One thousand years ago, Lord Shadow was told that Luna had been banished to the moon. So began his quest to one day be reunited with his love. He must conquer many dangers, but above all else he must conquer time.
You banished Luna?" Shadow asked as his voice wavered in disbelief, "One - thousand - years..."
"I had no choice," Celestia replied.
"No choice? No choice!" Shadow's voice growing to a thunderous to shout, "You could have helped her! Why didn't you call me back from my scouting mission?"
"There was no time... it's the only way... the prophecy," Celestia stumbled over words as she tried to convince Shadow of things she herself was unsure of, "Please, Shadow," she said as she stepped towards him, "please forgive me."
"Forgive you?" a sneer spread across his face, "Never. I will never forgive you."
"Shadow please," Celestia backed away.
"We were to be married!" he shouted, "This Hearth Warming Eve, we were to marry! You have banished my heart with her - I will never see her again! Do you understand? You can live forever! You'll see her! I will have passed away long before she ever touches Equestria again!" the dark furred earth pony was slowly walking towards Celestia as his voice grew.
A few guards entered the room and began to approach Shadow and Celestia, but she motioned them away, "I understand, but she wasn't Luna anymore... something... something else had her... and I had to do it... the prophecy says she'd be whole again... if... If I sent her away..."
The rage in Shadow's face eased a bit and was replaced with desperation, "Then send me there too. Send me to Luna."
"I - I can't," Celestia Stuttered, "The spell only works once."
Shadow collapsed under the weight of his sorrow and wept, and let out great screams, as if he would die from the loss of his love. Celestia layed next to him and nuzzled close, her own tears mingling with his on the cold stone floor of the palace.
When his tears had run dry and his voice had grown thin, Shadow slowly rose and said with a rasping voice, "I will find a way to reach her. If I have travel the distance between here and the moon or find a spell ... maybe Starswirl. . "
"Do what you have to," Celestia said kindly.
"I will," he said as he turned to leave, "and when I have reunited with my love, I will then deal with your betrayal," he said coldly as he walked out into the night air.
"Princess," one of the guards spoke up, "Should - should we arrest Lord Shadow? That - That was treason."
"No," Celestia siaghed as she stood, "that was not treason - that was heartbreak. Let him look for his answers. Give him the space he needs to heal."
Shadow pushed open the door to Starswirl's chambers and gingerly stepped inside, "Starswirl," he called as he wove his way around stacks of books, scrolls, strange tools, and potions, "Starswirl, are you in here?"
"heh?" he heard the wizard reply from somewhere deep in the stacks, "Eh - yes, yes, I'm back here. Hold on just a moment and I'll be there."
Shadow looked around at the table he'd stopped near as he waited for Starswirl to wander back out of his bookshelves. He couldn't even begin to fathom what most of the odd implements and strangely colored liquids were. He nudged a shiny silver ball with his hoof slightly.
"Best not touch that too much," Starswirl said as he seemed to suddenly appear at Shadow's side.
"You startled me," Shadow replied, "You're not wearing your bells today."
"No," Starswirl said as he picked up the silver ball and put it into a box, "No... they... I would have stopped wearing them years ago ... but well Lulu," he cleared his throat, "I mean Princess Luna, loved them... and now... now I just..."
"I know," Shadow said softly as he put a hoof on his old friend's shoulder, "I know."
A grey silence filled the room for a moment before Starswirl cleared his throat, "So, young colt, what brings you to my dark and dusty library on such a beautiful night? Hmmm?"
"I want to know," Shadow said after a moment, "I - is there any way - can you help me get to Luna? Give me wings or teleport me or-"
"Whoa there," Starswirl interrupted and took in a deep breath before continuing, "I have been working on a spell to give an earth pony wings, but it only lasts three days and they're made of gossamer and dew, they'd never last the journey... and besides she's not there... not like you think..."
"What do you mean she's not there?" Shadow asked as he furrowed his brow, "Celestia said she banished her to the moon."
"Yes - she did," replied Starswirl, "but... it's not that she is on the moon... or even in the moon... come here," Starswirl lead Shadow to a window and pulled back a curtain, "Do you see how the moon is different now? Not as it was before... before?"
Shadow looked closely at the moon. He'd been reluctant to look up at it, for fear that he'd never look down again, "It's - it's her... the moon has her silhouette."
"Yes," replied Starswirl, "Precisely."
"I don't understand," Shadow said and the confusion showed clearly on his face, "Is she on the moon or not?"
"She is," Starswirl paused and considered his words, "She is fused with the moon. She and the moon have become one and the same thing."
"How is that possible?" Shadow asked, "Even with magic... something like that..."
"Is unlikely," Starswirl interrupted, "but not impossible - not impossible with the strongest of magic - The Elements of Harmony."
"Harmony?" Shadow snorted, "What wonderful and glorious elements that separate lovers," he said sarcastically.
"There was no other way," Starswirl pleaded, "It's clear in the prophecy that the elements would bind the princess to the moon, that moon's power would weaken the thing that had taken hold of her, that after one thousand years something referred to as 'the time between day and night' will gather the last bits of magic needed to free her from the curse. It's in an ancient language, so it's a little hard to grasp completely..."
"I don't care much for prophecies," Shadow replied.
"No I don't suspect you do right now," Starswirl replied, "I heard about your argument with Princess Celestia. You know there was nothing else she could do. She could not allow the world to be cast into night forever. Every pony would freeze and starve."
Shadow was silent and stared at the moon for a long time before finally speaking again, "So there is no way for me to get to the moon and even if there was - it would be no use. She would not be there in any way that I could be with her. We'd still be apart."
"Yes," Starswirl said quietly, "that is the way of it."
"Is there anything in the prophecy about me?" Shadow asked with an air of hopelessness to his voice.
"No," replied Starswirl, "No there is not."
"No hope for me then?" Shadow chuckled bitterly.
"No hope?" Starswirl asked, "I think you've got that wrong."
"Huh?" Shadow asked.
"You're not in the prophecy," Starswirl continued, "That means that yes, it's not your 'destiny' to reunite with Luna, but it also means that it's not your 'destiny' to be forever apart either. You have no predetermined fate. You can make your own. You have, if nothing else, hope."
"How am I," Shadow asked, "to reunite with somepony who won't return for one thousand years? Who is the very moon I look at? There's no distance I can cross to be with her again. And the time..."
"Time?" Starswirl said thoughtfully, "yes time... you have to find a way to travel... across time... but how... hmmm... there's the time travel spell I created -"
"Time travel?" Shadow asked.
"Hmm?" Starswirl looked up from his thoughts, "Yes, but... it doesn't work... it sends you back, but you can't change anything. Everything happens as it did... always..." there seemed to be a deep sorrow in those words, "What else ..." Starswirl mumbled as he disappeared into his stacks of books.
Shadow was left with his thoughts for a while as Starswirl searched through his books, "Starswirl," he called out after a time, "I - I remember my mother telling me about some ponies that had been rescued from changeling cocoons... that they had been imprisoned decades earlier, but had not aged... is there any truth in that?"
"Eh," Starswirl called out from within the rows of books, "I remember that... yes... in a way it's true... but those ponies... they weren't themselves anymore. It seemed as if all the feeling had been drained from them. They had to live in a special caregiver home for the rest of their lives. They were... hollow."
"But it kept them alive?" Shadow questioned.
Starswirl poked his head out from around a shelf, "Don't you go getting ideas like that. There's another way and I'll find it."
"Of course," Shadow said, "I'll - I'll leave you to research in peace."
"Stop in anytime you need someone to listen," Starswirl said as Shadow left and closed the door.
"That young colt is aiming for trouble," Starswirl said to himself, "I'd best do what I can to keep him out of it."
Shadow listened to the echo of his hooves bounce off the palace walls and away into the darkness as he wandered alone for another sleepless night. At first the guards had greeted him normally, but his silence and the empty depth of his eyes soon lead them all to look away as he walked by their stations. Three times, three times the moon had grown full and faded away again since the night Luna had been exiled. Three times and soon it would be four.
A sudden burst of blue and yellow light from Starswirl's chambers followed by the faint scent of smoke pulled Shadow from his reverie and he charged towards his friend's home.
Shadow kicked in the door, "Starswirl! Star-cough-swirl! You here? Are you okay-"
Shadow heard the clatter of several pots knocking together and against the floor and then Starswirl replied, "I'm fine. I'm fine. Just need to get upright that's all."
Shadow wandered further into the room as the smoke began to clear out through the open door and found Starswirl looking out from under a pile of books, pots, pans, and a few things he couldn't identify. He helped his old friend out of the pile and back to his feet.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Shadow asked.
"Hmm? Oh, yes," replied Starswirl, "Hazards of bending the laws of space, time, and reality."
Shadow looked around at the results of Starswirl's latest experiment, "I take it from the explosion, that it's another failure."
"On the contrary," Starswirl said, "The time stopping spell absolutely stops time in a defined area. It's just that once time starts up again, well it does so with a boom. So not a complete failure. Just not quite there yet."
"I think the explosion at the end makes it a failure..." Shadow said.
"Well," Starswirl replied hopefully, "Success is rarely a straight line, young colt, almost never in fact. There are set backs that success simply can't come without. We make mistakes in order to find out what is and is not a mistake."
"I'm," Shadow paused, "I'm not sure I can ask you to keep making mistakes like this. You could have been hurt or worse. I can't ask you to risk... It is my love! I should be the one-"
"Hush," Starswirl interrupted, "I was risking my life for love and dear friends before you were born."
"Still," Shadow replied, "You're taking all the risk and all I can do... All I can do is wait and wander. I'm useless!" he shouted as he stomped down hard.
We both know that's not true," Starswirl said sternly, "You've helped me gather most of the materials I've been using for my experiments."
"Yes, because nopony else could gather plants, gems, and powders for you," Shadow replied bitterly.
Starswirl was silent for a few moments as he peered sharply Shadow, "Do you still love her?"
Shadow's eyes narrowed, "How dare you! Of course I still love her! I-"
Starswirl put a hoof on Shadow's shoulder to quiet him, "I know. And love is a strange energy. Take it from an old Wizard, there is nothing useless about true love or those that wield it."
"Thank you," Shadow said after a moment.
"Now," Starswirl cleared his throat, "I hear that you have not been present at the council meetings."
Shadow snorted, "I don't see why I should bother."
"You are a viscount, Lord Shadow," Starswirl said sternly, "and the council could use your reassurance right now. As the one who was betrothed to the princess they have just lost, they will look to you for guidance."
"Oh yes," Shadow said sarcastically, "because all the blue bloods are just waiting to hear from the country bumpkin, turned royal guard, who was granted a viscountry simply so his marriage to the princess would be a little less embarrassing to the peerage."
"You would be surprised," Starswirl replied, "at how many friends you would find among the council if you simply opened up to them."
"I don't need any more friends and I don't care about my title," Shadow replied, "Let the council rot! Let Equestria rot!"
"Stop it!" Starswirl's usually soft and understanding voice suddenly boomed like thunder, "Do you think she would want you to wallow in self pity and curse the land she loved? Do you think this is what she would have?"
Shadow stood in silent shock for a moment, "No," he finally said in nearly a whisper, "No she wouldn't."
"Then attend the council meetings, patrol the land, do your duty as your station demands," Starswirl said, his voice growing kinder with each word, "And let me work on the magic to get you to her."
"Of course," Shadow said, "You're right. I'll... I'll be sure to attend the next council meeting. And tomorrow I'll... I'll head out on patrol."
"Good," Starswirl said with an understanding smile, "Now if you wouldn't mind, I think I'll be going to bed and I'll take care of this mess tomorrow. You should get some rest as well."
"I will," Shadow agreed as he walked out into the night, "but I'm going to walk in the moonlight for a little longer first."
"Of course," Starswirl said as his horn started to glow. The door lifted back to the hinges, metal squeaked, wood popped, and in a moment the door was whole again, "Be sure to rest well," he said as Shadow wandered off into the night.
A bright pink blur broke the murky darkness at the edge of Shadow's vision as he wandered the palace garden, "No, no, no... not this..." he thought as he quickly turned a corner, "Maybe he didn't see me."
The pink blur slid from one statue to another and then vanished into a set of bushes that had been cut to look like elephants.
Shadow let out a slow sigh and came to a stop, "I know you're there. You're pink and it's nearly a full moon. You should know better than to think you're not going to be seen."
A bright pink head with a blue main poked out from around a bush, "Awe, I knew you knew I was there!"
"Sure you did," Shadow replied as a smile tugged at his lips, "Then tell me why you kept hiding."
"Oh, you know, for fun," Bright Eyes replied as he tried to lean on a leg carved out of shrubbery and fell into it.
"Hmm," Shadow replied as he helped the pink pony to his feet, "Fun?"
"Absatively," Bright replied.
"Tell me something," Shadow said as the slight smile faded away, "Everypony else avoids me on my nightly walks, why do you go out of your way to follow me? Why do you keep starting conversations with me when most times I do little more than even acknowledge you? Isn't it obvious that I want to be left alone?"
"Oh yes, even I can tell that you want to be left alone," Bright replied, "but I can also tell that it's not what you need."
"What I need?" Shadow asked.
"Sure," Bright said as they both began walking towards the labyrinth at the center of the garden, "Sometimes a pony wants to be alone, but needs to be with somepony."
"And you," Shadow asked, "you think you can tell the difference?"
"Yes," Bright said as his normally happy expression flickered away for a moment, "Yes, I know what that looks like. I've seen it before- But, I'm not gonna let anypony else go through that!"
"Hmmm," Shadow responded, "Well, I suppose I don't mind having company on my walks from time to time, as long as it isn't every night."
"Only when you need it," Bright reassured him.
Shadow sighed, "I'm sure you'll let me know when that is."
"Absatively," Bright said, "It'll pretty much be every night."
"I figured as much," Shadow replied as he fought back a smile.
"You going out on patrol today?" the pink and blue blur a few feet in front of Shadow asked.
"Why are you here so early?" Shadow asked as he squinted at Bright Eyes as if the pony were some strange creature deposited in front of his door.
"To wake you up and get you moving for the day!" Bright Eyes replied in his ever-chipper voice, "Starswirl said you might need a little extra oomph and that I had plenty to spare!"
"Ah," Shadow replied as he stepped back into his quarters, leaving the door open as an invitation for Bright to follow.
Bright Eyes looked around as he entered, dirty dishes, paper, a half-eaten sandwich of some sort that had long lost any chance of having it's ingredients identified, "Nice place."
Shadow mumbled as he put a pot of water on top of his stove and stoked the embers, "I don't usually have company. The tea will be ready in a bit."
"So," Bright Eyes said as he started clearing a space to sit, "Patrol today? You going to look into the gathering near the Changeling border?"
"Gathering?" Shadow asked.
"You know, there have been reports of changlings gathering near the border in larger numbers for the last couple of weeks," Bright eyes said as he finally took a seat on a newly cleared patch of floor.
"I didn't know," Shadow said, "Do you know if the council thinks they are preparing for war?"
"There are rumors," Bright replied, "but there are many who think it's just the changlings being changlings."
"What do you think?" Shadow asked as he poured hot water over tea leaves in a couple of mugs.
"I think it's exactly the kind of thing you should look into while you're on patrol," Bright replied.
They finished their tea slowly with Bright Eyes making idle chit chat as Shadow kept silent for long periods that would have made anypony else uncomfortable.
"What will you be up to while I'm on patrol," Shadow asked casually.
"Oh," Bright's eyes lit up, "I'll be on patrol with you!"
"I don't take civilians or royalty on my patrol," Shadow replied coldly, "only trained ponies."
"But Princess Celestia said I should go," Bright said.
"Did she?" Shadow asked and then said without waiting for an answer, "Well then, what does it matter to me?"
"That's the spirit!" Bright eyes chirped, "We'll have a great time."
"Patrol is not a walk through a courtyard to have a picnic," Shadow replied, "It is hours of marching, sore hooves, and cold ground to sleep on at night."
"Sounds like an adventure," Bright Eyes replied.
"Sounds like you won't be talked out of it," Shadow said.
"Absatively not," Bright Eyes said through a crooked smirk.
"Fine, but don't slow me down," Shadow told him as he sat his empty mug on the table and walked out of his quarters.
Bright quickly followed him, "This is going to be fun," he said, "just you wait and see."
"Fun," Shadow sighed, "Yes... so much fun..."
Shadow met his troop at the front gate, four sturdy ponies in full armor. He looked them over, turned towards the gate and said, "Lower the gate, Lord Shadow and patrol party on the way out."
His order was echoed several times and then the sound of chains, creaking boards, and turning wheels filled the air as the gate lowered.
"Let's move out," he called back to the armored ponies and strode forward.
After several hours of walking through forests, large clearings, and over trees pushed across rivers, Bright Eyes trotted up next to Shadow. It was the fourth day of travel and there had been no sign of trouble at all in their journey across the lands of Equestria, but they were headed South-East, towards the Changeling border, and it felt to Bright as if the sky was a little less blue each day.
"Marching is sure hard on the hooves," Bright said as he walked alongside Shadow.
"Technically we're not marching, we're all just walking in the same direction," Shadow replied dourly, "And if it's too hard for you, you're welcome to turn around and head back to Canterlot."
"Oh, I never said it was too hard for me," Bright said with a smile, "I can keep up with you guys."
"See that you do. I won't be stopping or slowing down for you," Shadow replied.
"You haven't had to yet, have you?" Bright asked.
Shadow snorted in reply and scanned the horizon with his keen eyes in silence.
"How long until we reach the Changeling border?" Bright eyes asked, trying to get Shadow to talk about anything.
Shadow looked at Bright Eyes out of the corner of his eyes and wondered if he trained to be this annoying or if it came naturally, "Since it was eight days yesterday when you asked, it must be seven today... Why do you ask every day?"
"Why do you answer every day?" Bright asked impishly.
Shadow snorted and smirked slightly, "I must enjoy exercises in pointlessness."
"Yes," Bright said in that drawn out, thin, and weary tone that people use when they don't mean yes, "that must be it."
"You think it's something el- Get down!" Shadow suddenly pushed Bright Eyes to the ground as a flash of light sizzled over their heads leaving behind the acrid scent of a few mane hairs that didn't quite make it out of the line of fire as fast as the rest of their bodies did.
"What was that?" Bright asked as he tried to put his head up to look, but was pushed back down as another blast of energy sailed past.
"Dangerous," Shadow said, "Now stay down until I say otherwise!"
Shadow looked around the clearing they were in and took note of everything nearby. Several large boulders, a fallen tree trunk, and a few steps away a nice sized rock, "When I say move, you make a run to the other side of that tree trunk. Got it?" He whispered to Bright.
"G-got it," Bright whispered back.
Shadow leaped towards the rock and shouted, "Move now!" He spun and kicked the rock towards the trees the blasts were coming from just as another blast streaked out towards them. The rock intersected with the blast and turned into a cloud of dust.
Bright heard the rush of blood in his ears and the pounding of his hooves on the ground as he dashed towards the tree trunk. He dived and tucked in low behind the old fallen oak and waited for whatever would come next.
"Sour and Blade sweeping fire in from south-east. Forth and Chops sweeping from the other direction. Push them into the middle and don't let up until I signal," Shadow shouted at the soldier unicorns as he kept his eyes on the forest.
The four unicorns opened fire shooting multicolored streams from their horns in a dazzling display of magic and began pushing in towards a central area. Shadow charged into the forest as the space between the beams narrowed, "Hold you fire and stay here!" he called out to his soldiers.
He caught a glimpse of something running into the deep underbrush, "Stop where you are," he shouted after the runner, "None of you ever stop do you?" he said as he barreled after the fleeting shape.
Shadow was closing in on the runner slowly, but the shape darted behind a giant pine and as Shadow rounded it there was no longer any sign of the shooter. Shadow looked deeply into the forest around him and listened to the sounds of the natural world, listened for anything not in harmony with the rest. Above him he heard a sharp crack, a twig breaking as weight shifted under hooves not used to being in trees. He held his position and waited.
Another sharp crack followed by the sound of a body falling through the air and just as he felt the breeze from his enemy's move he stepped to the side, twisted, and kicked back with all his strength. The dark body of the changeling made a meaty thud as it hit the tree trunk and slumped to the ground.
"You should have stopped running when I told you to," Shadow said to the unconscious changeling. After a few minutes he had the knocked out body of the changeling on his back and was plodding back towards the clearing where his guards and Bright Eyes would be waiting.
A blue beam of light shot past Shadow's head as he approached the clearing, "Hold your fire, Chops! How many times do I have to tell you to hold your fire until you see an enemy or until I tell you. Curse you and your itchy trigger horn!"
"Sorry Sir," Chops called back as Shadow stepped out into the clearing, "Looks like you got him though."
"I did," Shadow said as he rolled his shoulders and the unconscious body fell to the ground, "You and Sour keep an eye on him while I figure out what to do with him. Oh, and hobble his legs with some rope."
"Yes sir," Chops replied as he pulled some rope from his saddle bag and used some simple telekineses magic to tie the changeling's hooves close enough together that he'd be able to walk but not run.
"Do you usually get attacked by changelings on your patrols?" Bright asked.
"No not usually, and never this far from their border," Shadow said as he signaled for Blade and Forth to join him, "Blade, Forth, I think you both know that someone needs to return to Canterlot and tell them about this, but that we also need to continue patrol and look for more of these changelings. I'll need you two to take the changeling and Bright Eyes back to Canterlot as soon as the changeling wakes up."
"Yes Si-" the two unicorns started to say before Bright Eyes interrupted.
"Why me?" he asked.
"Because I've made my decision. It's obvious that it's too dangerous out here for someone who's not trained. I can't do my job and keep you safe," Shadow said sternly.
"I'm not going," Bright eyes said flatly.
"I don't think you understand I'm not asking, I'm-" Shadow started.
"No I don't think you understand," Bright eyes said hotly, "I'm not leaving your side. And those two can't get the changeling back to Canterlot AND drag me kicking and screaming with them."
Shadow's jaw grew tight for a moment and then he sighed, "Fine, but if you get killed I won't go to your funeral."
"Yes you will," Bright Eyes said with his crooked smile and a spark of mischief in his eyes.
"I thought you said it'd take seven days to reach the border," Bright Eyes said, showing his surprise that they had managed to make it in just a little over four days.
"That was when I intended to walk here. We've been running. It makes a difference," Shadow replied flatly as he looked out over the landscape of the changeling empire. Dark blues barely distinguishable from black, deeper purple shadows, greys, and a few dingy brown highlights, "It's not much to look at."
"I hear that further on in the land itself changes shape on a regular basis, making it impossible to map out," Forth said.
"I've heard that too, but I have to wonder how much of that's just the overactive imagination of a few ponies or propaganda spread by the changelings themselves to keep us ponies out."
"Do you see those lights over there, sir?" Blade asked while pointing his nose towards a series of flickering orange and yellow lights in the distance.
"Yes," Shadow said while squinting towards the lights, "Looks like campfires, hundreds of them."
"Campfires?" Bright asked.
"Yes," Shadow replied, "And where there's that many campfires there's an army."
"Forth and Blade," Shadow turned to face the two unicorn soldiers, "I'll need you to head back to Canterlot and inform the council that an army is definitely gathering at the border."
"What about you?" Bright eyes asked.
"I'll be going in to get a closer look at the army and when I have some more information I'll return to Canterlot as well," Shadow said.
"You mean that we're going in to get a closer look," Bright Eyes said firmly.
Shadow smiled and looked at the pink pony who had worked so incredibly hard to be a good friend to him, "Bright, have I ever told you why my cutie mark is a pair of boxing gloves?"
"No," Bright Eyes said, looking obviously confused by the sudden change in topic, "I just kind of figur-"
Shadow reared up on his hind legs and swung out with his right hoof, clipping Bright across the jaw. He followed with a left upper cut which sent the pink and blue pony sprawling on the ground.
Shadow walked up to his friend's unconscious body and looked down with eyes brimming with a mixture of regret and certainty in his actions, "I'm sorry about this, but I know you'd never have left my side willingly and I can't risk you coming with me. I promise you that this is for the best. You'll be safe."
"Sir?" Forth asked as he stepped towards them, "Was that really necessary?"
"You let me worry about what's necessary," Shadow said firmly, "Now, I need you and Blade to head back to Canterlot. You'll take turns carrying Bright until he wakes up. I want you to get as far as you can as fast as you can. Make it pointless for him to even try to come back. Do you understand. You get this pony back to Canterlot and safely!"
Forth and Blade snapped to attention and said in unison, "Yes sir! We won't fail you, sir," they quickly placed Bright on Forth's back and galloped back towards Canterlot leaving Shadow alone at the border of the changelings.
He moved towards the campfires slowly, making sure to listen for any patrols, scouts, or anyone else using the ill-kept paths. A few hours into his journey he heard hoofsteps heading towards him and ducked quickly behind a pale grey rock.
"Those stupid ponies will never know what hit them," he heard a deep voiced changeling say.
"Yeah," a high pitched squeaky voice replied, "by the time they even know we're there, we'll be everywhere. We won't just have them surrounded," a flash of green magical energy reflected off of several nearby rocks and trees for a second before a new voice finished the sentence, "we'll be them."
Shadow waited behind the boulder, shifting his position to keep it between him and the patrol of changelings as he listened to their voices fade away in the distance, "I'm not about to be captured - not yet anyway," he thought to himself.
When he was sure they had moved on far enough, he continued to head towards the campfires. He had to hide a few more times to avoid being seen by other changeling patrols, but just before nightfall he had made it to the edge of the camp and could see the ebony bodies of the changelings walking around, laughing, joking, and priming themselves for battle.
Shadow waited until he saw a larger changeling, in full armor, who trotted with the air of importance only a officer can trot with before making his move, "There you are," he whispered.
"For Canterlot!" Shadow shouted as he charged into the middle of the camp and straight for the commander. Several changelings moved to stand between him and their leader, but were quickly dispatched with a few kicks, spins, and dodges. Just as he reached the commander the large changeling stepped back and signaled for more soldiers to surround Shadow.
He fought against waves of ebony bodied attackers, kicking, twisting, falling to the ground again and again only to rise and fight, biting and breathing hard, and nearly blind from the pain of overexertion as his muscles strained to keep him up and fighting. At last they began using bursts of green energy that lanced into him, setting off waves of torment until his hind legs could no longer lift him, but still he fought. Blind and screaming curses into the air, he fought. Clawing at any wisp of movement that came near until not even he could stand up against the onslaught of magic, hooves, and torturous, burning pain.
"Withdraw," he heard a deep voice call out someplace on the edge of his fading consciousness, "I said withdraw, soldiers! I want this pony alive. There are questions to be answered and the Queen may want to see him."
"The Queen?" the words echoed in Shadow's head as the sweet darkness of passing out overtook him and wrapped around his mind to hide him away from his injuries for a time.
Shadow felt his senses slowly return to him, the feel of a soft mattress beneath him mingled with the scent of chicken feathers, the warmth of a fire on his hooves and face, and finally the light of that fire piercing the vale of his closed eyes. He had expected to wake up in a cold and dank dungeon or within a drafty but well guarded tent, if he woke up at all, instead, wherever he was, it was a place far more luxurious than he could have ever have expected. He decided it was best to keep his eyes closed and listen to his surroundings for a few moments, he'd found over the years that lips were often looser around sleeping bodies.
"Why did General Zalott have this sent here?" he heard a gruff voiced changeling ask.
"Zalott said that this one pony took on an entire camp of soldiers," another voice answered, "and that he took down a platoon's worth of warriors before they could subdue him."
"Sounds like an exaggeration to me," the first voice scoffed.
"Exaggeration or not, Zalott said that this pony is a prime specimen and that the Queen will want to see him," the second voice said, "but I bet you half a day's rations that she just gets rid of him."
"I'm not going to take that bet, that'd be easy money for you," the gruff voice said just before their hoofsteps turned a corner and faded away.
Shadow slowly opened his eyes and took stock of his surroundings. Black granite walls about fifty feet high surrounded him and only one door lead in and out of the great hall. The fire that warmed him and lit the room was only a few feet away in a large iron brazier and the smoke exited the chamber through a hole in the ceiling. The soft mattress that he rested on was obviously not a normal part of this room's decor and seemed out of place on the white marble floor, "Now why would they go to so much trouble to make me comfortable?" he thought to himself.
About thirty feet in front of him was a large throne carved out of the same dark granite as the walls with pillows and blankets of every hue piled high and on top those pillows perched the Queen of the Changelings.
She was slender, and though she sat with her legs tucked under her ebony body, Shadow could tell that she was tall. Her wings seemed delicate and much like the wings of a grasshopper, provided grasshoppers came in shades of grey. She looked down on him with an air of superiority that not even the most snobbish of royalty in Canterlot could ever hope to attain. Shadow could tell, as he stared into her huge green eyes, that to her he was little more than a small and curious thing in a world that she owned.
"Are you fully awake, Pony?" she asked with a buzzing voice that seemed to set off some primitive distaste deep within him.
"Mostly," Shadow said after a moment.
"Do you know," the Queen continued, "why you are here?"
"Because you're looking for a few good colts?" Shadow asked in a mocking tone.
"Do not trifle with me, foal!" the Queen's voice echoed off the walls of the chamber before she calmed herself and continued, "Do you know how many of my soldiers you have... made unable to serve me in my upcoming plans? "
"I lost count," Shadow responded, "I was a little preoccupied."
"Thirty seven," The Queen answered, "Thirty seven of my warriors with broken legs, noses, horns... All because of one ridiculous little pony," the rage was growing in her voice as she spoke, "Why? What did you hope to do other than die?"
"I wanted to show you something," Shadow said.
"What?" the Queen asked barely concealing the rage the seethed below her facade, "What could you possibly show me by throwing yourself at my soldiers?"
"I wanted to show you the courage and strength of Canterlot," Shadow replied, "Look, I'm just an earth pony scout. I have no magic like the unicorns and not even wings like the pegasi. Yet I made my way into your land, charged into one of your camps, and defeated nearly forty of your warriors."
"There are more warriors," the Queen said petulantly.
"Yes," Shadow agreed, "I'm sure there are, but do you think there are enough. If I can take on forty, imagine what you'll run into in Canterlot. Unicorns casting spells that strip away your disguises and pegasi dropping out of the sky like the well honed aerial weapons they are. Do you think your war against Canterlot will really end well for you and your people?"
"We are stronger than you think, Pony," the queen said and continued after a moment, "but you have given me something to think about."
"Shadow," he said.
"What?" the Queen said with a look of disdain and confusion.
"My name is Shadow. Not 'Pony'," he said.
"I will address you as I choose to," the Queen replied haughtily.
"Guards," The Queen called out and two large changelings came into the chamber, "Take this pony to one of the towers and make sure he is guarded at all times. Keep him fed and make sure he has water. I may wish to speak with him again."
"Yes Majesty," the two responded in unison before proceeding to drag Shadow out of the chamber.
"Oh," the Queen addressed Shadow as the guards took him away, "and one more thing, Pon- Shadow, keep in mind that you are in the center of my kingdom. Should you try to escape, you will be destroyed."
"Promises," Shadow said mockingly which only served to goad one of changeling guards into belting him in the face for his insolence.
"You will address the Queen with respect, Pony," the gruff voice scolded him.
The next few minutes allowed Shadow to become well acquainted with his injuries as the two guards pushed, prodded, and dragged him to a tower in the North-East corner of the palace. No bones seemed broken, but his muscles ached as if torn and he felt like hot needles spiked out from deep within his legs with each step. He figured it must be some after effect of the green magic bolts the changelings had fired at him during the fight.
"Hey," Shadow called out after the guards after they slammed the door to his cell shut, "How long was I out of it?"
One of them turned around and spat at the floor in front of his cell, "Shut up, Pony, before I put you back out."
"Uh huh," Shadow replied, "You think you can?"
The gruff changeling started towards the door, "You stupid foal, I'll-"
"Maddox!" the other guard said firmly as he stepped between the gruff one and the door, "The Queen wants him kept well for now," He said in a gentle but stern voice, "So just let him alone."
"Fine, Fennix," Maddox replied, "but you just keep him shut up."
Fennix turned to face Shadow, "You were unconscious for about two days. Now, if you know what's good for you, you'll stop asking questions and leave Maddox alone."
"Thank you," Shadow said and walked back to the far corner of his cell where a straw stuffed mattress waited for him, "I should rest for a while," he mumbled to himself as he collapsed and gave himself over to the weariness of his body, allowing himself to sleep, since there was little else for him to do for now.
