Nightshadow silently watched the lavender mare from afar. He waited for her. His heart ached in the hopes that somehow she'd notice him.

'No.' He thought to himself. The visual displacement spell that he cast on himself was powerful enough that the only beings on Equestria that could possibly see through it were either dead or very far away.

He was safe.

He was free.

He was alone.

All he had was a pretty little picture, and he couldn't even get close enough to admire it to its fullest.

This is how he had lived for the past six years. As the lavender unicorn mare lived in Ponyville, accomplished incredible feats, defeated obstacles that would have toppled himself, made and kept friends, he had been a ghost.

A shadow.

A guardian.

'Friends.'

How he longed for that which he could not have. All because, not what he had done, but who he was. What he was.

He looked up.

She was gone.

Nightshadow sighed and unfurled his muscular wings. With a quick movement from them, he flew up into the clouds. His wings were large and powerful, any pony close enough would feel the sudden gust of wind, but he did not care. He flew much higher than most Pegasi would dare. The cold air would slowly freeze to death any normal Pony. But Nightshadow was not normal. His horn and wings attested to this fact. His draconic eyes made it all more evident.

To them, he was a monster. A horrible being by default. Nature didn't even get a chance to twist him for better or worst. He was, for all intents and purposes, a normal pony in the shell of a demon.

Nightshadow landed on a lone dark blue cloud. He watched the whole town below him. Several different kinds of ponies carried on with their daily lives, oblivious to the black Alicorn’s presence. His eyes moved around when he felt a familiar presence. A familiar shape quickly flew up next to him.

"Nightshade." They stood alone on the cloud. Brother and sister. She was the spitting image of her mother. All that was different were her eyes, which were a sickly shade of green.

She glared a thousand daggers at him. He returned the stare with his blood red eyes. She looked away, smiling deviously.

"Staring at that mare again? Honestly, if you don't stop being all sad and pouty because of her I might just decide to have a little 'fun' with her." Nightshadow winced. His sister's meaning of 'fun' was a fate he didn't wish on anypony, especially on this mare.

"I swear to you if you go anywhere near her i'll-"

"You'll do what exactly? You wouldn't kill your own flesh and blood, would you?" Nightshade cut her brother short. Nightshadow sighed heavily. His sister giggled at the brother’s defeat.

"Oh, don't worry! I'll leave her alone... for now at least. I’ve got plenty of other ponies to… play with!" Her usually bubbly expression then deadpanned. "But seriously, Nightshadow, either do something about this crush of yours, or I will." Nightshadow’s eyes narrowed when the full extent of the message was grasped within his mind. His eyes brightened up, shining in a more intense crimson tone.

"Shade, I swear if you lay a hoof on her..." Her devious smile quickly returned to her face. She giggled more intensely than before. A sudden flash of light that came from Nightshade made Nightshadow turn his head the slightest bit. The flash intensified for a moment before ceasing completely. Nightshade disappeared, leaving a cloud of thick, black smoke behind. The smoke cloud began to flow vividly towards the small town below, despite the strong will of the high-altitude wind.

Nightshadow sighed once more. His sister had been relatively tame here compared to their last place of residency, but he knew that wouldn't last. He knew one day soon that he would have to leave and take his sister with him.

Nightshadow did not hate his sister. He knew that his sister had gone through many hardships. They had faced many dangers together in their thousand year stay on Equestria. But they had not walked away unscathed. She was hopelessly manic. One moment she was playful, joyful, the next willing to incinerate you just for the sheer sake of it. Despite this, Nightshadow would probably be willing to die for Nightshade, if the situation called for it.

He and her were all that both could ever have. They would live forever. But is immortality worth the price of one’s happiness?

Nightshadow answered his own question. The one that had driven his sister insane a long time ago. And possibly done the same to him. His thoughts shifted to his first moment of consciousness as he looked towards Ponyville. He had been cursed with a photographic memory of those events, and sometimes he wondered if his sister had been as well.

He remembered all their faces.

He remembered the 'good' Sun princess and the 'evil' Moon princess.

He remembered… mother.

One thousand and six years ago:

The elements of harmony had worked. Nightmare Moon was gone. 'Until the time is right, when the true bearers are among us, she will remain forever imprisoned.' Said the true legend.

Celestia, at first feeling powerful and triumphant, now hung her head low in grief. She had doomed her sister, her only living blood relative, to a frozen hell. Even though Celestia knew that she had no other options; the amount of grief was immense, even for her.

No pony else was around.

Celestia wept for her sister.

No pony else was around.

No pony noticed what the darkness left behind.

Celestia looked up.

Thick, black ashes formed a rose drawing in the charred cobblestone path. In its center, two foals slept in the spot her sister once stood. Their breathing even and calm.

Celestia looked upon them confused, and blinked rapidly. 'Am I seeing things?' She studied both foals with mixed feelings.

One of them yawned and opened their eyes.

Nighshadow looked into Celestia's eyes.

Celestia froze.

His eyes were blood red, slits instead of the normal round pupils.

'Slits instead of pupils.' Celestia’s heart began to pound against her chest. A sudden jolt of adrenaline numbed her senses. Her muscles instinctively clenched when the realization of what lay before her became clear; for she knew such vivid eyes. ‘Nightmare Moon's eyes!’

They both stared at each other for a long time. Whilst Celestia kept her frozen, wide-eyed stare out of some kind of primal fear; little Nightshadow kept his out of sheer curiosity. Celestia broke out of her trance when foal opened his mouth and yawned. He wearily curled into a ball, quickly falling back into its peaceful sleep.

Celestia couldn’t believe what just happened. She simply stared on. 'I must be seeing things...'

"Princess? Are you alright?" Her trance was once again broken, but she had no possible answer for the concerned guards who now crowded around her. They looked towards the pair of black masses, at first with bewilderment, than with anger.

"It's a trick! An illusion from Luna!" Two guards split off from the rest and, using their magic, yanked the foals up holding them by their necks, and eliciting a yelp between them. Another two stepped forward and used their magic to levitate a pair of lances towards the two small ponies.

They began to cry.

"What would you have us do with them, your highness?" The guard directed his question towards the Sun princess, which still stood mesmerized at the sight of the twin foals.

Celestia looked attentively to both foals. 'So I'm not seeing things.' She slowly walked forward the pair and calmly examined them. They had black coats, one was a colt with a short, dark blue mane. The other was a filly with a longer, purple mane. Both had horns and small knobs of flesh, indicating that one day they would have wings.

She looked to her guards and then back at the crying foals. Celestia, for the first time in her life, was unsure of what to do. The seconds took their toll on the Sun princess. Eons seemed to pass and an answer was still nowhere to be grasped by her mind. Her whole life boiled down to one insane move.

"Have them brought back to the new castle. Give them a room and leave them for the night." The guard’s captain frowned. He couldn’t believe what the princess was saying.

"But your highness! This is certainly just an illusion created by the Nightmare!" He magicked the crying foals away from her. “These must be dealt with!”

"That may be, but we cannot be completely sure. We may be harsh, but we do not kill foals, especially without good reason. Do I make myself clear, Captain?" To make her point clear, Celestia grasped the foals within her magic and held both close to her.

"Of course your highness...." He trotted towards the other guards, mumbling something under his breath, and firmly relayed her orders to them. Some of them looked shocked and angry, but most managed to keep their composure. Celestia ordered for the foals to be properly taken care of. Soon they were wrapped in blankets and brought to Canterlot. The steady steps of the chambermaids calmed both foals, which now slept peacefully within the royal castle, blissfully unaware of the danger they were now in.

Present day:

Nightshade allowed herself a slight yawn. The day had been rather dull so far, ponies simply buzzed around town like worker bees. Content into wasting their lives for what they believed was something greater than themselves.

Nightshade flew above the unsuspecting crowds. The thick, black cloud had long dissipated, leaving her completely invisible to the naked eye. Nightshadow had always been told to keep her distance from ponies and to use that spell to keep from being seen. What did he call it? Light recuperation? Light reflection? It did not matter to her.

Shade found herself outside the local pastry shop, Sugarcube corner, as she recalled. She couldn't open the front door without earning a loud ring of the doorbell. Nightshade peeked in through the window and made sure nopony was around. She imagined herself inside, and in a poof of magic, she was.

Once there she waited patiently.

Watching.

Waiting.

Mrs. Cake walked into her store and began laying out various treats and confections she had made the day prior and had stored for today. She placed the baked goods on the display stand and was about to leave to get another box of stored, foodstuffs when she suddenly stopped.

She saw something.

Something out of the corner of her eye.

She slowly turned and gasped.

One of the cakes she had laid out was glowing.

And floating.

And eating itself.

She ran out of the store screaming.

Nightshade waited until she had floated up to her own cloud above the town before she burst out laughing; a feat which took her entire focus. She had only pulled that one once before, in Appleloosa, but the farmers were angrier about their missing apples then scared about the fact that they were floating and eating themselves.

She then noticed something odd. It was getting darker faster than what she had expected. She looked up at the sky. The sun was already setting, reflecting glimmering rays of gold and orange in the horizon. Nightshade could have sworn that it had just risen.

'Wow... I really must have lost track of time!' The thought was more an uncaring remark to herself than actual surprise. Nightshade threw herself onto a dark cloud and yawned out of boredom. She stood there for a few minutes, lazily swinging her hind legs above the small town that stood far below her. Her attention was picked when she caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye. A rainbow streak was moving swiftly in the distance.

Nightshade huffed; a sly, devious smile formed on her face. 'That one... Perfect!' She recognized this one as Rainbow Dash, a particularly annoying Pegasus who valued her wings above all else.

Dark thoughts entered her mind.

She knew what she was going to do tomorrow.

Her next little joke.