"What do you mean?"

Excaelum answered,"An army of numerous dragons are going to attempt to takeover your fair land."

"Can you stop this?"

"Yes but, I may need Shadow's help. Where is he now?"

"I heard he's at the hospital."

"Can you tell someone to get him?"

"Yes. Iril, can you fetch the group that just came back from Ice Valley."

"Of course but, isn't Shadow injured?"

"What happened to him?" Excaelum asked.

"We don't know but, he's fine. He's resting."

"I get him your highness."

Iril is a maid at the castle, Celestia took her in after the frontier was created, she was just a filly back then. Now, she is a 20 year old earth pony proudly working for her princesses. Her coat is close to white it's yellow. Her mane and tail were purple and tied in a bun. Celestia didn't require her to wear a maid outfit because, she saw her more as a friends not a worker. She went to the hospital and went to Shadow's room.

"Who're you?" Dawn asked.

"My name is Iril. You must be Dawn."

"How did you know?"

"The princess told me about you. I must take your father to the castle."

"For what?"

"The princess didn't say. Can you fetch his friends as well?"

"Sure."

"Thank you."

Iril brought a couple of colts with her to get Shadow and his bed on the train. He was still in a deep sleep. Dawn looked for the group of Pegasus that brought her father to the hospital.

"Excuse me, are you Knight Black Soul?"

"Why yes my dear, what do you need?"

"The princesses request your assistance at the castle, my father is on his way there now."

"Alright. SENG WAKE UP!! I'm sorry I didn't catch your name?"

"My name is Dawn."

"That's a beautiful name."

"Thank you and you are beautiful yourself."

Black Soul smiled and led Shadow's daughter to the train along with the rest of the group.

Time till attack 48 hours

Current time 6:00 AM

They arrived at Canterlot and Iril led them to the dining hall where they discussed the situation. Shadow woke up in one of the castles suites, when he opened the door he saw Excaelum waiting for him. Excaelum explained the attack to him after, Shadow left Excaelum and joined the others in the dining hall.

"Celestia, your guests have arrived." Iril said.

"Thank you Iril. You may join us if you like."

"That's fine. Thank you for the offer."

Iril left the room.

"Princess you requested our presence. How may we serve you?" Echo asked.

"Not serve. Help. I need help defending our land from an attack."

"From who?" Soul asked.

"This can't be good." Aero exclaimed.

"Is it a gang of thugs?" Seng asked.

"If it was a gang of thugs, she wouldn't have asked us." Lancer replied.

"We're going to die, aren't we?" Aero asked.

"No we are not. Geez. What's with you ponies?" said Voyager across the table.

"Silence, please." Celestia silenced the ponies,"This attack is to happen in 2 days. This is an attack to takeover our frontier. There will be numerous counts of enemies and, we must evacuate the town before the attack begins."

"Why must this enemy need our land?" asked Soul.

"Their population is getting too large."

"Where is this information coming from?" Hail questioned.

"A reliable source."

"Who is it?" Canon continued the questioning.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out."

"What will we need in order to stop this?" Storm asked.

"Any weapon that's sharp."

"We can go to Wrench and Wither's foundry in the Everfree Forest." suggested Soul.

"That you can do after this."

Razor said,"You still haven't told us who we're fighting against."

"Can you tell us? We need to prepare for whoever it is?" Fencer added.

"Against...........dragons."

"WWHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?" exclaimed Cloudfire, Canon, Bladedancer, and Tint.

"I told we're going to die." Aero said.

"I take back what I said and agree with you." Voyager added.

"Alright, who wants to stab me? I will not haunt you if you do." Seng said.

Lancer replied,"I will if you stab me."

"Okay."

They both got up and used their wings to pick up the nearest object close to them.

"SIT DOWN!!" Soul yelled.

Seng and Lancer were about an inch away from stabbing each other with a spoon(Lancer) and fork(Seng) before Soul stopped them before they attempted to kill each other.

Seng whispered to Lancer,"Did you really have to pick up the spoon?"

"What?!! You were going to stab me with a fork so, why not."

"Quiet. How do they plan on executing their attack?" Fencer asked.

"A full assault. You need to prepare for this now, I have brought a few friends to help you. They are in the courtyard."

"Who're they?"

"You'll see but, you need to go to the foundry to pick up armor and weapons."

Black Soul obeyed her request,"As you wish. Seng, Lancer, Shadow, Aero, and Knight Storm accompany me."

They followed her to the forest and began to walk deep into the trees. They began to see a broken down building in a clearing ahead.

"Is this the right place?" Seng asked.

"Don't seem like it." said Aero.

"It's the right place." Storm answered.

Knight Black Soul opened the door, and inside were nice white walls, polished floors, furniture, a kitchens, and anything you would find in a nicely done house. There was a steel door in the back, it had a little window that looked into the mini foundry that was run there. They looked through the window and saw flames and molten.

Inside the foundry was completely different from the living quarters. The walls were hidden by finished and unfinished weapon and armor, they were unpolished and had oil spills all over them. There seemed to be a ventilation system, vents over the main fires lead smoke out to the atmosphere. There was a filter that somewhat purified the smog to at least take out some toxin from the smoke. In the back were 2 ponies, 1 earth and 1 Pegasus. They seemed to be finishing a piece. The colt was the Pegasus, he was wearing a mask that protected his face from the heat and sparks but, it had small cracks all around it. Part of his mane was and tail were burned but, they both seemed to be orange. His coat was scorched by burn marks, his coat was a light red. The earth pony, she seemed like a fragile one but, worked with deadly machines. Her mask was perfectly taken care of, no cracks or anything like that. Her man and tail weren't burned, she kept her yellow mane and tail short to avoid a fire that can bring her utter pain. Her coat was protected by a jacket that prevented any of the ambers from burning her. They poured the hot molten into the mold that created a future deadly weapon. After the molten had hardened the casting would be taken out and hammered down to a desired flatness.

Soul told them about the workers,"Wither, the earth pony, was taken in by Wrench when he found her wandering the Everfree by herself. She doesn't know what happened to her parents and, she came from no place of good."

"Where was that?" Shadow asked.

"She says if was full of torture and pain. It sounds a little like my old town, Green Fawn."

That town sounded familiar to Shadow.

"I wouldn't be here today if, the Pegasus that saved me hadn't come along."

It all came back to Shadow. He was the one that saved her. He saved her from a griffon raid and, never has Black Soul thanked her savior.

Wrench and Wither came inside their living quarters and saw an unexpected surprise. They saw the 6 Pegasus freeloading off of his fruit put their for Wither and himself.

"What a surprise, Black Soul. How are y-" Soul interrupted Wrench.

"I'm sorry but, we have no time to talk. Do you have anything that can do harm to a dragon?"

"What're you going to do kill one?"

Knight Black Soul and Storm looked at Wrench with a stern expression.

Wither said,"I think that means yes."

"Let's see, ah. We just made 20 pairs of fresh blades and a few sets of armor a couple days ago, they're in the storage cabinet in a crate. And if you are willing to wait we can finish our hoof-swords by tomorrow."

"Shadow, Lancer. Go get them. I'm we would but, we're short on time. Thank Wrench. We will tell you about this later."

They took the crate and head back to Canterlot. There seemed to be commotion coming from the courtyard. They saw Cloudfire, Razor, Bladedancer, and the others getting thrown to the ground by dragons. Storm saw the princesses just watching, he went over to them and asked what was going on, they said they were sparring with them to prepare for the attack. After the crate was placed down, Shadow and the others joined in on the sparring. Hours of pain went by, the pegasi were sore and tired. They had dinner and went to bed. Shadow however, was talking to Celestia at the tallest tower.

"How are you princess?"

"I'm worried. We never had a problem with the dragons before and now, they want to take our land."

"I'm sure there is something more to it than that but, we just don't know what yet."

"So, I heard about your incident at Ice Valley. What was the magic that you used?"

"I don't know. I never thought a pegasus could use magic."

"That's still a mystery then. Did you see the beam of light coming from the frontier a few days ago?"

"Yes, I did. I suppose you don't know what that is either."

She chuckled,"No, I don't."

"Aren't you sore from the sparring? You should get some rest." she added.

"I'm fine."

"What do you think Excaelum is going to do?"

"I don't know. I have not seen him fight any other dragons but, if he's like his father he will not go down easy."

"I pray he won't have to."

"Pray to whom?"

"Not whom. What. That "what" is destiny."

"We'll have to wait for destiny's decision then."

The sun has been risen and the courtyard was lively in a couple of hours after, everypony has been awoken and fed. Shadow, Seng, Lancer, and Aero grouped up against Excaelum's solitary, Harvest.

"I will train you with the time given now and in addition, the time you missed yesterday to make up for your absence. The weak points on a dragons body are the stomach. The stomach is usually unprotected and it's the softest part of the body compared to the rest of the body. The next is the neck, it has vital blood vessels but, is protected and hard to reach without getting killed. NEVER fight a dragon in their own force. If you were to attack me and I was in water you will be killed. Take the target out of reach of their element or in an environment opposite to their force. The opposite of water is rock. Thunder to fire. Wind to rock. The forces without an opposite are gravity and time. Each of you will each have to land at least one hit on me to rest. Begin."

The 4 charged and were hit by the back of Harvest's claw, they were launched back, they hit a wall.

"OW!! DAMN THAT HURT!!" exclaimed Lancer.

"I don't feel a thing." Seng muffled with his face implanted in the wall.

"We're going to die before tomorrow comes." said Aero.

"Get up. We need to- ah. Right in the sore spot." Shadow said.

They kept this up and again and, again they were tossed back by Harvest's strength until Lancer hit her on her neck while she hit the other 3 against a wall.

"Good. Three more times." said Shadow.

A few dozen more time and another hit was landed by Aero on her again her neck.

"The more you do this the more frequently you will hit me." Harvest scolded.

She was right. Seng landed one on her stomach on the next round.

"Now let's see how you do against a dragon in their force. Since there is no water supply nearby you will spar with Gulfstream, he is a wind dragon. You will fight him in the air." Something blacked out the sunlight behind them, they looked and saw Gulstream. He is a dark green colored dragon with only legs and wings with yellow eyes. He was small 10 feet tall. 20 feet in length and had a 35 foot wingspan. He was bulky which made his enemies think he was slow, they were wrong.

"So, I'm going with them? This should be easy." he said.

"You guys will have fun with him." Echo said to Shadow and his group.

"Let's watch them since we're done with ours." suggested Voyager.

"Good luck." Hail said.

"This is going to be bad isn't it?" cried Aero.

"It can't be too bad." argued Lancer.

Gulfstream took off straight into the air so fast it pust the ones standing nearby back.

"You should take that back." Seng said.

"I think he already did." said Shadow.

Harvest said,"As a treat, any of you get to hit him to pass."

They chased after Gulfstream in the air, Gulfstream came down to them, opened his wings right before he made contact with them, and they were thrown down. Hard.

"Oooohhhhhhh." exclaimed the others watching.

"Wow, haha. That must have hurt. Are you okay Seng?"

"No, Cloudfire. We just hit the ground at over 1,000 mph and we're fine. Ahhhhh....thanks for your consideration."

"Stop exaggerating. come on we'll take you to Fyn Cour." Tint said.

Gulfstream landed and he felt a nudge at the bottom of his claw. It was Lancer.

He wheezed,"I............win." and passed out.

"Did I go too hard on them?"

"Yes you did." answered Karnage.

"Well, let's leave be. They had enough."

They were taken to the infirmary where Dust and Fyn Cour were tending to their injuries. Fyn Cour's magic allowed her to see through coats to render care to the muscles, bones, and nerves. If bones were fractured she can easily fix it but, if it was broken it may take a few hours depending on the injury. If nerves were severed she too can render easy care to it. If a muscle to torn or pulled it can be easily fixed. If small outside scrapes or bruises can be done as well.

"This is going to hurt. Your wing seems to be dislocated. On 3......1....3." Fyn said.

"You forgot 2." Seng whined.

"I'll get him to rest." Dust said.

Lancer and Aero didn't have any major injuries. Only a few fractured bones. They were tended to and she moved to Shadow next. She examined his body.

"Amazing, there seems to be no fractures or anything on your body."

"I guess I'm just lucky." Shadow got up and walked normally.

Their training was over and the real fight will begin in 12 hours.

Current time 6:00 PM

Dawn and Luna were talking in Luna's room.

"Princess, do you have any thing we can talk about, I'm kind of bored."

"Well, we do have a problem with cargo going to Saddle Arabia and Los Pegasus."

"Really?"

"Somepony has been robbing the cars that contain metal that were going to be recycled into new metal and a few of unused metal cars as well."

"Do you know who is behind it?"

"No but, we may ask help from your father to help escort the cargo safely after this is all done with a month from. We stopped shipment until we can get escorts."

"Do you at least have an idea of who it is?"

"No but, there were sightings of a strange pegasus in a black cloak at the incidences according to most of the eyewitnesses."

"Is there a pattern?"

"No. They just happen randomly."

"Okay new subject."

The two talked about random things. Meanwhile, Shadow and Celestia again were talking at the tallest tower.

"How was your day Shadow?"

"Fine besides the sparring."

"We should just wait here and enjoy the full moon my sister is going to raise."

"A full moon?"

"The brightest."

Shadow mumbled to himself,"When the moon is brightest."

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing."

"I don't want to see anyone hurt."

"That won't happen. At least I hope not."

"Shadow, how does it feel to live forever?"

"What do you mean?":

"Exactly what i just asked."

"Being alive to see loved go is painful."

"I know how you feel. I used to have many friends until we grew up and I saw their lives end."

"Hopefully I can die someday."

"That's quite a thing to say. And you can't die, right?"

"That's where you're wrong princess."

"How?"

"Dawn and I have the choice to- Will you promise me not to tell anyone this?"

"Of course."

"Dawn and I can give up our immortality for only, a great purpose."

"You two aren't natural immortals, are you?"

"No. I had to do horrific things to gain this immortality for me and Dawn."

"Like?"

"I went to a witch that goes by the name, Great Tear. She had me sacrifice 20 lives each for our lives to be spared from fate."

"I can't believe you." Celestia sounded angry,"Why would you do that?!!"

"I don't want to kill another loved one. That's why." Shadow silenced Tia for a moment. She spoke again.

"What? What are you saying?"

"I KILLED STARFLARE!!" Shadow screamed.

"Star Swirl the Bearded's granddaughter?"

"Yes. And Dawn's mother. The love of my life." Shadow began to cry.

"Come here." Tia put her hooves and wings around him, trying to comfort him.

"I just want to be with her again but, I can't leave Dawn." Shadow cried even more.

"Please stop your tears. You are going to make me start to cry if you don't."

"I'm sorry but, it's just so hard to."

Tia looked at Shadow in his eyes and said,"We are here for you. Your daughter. Excaelum. Even your friends, are all here for you."

Shadow cried for a few more minutes during the cold night. The clear sky with the stars and the moon lit the night. In the distance were the lights of the frontier.

The same night Shadow journeyed into the spirit world where he saw Starflare.

"Star, I'm sorry I told Celestia about you."

"It's fine, don't beat yourself up. How's Dawn?"

"Can't she see you in this world?"

"No. I can only be seen by somebody with a strong memory of me. And you have a very strong memory of me."

"Who can she see? And is this for everybody?"

"Zaz maybe. This is only for the ones with the power of Lumen Fulsi."

"Lumen Fulsi?"

"Light beam."

"And Dawn has it to?"

"Yes. One more positive power. There are 3 negatives."

"Positives and negatives?"

"You have much more to learn about this. Hehehe." Star chuckled,"The positives are life, love, and mercy."

"And the negatives."

"Death, hate, and merciless."

"Which positive is Dawn and who are the others?"

"I can't reveal that. You on the other hand. You are life."

The world faded along with Starflare. Shadow woke up.

3 hours left until attack.

Author's Notes:

http://azndragon123.deviantart.com/art/Hoof-sword-concept-art-400987717 just imagine the sword a wee bit longer and sharper. and there is also art for the hoof-blade if you look.