//------------------------------// // Chapter five. Clever Girl // Story: Shadow in the Dark // by Thestoryteller //------------------------------// The tracks vibrated as the ponyville train sped down the tracks. Black smoke fumed out of the pipe on the top. Meanwhile inside on the fourth train car Twilight, Sunset, and Nightwing all sat in a booth. Twilight sat alone while Nightwing and Comet tail sat together. "So I've been meaning to ask." Sunset began. "What's the reason we need to go to the crystal empire again?" "Remember when you decided to come back here and we met you at the crystal empire?" Nightwing asked. Sunset nodded. "Well when I was attacked by those two Pegasus I noticed something." "And what might that be?" Twilight asked. "One of them was a lightning caster." "So?" "Soooo, last time I checked there's only three lighting casters in all of Equestria. Flash and Lighting strike were with us when the attack happened." "So you think it's time Soarin that attacked you?" Sunset suggested. "Maybe, but if it is him and he attacked me for the reason I think I have I'm not gonna hold it against him." "Why's that?" "All depart to the crystal empire!" One of the ticket holders said. "I'll tell you when we get there." Nightwing said as he got up from his seat along with Twilight and Sunset following behind. "Come on, you got to tell us what you think is going on." Sunset pleaded. "All I know for sure right now is that Cadence and Shining armor might have something to do with this." "What makes you say that?" Twilight asked. "I have a theory." - Twily!" Shining armor exclaimed as he ran up to his sister and gave her a hug. "Hey BBBFF." Twilight said as she hugged him back. "Say where's Cadence?" "She's busy at the moment, so how can I help you three?" "We came here because I need to ask you if you know anything about the two Pegasus that attacked me when Sunset came here." Nightwing explained. "Ummm...can't say I have." "Lie." "What?" "Your lying. Which means you do know something about those two Pegasus and you don't want to tell me. Why?" "I...um..." Shining armor stammered. "Brother." Twilight said in a warning to tone. "Please tell Nightwing the truth." "Or I'll pry it from you. Painfully." Nightwing said threatening. "Well...you see-" "Shining armor?" Cadence asked as she entered through a door. "What's going on?" "Oh good, your here." Nightwing said as he turned to Cadence. "We were just talking about the attack on me when Sunset came here. Also I know you know about it so don't bother lying to me." "*sigh* well you were gonna find out eventually." Cadence said as she turned around. "Follow me." The group followed Cadence until they reached a crystal wall. Cadence pointed her horn at the wall and a keyhole appeared on the wall. Cadence then stuck her horn in the hole and the wall swung open to a staircase that seemed to spiral downwards. Torches hung on the walls lighting the way down. "This way." Cadence said as she walked down the stairs. And they went down and down and down And down And down And down And down And down and down Until finally they reached the bottom which was just a small space with a single door in front of them. Cadence the trotted up to the door and whispered something. Then sounds of locks and clicks could be heard from the door. The door then slid into the wall like a slide door. 'Woah.' Nightwing thought as he entered through the door. "Welcome Everypony. To the Shadowbolt academy!" Cadence announced. The cave was huge! About as big as three hoofball fields. Meanwhile Pegasi, Earthponies, Unicorns, and some crystal ponies, all wearing the same shadow bolt uniform that Nightwing saw before. In fact Nightwing was so caught up in observing the place he didn't notice that Cadence was walking ahead of him. He quickly ran up to them so he could catch up. "What...is this place?" Twilight asked as she looked at a group of earthpony shadowbolts practicing martial arts in Perfect sync. "Isn't it obvious?" Nightwing asked. "It's equestria's secret army." "We have that?" Sunset asked. "Teach told me that when the Changeling army attacked they thought it was best that we had a second army. One that no one but them knew about." "Your are right Nightwing." Cadence said. "Alright shock and awe later, right now I want to know why to of the shadowbolts attacked me?" "I can explain that." Shining armor said. "See after the two Shadowbolts attacked you. I demanded to know why they attacked." "Anddd." "And turns out they said that I gave the order to attack you." "Butttt." "But I never gave an order." "Which means that someone snuck into the academy, told two of your shadowbolts to attack me. Why?" Nightwing asked himself. "Why go through all of that trouble just to attack me?" "Beats me." Sunset said. "Hmmm...can I ask the two Pegasus that attacked me a few questions?" Nightwing asked Cadence. "Of course." Cadence replied. As the group continued down the hallway they didn't notice a pegasus in a Shadowbolt uniform with a silver mane and yellow goggles with sharp ends. As soon as the group was out of sight he picked up a pink crystal and whispered into it, "He's not here fall back." As the group continued down the hall a unicorn with a clipboard and pen walked by. "Sir both of the Shadowbolt's you have requested to see are waiting for you in their quarters." The unicorn said. "Thank you, you may return to work." Shining armor said and the unicorn trotted away. The group then followed both Shining armor and Cadence into what appeared to a room, no, section of the place that was filled with other rooms. Doors to both the left and right each had a number on the designated door. The group then continued to follow both Shining Armor and Cadence until they stopped in front of one of the doors. "Here we are." Cadence said as she identified the door with the number seven forty eight welded into it. Nightwing took the obvious course of action and busted the door wide open and let himself in. You know, like a proper gentlecolt would do. Inside the room were two medium sized beds big enough for one pony, both beds were parallel to the other. Nailed to the wall were two double door lockers also both parallel to the other, and two dressers both parallel to the other. Along with two startled Pegasi who separately in front of the beds "It's so nice to finally meet you." Nightwing said to the mare Pegasus with a dark blue blown back mane, her golden color eyes could be seen since her goggles where on her forehead instead of her eyes, and light blue colored fur that could be seen under her Shadowbolts uniform. "You however." Nightwing paused as he turned his attention to the other Pegasus. "I believe we've already met haven't we Soarin?" "Soarin?!" Sunset said in shock as she entered the room and saw Soarin wearing a Shadowbolts uniform along with yellow goggles on his forehead. "Hey guys." Soarin said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head with his foreleg. "Sorry about...you know, me attacking you and all." "Ah, no need for apologies. In fact I'm here to talk to you and miss..." Nightwing trailed off as he looked at the mare. "Nightshade." The mare answered. "You and Nightshade, I need to talk to you when I was attacked." Nightwing began as he looked towards Nightshade. "First why did you attack me in the first place?" Nightwing questioned. "We were given orders by prince Shining armor to attack you." Nightshade answered. "Okay, follow up question. What were his orders exactly?" "If I remember correctly, I think he said 'A Changeling has infiltrated the empire and must be taken out by any means necessary and that the changeling was disgusted as you.'" "But did he tell you anything that could have made you suspect that he was indeed your prince." Nightwing asked as he began to pace back and forth. "Like I don't know...didn't he give you an authorization code?" "We don't have one of those." Nightshade said. "Your gonna need to make one after this, but seriously did he say anything that seemed off to you?" "Ummm..." Nightshade trailed off. "He was very blunt." Soarin said. "When is he not?" Nightwing said dryly making shining armor frown. "Anything else? Anything at all? We're missing something, but I don't know what." "There is one thing that doesn't make sense to me?" Twilight asked no one "And what might that be?" Nightwing asked, not stopping from his pace. "How could a could a Changeling get into the empire in the first place?" Nightwing stopped his pace, Soarin and Nightshade looked at Twilight as well as Cadence and Shining. Nightwing spun around so he would be facing Twilight. "Oh you are brilliant!" Nightwing cheered as he immediately grimaced in his head. "So we know that Changelings can't enter the empire because if they tried they would be forced away from the empire. So...how did a changeling get inside...unless-" "...unless what?" Sunset asked. "When Flash, Comet tail, and I went into the cave in The Everfree forest we found a notebook. In it it said that someone was an conducting an experiment on a pony that had to do with Changeling DNA." "So?" "So, if somepony was half pony and half Changeling then that means that he/she could slip past the crystal heart and it would never notice." Nightwing explained as he turned towards the group. "In fact, nothing could stop he/she from disguising herself right now into someone like us." Nightwing trailed off as he looked at his crystal. "I'm afraid I haven't been quite clear to all of you." Nightwing pointed his crystal at the door as an aura surrounded the door making it slam shut as well as the lock's began to click. "What are doing?" Shining armor demanded. "Like I said I haven't been completely clear with all of you, you see the moment we all entered in the room I casted a spell that tells me if there are any non-pony creatures with us. But the spell took a while to complete." "So to buy time you made us try to figure out how the Changeling got in." Twilight said as she put the pieces together. "Two for two your on a roll Twilight." Nightwing said. "Well who is it?" Soarin asked. "Who's the Changeling?" "Half Changeling. We're dealing with a half Changeling half pony." "So who is it?" Nightshade asked. "To be honest I thought it was pretty obvious." Nightwing said as he turned his head to the suspect. "Me?" Sunset said in shock as she put a hoof on her chest. "Why would think it's me?" "Two reasons. One-" Nightwing pointed his Crystal at Sunset and it's color changed from clear to one side light pink and the other dark green. "This is Unicorn DNA." Nightwing pointed to the pink side of the his Crystal. "And this is Changeling DNA." Nightwing pointed to the green side of the crystal. "Also-" Nightwing paused as he approached Sunset. "I know Sunset shimmer, and I know that she wouldn't, no couldn't ever face me after what she did to me." Nightwing growled at the so called 'Sunset'. "So then." Nightwing backed away from 'Sunset'. Let's who you really are shall we?" Nightwing asked as he pointed his Crystal at 'Sunset'. Suddenly 'Sunset' began to change, her fur turned into a light pink instead of light yellow, her mane was dark purple like Twilights except it had a teal blue and dark purple, but was lighter than her mane, stripes on both sides of her horn, and her eyes became light purple. "Ah-ha, I have absolutely no idea who she is. Does anyone here know?" Nightwing asked the group. "Starlight glimmer?!" Twilight said in shock. "Okay we got the name, now...who is she?" "As Twilight here just told you my name is Starlight glimmer." Starlight stated. "Here are the things you need to know about me, I posed as Sunset shimmer so I could spy on you, I work for the Order, I make one of thee best soufflés in Equestria-" "Lie." "Oh shut up, and I love writing story's." Starlight finished. "Shining armor and Cadence, I want you to put the entire academy on high alert." Nightwing said as he began to unlock the door. "Why?" Shining armor asked as Nightwing unlocked and opened the door. "Because Starlight is a spy, a clever one too, so I'm pretty sure she that means she isn't stupid." Nightwing said as he stepped out of the room. "Therefore she obviously isn't- The few seconds that Nightwing took as he stepped out of the door were shortly lived as a light blue beam had hit Nightwing in the gut and send him flying backwards and crashing through a wall causing him to land hard on his back in another room. Leaving a hit mark on the place that he crashed on. "Oooohhh." Nightwing groaned as he looked at the hole he made when coming into the other room. "Teach isn't gonna like the bill the hospital's gonna give her after this." Nightwing groaned as he tried to sit up, only to cause him more pain than before. "Everypony get down!" Shining armor yelled as he ran out of cabin area through the door. Followed by Soarin, Nightshade, Twilight, Cadence, and some of the other Shadowbolts as they scurried out of the area. Nightwing tried his best to ignore the pain in his back and tried to get up. He looked to the door that Everypony had ran out of. There he saw Starlight standing in front of the door, next to her side however was someone that Nightwing did not suspect. Standing high and mighty was a griffon adorned in a golden armor that covered his wings, his whole body, and his legs. On his head was a golden helmet that covered the top and back of his head along with the back of his neck. But what struck Nightwing's interest the most were his eyes. The pupils were red but the sclera (or the white part of eye if you didn't know that) was pitch black. "Now then I'm going to make this as simple as I can." Starlight said to the Shadowbolts, instantly they all began to gather up and were prepared to fight. "Me and my...associate are going to be taking our leave, and if any of you wish to get in our way. Well I'll let him decide." The Griffon stepped forward and pointed a sword that had a silver blade and a golden hilt. In the center of the hilt was a yellow oval gem that gave off a strange aura. "Move now." The Griffon spoke with a voice that could make a soldier soil his pants five miles away. "Or you will all taste this blade." "We-we will defend this area no matter what." An Earthpony Shadowbolt said. The griffon seemed to smile when the the Earthpony said that."Good." The griffon raised his sword. "Then you shall die as soldiers." A strong wind began to circle around the room as the Everypony in the room, except for the griffon and Starlight, began to become afloat and spin around in a large circle. Seeing that the Shadowbolts were no longer a threat, the griffon and Starlight began to walk towards the exit. "What's happening?!" Twilight had to shout as the winds began to howl. "He's created some kind of tornado!" Nightwing shouted back to Twilight. "How do we stop him?!" Shining armor shouted. "All of the Pegasi could fly against the tornado and try to cancel it out." Nightshade suggested. "Or here's a better idea, Soarin can shoot a lightning bolt at the griffons sword?!" Nightwing shouted to Soarin. "I can give it a shot!" Soarin shouted back. Soarin created a lightning bolt in his hoof and aimed it at the griffons sword. When he had a clear shot Soarin threw the bolt at the sword. The bolt struck the sword and knocked it out of the griffons claw. The sword then skidded away from the griffon. As the tornado disappeared Starlight casted a purple wall that blocked the Shadowbolts and the group from her and the griffon. The griffon spread his wings and began to fly after his sword but was to slow as Soarin landed on the sword and pressed his foreleg on the hilt of it. Using his other foreleg Soarin created a lightning ball and threw it at the griffon, knocking him back a little bit. The griffon seemed unfazed by the attack, in fact he was smiling at Soarin as if he was impressed. "I see. So your a lightning caster like me." The griffon said. "Wait your a lightning caster?" Soarin aske "Indeed. But i'm afraid that doesn't matter right now." The griffon said as he lifted his his right claw and a lightning ball that was like the one Soarin used formed in his claw. "Now you will see what I can truly do." The griffon said as a blue beam of lightning with sparks coming out of it was shot at the sword. The sword shattered as the beam hit it the crystal in the hilt though rolled out of the hilt unaffected. "Ha, you missed." Soarin smirked. "If you say so." The griffon shrugged. "Hey Shadow boy." Starlight caught Soarin's attention. "Catch." She said as she tossed the yellow crystal at Soarin. The crystal flew right at Soarin and attached it's self to his chest. Instantly yellow lightning began to flow from from the crystal. "Gahhhh ahhhhh!" Soarin yelled as the lightning began to flow all around his body. "I think it's best that we take our. Wouldn't want to be hear when he erupt's." Starlight said as she left the area with the griffon following behind. The purple wall disappeared once Starlight left as the group rushed to Soarin. "Soarin are you okay? What's wrong?" Nightshade asked her partner. "Get back!" Soarin yelled as a wave of yellow lightning pushed everyone back. "Do not follow me." Soarin growled as he vanished in a yellow flash. ".....what just happened?" Shining armor asked. "Not sure, but I want all of you to stay here. Twilight come with me." Nightwing said as headed for the exit. "We're leaving." "What?! But Soarin-" Twilight cut off. "Is far from our capability, there's only one creature that can help him and he's in ponyville. So let's not dawdle and get a move on." Nightwing said as he and Twilight vanished in the blink of an eye. Nightwing and Twilight reappeared back at Ponyville in front of Twilight's castle. "Alright Discord I know your here, you know as well as I do that you could sense that chaotic disturbance." Nightwing said to the open air. "See it's things like that that spoil all the surprise." Discord said as he appeared, muzzle to muzzle, in front of Nightwing. "I don't have time to play games with you Discord I want you to tack down Soarin and bring him back." Nightwing said. "Oh really? And what's in it for me?" Discord asked. "You don't get trapped in a box." "Seems like a fair trade, but before I go I have to ask...did you tell her?" Discord pointed to Twilight. "Tell me what?" Twilight asked. "Oh he didn't tell you." Discord rolled his eyes. "Honestly Nightwing your as bad as your Lulu." Nightwing's head faced the ground as if he was trying to hide from the two. "Fine if you won't tell her then I will." Discord said as a piece of paper teleported itself in front of Twilight which she caught with her magic and began to read. After a while she dropped the paper her eyes wide with shock and anxiety. "You know." "Yes." Nightwing said as he raised his head. "I know what you did." "Nightwing please you need to understand-" "Understand what Twilight?!" Nightwing shouted as he turned to face Twilight. "That what you did was an act of kindness, that what you did was something that could somehow save the world?!" "I-" "It wasn't." Nightwing growled. "What you did was selfish and unacceptable!" Now it was Twilights turn to look away, tears were forming in her eyes as she remembered what she did. "Does he even know? Did you even bother telling him?" Nightwing asked. No answer. "Well I see that you two have a while to sort this out so I'll just be on my way to find Soarin then. Bye bye." Discord said as he disappeared in a white flash.