The smell of burning was what roused Shadow. He sat up and beheld the flaming city that was Canterlot. The majestic buildings that had once reached high into the sky were consumed by roaring fires. Plumes of thick black smoke rose into the sky, obscuring the sky with pitch black clouds. Ash floated through the air, like foal smelling snow. Shadow felt panic rising inside of him. What had happened? How could he have gotten here? The last thing he could remember was drinking with Rainbow, then...nothing. He turned this way and that, truing to catch a single glance of a pony, any-pony, that could help him understand. But though the air was thick with screams and shouts, there was no sign of a stallion, a mare or a filly. The panicked Unicorn then caught sight of the palace. It made his blood run cold. Several fires burned across the beautiful architecture. The tower that he knew to be Luna's had collapsed. Luna...Shadow tore his gaze away from the smoldering wreck that was the castle. What had happened to the Princesses? He wanted to run towards the castle, to find out what had happened to Canterlot. But as the Stallion tensed to run, he heard a voice calling out to him.
"Be calm Shadow." He looked up. Princess Luna was drifting down towards him from out of the smoke covered sky. Her wings folded against her sides as she landed. She smiled at him. "Be calm apprentice. Drunk dreams often tend to be...slightly warped." Shadow blinked confusedly at the Princess. Slowly, the realization of what she had just said sank in. He was dreaming. He felt slightly foolish. If Canterlot had been attacked, then he probably have been on the first train back to Canterlot alongside Twilight and her friends. His thoughts were interrupted by a closer scream. Turning, he saw a mare, running along the high street. The mare was covered in soot with several burns visible across her coat. The mare, not stopping to notice the pair, ran straight through them as though the pair were made of smoke. Shadow turned back to look at Luna. "This is a place I would not hope to visit again." Luna said, her eyes fixed on the burning wrecks of houses. She shook her head and turned back to Shadow. She smiled, though it was a sad smile.
"Luna...?" Shadow asked confusedly. The Princess continued smiling. "Where are we? Is this Canterlot? Because I don't ever remember reading about Canterlot being attacked to this degree." Luna nodded, turning around and beginning to walk way from Shadow. The Unicorn, getting the message, hurried to keep up. Together they walked through the blazing inferno that the dream version of Canterlot had become. Shadow started to feel slightly unnerved by the amount of devastation that had been wrought upon the city. Every now and then a pony would come galloping out of the smoke and flames. Sometimes it would be a royal guard, their armor blackened and dented, or it would be a citizen of Canterlot, their fines clothing torn or in some cases, bloody. And all the while the two ponies walked through it all, until finally, they came to a stop, in what looked like the square, though because of the debris that littered the ground made it almost impossible to discern wherever they actually were. A group of...Shadow stopped dead. A group of about a hundred humans stood in close, tight-knit group. Each one of them had black, rectangular drivers secured around their waists and each one had a lockseed secured. Most, Shadow did not recognize. Some of the humans carried large war-hammers, others wielded swords, some even seemed to be swinging large halberds over their heads. "No...this was when..." Shadow asked turning to look at Luna. The night Princess nodded, watching the humans with a cold expression on her face.
"Yes...this is the day the humans attacked Equestria. Looking for their precious golden fruit." She shook her head bitterly. By this time, several royal guards had appeared out of the fire and smoke and had surrounded the humans. Shadow had never seen such looks of deep hatred on the guards faces. Despite the guards threatening looks, and the fact that the royal guards were pointing their own weapons at the humans, the surrounded group still yelled and jeered, waving their weapons. "So much wanton death was dealt during those days." Luna mumbled sadly. "The humans refused to give up their stupid search!" Luna said, a growl of anger entering her voice. "Never had an enemy attacked us so fiercely or showed no mercy. It was some of the worst days of Equestria!" Luna sighed as the guards and the humans engaged in battle. Screams rent the night. Despite the humans Lockseeds, the battle was over quickly. Soon there was only one human standing. "That one is the human I remember the most." The human in question was wearing black armor with white parts that gave the armor a skeletal look. The helmet bore the same white, skeletal look that covered most of the humans voice, except the humans piercing green eyes. The sword that the human was carrying looked was large, almost like a broadsword, with a serrated edge. "He was the humans leader." Luna whispered, taking a seat as the human stabbed the sword into the ground, so that it stuck upwards on it's own. The human reached up and attempted to pull off the helmet. "He earned a reputation as a brutal tactical master and a ruthless leader. He gave no mercy to either ponies or humans alike."
At that moment, a shout of, "ENOUGH!" Pierced through the night. Celestia had appeared in the throng. Clad in golden armor, with a large golden halberd held in the grip of her golden magic, Celestia's face was full of anger. Her wide eyes fixed on the human, who was still trying to take off the helmet. "HUMAN!" Shouted Celestia, the tip of her halberd pointed at the still struggling human. "THIS HAS GONE ON LONG ENOUGH! LOOK AROUND YOU. YOUR COMRADES HAVE FALLEN! YOU ARE OUTNUMBERED! I DO NOT WANT TO FIGHT ANY LONGER! PLEASE GIVE UP THIS FOOLISH CRUSADE!" But the human seemed not to notice. With a click, the helmet clicked open. The skeletal helmet hit the ground with a loud thunk. Shadow's mouth fell open. Despite the fact that he was a few years younger.... The same messy black hair, the same pale skin and the same piercing green eyes...It was Jay. Luna's horn began to glow bright blue. The scene faded out, to be replaced with blackness. Luna stood up and turned to look at the shocked Unicorn.
"Shadow," she said, mournfully. "Celestia won't admit this, but she is worried. We both are. The last time we both saw Jay, he was leading the human forces to war...over 2000 years ago!" Shadow froze, his mouth hanging open in round O shape. 2000 years? But Jay looked as though he was..."yes indeed." Luna said, finishing Shadows thought. "It has been over 2000 years since the defeat of the humans, yet the Jay in Ponyville looks only a few years older than when we last saw him. Something is moving against us my apprentice....playing a very sinister game." Luna sighed again as she too began to fade. "Shadow," she said more urgently. "I must ask you to keep close to that human. When the watcher leaves, it will be up to you to..." but Luna's voice was fading out as her form began to disappear.
"Where did you get this?!" Demanded Celestia, brandishing the Watermelon Lockseed. Trixie snorted and turned her head away.Since Zyon had taken care of Trixie, Celestia had taken it upon herself, after making sure that both Twilight and Apple-Jack had not been harmed, to send the grumbling Unicorn to the Ponyville jail. Like the Canterlot cells, the jail had not been needed for several years, so much so that when Celestia stepped through the doorway, a gigantic white web descended upon the princess, practically covering her in a white veil. Trixie was now locked in one of the cells. With a magic-blocking ring strapped tightly around her horn, Celestia, Zyon and Jay had been attempting to question the Unicorn for the best part of two hours. This was proving to be rather unsuccessful however. Every question they asked was met with the same snort and a look of annoying superiority. Despite the attacker being behind bars, Jay still felt as though he was looking at a ticking time bomb, rather than a blue pony with a knack for looking as though she'd been appointed queen of the universe. Celestia gave an annoyed huff, before holding up the Lockseed and driver that she had taken from Trixie. "Trixie...." the Unicorn sitting on the bed continued to stare at the wall. "Please tell us where you got these. It could..." Trixie looked straight round at Celestia and gave a loud shout of laughter. Celestia recoiled from the cell as though she'd been stung.
"Could WHAT?!" Demanded Trixie loudly. She jumped off the bed and ran over to the bars, a manic smile on her face. "You know nothing. NONE OF YOU!" She shouted. She turned to Jay with another mad smile. "He warned me about you." Trixie said, a chuckle warbling her speech. "The skeletal rider, the Patricide demon!" The laugh that Trixie had been holding in finally broke free. The Unicorn fell to the floor, still laughing. Jay stood, feeling something painful building up inside him. Celestia and Zyon were both staring at him. Turning from the cell, Jay walked quickly out of the Jail. There was a bench just outside the cell block. Jay sat upon the bench, his face in his hands. Something felt wrong. He knew he shouldn't have let that Unicorn's words get to him, but that single word had had the same impact as though he'd been punched. Patricide? From what Jay knew, that word meant that he'd killed his father. But...no matter how hard he tried to think about it, he couldn't remember anything about what Trixie had talked about, nor could he remember much else. Like he'd told Twilight, he didn't know how he had arrived in Equestria, nor what he'd been doing. But those names....The Skeletal rider? The Patricide Demon? For some reason, those names seemed to echo in his head, more painful each time he thought about them. He pushed his knuckles hard into his face. The pain seemed to clear his head. A hoof tapped Jay's shoulder, bringing him out of his revere. The human looked up in surprise, to see Shadow. The dark Unicorn, looking tired but happy, had managed to sit on the bench beside Jay without him noticing.
"Hey Shadow." Jay grinned softly. "Got over your hangover?" Shadow gave him a soft smile. The dark Unicorn's fur was ruffled as though he'd only just gotten out of bed. The harassed looking Unicorn, despite the smile, seemed very fidgety. Shadow kept looking up and down the hall and he kept shifting on his seat as though the Unicorn was sitting on something rather uncomfortable. "What's up?" Jay asked. Shadow's head whirled round as though Jay had just shouted at him.
"N-Nothing." The Unicorn stammered. Though at that moment, both Zyon and Celestia appeared in the doorway to the cells. Trixie's laughter could still be heard, though it sounded as though she had laughed herself hoarse. The croaky laughter was silenced as Celestia shut the door. With an angry expression on her face, Celestia thrust the Lockseed at Jay, who caught it deftly, then fixed Shadow with a stern look. Zyon, was looking rather grave, though his expression brightened when he saw Shadow. "Z-ZYON! Is that you?!" Shadow partially shrieked. The armored human gave a small wave, before taking hold of Jays arm and pulling him purposely out of the door. Zyon's dragon, Flame had somehow managed to fly his way over to the Jail without causing to much damage or panic. He gave a soft snort of greeting before returning to his nap. Zyon whirled Jay around and fixed him with a rather stern look.
"I want you to promise me to look after Twilight for me. Do you understand?" Jay frowned, giving several attempts to stammer out a reply, but Zyon shushed him quickly. "Listen to me Jay!" The other human said urgently. "I have something to do, but it involves me leaving Ponyville, possibly for a long time. Since your the only other human I know to be in Ponyville, I need your help. Please promise!" Jay gave a few more stammers for a second. Then relented with a sigh of defeat and a nervous nod. Zyon nodded with a smile. Putting his helmet back on, he climbed onto the back of Flame. "I'll be back soon. I promise." Flame spread his black wings. Then with a great whoosh of air, the dragon took flight. Jay put his hand over his eyes, shielding them against the mid-afternoon sun. He watched as the dragon flew higher and higher, until it was a black dot, then it flew behind the mountains around Ponyville and disappeared.
The sun was going down in the Canterlot gardens, slowly bleaching the color out of every object in the gardens turning everything inky black. Several Statues stood arranged artfully around the garden. Some were of Ponies, others were cast in the shapes of dragons and other magical creatures. One statue stood out among them. The statue was of a long serpentine bodied creature, with what appeared to be a scaled claw and a hoof for feet. Higher up on the creatures long body was a lions paw and an eagles talon stretched out as though to shield the creature from something. A stone feathered wing and what appeared to be a bats wing stretched out of the creatures back. The creatures face had two long pointed ears, with two oddly formed horns. A pair of tufty eyebrows stood above a pair of wide eyes and a mouth stretched open, with a look of complete shock and fear, with a forked tongue stretching out of its mouth. The odd statue began to vibrate very slightly. Then a crack appeared right in the center of the statue's form. More began to appear, some cracks connecting and spidering out together. A soft chuckle began to fill the air, as small pieces of the statue fell to the ground, like pieces of eggshell, from some oddly, deformed egg.