//------------------------------// // Welcomes, lessons, and planning // Story: The New Life of Shadow Ironsword // by ShadowIronsword //------------------------------// I woke up in my bed with a pounding headache. Ow, ow, what did I do? I sat up slowly and yawned loudly. The memories came flooding back to me as I started to get out of bed. “Crap, is everyone, okay?” I started to rush out of bed, only to get another wave of pain in my head. “Damn, I must have hit it when I fell.” I walked over to the door, and opened it. I was greeted by darkness. So, it’s still nighttime, eh? I sneaked out into the hallway and made my way down to the main area of my dad’s house. I two lumps under a single blanket on the couch. Probably Val, and Amber. I walked down the stairs fully and stepped into the kitchen. Quietly opening a few cabinets I started to make a pot of coffee. The aroma doing wonders to quell the constant pounding in my head and to wake me up. I heard the soft, tentative, clop of hooves entering the kitchen from the back guest room. I turned my head to see Page standing in the entrances frame. “Sorry, I had to see if you were okay. I thought the best way of doing that was to stay with Amber and -Was it Valor?- yea. I know this is probably really uncomfortable for you to see me in your house.” She looked down and to the left in a sign of uncomfortableness. I smiled and lifted my paw up to her chin and lifted it up to make her meet my eyes. I felt my own start to water. “It means the world to me that you would take time out of your schedule to wait and see how I’m doing.” I saw her expression shift slightly, and she gave me a hesitant smile. I heard a yawn come from behind me and I saw Val standing in the doorway, rubbing his eyes of the sleep that had collected there. He paused and blinked, taking in the whole scene between me and Page. He waved a hoof in a circular motion and said, “Well, go on. Don’t let me stop you two.” Then he sat down and continued to stare at us. “What?” He got a wicked smile on his face. “Aren’t you two gonna kiss now, or something?” I heard a shocked gasp come from Page and I calmly walked over to Val and stood behind him. “Val?” “Yes, Shadow?” A hint of nervousness came into his voice. “You have precisely ten seconds to run out of this house and get as far away, before I come chase you down and beat the everliving crap out of you.” A dark look in my eye convinced him to not try and banter back. “Aw come on, Shadow. You wouldn’t kick your old buddy out into the cold, would ya?” I held my paw up to my chin in mock thought before bringing it down on his shoulder. “You’re right, Val, I wouldn’t throw you out into the cold.” He breathed a sigh of relief. I smiled wickedly before continuing “Luckily enough, it’s not cold out this time of year!” I grabbed him by the ear in my mouth, being careful to not actually pierce it with my teeth. I mumbled around his ear, “We’ll jusf haf tah ffee about getting you out.” As I wandered into the living room I felt the tell tale tingle of telekinesis. And I was encompassed in an amber glow. “And what do you think you’re doing with my stallion?” She said in a tired voice, then yawned. “Oh, I was just gonna let him out for you, since you always should let your pet out in the morning. Like a good owner should, right?” I smiled in mock innocence. Val opened his mouth to speak, but I put a paw over it to shut him up, and leaned down to whisper. “If you tell her the truth, we’ll both be in trouble, but if you let me talk we might get out of this.” Amber gave me an unamused look. “Ya know I can hear you, right?” I gave a sheepish smile. “Is it too late to not get in trouble?” She smiled openly. “NOPE!” She threw us both onto the couch and set about tying us up with the blanket. “Now, stay there and let the responsible adults talk.” I gave mock offense in the form of a scoff. “Are you saying I’m not responsible?” Amber rolled her eyes and me and mouthed the word ‘really’. I nodded my head and continued, “Yeah, if anything happens around here, I’m usually responsible.” I heard Val start to chuckle behind me and I devolved into a fit of giggles myself. I suddenly felt the blanket start to untie itself and saw a orange glow surround the knot. I looked up and saw Page looking at me with a glint of mischief in her eyes. I nodded in understanding and leaned back slightly, and whispered into Val’s ear. “Okay, when the blanket slacks, jump at  Amber.” I nodded to Page, signaling that I was ready. The knot came fully undone, and Val and I jumped out simultaneously at Amber. Who had a look of shock on her face. Then she looked over to Page with a look of understanding and mock hurt on her face. As Val and I collapsed onto Amber she let out a shout. We heard a set of unsteady hoofsteps on the steps above us. We all looked up and saw my dad standing there looking at us with a mix of aggravation and mirth in his eyes. “Did I miss something?” When none of us responded he huffed and rolled his eyes. “Look I’m fine! I’m not gonna keel over from a couple punches. Yeah, I’m hurting, but I’m fine.” He hobbled down the stairs and wandered into the kitchen only to see Page standing there. He blinked in confusion a couple times before getting a, small, wicked smile on his face. “Okay, who brought this mare here, and what is her relation with you?” I looked left to Val and Amber, who both shrugged their shoulders. “I guess it was kinda me.” I said a bit apprehensively. “She’s a new friend, though, dad. Nothing funny going on here. Her name’s Starry Page.” His smile fell slightly before returning full force. He turned back to the kitchen and walked up to Page, looking her in the eye. A serious expression came over his face. “And, what are your intentions with my son, Starry Page?” His eyes hardened and his persona became that of a drill sergeant. Or just a really protective dad. I got a small chuckle out of that. When Val and Amber gave me a curious look I waved my paw and mouthed ‘I’ll explain later’. “Well, you see Mr. Ironsword I-” “You can call me Vanguard, all of Shadow’s friends do.” She gave a grateful nod before swallowing and continuing, “I just wanted to see how Shadow was doing when he collapsed on the street.” My dad got a thoughtful expression on his face and mumbled something to himself before twisting his head slightly and looking and me. He turned back to Page and motioned his head for her to follow him. When we all got up he raised his hoof and said, “Stay here, I want to talk to Miss Page alone for a minute.” With that he turned and walked into the kitchen. Page gave me a worried look. I gave her a comforting nod of my head, encouraging her on. The door separating the kitchen and the living room closed and we were left in silence Both Val and Amber looked at one another and shared a knowing smile. Well, Val’s was far more coltish and immature, almost as if he was teasing me with the knowledge he knew. Amber’s was far more somber, but still happy and distant, as if remembering something. “Okay, Val, I know that face. You know something you’re not telling me!” Val gave a mock innocent look, “Who, me? I don’t know anything!” Amber snapped back to reality and slapped the back of his head with a bit of telekinesis. “Ow! What was that for?” “For lying, you know something.” She turned to me a happy smile on her face. “I hope this turns out the way I think it will.” I gave her a questioning look. She merely drew her hoof across her lips, which had a mocking and knowing smile on them. “Oh, so you get to tease him, but I don’t?” Val pouted from on the ground, a grumpy expression on his face. Amber leaned down and kissed him on the tip of his muzzle. “I told you, I didn’t do that because you teased him. I did it because you lied.” She smiled and shoved at Val. “Now, come on, get up. If Vanguard comes in here and sees you on the ground he’ll start questioning me, too.” Val gave a simple smile and leaned up to nuzzle Amber. Man, sometimes I wish I had that.  A voice from the back of my head said. Well, you could, if you just reached out to Page. She seems to be warming up to you, after all. No, I won’t do that. She’s already stated she doesn’t want anything like that. No, she said she didn’t want to be taken advantage of. She didn’t want some idiot coming on to her after the high of a victory. How do you know that? There’s no way you can look into anyone's mind. You’re just in mine. A dark chuckle emanated from inside my head, but no further things were said. The door opening snapped me back to reality, and forced Val and Amber to stop their little session. Page came out, a determined look on her face. Okay, not what I expected to see after how dad had acted. I looked to dad, and saw a happy expression on his face. “Okay, she checks out, in my book.” He looked to Val and he gave a nod of approval. Then to Amber who gave a much more enthusiastic nod. Looks like she’s happy to have Page back. I gave a small, hopeful, smile. Maybe things are actually beginning to turn around for me, despite everything. “Okay, now, who wants to go out for breakfast?” At that everyone looked at each other and shook their heads. I spoke first, “Sorry dad. Don’t think you’re up for it yet. And I’m up for some home cooking anyways.” I licked my lips and smiled. “Yeah, I agree with Shadow!” Val said, slinging his right foreleg over my withers.” Amber chuckled, “No surprise there, Valor.” She straightened up and looked at Page with a warm expression. “I’d be happy to let you into our circle, Page. We need to catch up anyways.” Page smiled and looked over each one of us individually. “Thank you all, you’ve all been so nice to me.” She sat down on her haunches. “I may not be in the same boat as you all, but I haven’t had it easy either. I’d be happy to get to know all of you.” She looked at me directly in the eyes, but then broke it a second later. Okay, so what does that mean? I blinked a few times in confusion. “I, unfortunately, have to go back to Canterlot today. I was only visiting Cloudsdale for the Shadow took part in. I’ll try and get transferred to Cloudsdale, though.” I looked down to the ground, thinking of her daughters. “Is that really the best idea?” Everyone looked at me with shock. Except Page, who looked hurt by my comment. I put my paws up in a defensive manner. “Don’t get me wrong! I’d love to have Page move here and us all really get to know each other. But, I mean, Naliana is a hippogriff. I don’t know how she’s going to be accepted by the pegasi of Cloudsdale. If my own past experiences are evidence, she won’t be.” Then there’s Elearise. Hasn’t she already got friends in Canterlot? I would assume both do.” I looked up to Page, a hopeful expression on my face. “And It’s not like Canterlot isn’t just a train ticket away. And with me being a duelist I’ve already got indefinite ticket, paid for by Equestria’s banks anyways.” “I don’t know, Shadow, seems like you’ve already thought this through, pretty well.” Amber said with a knowing smile. I gave an indignant huff. “At least I thought it out!” I stuck my tongue out at her, then started chuckling. I turned back to Page who had a thoughtful expression on her face. “Hey.” She looked back up at me. “It was just a suggestion. You do whatever you think is best for your foals and yourself. If you move here, I can guarantee you’ll have protection from any dumb pegasi who try to pull anything. And If you stay in Canterlot we’ll come visit often. You have my word.” I held my paw out to her and gave a friendly smile. She tentatively lifted her hoof up and put it in my paw. I gave a firm shake and opened my forelegs in invitation for a hug. “Welcome to the family, Page. That’s what we are, we stick together here. When nopony else has got your back we’ll be there. All ya gotta do is ask.” She ran into my hug and gripped around me. I felt my left shoulder start to dampe as she choked out, “T-thank you. You don’t know what that means to me.” I patted her shoulder and gave a slight nuzzle into her mane. I walked into the forge the next day and started looking around. Script had come in last night, asking if I was free to train her daughter, Blade Quill. I spotted the small pegasus in the corner, staring me down, trying to intimidate me. How adorable, I don’t think she knows I’ve stared down furious drakes and lived to tell the tale. I walked calmly up to Blade. She had her mother’s brown coat, but a black mane and a set of light grey, almost silver, eyes. “Hello, I take it you’re Blade Quill?” She huffed and looked off to the side while saying, “Yeah, though I don’t see why I’m here. I know enough about fighting as it is.” My eyes narrowed slightly. Well, we’re going to have to break that attitude first. I raised my paw and flexed it, making the claws extend fully. “No, you know next to nothing about fighting. You know how to brawl.” She opened her mouth to respond, and I pushed my muzzle into her face. “And, no, they’re not the same thing. Similar? Yes, but not the same.” I backed up a bit and motioned for her to follow me. “I’m going to teach you the same way I was taught. Through blood, sweat, and tears.” I looked back to her and saw she hadn’t moved an inch. I narrowed my eyes into a glare. “Let me make something very clear here.” The tone of my voice made her head snap to me, a fearful expression on her face. “I’m not going to teach you this nicely. I’m not here to slowly guide you through a field of flowers. I’m here to teach you how to fight, and you will take hits. I’m not afraid to drag you to each and every exercise. But things will go a lot more smoothly and quickly for the both of us if you cooperate.” She gave a dumb nod and got up to follow me. “Um, how long is this going to last? I’ve got a fight later today.” I sighed and turned to face her, a hard glare on my face. “I’m not going to teach you so you can go and brawl in the streets. If you learn from me, you will stop doing that. Or I stop teaching you. Is that clear?” She nodded and mumbled something. “I said, IS THAT CLEAR!?” I yelled right in her face, baring my teeth a bit. She snapped to and gave a sloppy salute saying, “Yes!” I nodded and started to walk to the sparring room. I heard the muffled clop of hooves and quite grumbles behind me, signaling that Blade was following. I stepped into the sparring room and stepped aside to let her in, waving my paw to the center of the room. As she headed to the center I closed the door and waved my paw over the sigil in the center of it, activating the silence spell. “Alright I’m going to teach the same rules of fighting that my mother and father taught me.” I gave a smirk. “And even some that I’ve picked up in my time dueling.” There was the twinkle of wonder in her eyes. “Wait, you’re a duelist?” I blinked and then chuckled slightly. The filly in front of me huffed slightly. “Y-yes, I am. Did your mother tell you anything about me, who I am?” She shook her head firmly. I gave a nod and took a breath. “I am, Shadow Ironsword. I am a professional duelist, and I rank thirteen in the world, and number eight in Equestria.” The look of wonder grew in her eyes as I finished. I grimaced slightly. “Don’t think me infallible though, I am not the best by any means. But I will do my best to teach you what I know.” She got a thoughtful expression on her face. “Does this make me a sort of disciple of yours?” I blinked and then snorted in an attempt to try and hold in a bout of laughter. “Yea, I guess, if that helps you get into the swing of things.” I took in a breath and let it out. Letting my face fall into a sort of stoney mask I said, “Alright, for your first session with me your task is to get one clean blow on me.” I dropped down into a defensive stance and prepared for a charge. Blade binked twice, then got a confused look on her face. “That’s it?” I nodded and she got a sort of bored look on her face. “That seems too easy! I have fought before, you know!” With that she started walking forward, a calculating look on her face. She’s not going to just charge in, smart. She started to stalk around me, trying to find a weak spot in my stance. Okay, so maybe she does have a bit of experience. I slowly turned to keep my eyes on her. She suddenly darted left then to the right, trying to fake me out and get me to turn away and leave my flank open. I tracked her the whole while, not moving an inch. This obviously caught her off guard, but she’d already dedicated to the charge, so she went on. When she got within striking distance I lashed out with the backside of my left front paw, tripping her up and making her fall down. Once she was on the ground I backed up and fell into another defensive stance. “Oh, so that’s your game is it? Pick on me for hours, and constantly teasing me with almost hits? I don’t think so!” She charged forward, but dodged left at the last second, staying just out of my striking distance. Either she’s really lucky, or she has a knack for this, she picked up my striking distance almost right away! She dove in on my left side, but a deft flick of my wing sent her head back, making the little filly fly out and hit the wall just a few feet away. I flinched slightly, but remembered this was how I was trained. Some of the hardest lessons had to be taught by beating it into my thick skull. She charged forward and tried to fly up this time. I dodged to the left and kicked out with my hind legs, sending her flying backwards again. This went on for almost two hours as she tried every possible angle. When I striked out, causing her to fall down for the umpteenth time, she finally got up and looked at me with a broken kind of stare. I rose up and walked over to her, sat down and patted her on the back. My face softened greatly and I smiled at her. I saw the beginnings of tears in her eyes as she choked out, “I give. I can’t do it! I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, but I can’t get a clean hit on you.” She collapsed to the ground and started sobbing. I reached out and patted her on the back again. “Hey, you can get up, this lessons over for today.” She slowly started to rise up to sitting on her haunches. There were streaks running down her cheeks and I had a twinge of guilt run through me. I turned away and said, “I’m sorry I had to do that. But that was one of the most important lessons I can teach you in fighting.” “Which is!?” She practically yelled at me, her face starting to turn desperate. “It’s that an impenetrable defense is the best offense. If the enemy can’t land a clean hit, and you can, well you’ve won right there. Luckily for you, and me, that’s one of the hardest lessons to learn.” I smiled a bit awkwardly. “To be honest I sometimes forget this lesson in the heat of battle, but it is an important one to always keep in the back of your head.” My smile turned a bit more genuine and friendly as I continued, “And hey you did an awesome job there, especially in the beginning. I don’t know if you meant to, but you picked up on my range of attack almost right away.” “Really?” She looked up to me with hopeful eyes. “Really. Hey, you wanna know something?” “Mmhmm.” She said with a strong nod. “It took me near four hours to learn what took you a little under two hours.” She gasped, her eyes going wide. “No way! What does that mean?” “It means you get another lesson. Though I meant it when I said no street fights, that’s not what I’m giving you these lessons for. In fact, if you want, I’m almost certain I can get you into an ameture league. I’ve got plenty of connections in the different leagues.” She gasped again and nodded her head with a smile that threatened to split her face. “I’d love that!” My face became slightly stoney again. “Don’t think your lessons are done, though. You’re still far from being ready to take on anyone in that league, yet.” Her face fell slightly and I nudged her head up with my paw, and my face lightened a bit. “But if you keep up the progress you’re showing me here, I might just say differently soon. Now, go on. I’m sure Script is worried sick about you.” She nodded happily and started to scamper off. A thought occurred to me. “Oh wait a second! Could you not mention the whole thing about beating you up? I didn’t really clear that with Script beforehand, and I assume you don’t want these lessons to stop now. So, if you could keep that a secret that’d be awesome.” She brought her hoof up to her chin, seemingly in thought. “I think I can let it pass, as long as you keep teaching me.” I nodded and her grin widened again. “Alright, same time tomorrow then?” Again I nodded and she scampered over to the door and tried to tug it open, only for it to fail. I chuckled a bit and walked over. “Here, you want a hand with that?” She turned her head and grumbled, but nodded none the less. I waved my paw over the sigil again, disabling the silence spell, and reached up to tug the door open when Val came barreling in through the door. We both collapsed in a heap on the floor. “Val, you have two seconds to explain, go.” I deadpanned. He gave a panicked look before jumping into it. “Well, I was sitting outside the door for a couple minutes, when Fraener came by and said he needed an answer on his proposal, and I said yes, so I got to work on making his khopesh and finished it in just over an hour and a half. When he got it from me he looked surprised to see my craftsmanship. Though, I’ll admit it was a bit tough to work to start with, it was easy enough after a bit. Ya see-” I cut him off with a paw on his lips. “You’re rambling, Val. Calm down, and breath.” He did so and continued at a markedly slower pace. “Anyways, he was surprised with the craftsmanship and said it was one of the finest blades he’d ever seen!” He squealed a bit and dropped onto his haunches. This made Blade giggle a bit from her place by the door. Noticing her Val blushed a bit and opened his lips to ask who she was, but I put a paw up to them and rolled my other paw signaling for him to go on. He shook his head and continued, “Anyway, he was extremely impressed with it and gave me the other twelve black dragon scales.” I rolled my eyes at him and started to turn around. “Wait, Shadow. These aren’t his scales. These are full dragon scales; Each one at least as tall as Fraener himself.” I stopped and felt my jaw drop. “You can’t be serious. How would he even get those into Equestria without getting robbed.” After a moment I realized how stupid that sounded, and brought my paw up to my face. “Right, number one duelist in Equus. Could probably fight off a few petty thieves.” Val was doing his best not to giggle, but ultimately failed. After a full minute of his giggling I decided to walk up and put a paw on his shoulder. “So, what are you gonna do with all of those? There’s almost no way that you’re going to be able to use them all.” Val gave a cheeky grin, “Well, first of all, I’m going to forge you a new sword, since your old one is pretty much trashed. Then I’m going to try and modify my wingblade design to incorporate the scales somewhere in the blade. Then I might just see about making you a new battle coat with the scales as the armor bits.” “Then what will you do with the rest? It’s not like that’s gonna take you a full dozen scales. Even if it took you four or five you’d still be on par with Fancy Pants if you sold the rest.” “Yeah, but I don’t wanna do that. I’d rather earn it all through hard work, rather than one lucky commission from a single customer, ya know?” I nodded my head and looked over to Blade who was just sitting there with a dumbfounded look on her face. Val seemed to notice this and walked up to the filly with a confused expression of his own. “So who’s this filly? You finally agree with Vanguard to start doing lessons?” I grumbled and facepawed. “No, I’m not opening any sort of public lessons. I’m doing this mostly for Script. See Blade here needs lessons, since she was trying to get experience through street brawling. I proposed to Script the idea that I train her for a bit, since I’ll be in Cloudsdale for a bit anyways.” Val seemed to come to an understanding, and looked at the filly with a renewed interest. “Val, no. I know that look. You’re not going to make her anything, yet. Maybe when she’s done with my training, and we figure out what type of duelist she is, but not right now. She only just got through the first lesson, Val.” I nodded over to Blade and lifted my head, telling her to go on. “I’m sure Script is worried about ya. Go on, we’ll do another lesson tomorrow.” I turned back to Val to see him looking at me excitedly. “Squueeeee.” I gave him a curious look. “What the hell is your problem?” “That had to be one of the most adorable exchanges I’ve ever seen.” I rolled my eyes and motioned for him to follow me out into the hallway. “Anyways, since we’re making you a new sword we should probably go over a new design sketch, right?” I looked down in thought and grumbled. “I dunno, really liked my grandpa’s sword design, but I guess that doing something new couldn’t hurt. Could we do a mix up of old and new?” I started making my way towards the lobby and the sketch room beyond. When I got a look of confusion from Val I rolled my eyes and explained further.“I mean take the old design and add some new stuff to it, make it a bit more me.” A look of understanding crossed his face, before dropping into a more business-like expression. “Sure, what’d you have in mind, Shadow?” Entering the sketch room, he closed the door behind him and sat down at the conference table in the center of the room. I pulled a scrap sheet from the wall of the wall of the room and scribbled a few things out with my mouth before spitting the pen out and looking over to Val. “Something like this work?” I scooted the paper over to him with a paw and he started looking at it. He had a thoughtful expression on his face before nodding and surrounding the paper with his magic and drawing it closer to him and smiling. “I’ll get right on it, Shadow. Should be done by weeks end.” I raised my eyebrow at him. “What? I wanna take my time and make sure that this is done absolutely right!” “And you didn’t do that with what could have been the absolute defining commision of your career?” “Well, that’s different. Besides I don’t wanna make your competitions stuff too good, do I?” I chuckled and shook my head in mock exasperation, “No, I guess not, Val.” I looked back up and started walking towards the exit of the sketch room as I said, “So, ya gonna start that tonight, or go home to Amber?” He raised a hoof to his chin and hummed. “I think I’ll head home tonight, don’t wanna send the wrong message to Amber, after all.” I shook my head. “Anyways, I think I’m gonna get out of the city for a while and go for a flight. Can’t really do it in city borders, after all.” I grimaced and so did Val. “No, I guess not. See ya tomorrow?” “Ya, I’ll be around.” I saw him set out and looked left to see the receptionist getting packed up for the night. “Did dad head home already?” She looked a little startled but otherwise nodded and I grimaced. “Well, at least he knows when he’s had enough. Probably wouldn’t do to have him come flying with me tonight.” I set out of the doors and started walking down the main street, lit only by the moon and street lights, towards the cable cars set up to allow non flyers the ability to leave the floating city. Once there I took a deep breath and opened my wings to catch as much wind in them as possible. “Alright, I’m at the city limit. I’m ready.” With that, I dove off the side of the massive cloud city, folded my wings and went for a straight dive for the ground. Just as I was about to reach the point of no return I felt a shadow come over my back and stay there. I looked up to see the backlit outline of a pony following within a few feet of me. Crap, what’s up with this pony?