//------------------------------// // Reconnecting. // Story: Golden Shadows // by Sylif Daring Doo //------------------------------// ______*Ponyville, Night Frenzy and Roxanne's house, two days later, 1:20 PM*______ The day was sunny, the air was cooling and the town was busy, and Roxanne was still inside, she sighed to herself as she looked over her shoulder. "I can't just stay inside." She muttered. Roxanne had discovered that an old picture of Firefly and herself was on the bookcase in the living room, she walked over to it and picked it up. "Lyaroa." She chuckled as she examined the photo, it was taken in the Crystal Empire, they were spending time together and for one of few times, Roxanne was truly happy, she set the photo back and walked up to the front door and reached for the handle. "Are you sure you want that?" Night Frenzy asked calmly. Lyaroa looked at the Thestral, her hand unmoving. "I can't stay inside everyday." She argued. Night Frenzy leaned against the doorway. "That's not what I asked." She countered as she looked at the door. "You told Lyaroa not to allow you to shift forms at will, and with your girlfriend out of commission for a while, your stuck as a fox." She then looked at Roxanne's eyes. "Are you positive you want to risk going outside?" Night Frenzy asked calmly. Roxanne sighed to herself and looked at her hand that was touching the doorknob, her eyes lost in thought, she then spoke. "I'll risk it." She eventually said. Night Frenzy walked to the stairs and sat down on the first one. "You said that yesterday Love, and your hand never turned that knob." She pointed out flatly. Roxanne bit her lip and looked at Night Frenzy. "Is there a point to this?" She asked. "I can only repeat my last answer, yes......I want to know that you can handle the possible backlash from you going outside." Night Frenzy replied calmly. Roxanne looked at the knob and gripped it, she slowly turned it and then opened the door. "I'll be back." She said. Night Frenzy nodded and headed upstairs. ______*Outside.*______ Roxanne took a deep breath and started to walk, she had an idea of where to go, and went in that direction, she noticed along the way that she was getting some peculiar stares from the locals, but they didn't seem to do anything. She noticed the differences in glares from some of the ponies however, some were curious while others cautious, some were concerned while others frightened. But Roxanne paid them no mind as she walked, and after several minutes she arrived at her destination. She walked up the stairs and knocked on the door, she waited patiently and soon enough, the door opened to reveal Star Shifter. "Oh hey Rox, come on in." Star said. Roxanne stepped inside and after Star closed the door, he shifted into Fang, sighing in relief. "Sorry, but it's easier to answer the door as Star." He stated. "It's fine." She replied, understanding him perfectly. "Hey Fang! we are running low on ink!" A female voice called out. Roxanne looked at Fang with an amused expression. "It's Trixie, I told her my true identity and she doesn't mind." Fang answered before ushering Roxanne and himself to the living room. "Alright!" He replied to Trixie. "Who are you talking to anyway?" Trixie's voice asked as she entered the room, she looked at Roxanne and then at Fang, she sighed. "Boys." She muttered before heading towards the study. Fang groaned and rested his right arm on the back of the couch as he looked at where Trixie went. "It's not what you think! Roxanne is my daughter Trixie, I've already explained that to you." Fang called out. "Of course she is!" Trixie teased. Roxanne looked at Fang with a chuckle. "So I suppose that really is how you see me?" She asked with a smile smile. Fang went to answer but Roxanne stopped him by patting him on the shoulder. "That's actually pretty damn awesome, but not why I came over." She answered. "I'm surprised you aren't annoyed." Fang said. Roxanne smiled. "Why would I be annoyed? you did teach me almost everything i know for nothing in return, and you are family to me, so I can live with this." She then grinned deviously. "Also think about this, if me and Lyaroa get hitched....emphasis on if, she'll have to call you dad." She replied. Fang chuckled at the joke and leaned back on the couch. "You're forgetting, she could just call me Fang regardless." He pointed out. They shared a laugh at that, afterwards, Fang spoke up again. "So, since this clearly isn't a social visit, what brings you here Rox?" He asked. Roxanne sighed to herself as she leaned back on the couch. "It's been tough for me lately, I want to reconnect with everyone, but not all of us remember the past." She replied. Fang nodded. "I know what you mean, I almost called Rainbow Dash Gwen yesterday." He said. Roxanne looked at Fang. "I haven't left the house since that day Fang, it took almost all of my strength just to leave the house today." She said worryingly. "It's......difficult for me as well. Inside I am Fang, outside I'm Star Shifter, the strange yet friendly unicorn." He shook his head. "One of these days I'll just walk outside as myself, as nice as it is to change up from time to time, it can get annoying." He replied. "I mostly want to be able to get Firefly back, and I know Skitter wants to get Garth back, but the main difference is that i'm stopping myself from being with her." She looked up at the ceiling. "Do you remember the temple of Jandoka?" Roxanne asked. Fang nodded. "Yea, a little bit, my memories weren't my own there, and Lyaroa's memory restoration makes some details blurry." He answered. Roxanne smiled at the memories she had of Firefly. "I remember with vivid detail how Firefly called me mom in Changish, and then Skitter's translation of it, I was so shocked about that." Roxanne shook her head. "It's those little moments that you miss, and that you can't get back." She then looked at Fang. "I don't want to screw up, but i'm going crazy in that house, and Nightmare can only do so much." She said as she looked at the ceiling. Fang sat up straight and looked at the coffee table. "You might just need a distraction, dwelling on those thoughts will only make it worse." He warned. Roxanne nodded as she sat up straight and looked at Fang. "How is Apache doing?" She asked. Fang sighed. "She's been better, but I think she's handling this very well all things considered." He replied. "I need to get back, thanks for talking with me." Roxanne said, standing up. Fang nodded. "No problem, and Rox?" Roxanne looked at Fang. "Sorry I took my anger out on you all those years ago, you didn't deserve it." Fang said apologetically. "Don't worry about it, I'll see you later." Roxanne replied before walked to the front door. ______*later that night, the dreamscape, 12:29 AM*______ Night Frenzy looked around the unfamiliar area with curiosity, it was a park of some kind, but there were strange plants and the grass was dying, the trees seemed to be alive and the water was clear but with some leaves in them, she looked around some more and saw large city buildings surrounding the park, it was overwhelming to her. "What the hell?" Asked a familiar voice. Night Frenzy turned around and saw a familiar Night Wolf standing by a bench with a surprised expression on his face. "Shade?" She asked curiously. Shade seemed caught off guard at the word, but spoke anyway. "Um.....yes, how do you know me? who are you?" He asked. Night Frenzy looked at her hoof and sighed, she then reverted to her old self. "I'm surprised you didn't recognize me love." She said. Shade's eyes widened. "Nightmare?" He asked out of shock. Nightmare nodded and approached calmly. "Yes, it's me......so tell me love, why are you inside my dream?....and where am I?" She asked as she looked around. Shade seemed to be perplexed now instead of confused. "You.....you aren't dreaming, because I'm wide awake." He answered. Nightmare chuckled. "Come on now, don't mess with me, I fell asleep and now I'm here." She said adamantly. Shade crossed his arms and looked at Nightmare with a serious expression. "Nightmare.....I didn't fall asleep, I'm wide awake, I came here to get some air, now your here." He stated flatly. With this, Nightmare blinked and soon she looked at her hand, she looked at Shade and then at the surrounding city. "Oh no......what the hell happened to me?" She asked quietly. "I don't know, but Lyaroa should find you here, we should get out of here though, if you are trapped here, things may get messy quickly." Shade said as he pointed to an entrance behind him. "Let's go." He said. Nightmare sighed to herself, as much as she would prefer to simply hide and wait it out, she didn't know when Lyaroa would be able to find her, so she begrudgingly began to follow Shade. "You mind if I ask you something Shade?" Nightmare asked. Shade shrugged. "Why not, go ahead." He replied. "Can you tell me about yourself?......I don't really know much about you, even when you were with us back at Equestria." Nightmare asked. Shade sighed as he paused, he looked at Nightmare and soon nodded. "Very well." He resumed walking. "I have nothing to hide anyway." He said. ______*years ago, the World of Oglan, Ashlock city, two days later*______ Nocturne looked around nervously as he took in his surroundings, so far the apartment wasn't too bad, it had everything that was needed to survive, it was sparsely decorated but that wasn't important to him, he had recently become more emotional in the past two days, according to Sonya, it was because the drugs that were injected into him before he was released from his pod had numbed his mind and body, which accounted for his inability to walk initially. No, what was concerning was that Sonya had mentioned something about basic education, and since her job kept her so busy, meant that he would be attending public school, which Sonya had explained also meant social interaction with other kids, which was horrifying. Soon enough, Nocturne heard Sonya walking out of the bathroom, he looked at her with a worried expression. "A-are you s-s-sure about this?" He asked nervously. Sonya gave a soft smile as she kneeled down to look at Nocturne. "Don't worry, I'm sure once your there and get used to it, you may end up liking it." She said reassuringly. Nocturne shakily nodded and walked over to the couch, he grabbed the backpack that Sonya got for him and looked at her. "I-if this making you hurt for money, I-I-i could not go." He stammered. Sonya giggled, her voice soft and happy, she stood up. "Nocturne, education hasn't costed anything for centuries, same with medical." She said. Nocturne blinked at the news, he gulped and walked forward to the door. Sonya, noticing Nocturne's nervousness, ruffled his fur on his head playfully. "You'll be fine Nocturne, come on." She said encouragingly. With that, Nocturne left the apartment with Sonya and headed for the car. _____*the school, eight minutes later*______ Nocturne looked back at Sonya nervously as she walked to the entrance of the school, he gulped and walked towards the school, it was a large building on a grassy plot of land, it had the words Ashlock City School on a sign near the walkway to the front doors of the school. As he approached the doorway, Sonya opened the door and let him inside, she closed the door as she followed him inside. Nocturne noticed that the hallway was mostly empty save for gray lockers against the walls, he looked at Sonya. "Where do we go now?" He asked quietly. Sonya motioned him to follow and started walking, he followed closely behind, taking in the sights as they walked. Soon they reached a room that was filled with other children of various species and an adult Minotaur male. "Wait here for a second ok?" Sonya whispered. Nocturne nodded and waited in the hall as Sonya walked into the classroom, as he waited for her to return, he looked around the hallway with curiosity, made a mental note of the lockers, and of the branching hallways, he heard footsteps behind him and he turned around. Nocturne blinked as he saw an adult Night Wolf cleaning the floors with a mop, he tilted his head as the adult looked at him.....and then returned to its work without a sound. Nocturne went to say something but a voice next to him stopped him. "Alright Nocturne, go on in, I'll pick you up after school." Sonya said. "Oh.....ok." Nocturne said blankly before she walked off. He walked into the classroom and the teacher gave him a warm smile as he looked at the class. "Class, we have a new student, say hello to Nocturne." He said. "Hi Nocturne!" The children greeted, though to Nocturne, it was concerning. The teacher looked at Nocturne who seemed stunned. "Go on and take a seat." He said calmly. Nocturne kept himself quiet as he walked through the desks, eventually finding one in the fourth row next to a lion, he set his backpack under the desk and sat on the chair as the teacher resumed the lesson. The lesson was actually enlightening for Nocturne, as it was based on math, which would be helpful later on, he payed attention, ignoring the whispers that he was hearing nearby. Eventually the school bell rung and the teacher announced a short recess, he stepped out of the room after encouraging the students to study. Nocturne took a breath and looked around the room, most his classmates were talking amongst themselves while some studied quietly, he scratched his chin and set his hands on the desk. "Hey." An energetic voice said, it came from the desk next to his. Nocturne looked to his left and saw the lion looking at him, it's features were slim and the mane was short, defining features of a female lion. "Um.....hi." He replied. The lion held her paw out to Nocturne. "I'm Shay." She introduced, her demeanor was friendly but her fierce yellow eyes seemed to betray that. Nocturne shook her paw with his. "Nocturne." He replied. Shay nodded. "I know." Her eyes shifted and looked around the room for a moment before returning to Nocturne. "Your one of those Night Wolves right?" She whispered. Nocturne raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "Yea, why?" He asked. Shay pointed to an alligator and an eagle in the front row corner. "Try to avoid those two, they're jerks." She warned. Nocturne looked at them and focused on their features, the alligator was green scaled with dark yellow eyes and was easily taller than Nocturne, it's face seemed to always be in a permanent scowl, while the eagle was brown and black with green eyes and a confident smirk. "The school bullies?" Nocturne asked quietly. Shay nodded and looked at the front row again, this time pointing at the seat closest to the door. "See that owl?" She asked. Nocturne saw a gray owl reading some kind of book on its desk. "That's Douglas, if you need help searching the library, or with homework, he's the one to go to, he won't do it for you, but he'll help you out to an extent." She advised. Nocturne looked at Shay. "Thanks." He said. Shay nodded. "Don't mention it, just be glad you sat here, the desk next to Derick is open." She said, pointing to the eagle. Nocturne looked again and saw that Shay was right, the desk next to the eagle was vacant, he looked at her. "I take it there aren't many Night Wolf students?" He asked. Shay gave Nocturne a look of disbelief, her stare remained for a few moments until she blinked. "Nocturne, you are the first Night Wolf student.....ever! that I know of." She replied quietly. Nocturne went silent as he looked forward blankly, his mind processing this news, he continued to mull it over in his mind as teacher returned and soon resumed the lesson. _____*the present.*_____ "Shade, why are we talking about a Night Wolf called Nocturne? I asked about you." Nightmare asked. The Night Wolf in question led her through multiple sidewalks, side alleys, buildings and even an underground train. "If you let me tell you the story, this won't take as long." Shade answered sarcastically. ______*The past, three days after first day of school*______ Nocturne and Sonya walked through the city and soon approached their destination, the national bank, or at least one of them. Nocturne had gotten used to the school just like Sonya said, and he even managed to avoid Derick and Jonas, the alligator and eagle, and according to the rest of his classmates, they really were the bullies around there. He had also learned quite a few things about the world, and of his species, and true to what Sonya had said, Night Wolves were in fact a worker race, bordering on slaves. Sonya had Nocturne stay close as they slowly moved through the line to reach the tellers. Nocturne looked and noticed about eight groups ahead of theirs, he blinked and looked over his shoulder, seeing that there were two more groups behind them, and about nine groups for the other tellers. "How many people usually come to the banks?" He asked curiously. Sonya shrugged. "Never bothered to count" she replied easily. It took several minutes for one group to finish their business, and then it took even longer for another because there was an error in the systems. "How often are there errors?" He asked quietly. Sonya looked at Nocturne curiously. "Um, never." She replied, worry concealed in her tone. After the second group finished up, the line moved up, as the third group did their business, Nocturne heard the doors open, he looked curiously and saw five adult sharks, all various species of shark, they were all male and looked hostile just from their expressions, the fact that they wore masks over their faces and had large metal gauntlet type things over their arms didn't help. "Um, Sonya?" He asked. "Yea?" Sonya asked. Nocturne tugged at her pant leg and she turned around, she saw what he was talking about and her eyes widened as she looked forward. "Nocturne, don't say anything alright, this is bad but we need to be quiet." She whispered, worry and fear filled her words. Nocturne nodded and said nothing, though his hands shook from her tone, he closed his eyes and tried to calm down, but a loud crash and bang by the door prevented this. Everyone in the bank immediately ducked down and looked at the door. There were two tiger sharks, one hammerhead, and two great whites, one of the tiger sharks had smashed a desk while the other locked the door. The hammerhead held what appeared to be a rifle of some kind in his hand, it was long and had a huge barrel, it aimed at the room and spoke in a loud distorted voice. "Nobody move!" It ordered. The great whites immediately began herding the occupants of the bank to an isolated corner of the room. "Cooperate and everyone here gets to live, if you don't, you die." One of the great whites said as it shoved a yak into the corner. The hammerhead walked to the center of the room and a door burst open near the teller booths, it quickly shot a few rounds on the direction of the door, making large holes in the iron door itself, and the bear that fell down on the ground dead, the shark faced the tiger sharks. "Secure the tellers!" It ordered loudly. The great whites backed away from the large group of people and aimed their weapons at them. "Keep quiet!" They shouted. Nocturne held his head with both of his hands and breathed rapidly and loudly, slightly hyperventilating. Apparently one of the great whites noticed and aimed it's gun at him. "Hey freak! shut up!" It ordered. Nocturne felt Sonya place a hand on his shoulder as she spoke. "Please, he's just scared, he can't help it." She pleaded. Nocturne managed to look at the great white as it smacked Sonya in the face with the butt of its, he heard her scream as she hit the floor hard, Nocturne winced at and his breathing quickened. "Shut up halfbreed! I wasn't talking to you!" It shouted. Loud footsteps approached Nocturne. "Keep quiet you little freak! or I'll make you!" The shark ordered. Nocturne watched in paralyzed fear as the shark clearly grew fed up with him and threw a punch towards him with its metal gauntlet. With a loud scream, Nocturne closed his eyes as the world went white, a few moments passed with Nocturne waiting for the inevitable, but it never came, when he opened his eyes he was looking at the ground and he could hear creaking metal. Looking up, Nocturne was surprised to see a grown Night Wolf holding the metal arm with one hand, he blinked and the Night Wolf spoke. "I think it's time to end this." He said calmly In an instant, the metal arm, was disintegrated and the shark screamed in pain before he met the same fate as his arm. The other great white quickly fired on the Night Wolf, only for the bullets to do nothing as it simply waved its hand and he was vaporized instantly. The hammerhead and the tiger sharks quickly fired on him, he simply took all of the bullets without even screaming. "Is that all you can do? even your mech arms can't hurt me." The Night Wolf taunted as it slowly walked forward. The hammerhead quickly threw its gun at the Night Wolf and charged, throwing a punch at him, to Nocturne's surprise he simply punched the arm and the metal arm twisted and caved in to shear strength. The hammerhead screamed in pain as the metal pierced his body, but his suffering did not last as he was soon disintegrated, the two tiger shark quickly grabbed two of the bank tellers and used them as shields. "Don't even try it you freak!" One of them shouted, fear was plain in his voice as he spoke, the distortion from before was gone. The Night Wolf blinked and walked forward, clearly not caring about the tellers. "If you kill those tellers nothing will stop me from killing you." He stated calmly. "You cannot kill me, you saw that yourself, your only hope in this instance, is to surrender, after all, you two have killed no one in this bank." He said. The two sharks looked between themselves and aimed their guns at the Night Wolf. "We'll take our chances." The one on the left said as they unloaded their guns at the Night Wolf. To Nocturne surprise, none of the bullets touched the older Night Wolf, in fact, he could see piles of ash forming to his sides, they were aiming at the prisoners! The Night Wolf immediately threw two orbs out, one going for each shark, he walked forward and spoke. "Those orbs will track you down until I tell them to stop, and since you tried to kill innocent people, I won't call them off." He said. The two sharks tried to throw their meat shields at the orbs to take the hit, but to their shock and horror, the orbs dodged the tellers and rocketed into them, disintegrating them instantly The Night Wolf looked at the large group and spoke. "It's clear." He said flatly. With that, everyone started to quickly leave the bank as the authorities arrived. Nocturne helped Sonya up and looked up at the older Night Wolf. "T-thanks for saving us." He said nervously. The Night Wolf nodded. "You called me Nocturne, that's why I came." He replied cryptically. "What?" Nocturne asked out of confusion. Sonya looked at the older Night Wolf with surprise in her eyes and voice. "Who are you anyway?" She asked. The Night Wolf looked at Sonya. "I am Shade, I have been called as Nocturne's guardian." He replied. Sonya blinked and shook her head. "I.....who called you?" She asked out of curiosity. Shade pointed at Nocturne. "He did." He said simply. Nocturne quickly shook his head. "No I didn't!" He replied adamantly. "In your fear, you summoned me to protect you and everyone here." Shade said. "Now, we had best leave, otherwise the authorities may seek to question you, which will lead to a long discussion where you need to have someone higher up explain this......classified circumstance." He stated all knowingly. Nocturne noticed Sonya's expression became panicked. "How do you?" She was cut off as the police entered the building, when she looked back to Shade, he was gone. Sonya and Nocturne quickly left the bank as the police searched the area and questioned witnesses, thankfully they had managed to remain unnoticed. _____*on the way back to the hotel*_____ Sonya and Nocturne were far from the bank by now, and they heard footsteps behind them, Nocturne and Sonya looked back and saw Shade following them. "Stop following us!" Sonya ordered angrily. Shade simply approached. "I cannot, as I said, Nocturne called me to protect him, which means I am bound to him, besides." He narrowed his eyes at Sonya, her anger subsiding as he spoke. "You have shown that you cannot protect him when he needs it, and with your work, he is alone almost all the time, as such." He was cut off as Sonya held her hand up at him. "Fine! I get it, you aren't going anywhere, just get out of here and stop following us before I.......well, I think you know." Sonya stated. Shade took a breath and looked at Nocturne. "As you wish." He vanished into the ground, became a shadow and merged with Nocturne's. Nocturne's eyes went wide as he felt a presence in his mind. "Let's get back home." Sonya said. "Later, we will talk." Shade's voice said. Nocturne looked at Sonya, she seemed to be distressed and anxious to get back home. "Is there a reason she is so.....distressed?" Nocturne asked Shade. When he got no reply, Nocturne was disappointed, but he could feel that Shade had a reason, he couldn't explain how, but he could feel it. ______*the present.*______ Nightmare and Shade left the train and she looked at him. "So, how did you go from cryptic shadow badass, to gloomy asshole in Equestria?" She asked. Shade motioned her to follow, the station filled with people. "That......is a complicated and long story." He replied. Nightmare wasn't sure of their destination, but she wanted to hear this story, since Shade never talked about it before, this was probably the only chance she would have to learn about him. "But before I tell you more......how are things with you guys?" Shade asked. Nightmare sighed and began to tell Shade of what happened back in Equestria, only leaving out the personal details.