing like the Children of Nightmare." Wolf Bane stated as he looked a little disappointed.
"What? You know that we are not supposed to talk about them." Snake Eyes stated as he nearly dropped everything he had in his magical grip.
"I simple told them that they were crazy ponies that wanted to kill us all, but that didn't help much." Wolf Bane replied as he looked even more depressed.
"That's why we do not talk about them." Snake Eyes stated as he lifted the texts up again.
"I see that now and I just hope the Nightmares (Children of the Night nickname for the defaulters) don't attack." Wolf Bane replied as he was scared of what they will do.
Castle of Nightmare, war room:
Night Shade was looking at what appeared to be Dark Bane being flanked by 10 squads of his Legion of Shadows. (1 full squad has 1 of each pony clan in it so there are 30 of Dark Bane's warriors there. Dark Bane has sent some of his warriors there to show that he sees them as if they were that of royal guards just like how some of the Children of Nightmare where now at the Castle of Death, but the real reason Dark Bane had his warriors there was to get more information. Dark Bane wanted to know everything about the cult including every spell they had.) The leader of the cult was showing Dark Bane the current map of Equestria so that he was up to date with the kingdom's territory. The prince was looking at the map with a look of calmness that scared members of the cult.
"So Prince Dark Bane, that is everything that is happening in the kingdom." Night Shade stated as he looked into the eyes of his new prince.
"I see that Princess Celestia has been using her magic on me even when I was stone to keep me from seeing everything in her kingdom." Dark Bane stated as he narrowed his eyes from the very thought that information has been kept from him.
"May I ask how you plan on using the bearers of the Elements of Harmony to summon these Elements of Nature?" Night Shade asked out of worry for his cousin.
"All magical items of power are drawn to each other. I plan on using the harmony bearers to draw in the Elements of Nature. If I did the calculations correctly, they will only have headaches." Dark Bane lied as he knew the spell would kill them very painfully if it works.
"Very well. Is there anything else you need to know?" Night Shade asked hoping the lord of hatred would leave soon.
"No." Dark Bane stated as he gave a mental order to the legionaries to start the search for every last piece of information they could get.
Dark Bane started to disappear as if he was an illusion spell. When he completely disappeared, a dark purple crystal orb floated down to Night Shade and when it was in front of him, he grabbed it with his magic causing it to turn to a grey color. (Dark Bane created 2 crystal orbs so if he or Night Shade had to speak to each other it was easier and faster while no one could fellow either of them to either castle.) The shadow ponies (Just going to call the ponies created by Dark Bane that for now.) started to leave the war room doing as their master ordered.
Castle of Death:
Dark Bane has just finished talking to Night Shade and was walking towards the newly made room for Nightengale. When he got to his daughter's room, he saw Trixie telling a story to the young alicorn as she was tucked into her bed.
"Even though the young guardian was smaller and weaker than the traitor, he would not give up. He stood his ground and let his friends get away, but seeing what the guardian was doing the traitor charged ready to kill the young stallion. Before the traitor could kill the guardian, the guardian summoned every last drop of magic within his body and unleash a blast that turned both him and the traitor into stone for the rest of time. The guardian's friends where safe, but they lost their friend. Not wanting to bring shame to his memory, they founded the Guardians of Peace." Trixie said as she finished the story while using her magic to move the blank so it was to Nightengale's chin.
"Mommy, is that story true?" Nightengale asked as she was now trying to fight off sleep.
"No. It was a story that was made to give hope to the hopeless. Now sleep my little song bird." Trixie answered as she placed a kiss right under Nightengale's horn.
"Nightie mo-yawn-mmy." Nightengale replied as she lost her battle with sleep.
"You could have let me know that it was story time." Dark Bane stated as he surprised his wife.
"Woo. You scared me, and you were busy at the moment." Trixie whispered to her husband as she tilted her head to show the sleeping form of their daughter.
The two quietly left their daughter's room and went to their room to do some talking.
"Honey, I think we should place Nightengale in a school." Trixie stated as they started to take off their royal wears.
"Where did this come from?" Dark Bane asked as the two got to bed.
"She's a curious filly and at this age she needs friends. The guards and servants don't count." Trixie answered as she gave him a look that left zero room for an argument.
"I'll see what I can do. Maybe I'll make a guardian for her that doesn't look like the legionnaires." Dark Bane started to say as his mind start to think of things to do to make his wife happy.
Castle of Death, garden, King Sombra:
"The spell I placed on my son has weakened. How has this happened?" Sombra asked himself as he gave a plant a glare as if it would destroy it.
Sombra then looked up at the night sky of the Everfree Forest. He seemed to be in deep thought as his eyes looked to the darkness that took the sky.
"To get my son on the right path, I have to destroy his little happy family." Sombra stated as he turned around and started to head for the room his son has given him.
The next day at Ponyville Elementary:
Fillies and colts were running to the school house so they wouldn't be late for school. The CMC was saying good bye to the ponies that took them to the school house today. As the children left the adults, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash (Even though she didn't bring Scootaloo since it was Octavia, she was making sure Dark Bane didn't try anything. Night Veil didn't stay to talk.) looked to Octavia.
"Octavia, I have a question for yah." Applejack stated as she and the other two element bearers looked at her.
"Ask away." Octavia replied as she looked at the other mares.
"Why does Scootaloo live with her aunt and not her ma or pa?" Applejack asked as she raised an eyebrow with her friends.
"It is not my place to say." the cello player stated as she gave the element bearers a glare.
"What do you mean?" Rainbow Dash asked as she flew so she was in Octavia's face.
"Because I promised my friend that I wouldn't tell anypony unless she said it was all right, and neither of us know any of you or the rest of your friends very well." the musician answered as she gave them a glare that caused them to back away from her.
"We are just worried about the little darling." Rarity stated as she was worried about Scootaloo since she thought she was living with her parents.
"If you want to know why, I suggest you ask Vinyl herself." the classical music player stated as she walked off to the town.
Golden Oaks Library Around Noon:
Twilight was looking for infomation on how to get the Elements of Nature. She was not having very much luck on finding anything on the elements. In fact she was finding nothing on them. She was starting to have her little break down like when she couldn't think of something for her friendship report and ended up using the want it need it spell on Smarty Pants that she was still trying to get back from Big Mac.
"I give up!" Twilight yelled as she slammed the book she currently had closed and then placed it back where she found it with a little unneeded force.
"Calm down Twilight. These Elements of Nature was a legend back when Princess Celestia and Princess Luna where young, I'm pretty sure the only library that would have any information on them would be the Princess's privet library." Spike stated as his head popped out of a pile of scrolls that his care giver had him bring up from the basement.
"You've been asleep for the past hour. How do you know this?" Twilight asked as she used her magic to get a brash to tidy up her mane.
"I fell asleep to you talking to yourself about finding them, and that was after you asked me to get all the scrolls about nature magic." Spike answered as he gave her a look that showed great wisdom even though he was only around the same age as the CMC.
"Remind me to get you a really big gem for you to knaw on." Twilight replied as she looked like her sane self again.
Twilight was about to write a letter to the princesses when Spike burped up a letter that said that Luna would be coming to Ponyville that night to help with research since she was the closest to Dark Bane before the Crystal Empire falling under tyrannical rule.
"Well that solves a few problems. Want to go to SugarCube Coner?" Twilight asked as she looked at the baby dragon.
"Why not." Spike answered as he stretched his arms out.
As the two opened the door, they were meant with their hyper active, party loving friend Pinkie Pie. She had her look of major importance on.
"Pinkie, what's wrong?" Twilight asked as she had her nervous smile on her face.
"I want to know why fun loving Scootaloo lives with her aunt and not her parents. I mean her aunt is DJ Pon-3, but still why is she not with her parents?" Pinkie Pie answered with a question of her own.
"I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation. Her parents' jobs could keep them busy or something like that." Twilight tried to reason to her friend.
"But that's the thing. I never seen her with any ponies but her friends and Rainbow Dash. I need to know why her parents aren't around, and I'm not the only one. Face it Twilight you want to know why too." Pinkie Pie stated as she looked at her book smart friend.
"Yes I would like to know, but I'm not going to ask Scootaloo." Twilight stated with a glare that told the party pony not to ask the filly either.
"Actually, we were going to ask her aunt." Pinkie Pie stated as she looked her friend with a knowing stare.
"We?" Twilight asked as she had a bad feeling about what this would lead to.
"I think I'll stay here just in case somepony wants to check out a book." Spike said to keep himself out of any trouble that Twilight and her friends got into.
"Ok. I'll make sure Twilight gets back at a reasonable hour." Pinkie Pie stated as she grabbed a struggling Twilight.
After about 5 minutes of Pinkie Pie pulling Twilight around they stopped inside of the Carousel Boutique.
"Ok, why did you bring me here if you were going to ask Vinyl why she's taking care of Scootaloo?" Twilight asked as she looked at her friend.
"Well darling, none of us know where she lives, but she did come by here asking for a dress for her niece." Rarity answered as she and the rest of the Mane Six walked up to the two.
"We're gonna ask her why Scootaloo lives with her and not her ma or pa when she cames to pick up the dress ta day." Applejack stated as she was now in her family base state of mind.
"Plus, the squirt is the closest thing I have to a little sister, so there for I need to know her better." Rainbow Dash stated as she looked at the voilet unicorn.
"And the fact that she never told you any of this." Applejack stated as she told the other reason why Rainbow Dash wanted to know.
"That too." Rainbow Dash replied as she had a blush from the fact that Scootaloo didn't tell her something this huge.
"I'm just worried about the poor filly." Fluttershy stated as she felt it was her turn to answer the unspoken question.
"I know what you all mean, but I still think we shouldn't just butt into their life story like this." Twilight stated as she gave a glare to her friends.
"Who’s' life story?" Vinyl asked as she just entered the store.
Twilight froze up on the spot causing the DJ to look at the others with a look that told them to spill the beans.
"Well, we are all just curious as to why little old Scootaloo was living with you. Not that we don't think you can." Applejack stated and then added out of fear of offending the unicorn that could easily hurt her with sound.
"This is what I knew would happen when ponies found out. I'll tell you but you can't tell a single soul. That means in this life and the next." Vinyl stated as she looked at them with a death glare. (She had her sun glasses on and to give the glare she lowered them to reveal her eyes.)
"We promise." every mare replied as they looked at the DJ.
"You can't just promise. You have to Pinkie Promise." Vinyl stated as she gave a knowing glare at the fashionista.
"Cross our hearts, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in our eyes. (They're all doing the Pinkie Promise so I had to change the thing a little bit.)" the members of the Mane Six stated as they went through the motions of the promise.
"Ok. Scootaloo parents are no longer of this world." Vinyl stated as all but one member of the group gasped.
"What do you mean? Did they get abducted by aliens or did they ascend into alicorns gods?" Pinkie Pie asked as she got glares from the other mares in the store.
"Pinkie Pie, Scootaloo's parents are dead." Applejack answered as she felt like a huge weight has just been placed on all of their shoulders.
"Oh." Pinkie Pie replied as her mane and tail deflated a little bit.
"How did it happen?" Fluttershy asked as she was nearly about to cry.
"I'll tell you, but not even Scootaloo knows the full story of this and I don't want any of you to tell her. I will tell her when she becomes a full fledge mare. It all started when Scoots was 2 years old..." Vinyl started as she took her glasses off and then rubbed her front left leg over her eyes.
Flashback, Canterlot, noon, 10 years ago:
A younger Vinyl Scratch was down the streets of the capital city to her sister's family house. When she came up to a house that looked to belong to a near royal citizen lived there. She walked up to the door and used her magic to pull a rope to ring a bell. The door was soon answered by a smiling mare slightly younger than herself. This mare was a pegasus with deep fire orange fir, had a beautiful blond mane and tail in a simple brushed style, gorgeous blue eyes, and had a cutie mark was a rolled up scroll with a silk ribbon tie around it. She had a golden ear rings with a diamond in each ear.
"Hello Big Sister. Did you take time out of your schedule to see us?" she asked with the classiest voice you can ever hear.
"I visit all the time Sally, but I still can hardly see my niece ever." Vinyl stated as she smiled at her younger sister.
"It is rather hard to watch a baby foal in the royal court of Princess Celestia without causing everypony sending me a glare because of her crying. That's why we ask Celestia if her niece can watch Scootaloo while we are working." Sally stated as she looked at her older sister with a smile.
"Sally Honey, who's at the door? That can't be good. No Scootaloo, stop! Don't climb that!" yelled the voice of a stallion that had an air of barely controlled panic. (The bold is where he started to panic. A lot.)
"We should probably go help your husband and my brother-in law." Vinyl stated as she didn't want the closet thing she had to a brother to have a panic attack.
When the 2 mares walked into the living room, they saw a baby Scootaloo 2 feet in the air in a blue magical field with a frown on her face. The stallion was an unicorn with sea blue fur, his mane and tail are a deep purple and styled to be spiked (Just imagine Scootaloo's mane and tail.), he had purple eyes, his cutie mark was a broken gold shield, and had a gold ring with a diamond in it on his horn. His mouth was in a frown and he looked to be unhappy just like the filly his magic was holding.
"How does Cadance do this?" the father asked as he put his daughter on the ground.
"Shield Breaker, she can't. I'm surprised she still takes the job. I mean she foalsits Princess Celestia's private student. That foal must be well behaved." Sally answered as she imaged a well behaved daughter.
"Little Scoots is behaving. She's just behaving like a 2 year old pegasus foal. Remember I was 5 when you were 2. I remember how you acted back then. Both of you should be glad that Scoots can't fly yet. Sally was a nightmare to keep in her crib at all." Vinyl stated as she remembered her foalhood with her sister.
"Auntie Scrach." Scootaloo stated in baby talk as she saw her aunt and raised her front legs wanting her aunt to pick her up.
"How about I take her to a play. She loves those things." the unicorn mare stated as the pegasus filly agreed by clapping her hooves. (I don't know what it’s called when they slam their hooves so I'm calling it clapping.)
"Well it would be nice if you can spend time with her." Sally stated as she felt bad that her older sister hasn't been able to spend time with her niece since all of their schedules.
"Come on Scooties. We are heading to the play." Vinyl stated as she grabbed her niece with her magic and left for the door.
Vinyl took Scootaloo to a play based off of the 'legend' of Nightmare Moon. Scootaloo was just sucked into it the whole time and Vinyl chuckled at the faces her niece made for each scene of every act. After two hours the play was over and it was getting close to three, so Vinyl thought it was time to take Scootaloo back to her parents. When the 2 female ponies got to the door of the filly's house, Vinyl saw that the door was slightly ajar. Vinyl took Scootaloo to one of her neighbors and asked if they could watch her for a few minutes. When they agreed (They were an old married unicorn couple that have been living in the city for about 50 years and didn't get to see their grandkids too often.), Vinyl went back to the house and started to check the rooms of the house. She first went to the bedrooms and found nothing wrong. It was the same for the entire house until she walked into the family room. She saw both her sister and brother-in-law on the floor with their internal organs fallen out of their stomachs and their blood pooling around them, but the thing that made the DJ (Yes she is one at this time too.) throw up was a message written on the wall with their blood. The message was a single word and it was in all capitals. It was the name Merry. (It was spelled like this MERRY.) Within a heartbeat, Vinyl summoned the guards and they quickly got there and had told her that they will do whatever they can to make sure this monster was caught. Fearing that the murder would come after Scootaloo, Vinyl asked (Begged being a better term for the scene that the white unicorn made.) Princess Celestia to let her take her niece to her home. Celestia stated that if anything was to happen to her and her husband, Sally wanted Scootaloo to live with Vinyl. The DJ nearly broke out crying hearing that. When she went back for Scootaloo she already had her niece's stuff sent to her home in Ponyville. (Who would think a famous DJ would live at a town that was still relatively a new town in the empire.) Vinyl told Scootaloo that her parents won't be around anymore since they had to leave the empire to help make the world a better place. (If any of you say I'm not being realistic, please remember that Scootaloo is 2 in this flashback.)
Carousel Boutique, Present:
"Oh my." Fluttershy stated after Vinyl told them her story while she seemed to pale a bit.
No other pony talked as the news set in. Applejack looked like she was about to lose her lunch, Rarity has now fainted onto her couch that appears out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie was so depressed that her mane and tail had straighten completely, Rainbow Dash looked like she had just broke a promise to every one of her friends she had in her entire life, and Twilight had a look that was filled with dread.
"Vinyl, was the message written over the family portage?" Twilight asked as she was afraid of the answer.
"Yah, why?" Vinyl asked her fellow unicorn with surprise.
"I know who did it." the purple unicorn stated as her friends looked at her like she grew a second head.
"Then who did it? I'll make sure that meanie gets it." Pinkie Pie demanded as her mane and tail turned into fire and steam shot out of her ears while her eyes turned red.
"The serial killer Bloody Merry." Twilight stated as everypony in the room paled or fainted. (Rarity and Fluttershy fainted.)
"But that guy was sentenced to death by Princess Celestia 25 years ago. How could he be back?" Rainbow Dash asked as she was now very confused. (Fluttershy and Rarity came back to the land of the awake again.)
"Could it be one of those copycat criminals I heard about?" Applejack asked as she looked her book smart friend.
"I don't think so. He made other criminals scared. He was known to kill entire families and then use their blood to put that message on the family photo. But I do remember reading about the day of his hanging." Twilight stated as she shuddered at the memory of the text.
"What happened?" Pinkie Pie asked hoping there would be some good news.
"The last words that evil unicorn ever said was No matter how hard you try, I will always live." Twilight quoted as she looked to her friends.
"I highly doubt it could be him Twilight. No matter what, he's dead. I've even seen his grave." Rarity stated as she looked at her friends and the DJ.
"I'm with Rarity on this one Twilight. There's no way that he could still be around." Rainbow Dash stated as she looked at the others.
"Actually there is one spell that might let him live, but it was a spell that uses dark magic." Twilight stated as she looked at everypony in the room with fear.
"What does this spell do?" Pinkie Pie asked with a serious look.
"The spell allows the user to reborn themselves as long as they give something in return." Twilight stated as she looked at the others.
"What do they have to give?" Vinyl asked as she looked at the other unicorn mare.
"Don't know." Celestia's student answered as she looked at every other pony in the room.
"TWILIGHT! TROUBLE AT THE SCHOOL HOUSE!" Spike yelled as he ran into the cloth store near out of breath.
"What kind of trouble?" all the mares asked at the same time hoping it was something small.
"Scootaloo is being attacked by some stallion." Spike answered as he had fear showing in his eyes.
Going off of pure instinct Twilight (Not wanting anypony getting hurt.) and Vinyl used their magic to teleport all of them to the school house to see a stallion being held up in the air by Dark Bane's emerald magic with Scootaloo behind him.
"I'm not the only one seeing this right?" Pinkie Pie asked as she looked at the sight.
Ponyville School House, 5 minutes ago:
All the fillies and colts were playing with their friends when Spike came walking up to the CMC and their three new friends.
"Hi yah Spike, what's yah doin here?" Applebloom asked as she looked at the baby dragon.
"Your friends with a dragon." Wolf Bane stated out of shock since dragons were not friendly towards ponies. (Well most dragons anyway.)
"Yep, Twilight hatched him to get into Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns." Sweetie Belle replied as she looked at the colts.
"Well I'm here, because Twilight told me to see that these new guys are fitting in with everypony." Spike answered the question Applebloom asked before anypony can start talking about his species.
"Maybe if need be, we can use that dragon to get the Mane Six to do what we want." Blizzard thought as he looked at the young dragon with calculating eyes.
"We are with good ponies. The Cutie Mark Crusaders have been great friends, even their friend Twist has been a great friend." Wolf Bane stated as said friend came walking up.
"Hi, Ssspike. Hey, who'sss that sstallion over there?" Twist stated as she pointed to a black unicorn stallion with a blood red mane, blood red tail, and black saddle begs. (I hate writing how Twist speaks!)
The stallion walked up to the group with four fillies, three colts, and one baby dragon without any emotions. When he got close to the group, it was revealed that he was around the same age as the Mane Six maybe older, red eyes that seemed to glow, and that his cutie mark was a red heart that seemed to be bleeding.
"Are any of you a filly from Canterlot?" the stallion asked as with a voice that sounds rough and older than he was.
"I am, but that was a long time ago. I think I moved in with my aunt when I was 2 years old." Scootaloo answered as she kept her eyes on this stranger.
"Why do you care?" Blizzard asked as he looked at the black and red unicorn.
"Just wanted to see if the younger generation of Canterlot was happy with the city." the stallion stated with a smile that creeped them out.
"Then why don't yah go back to Canterlot and ask them?" Applebloom asked as she didn't like the look this stallion had in his eyes.
"Because I need to do this." the stallion stated as he used crimson magic to pull a knife out of his bag and try to slash Scootaloo, but Blizzard tackled her to get her out of the way and without any of them getting hurt.
"WHAT IN TARN NATION IS WRONG WITH YOU!?!" Applebloom yelled gaining the attention of everypony.
"Hold still you little brat." the stallion stated as his eyes took an insane look to them.
"Spike go get Twilight and the others!" Sweetie Belle yelled as she looked at the baby dragon.
"They're all at the Carousel Boutique, by the time I get there, Scootaloo and the every other pony here could get hurt!" Spike yelled back with extreme fright.
"Then I'll try to get you as close as possible." Wolf Bane stated as he was calm thanks to years of being in a dangerous forest.
"Are you sure you even know where it is?" Spike asked as he looked to see that the other kids started to throw rocks and sticks at the unicorn who was forced to use his magic to form a barrier.
"Sweetie Belle told me where it is so I can at least get you close." Wolf Bane stated as he his horn glowed with a pale blue turning white.
"This isn't going to hurt is it?" Spike asked as he looked like he was steeling himself.
Sweetie Belle grabbed Spike's head in her front hooves and turned his head to see that the psycho unicorn was no longer getting rocks or sticks thrown at him, and that Cheerilee was now outside throwing some books at him but would run out soon. Spike didn't answer as he gave a gesture to tell Wolf Bane to do it. Wolf Bane formed a mental map of the town that Sweetie Belle had given him (Sweetie Belle gave an up to date map of the town to all three colts so they wouldn't get lost.) and sent the baby dragon where he believed the cloth store was. Spike was enveloped by magic and was teleported at least near the store. (Wolf Bane receives the best training technically since he is the next leader, so he would have gotten advance magic training around this age.)
"Ok, so the bigger ponies have been told. Now what!?!" Sweetie Belle asked as she saw Scootaloo had to start running again since everypony ran out of things to throw, and the stallion placed a dome around the objects.
"Now, we go get that jerk!" Applebloom all but yelled and ran at the stallion with the mental image of her bucking his flank all the way to Canterlot.
Right before Applebloom or any of the others could get to the stallion, he grabbed Blizzard with his magic and threw the pegasus colt into Applebloom and was now holding Scootaloo down with his magic.
"Stop this!" Cheerilee yelled as she thought she was going to see one of her students die in front of her eyes.
The stallion was about to bury the knife into the filly, but a large shadow had appear under Scootaloo and as the knife went down the shadow seemed to be jumping at the stallion. Everypony closed their eyes believing that if they didn't that they would soon see red. (The only one that saw the shadow was the stallion.) After what felt like forever but was only 2 seconds at most, everypony heard the sound of metal on metal. They opened their eyes to see that the black stallion was staring at Prince Dark Bane himself standing over Scootaloo in a protective manner. Dark Bane looked to be in a near rage at the sight the stallion in front of him.
"You use my father's magic and you would harm a child." Dark Bane stated as he glared at the black stallion.
"Your father's magic, please no pony owns dark magic and I'm older then I appear. Just like you, I was born centuries ago. In fact I was born 500 years ago, but unlike you I died 20 years after my birth." the stallion stated as he glare at Dark Bane.
"Then how are you here and why do you have dark magic in your soul?" Dark Bane asked as he glared back at the stallion as his magic felt the recognizable feel of dark magic and felt that it went all the way to his soul.
"I used the spell called Lazarus Reborn. As long as I cast this spell within 24 hours before my death, I will be reborn." the stallion stated with a crazy grin.
"I know that spell, and it has a price. Every time you use it and are reborn, you lose a piece of your sanity. How many times have you used this spell?" Dark Bane stated and then asked as he had this face that held a look of horror.
"I lost track after 50 times, and I kill when I feel like it and I missed her 10 years ago." the stallion stated with a mad grin.
"You’re that stallion Trixie has told me about. You are this serial killer known as Bloody Merry." Dark Bane stated as he glared at the killer.
"That's my name and I know who you are Prince Dark Bane son of King Sombra, and I know that you were once sweet to Princess Luna. Hahahahaha!" Bloody Merry replied as he looked at the now annoyed stallion as he laughed like an insane idiot. (Imagine Discord's laugh but a lot more annoying.)
Bloody Merry ran right at the Prince of Shadows with his knife ready, but was stopped as he was lifted into the air by emerald magic and was unable to break free of it. Dark Bane then walked away from the stunned Scootaloo as he became a barrier between the stallion and filly.
"I'm not the only one seeing this right?" everypony heard Pinkie Pie asked as some turned their heads to see the bears of the most powerful items of magic in Equestria with the most popular DJ in the nation.
"Auntie Scratch!" Scootaloo yelled as she ran to her aunt and seemed to be trying to hide herself in her care giver's embrace as Vinyl hugged Scoots closer to herself.
"The strange thing is that Dark Bane protected Scootaloo from that stallion, and that guy said he was over 500 years old." Sweetie Belle stated as her orange friend was crying her eyes out into her aunt's shoulder.
"You're like me. We're both monsters to everypony else. If we join together, we can take control of this nation." Bloody Merry stated as he tried using his magic to break free of Dark Bane's magic.
"I have seen many things that this nation has done while I was a statue. I've seen good things like when a colt that has been what I have learned to be bulling stand up for not only for himself but others then became a royal guard to help others. That guard was a unicorn that when he became a father to that very filly you tried to kill. You are one of the worst things I have ever seen from this nation." Dark Bane stated as the information Dark Bane stated told everypony there that the very unicorn the prince held in his magic was a pony that killed Scootaloo's parents in cold blood. (Scootaloo also heard this and now knew why she hasn't seen her parents for 10 years.)
"You can kill me if you want but I have already casted Lazarus Reborn! I'll only return!" Bloody Merry yelled with insane happiness.
"I never said I was going to kill you. No death is too good for you." Dark Bane replied with calmness that made even this insane pony scared.
As soon as Dark Bane finished his statement, two squads of the Legion of Shadows Shadow Stepped to their prince and one of the unicorns had some sort of collar. Dark Bane motioned the one holding the collar for it to be put on the stallion. As soon as the collar was placed on his neck Bloody Merry’s crimson magic died instantly.
"What happened to my magic?" Bloody Merry yelled the question as he couldn't feel his magic at all.
"That collar makes it impossible for any pony to use the magic within them. I once place one of my magic inhibitors on a pegasus and he wasn't even able to stand on a cloud. I placed another one on an earth pony and she lost half of her strength. You should already know what happens to a unicorn with one of theses on them." Dark Bane stated as he used his magic to apply some pressure on the stallion's horn putting the killer for fun in a large amount of pain. (In this fanfic an unicorns' and alicorns' horns contact to the brain.)
"STOP! ENOUGH!" Bloody Merry yelled as it felt like Dark Bane was about to crush his brain.
"I'll make you wish you were never born, and definitely make you wish you were never reborn. Take him to a cell, and make sure that he lives. I don't care how alive he is just make sure he stays alive." Dark Bane stated as he threw the stallion to his legionnaires.
"Yes our lord." all six of them replied and grabbed their prince's new prisoner then Shadow Stepped back to the Castle of Death.
"You six will soon be visiting my castle." Dark Bane stated as he looked at each member of the Mane Six but seemed to keep his gaze on Twilight for what seemed to be half a second longer than the rest.
Before anypony could do anything, Dark Bane followed his warriors as he Shadow Stepped back to his home. Not even two seconds have passed since Dark Bane left, when Princess Luna teleported to the school house and seemed to have just woken up since her mane looked like it needed to be brushed while her eyes were slightly blood shot.
"Are y'ah alright Princess Luna?" Applebloom asked as she walked to the goddess of the night and protector of dreams.
"I'm fine, just tired. I haven't been able to sleep very well since Sombra came back to the land of the living and Dark Bane gave life back to my old identity." Luna answered as she gave a yawn after telling the young filly that she was alright.
"Why is that Princess Luna?" Blizzard asked but seemed to force the question out but everypony thought it was only because he just met the lunar alicorn.
"Dark Bane, is planning something and I believe it has something to do with the Elements of Harmony." Luna answered as she looked ready to faint.
"Princess Luna, go back to Canterlot Castle and get some rest." Twilight stated as she gave the dark blue alicorn a worried look.
"But, if Dark Bane attacks...'yawn'." Luna started to say but interrupted herself with a yawn.
"Princess Luna, in y'ah current state, you would only get hurt and would only get others hurt as well." Applejack stated as she looked worriedly at the younger princess.
"You have a point. I guess that's why you're the bear of the Element of Honesty. Good Bye everypony." Luna replied as she teleported back to her room hopefully.
As soon as the princess left, everypony (Well except for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.) from the school ran up to Scootaloo asking if she was alright. Scootaloo told them that she was fine but that something seemed off about Dark Bane.
"What do you mean Squirt?" Rainbow Dash asked as she looked the younger pegasus.
"It felt like he protected me because he was compelled to." Scootaloo answered as she looked at where Dark Bane had disappeared.
"Why would he protect anypony, but the ones that serves him?" Rarity asked as she held Sweetie Belle protectively.
"Rarity, please let me go." Sweetie Belle begged as she tried to get out of her big sister's grip.
"Ah would let her go before you suffocate her." Applejack stated as she kept Apple Bloom close to herself.
Before anypony could say anything else, Night Veil appeared in a flash of light showing that she teleported there. Even though she had her blindfold on, everypony could tell that she was deeply worried.
"Blizzard, are you alright?!?" Night Veil asked with so much protective intent that when she found him, she seemed to scan him for any form of injury.
"I'm alright Sis. You can stop now. I mean other ponies are around." Blizzard replied but stressed the last part of the statement a little but ended up with Fluttershy doing the same thing as she realized that she hasn't checked on her younger second cousin.
"I can't believe I didn't check him for any injuries when we got here. I'm such a horrible relative." Fluttershy stated as she started to cry on the spot.
"Please don't cry Fluttershy." Blizzard stated as he felt like a jerk for making his father's cousin cry.
"Ok." Fluttershy replied as she wiped the tears away with her left wing.
"I wonder what he's going to do to Bloody Merry?" Pinkie Pie asked as she looked up at the sky.
"Well whatever he does to him, I hope it's painful." Vinyl stated as she wanted the stallion that killed her sister and brother-in-law.
"Aunt Vinyl?" Scootaloo questioned since she rarely sees her aunt angry.
"I'm sorry Scoots, I was just so worried about you." Vinyl stated as she then hugged her niece close to her.
Castle of Death, two hours later:
Trixie was sitting on a large soft cushion couch in front of a large fire place, while she thought about the reasons why Dark Bane came back with a prisoner after he and some of the Legion of Shadows left. He told her that he had business to take care of. Now Dark Bane was in the dungeon torturing the stallion to no end. If it wasn't for the spell of silence Dark Bane had placed around the dungeon, the stallion's screams would probably be heard throughout the castle. Nightengale came walking up to her mother with a confused look on her face.
"Mommy, why is Daddy spending so much time with that stallion the soldiers brought back?" Nightengale asked as she looked at Trixie with her dragon like eyes with a look that stated that she was thirsting for knowledge. (There was nothing to show innocence and naivety.)
"He's just getting to know that stallion for whatever reason I don't know." Trixie answered trying to keep as much information child safe.
"The stallion is in the dungeon. He's being tortured Mommy. I want to know why." Nightengale replied as she gave her mother a look that was almost just like her father's when it comes to knowing glares.
"I was torturing him to teach him to not use dark magic like he owns it." Dark Bane stated as he walked in with a frown on his lips and an angry glare in his eyes.
"Daddy, when are you going to show me how to use dark magic?" Nightengale whined as she tried to using the saddest and most tearing eyed look she could muster towards her father. (She used the puppy eyes.)
"Not until you show me you are ready for it. So while I'm waiting for that time, I will teach you other forms of magic that I know." Dark Bane answered as he looked at his daughter with little to no emotion.
"What magic are you going to teach me first?" Nightengale asked excitedly as she looked at her father with the happiest eyes anypony has seen. (Well there anyway.)
"I will first be teaching you healing magic." Dark Bane answered as he looked at her with eyes that showed the need to protect that only a trained eye could see. (Trixie saw the look and was very happy about the look.)
"Healing magic! Ahhh, but I want to learn about magic that could allow me to destroy our enemies as if they were trees in the path of a wildfire, like fire magic." Nightengale replied with a big smile at the end of her little rant.
"No. I'm making sure you can heal yourself if anything happens to you." Dark Bane stated with a look that left no room for argument.
"Ok, Daddy." the alicorn filly stated as she looked down to the floor.
"Ahem." Trixie stated as she gave her husband a glare that told him he was forgetting something very important.
"Is Mommy pregnant?!?" Nightengale asked happily as she looked at her parents as her father looked a little scared about that.
"No, Nightengale. Mommy is not pregnant, but Daddy should have something for you." Trixie replied a little bit disappointed but kept her glare on her husband.
"I'm getting there." Dark Bane stated he raised his right front hoof up a form of surrender.
"Do it faster." Trixie stated with a small glare of anger.
"Nightengale, I would like you to meet your personal guard and servant." Dark Bane stated as he motioned his daughter to look at towards the entrance of the castle.
"I don't see anypony." Nightengale replied as she looked at the gate like doors with confused eyes.
"Hello young mistress." two voices behind her stated and nearly gave her a heart attack as she turned around with her little horn lit up with magic.
When Nightengale turned fully around, she saw a solider that was sapphire blue, with sun yellow mane and tail styled to looked a little spiked up (His helmet was off and I was going for the style that Time Tuner [aka Doctor Hooves or Dr. Hooves whichever] has.), grey eyes, and was an unicorn, while his armor covered his cutie mark and seemed to be a steel grey version of what she had when she was still apart of Luna. The servant was a pegasus ruby red, with an obsidian black mane and tail styled to look like she has great class (She has the same basic mane and tail styling as Rarity. I was going for something on the classy side since war is about to begin.), her eyes where purple with a kind shine in them, and she was wearing a light red simple but classy looking dress that with a necklace and earrings that matched the dress. (I was picturing a dress like the one Rarity gave to Twilight on her birthday when Rarity went to Canterlot.)
"Who are you?" Nightengale asked as she looked at the two with confusion.
"My name is Sword Shine. I am your personal guard. It is a pleasure to meet you." the guardian replied as he looked at his young ward with the overwhelming need to protect her.
"My name is Classic Elegance. I am going to be your teacher for the finer things about being a princess that your father can't teach you. I'm also going to be your care giver when your parents can't look after you." the care giver answered as she gave a sweet smile to the filly.
"Honey?" Trixie asked as she raised her left eyebrow towards her husband.
"We are going to war; we will be needed by the troops." Dark Bane stated as he motioned her to follow him.
"What's the matter?" Trixie asked as she looked at her husband with the same look.
"We are needed in the war room. The Children of Nightmare are waiting for us. We are needed to end this age of weakness in Equestria, and bring it into an age of strength." Dark Bane stated as he looked to the fire place.
"What about your father?" Trixie asked as she wanted to talk to her father-in-law.
"He is already in the war room. Father knows how to fight in a war." Dark Bane stated as he looked at his wife as the both of them walked towards the middle sized tower.
"How will your father fight and I think I told you that Nightengale needs friends, so where are her friends?" Trixie asked with a glare as she walked with her husband to the war room at the top of the middle tower.
"I can't make any friends for Nightengale and I will make an elite strike force for Father." Dark Bane answered as they started to climb up the spiral stair case for 6 stories (Each story was about 20 feet height.) to the war room.
The war room was large with no windows but had lights from enchanted clear crystals that gave off light in the room while leaving shadows but allowing everypony to see everything in it. There was a large platform with an up to date 3D solid map of Equestria. (The map is like the 3D map the Children of Nightmare have but is not made of light and is changed through magic on the material it is made from. A material Dark Bane made by turning crystals and gems into powders then mixing the powders together and then infused the powder with magic. By using magic, Dark Bane or any unicorn that has control over the arcane magical force [Having good control over the most basic unicorn practiced skills. Any unicorn that can levitate 3 objects at once can do it.] can form anything they want to scale. [Lord that was a lot.]) The map then turned to look like the Everfree Forest with Ponyville appeared before the forms of Sombra and Night Shade, with the members of the Children of Nightmare staying with in the castle, where standing by the map and Night Shade looked like he was ready to kill along with the members there.
"What seems to be the problem Night Shade?" Trixie asked as she looked at the cult leader as he and the members behind him glared.
"My daughter told me and my wife that a dark magic user tried to hurt my son when he went after a filly. Tell me is it true. Was this unicorn Bloody Merry?" Night Shade demanded as he glared at the dark magic users.
"You dare demand anything from us!" Trixie yelled as she summoned dark magic to strike him, but was stopped by Dark Bane.
"This is true and I was the one that stopped him and brought him here. He will pay for what he has done." the Prince of Shadows replied to the cult leader.
"My son is still in harm’s way with him in that town. He can't fly properly with his wings yet." the Nightmare unicorn stated in a fatherly way.
"Night Shade, I have a question for you." Sombra stated out of the blue.
"What is it?" the leader of the cult asked as he was brought out of his protective father routine.
"How are you the leader of the Children of Nightmare while your cousin, the Element of Kindness, is not even a member." the king of fear asked as he looked at the cult leader.
"I married into the order, and my beautiful wife didn't want to be the leader. I took her place so leadership stayed within her family. No other member of my family knows that I'm a part of this order." Night Shade answered as he looked at the king.
"How did you learn about the order?" Sombra asked as he schooled his facial expression to look emotionless. (Thanks to all his years as being the king to the Crystal Empire before he became the king of fear.)
"I always thought the night was underappreciated and one day I read about a black castle in the Haysead Swamps, so I went and found them. They were going to kill until I said I wanted to be a member. For Queen Nightmare Moon's, (Trixie sends a glare at him for using the wrong name with her daughter.) I mean Princess Nightengale (Dark Bane mouthing 'Nice save.' to him.) is the true ruler that is kind to those that deserve it and harsh to those that need it." Night Shade answered with the voice of a believer.
"Thank you." Sombra stated as he looked at the cult leader.
"You’re welcome, but how did you come to power in the Crystal Empire?" Night Shade asked as he looked at the know tyrant king.
"I was born in to it. Before I was born the empire was ruled by four families of unicorns. One family handled the weather, one family for the stated of the empire's economy, one family to handle the citizens, and the last family foreign affairs. It had always been that way until the empire went to war with Diamond Dogs. I was very young when the empire had gone to war. I also happened to be the only member of the royal families that could not go fight for the empire. Each family had 10 members in them, 39 members of the royal family went to battle with the dogs. The war only lasted three months, but the damage to the empire was great and the families. My family and the others suffered the most." Sombra stated as he lowered his head as he remembered the times of his youth.
"I remember reading about them Father." Dark Bane stated as he looked at his father.
"What happened to them, my lord?" Night Shade asked as he looked at the king of fear.
"Before the war ended, the dogs had poisoned the royal families' member. My entire family and all of our friends died a week after the war ended. I was then crowned king of the empire." the king of shadows answered as a tear fell from his right eye.
"How did you do everything your family and the other families had to do?" a pegasus cult member asked as she looked at the fallen king.
"I had to bring in other ponies to do what I couldn't, but I had to keep the weather under control. After a few years of studying, I learned how to allow the crystal ponies use other forms of magic than just their earth magic. After some time I married to the most beautiful mare, then a year later, Dark Bane was born. Two weeks after Dark Bane was born, my beautiful wife died from unknown illness. I believe I started to fall into the dark arts to try to find a way to revive my lovely wife. The rest is known from the history books." Sombra stated as he looked at the pegasus with a sad look on his face.
"I'm very sorry about your lost." Night Shade stated as he looked at the fallen king.
"The past is the past, now we ready ourselves for war." Dark Bane stated as he got into an emotionless state of mind to ready himself for the war that would be coming.