//------------------------------// // Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!! // Story: Of Shadows, and Sunshine // by SeanofTheDead //------------------------------// Luna landed outside the home of the stallion whom had been good enough to take care of Miss Wings daughter. She immediately felt a chill run down her spine as she looked over the house and realized that evil had once called this place home. She made a mental note to tell the local guard to be on the lookout for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. Then she saw the ninja. A rather dirty, disheveled ninja that looked as though she had been to Tartarus and back. Her wings poked out from the suit, under one of them was a large package. Parts of her skin tight suit were ripped revealing her light green fur. Her mane and tail were golden in color, the suit having holes specifically made for them to come through much like a Wonderbolt's suit it was also revealing her muzzle and eyes. Eyes that looked right at her, and snapped wide open. Mother of me, those eyes are beautiful! Such luscious gold eyes like pools of liquid metal, and her fur and mane I just want to grab hold and ...Wait... What? As Luna came to from her musings towards the pegasus' beauty, she promptly blushed and continued walking towards the house, completely unaware of the pegasus' own slightly different thought pattern. Oh, horseapples! What the Tartarus did that stallion have me pick up?! First those griffons tried to kill me, then that tan pegasus chases me across the country, now Princess bucking Luna is here?! I am sooo dead... Okay okay, just calm down maybe I can play it off! Yeah, and maybe she isn't the former arch-nemesis of the latest princess, who just so happens to be a mare that I almost killed, and who is now one of her closest friends. Whatever I'll just go with what that stallion told me to say. Yep, I'm screwed..... Of course, from her I might not mind...Wait... What? If the ninja's cheeks had been visible a stark red blush would have been showing. As luck would have it for the strangely dressed mare Luna did not have X-Ray vision, and Rarity wasn't in the area to condemn her to life in prison for her attire. She did however manage to clear the look of utter shock and fear from her face before Luna could guess that she was here for a less than legal purpose. Luna continued to walk up the front door of the house, stopping only when she was beside the ninja mare in question. And when she she did, she immediately sat next to her, definitely not being creepy at all, she wasn't trying to smell the mare next to her. No, she was just taking in the smell of the clean air of the suburb. And the ninja was simply doing the same, just enjoying the smell of the air. And certainly neither of them were trying to look at the others plot when they weren't looking. Just... making sure they were well toned! Yeah, that's it. Wait... What? "Soooo... um, why are you-?" "Oh! I'm uh, just making a delivery for Mr. Somber," the mare said in a scratchy tomboyish sort of voice. "He just wanted it done discreetly." "Hence the outfit?" Luna said struggling to contain her mirth. "No, that was actually so nopony would recognize me when I flew over Ponyville. I know a few of the residents there and we don't get along well. Or rather we did, but now..." As the strangely dressed mare trailed off a look of sadness became apparent to any who were looking at her eyes. And Luna was. "I'm sorry, I didn't intend any disrespect," Luna said as she looked away from her ninja-ish companion, "Truly though I understand such things, perhaps better than most ponies." "Did you almost kill most of the Elements of Harmony in a tornado because you were too lazy to clear the sky the safe way?" the pegasus asked as her wings ruffled slightly and her ears pinned against her skull, before she started slightly and clapped a hoof over her muzzle. Her eyes were wide and filled with absolute terror as she looked towards Princess Luna. Who strangely enough was struggling rather hard to hold back laughter. "What?" the now revealed Lightning Dust asked mildly annoyed that her mistakes and woes were the cause of someponies mirth. *snerk* "Actually," *hehehe* "I remember hearing about that. And the truth is," *ahaha* "when Nightmare Moon tried to destroy the elements," *pfffft* "SHE DIDN'T COME NEARLY AS CLOSE AS YOU!!!" And with that the sovereign ruler of darkness, princess of the Night, dissolved into a giggle fit. This of course left Lightning in the somewhat awkward position of being told that she was accidentally more dangerous than one of Equestria's most powerful villains. Which being the humorous concept that it was, also caused Lightning to dissolve into a giggle fit. They laughed at the absurdity of the situation long and loud, and it was only when a certain filly yellow filly joined in their laughter that the two began to realize that they were no longer alone. "So what are we laughing about?" the inquisitive Sunshine asked, her ears perked happily as she looked between the two of them smiling without a care in the world. "Well, that makes more than one surprise today. And a royal visit, truly I am humbled," said a deep male voice. Sunset was in an incredibly happy, albeit mildly confused mood. She was not expecting Celestia to love her still. She hadn't thought she loved her in the first place. She had known that the princess was fond of her, though the extent of her fondness was apparently lost on her. She was going to extraordinary lengths to make sure Sunset was safe and happy. Even so far, as to bend the laws of the country for the sake of her student. Special services agreement indeed. Once more since the two had set out for Twilight's location in Las Pegasus, Sunset found herself giggling, much to the annoyance of her companion. "Miss Shimmer, if you don't mind could you please attempt to control your spontaneous outbursts of foalish giggling?" Blueblood asked in annoyance, his ears pinned against his head as he covered them with his hooves in a futile attempt to end the bothersome noise. "I am attempting to study up on our quarry and brush up on my combat tactics if you don't mind." "Why? This is just another test. It's not like she was serious about 'the boogey pony' coming back. And if he was, if King Sombra, the evil Emperor of the Crystal Empire really had returned, why wouldn't she be going to find him herself? I'm sorry "prince" but it doesn't add up." When her companion didn't respond, Sunset swelled with pride for a moment, basking in the glow of yet another deductive victory, only to deflate when she heard Blueblood sigh. "Miss Shimmer, I-" "Just Sunset will be fine." "Very well, Sunset, how would the average pony respond to hearing that Princess Celestia, one of the ruling members of our entire nation, was looking for a dark wizard of immense power and immortal stature, that feeds off of fear? The answer is simple. They would as the commoners say, 'freak their shit'. Now imagine hearing that the elements of harmony and a few of their other friends are out looking for something, or somepony, they have been doing this for quite some time now, so the average citizen will likely say something to the effect of, " oh, so their at it again huh? Well good for them, it's nice to see the new princess and her friends doing good for Equestria, I guess she is still the same." Blueblood eyes had assumed a vacant look as he spoke, apparently staring into the middle distance, and his voice sounded rather like the cartoon mouse the humans had in the other world. "Celestia is also doing all she can, she has Twilight's older brother out preparing guards and teaching self defense in most of the towns in Equestria, she is coordinating this entire mission and Luna is also out searching for him I believe. Cadance is helping share the workload for coordination and has her empire on high alert. Celestia has sent the elements, you and I, the elements found another high power unicorn, her sister, and her niece. If this was a test for two unicorns, no matter who, why would she have so much already done? And why would there be so many others involved?" And so it was at this point that Sunset Shimmer found herself utterly stumped. She couldn't believe that this stallion was so calm about this. Here he was, knowing that he was traveling towards his doom... And he seemed relaxed about it! There was no doubt in his mind that King Sombra had returned, and that his aunt had just sent him on a search for him, that he had been sent to find an evil unicorn that utterly outclassed him and most of those sent to find him (with the possible exception of Twilight and Luna) and he decided that instead of praying for survival... He was going to attempt to fight him. Of course her thoughts were derailed before she could form the cognitive processes that were required to ask why he was ready to die uselessly, by the voices that sounded out from within the carriage, One of which was male, the other female. "I agree with the colt." "Night Light! Shush!!" "W-who is there?" Sunset asked nervously, as her ears pinned against her head. As much as she wanted to deny it, she had begun to believe Blueblood and that they were in fact hunting down THE Boogey pony. "I'm w-warning you! I'll blast this carriage to smithereens!" "Miss- I mean Sunset, please calm-" "NEVER tell a distraught mare to calm down! Now show yourselves or we all go down!" Sunset exclaimed as she powered up her magic causing a glaring yellow glow to form on her horn. "Well poop. They heard us Velvet. Heh, I guess that's my bad, huh?" "Night Light you still surprise me. Listen, we will show ourselves but you need to calm yourself first. If we do so we appear now, you will likely destroy this carriage from shock. We a going at a pretty decent clip too," the voice called Velvet said. "Not to mention that we are several hundred feet in the ai-" the male voice dubbed Night Light began before being cut off by a rather angry Blueblood. "NO! DON'T YOU DARE SAY IT!" he roared, "I didn't force the fact that we are in the air from my mind just for you to bring it up and make me piss myself and pass out!" There were several quiet moments in the carriage following Blueblood's outburst, which Sunset used to calm herself down. And as soon as she did, two unicorns popped into existence next to them. The stallion next to Blueblood and the mare next to Sunset. As she looked at them Sunset couldn't help but feel as though she knew them from somewhere. "There," the mare said in a motherly, soothing kind of voice. "Now everypony can calm down. Night, introduce yourself." "My name is-" "Night Light, rank 1 Equestrian black cloak, clearance level Alpha, designated as secret Chief of Intelligence and lead combat expert by Princess Celestia herself after the defeat and subsequent destruction of no less than twelve necromantic cults and five groups bent on the return of Nightmare Moon," Blueblood finished his monolog and turned to the mare. "Twilight Velvet, also rank 1 Equestrian black cloak , worked side by side with Night Light on all missions, designated as Lead Spy and head of the Bureau of Covert Operations afterwards, as well as maintaining the cover operation of being an astronomer, and a book publisher." Blueblood looked at Sunset and continued. "Before they retired from that particular line of work anyway. Both are likely still skilled in abjuration, healing, hoof to hoof combat, destructive magics, teleportation, assassination, enchanting, illusion, and of course they are the parents of Princess Twilight Sparkle, and Prince Shining Armor. So, what are you two doing here?" Sunset was caught off guard by the latest revelation, and the fact that Twilight Sparkle's parents were probably rather angry with her for the whole attempted murder of their daughter thing, and that in a fight of any kind they would likely beat her into the ground. Therefore her mind decided it would be a good idea to shut down now. "Guh." and with that eloquence, Sunset fell to the floor of the carriage with a loud thud. "Huh... I guess she needed a nap. Either that or she tried to kill somepony we know." "Night, honey, I love you but nopony is that stupid. Our children are both royalty now, who would be dumb enough to try to harm somepony we know?" "Well Twilight? What's the letter say?" Rainbow prodded incessantly, desperate for some kind of movement on the part of the group. "Well, it says a whole lot. And Fluttershy is right, we may not need to search across the entirety of Equestria. Cadence found a lead. And even if it turns out to be nothing likely Sombra will be near a populated area. He needs ponies to draw fear from to make him powerful again," Twilight explained, earning groans from her friends and Trixie who looked worried as well. "Twilight, as much as Trixie would love to go with you to hunt down the most dangerous unicorn ever to walk Equus, she- I must decline. I need to be here and keep working, living isn't cheap for the average pony," Trixie said nervously, she had already used up her break waiting for the letter from the princess, and that meant she would need to eat a bigger meal before bed. She never slept well on an overfilled stomach. Twilight smiled as she looked at her former nemesis. It was a comfortable warm smile, pleasing to see and only slightly condescending. "Actually, the princess has offered to pay you. It would seem that she agrees that having a former wielder of dark magic along with us will be immensely helpful. And I told her how we ran into you..." Twilight trailed off as her smile became a sheepish grin. A silence took hold of the room quickly, drowning the occupants in it's oppressiveness while as Trixie took stock of her situation. She had committed a rather severe crime by taking over Ponyville. And yet the princess was willing to overlook this fact and let her off the hook with a warning. And pay her. Surely the amount would be significant, she might be able to afford a new wagon! Maybe bigger, or a flying wagon... Anything she needed would likely be provided as well. She would help save Equestria, boost her fame, Ponyville would look past what she had done, and she would finally be admired again! As her thoughts traveled along these lines she felt her Cutie Mark tingling, and decided on her course. "No." Rarity was beside herself as Trixie gave her answer. "What?! How can you possibly say no to-" "Rarity, give her a minute to explain," Fluttershy said before noticing every eye in the room was fixed on her now. "Meep!" "Thank you, truly thank you for the offer. But if I were to do this, I might go back to how I was. I was an arrogant, selfish, and malicious pony. I don't want to be her again. Why do you think I'm delivering room service instead of performing here? I don't want to... hurt anypony anymore. And don't lie, I hurt AND terrified all of you." As Trixie finished her statement, she turned towards the now empty food cart with an engorged, snoring Pinkie on it and levitated her to the bed Fluttershy was on, and gently tucked her in before turning to leave. "Trixie," Twilight said as she placed her hoof on the azure mare's withers, "that is precisely why you can follow your Cutie Mark's calling. And if you don't help us, the stallion we're after... he WILL hurt others. He wants not only to destroy the princesses, but enslave everypony. I understand that after everything that has happened to you that you are afraid you might lose yourself again, but we need your help. We can't do this without you, and if we fail everypony will suffer. Mares, stallions, colts, fillies. King Sombra won't care who they are or how old, or even if it will kill them. He will make the world a dark place, and we will be helpless to stop him." "But didn't you stop him before?" Trixie asked as she looked at the other mares, "If you did it once can't you just do it again?" "No. We can't. He came back remember? If he survived the first time, he will survive a second time. The princesses are likely planning something but we don't have anything besides our friendship right now. And with more friends we will be even stronger. That's why Celestia sent Sunset and Blueblood to us and... oh I am become error..." None of them needed to look to know which of the mare's faces were contorting with absolute disgust and rage. The one whose forehead now had veins popping out of it and muscles were straining to the point of bursting blood vessels. So, naturally, they all looked. Somehow even Trixie knew which of them was most disturbed by this turn of events. And though she was going to agree to helping anyway, the fear implanted in her mind by seeing Rarity mad enough to strangle a full grown dragon had no part in her acquiescence to the VERY reasonable request of Twilight Sparkle. Nope, she wasn't scared. Neither was Twilight. They just needed to use the bathroom REALLY bad. That's why they ran screaming from the room as Rarity chased them while screaming. "SHE DID WHAT!?!?!?" Luna was surprised. Very surprised actually. She had thought that the Mr. Somber was home and that he was taking a nap before he would have to deal with his charge. After all most ponies understand that foals(even the big ones) require a lot of energy to care for. And now here she was standing in front of Mr. Somber... doing all she could to prevent herself from attacking him headlong. She looked at one of the worst enemies she had ever faced, possibly the single most evil being to walk the face of Equestria. Instead she decided to test him. To make sure she was absolutely certain it was indeed her foe, the unicorn whose evil caused her fall, the being that made her heart rip itself apart those many years ago... So she sent him a message telepathically. Sombra. So you did survive. Well he may be stupid, but he isn't weak. Oh I'm Head Voice by the way. And no, he is in fact good now. Because I said so. What the- Oh no... You two are talking...