Golden Shadows

by Sylif Daring Doo

A strange newcomer.

_____*Ponyville, Night Frenzy and Roxanne's house, two days after signing Shadowbolt contract, 10:00 AM*_____

Night Frenzy sat with Roxanne and Umbrea in the living room, they were currently in the middle of a card game, but they were still talking. "So, Night Frenzy is the new captain, and Roxanne is the second in command?" Umbrea asked.

Night Frenzy nodded. "Pretty much." She said.

Umbrea snickered. "Well that's great." She said out of amusement.

Roxanne's eye twitched. "What does it matter to you who is in charge?" She asked with a growl.

Umbrea grinned and looked at the two. "Because you two will NEVER stop arguing now!" She teased.

Night Frenzy stifled a laugh while Roxanne growled. "Why is that funny?" Asked the half fox.

"Your arguments are hilarious!" Umbrea explained, Roxanne was about to jump over and strangle Umbrea, but she soon found herself laughing instead.

Umbrea joined her friend and Night Frenzy soon followed, the three of them just enjoying the joke.

A knock at the door interrupted the three, Roxanne stopped herself from laughing and walked to the door.

Roxanne opened the door and saw Gem standing there. "Hey Gem." She said.

Gem nodded. "Hey Rox." She replied, walking inside after Roxanne let her in.

"What's up Gem?" Night Frenzy asked.

Gem looked over and shrugged. "I was going to ask you if you've seen Sapphire lately." She said.

Night Frenzy shook her head. "No, me and Rox have been getting ready for our training." She said, she then looked at Umbrea.

Umbrea rolled her eyes. "Why would I have seen her?...we got into an argument remember?...we aren't on speaking terms." She reminded.

Gem nodded. "Well, if any of you see her, let her know I'm looking for her, I need to talk to her." She said. Heading for the door.

"Will do." Roxanne said.

After Gem left, Roxanne closed the door, she looked at Umbrea. "What was that argument about again?" She asked.

Umbrea groaned. "She was angry that I missed Shard's birthday, I told her that I wasn't able to go, and she still went off on me." She replied.

Night Frenzy grinned. "So, who was the mare?" She asked.

Umbrea scoffed. "First off, none of your damn business, second, it wasn't like that, I had a VERY important assignment, and I wasn't able to make it." She replied crossly.

Roxanne sat down. "Frenzy, why do you always tease Umbrea about that?.....we caught her in bed with a mare ONE time, and that was her marefriend!" She said.

Frenzy chuckled. "I know, but it's fun to tease her about that." She replied.

Umbrea grumbled. "You are so lucky I love you." She muttered.

"What was that?" Roxanne asked.

"Nothing!" Umbrea replied.

Night Frenzy crossed her arms. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened between you two?....you were a great couple." She asked.

Umbrea leaned back. "Rose and I grew apart, we just didn't love each other like we used too, that and she got tired of my shit." She answered calmly.

"Oh, right." Night Frenzy then quietly looked away.

______*a week later, Ponyville, 10:00 PM*_______

Umbrea and Night Frenzy were enjoying the evening together, they were also quite happy with what they did.

A showmare called Trixie showed up, she was simply going through her act and the crowd was enjoying it, however, three ponies and a dragon weren't too happy about the boasting.

Specifically, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity, however, Umbrea managed to grab them in her magical grip and teleport them and Night Frenzy away.

Together, the two explained in great detail to the mares just how out of line they were, saying that they had no right to interfere with a mares livelihood.

The three were still bitter, but when they were all teleported back, they didn't do anything.

And then later in the night, an Ursa Minor appeared, brought into town by two colts by the names of Snips and Snails, who truly believed that Trixie could defeat the beast.

As Trixie took cover, she happened to do so next to Twilight and Umbrea, she then confessed that she couldn't defeat it.

Thankfully, Star Shifter showed up and used his Magic, speeding up time for the beast until it fell asleep, he then had Trixie and Twilight help him to teleport it back to its home.

Apparently Trixie knew Star, they were old friends from years ago, in fact, it was Trixie who gave Apache the idea to perform a mind swap with her brother, and it was Star that helped Trixie get set on the road as a traveling showmare.

Trixie would have run off, had Star not offered to let her stay at his house until she was ready to leave town, she reluctantly accepted.

Umbrea smiled as she looked to her right, seeing the fruits of hers and Night Frenzy's labor, a fully repaired stage wagon, complete with protection wards and a weightlessness spell, so that it would be easy to pull, but it would not fly off in the wind.

Night Frenzy rolled over on the grass and looked at Umbrea. "Well that was fun." She said.

Umbrea looked at her friend and nodded. "Yea, it was." She rolled to her side and looked deep into the Thestrals eyes. "You know, there is a rumor about us." She mentioned.

Frenzy grinned. "What?" She asked.

"Someone started a rumor that me and you are an item." Umbrea replied quietly.

Frenzy winked. "Is that so bad?" She asked.

Umbrea thought on it for a moment, she smiled. "Na.....it isn't." She said.

The two then laid on their backs and looked up at the night sky, Umbrea laid her head right next to Night Frenzy's shoulder. "If you get any closer, we might just need a room." Frenzy said.

The two laid there for a few moments......then a couple of minutes past, and they started to chuckle, then stifle full on laughs, then all out laughter.

After the laughter subsided, Umbrea teleported them elsewhere, out of sight, and together.

______*a few days later*______

Umbrea walked through the town, it was oddly quiet in town as she walked, the most notable thing was that the streets were vacant, she raised an eyebrow at this, she noticed Twilight walking along, only to be brought over to a nearby building, by Pinkie.

Umbrea raised an eyebrow at this, she used to spell to turn invisible and used another spell to eavesdrop.

Through her spell, Umbrea learned that they were hiding from a cloaked figure called Zecora, who lives in the Everfree.

Umbrea rolled her eyes and uncloaked, she kept on walking and teleported across the street, going to speak with Zecora.

_____*inside the building*_____

Twilight could not believe what she was hearing from her friends and the townsfolk, she found herself wondering how this started, and if any of them had real evidence to base their suspicions on.

But once Applejack noticed that Apple Bloom was gone and that Umbrea was walking with Zecora, panic spread along with the fear that Umbrea was under a trance.

Twilight and her friends gave chase, trying to get Apple Bloom before something happened to her, all the while, Twilight to convince her friends that there was no such thing as a curse.

______*the Everfree Forest.*______

Twilight and her friends stood on the other end of a field of blue flowers, where Zecora gave them a warning before walking off with Umbrea, who simply waved to them.

"She doesn't look like she's in a trance." Twilight noted.

"Maybe that's what Zecora WANTS us to think!" Pinkie stated.

Twilight groaned as they started to leave, having retrieved Apple Bloom, deciding to go after Umbrea the next day.

______*The next day, The Everfree Forest*______

Umbrea was helping Zecora with her brew along with Apple Bloom who had arrived not long ago.

They were working on a cure for the poison joke, which the six mares had stepped in. "Do you think any of them aren't affected?" Umbrea asked.

Apple Bloom shook her head. "Unless Fluttershy could always speak in a deep bass voice on command, no." She replied.

Umbrea shrugged and walked up to the cauldron throwing some herbs in for Zecora. "I'm sorry that the town hides when you show up, I have no idea why they do that." She said.

Zecora shrugged. "It is alright, their fear is understandable." She replied. [1]

"So, how far behind were they?" Umbrea asked.

Apple Bloom blinked. "About a minute." She said.

Umbrea quickly threw up a barrier shielding the ingredients. "Three, two, one."

At the exact moment that Umbrea said one, the door was thrown open and the six mares were on the other side.

Umbrea walked up to the edge of the barrier and waited as Twilight tried to take it down.

Eventually, Umbrea rolled her eyes and lowered a small part of the barrier and suddenly she could hear the six mares. "Shut up!" She snapped.

Umbrea sighed. "Thank you." She looked at the mares and stifled a laugh at some of their appearances. "Ok, while this situation is bad for you girls, it's absolutely hilarious for me." She wiped a tear from her eye and calmed down. "Now look, we are getting a cure ready for the poison joke, those blue flowers you walked on, I would appreciate it if you remained calm and didn't tear the house down." She said as she lowered the barrier.

Twilight looked around Zecora's hut as the others did the same, she looked at Umbrea with an irritated expression. "Anything to get these five to be quiet." She muttered.

_____*a day later, Umbrea's house, 9:59 PM*_____

Umbrea sighed to herself as she looked outside to the night sky, while Zecora recieved an apology from the entire town, and Trixie had gotten herself settled in for a while in town, much to the annoyance of a few specific mares, Umbrea found herself missing her friends.

Since Roxanne and Night Frenzy were busy training and learning everything they needed to know, Umbrea had little company, especially with her mother out in Manehatten making a new life for herself, and with Grandpa Jotun dead, life was.....boring, sure Gem was around, but she barely ever saw her, and Sapphire wasn't talking to her.

"Man this town is boring." Umbrea said to herself as she looked away from the window.

Umbrea walked over to her desk and sat down, she began to work a little on her samples to pass the time.

It wasn't very well known, but Umbrea had a side job studying samples of flora, fauna and different soils, she then reported any findings from her experiments to the royal scientists in Canterlot, they then paid her a varying amount based on her findings.

Her public job was the chief of police, but there was rarely any crime in town, so she was more or less on her own other than one other officer and the jailor, besides, the townsfolk usually resolved things themselves, so it was rare for there to be an incident unless it involved complaints about Pinkie's party cannon.

Umbrea kept on working for a couple hours, around midnight, Umbrea leaned back in her chair and sighed as she rubbed her eyes, she looked to her right and saw a photo, she reached over and grabbed it, she smiled as she looked at the picture.

It was from five years ago, when they all were best friends, when nothing seperated them aside from where they lived, no cares, no ties, no responsibility.

Gem and Roxanne were on the left, Sapphire was sitting in front of them, Night Frenzy was off to the right, away from everyone else, and Umbrea was standing next to Roxanne.

"Ahh.....those were the days." She whispered.

Umbrea put the picture back, and then she lost herself in thought for a few moments, she looked down at a drawer, it was covered in dust from neglect, and it had a padlock on it, she often thought about that drawer, and what was inside, she took the key from a hidden compartment in the wall behind her lamp, and unlocked the padlock, she looked inside the drawer and saw only two items, a dark red stone with black lines, it was hot to the touch, but it did not burn, and another photo.

Umbrea took the photo and cleared the dust off, she then looked at the photo intently.

There were six complete strangers on the photo, and four were of a species Umbrea did not know, two of them resembled wolves, one resembled a bear, and one resembled a fox, but they stood upright like Minotaurs, there was also a Pegasus filly and a dragon baby.

The wolf on the far right was black and white, with piercing green eyes, it had no weapons and seemed bored.

The bear next to it held a massive hammer, and was golden brown in color, it had black pits for eyes and had a blank expression.

The fox was white with faded red patches along its body, it held two swords in its claws and had bright Amber eyes, it appeared to be grinning.

The pegasus filly was pink furred and had blue hair, her body seemed to be sparking with lightning and her eyes were blue, the strangest thing was that she seemed to have canine features, like a dog tail, fangs and ears.

The dragon was strangely similar to Spike, it's scales were orange, it's spines were dark blue but were jagged, it's eyes were light blue and it was grinning.

The wolf at the end was by far the creepiest, as it was incredibly familiar, it was pure white, it's eyes were cyan with red sclera, it had two swords on its back and held a sword that was similar in color to the stone in her drawer, it's expression with that of a smirk.

Umbrea found the white wolf the creepiest, for one reason in particular, it resembled her with such accuracy, that the only difference was species.

Umbrea shivered and quickly locked the photo and the stone back up, she got up from her desk, and walked to her bed, she laid back and sighed. "Where did those things even come from?" She asked herself.

______*meanwhile*_______

Night Frenzy looked out into the night sky and sighed, she looked back and saw Spitfire standing behind her. "Captain, what's up?" She asked.

Spitfire walked up, for once, she wasn't in uniform, which was rare on base, even rarer when in town or in city's. "I could ask you the same thing.....captain." She replied, with some not so subtle barbs in there.

Frenzy chuckled and looked back to the sky. "You can calm down with the hatred Spitfire, I'm not your enemy, if anything, I'm basically just a nocturnal version of you." She joked.

Spitfire looked out to the sky. "We are nothing alike." She replied.

"Aren't we?" Frenzy looked at Spitfire. "We're both orphans, we both fly, we both lead a team, and we were both chosen over dozens of others for our jobs." She finished.

Spitfire gave Night Frenzy an angered glare. "How the hell do you know about that?" She asked quietly.

Night Frenzy grinned and walked up to Spitfire's side. "Don't give me that shit, you know as well as I do that you and I, as well as the other military leaders, have full access to the personnel files, I wouldn't doubt it if you knew the story of every single Wonderbolt, and mine, as well as Roxanne." She looked at Spitfire with a grin. "Besides, I only read your file just tonight, and I kept it to myself, but if me and you are going to work together, we need to know the other." She started to walk off.

Spitfire watched as the Shadowbolt left. "Another thing we have in common captain, is that we look good in those suits, and we don't take shit from politicians." The Thestral joked before flying off.

Spitfire shook her head and sighed. "Annoying." She muttered before flying away.

_____*somewhere else entirely.*_____

"Reality bending, fabric of time and space seperating, form materializing, adjusting to climate, adjusting to light, calculating trajectory, landing site designated, lesser life forms detected in a five mile radius, translating language, activating stealth, scanning for settlements and cities......scanning.......five minor settlements detected, three cities detected, translating names, discovered primary routes to locations, scanning for currency, currency identified, scanning for weapons, weapons detected, no danger, cannot pierce armor, landing in 5.....4.....3....2....1."

Unbeknownst to the population of Equestria, an invisible vessel landed in the open plains, piloted by an unknown lifeform.

A ramp lowered from the vessel, and a figure stepped out, it was made entirely out of a strange substance that appeared to be metal, it was at least eight feet tall, with a moderate build.

"Scan for anomaly, S class." A deep mechanical voice ordered.

"Scanning, please stand by." A lighter mechanical voice said.

The figure stopped moving and the front of it opened to reveal a brown wolf like creature with golden mist in place of eyes, it looked at its figure and scowled. "I cannot believe that I have to stoop so low as to become this......thing, to search for her, she will pay for this." It said, clearly female in tone.

"Scanning......eight anomalies detected, extreme caution is advised." The voice said.

The creature eyes went wide, then they calmed down. "It must be residue, leftover power, scan for larger anomalies, leave anything with less then ten S particals out." It ordered.

"Scanning......two anomalies detected." The voice stated.

The creature then stood still as something materialized on its back, it looked like a regular travel pack, but it was much heavier, then a vizor appeared on its face, covering it's eyes. "Displaying route to anomalies." The voice said.

The creature examined the routes and noticed immediately that there were only two, and that each path led to one of the anomalies.

The creature began to walk along one of the routes, turning invisible as it did so. "Current course destination.....Canterlot, capital of the Equestrain nation." The voice said.

"Continue to provide information and remain discreet, keep this line of communication open regardless if I tell you to leave the planet." The creature ordered.

"Yes ma'am." The voice said.

The creature continued walking, caring little of anything other than its mission. "If you thought you could just leave, you were wrong Lyaroa." It thought to itself.

Author's Note:

[1] Screw the arduous task of coming up with rhymes, I'll leave that to the determined people.

Hey everyone, it's me again......then again, who else would it be?

Anyhow, I'm not going to pretend that some people think that this universe is old and overused by now, but hey that's their opinion.

I was planning a finale story for this universe anyway, so why not have some fun and leave a cliffhanger for everyone?

Anyway, as always, See You Next Time!