Prologue: The Deal.

Welcome to Equestria. A realm built on the concepts of friendship and harmony. Made with sprawling cityscapes it has become a magitechnological wonder since the discovery of magic/energy conversion, giving way to absurd technological progress. One might be promptly fooled that such a place is paradise. They would be wrong. Under the surface, many criminal organizations exist, ranging from rebel alliances to mafias, to small time gangs. Even the benevolent princesses who promote the message of friendship and harmony have had to make deals of a shady essence. Our story starts with such a deal.

Walking briskly through the hallways of the Canterlot castle, one of the few remaining relics of the old world, the princesses of Equestria, Celestia and Luna, were in a state of grim thought. Celestia, wearing a beautiful white gown, having a gold crown adorned with a purple gem which sat upon her hair which waved like the aurora it looked like in its ethereal wind, adorned with a large gold necklace, and golden bracelets, was thinking about the risks of the deal they were about to bargain, and how to twist it in her favour. Her sister, Luna, on the other hand, looked ready for battle, wearing a full suit of enchanted obsidian armour, leaving naught but her head exposed, with a dark crown, similar to her sisters, instead obsidian and adorned with an opal, sitting upon her own flowing hair, which glistened like the night sky, her turquoise eyes filled with fury at what they were about to do.

They soon came upon a set of doors, the guards standing at attention letting them by, as they started to undo many of the seals placed upon them. After about half an hour of work, the hundreds of seals placed upon this door ceased to be, and the doors opened.

“Hello Aunties!” came an overly joyous from within the darkness, coming from two pale lights. “Have you come to gloat? Bring me books? Or maybe make a deal?” The voice continued, its voice starting chirpy, but growing gleefully serious at the last question. The princesses gained a look of disgust on their faces, as the lights coming in from the door showed what lurked within. It was a plain stone room, filled with thousands of seals, a single barred window near the height of the room, giving in barely any light in the dull night. All of this, to contain what’s was at ground level, on the other side of the room.

There hung a single man of teenage years, skin pale from the lack of sun, with only a couple of rags helping keep what little dignity he had left. His hair was a mess, made of dark blue, with a streak of pink and purple. His lavender eyes spoke volumes of his thoughts, though what they spoke was indescribable. His smile, was curled into a smug psychotic grin, his feet barely touched the ground, allowing only support of the minimum of weights. His hands hung, piked through with stakes, the rare thaumium amplifying the seals placed upon them, nailed to the wall. His horn, which signified his unicorndom, was shattered, the pieces being held together by the hosts force of will.

“Hello Dusk Shine, I see your intelligence has not decayed in the slightest during your stay here” Celestia said, her voice quickly turning monotone, and her face straight, trying to give as little as possible to the one before her.

“Not much to do but think, locked away in here. Even the searing pain of having thaumium sealing stakes rammed through my hands had to die eventually. Now its just a pleasant buzz while I await this day.” The teenager, now designated as Dusk Shine, said, the spite palpable in the second sentence, before returning to its glee. Said spite was enough to get Celestia to flinch with emotional turmoil for the one she loved like her own son, and that flinching enough to anger Luna.

“SHUT YOUR MOUTH YOU COMMON CRIMINAL! It is but luck that you still breath at all, at mine sisters wishes. Unless you would wish I change that.” Luna erupted at Dusk, who just hung there with a smug grin on his face.

“But you can’t change that can you. I’m no common criminal, but the criminal genius, the type of genius you only get once every few generations. I was too great an asset to let go. With me, a very lot of things would come within reach, and new options would open up.” He said, with a calm that slightly unnerved Luna, due to the threat she made. However, Celestia felt a pain inside as he said those words, but did not let it show, lest he use it against her.

“You are correct. You were far too great an asset to merely execute. And now we have come to make a deal. And our deal comes to these terms. You work for us, and you regain some freedoms. Do you Agree?” Celestia stated seriously to her recipient, hoping to be done there and then.

“Hold on now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. I need to know the exact details of what you mean. In what sense would I be working for you, and what freedom would I be given? Details people, details.” He stated back, to which the princesses were disappointed, but unsurprised.

“You will be working directly under us a special force to deal with high level threats, whether they be on the surface, from a different country, or from the underworld you have been away from for so long.” Celestia continued on, that last bit actually getting a flinch out of Dusk, which Luna smirking at that. “In terms of freedom, you will be working and living within a false, or false body, made by one of our best scientists in the field, while your real body remains sealed away down here. This false will lack an auto-eject feature for your consciousness, and will be rigged in many ways to ensure your obedience, one such way being to explode if such a thing is needed, trapping you within for who knows how long. You shall also be granted an apartment, and some pay, to do with as you will, but will be under constant watch.”

“Heh, that works for me, but I’m going to need two things before I accept this deal” Dusk replied, his face remaining on a grin that showed utmost confidence.

“YOU DARE THINK YOURSELF IN A-“ Luna started shouting, her rage palpable, before Celestia raised a hand to stop her.

“And what may these things be, Dusk?” Celestia inquired with a curious face.

“Simple things. One is a crew of my choosing, though I have no doubt you know who I want.” Dusk started off. “Second is control if operations. While I have no doubt you will want things a certain way, I have control on how we will do things in that certain way. Simple as.” He finished.

“Granted, on the conditions that we will be adding one of our most trusted guards to your crew, and that the overplan goes through us first, regardless of how most plans don’t survive first contact.” Celestia replied. At this Dusk just merely grinned.

“I think you have yourself a deal, Auntie. I would offer to shake your hand but mine seem a bit preoccupied right now” Dusk said in that psychotic tone.

“Then I agree to this deal as well. Sister?”

“As much as I don’t want to, I have little choice, I also agree to this deal.”

As soon as all that was said, it felt like a massive weight was removed from the atmosphere of the room.

“Woooooeeeee, I hate being serious for so long.” Dusk merely said, throwing the two princesses off. “So when're we gonna start this thing?”

“Right now fine with you?” Celestia asked, almost forgetting that this person who she thought of as family was a prisoner.

Dusk merely nodded and said: ”I ain't got anything better to do. I’m just sorta hanging around”, to which he instantly fell unconscious as his ‘Self' was taken from his body.

“Luna, gather Dusks five ‘friends’. Place restraining collars on them. Lead them to the outside the operations room, and gather Nanos too, would you.” Celestia asked, to which her sister merely grunted in affirmative, and left. Celestia then looked to her right, at the ball of Lavender energy that contained Dusk's ‘Self’, his consciousness and magic, and made her own way out, making sure to seal the room.

Author's Note:

OH MY ARCHITECT! A STORY! OH NOES! I made this story up with the random thoughts I got from work and decided to finally write a chapter. So that's good. Also need to write more In Twilights Shadow, cause that's something that needs to be done. I hope you like this somewhat weird, darker story.