Legion of Shadows

by Strythio

A Hard Solid

Back in the present, Sunset paused at this point in the story to see if Celestia would react at all to the mentioning of that particular book.

Celestia frowned upon hearing the title of the book; she had likely recognized it merely by the description alone, but had not interrupted Sunset as to ask any questions. Now that she had paused, Celestia voiced the skepticism at the coincidence.

"I had suspected that you had gotten your hooves on that book, but in the Crystal Library right off a regular shelf?"

Sunset nodded, eyeing the cavern behind Celestia. The smell of freshly cut grass appealed to her hungry body, even if it had been cut from some random lawn.

"The original volume was, by some coincidence, hidden in the Crystal Library," Celestia echoed, clearly in disbelief, "I have heard of hiding a book in a library, but that seems a bit hard to believe."

Two royal guard pegasi walked in, carrying a tea set and two plates of grass between them. Upon inspection, Sunset realized that they were indeed plates of grass. Not hay, not even an apple; just freshly cut grass, or grass made to smell like it had been freshly cut.

Although she cared for a moment, once the guards set the morsels down before her, Sunset wasted no time in grazing, any shame she might would have had removed by the bliss of the act. Oh how good mere grass tasted to the unicorn, she found herself licking one of the plates clean of its contents.

What if it had been laced with poison? Sunset hadn't thought of that, and hesitated before going for the second plate. The grass had clearly been doused in water before being brought over, making her question the source of the grass.

"It just does not add up," Celestia carried on after Sunset paused from her ravenous eating, hardly paying her former student any mind, "How could you just up and find the book in the library? And why did that tunnel connect to the Crystal Barracks?"

"I can actually answer that last one," Sunset chimed, recalling the reason she had received sustenance in the first place and licking her lips, " During Sombra's reign, he had tunnels built under several of the structures, so that his slave labor could go unnoticed beneath the hooves of visitors. Obviously he failed to take into account that his slaves might actually use the tunnels to escape and bring their plight to your attention, but one cannot think of everything."

Celestia gave a small smile, and gently laughed, as if Sunset had given both a humorous and incorrect answer. "On the contrary."

The pegasi guards from earlier brought an excessively large pillow, almost as large as the two of them together, just in time for Celestia to take a seat. The guards hastily retreated, them being dismissed without a single visible gesture.

"Sombra knew that some of them were bound to escape; he wanted us to know what was going on. It was not oversight."

Sunset, realizing the reason Celestia even bothered asking the question when she knew the answer, chuckled. "Still testing me for accuracy? I thought we were past that stage."

Celestia laughed again, this time without the mocking ring at the end. "Evaluations are never finished. Now then, presuming I believe you actually found that book where you claim to have found it, what did you do with it then?"

"I borrowed and read it. Duh." Sunset lost to her temptation and began grazing at the second plate, though in a much calmer manner.

Celestia did not seem put off by the comment, though she did flick her ears forward, as if something had caught her attention. "That is more of the Sunset Shimmer I remember. Now then, I happened to be in the vicinity at the time-"

"I know." Though her mouth was full, Sunset still found a way to respond in an intelligible manner. "All of Equestria might could have heard that ringing voice calling for creatures to align based on their kind."

"You were not amongst the Equestrians, so I assume you hid out in the library?"

Sunset nodded, swallowing, only to find that her second plate already had been cleared. With a disappointed sigh, she continued.

"Yes, I hid out in the library until very deep into the night; I took that book with me. The very first page, with Luna and Sombra's doodlings out of boredom, let me know that at worst, the book was worth the price at the museum, and at best, would allow me an insight into the kind of magic that those two may have practiced all those centuries ago..."

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The book had started off with some background on the various authors. The House of Umbra was a pony family, one that had largely unicorns in it let the book tell it.

The family stretched back centuries, prior to the founding of Equestria even. The family had been guarding and ruling on and off the Crystal Empire since its establishment, and could be considered nobility in that light. Supposedly, they had also been the founders of dark magic, something which the family took pride in considering that they wrote an entire book about it.

The family kept several records of their findings, this book being a compilation of most of them, and rarely allowed outsiders even a glimpse of their work. Luna was the only recorded exception, and from what Sunset could tell, it was due only in part due to her contributions to the volume. Dark magic functioned off of negative polar emotions, such as hatred and fear, and as such, tended to exchange power for control over these emotions.

Light magic, or so it was termed, functioned eerily similar, but as could be expected, it functioned more off of love and compassion. Like its counterpart, the user tended to lose their ability to resist control of these emotions with extensive usage, explaining why alicorns like Celestia could remain so amiable even under the most stressful of conditions.

Mastering both polar magics required great skill, and apparently had only been accomplished by alicorns in history. While that would have discouraged some others, it put Sunset into thought mode. Here she was, hiding out in a library, when the opportunity to become an alicorn may have literally levitated itself into her hooves.

Then again, this book was about dark magic; hardly anything good came out of using dark magic, not to mention it could easily be beaten with there being four alicorns running around.

Despite the wealth of information in the preface chapters, reading became much more complicated once actual spells came into play, with writings and re-writings making it very difficult to comprehend in the dimming daylight. Sunset needed a better place to hide out and read this book, especially since no one had bothered to check in on the library in hours.

Such a book, of course, would be noticed missing, so she went back down the tunnel that she had come. To her pleasant surprise, the guards had not blocked it off, and the chamber with the single window was completely abandoned. The window had been shattered, the entire frame completely off of its hinges.

Sunset contemplated making her get away right then and there, as her earlier window idea no longer had glass as an issue, but then she hears the faint sounds of chatter. Hiding in the darkness of the tunnel, Sunset gazed in surprise as Flash Sentry came into view, alone.

He was fully garbed in his royal guard armor, and seemed to be slowly, but surely, trotting back towards his room. He did not seem to be in the greatest of moods.

"Did you check the library, she asks," Flash mocked in a pitiful attempt at mimicking some mare's voice, "Why would I check the library when I damn well know that Sunset is the only thing that would attempt to hide in a library. Seriously, who else does that?"

Sunset had half a mind to lash out for this barbed insult at her choice of hiding places, but an interesting thought came to mind instead. She had recently read up on some interesting, if not mildly redundant information regarding dark magic. Earlier she had been bested by Flash; perhaps this time, she could get the jump on him instead.

Building up dark magic in her horn, Sunset let loose her magic, only for a purple mist to be emitted from her horn instead. While she had not used a specific spell, she had half expected dark magic to simply work off of her emotional state.

It had been unexpected, for she had been going more for a blast of dark magic, but the mist covered Sentry's head for a few seconds. He inhaled it, coughed a little, and then carried on with what he was doing down the hall, his voice still being heard as he continued his rant.

"Sunset had better be gone by the time I see her again; with Celestia hanging around, there is no telling what I would have to do in order to keep her head from ending up on a stake."

Sunset blinked, hardly processing that phrase. The only thing that went through her mind was how deprived she had been recently. Not of food or water, but of something much more basic, necessary to the continuance of life itself. She needed a good romping.

Sunset shook her head in an attempt to clear these thoughts, but they persistently remained. She wasn't going into heat now of all times was she? A quick moment of deliberation led to the conclusion that that earlier blindfire with her spell may have had something to do with it, rather than a sudden ability to have foals.

"Celestia always told me not to use strange magic without direction," Sunset pouted to herself, "Dammit, how am I supposed to figure out a way out of here with this distraction?"

From her hooves, up her spine, and straight into the back of her head, Sunset realized that she had been approaching this the wrong way. Flash Sentry clearly had not sounded the alarm yet, meaning that, to some extent, he wanted her to escape. Meaning, that he would be more than likely to help her, if she only asked. And maybe held him at bay with her magic.

"What could possibly go wrong!" Sunset shouted, quickly covering her mouth and frantically looking around. When no pony came running, Sunset returned to the library, "returned" the book to a random space, and then went on her way to finding Flash's room again.

She had noted it once before when she had come by at this time of night that the Crystal Palace was a dark place to wander around; only the lights of guards illuminated the hallways. Some instinct, or perhaps a higher sense of direction, guided her through the darkness to her destination right outside of Flash's front door, having apparently been repaired earlier in the evening while she was in the library.

Before she could open the door, however, a familiar voice could be heard on the other side, conversing. Putting an ear to the door, Sunset listened carefully to the dialogue, muffled as it was.

"I just replaced that door Flash. You were supposed to be on watch all day!" The voice sounded frustrated and masculine.

"My Prince, I was on watch almost all day; however, I took a break. The door must have been broken sometime during then." Flash's voice, with anger evident in the tone.

"Well, I guess I can't blame you entirely, today has been one strange set of events." Concession that perhaps a burnt down door being replaced was far more excusable under the unusual circumstances. It was just a door; whoever but a superior would even care that it had been burned down? .

Prince Shining Armor might would care, Sunset mused. She settled that that was who was on the other side of the door, having a somewhat private conversation with Flash.

An oddly serious interest sounding Flash inquired, "So, how did it go with Cadance?"

A pregnant pause followed, with only the sound of her own breathing filling the gap. At last, Shining spoke again.

"Could have gone better. Celestia is taking charge of everything, so I guess you have the rest of the night off, for now."

The sound of clopping hooves approaching the door signaled the end of the conversation. In a desperate attempt to hide herself, Sunset dashed off just down the hall. When the door opened, very little light poured out, and the form of Shining Armor stepped out. He used magic to close the door behind him before lighting his horn and trotting off in the opposite direction of Sunset, disappearing around a corner a minute or so later.

Sunset let out a sigh of relief once he was gone, and crept once again to Flash's door. Surprisingly enough, it opened for her, and though wary at first, Sunset trotted in confidently.

Once in and clear, the door slammed shut, the sound of bolting accompanying it. Before she could assess any further, a husky voice sounded out from behind her.

"What kept you so long Sunny? I thought I would have to pleasure myself tonight."

Sunset did not know how to take that comment, so instead turned around to find a glassy eyed Flash, practically eating her with just his eyes alone. Apparently, the magical mist worked as stated in the book, although it had not been Sunset's intentions to quite draw this result from Flash.

He strode up till he was right in her face, a wide grin on his face. "So, how would you like it tonight? Or would you just prefer I take over?"

Sunset backed away slowly, re-channeling magic into her horn, not entirely aroused by this far too easy to get stallion. "I think it would be best if you came to your senses."

Flash's eyes flashed green before returning to their normal blue; his smile did not waver in the least.

"I am in my senses."

Stallion tackled mare, sending both onto the awaiting bed behind them, Sunset temporarily pinned beneath Flash. His muzzle came within a hair's breadth of hers, and a wide grin was plastered on his face, mischief no doubt on the mind.

"Let's get down to business first, shall we Sunny?" Flash grinned, forcefully holding down the unicorn, despite her still flared horn, " I'll do you a solid or two, and then you do a solid or two for me. Got it?"

Sunset raised her left eyebrow in interest, for now stopping the surge in her magic. "Go on."

Flash snickered, and then nuzzled Sunset's right side. "You need to get out of here and on the train straight for Equestria proper. I need some business handled that I can't really do myself; someone will be sure to update you on what exactly that is on your way there. And if anyone asks, we are not fully related."

"But we are still family." Sunset critically looked at Flash, at this point mildly aroused, "Half is still there."

"Adopted, same father, that never really stopped your interest in me before," Flash teased.

Sunset had a brief flashback to the last time she had come onto Flash; as irony would have it, it had been shortly after she went into heat for the first time. Though their mother had not seen the issue, oblivious to the fact that the two were more closely related than law, their father had known very well and separated the two.

Perhaps history would have been different had they been allowed to mate all those years ago.

"Alright, but since I am not in heat, then you are not going to be taking me just any kind of way."

With a rough, but playful bump of the muzzles, the two came together in a kiss which shot electricity straight through Sunset's body, It was as if Sentry were attempting to shock her with a buzzer in his mouth, this feeling spreading rapidly through her entire head. Even her horn sparked mildly as tongue met tongue.

Just before anyone could get carried away, Sunset broke away and, using magic, flipped Flash over onto his back and onto the empty space on the bed to her left. Before he could react, she rolled over as well, now on top and leering down at her partner in crime.

"Sometimes, I wonder if Father was telling the truth when he said that I was the product of an affair," Sunset jested, "You would think Mom would have known. Not much got past her."

Flash cackled, giving Sunset a sideways glance. "Well, we are about the same age. Maybe there were three ponies involved that day."

Sunset would not have banked on it, but the humor in just imagining it went well with the next thirty minutes of the evening.

Author's Note:

I was going to write a clop scene for this, but then I decided not to. I don't think the T rated could have been maintained had I let my imagination run wild.

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[Metroid Prime]

Well this will be dark