Past Shadows

by ChaosDragoon

Chapter One

It’s been five years since the changelings and their queen invaded Canterlot and in that time Equestria has experienced five years of peace and tranquility. That is, until eight months ago when a swarm of changelings attacked Manehattan. The swarm seemed to come out of nowhere and attacked the ponies, devouring their happiness. Celestia and Luna quickly deployed their royal guards to Manehattan who quickly intercepted the swarm. After an hour the swarm seemed to disappear as fast as it had appeared. After that the residents started to rebuild their once beautiful city. A week later another swarm appeared in Fillydelphia and once again the two sisters deployed the guards and just like the first attack the changelings seemed to disappear as fast as they appeared. For the next month changelings attacked the major cities, towns and villages of Equestria.

Celestia and Luna both knew they needed an elite force to seek out changelings who were imitating ponies. After a month of peace the two sisters had created such a group. They named the group the Changeling Detection Force, or CDF for short. The two felt that the attacks on the cities, towns and villages was the start of a greater swarm that would attack all of Equestria. They deployed a large army across Equestria with a member of the CDF to locate changelings and prevent a full scale war. However, the two hadn't noticed the shadow crawling from the darkness, waiting for the right moment to strike.

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Twilight paced back and forth at the train station waiting for the train of Celestia’s royal guards to arrive. All the while mumbling to herself.

“They should’ve been here by now,” She mumbles. Her mind raced as every scenario played out in her mind as to why the train was late.

“What if she didn’t send them? What if the train was derailed? What if-” Twilight said before Applejack placed a hoof on her shoulder.

“Calm down there sugarcube,” Applejack said. “You’ve been pacing back and forth like this for a half an hour. It’ll be all right. I’m sure the trains just running late.”

“Yes darling, Applejack’s right,” Rarity said as her horn glowed and a comb elevated from her satchel and started stroking Twilight's mane as she added, “All this stressing over the train has gotten your mane all disconfigured.”

“Don’t forget, these are Celestia’s royal guards we’re talking about, they can handle anything,” Rainbow Dash said.

Twilight sat down and sighed before saying, “Thanks girls, what would I do without you?” Pinky quickly Grabbed Twilight and spun her around nearly making the comb pull a clump of mane from her scalp. She pointed into the distance.

“Thee Train, Thee Train,” Pinkie said. The five looked towards where she was pointing and saw the black smoke rising up from the terrain.

“See, just running late is all. No need to get your tail all tangled up,” Applejack said. As the six watched the train pulled into the station. Their mouths open and eyes wide at the appearance of the train.

The locomotive had its metal scarred, warped, and dented with the pilot dripping with green goop. The cars it pulled looked like they had been through a warzone. The wood looked to be pulled from the frame; hunks of planks sticking out, windows shattered, and three cars had collapsed. The doors slid open while others fell to the ground. The guards inside the cars slowly walked, their armor chipped, scared, and broken. Some had the same green goop stain their armor while others were being carried out on gurneys. The six watched in horror at the condition of the train and its passengers before they saw a familiar face walk out of one of the cars.

Flash Sentry stumbled out of the train car, his golden armor plate cracked, he was missing his front hoof plates and his helmet was broken in half. He collapsed to the ground as the six ran over to him.

“Are you ok, what happened?” Twilight questioned. He lifted his head up to her as he started to get back up.

“Changelings attacked the train. We did our best to defend it,” he said before he looked out in the distance and added, “one of the guards stayed behind to protect the train so we could get away.” He started to walk in the direction the train came from before he collapsed again.

“You can’t go out there like this,” Rainbow Dash said. Flash Sentry tried to get to his hooves but his body was racked with pain. He looked up at them.

“We can’t just leave him out there,” he said.

“Don’t worry, we’ll go and help him,” Applejack said.

Twilight nodded and looked towards Fluttershy and said, “You stay here and attend to the wounded.” Fluttershy nodded and started helping those who needed medical aid.

“Let’s go girls,” Twilight said as the five headed towards the direction the train had come from. As they did she looked up at Rainbow Dash and added, “Can you fly ahead and scout the landscape to find him.” Rainbow nodded and flew off, leaving a rainbow stream behind her.

As Dash jetted away from her friends she noticed the train tracks had the same green goop as the front of the train and the guard’s armor. She soon heard a commotion up ahead and sped towards it. She stopped in the air with her mouth agape at the sight of the changeling bodies on the ground. Some had open wounds with their guts spilled onto the ground, their green blood oozed out of their wounds while others were sliced in half. Her attention was diverted towards a unicorn with his tan body riddled with cuts as the blood dripped from each one. Blood dripped from his brow and down his right eye which had an X-shaped scar over it. His flank had the mark of two swords in a crossed formation with a halberd going vertically while a spear went horizontally through them. He was breathing heavily as he felt the pain in his ribs with every breath as half a dozen changelings still stood in his way. His horn glowed black as an equally dark orb came from it and took on the shape of a sword.

Two changelings changed towards unicorn, but instead of changing into him or another being. One changed into a sword while the other changed into a shield. Another Changeling grabbed the two weapons and advanced towards the unicorn as a small group of changelings followed. The unicorn ran towards the group as two more orbs appeared out of his horn and changed into swords. One of the swords collided with the shield while the other two flew past the changeling and pierced into two other changelings behind it. Their bodies fell to the ground before the swords floated out of the changeling’s bodies and flew towards two more changelings. The one the unicorn was battling pushed the sword away and swung its own sword toward the unicorn. One of the swords sliced a changeling’s wing before jetting towards the unicorn and changing into a shield to block the attack. The changeling jumped back as the shield changed back into a sword and swung at it. It blocked it with its shield before the other two swords pierced into its back. The third quickly flew up and imbedded itself into the changeling’s skull. A jet of green blood spat out of the changeling’s head as it fell to the ground. The two that changed into the sword and shield changed back just before an axe and spear pierced their skulls.

Two more changelings jumped at the unicorn but the axe and spear pierced into their bodies. The unicorn breathed a heavy sigh of relief as he watched the last changeling fall from his sword. The three weapons changed back into orbs and flew into his horn. He didn’t see that a rock behind him had changed into a changeling and suddenly jumped at him. Its fangs ready to peace his skin, but Rainbow saved the day by kicking the changeling in the jaw; it went flying into the air before correcting itself to fly away. The buzzing sound of its wings slowly faded.

“Thank you,” The unicorn said as Rainbow Dash landed on the ground and chuckled.

“No Problem,” Rainbow boasted. Soon enough heard hooves heading towards them. She turned to see her friends racing towards her. She flew into the air waving to her friends.

“Over here you guys, I found him,” Rainbow shouted. Turning towards the unicorn she discovered that he had collapsed onto the ground; his breathing was beginning to slow down. She quickly raced over to him.

His vision was blurry. He saw a flash of blue before a blurry figure stood over him. He could hear a muffled voice but couldn’t make out the words. Before he knew it more figures stood over him as he fell unconscious.

Author's Note:

Big thank you to GradualGhost for his editing and proofreading of this chapter