EC Tales Book One: Rivalries Are Made, Not Born

by mynameisTheodore83

Chapter One: The Good Ol' Days

In a small house in the city of Baltimare, a dark blue Earth Pony woke from his sleep. He leaped out of his bed with a boundless energy only to be found in colts and fillies. He rushed to the kitchen to greet his parents.
"Morning Dad, morning Mom," he said excitedly.

"Good morning, Shadow," Switch Blade replied behind his newspaper. "Have any interesting dreams?"

"Hmm," the colt thought. "Well, there was one where I found that I could fly! It was really cool to soar with the rest of the Pegasi."

"That's good, son," Switch chuckled. "A dream is your brain's way of letting you know your imagination is working just right."

Fall Out looked at the clock. "Oh, Shadow, honey, you're going to be late for school."

"Better hurry up, son," his dad said.

"Don't worry, I've got all of my stuff in my saddlebag, right here." He motioned to the side of the chair.

"Well, have a good day, and be sure to learn something new," Switch said to him as he left for school.

"Of course, dad, of course." He blew his parents kisses and trotted off to school.

----

A similar scene unfolded in the Shield household. Young Silver woke up and ran to the family room. He jumped onto his father, who was relaxing on the couch.

"Woah!" said Iron Shield as his son landed on his stomach. "How did my rambunctious little pegasus sleep last night?"

"Great!" Silver answered. "I'm so excited for today!"

"And why is that, exactly?" his father asked.

"Because each day is a new adventure," the colt said with wide eyes. "There's new things to discover, new places to explore, and I get to do it all with my best friend Shadow."

"Well I'm happy that you're so eager to sieze the day," Iron said with a smile. "Now, hurry off to school, I don't want you to be late."

"Okay, dad, see you after school. Say hi to Mom when she wakes up."

"I will," his dad said as the door shut.

----

Shadow and Silver met up on their walk to school. They performed their regular 'secret' handshake, consisting of multiple hoof bumps.

"Ready for the day, Silver?" Shadow asked his best friend.

"As ready as I'll ever be, Shadow," Silver responded.

Both of the colts were the only blank flanks left in their class, and they always were looking for ways to earn their cutie marks.

"So any more luck on cutie mark ideas?" Silver asked.

"Not really, no," Shadow answered glumly.

"Well, we always have Saturdays to look forward to," Silver said.

Shadow immediately felt better. "Yeah, Saturday sparring is the best!"

Every Saturday, Silver, Shadow, and their fathers would meet in a training room of the local gym. There, both colts would spar in combat with each other to gain physical strength and to take a break from daily life.

"I'm gonna kick your butt this time!" Silver challenged.

"It'll be hard to kick my butt when you're sprawled out on the floor!" Shadow countered playfully.

The two of them laughed as they headed into school.

----

At work, Switch Blade was experiencing a much less cheerful scene.

"Fired?" he asked his boss. "But I was just getting the hang of things here! Give me one more week, and I promise that I'll show you that I'm worth something."

"That's what you said last week, Mr. Blade," his boss told him. "You and I both know that economic times are tough, and that you're the easiest one to get rid of. I'm sorry to have to do this, but my job is to keep this business alive. You understand, don't you?"

Switch grumbled. "Yeah, I've heard it before. Well, thanks for the opportunity, sir."

"Good luck, Switch."

"Thanks, I'm going to need it."

----

He told his wife when he got home.

"Honey, this is the fourth time you've been laid off this month!" Fall Out told him. "What are we going to do?"

"I'm not sure, sugar," Switch replied. "I just can't seem to find the right job for me, even without my plague of bad luck."

Fall Out always thought about the worst situations. "Well, what are we going to tell Shadow? I don't want him worrying about money, he's too young for that. We've managed to keep this from him for this long, but I don't know how much longer we can."

"I think the best thing to do is to tell the boy," Switch said. "I'd rather tell him myself than let him find out."

When Shadow came home from school, he noticed that his father was not his usual cheery self. "Hey dad, what's up?" he greeted him.

"Noth... well, to be honest, Shadow, it would be a lie if I told you nothing was up. Come over here and have a seat."

Shadow walked next to his father with a puzzled look on his face. Something was off here, but he couldn't quite place it.

Switch Blade sighed deeply. "I don't really know how to say it, so here it goes. I'm not sure how to support you and your mother anymore. I got laid off from work today. But one thing that I've kept from you is that this is not the first job I've been fired from. In fact, I've had nearly every job in Baltimare at one time or another. I'm sorry you had to be told this way, Shadow. I just want you to be able to live a normal life. I'm afraid I'll have trouble giving that to you now." Tears were beginning to well up in Switch's eyes.

"Oh, dad, it's okay." Shadow felt a bit out of place consoling his own father. "I'm sure that you can think of something. We'll get through this as a family." Shadow gave his dad a hug.

Switch sniffed up his tears. "You're right, bud. We can do this as a family. Thank you so much for understanding."

"Of course," Shadow whispered into his father's ear.

----

Shadow thought about telling Silver about his father, but decided against it. After all, it was pretty personal family business, and he didn't want to hurt his father by telling Silver. They met up in the training room, and greeted each other with their hoofshake.

"Ready to spar?" Silver asked.

"The real question is are you?" Shadow countered.

"You know that I am!" Silver replied. He went to his saddlebag and grabbed his wooden sword. Shadow did the same.

"Okay boys, you know the drill," Iron Shield told the colts. "Don't try to hurt each other, but fight to win."

The look of friendly competiton faded from their eyes, and turned into one of determination. Each was waiting for the simple command to attack, in hopes of disarming the other first.

Switch hesitated, then spoke a simple, "Go".

Shadow and Silver charged at each other, swords drawn. When they met, they swung forcefully at each other. Shadow immediately took an offensive role, thrusting and swinging at Silver to try to catch him off guard. Silver swiftly blocked each attack, while throwing in some of his own. They were evenly matched at a high skill level for their age. Neither one seemed to make any progress.

While they were sparring, a buzzer went off for the basketball game being played outside. Shadow heard this and lost concentration long enough for Silver to knock his sword out of his hand. Silver gave him a smile. "I win," he said smugly.

"No fair!" Shadow complained. "I was distracted! That doesn't count does it?" he asked his father.

"Sorry, bud," Switch answered. "I'm afraid that distractions like that happen in real battles too. You have to learn to overcome them and focus."

"It's still not fair," Shadow grumbled.

"Oh, it's okay," Silver consoled him. "It was just one little mistake. You would've won soon, I was getting exhausted from blocking you. Wanna go grab an ice cream with my dad and me?"

"Sure, ice cream sounds great!" Shadow said. He was glad that he had such a great friend in Silver.

----

Later that night, Switch was putting Shadow to bed.

"I still hate losing to Silver," Shadow complained.

"Hey, you're just as good of a fighter as he is," Switch consoled his son. "You just have to learn to focus. Not only in battles, but in whatever you're doing. As long as you focus, you can do anything."

"'Anything' is a big word, dad," Shadow said. "Are you sure that 'anything' is really possible?"

"Of course I am," Switch said with a smile. "Now, go to sleep. You need rest for tomorrow."

"I love you, dad." Shadow kissed his father on the nose.

"I love you too, son."

After he had closed the door, he gave a big sigh. Tonight he was going to start his new job. It really wasn't that bad: it had good pay, no bosses, and flexible hours. All he had to do was not get caught by the police while he broke in to these homes. He sighed again and pulled a ski mask over his face. He knew that it wasn't right, but he had run out of options. He left the house as silent as possible.

----

When Switch returned in the early hours of the morning, he was surprised to see his wife waiting for him. In a moment of hurry, he had forgotten to make up an excuse for why he was leaving.

"Hi, honey," he said slowly.

"Where have you been?" Fall Out asked. "I was so worried about you! How do I know what could've happened to you out there! For all I know, you could've been dead!"

"Sugar, calm down," he told her. "I was just out at my new job."

She had a puzzled look on her face. "New job? Why didn't I hear about this?"

He took a deep breath. "That's the thing," he started. "It's not a job in the traditional sense. You know that I've been fired from every company in Baltimare, and I have no source of income. I had to resort to theft. I'm so sorry, but it's my only other option. But," he reached into his saddlebag, "I have good news." He dumped several pounds of bits on the floor.

She gasped. "This... this... this is more than we've ever had. But you stole it! What if they catch you?"

"Hopefully it won't come to that." he told her. "We'll save up enough money to move somewhere else, where I can get another job. I'll only do this until then."

Fall Out wasn't so sure. "Well... if it's only for a little bit. But as soon as we have enough, you stop. Understand?"

Switch gave a smile of relief. "Of course, honey."

----

Shadow didn't notice his dad's new profession for a while. But one night, about a week later, Shadow woke up early one morning to use the bathroom and get a glass of water. He was shocked when a masked pony simply walked into his house. He froze for a moment, then remembered his sparring lessons. With a loud yell he charged at the intruder.

Switch quickly covered Shadow's mouth and removed his mask. "Shhh..." he said quickly, "it's just me, Shadow."

Shadow was confused. "Dad? Why? What are you doing?"

"I'm, um...." Switch was at a loss for words. "I'm coming home from my new job." Shadow was still lost. "My job as a criminal. It's the only way that I can support you and your mother. But as soon as we have enough money, we'll move to a different city where I can get a real job."

This got Shadow's attention. "Move? But then I won't live so close to Silver! We'll never see each other again!"

"No, you'll still see him every saturday for sparring. I promise the two of you will still remain good friends."

Shadow settled down after this. "Well, I hope you get the money soon. Moving away will stink, but making sure you have a job is more important."

Switch smiled at his son. "Thank you for understanding. I'm sure it won't be long."

----

Shadow told Silver about the plan to move that same morning.

Silver was shocked. "What? Why do you have to move?"

"I told you," Shadow said calmly, "my dad has to find a new job. But it's not for a while and he said that we'd still do Saturday sparring."

"But we won't be able to hang out every day anymore!"

"Well, this will only be for a bit." Shadow's face lit up. "I know! We could write letters to each other! Every single day, we could write about our lives and how they were changing. Then we'd have stuff to talk about on Saturdays!"

"Hey, yeah, that is a good idea!" Silver exclaimed. "We could be pen-pals!"

"But for right now, let's have as much fun as we can before I move," Shadow said.

"For sure!" Silver replied.

----

The following Saturday, Silver and Shadow met for their usual sparring. But instead of a wooden sword, Silver carried a big wooden shield.

"Whoa, what's that?" Shadow asked.

"My dad gave it to me this morning," Silver responded. "It used to be his when he was our age. I'm going to use it in sparring today."

"Cool! I can't wait to snap it in half with my sword!"

"We'll see about that." Silver chuckled. They took their positions.

Iron Shield looked at the two colts. "Ready....... Go!"

Once again they charged at each other, but Shadow's first strike seemed to be less impactful than before. Silver was blocking his attacks with more ease and greater speed than in previous fights. Shadow was caught off guard when Silver pushed him aside with his sheild. He quickly regained his senses and swung his sword once more. He remembered what his dad told him about keeping his focus. After more fighting, Shadow thought of a new strategy. He swiftly jumped over Silver and thrusted his sword downwards. Silver turned and blocked the attack just in time. The force from Shadow's blow knocked both of them over. They were panting on the ground from the tiring fight.

Iron and Switch looked at the colts and gasped. When the two colts got up, they noticed that the other had earned their cutie mark.

"You... you... you got your cutie mark!" They said in unison.

"What does mine look like?" Silver asked.

"Yours is a blue shield, kinda like your dad's." Silver looked over at Iron Shield's cutie mark and smiled. "How about mine?" Shadow asked.

"Yours is a..." Silver was confused. What was Shadow's cutie mark? "It's a... it looks like a sword... but it's covered in a shadow. Oh!" Silver understood now. "It's a Shadow, like your name."

"Wow! That's cool!" The colts hugged, happy that they had found their destinies. They talked about it the whole way home, and what they could do with their special talents.