Shadow in the Dark

by Thestoryteller

Chapter twenty. The mission

"Bwahahahahaha!" Discord howled in laughter. "You got banned?! Oh man, that's just...just priceless!" Discord laughed at Storyteller.

"I get it Discord, I'm already angry at myself you don't need to rub it in." Storyteller grumbled as he continued to write in his book.

"I gotta know." Discord said as he popped in front of Storyteller. "How did it happen? Did you include another storytellers book without permission? Or did you send one of the admins a stupid thing? Ooh, ooh, or was it because-"

"You know exactly why I was banned!" Storyteller slammed his hands on the table.

"I don't know what your talking about." Discord said calmly, facing away from Storyteller.

"You know all too well, you were the one who created four accounts and used them to up vote my story. Because you knew that if you did I would get banned."

"And just what would I gain from doing such a deed?" Discord smiled.

"Satisfaction." Storyteller said simply.

"Satisfaction?" Discord repeated, but this time in a question. "How could I get such satisfaction from-"

"Don't play dumb! I know your just doing this because Fluttershy isn't going to be yours in my book!" Storyteller spat.

"As if I'd stoop so low."

"Well you know what? Fine! If you want to be with Fluttershy so much, I'll make sure you and Fluttershy have the greatest happily ever after!" Storyteller yelled as he summoned a new quill and ink.

Discord seemed shocked by this. "Your...your joking right?"

"Yeah this is all one giant joke Discord." Storyteller grumbled as he dabbed his quill in some ink and began to furiously write.

This was bad, the purpose of the Storyteller was to write down and record history, but they were never meant to change it. Ever!

"Um, Storyteller...I'm sorry, what I did was irresponsible and immature. So you can stop now." Discord chuckled half hearted.

"Discord this is my book, my universe, not the original MLP. A simple sorry isn't going to just fix everything." Storyteller said, lifting his quill from the book Storyteller showed Discord what he wrote down.

Discord's eyes widened and his ears folded down as he gazed at the words that Storyteller wrote. "You can't do this." Discord found the words to speak. "Your not supposed to change history."

"I didn't change anything. I simply sped up what was supposed to happen." Storyteller replied.

Snapping his eagle talons Discord vanished. Leaving Storyteller to be alone in his library once again.

---

In an unknown, place I don't want to tell you all, location the hooded pony entered through a doorway where earth pony with pitch black fur and grey mane and tail sat, his forelegs raised above his head. Above the earth pony was another earth ponies body that had dark green fur, a black mane with a silver and grey stripe on it. Multiple black liquids of some sort circled around the dead earth pony's body as it hovered above the ground.

"I thought you would have been done by now Mortem?" The hooded pony asked to the first earth pony.

"This one is more difficult than the other two." Mortem retorted, turning to the hooded pony revealing his, almost gold-like, yellow eyes. "Mostly because this one has been dead longer than the others."

"A reasonable excuse I guess, but how much longer do you need before the spell is complete?" The hooded pony eyed the dead pony.

"It might take me another hour at this rate." Mortem grunted.

The hooded pony placed a hoof on Mortem's back, the hooded pony's crystal became slowly aloft as it slowly floated in the air. The crystal turned purple as a purple aura flowed out of the crystal and into Mortem's eyes. Mortem could feel the surge of magical energy flow into him. The surge mixed itself with Mortem's very own magical energy. Purple magic fused with grey magic, shot out of Mortem's hooves and onto the earth pony.

The black liquid that once surrounded the dead earth pony faded as the body slowly descended and gently landed on the ground. Mortem caught himself by using his forelegs to support his body as he heavily breathed. "*pant* *pant* *pant*...A little...warning next time...would be nice..." Mortem panted.

The hooded pony approached the green earth pony. The body was still and wasn't moving. Then a gust of air filled the earth pony's lungs as his chest grew and his eyes shot open. The white part of the earth pony's eye was now black and his eyes where red with a dragon like pupils. The earth pony sat up and got in a battle stance.

"Calm down Sollertis. There's no need to be afraid." The hooded pony assured.

"Who are you? Where am I? And what do you want with me?" The pony now identified as Sollertis, demanded.

"That hurts Sollertis." Mortem stood up on all fours and face Sollertis. "Is that anyway to treat an old enemy?"

"Mortem! I should've known you were the cause of this, release me from your magic now!" Sollertis ordered.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but your currently in no position to give us orders." The hooded pony said. "And in case your wondering why your umbrum eyes aren't working on me is because I'm immune to your eyes Sollertis."

Sollertis gritted his teeth. How did this pony know about his umbrum eyes and why did they have effect on the hooded pony. He knew that Mortem had trained his eyes to be invulnerable to Sollertis's umbram eyes, but what did this pony have that made him immune to the umbrum eyes.

"Who are you?" Sollertis Demanded.

"I am the leader of the Fallen order, together the Fallen will rise from the ashes and bring peace to all of the world. To achieve this dream we must cut down anything that dares to disrupt the peace." The hooded pony answered.

"What do you want with me?"

"You were the last pony in existence to wield the umbrum eyes. It is because of those eyes of yours that you have the power to enter ponies minds and control them, because of this you were made general of Sombra's military. Which just so happens to be the place I killed you one-thousand years ago." Mortem explained.

"One-thousand years." Sollertis Muttered in disbelief. "I've been dead for one-thousand years?"

"Yes, durning that time many things have changed. Starswirl is dead, Sombra returned only to be destroyed by the crystal heart, six mares are the Elements of harmony, and I believe there's a new Alicorn princess ruling Equestria."

"What I believe my dear friend is trying to explain is that times have changed, but it shouldn't matter to you right now because we have a task for you to complete." The hooded pony said.

"And what makes you think I'm going to do anything you say?" Sollertis Growled.

"Allow me to tell you a little fun fact, when Sombra ruled over the crystal empire he placed a spell on all of his soldiers, including you Sollertis. The spell made the soldiers of Sombra have no choice but to follow his orders to the fullest extent." Mortem explained to Sollertis.

"What does that have to do with anything? You said Sombra was destroyed by the crystal heart." Sollertis Pointed out.

"True, but when the crystal heart did destroy Sombra fragments of his body were scattered across the empire. On such fragment was Sombra's horn." The hooded pony said. "And it just so happens we have a certain somepony who has control of Sombra's horn."

"*scoff* Please, no one can handle the power of Sombra's horn." Sollertis Scoffed.

"Is that so?" A new voice said as a new pony entered the room. "I'll be the judge of that, Sollertis salute to your king."

On impulse Sollertis raised his right hoof and saluted. "W-what?!" Sollertis said in astonishment.

"This fun, I could get used to this." The new figure chuckled.

Sollertis struggled as he tried to release himself from saluting like some common soldier, but no matter how hard he tried he could not escape. "Who are you? And how are you controlling me?" Sollertis demanded.

"Ironic isn't it? The puppet master has become nothing but another puppet controlled by strings." The figure smiled.

"Enough. Release him." The hooded pony ordered.

"Fine." The figure released Sollertis. "But only because we need him alive, not because your ordering me around like some pup!" The figure spat.

"Now then Sollertis, are you ready to comply? Or do I have to force you to obey?" The hooded pony asked.

"Fine." Sollertis sighed in defeat. "What is it you want from me anyways?"

"I need you to go to Canterlot and cause some chaos among the guards in Canterlot." The hooded pony explained.

"Any reason why you need me for this?" Sollertis asked.

"You will disrupt the defenses in Canterlot using your umbrum eyes, while doing so your partner will retrieve a certain object that I desire. If you fail this task the consequences will be great. Understand?"

"Very. But who is my partner?" Sollertis asked.

"That, would be me." The figure stepped forward, revealing his black/Crimson mane, red eyes with purple mist coming out of them, and his yellow fur. Even with his new appearance you should already know who this someone is.

His name was Comet tail.

---

In the grand city of Canterlot, in his old room, Nightwing was brushing his teeth in front of a mirror, using his magic to levitate the tooth brush. Being wary of his fangs, Nightwing carefully brushed his teeth, in the bathroom garbage can was twenty-two broken tooth brushes.

*snap*

Nightwing sighed as his fang broke yet another one of his tooth brushes. Grumbling Nightwing threw away the now broken tooth brush in the trash, he then exited the room, and entered the hallway. Nightwing closed the door behind him and walked down the hallway. About after thirty seconds of leaving his room, Nightwing's ears twitched as he heard the sound of rustling metal behind him. Turning around, Nightwing saw a royal day guard running towards him.

The guard skidded to a halt, saluted, and said, "Captain Nightwing, I've come to inform you that your vault has been found and was safely transported to Canterlot."

"Finally!" Nightwing sighed. "I've been waiting four days for you guys to bring that thing up here, what took you so long?"

"Forgive us Captain, but it was buried underneath 18.573454 feet of dirt."

"... How are you that accurate?" Nightwing asked. "No, better question, WHY are you that accurate?"

"Sorry sir, force of habit." The guard rubbed the back of his head.

"Why would that be a habit?!"

"Well, us guards don't really have anything better to do when guarding the princesses."

Nightwing shook his head and groaned as he walked past the guard. 'We gotta give these guys a board game or something to do? No wonder these guys are like ants, their leadership is absolute crap!' Nightwing thought.

---

Outside the castle of Canterlot, was the city full of residents and ponies. Two said ponies were dressed in hooded cloaks and were walking across the city and towards the castle.

"You understand your task?" The first hooded pony asked.

"Of course I know, the better question is." The second hooded pony paused, turning towards his partner. "Do you understand your task?"

The first hooded pony pulled off his cloak with his magic, revealing that the first hooded pony was Comet tail, his eyes and mane were his normal blue and the purple mist in his eyes disappeared. "I understand my task just fine, just be ready to act on my signal."

Comet tail and the second hooded pony approached the gate to the castle, where two unicorn day guard's stood at the entrance. The two crossed their spears together, blocking the path to the castle. Comet tail and the second hooded figure came to a stop.

"Halt!" The first guard barked.

"Who goes there?" The second guard barked.

Comet tail smiled, "It's me Comet tail, I've been requested by Nightwing to come to Canterlot."

"Very well, but we will need identification first if we are to let you in." The first guard said.

"That." The second hooded pony said as he pulled back his hood revealing that he was Sollertis. His dragon eyes stared into the guards, the guards eyes turned red and dragon like just like Sollertises. "Won't be necessary."

---

Back in the castle Nightwing continued to walk down the hallway towards the room with his vault. As he walked, a certain pony came out of a room just a few feet ahead of Nightwing. This certain pony was a unicorn stallion with a gold mane, white fur and blue eyes. Night instantly recognized him. 'Blueblood.' Nightwing growled in his mind. "That self centered, egotistical, spoiled, whiny, pathetic excuse for a nephew, piece of shi-'

"Blueblood it's been far to long." Nightwing stopped in front of Blueblood, his tone a calm anger.

"I agree your no longer that little foal who used to do nothing but read. Look at all those bags under your eyes." Blueblood said in a matching, yet posh, tone.

"And look at all the grey in your mane with nothing to show for it. How is Celestia doing?"

"Much better than your demented Teacher."

"Well we all have inner demons."

"Does that include ones that want to rule Equestria just because something doesn't go her way?"

"Look, unlike you, I'm on a tight schedule for something important. So I'm gonna go and you can go say hi to the mare chained up in private carriage, which was given to you how? Oh right, money from the royal bank account that you used and wiped all over Celstia's back." Nightwing spat, walking away from Blueblood. 'That felt nice.' Nightwing smiled.

After a while Nightwing pushed through the double doors that separated him from his vault. Which was sitting in a room where Flash, Lightning strike, and five other day guards were at.

"Nice to see you two are out of the hospital." Nightwing approached Flash and Lightning.

"Yeah, same though we had to miss Nightmare night." Flash chuckled.

"I've been meaning to ask you Nightwing, what happened in the Mountain kingdom?" Lightning strike asked. "I'm having a hard time remembering, it's all fuzzy."

"Well if it makes you feel any better, I don't remember what happened in the mountain kingdom either." Nightwing said as he approached the vault. "All I know is the Mountain kingdom refuses to tell us and the land looks a bit smaller than it used to, but other than that I'm still clueless."

"Yeah okay." Flash sighed, a little disappointed. "So anyways, what's in this vault of yours?" Flash turned to the large and secure box.

"Yeah, I kinda want to know as well." Lightning strike said.

"Well if you must know, this vault contains a bunch of magical artifacts that I've collected over the years." Nightwing explained. "When my house exploded I activated the program crystal inside the vault that teleported the vault to a secure location to make sure nothing bad happened to it."

"That makes sense, but still why was it buried under 18.573454 feet?" Flash asked.

"... Are all over of you guards math geniuses or something?" Nightwing asked.

"Not sure, but in guard training we had to take multiple math tests of some sort almost everyday." Lightning strike said.

"Why?!"

"Never asked." Lightning shrugged.

"You know what, forget it. Let's just open up this vault and make sure everything is accounted of." Nightwing sighed as he approached his vault.

Nightwing stood in front of his vault, the large box loomed over him like a giant looking over a small deer. Nightwing lifted his crystal, which turned yellow, and hovered it above the vaults lock. But before Nightwing could open his vault, an earth pony day guard burst through the doors and into the room, out of breath.

"Captain...Nightwing...sir." The guard panted.

"Calm down, calm down. The hallways are long, I know. I asked Teach if we could treadmill floor of some kind but she said 'that would cost to much money dear student'. *pffff* please, Blueblood burns through at least five thousand bits a day and yet I can't have the floors turned into treadmill floors. I mean come on!" Nightwing began ranting.

"Nightwing!" Flash shouted.

"Oh right." Nightwing chuckled as he gripped the situation. "So why'd you come all the way down here?"

Taking a deep breath the guard spoke, "The guards in the barracks have gone mad, they just started...attacking one another for no reason."

"Okay, okay, back up. Tell me what happened specifically, and start from the beginning."

"Alright, it all started when I went to get some breakfast-" the guard spoke as the image faltered to a flash back.

---

Flashback

The Barracks was full of multiple race type stallions all adorned in golden day armor. The Barracks was bigger than any normal barracks, you see when Canterlot was built there wasn't a lot of space to build buildings. So to use less space the Barracks was connected to the food court, the armory, the training room, and the forge. All buildings were combined into one large double decked building. Our flashback however takes place in the food court.

The earth pony who had ran to go get Nightwing was currently sitting at a table with his friends and was eating a bowl of cereal. As the whole food court was eating they didn't pay to much attention to the two unicorn day guards who walked into the barracks. Another day guard, possibly a friend of one of the other day guards, walked towards the two unicorns. The day guard said something that wasn't audible. But one of the unicorn day guards response was a swift punch to the jaw. The day guard stumbled back and fell down on his flank.

The unicorn didn't give his opponent a chance as he leaped on top of the earth pony and began throwing blow after blow on the earth pony. Two other guards pried the unicorn guard off the other one and pinned him to the ground, only to continuously beat the unicorn down. Next thing that happened was an ungodly roar was yelled by all of the guards as the whole barracks became a pure painting of chaos as guard after guard beat down on one another.

The Earth pony guard rushed out of the barracks at once to go get help.

---

"So I ran to alert the princesses, but they were busy. So I ran to locate you." The earth pony guard explained.

"Weird, wonder what could've made the guards act like that?" Nightwing pondered.

"Nightwing, is he telling the truth?" Flash asked.

"He is, which means that somethings wrong. Very wrong, so opening the vault will have to wait." Nightwing looked back to his vault. "Sorry sweetie, but I've got somethings I need to take care of. Be right back."

With that, Lightning strike, Flash, the earth pony guard, and Nightwing all ran down the hallway and towards the barracks.

---

The doorway that led to the outside courtyard of the castle was thrusted open as the four ponies ran outside towards the barracks. Nightwing came to an abrupt halt, the other three of the group did the same as the came to a halt.

"What's the matter?" The guard asked. "Why did we st-"

The guard was cut off when Nightwing used shadow stalking and closed the distance between him and the guard. Nightwing reared his right foreleg up and chopped against the guards neck. The guard fell against the floor unconscious.

Both Flash and Lightning stared in awe at Nightwing. "Why did you-"

Flash was cut off as well when Nightwing created a blue bubble shield around him, Lightning, and Flash. When he did five silver tipped spears bounced off the newly formed shield.

"Don't bother hiding, show yourself. Now!" Nightwing shouted towards the barracks.

As a result, multiple day guards walked out into the open. Some were hiding behind objects, others were hiding on the rooftops. Despite their differences in race, they all shared the same red, dragon-like, eyes.

"Explain yourselves, who did this to you?!" Nightwing demanded the guards.

Flash looked in bewilderment at the guards. He didn't have a clue as to what was going on, nor was he sure he wanted to find out.

"Your really confused right now, aren't you?" Shadow asked.

'Yeah, if you could shed some light on this situation that would be great right about now.' Flash responded.

"Sure thing. These ponies are under the magic of a shadow caster."

'You mean that-'

"Their all caught in an illusion right now? Yes, they are. But what confuses me right now is that it would take a very skilled shadow caster to perform such an illusion."

'Is that why all of their eyes are like that?'

"Indeed, much like how wood casters turn into Woodscolt's. Shadow caster's eyes become altered as a result of the magic."

'But why did Nightwing knock out the earth pony guard?'

"Because he must've known that the guard was under an illusion.

"I'll ask only one more time, why did you attack us?!" Night once again demanded to the guards. But got no response. "Answer me!" Nightwing growled as he got impatient.

The guards gave no response. Instead they all drew their weapons, some drew swords, others drew spears, and the guards on the roof drew bows and arrows. The guards on the roof were the first to attack, as one by one they knocked an arrow by the string, pulled back, and released causing the arrows to sail through the air.

"Flash, Lightning scatter now!" Nightwing yelled as he jumped back, Flash jumped to the right and Lightning jumped to left. Just before multiple arrows struck the ground and exploded.

"Flash and Lightning you guys okay?" Nightwing asked.

"I'm fine." Lightning coughed.

"Been better." Flash chuckled.

Nightwing breathed a sigh of relief. Then he turned towards the guards that were charging him. "Flash, Lightning, you two attack the guards in the front." Nightwing ordered. "I'll deal with the guards in the back."

"Copy that." Flash said as he created a lightning ball in his hoof.

"Understood." Lightning said the same, creating a lightning ball in his hoof.

With that the three charged the guards. Nightwing used shadow stalking and teleported on the roof where he began knocking out the guards on the roof. Meanwhile Flash and Lightning charged the guards coming towards them.

"Do your best not to harm them!" Night shouted to Flash and Lightning, as he punched a guard square in the jaw. "Their under some kind of illusion spell, so their not attacking us of their own free will!"

"Good to know." Flash grunted, shoving his lightning ball into a guards chest.

*bang!*

A small bang was heard as the lightning ball exploded on the guard, sending him back and crashing into the other guards behind him.

"Man! This is a lot harder than I thought!" Lightning yelled as he grabbed a sword from a fallen guard and used said sword, to block another guards sword that he had swung.

"What were you guys expecting? An army of guards who don't know what their doing?" Nightwing asked.

"Wellll..."

"Oh come on, not you too-oof!" Nightwing yelped in pain as he was punched in the chest. "Graaahhhh!" Nightwing yelled as he used his crystal to shoot a magic blast at the guard. Impacted by the blast, the guard fell from the roof and smashed into some wooden boxes below him.

---

A while later the battle was over. As the last guard fell Nightwing, Flash, and Lightning strike collapsed against the stone floor in exhaustion.

"You guys...*pant* okay?" Nightwing panted.

"Yeah...I'm okay." Flash groaned as he sat up. "You okay bro?" Flash turned to his brother.

"I think I might have a broken bone here and there but other than that I'm good." Lightning chuckled.

"Impressive." A new voice said.

The group turned to the voice to see a pony standing high on a roof, a brown cloak covering his face and body as the cloak waved in the breeze.

"I take it your the guy who put all of these guards under an illusion?" Nightwing asked the hooded pony.

"I am, and I've come here to destroy you." The hooded pony said.

"Hey Nightwing, who is that guy?" Lightning strike asked.

"Not a clue." Nightwing answered. "Whoever this pony is, he's not the hooded pony I fought before. He's different." Nightwing stared into the darkness under the hood. "Show yourself! Now!" Nightwing demanded.

"Very well." The hooded pony said, a hoof appeared from under the cloak and gripped the cloak. With a pull, the cloak was ripped off, revealing the pony's dark green fur, black mane with a silver and grey stripe in his mane. His eyes were shut.

Nightwing's eye's widen in realization when he knew exactly who the pony was. "Flash, Lightning, close your eyes tight, now!" Nightwing ordered.

"What, why-" Lightning was cut off.

"Just do it!"

Without hesitation, Flash and Lightning closed their eyes tight. Just in time, because the pony opened his eyes, revealing his red dragon like pupils and the black part of his eyes.

"I'll take it you know who I am?" The pony asked.

"Yeah, your Sollertis. An earth pony who wield's the umbrum eyes. Your a shadow caster aren't you?" Nightwing asked.

"Your correct." Sollertis grinned but in his mind he was frowning. 'However this one doesn't seem to be affected by my umbrum eyes. Interesting.'

"Hey Nightwing, how do you know this guy?" Lightning strike asked.

"Sollertis was a general for Sombra during the war against the crystal empire. But what I don't get is how he's here. He died on the battlefield during the war." Nightwing said.

"He died?" Flash asked.

"Yeah." Nightwing turned back to Sollertis. "I'm gonna guess that's why the back of your eyes are black instead of white. It's because you were resurrected from the dead weren't you?" Nightwing asked.

"Indeed I was. You catch on fast, but now that I've answered one of your questions it's time that you answer mine." Sollertis grinned. "How come your not affected by my umbrum eyes?"

Just as Nightwing predicted, Stollertis couldn't use his umbrum eyes on him. Even the power of shadow casting had its limits. "You really can't use those eyes of yours on me can you?" Nightwing asked.

"I cannot, I want to know why. Answer me." Stollertis demanded.

"It's quite simple really, the magic of shadow casting was founded by the Batponies." Nightwing answered.

"What does that have to with anything?" Stollertis growled.

"Well you see, long ago only certain races could use ancient magic. Only Pegasi could become lightning casters. Only Griffins could become fire casters. Only Earth ponies could become wood casters. Only Mermares could become water casters. And only Batponies could become shadow casters. Only these five races could use their own unique magics, to make sure that no other race could receive another ancient magic, a law known as the 'single race' was formed. The law forbade any race from having mix breeds. But when Celestia and Teach came to power they abolished such a law. With the law no longer in power mix breeds began popping up almost everywhere. Eventually almost any race could use any form of ancient magic, then the Sentinel's found these artifacts that they called 'the pools of Nyx'. Sentinel's would bathe in these pools to gain various forms of ancient magic." Nightwing explained.

"I'll ask again, what does any of that have to do with you being immune to my umbrum eyes?" Stollertis once again demanded.

"If you were listening, you would've heard that I said only the Batponies could use the ancient magic known as 'Shadow casting'. And there are only two ways you can counter the umbrum eyes. One, you train your eyes to become strong enough to resist the umbrum eyes. Or two, you wield the umbrum eyes yourself." Nightwing said.

"Wait." Flash paused as he decided to join in on the conversation. "Nightwing, are you a Shadow caster?"

"I wish." Nightwing replied a bit sadly turning his head to Flash. "But the only reason I'm immune to those eyes of his is because the vampire Batponies and the Batponies family trees are both connected. Because I'm a vampire Batpony my eyes were immune the instant I was born."

'So that's the reason my eyes don't affect him. Than that means whoever that hooded pony was must be a vampire Batpony, a normal Batpony, has his or her eyes trained to resist the umbrum eyes, or wield's them. Damn, who the devil is this pony?!' Stollertis Ranted in his head.

But as Stollertis ranted in his head he didn't notice that Nightwing had teleported right in front of Stollertis, his hoof cocked and ready to punch. Having a very small small window of time Stollertis was able to dodge his attackers assault by moving swiftly to the right. Stollertis and Nightwing both landed safely on the roof. Both stared at each other, their eyes bored into the other.

"Now it's my turn to ask you a question." Nightwing said as he took a step forward and got into a battle stance.

"Seems fair." Stollertis agreed as he stood poised and ready.

Without hesitation or second thoughts, Nightwing pushed off the ground and flew towards Stollertis. Bracing himself, Stollertis stood on his hind legs. Nightwing's two hooves met Stollertis hooves as Nightwing pushed Stollertis backwards. When the two came to a stop Nightwing wasted no time as he used his crystal to summon a blue magic sword, the sword reared itself, the tip of its blade aimed right at Stollertis, and flew through the air.

"Oh no you don't!" Stollertis yelled as he pulled out a pink crystal, tapping it the crystal turned green and three dark green double bladed short swords formed and blocked the blue swords attack.

"How are you here?" Nightwing demanded as he created another blue sword, which swung at Stollertis but was instantly blocked by three dark green short swords.

"What do you mean by that?" Stollertis Chuckled.

"I mean, how are you alive? You died almost a thousand years ago yet here you are as a part of living." Nightwing grunted as he began to push his two swords downwards.

"I wish I could fully answer that question, but all I can say is that I was resurrected by an old foe of mine." Stollertis replied as he too began to push his six short swords against Nightwing's.

"Resurrected?" Flash muttered to himself. 'Do you know anything about this Shadow?'

"Afraid not." Shadow sighed. "I've never heard of such a magic that can bring back the dead."

"Can we open our eyes now?" Lightning asked.

"NO!" Both Flash and Nightwing shouted to Lightning, who squinted down in embarrassment.

Seeing a chance of opportunity, Stollertis created one more dark green short sword which he then threw at Nightwing. Seeing it just in time Nightwing created a single layered shield bubble around him. The dark green sword sunk its way into the shield but halted when the hilt reached the surface of the shield. Nightwing's two swords vanished as well as Stollertis six green swords. Stollertis Hopped down from the roof, ran, and bursted through the double doors into the castle.

"Damn." Nightwing grumbled as he turned off his shield and hopped off the roof. "Flash, Lightning, you can open your eyes." Nightwing said as both Flash and Lightning opened their eyes.

"Is it normal that everything looks light blue right now?" Flash asked.

"Yes, now come on we've got a resurrected earth pony on the loose." Nightwing said as he ran into the castle.

---

The double doors open with a loud creak as Comet tail strode proudly into the room. Eight unconscious guards lied on the ground outside the room. Closing the door behind him, Comet tail looked at his target with an evil grin. In front of him stood Nightwing's vault, Comet tail approached the vault. His horn glowed a grimly red aura as the vaults door opened.

---

The Trio group ran down the hallway in a hurry as they tried to chase after Stollertis.

"Dang it, where did he go?" Lightning strike asked in frustration.

"I have a good idea, but we have to get there before its to late-" Nightwing was about to use Shadow stalking but was cut off as he skidded to a halt. Flash and Lightning did the same as they looked at the pony in front of them.

"Hello Nightwing." Blueblood smiled.

"Blueblood." Nightwing scowled at Blueblood. "As fun as it would be to insult you I have to be somewhere, so if you don't mind-" Nightwing was once again cut off when water was sprayed onto him sending him back a few feet. Nightwing's coat and mane became drenched and a little bit heavy as he stood up and coughed up some water.

Nightwing looked back up to Blueblood to see three balls of water hovering near him.

"Blueblood's a water caster? That explains why he can't use unicorn magic." Nightwing muttered.

"Take this!" Lightning strike yelled as he pushed off the floor, create a lightning ball in his hoof, and flew towards Blueblood.

"Wait, don't!" Nightwing tried his best to stop Lightning but it was to late, Lightning strike's lightning ball was blocked when one of Blueblood's balls of water blocked the attack. The lightning ball disappeared inside the water and electricity began to bounce on the surface.

"Ghghgfbhghhghh." Lightning strike said utter gibberish as his mane became frizzy and his coat stood on edge. Lightning strike was then punched in the gut and slid across the floor.

"Idiot!" Nightwing shouted. "Blueblood shot you with your own attack because lightning bounces off of water!"

"Yeah...I know." Lightning coughed.

"Yeah well-wait what do you mean 'I know'?" Nightwing asked.

Blueblood's eyes widened in realization as he swung his head backwards. But it was to late.

*bang!*

A loud bang erupted through the air as Flash's lightning ball exploded on Blueblood's back. Blueblood's howled in pain as his body was forced towards the ground. The three water balls fell to the ground and turned into puddles. Blueblood's struggled to get up but Flash chopped him in the back of his neck, causing him to become unconscious.

"I'm gonna assume Blueblood was under Stollertis spell?" Flash suggested.

"No time for that, we need to get to my vault and fast!" Nightwing yelled as he placed a hoof on Lightning strikes shoulder and teleported to Flash. Nightwing then placed a hoof on Flash and the trio the vanished.

---

The trio appeared back in the room with Nightwing's vault, Nightwing rushed to his vault.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Nightwing yelled as he entered his vault. Flash and Lightning ran to the front of the vault to see that the vaults door was open. Inside Nightwing was taking inventory of all of the artifacts.

"So...what did they take?" Lightning asked skeptical.

"Well everything seems to be in the right place, nothing looks stolen...oh no." Nightwing said grimly as he stared at a self.

"What? What is it?" Flash asked.

"They took the summoning scroll." Nightwing answered.

---

Back in the place I don't want to tell you.

The Hooded pony sat in a throne with two metal ponies on the left and right side of the throne. The doors in front of the throne opened as Stollertis and Comet tail walked in. A rolled up scroll was carried in Comet's magic.

"Here." Comet tail said bluntly as he tossed the scroll up to the hooded pony. "Just as you asked."

The hooded pony caught the scroll in her magic. He scroll was then unrolled and the Hooded pony began to read the scroll. Once finished, the Hooded pony rolled up the scroll and pointed her crystal towards the ground.

"Summon!" The Hooded pony said as a cyan beam shot from her crystal and at the ground. A white flash formed on the ground and a pony figure stood where the flash came from.

"Greetings. We have a certain mission for you." The Hooded pony said to the figure, who had a very sinister smile on his face.

Author's Note:

Admit it, some of you are smiling right now.