He fought against his old friend and teacher; he needed to end his life. He didn't want to. The Pegasus he faces now wants to kill him. They shot toward each other and collided. Shadow was struck right under his wing. He crashed into the cold ocean below. While sinking down to the abyss his armor separated and gradually sank down. He heard a voice of one he thought had died many years ago, a familiar voice.

"You are not done finished yet. You still have a family to protect." It said.

He slowly opened his eyes and saw an illusion of his deceased wife. She was a beautiful and strong unicorn. Her long white mane had streaks of light pink, her coat was a normal-shaded pink. Her name, Starflare, granddaughter of Star Swirl.

"I can't.....I'm weak." he said in his head,"I will die here."

"No you won't. What will become of your daughter if you die here? She will be left in a world of nothing."

"I'm sorry, I-I just can't. I can't kill him."

"Then he wins the war, then he will continue to kill. No one will be able to stop him. Only you can."

"How can you still have faith in me after all this?"

She said tenderly,"You're my husband. You been through so much already. Why stop now? Get up."

Shadow's wound started to seal itself. He opened his eyes fully and spread his wings. He rocketed through the disturbed surface and shouted at his enemy,"I am not done with you yet!"

"Do you believe you can defeat me?" Garren replied.

"You will fall under my sword."

It seemed Shadow's confidence angered Garren,"Well then, show what you have learned over the years my former student!"

They both enabled their magic. Shadow's aura glowed white while, Garren's glowed black. Their auras were seen miles away to a cliff where Princess Celestia and the others waited. The next thing they saw were the two warriors charging with great speed toward each other.

4 years before, Shadow signed up for training in the Royal Guard. His daughter, Dawn, stayed at a frontier southwest of Canterlot and north of the Everfree forest. He was on his way to a city above in the clouds where he met another Pegasus named, Seng. His journey began that day.

Chapter 1- The Academy

Shadow was a blue Pegasus with a dark blue mane and tail, his eyes were light blue. His cutie mark, a pair of golden wings over a white diamond. He has yet to find out what it means. He went to the registration window to give his letter of acceptance to the clerk.

"It says here that you were suppose to be here tomorrow." the tired looking clerk said. It looked like he was up for months without any sleep.

"I am aware of that." Shadow replied.

"Oh are you because, from what I remember "tomorrow" was yesterday."

"Can you do anything about it?"

"I'll see if I can get your C.O.(commanding officer) to go easy on you and let you in."

"Thank you."

The clerk walked to a lazy mail carrier sleeping in the corner of his office and knocked down the pile of letters a mare was sleeping on.

"What you do that for?!" she asked with a raised voice.

"One, no sleeping on the job. Two, I need you to get this to Knight Black Soul."the clerk replied.

"No. I don't want to."

"Why not?"

"She scares me."

"Quit being such a filly and go.SHOO YOU LAZY BUM!!" he yelled while kicking her out.

Shadow waited for an hour or so before starting to think this Knight Black Soul rejected his acceptance letter. His mind was changed when a Pegasus introduced himself to Shadow.

"Hello there. Are you Shadow by any chance" he asked.

He nodded "Yes, and you are?"

"Seng, nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

"Well, I'm not here just for you I need help getting some medical supplies to the track. You can just leave your luggage here."

"Alright. Let's go."

They started walking through hallways. Shadow thought their was something odd about Seng, he kept looking through every door they past by.

"Are you looking for a door that leads to the track?" Shadow asked

Seng answered,"Nope."

"Then what're you looking for the medical supply room."

"When did your C.O. tell you to look for these?"

"An hour ago."

"What?" Shadow replied

"Yeah, I only been here a day and a half so, I don't know where it is. She knows that and now when we get back we're going to get yelled."

It was early morning around 7:37 AM so they had loads of time left.

"Who is this 'she'?"

"Knight Black Soul, our C.O. and D.I.(drill instructor) Found it."

The door ahead had a red cross above it. Seng opened the polished wooden door.

"Well, what do we need?" asked Shadow.

"Uuhhhhhhhhh........I forgot."

"Oh my Celestia. I don't want to start off like this."

"Start off like what?"

"Late and forgetful."

"Oh. Let's just take those boxes over there with the words "first aid"."

"You are such a genius." said Shadow sarcastically

"Oh, ha ha ha." Seng replied

Shadow and Seng both went to the track where they saw 18 Pegasi doing laps and 3 others in the center. One unicorn, earth pony, and Pegasus. They walked closer to the three.

"Wow, I thought I was going to die of old age before you got." the female Pegasus said.

She was also a dark blue Pegasus, her mane and tail were the black but, one thing that contrasted her dark colored coat, mane, and tail was her lime green eyes.

"I know, I'm can wrinkles on my hooves." The unicorn chuckled.

Her coat pink. Her mane and tail were pale pink. The earth pony next to her was gray coated and had peach colored mane and tail..

"Now Seng, go give me 30 laps for making me wait." the Pegasus said.

Seng joined the others.

"And you are?" she added.

"Shadow."

"I am your commanding officer,Knight Black Soul. You too give me 30 laps for not helping that slowpoke. "

Shadow caught up to Seng.

They both saw their C.O. fly to a microphone and she shouted,"WELCOME TO THE ACADEMY!"