The night princess's eyes opened wide. Her mouth hung open. Her stomach fluttered and her mind span around. Slowly, she stood up from her throne. She just stood there, tears falling down her cheeks. Her legs shaking like jelly.
Before anyone could ask what was wrong, the alicorn leapt and galloped to the scarlet red pegasus. The others watched in surprise as the two hugged.

"Solitaire!! You're alive!! I was so worried!!" Luna cried. It was so good to see an old friend. A very old friend.

"It is a pleasure to see you too, your highness." The pegasus smiled. The two parted from their hug. The others looking at them with confused looks.
"My formal apologises." The mare bowed to the alicorns.

"Who are you? And how do you know my aunt?" Cadence asked, her throat scratchy and sore.

"As my dear friend, Rainbow Dash, has already said. My name is Solitaire Blade. I am the leader of the recently awoken D.A.R.K." Solitaire explained.

"D.A.R.K.? What...wait...wait a minute..." Celestia thought. She remembered the name. Oh where had she heard the name before.
Suddenly, she gasped.
"Shadow!! Shadow Blade Assassin?!"

"The very best if I say so myself." The pegasus snorted.

"No!! You're a shadow pony!! You should not exist. You should not be here!!" Celestia growled. "The light should have banished you!! You should have all died!!"

"Oh silly princess, where there is light, there are shadows." Solitaire chuckled. "Don't fear me, your highness. We are neutral. Now that Mother Night has found peace."

"Mother Night...?"

Everyone, except Solitaire, turned to Princess Luna. Who smiled sheepishly.
"Yes, shadow ponies are my creation. Ponies believe that Sombra created them, being the King of Shadows. But I am the Empress. During my reign of Nightmare Moon, I needed followers. My...bat ponies, who we shall not forget, were not enough. So, I created shadow ponies."

"We move with the darkness. We are the darkness. We have lived for thousands of years. After our Mother was banished, there were only a few of us left. The majority of us didn't survive. We were either slaughter by Celestia's Royal Guard, or withered away. We can already survive without food and water, so we hid as much as we could. I found that without a leader, we were lost. So I created D.A.R.K."

"But, Celestia mentioned that you are also assassins. Like the Creed?"

"Not quite. Unlike our sister assassins, we are younger. And we cannot die. A horrible curse. As shadow ponies, we have no souls. We are just mere darkness. We may look like ordinary ponies, and I thank Luna for that. Our original appearance was just a black figure that resembled a pony. We used to fight side by side of the Creed. As they supported us during our fall." The pegasus stated. The others intrigued in her story.

"However, you faded away. We never saw or heard from you again. Why was that?" Rainbow questioned.

"We grew weaker. With our Mother gone, our own powers grew weaker. So, we disappeared. I placed my brothers and sisters into slumber. To reserve their energy. To reserve their lives. I, however, could not follow my siblings. They needed someone to wake them when the time was right. So, I've been travelling over Equestria. The only Shadow Blade Assassin. Protecting all that I could for the past one thousand years."

"And now, have you come to serve us again?" Luna questioned.

"Of course, Mother. I have seen the griffins slaughter many. Many in armour. Many innocent. Many in white cloaks. I decided to travel to the Creed, but I was met with cold glares. I felt your presence, Princess Luna. I came here, when I bumped into Miss Dash. I recognised her cloak, and told her that I was part of a sister organisation."

"I remember my mother telling me of D.A.R.K. as a filly. I told you, we have hope. We have shadow ponies. An army of them."

"My sisters and brothers have awoken. We are ready. We were created to fight, to protect. And now we have come." Solitaire stood in a confident pose. Nopony noticed that her shadow was larger than the others.

"A shadow pony, huh? The power to hide within the dark, and manipulate shadows? Interesting." The draconnequus muttered. Grabbing the brown hair pegasus's attention. She fluttered her black wings and glared at him with her bright blue eyes.

"I apologise, sir. You must be Discord. Bringer of Chaos, Lord of Disharmony. Am I correct?"

"Unfortunately, yes. But please, I'm intrigued. This is the first that I have heard of shadow ponies, and the first of Luna's army. But, you should have shadow manipulation, shouldn't you?" Discord asked.

"Of course. Being awake for a thousand years has given me the ability to grow stronger." The scarlet mare stepped into the middle of the hall. Silently and slowly, her shadow grew larger and larger. It crept up her hooves, creating shoes that were similar to Luna's but taller. Along with the shoes, a set of armour was wrapped around her body, and helmet as black as the night was placed around her head. Her brown curls flowing beside her face. She wore black armour around the top of her wings.
"Don't worry, I'll be gentle, Rainbow Dash." She hissed.

"Wait, what?" Rainbow coughed. But before she could realise what was happening. Vines of pure darkness shot towards her. She quickly flew into the air. Making the vines slam into the wall, creating holes in the white brick. A thin sheet of black covered the floor from under the scarlet pegasus.
"Bloody hell! Calm down!"

The shadow mare hissed. Her fangs sparkling as she grinned madly. Not as in happy mad, but mad mad. Her pupils became thin and sleek, like a cat's. And she growled. The other's who were watching noticed their own shadows rise from the floor, standing before them like they were ponies (and draconnequus) themselves. They stared mesmerised.

Suddenly, the mare cackled.
"The shadows shall rise once more!! The living shall be swallowed within our darkness!! We shall rule the land in cold, harsh grip!! The darkness will be once again!!"

The pegasus continued until a ,slightly sparking, golden light weaved through the vines of the darkness. Making them sizzle and retreat back. The black gunk slipped back to the pegasus. Her armour disappearing.
As Rainbow fluttered back onto the ground, Solitaire shook her head. Her eyes back to normal. But her fangs still there.

"Thank you. This is a reason I don't use my shadow. I go back to my less kinder ways." She sighed, feeling utterly ashamed with herself. All these years, she's attempted to restrict her power. But it was too overwhelming. At least with the war, she can go completely mad.

"N-No...problem..." Discord croaked, swaying side to side. His vision growing blurry. He began to feel his mind sink into darkness. Celestia looked at him with concern, and then to her sister.

"Solitaire. Please, can you help and fight for Equestria? Enough blood has been shed. Enough hearts have been broken. Our ponies need to be protected. No harm can come to them. I need my magic back. I need to raise the sun once more. My little sister is not strong enough to do so, and Discord is beginning to lose against it. He can't raise it any further. He cannot keep the harmony." Celestia begged the pegasus.

"Of course. Equestria is my home. I will protect it no matter what. But, I ask for one thing in return."

"Yes yes. Take whatever. Money, gold, status."

"Oh nono. I do not ask for wealth or mere objects. I ask for a soul. I ask for to give me life. I wish to feel the ground, and breathe the air. I wish to feel hunger and physical pain." She explained. Celestia thought for a couple of seconds. She knew that such a spell would be impossible. But they needed the shadow ponies. They needed their army.

"Of course. Destroy the griffins and I shall give you life. To live among ponies." She lied. A lump of guilt formed at the bottom of her stomach as she watched the mare's face light up with excitement.

"Thank you!! Thank you so much!! You won't regret it! We will win!!" She squealed with delight. Fluttering her wings. "Rainbow Dash! Take me to your HQ!! I demand to speak to your assassins!!" She ordered. Making the cyan mare roll her eyes. She had been friends with Solitaire for a while. A couple of years in their teens. But she disappeared. Never to be seen again. Now, Rainbow remembered how loud and bossy Taire was. The rainbow maned pegasus chuckled as she led her old friend out. Closing the door behind her. And leaving the alicorns and draconnequus in the throne room.

"So, Equestria has hope?" Cadence squeaked.

"Of course! During my Nightmare Moon phase, I was fuelled by anger. Especially when I created my army of shadow ponies. They should be the best of the best. And being just shadows, they can't die. The griffins have no chance." She beamed. Gleaming with happiness and joy.

But, it was short lived as the spirit next to her groaned in pain. Feeling his body fill with agony. His mind brimmed with pain. Celestia leaned against him, hoping to support him. The princesses watched in concern as he faded into unconsciousness. His head leaning against the Sun Mother's white neck.

"Don't worry. Just hang on a little longer, Discord. It'll be over soon." She hushed as he fell lifeless against her. His breath hard and laboured. His chest barely rising.
"With hope, we shall win. Unfortunately....we are lacking it..."

Author's Notes:

OooOoo! I dislike this chapter. Not enough Dashie. Oh well, Dash and Soarin get closer in a chapter soon.

So, what do ya think? These shadow ponies are my own. This definition of them is my own, and Solitaire is mine. Along with D.A.R.K. And yes, they are immortal. They are pure shadow. Nightmare Moon just disguised them as normal ponies so she could surprise her victims.

Equestria finally has hope. Or do they? Rainbow and Soarin will be surprised that there is only a small shadow.
And is Discord dying? Yes. He's losing power rapidly. Luna can't do anything. Neither can Celestia. And she's beginning to have feelings for him again.
Rainbow and Soarin have a little catching up to do with each other (not sex) in the office.

Hope you like the chapter. The next one will be about Twilight, Gilda, Lucille and Feather. Let's say, somepony snaps out of it and a certain griffin has a plan to end this once and for all.

Thank you for reading and comment below.