TEK: The Series

by Jet Fly

Enemy of Old

Shade didn't know what to make of this day. It had been about a month since he'd finally asked Fluttershy to be his marefriend, and today was their third date. However, Fluttershy also already had plans with the rest of her friends to go to some movie in Manehattan that Rarity picked out, one in particular that Shade found to be quite... agonizing. While he always enjoyed spending time with his friends, especially Fluttershy, he never could stand dramas.

"Oh Shade, it wasn't that bad. I think you're just overreacting."

"I dunno Twilight, I gotta agree with him. That movie was sooo... BOOORIIINNG."

"Now Rainbow Dash, just because you can't appreciate such an emotional masterpiece does not mean you have to act so childish. That's was very rude of you to fake-snore like that during the movie."

Rarity's scolding did somewhat amuse Shade. It was always funny to see when his friends argued over their likes and dislikes. They were such simple and trivial matters as opposed to the difficult decisions he often had to make as a member of TEK.

He walked beside Fluttershy as the group continued to travel around the city, going to different shops occasionally. While he wasn't exactly the "shopping type," Shade did enjoy spending time with his marefriend, even helping her pick out different items at times. Overall, he was having a nice day as long as he was with her. She also wore the diamond-heart necklace he had given her nearly a month ago.

Eventually, Rarity and the others went on their way back home, and Shade and Fluttershy stayed for a while more to spend more time together. They talked as they traveled down a sidewalk.

"So, have you been having fun today, Shy?"

"Yes, I've been having a nice time! I appreciate that you adjusted your plans for our date today and came with us to the movie, even if you didn't quite like it."

"Anything for you. As long as you're happy, I'm happy. Besides, I've endured worse."

Fluttershy giggled a bit as they continued down the sidewalk to nowhere in particular. While Shade was busy losing himself in Fluttershy's beautiful teal eyes, he accidentally bumped into another pony as they were walking.

"Ooh, I'm so sorry. Should've watched where I was go-"

Shade stopped mid-sentence as he got a better look at the stallion he collided with. Something about him was very familiar...

"Wait, do... do I know you?"

The stallion, still facing down at the ground, emitted a sinister chuckle.

"You should know me, newbie... after all, you are the one who ruined my life..."

Shade's eyes widened as the realization dawned on him. He knew that blue and yellow mane. Fluttershy, however, was naturally confused.

"...Shade? Is something wrong?"

"...Nova?"

The stallion looked up to reveal the face of Nova Orbit, Shade's old enemy from Canterlot's School for Gifted Unicorns.

"Hehe... so you do remember... I've waited to run into you again for a long time..."

Fluttershy was clearly getting worried.

"Um, Shade? What's going on?"

"I knew him... a long time ago. Nova, I just wanna say... I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything that happened between us. I had problems then, and I'm sorry for what I did to you... and for getting you kicked out."

Nova laughed maniacally.

"'SORRY!' Oh, it's FAR too late for sorry... About five years too late... Now I'm gonna take everything away from you, just like YOU took everything away from ME!"

Shade started backing away slowly before taking a defensive pose, turning himself into a wall between the dangerously hostile Nova and the worrying and quivering Fluttershy. As much as Shade didn't want to fight, he had to be ready just in case.

"Nova, it doesn't have to be like this between us anymore. We can start things over... Talk things out, you know?"

Nova responded with another sinister, louder chuckle.

"I don't think so..."

Almost instantly, Nova started charging at Shade with his horn lowered and glowing with golden energy. Before he could attack, however, Shade thought quick and fired a warp beam at Nova, teleporting him far away enough so he could get Fluttershy safely back to the train station. She was already terrified enough as it was, and he feared for anything to ever happen to her.

Immediately he teleported himself and Fluttershy to the train station. He would have warped straight home, but the distance between Manehattan and Ponyville was simply too great. Shade could see that Fluttershy was feeling a mix of confusion and terror, and that her mind was filled was questions.

"...Shade, w-what just happened? Who was that? And... what exactly did you do to him?"

"I'll try to explain everything later. Everything should be fine now. I sent him across the other side of the city."

"You... What?"

"...I'll explain it all later."

Just then, Shade sensed a massive surge of energy in their area. He stopped and turned around to see a white and golden flash of light, and then Nova reappeared.

"Did you REALLY think putting a little distance between us would stop me?"

Shade's face was serious as opposed to the near look of insanity on Nova's. Fluttershy's own worries and confusions only intensified as she cowered behind Shade, her body shaking.

"I see you've picked up a few new tricks, Nova."

"Same to you. But you'll find mine are a bit more..."

Nova paused as he summoned multiple orbs of golden energy, circling around Shade and Fluttershy.

"...Lethal."

Everypony around the area at the train station gasped and exclaimed in a mass panic. Nova acted quick, but Shade thought quicker. Just when Nova hurled the orbs at his target, Shade created a portal beneath him, and he and Fluttershy escaped before the orbs collided in a massive explosion. Nova chuckled as the dust cleared away, revealing no trace of his enemy.

"Hehehehe.... Run, Shade, run... You have only prolonged the inevitable. You, and your little marefriend, will suffer..."
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Shade warped himself and Fluttershy as far as he possibly could from Manehattan without putting too much mental strain on himself. They emerged from the portal in a large, hilly grassland area. A few miles to their left would be the train track heading from Manehattan back to Canterlot. Shade rose and helped Fluttershy to her hooves, then immediately began to think of how to get back home. Fluttershy was rather eager to get some answers.

"Um... Shade? Do you mind telling me what that was all about?"

Shade was dead silent for a good minute or two. He hung his head low before speaking, his tone grim and his voice faint.

"...His name is Nova Orbit. A long time ago, back when I left Ponyville, I eventually made it to Canterlot, where I enrolled in the School for Gifted Unicorns... Nova and I used to be in the same class."

"What happened between you two?"

Shade looked up to the sky, closing his eyes as memories of his rough history with Nova were recalled to his mind.

"Nova and I never quite got along... I'm still not sure why, but he would always pick on me and bully me..."

Fluttershy felt saddened from hearing Shade's tale. She could only imagine what he must have gone through.

"That's awful..."

"Yeah... At the time I was a bit... unstable, still dealing with the fresh mental scars my time in the Everfree left on me, and one day... I lost control of myself..."

Shade's head dropped back down, and for another short moment he was silent. He turned around to face Fluttershy, and she could see the pain in his eyes.

"I regret what happened between us. And it's because of me that he's dead set on revenge against me, and most likely, anypony close to me... I'm so sorry you got mixed up in all of this..."

Fluttershy gently hovered over to Shade and drew him in closely.

"I'm sure it wasn't your fault, Shade..."

As reassuring as Fluttershy's words were, deep down Shade knew that wasn't entirely true. Yes, he was a victim of Nova's constant bullying, but he had also retaliated and nearly killed Nova. Shade withdrew from Fluttershy's embrace and gave her a look of determination.

"As long as I live, I won't let anything happen to you. I will do everything in my power to keep you safe."

"Um... speaking of... do you mind telling me how you did everything you did back there?"

Shade paused again, trying to find the right words that answered her question truthfully, while also not revealing too much. She already knew about his teleportation; he had showed her and the rest of his new friends when he first returned home. The warp beam and the portals, on the other hoof, were complete surprises.

"Let's just say... I have more tricks up my sleeve than I let on..."

It wasn't much of an answer, but there wasn't much else Shade could tell her, at least not now. He feared how all this secrecy would affect their relationship as time went on.

"So, um... how do we get home?"

"Well, we're pretty far from home, and I can only warp us so far... The best I can do is get us back to Manehattan, and from there we'll just have to bolt for the next train to Ponyville ASAP."

Shade could tell how much this concerned Fluttershy. He felt the same fear of going back, the fear that Nova could still be there, waiting.

"Shy... I'm gonna need you to trust me through this."

Hesitantly, Fluttershy nodded. Shade's horn glowed as he gathered his remaining power, and soon enough, there was a spark of energy before a blue, swirling portal opened in front of the two of them. The suddenness of it made the easily-startled Fluttershy jump. Shade outstretched his hoof to her to ease her nerves. Still hesitantly, she eventually took hold of it, and after both nodded, they entered the portal together.

They emerged directly at the train station, with no sign of Nova anywhere. As he planned, Shade wasted no time in arranging their departure, ignoring the mass attention they were drawing to themselves, and he and Fluttershy immediately rushed to board the train once the arrangements were made. They were safely on their way back to Ponyville.
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Shade said nothing for the duration of the trip back home, which really concerned Fluttershy. He only sat in his seat silently, staring out the window into the sunset, alone in his mind with his own thoughts and fears.

When they reached home, Shade took Fluttershy home, thanked her for the time they spent together, and apologized again for the following chaos. He hugged her goodbye before ensuring she entered her cottage safely. When she closed the door behind her, he set up an alarm spell throughout the entire cottage, just to be safe. Then, he teleported home.

He arrived at his front door, and telekinetically opened the door as he slowly stepped inside. Jet was lying on the couch in the living room just in front of the doorway, reading a Daring Do book.

"Oh hey, Shade. How'd it go?"

Shade said nothing, hanging his head low as he shut the door behind him, still standing in the middle of the room. Jet put his book down and sat upright.

"Whoa... Dude, are you okay? What happened?"

"Well... everything was going fine... until Nova Orbit showed up..."

Jet didn't say anything. He was afraid this would eventually happen, especially since he was actually aware of Nova's return, and his plot for revenge.

"...So he's finally made his move..."

Shade looked up at Jet when he heard him.

"...You knew?"

Jet paused, sighed, and hesitantly nodded.

"...Yeah. Kae'lik and the others told me that Nova was the thief stealing all the ancient artifacts and texts a couple months back."

Shade's entire expression was filled with disbelief. He was feeling a mix of different emotions, cycling between confusion, anger, and fear.

"...Why didn't you tell me?"

"We... were afraid of how you'd react... I was afraid you would do something... reckless."

Shade didn't know what to say. He was completely at a loss for words, and felt a degree of betrayal.

"Jet..."

"...I mean the last time you saw him, you almost tried to-"

"I KNOW WHAT I DID!"

Shade stomped on the floor as he shouted in anger. He reeled back a bit from his outburst, looking back and forth between himself and Jet. He could feel himself hot with building rage, and he started to understand better why Jet was hesitant to tell him about Nova's return. He looked at where he stomped and saw that he actually cracked the floor.

"I... I know what I did..."

Shade closed his eyes as he sat down. He was fighting back tears and rage as his thoughts were racing at hypersonic speeds. It hurt Jet seeing Shade like this. He slowly got up off the couch and sat next to his friend.

"I regret what I did that day... what I almost did... It would have sent me father down a dark spiral I'm already dangerously close too..."

Jet remembered that day too. He could see himself trying to snap Shade out of his enraged state, unsure and afraid of what would happen next. He was brought back to reality by the sound of Shade sighing as he continued speaking.

"...But I can't change the past. All that's in my control is what happens now, and right now, the future of everypony I know and care about is in danger, because a crazed maniac with newfound power is out for revenge."

"We'll stop him, Shade... We've faced far worse than him, right?"

Shade gave no response, and for a while they both continued to sit silently. There was a lot on both of their minds, and neither knew what else to say. Then suddenly, Shade's eyes snapped open and he quickly rose to his hooves. Jet turned to look at him and saw there was
a deathly look of shock on his face and terror in his eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"...The alarm spell's been triggered..."

"What?"

"When I took Fluttershy home I set an alarm spell around her cottage. I just felt a disturbance indicating something's very wrong..."

Immediately, Shade was gone in a flash of light. Jet wasted no time in bursting out the door, flying at sonic speeds to Fluttershy's cottage. No way was he going to let Shade handle this alone.
_____________________
Fluttershy's Cottage
_____________________

Fluttershy slowly backed into a corner in her living room, shaking with fear as Nova slowly crept his way towards her. He was flashing a sinister grin, his eyes filled with malicious intent.

"...Please... please don't hurt me....."

All her animals and critters had fled to various corners and crevices of the cottage in fear as well. Her bear had tried to come to her aid, but Nova telekinetically hurled it against the wall, and it now lay unconscious on the floor, broken furniture and decorations sprinkled around it. Before Nova took another step, there was a bright blue flash behind him, and a familiar voice yelled out to him.

"NOVA!"

Nova and Fluttershy looked to see Shade, stern-faced and eyes filled with determination and rage.

"Well you're just full of surprises, aren't you Shade? You got here a lot quicker than I'd expected."

"Nova, don't."

There was a bit of a standoff between the two stallions. Soon Jet came bursting through the front door, skidding to a halt. He quickly analyzed what was going on, and took his place beside Shade.

"Well isn't this just perfect... Now the gang's all here! Me, Shade, his little marefriend, and now his geeky best friend."

"Nova, this is between you and me. No-pony else has to get hurt."

Shade's building rage was evident in the death glare he was giving Nova, but his words were spoken as calmly as ever. But then again, there's always a calm before a coming storm.

"You know, there's about five different ways I could kill you and your pathetic friends right now, but that'd be too easy... No, I want to make you suffer, slowly, as I rip away everything you care about from your miserable life, and THEN, I'll rip THAT away too..."

Shade merely closed his eyes and sighed.

*Guess he wants to do this the hard way. Shame...*

"Jet, look after Fluttershy and help her clean up this mess."

And without another word, Shade opened a portal underneath Nova's hooves, which he then fell into. Then Shade charged in after him.
_________________

Nova tumbled out of the portal and into the middle of the grassland outskirts of town. The area was darkened from nightfall. Nova had just gotten to his hooves when Shade came rushing out of the portal and body slammed right into him, sending the two tumbling even further. Shade quickly got up while Nova was still recovering from the double impact.

"Gah... Well played, Shade... hehe, well played..."

"Listen here you miserable excuse for a stallion..."

Shade slowly walked over and stood tall above Nova.

"...You can come after me, hurt me, do whatever you want to me, I don't care. I've endured far worse than whatever tricks you could pull out. But leave my friends out of it."

Nova finally rose and stood, rivaling Shade in their continued standoff. He bared his teeth and went into an attack pose, Shade doing the same.

The next thing either of them knew, they were charging at each other full throttle. Nova leaped into the air and unleashed a barrage of homing lasers, which spread out in different directions at first but all converged on one point: their target, Shade. The force of the blasts kept Nova in midair as he continued firing. Shade halted his run, digging his hooves into the ground before forming a blue, spherical barrier to shield himself against the golden arrows of energy.

Nova landed with a grunt, and lifted Shade upwards with his telekinesis. Shade's shield shattered as Nova slammed him into the ground, crashing Shade hard on his stomach. He rose with a great deal of pain, but stood as if he felt nothing at all. Pure rage overpowered his feelings of physical injury.

Nova summoned his multiple energy orbs again, encircling Shade in a slowly spinning ring of the volatile spheres. Nova figured he had Shade trapped.

He'd obviously forgotten Shade can teleport.

Shade waited until Nova commanded the orbs to hurl towards their target and explode before he disappeared in a bright blue flash, appearing next to him and delivering a powerful kick to his side. Nova yelled as he was sent flying and skidding across the ground. Nova winced as he glared at Shade, who was giving a similar glare as he breathed heavily.

"Stay... Down..."

Nova refused, rising with an evident amount of difficulty. Soon he was charging at Shade again. Shade stood still and launched a telekinetic pulse wave, but Nova avoided the attack by teleporting into the air above Shade. Nova then grabbed him with his telekinesis, pulled him off the ground, and hurled him around himself as he spun in the air, throwing him forward.

Shade landed with a hard crash on the ground bouncing once before rolling across the grass a short distance. Nova slowly approached Shade, standing over him with a gloating grin.

But Shade wasn't done just yet.

Shade pulled one last trick by shining his light spell, blinding Nova momentarily. He used this small window to rise and hit Nova with another pulse wave, once again sending him flying back, tearing up grass with a rough skid across the ground. Shade wanted to hold him down with his telekinesis so he wouldn't start fighting again, but he was afraid he wouldn't let him go and do what he almost did a long time ago. So Shade only ordered him not to get back up.

"Stay. Down."

The burning rage and frustration that Shade's voice carried would've made anypony in their right mind carefully reconsider their current course of action. Nova obviously wasn't in his right mind. He rose to his hooves, grunted and winced from the pain, and stared Shade in the eyes defiantly.

"Never! I won't stop until you've lost everything like I did, when you ruined my life!"

Shade's irritation only continued to rise, along with his voice.

"WHAT THE HECK DID I DO TO RUIN YOUR LIFE? WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO MUCH?"

"YOU got me expelled from the most prestigious school in Canterlot! Do you have any idea what kind of humiliation I faced? My own FAMILY kicked me out of the house. I couldn't stay in Canterlot, so I moved to Manehattan with the money I had left, got a crappy apartment, and struggled to survive."

Shade was once again conflicted in his emotions. As much as he wanted to impale Nova right now, it was kinda sad hearing about the turn his life had taken since his expulsion. Still, there remained the fact that Nova didn't view himself responsible for any of it.

"You can't seriously blame ME for all of that. You got expelled because you tormented me for months. Did you really think you'd get away with that kind of behavior in that high-class of a school?"

"It doesn't matter anymore... All I knew was that I had to settle the score... One day, Shade, you will pay."

"So this is what you want? Just continue this pointless fighting until only one of us is standing?"

Nova flashed his villainous smirk, shaking his head and chuckling.

"All in due time... You'll continue breathing for now, but you'll be seeing much, much more of me..."

Nova backed away casually, though still wincing from pain, as golden energy started surrounding him, kicking up a small windstorm on the ground below.

"Until next time, Shade Vortex..."

And in a final flash of golden light, Nova was gone.

Shade was alone in the darkness. With his rage fully reaching its apex, Shade let everything out as he yelled at the top of his lungs into the nothingness around him, firing a massive blast of energy and scorching the earth in a blaze of azure fury. When he was done, he was breathing heavily and rapidly, his body aching and beads of sweat trickling down his face. He could think only of how much he wanted to hurt Nova, how angry he was that he could never seem to catch a break, and how afraid he was of the danger Fluttershy and everypony else was in now.

*Fluttershy...*

The realization quickly came to Shade. He needed to go back and make sure everything was alright. But he couldn't go back in the state he was in now, he still needed time to get his emotions together. So Shade sat alone on the grass as he attempted to clear his mind and calm his nerves. He decided he would check on Fluttershy as soon as he was ready to.
__________________

When Shade returned to Fluttershy's home through another portal, the scene was a bit different than when he left. For one, the broken furniture and decorations had been cleaned up, making that particular area of the living room seem a little empty. The second thing was that Fluttershy was absent. Jet was the only one present, and he was lying next to Fluttershy's bear, gently rubbing it's back. Both looked tired. When Jet saw him, he immediately noticed Shade was in pain.

"You're back... I was getting worried for a second there..."

"Where's Fluttershy?"

"She went to bed not too long ago. She's had quite a day. I stayed to make sure everything was okay, and in the meantime I tended to this big guy over here."

"I see... So everything's taken care of for now."

"Yeah... You look really hurt, bro... You okay?"

"Never."

"...And Nova?"

"He's gone for now... He told me I'd be seeing a lot more of him before he teleported away..."

Jet only nodded. He was glad to know both of them were still alive.

"I just can't believe all of this happened... It was such a good day at first..."

"That's how days like this usually start off. But hey, you can't blame yourself for what happened today."

Shade weakly chuckled.

"Fluttershy said the same thing..."

Jet stood and made his way over to Shade. He laid a reassuring hoof on his shoulder.

"She's right."

Jet walked past Shade and towards the front door. He opened it and stopped in the doorway, turning to Shade.

"You coming home?"

"I think I'll stay... Make sure everything stays alright."

"Alright then. See you tomorrow."

"...Jet, wait."

Jet stopped again, raising an eyebrow at Shade.

"...Who found out Nova was the thief?"

"Kae'lik, Judy, Zecora, and Bulk."

"Thanks. I'll have to ask them some questions later."

Jet nodded, then walked out and closed the door behind him. Shade was again alone, besides the bear of course. He took Jet's place beside it and resumed its back rub. Some time had passed before his heightened hearing heard faint hoofsteps upstairs.

*So she's still up...*

In time Fluttershy made her way downstairs. She was wearing a cyan robe and looked tired as well.

"...Hi..."

"Hey, Shy... You alright?"

"I'm okay... thanks to you..."

She came and sat beside him. Shade soon found it difficult to speak.

"I'm so sorry Fluttershy... I'm sorry I put you through all of this..."

Fluttershy put her foreleg around Shade.

"It's not your fault, Shade. Stop blaming yourself..."

Shade thought he had gotten all the emotions out of him earlier. His stinging eyes and the single tear trailing down his cheek said otherwise.

"...After all, we still had a nice time today, didn't we?"

Shade nodded, a smile fighting its way through his inner turmoil.

"Yeah... we did, didn't we?"

They sat smiling at each other, almost losing themselves in each other's eyes. But Shade's smile slowly faded away, and he turned away and resumed staring at the floor.

"Still... I'm... I'm worried, Shy... I really am..."

Once again, she drew him in close to her, hugging him gently.

"Everything will be okay..."

Surprisingly, her soft voice and warm embrace succeeded in calming him down a bit, even if just by a little. Shade let out a big sigh as he rested his head on her shoulder, and the gloriously comfy robe she was wearing.

"I hope so..."
_________________

TEK sat idly in their base as they awaited their next assignment. Mornings were always slow, but never this slow. Jet and Shade had informed them they had something for them to do, but they were beginning to wonder if there were any assignments at all. Jet and Shade weren't even there yet.

"Are they even coming? I mean we're just sitting here doing nothing."

Kae'lik just shrugged at Vinyl. Ditzy and Judy had busied themselves baking muffins in the kitchen, Zecora was reading, and Bulk was lifting weights as usual. Then, everyone's ears snapped when they heard the upstairs door open and hoofsteps following afterwards. Jet and Shade entered the base and everyone crowded into the central area to receive their assignment.

"There you guys are! So what's today's mission?"

Judy and everyone else eagerly awaited their answer.

"We have something for you guys to do, but it's not a mission."

All of TEK gave Jet a puzzled look. Jet stepped back while Shade stepped forward.

"So it has been brought to my attention that you discovered the identity of the thief a few months back..."

Suddenly, TEK's eagerness was replaced with a feeling of fear, and their perked ears flopped down. Judy gulped.

"...Now... tell me everything you know about Nova Orbit..."