Flurry Heart was there. She had seen the whole thing go down: the guard making fun of Shadow, him defending himself, and them laughing. To say she was surprised would have been an understatement. She always thought Hunter to be a calm pony, but not this time. He was mad...really mad...and slightly cocky, much to her surprise.
Reminds me of somepony else I know,Flurry thought to herself while smiling. She quickly shook her head,no, stop comparing him to Shadow!Flurry scolded herself.
It's only because I miss him,she told herself.Because we're friends.
Are you just friends though?A tiny voice in the back of her head questioned.Of course we are!She told herself again.
"Ughhh," she groaned. "This is going to give me a headache!"
A sudden voice interrupted her thoughts. "Flurry Heart," her mother exclaimed while she moved next to her. "Come on, you're going to be late for school!"
"Okay, coming," she said as she walked towards the exit of the castle, but when she passed Shadow Hunter (who was trying not to stare at her) she quickly whispered something to him that he could only hear. "Great job defending yourself Hunter, see you later," and then she fully left.
Shadow didn't know how to react. Flurry had been there...she had been there the whole time! He didn't know whether to be happy or upset about it.
That means she saw me defend myself!Shadow thought happily.But what if she hadn't seen the whole thing! She may of thought I was being mean to him for no reason!
But his thoughts were interrupted however by a familiar voice. "Awesome, Flurry Heart even saw you!" Midnight exclaimed while patting his friend on the back. "That's great!"
"Yeah...great," Shadow said skeptically, looking in the direction Flurry had gone.
"What's wrong?" Midnight asked curiously. "Aren't you glad Flurry saw you?"
Shadow kept his skeptical look. "I'm still deciding," he said simply.
Midnight just rolled his eyes. "Well you keep doing that," he said while patting Shadow on the shoulder sarcastically. "I'm going to just say it's a good thing."
Shadow sighed, "you're right, you're right...I guess it is a good thing."
"Glad you see it my way," Midnight said mockingly.
Shadow was walking around the castle on his last hour of patrol before night shift. After he was done he would make his weekly trip to his father. It was the part of the week he hated the most. Shadow hadn't been able to gather as much information these past couple of months as Sombra would have liked. However he did have important information this time, but he didn't want to tell his father. He knew he didn't have a choice though.
However when he was about to turn in for the night a familiar voice caught his attention.
"Hunter!" Flurry called from the distance. She was trying to catch up to where he was. "Wait up!"
Shadow turned around to face her, curious as to why she was calling him, but happy about it. "Hey Flurry! What's up?" He said casually, trying to cover up his over-excitement.
"Hey...Hunter," she replied between breaths. "Been...meaning...to...ask you...about-"
"Whoa, Flurry breath!" Shadow exclaimed with a slight laugh.
"Oh yeah," Flurry said right before she inhaled a deep breath. "Thanks."
Shadow didn't say anything and just waited for her to speak first.
"Like I was saying before you reminded me to breath;" they both laughed. "What happened with you and the other guards?"
Shadow chucked quietly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well..."
After he finished explaining the whole thing to her and everything that happened Flurry had a slight look of confusion on her face, but then it was happiness.
"Wait...so you know Midnight?" She asked with a surprised tone.
"Uh yeah, sorry I forgot to tell you."
"Oh that's okay, I'm just surprised he didn't tell me."
Shadow wondered the same thing, if anything he thought Midnightwouldtell her so he could help him become better friends with Flurry Heart.
"Yeah I'm not sure why he didn't tell you," Shadow said with a skeptical look on his face. "But I'm sure it was just because he forgot."
"Yeah," Flurry agreed. "It happens."
Shadow Hunter would have stayed there talking to her all night if he could, especially since he didn't want to see his father, but Flurry Heart had other plans.
"Well I need to go to bed soon," she sighed. "But I will see you tomorrow!"
"Yeah see ya," he said with a slight wave. Then he turned around and walked towards the castle doors. Preparing himself to see his father.
Flurry Heart slowly walked towards her bedroom, wanting to give herself plenty of time to think. She wanted to put an end to these comparisons she made with Shadow and Hunter.
They're nothing alike!She told herself.Shadow is sweet, funny, and sometimes sarcastic.She thought about it more for a second,and at times he can be a little bitcocky.
She smiled at this, and then frowned.And Hunter is nice, quiet, polite, and sometimes awkward.She told herself, determined to prove these comparisons wrong. Flurry thought about why she was so upset about comparing them, and then she thought she knew why.
"It's just because I miss him!" She mumbled. "That's the only reason," she continued to tell herself. "It has to be, it's the only reasonable explanation!"
She noticed two guards walking by and staring at her when she raised her voice. She blushed and ran to her room, embarrassed for making a fool of herself.
When she got to her room Flurry immediately looked at the picture Shadow drew for her. Never taking her eyes off of it she ran her hoof across the paper and sighed. Finally she closed her eyes and looked down. When he gave her this picture that was the last time she saw him. Flurry knew she had only known him for a couple of months, but she missed him terribly. It had been two months since she had seen him but it felt much longer.
Flurry looked at the time and only then realized how late it was. "Gosh, I need to get to bed," she told herself and crawled into the dark pink sheets.
"I'll think more about this later," she said as she turned the light off with her magic.
Shadow approached what he and his father called home at the moment and gulped. Hereallydidn't want to tell his father the information he found out but also didn't want to disobey. When he arrived at the area where they lived Sombra was looking through papers and documents with his head down.
"You're late," he stated simply without so much as a glance towards him.
Shadow stopped wondering how his father knew when he was there without looking at him years ago and just decided not to question it. He always thought it was funny how his father taught him how to sneak around like a mouse without making a sound and yet he could always hear him when he was coming.Just one of his many qualities,he thought.
"Uh sorry I got held back a little," Shadow said while rubbing the back of his neck, hoping that was a decent excuse.
"By what?" Sombra asked, just now lifting his head and looking up at him.
Shadow grew nervous, but he was determined to keep his cool. "You know just work related...stuff."
"Stuff?" Sombra questioned sarcastically.
"Uh...yeah!" Shadow said with a fake smile.
Sombra looked at him skeptically. "Well even though I know that's not true I don't care enough to question further," he stated simply.
Phew,Shadow thought, but he was quickly interrupted by his father.
"Yet anyway," he finished and that made Shadow worry slightly.
"So?" Sombra said, giving his son a hint that it was time for him to start talking.
"Oh! Right!" Shadow exclaimed realizing the same thing. "Well I did find out...something." he said hesitantly.
"And...?" Sombra said urging him to continue.
"They have a new spell in their defenses."
"Interesting," Sombra said with a smile. Intrigued by this news. "And what would this new spell be?"
When Shadow didn't respond his father gave him a look and he quickly spoke. "It's...it's a mind manipulation spell." He looked down hating himself at that moment.
"Mind manipulation?" Sombra said in a surprised tone, but then he smirked. "I didn't know the princesses were capable of such dark magic."
For some reason he didn't know Shadow got defensive. "It's not dark magic!" He yelled, much to both his and he father's surprise.
"Excuse me?" Sombra asked with a threatening look, so Shadow decided to choose his words carefully.
"I-I mean...the spell is not technically dark magic. It can be used for that purpose but they're not using it for that."
"Oh I know that obviously," he said with a blunt look. "But itisstill a form of dark magic. So what exactlyarethey using it for?"
"They want to use it to catch criminals so they can convince them to go calmly when being arrested and will eventually remove it from them when they're in jail."
He honestly didn't know how his father would react to this so he didn't say anything and just waited for a response.
"Very clever," was all he said and Shadow was surprised by this calm reaction.
"Anything else?" He added and Shadow simply shook his head no. "Alright then, good work. You didn't completely fail. Also you will be staying here tonight."
This surprised Shadow. "What? Why?" He asked curiously.
Sombra rolled his eyes as if the answer was obvious. "Becauseit would be too suspicious for you to go back now at this late hour." He concluded.
"Oh," he said realizing his father was right. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense."
"Good, now go find yourself a spot to sleep," he said waving his hoof in the direction of a bed.
But before Shadow left to go to bed he stopped and asked a question he had been wondering for a while. "Uh...father?"
"What is it?" Sombra said in an annoyed tone through his teeth having wanted to be left alone by now.
"W-Whatareyou planning to do with the princesses?"
Sombra chuckled slightly with a smile on his face as he said in his deep dark menacing voice.
"I plan to annihilate them," by now his teeth were clenched. "And to make them pay!"
Flurry Heart couldn't sleep at all last night since she kept thinking about Shadow- and even though she hates to admit it, Hunter a little bit too- so she had dozed off a few times in class and the teacher had to get her attention just so she would stay awake.
"Flurry Heart!" Miss Amber Crescent called to get her attention. Cadence had told Flurry's teacher a long time ago that she didn't have to call her 'Princess' when she spoke to her, since the teacher was her authority she thought it made sense.
"Huh?" Flurry ever so slightly turned her head to look at the teacher. She had been looking out the school window again.
"Flurry this is the third time I've had to call you to get your attention, is everything alright?"
"Uh...y-yeah yeah everything is fine, sorry I'm just a bit tired." Flurry tried to put on the best fake smile she could to convince her teacher.
"Alright well just try and stay with us as best you can, okay?"
"Yes ma'am."
Miss Amber began the lesson again and Flurry was trying her best to listen but it was very difficult. It was like as if someone played you a song over and over again and that was the only thing that you could think of or listen to, and she hated it.
Finally school let out and Flurry practically attempted to do a Sonic Rainboom on her way to the castle. She asked her mom not to pick her up from school so she could get home faster. When her mom asked why she simply said she wanted to practice getting home on her own.
She didn't remember much from class, but one thing she did remember was the assignment they had for their family tree project. Their weekend homework was to find out where their name came from and if it was linked with any other family member. Flurry didn't really think much of it; she just figured she would ask her parents about it and get the information she needed. She was thankful it was a weekend assignment so she had plenty of time.
She bolted through the door and flew straight to her room 'accidentally' forgetting about the no flying fast in the castle rule. Her parents were surprised since she didn't even say hi to them or tell them anything at all.
Shadow quickly put on his armor and ran outside. He didn't want to be in his father's home any longer than he had to. It was weird for him to see himself in his normal form for the first time in weeks. He had looked in a mirror far off in the corner of the crystal. He noticed he was slightly taller than the last time he saw himself, and his muscles were certainly more developed then they had been. That is, he didn't look like an underfed slave.
He walked out of the Crystal cave and headed toward the castle. It was chilly this morning and Shadow could see his breath, but he didn't mind. He liked the fresh cold morning air.
When he arrived at the castle doors he nodded his head to to the guards standing at the door showing them his (fake) ID.
The moment he stepped inside the castle his mouth was covered with a hoof and he was being dragged away.
He would have fought more had he not seen a glimpse of the pony dragging him and recognized it to be Midnight. Even though he trusted his friend he was very confused and didn't like being dragged.
"Okay, okay Midnight, that's enough! I'll go with you where you want but you don't need to drag me!" He complained after he managed to free his mouth from his friend's hoof.
"Sorry," Midnight said quickly in a whisper. "But you brought this on yourself."
Shadow had no idea what that meant but then suddenly he began to panic as he thought of something.What if he found out who I really am! What if the Royal Guard found out and he was sent to turn me in! What if the princesses found out! Would they kill me!? What would Flurry Heart think?
All these questions and more swam around his head as Midnight pulled him into an empty room and quickly shut the door.
"All right spill it," Midnight said as he leaned against the door. "Who are you and how did you get here?"
Shadow swallowed the lump in his throat. Midnight had found out; he knew he wasn't really who he said he was and his friend was going to turn him in. His worst nightmares were coming true. But what Midnight said next surprised him.
"Look I'm not going to turn you in or report you, I just want answers."
This made him feel a little better but that good feeling quickly went away as he thought about this a little more.Isn't that exactly what a detective would say to calm the pony they were investigating? So they could get the answers they need before arresting them!
He wanted to trust Midnight, he was the only pony who was nice to him when he started the Royal Guard, but...he couldn't. Shadow had been raised his whole life to not trust ponies. Especially if they were associated in any way with the princesses.
Shadow didn't realize he still hadn't said a word to the pony in front of him until Midnight cleared his throat.
"Well?" Shadow knew this was no use but he still wanted to try. "What makes you think I'm someone else?" He said as his eyes shifted to the ceiling in an unconvincing manner.
"Oh I don't know, maybe the fact that your profile for the Royal Guard is fake!" He said as he pulled out a medium size sheet of paper with information on it.
"H-How did you get that?" Shadow asked cautiously.
"I was being trained on how to manage the files today. They don't do it often but they wanted me to know if ever need be."
"Oh," was all Shadow said.
"I'm pretty sure they'll show you too."
"But...but I thought you-"
"I already told you Hunter, I'm not going to report you. You really think I would do that? You're my friend...and I'm sure that whatever reason you had for faking your identity was a good one."
Shadow felt a wave of guilt sting his chest at how untrue that statement was. He had a terrible reason for faking his identity! But he couldn't let Midnight know that. He could however, tell him who he really was...he thought he deserved at least that much.
Midnight seemed to read his mind.
"Could you at least tell me if your real name is Hunter Woods or not?"
"No...it isn't. My real name is Shadow Hunter."
"Wow," Midnight cleared his throat. "Dark."
"Yeah, not exactly a ray of sunshine kind of name," he replied bluntly.
"Yeah really," Midnight laughed.
"So how did you know it was fake?" Shadow indicated the piece of paper Midnight was holding.
"What, the profile? Well when I was filing the papers I came across your's and noticed it felt different from the others. For a second I thought it was just because I knew you so it was only different to me, but then I realized the actual paper for your profile was different. You see when ponies want to become part of the Royal Guard and they fill out their profile for it they make them use special paper. That way no one can fake anything on there. It's embedded with magic. It also feels slightly different. While most paper is soft and flimsy this kind is smooth and sturdy."
"Oh, wow. I never knew that."
"Most ponies don't unless they've done it before like I did."
"So...why did you do it?" Midnight said changing the subject.
Shadow took a deep breath and explained the situation to Midnight...well some of it anyway.
He told him how his father wanted to guarantee that he made it into the Royal Guard and didn't want to risk the chance of him not and take the time by doing it like everyone else. Shadow also told him that he actually never wanted to be in the Royal Guard and it was all his father.
"No offense Shadow but your dad sounds awful."
"None taken, I know."
"Why did you do it if you didn't want to?"
"Because...he's my dad," Shadow said softly.
Midnight knew that wasn't an answer but felt he shouldn't press further on the subject.
So he changed it.
"Then...whatdoyou want to do?"
"Well, actually I want to do something similar to the Royal Guard but more specific."
"What do you mean exactly?" Midnight squinted his eyes to look at Shadow clearly in the dimly lit room.
"I want to catch criminals and then try to reform them over time," Shadow replied and then bit his lip out of nervousness for Midnight's reaction.
Midnight stared in thought. "Sounds interesting...although I'm not sure they have something like that exactly."
"I know, but I could start it on my own."
"You could," then Midnight's eye caught sight of the old dusty clock in the room that appeared to be ancient. "But if that clock is right then we're already a little late and we need to go!"
Shadow nodded and followed his friend out the room before he suddenly stopped him. "Wait! Promise me that you won't tell anyone about this...especially Flurry Heart!"
The dark blue pony that has been Flurry's friend for years looked at his new friend now. "But...don't you want her to know?"
"Please Midnight!" Shadow cut him off and Midnight could see the fear in his friend's eyes and hear the desperation in his voice.
Midnight sighed. "I won't, I promise."
Shadow sighed in relief as if a great weight was lifted off of him. "Thank you Midnight-"
"But I thinkyoushould...at least to her."
Shadow looked down. "I...can't."
"Well I know that if I was her I'd much rather know who my friend really is then getting to know someone who's not telling the truth."
Midnight had a point and Shadow knew it, but he also knew that his friend didn't know the full reason of why he couldn't tell her.
"Just think about it," was the last thing he said before he left Shadow alone.
"He's right...I have to tell her," he said with slight determination in his eyes...however it quickly turned to fear. "But what's going to happen if I do?"