Author's Note

Once more, onto the breach, dear friends, once more.

Sorry about the long wait, lovely readers. Things have been difficult for me and my family lately, dealing with some losses that I would rather not go into details about for personal reasons and the fact that it's not my place to say.

Anyways with that out of the way, let's get this show on the road, shall we? 😈

The seeds of light

Rusty had just finished the fifth period after he dropped Sunset off in the nurse's office. He debated to see the fiery-haired girl check on her, but before he could, he stopped in the doorway to the class and saw a massive black wolf. By the looks of things, this wolf was much bigger than the one that helped haul Sunset to the nurse's office, this one being an alpha. A few students were in the hallways, paying no mind to the massive black wolf as it lay in front of them. Rusty looked at the students, unsure if they saw what he was seeing.

"Mr. Rails, if you don't need anything else for this class, hurry along to your next one." Miss. Harshwhinny said in her usual posh and formal way. She walked over to the doorway and looked out, seeing the students but missing the wolf as it yawned and stretched itself out. "Get to class before I start giving out detentions." She growled at the students as she walked back into her classroom. The wolf watched the teacher leave with a disapproving look in its eyes. Rusty decided to ignore the wolf and walked to the nurse's office. As he walked, the wolf stood and began to fall in line a few paces behind him.

Halfway down the hall, Rusty looked back and saw that the wolf was still following him. He grunted in slight irritation as he continued walking down the hallway towards his destination. Halfway there, he stopped and sighed.

"Why are you following me, and nobody else can see you?" He asked, looking at the wolf as he paused and scratched his ears. "Come on, I know you can understand me." The wolf looked him in the eye; his back rose and fell as if he was giving a light sigh. The wolf then looked around to see if they were the only ones in the hallway.

"I am not following you; I am merely going in the same direction and figured I would keep an eye out to make sure no one else is stupid enough to pull a stunt like earlier with you," The wolf spoke in a male voice, as he lowered himself down to look Rusty in the eyes. "And before you start freaking out, of course, I can talk young Rusty Rails."

Rusty's eyebrows raised at the wolf in suspicion. "How do you know my name, and who are you?" he asked, feeling more suspicious of the wolf. He didn't know what it was, but something about the wolf's eyes made Rusty think there was more to him than being a well-spoken wolf.

The wolf seemed to smile at the question. " I beg your pardon. I have misplaced my manners for a moment there." He said, straightening himself out and raising his right front paw over his chest as if he were doing a courtesy. " I am Sunset Shimmer's legal guardian, Moon Shadow, at your service."

Rusty blinked in confusion. " Moon Shadow, I've heard that name before," he said, trying to remember where he had heard it from. "You're the new superintendent, aren't you?"

"Indeed I am," Shadow smiled, nodding his head. "And I know of you, young Rusty Rails because you were the only one taking the Liberty of defending my ward. You have already met one of my shadow clones, and what he sees, I see." He walked around Rusty as if to inspect him. "How strange. it has been a long time since I've seen a heart as pure as this." He muttered to himself. " With the heart as pure and courageous, I would say this soul would be more like the paladins of old."

Rusty was more confused about how a wolf could be Superintendent Moon Shadow. He decided to save that question for later as he looked at the clock and saw it was almost time for the next class. "Crap, I'm going to be late." He muttered as he decided to forgo his trip to the nurse's office until the end of school. With that, Rusty hurried along to his next class, leaving behind Shadow, who looked on in fascination.

" Very interesting indeed," Shadow muttered, "perhaps with the help of this young lad, those seeds of the light I had planted will flourish and grow into something beautiful."

As Rusty sat through his last class, he could barely concentrate on his work. He kept looking out the window, a fiery-haired girl on his mind as the clock ticked on. The finale bell rang across the school as the hallways filled with the sound of students eager to escape the confines of their classes. Rusty calmly gathered his belongings with a specific target in mind to reach. As he neared the office, he noticed Shadow sitting in front of the door. Standing behind Shadow, he saw someone else was arguing with him.

"Shadow, I don't see why I should thank him when I saved him first." a girl's voice groaned as she stared down the black wolf, her arms crossed in defiance.

"I told you, it doesn't matter who saved whom first. What does matter is the fact is, he stepped in when he was under no obligation to do as such in the first place," Shadow sighed as he laid himself down to look her in the eye. " and I'm going to continue to sit here until you thank the young man for stepping in when he did. I can wait for eternity till you do, whereas you only have till the school closes for the night." he leaned in closer, giving her face a big lick, making her hair stand on end, and the girl he was arguing with looked on in disgust.

From behind them, Rusty cleared his throat awkwardly. "Is this a bad time, or should I come back later?" he asked, unsure of what was happening. Sunset sighed in relief as she tried to put her hair back in place.

"No, no. It's fine Rusty. I was wondering if Shadow was a Grogar spon or if he was secretly Discord in disguise." Sunset explained, looking at the wolf with detest. Shadow growled at the name with annoyance. He shook furiously as if to shake something off of him.

"Please never compare me to him again," Shadow snarled, his anger clearly showing. "I hate being compared to that old son of a chimera." Sunset looked at him with curiosity, finally getting her hair in place.

"How do you know about Discord?" She asked, looking at him with fascination. Shadow shook his head and looked behind him at Rusty. He squeezed over a little, allowing Rusty some space inside the office. Rusty nodded as he entered the office, squeezing through the doorway. Shadow looked back at Sunset, nodding to Rusty for her to say something. Sunset sighed, knowing she wouldn't get out of saying thank you to him. "Thanks for stepping in when you did Rusty," She said, "I appreciate it." She looked at Shadow with a look that said: "Are you happy now?"

Shadow nodded in approval as he watched on from the floor. He smiled as Rusty nodded in appreciation. "I only did what was the right thing to do." Rusty smiled nervously as he fidgeted with his shirt sleeves. Sunset smiled at him as she walked over to him and nodded to the door for him to follow. Rusty nodded as well he followed her out the door and Shadow stayed behind smiling at the two, knowing they would become good friends or perhaps even more given time.