Shadow Star
Chapter 1 - The Crash
It was a dark and stormy night. A pegasus - dark purple coat, black mane and tail with streaks of red, blue muzzle and hooves - flew very quickly through the storm, dodging lightning bolts with ease. A pony inside a building saw a small glint - the pegasus’ golden eyes. As the pegasus dodged one lightning bolt, another flashed and struck the middle of his wing, causing him to spiral out of control. He slammed into the ground and blacked out.
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I woke up in a dark room. For a moment, I thought it was all just a dream. After all, I do have a rather vivid imagination. Then I realized that the smell was very different - instead of the mixture of vanilla and cinnamon of my home, it was the smell of lavender. As I was wondering were I was, a door opened and a light flicked on, nearly blinding me. I blinked to get the tears out of my eyes and noticed somepony else standing there.
“Where...am...I?” I asked, weaker than I expected. My vision cleared, and I saw that the pony was white, with blue eyes and a pink mane.
“Who...are...you?” I managed to say.
“My name is Nurse Redheart,” the pony said. “You are in a hospital. How are you feeling?”
“A hospital? What... happened?”
“You were found unconscious outside during the storm. Do you remember anything?”
“Storm? Oh... I guess ... I was hit... by a lightning bolt...” I said, my strength beginning to return.
“Yes,” the nurse said, “the lightning bolt hit the middle of your wing.”
“MY WING!” I yelled out. “Is my wing going to be all right?”
“Yes,” she said. “Your wing will heal, so long as you do not fly for three weeks.”
“Three weeks? Three whole weeks without flying at all?”
“Absolutely no flying. If you fly during the healing process, you could permanently cripple your wing,” she said sympathetically.
“All right. Three weeks is better than never flying again.”
“Thank you. Now you need rest. Good night.”
“Good night, Nurse Redheart.”
“One more thing. I need to enter your name in the patient list.”
“All right,” I said. “My name is Shadow Star.”
“Get some sleep, Shadow Star.”
“I will,” I said.
With that, she walked out. I fell asleep almost instantly.
Shadow Star
Chapter 2 - Recent Memory
After I fell asleep, I began to have a dream - the same dream that had been plaguing me for a while. It was the dream of my last mission as a knight - just after the wedding of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor.
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I was checking on the reparations after the battle with the changelings and had to report to the Princess. I stepped into the Great Hall and saw Princess Cadance and Captain Shining Armor talking to Princess Celestia.
“Oh, there you are, Shadow Star,” Shining Armor said.
“How are the reparations?” asked Princess Celestia.
“Everything is coming along nicely. Although... I’m getting a bad feeling. I’m not sure exactly what, though,” I replied.
“If you can stay for a while, I have a very important mission for you. Just wait for your brother and sister to get her. How is your magic coming?” asked Celestia.
“Magic? How can a pegasus use magic?” Shining Armor said, very shocked.
“I wish I knew,” I replied. I bowed my head, closed my eyes, and began to concentrate. After about a minute, my head flashed back up and my eyes opened and began to shine just like a star. The shadows in the corners of the hall gathered in front of me, and I formed them into the shape of an alicorn.
“WHAT THE HAY!?” Shining Armor shouted, breaking my concentration. The shadows broke apart and flew back to the corners. I staggered, the magic having used quite a bit of energy.
“How the HAY is that possible?” asked Shining Armor.
“Language, Captain. The answer to that question has been sought for years, and we are no closer to finding it than when we started.” Celestia reprimanded him. “After all, this is the first case in history where a pegasus can use unicorn magic like this.”
“Yes, Your Highness. I apologize.”
A few minutes later, my sister Morning Star and my brother Evening Star walked into the hall. Morning Star was a lavender pegasus, with orange eyes and a bright red mane and tail. Evening Star was a stone gray unicorn with green eyes and a black mane and tail.
“Brother! Sister!” I yelled, running up to them and hugging them both.
“Shadow Star!” said Evening Star.
“Our favorite little brother!” said Morning Star.
“Uh, you do know that I’m your only little bro, right?”
“Ya, but you can still be our favorite!” Morning Star said.
“So, what’s going on? Why are we all here?” Evening Star asked.
“There is something you all have to hear.” said Princess Luna, walking up to us. “Sister, I think you should tell them.”
“I intend to. As you all know, the Changeling army was repelled two days ago, thanks to Shining Armor and Cadance. However, they were not destroyed.”
“You think they’ll try to conquer us again?” I interrupted.
“That is exactly what I think. Shining Armor, you will stay here and maintain the barrier. Shadow Star, you will lead a team of twelve elite knights to find and destroy the Changeling army. If you can, also destroy their queen. Your siblings are two of the elites. Not counting you, there are four unicorns, four pegasi, and four earth ponies. Are you up to the task?”
“You know what they say. ‘When you need some help, wish upon a Shadow Star!’ I’m always up for a challenge!”
“That’s what I was hoping you’d say. The team is going to assemble here at noon tomorrow. Make sure to be ready by then.”
“Yes, Your Highness!” we all said together. With that, we all went home to get some sleep.
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Just before noon, the three of us went to the castle to meet the rest of the team. I knew some of them already. The ones I didn’t know were two earth ponies named Light Slasher and Earth Breaker; three unicorns named Silver Drop, Shine Ray, and Blast Boom; and two pegasi named Air Streak and Hawk Wing. I already knew two earth ponies named Blackhole, who taught me martial arts, and Bloodwave, who was my rival in training camp; a pegasus named Moonbeam from flight school; and the other two were Evening Star and Morning Star. After the introductions, we started on our way west - the direction that most of the Changelings were launched.
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After a few days of travel, we arrived at our destination. However , we found no Changelings.
“Does anypony see anything? Anything at all?” I asked the group.
“No. Nothing.”
“Sorry!”
“Hmm... I wonder...” I thought aloud.
“What’s wrong Shadow?” Morning Star asked.
“Oh, nothing.” I said aloud. Then I whispered to her, “We’re being watched. I’m not sure who, but we are definitely being watched. Can’t you feel it?”
“I do have a bad feeling, but... it’s something else... something very bad is going to happen...”
“The prophecy?”
“Yes...”
The prophecy was ancient, and known only to me, my sister, and the princesses. It said that after a battle and a deceit, all but one would die, and the one would avenge the deaths.
“The battle already happened,” Morning Star said. “This could be the deceit, if something is watching us. The prophecy is authentic, so...”
“I hope you’re wrong, Sis... I hope you’re wrong.”
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After looking around for a while longer and discovering nothing, we gave up and started to head back to Canterlot. We walked in silence, looking for any evidence of the Changelings. Suddenly, one of the Earth ponies, Light Slasher, screamed. We all looked over to find that he was gone. I yelled to Air Streak, “Air Streak! Fly up and tell us if you see Light Slasher!”
“Yessir!” He said as he flew up, looking around. “I don’t see her... Wait!”
“What do you see?” I called.
“A Changeling... it’s got Light!” he yelled, just before a black streak slammed into him out of nowhere.
“The Changelings! Hawk Wing, Moonbeam, come with me to check out where their camp is supposed to be. Everypony else, stay put!”
The three of us flew over to the area, finding nothing. When we flew back however, there were about fifty Changelings surrounding the other knights. As we flew to help fight the Changelings, we noticed Blast Boom stagger and fall. We flew in and started fighting.
“What happened?” I asked Morning Star.
“Just after you left, about 100 of them appeared out of nowhere and attacked us. They killed Blackhole, just like Light and Air Streak. And now Blast Boom... This must be the prophecy...”
Hearing this made me angry. “Are you going to give up? Well, I will NEVER give up!” I yelled, starting to charge up magic energy.
“Shadow, no! You’re not supposed to use magic when you’re angry! Shadow Star!” she yelled, too late. I unleashed a wave of magic energy, destroying the Changelings near me and launching the rest far away. I fell to the ground, exhausted - magic always took a lot out of me, but this was a new record.
“Are you all right?” Evening Star asked.
“Ya... I’ll be fine,” I said.
“That was amazing!” Shine Ray, one of the unicorns, said.
“Thanks... but where did they all come from?”
“That is a good question,” Evening Star said. “They appeared literally out of nowhere... like they were invisible.”
“Which is impossible!” said Silver Drop, another unicorn who knew a lot of magic.
“Yes it is,” I said, remembering something. “There is an invisibility spell in the Starswirl wing of the Canterlot library... could they have gotten that?”
“Maybe... when they attacked...” said Moonbeam, even quieter than normal. “I think... there were some... near the library...”
“It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that we exterminate them!” said Evening Star.
“Shut up, Brother. This is very important. They could be anywhere.” I said, forcing myself to stay calm. I had never really liked my brother much, anyway. “We need to keep moving.”
With that, we started moving back to Canterlot, watching warily for anything out of the ordinary.
