Defiance

March 26, Shadow “Dead Eye” Rider’s home

Temperature: -30 degrees fahrenheit

Time: 9:02 A.M.

Shadow walked upstairs. Dusk was on the bed on her side, the blanket covering the bottom half of her head. She was snoring lightly, the blanket moving back and forth in front of her mouth. Shadow walked up next to the bed and shook her lightly.

“Dusk, wake up.” Shadow whispered. Dusk’s eyes opened slowly and she yawned.

“What?” She asked, rubbing her eyes.

“Luna asked for my assistance with something. Come on, come with me.” Shadow said, walking over to the balcony. He opened the curtains, the light of the sun pouring into the room. Dusk grunted and shielded her eyes.

“Why? I’m warm under here.” Dusk said, putting her head under the blankets.

“Come on, let’s go.” Shadow said as he walked downstairs. Dusk pushed the blanket off of herself and she stretched. The snow outside was falling lightly, the wind calm, only a few light gusts. There were a few holes in the clouds above, the sun barely peaking through them on the horizon. Dusk got up off the bed and walked down stairs. Shadow was putting more firewood in the fire place.

“Alright, I’ll come. When are we going?” Dusk said as she walked over to her jacket on the couch.

“In a little bit. Put your jacket on” Shadow said. He walked over to his cloak and put it on. Shadow grabbed his sniper and slung it around his body, the sniper resting on his side. Shadow pushed the door open, a slight winter breeze coming into the house.

“Let’s go.” Shadow said. Dusk walked up next to him and they started for the palace.

“What does Luna need your help for?” Dusk asked.

“I don’t know, she sent one of the royal guards to the house a while ago to request for my assistance. I’m sure she’s fine.” Shadow said. They walked up to the palace doors, two royal guards standing on each side of them.

“Princess Luna is upstairs in her room. She is awaiting your arrival.” One of the guards said. Shadow nodded and pushed the door open. The main entrance of the palace was empty, the banners on the walls swaying as a cold breeze rushed into the palace. Shadow and Dusk walked inside and walked up the main stairs. There were slight indentations of hoof prints in the carpet leading from the doors of the palace hall up the stairs to Luna’s room.

“Hang on a second.” Shadow said. The doors of the palace hall were slightly open. Shadow looked inside the palace hall. The window closest to the left was shattered, pieces of glass laying on the floor.

“Son of a...” Shadow thought to himself.

“What is it?” Dusk asked, walking up behind Shadow. Shadow Rider walked up to the window and looked out of it. The balcony doors of Luna’s room were closed, a sheet covering the glass.

“They’re going to try and kill Luna so I will be executed...” Shadow said quietly.

“Dusk, come on!” Shadow said as he ran out back into the palace entrance. Dusk and Shadow ran up the stairs and down the hallway to Luna’s room. Shadow stopped in front of the door and motioned for Dusk to keep quiet. Shadow took out his knife from under his cloak and kicked the door open. Luna was sitting on her bed, pointing nervously to the right of Shadow. Shadow’s vision flashed as a bat hit the back of his head. He fell to the floor, disoriented. A pegasus walked up behind Shadow and put a knife to his throat.

“I’m... sorry, Shadow, but-” The pegasus said. Dusk tackled the pegasus, both of them rolling away from Shadow. The knife in the pegasi’s hoof dropped in front of Shadow, laying on the floor beside his neck. Dusk and the pegasus stopped rolling, Dusk holding down the pegasi’s front legs. The pegasi’s mask fell off as they were rolling, Clarity staring at Dusk.

“...Clarity? What are you doing here?” Dusk asked. Shadow got up and walked over to Clarity, slightly struggling to get loose of Dusk’s grip.

“They sent you?” Shadow said, looking at Clarity.

“Shadow... I didn’t want to, but they had me at gun point, I couldn’t-” Clarity said quickly.

“It’s alright, Clarity, I understand. Dusk, let her go.” Shadow said.

“What? But she just tried to kill you!” Dusk said.

“Let her go.” Shadow said. Dusk sighed and got off of Clarity. Clarity got up and brushed herself off. Shadow walked over to Luna, who was sitting on her bed, watching Clarity.

“Are you alright?” Shadow asked.

“Yeah... I’m fine. What is happening? The pegasus you call Clarity came in and held me at gun point!” Luna said, pointing at Clarity.

“I think Clarity can explain that. Would you mind sharing with us?” Shadow said, turning to Clarity.

“The Equestrian Saints gave me the order to kill both you and Dusk. They held a gun to my head, I didn’t want to, but they would’ve killed me if I hadn’t accepted the mission! I’m sorry, Shadow, Dusk, and Luna.” Clarity said. Two royal guards came in through the doorway to Luna’s room.

“What was all the commotion?” One of them asked.

“This pegasus was sent from the Equestrian Saints. I want her interrogated, take her away, guards.” Luna said. The royal guards started to walk to Clarity, but were stopped by Shadow standing in front of them.

“Move aside. We will handle this.” The royal guards said.

“No. You won’t.” Shadow said briefly. Shadow whipped around and his back legs rammed into the royal guard on the right’s head. The royal guard fell into the other one, who was pushed to the ground. The other royal guard was unconscious. Shadow lifted up his hoof and brought it down on the conscious guard’s head.

“Shadow! What are you doing!?” Luna yelled.

“I’m not going to let any of your guards touch her. Leave her to me.” Shadow said, starting to walk over to Clarity. Shadow stopped in his tracks, a blue glow around his neck. Luna used her magic to grab hold of Shadow and turn him to face her.

“Do you dare defy my orders!? You were put under my supervision as a personal guard, you will follow my orders!” Luna yelled. Clarity pulled out her pistol and aimed it at Luna.

“Put him down!” Clarity yelled. Luna used her magic to launch a chair in the corner of the room at Clarity. The chair broke apart as it ran into Clarity, who was flung backwards, unconscious. She flung back into Dusk, who was brought with her as they flew out of the balcony door. They were both unconscious as they fell from the Canterlot palace.

“DUSK, CLARITY! Let go of me!” Shadow yelled. Shadow grabbed hold of his knife from the ground and threw it at Luna. The knife stuck in her leg and Luna screamed in pain, letting go of her grip on Shadow. The sound of hoof steps came from the hallway.

“They’ll have me executed for what I just did, I have to get out of here.” Shadow thought to himself. Shadow ran to the balcony and jumped off, falling after Clarity and Dusk. Gun shots flared in Luna’s room, the bullets soaring past Shadow as he fell.

______________________________________________________________________

Shadow opened his eyes. He was buried in snow, a pocket of air around his head. Shadow moved around, digging at the snow around him. Shadow dug his way back up to the surface of the snow. Shadow stopped and looked around him. The weather had become violent, the wind whipping back and forth and a heavy snowfall coming down on the mountains' base. The Canterlot palace was out of sight, the whiteout around Shadow making everything a blur.

“Clarity! Dusk!” Shadow yelled as he got up. His cloak was soaking wet, Shadow tearing it off of himself and tossing it aside. There were two holes in the snow a few feet ahead of him. Shadow walked along the top of the snow over to the holes. Nothing was in them, only indentations in the snow.

“Damn it, where the hell-” Shadow thought to himself. Shadow suddenly felt dizzy, an overwhelming feeling coming over him. Shadow fell on his side, making an indent in the snow. A pegasus popped out from under a pile of snow, holding a tranquilizer gun. He reloaded the gun and put it at his side.

“I have the three targets. Bringing them back to base now.” The pegasus said through his headset.

______________________________________________________________________

March 26, administration office in Equestrian Saints headquarters

Temperature: -38 degrees fahrenheit

Time: 7:58 P.M.

Shadow’s eyes opened slowly, his vision a blur. He looked around the room. Clarity and Dusk were sitting against the wall, their hooves tied. Shadow tried to move, but he was tied to the floor, chains attached to his two front hooves.

“Ah, he’s awake.” The stallion behind the desk said. Shadow’s vision regained focus and he looked over at the desk. The administration stallion was getting up from his chair and walking over to Clarity and Dusk. They were both unconscious still, propped against the wall.

“Did you really think that you would be able to go against the Spec Ops and expect to live?” The stallion asked, starting to walk towards Shadow. Shadow Rider started to move, but the click of multiple guns being prepared stopped him.

“Did you really think that you could just... walk away?” The stallion said again, putting a hoof on Shadow’s face. The stallion knelt down and put his face in front of Shadow.

“There is no escape. Once you become a Spec Ops operative, there is no leaving.” The stallion said, smirking a little. Shadow spat in the stallion’s face. The stallion got up and whipped the spit off.

“But of course, because of you, the Spec Ops is disbanded. If you would’ve just kept your mouth shut about the operation, maybe you would still have dignity and you wouldn’t be know worldwide as a traitor. But you just HAD to go and crush everything. It was bad enough that you drove a bullet in the head of the last administration stallion, but you just took it one step further in almost destroying the whole facility.” The stallion said, tipping over a decoration on his desk.

“I did what was going to happen eventually. Some pony would have let the information slip.” Shadow said.

“Yes, while that may be true, we would still have the Spec Ops facility back and my brother would still be alive if you hadn’t have done what you did.” The stallion said. Shadow sat in silence. The administration stallion sighed and walked back over to Shadow.

“Have you ever been to the facility ever since you destroyed it, Shadow? It’s a fuckin’ mess, I can tell you. The whole place is practically destroyed and most of the exits were blocked off. All the operatives that were alive and trapped inside starved to death, most of them turning to cannibalism on the other survivors. We’ve sent some of our operatives in about a month or two ago to retrieve the information that was lost.” The stallion said. He stopped and looked at Shadow.

“Do you believe in ghosts, Dead Eye?” The stallion asked.

“I can’t say that I do.” Shadow replied. The stallion laughed.

“Then can you explain why we got fucked up messages back from the teams? Can you explain WHY we heard the sounds of grown stallions screaming like little fillies over the radio at... ‘spirits’ that they claimed to see? CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHY THEY NEVER CAME BACK!?” The stallion yelled. Shadow sat in silence again. The stallion chuckled slightly, putting a hoof up to his face.

“The noises we heard from those transmissions will never leave our minds.” The stallion said. Clarity and Dusk slowly awakened, groaning slightly.

“And so the other two come to join the party.” The stallion said. He walked back behind his desk and sat down.

“Do you know why I am bringing this up, Dead Eye?” The stallion asked.

“I haven’t got a clue.” Shadow replied.

“Because you three are getting a first hoof experience of it. Take them to the facility.” The stallion said. The Equestrian Saint operatives knocked Shadow, Dusk, and Clarity out cold again.

“Make sure they don’t get out alive.” Next Chapter: Ghosts of the Past Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 36 Minutes