The Four Broken Souls Of Atera.

by Sylif Daring Doo

Hope for the future.

______*Equestria, The Coastal city of Atera, two days later, 3:00 PM*______

The city was cold again, the autumn air mixed with the air of the sea made it especially cold, many Ateran citizens would tell you without a doubt that it was cold in the city well over half the year, with the warmest days being the summer, the others seasons were just cold.

It was days like this that made Shade thankful that he had thick fur and was currently inside, he wore a pair of black sweatpants, and a long sleeved black shirt.

Shade was working at his job and was stocking the shelves with canned goods, boxed goods, bagged goods and the occasional screwdriver or ink set, he placed a box of tissues on the shelves and looked at his box, he sighed in relief to see it was finally empty, he heard the stores entrance bell and heard two sets of footsteps, so either it was a pony, or it was two bipeds, either way he paid no mind as he made his way to the back room.

"Let's see, two packs of gum, three tissue boxes and four bags of paper cups, five gold bits and four silver bits." Came the voice of the cashier, a brown kangaroo male with dark blue eyes.

Shade paid it no mind as he entered the back room, it was a small storage area with a bunch of boxes, a small cubby for empty boxes and a few hangers for personal items, Shade never had to worry about leavings things here, because he never wore clothes with pockets to work and the most he would bring was a sandwich to eat later, the only exception was today because his pocketless clothes were still itchy and he wasn't wearing them to work, he set the box in the cubby and left the back room.

The store bell rang again and a voice called out. "Hey Shade! I'm here!" A male voice belonging to a unicorn.

Shade turned the corner and saw a dark brown unicorn with a black mane and tail, his eyes were yellow, he was the manager. "There you are, you can go home now, sorry I was late." The unicorn said.

Shade shrugged as he took off his work cap, it was dark green and had the Equestrian national symbol on it. "No problem, i need the extra money anyway." He said as he set his cap on the counter before walking to the front door. "See you next week." He said before walking out.

The cold air blasted Shade in the face, he didn't notice the cold as it didn't bother him anymore, he walked down Ursun street and headed for Taurus street, where he had agreed to meet with Karak, the demon wanted to talk to him about something, he passed by a few shops on the way and he noticed a few things in the window displays that intrigued him, one of them was a stack of cards, but it wasn't from the regular poker cards he knew, they were different, they had images on them of various creatures and objects, he eventually shrugged it off and went on his way.

Shade walked calmly through the streets, paying no mind to the cold and taking care to avoid bumping into anyone, he turned onto Midas street and kept on moving, he spotted a small crowd standing in front of a store and raised an eyebrow, he walked over to them to see what was going on, the crowd was by no means huge but was large enough that Shade couldn't see inside. "Excuse me." He said, getting the attention of a lion. "What's going on here?" He asked.

"It's an exclusive giveaway, the creator of Dungeon Arena is here today giving away exclusive cards!" The lion, a male said energetically. [1]

Shade raised an eyebrow and watched as one of each pony race, a griffon and a Minotaur left the shop. "Isn't the card shop on a different street?" He asked.

The line moved up by a large chunk and the lion spoke again. "There are multiple game shops in this district, this is the best one for Dungeon Arena." He answered.

Shade nodded in slight understanding, he looked up at the sun and thought about for a while before shrugging. 'Why not?' He told himself. "How long have you been in line?" He asked.

The lion tapped his chin in thought before speaking. "Well, the line started next to that corner over there." He said, pointing to the one Shade came from. "So that would be.......an hour?" He guessed. "Oh! I'm Joe by the way." He said, holding his hand out.

Shade shook the lions hand. "Shade, I'm going to guess this game is popular?" He asked.

The lion nodded. "Yea, it blasted dozens of classics out of the water in the first few months, and that was four years ago so I would say that it is either the number one or two game in the world." He explained.

After that Shade was silent, he waited in line for around twenty minutes and then met the creator of the game, a female fox named May Jin, he also got lucky with what he got, he was the last person to be give an exclusive card so he got two, one that they were giving away and another that was left over, she said that the last card was special and to take good care of it, he thanked her for the cards and then proceeded to buy an eighty card variety box to use and a small metal case, because what's the point of getting exclusive cards if you don't have cards to use for a deck?

So while Shade headed off to meet with Karak, he couldn't get the mental image of the cashiers face when he walked up to buy cards, the look of shock was burned into his mind and he couldn't help but chuckle at the memory.

Shade soon found Karak waiting for him at a table outside of a deli, he sat down and set the bag with the variety box in his lap, and kept his other hand on the small case he had in his pocket, which held the two cards.

"Your late, and you brought something, what is it?" Karak asked curiously.

Shade shrugged. "Something I picked up is all, so what did you want to talk to me about?" He asked.

"I talked to Seth yesterday, and she had quite a bit to say." Karak started.

Shade sighed. "Are we seriously back on her hating me for dating her sister?" He asked, hoping he was wrong.

Karak held a hand up and shook his head. "No, that isn't it, but it does have to do with Alice." He replied. "You are aware that rabbits feel emotions more deeply than most races right?" He asked.

Shade nodded. "I know that, why?" He wondered.

"Well, Seth told me that Alice has always had a hard time with emotions, she doesn't feel them as easily or as strongly but when she does, she holds on to that feeling with an iron grip." Karak stated. "So with Seth gone, you need to be careful not to make her feel alone, and while I know that you care about her, I think you need make sure she knows it without seeming possessive." He sighed and shook his head.

"Also, Seth wants you to know she is fine if you two have sex." Karak stated calmly and quietly.

Shade blinked and did a double take, but he decided not to say anything about it. "Was there anything else Seth wanted you to talk to me about?" He asked.

Karak nodded. "Yea, she wants to know immediately if you get Alice pregnant, so she can escape the detox center to kick your ass." He said in a deadpan tone.

Shade sighed and looked around before speaking. "And there's the warning, so is there anything YOU want to talk about?" He asked.

"Yea.....you up for pizza night?" He asked randomly.

Shade chuckled. "So long as your buying." He replied.

Karak grinned. "Good, because I was getting pizza regardless." He said before getting up. "Come on, let's get back so we can dictate what kind of pizza it is." He said with an evil laugh.

Shade grabbed the bag and got up, he followed Karak back to the house, as he walked he saw a lot of familiar faces from the Slums, including a few that he had to fight that fateful night.

'Time really flies, I do miss the Waterfall but so many good things have happened since then, Seth is getting better, Karak is back with Firefly and Syrin seems happy, and as angry as she was, Ren does seem happier now and I'm with Alice now.' Shade thought before looking at Karak.

"How is Firefly doing?" He asked the demon.

Karak turned around and walked backwards so he could talk to the Night Wolf. "She's doing good, we are still in the early stages of pregnancy, so it's too early to be sure how she will do." He turned around to walk forward.

"Have you ever helped anyone through a pregnancy before?" Shade asked.

Karak shivered. "Yea, all eight months, and it sucked, the mood swings, the hormones and hunger." He sighed. "Now I have to go through it again." He lamented, facepalming.

Shade chuckled a little, pitying the demon. "My condolences." He whispered.

One question did stick around in Shade's mind for the rest of the day. 'What is Firefly's baby going to be......and what am I going to do if Alice wants kids or gets pregnant?'

Shade found himself having very good reasons to be concerned, considering that Seth would probably punt him through a wall if he screwed up.