Starting Over 3: Return Of Spectra

Ed was recounting his stay at Vinyl's Club to Spectra and Rose as they walked to the Cloud House. He explained that this morning he accidently walked in on Vinyl and Octavia having sex and they kicked him out. Vinyl wanted him to stay because she understood it was an accident, but Octavia was very angry with him. When they reached the Cloud House, Ed look to Spectra and smiled.

"I'll be on my way, today."

Spectra nodded. "Where you off to?"

Ed turned and faced the direction to Ponyville.

"Austhaylia. Heard it's one of the best places to begin life. Gunna board the train in a few minutes. Take care, my man."

Ed's horn glowed purple and his bags appeared next to him. He picked them up and hauled them into town with him on his way to the train. Spectra smiled and flew up to the house with Rose by his side. When he got inside Sparks flew over to his perch and sat down. Rose ran into her room when Rainbow came in from the bedroom. She kissed Spectra and gave him a hug.

"How's my all powerful pirate?"

Spectra chuckled and sighed.

"I'm not all powerful, silly filly."

Rainbow let go of him and smiled.

"Well, if you are in harmony with Dark-Red and can control him, wouldn't that make you powerful?"

Spectra stared at her for a moment then grew a grin.

"I guess so. Spectra The All Powerful sounds nice."

Rainbow frowned. "Don't turn into Trixie, now."

Spectra cocked his head to the side in confusion. Rainbow waved a dismissive hoof.

"Don't worry. Anyway, I'm going back to bed. Be awake soon."

Rainbow walked back into her bedroom, swishing her tail side to side the entire walk. Spectra laughed at the sight. He turned to Sparks and looked up at him. Sparks looked down to him with curiosity.

"What now?"

Sparks shrugged and started preening his lightning bolt feathers. Spectra decided to hang out with Rose for a bit. He walked into her room and saw her sitting down playing with her Spitfire plushie. Spectra smiled and sat next to her on the floor.

-----Everfree Castle, Midnight-----

Shadow and Aeb were moving furniture and decorations around with their magic to try and make the place more likeable. Aeb had turned into a unicorn so he inherited some magic. Shadow was placing a giant poster up on the back wall of the upper floor when Aeb walked in.

"Okay, I finished putting the couch down that Spectra bought me. It's really comfy. What's that?"

Shadow waved a hoof, not breaking his focus.

"Hang on. It's almost up, mate."

Shadow raised the poster onto the wall and attached it. Aeb looked in awe. The poster was Spectra on the left with his eye patch, behind him was Rainbow and her friends, cheering him on. Spectra was looking smugly at Cruor, who's half of the poster was dark and had a Darkane army behind him. Cruor was staring at Spectra with hate in his eyes. Aeb turned his head to Shadow, who was admiring his work.

"I could've done better I think."

Aeb laughed and lightly punched Shadow.

"It's amazing, mate. I love it."

Shadow smiled and looked to Aeb.

"Cheers, mate."

"Excuse us. We are lost."

Shadow sighed and turned to the visitor.

"Spetsnaz, how could you get lost twi-"

Shadow looked at who it was, as did Aeb. Three ponies, one pegasus, one unicorn and one earth we're wearing black capes and had daggers by their sides. Each had a grey mane, black coat and dark red eyes. Shadow took a fighting stance in front of Aeb.

"Who are you?"

The pegasus stepped forward and cleared his throat.

"We are the Umbra Triad."

-----Ponyville, Twilight's Library-----

Spectra and Rose got bored, so they decided to head down to the library to get some studying down. Twilight said that she would give Spectra a test that would determine if he was ready to become an Archaeologist yet in a few weeks time. Spectra grabbed some books and went upstairs and begun reading. Rose stayed downstairs and was playing with Sparks. Spectra told him to stay home, but Rose noticed that he followed them. After a while, Shadow and Aeb ran into the library, panting. Twilight walked up to them with a curious look.

"What's up?"

Shadow could barely breathe. "The *pant* Blood Hunter's *pant* and the Umbra *pant* Triad are fighting!"

"THE WHAT!?!"

Nitro ran downstairs from his room and smashed into Shadow.

"The Umbra Triad!? King Cruor's team of professional assassin's!?"

"KING WHO!?!"

Spectra also ran downstairs and smashed into Shadow, Nitro and Aeb, forcing them out the door and into the streets of Ponyville. Standing in the middle of the street were the Umbra Triad and the Blood Hunter's, both glaring at each other. Nitro shook his head.

"Why on Equestria did you bring THEM here, Shadow!?"

Shadow cringed at the volume of his voice. "Well...."

-----A Few Minutes Ago-----

"We are the Umbra Triad."

Shadow shook his head in confusion and took a step forward.

"What? So what? You're breaking into my friends castle!"

The pegasus leader huffed and looked around.

"Do you have permission to own this place, Aeb?"

Shadow and Aeb looked shocked.

"Yes, he does. From Princess Luna herself. And how do you know his name?"

The unicorn laughed and stepped forward.

"Oh, we know quite a lot about your friends, Shadow Nova. Or should we call you Kaor?"

Shadow growled and got into a predatory stance.

"What do you want?"

The earth pony stepped forward and the Triad were lined up.

"We are looking for the one known as 'Spectra Speed'."

Shadow growled and made his horn glow. The unicorn laughed.

"Your aura. The aura of darkness...you will be important..."

Shadow stopped his horn glowing and looked at the unicorn ferociously.

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

The unicorn coughed and tried looking innocent.

"Um, what's what supposed to mean?"

The earth pony raised a hoof in front of the unicorn.

"Enough, Delta. We're looking for Spectra to serve him. He overruled our king. We must now serve him. All hail Spectra Speed, The Darkane King!"

-----Ponyville, Present-----

Spectra stared at Shadow with his jaw on the floor. Spectra grabbed Shadow by the shoulder's and shook him.

"KING OF THE DARKANE!?"

The Triad heard Spectra's shout and turned to him with a smile.

"Master! We found you!"

The Triad were about to run over to their new master, before a crossbow bolt landed in front of them. They looked over to the Blood Hunter's and saw Dead Shot's crossbow smoking.

"I don't miss twice, mate. Ever. Ya here and ya fightin' us, alright mate?"

The Triad move back and face the Hunter's with bravery. Spetsnaz put his hooves up offensively, Charger was digging at the ground, Loki had an insane look on his face while juggling a single stick of unlit dynamite, Brain Teaser was next to Spectra, Shadow and Aeb, Dead was loading another shot and Edge was on his hind legs with both his swords in both hooves. Spectra was utterly perplexed at how he was doing that. Spectra leans in closer to Brain.

"How's Edge on his hind legs?"

Brain laughed. "His stupid tail, that's how."

Spectra looked to Edge's tail and saw that it was a huge knot at the end, balancing Edge out. Preventing him from falling.

"Why are the Hunter's fighting the Triad?"

Brain growled a little. "The number one most wanted group of assassin's in Equestria, Spectra."

Spectra raised an eyebrow. "So, you want the bounty?"

Brain smiled evilly. "Never forget, Spectra. We are not heroes. We are not bad guys. We..."

Brain looked to Spectra with pride. "...are Bounty Hunter's!"

Spectra chuckled and had a realization. A fight between these two clans would be catastrophic to the surrounding town. Spectra ran out between the two groups.

"Stop! You'll destroy Ponyville!"

The Hunter's clearly didn't show signs of interest. Spectra turned to the Triad.

"I command you not to fight!"

The Triad leader shook his head.

"Apologies, master. But if they attack us, we will defend ourselves."

The Hunter's all laughed and Edge aimed a sword at the pegasus who talked.

"You betcha! Hunter's, ATTACK!"

The Hunter's all charged forward, as did the Triad. Spectra looked to the Triad then the Hunter's. Both clearly not letting up. Spectra growled and his right eye glowed underneath the eye patch.

"I said STOP!!!"

Spectra smashed his hooves down, creating a barrier between the two groups. They stopped charging and looked terrified of Spectra.

"When I let this shield down, you will NOT fight! You hear me!?"

Both groups nodded. Spectra's eye stopped glowing and the barrier was lowered. Spectra sighed and looked to the Blood Hunter's.

"You have no reason to be here. Leave Ponyville."

Edge went back on his four's and looked angrily at Spectra.

"What!? We helped you save Equestria!"

"And we're thankful. But for now, in the words of Dark-Red, fuck off!"

Edge backed off a bit and turned to Spetsnaz.

"What now, boss?"

Spetsnaz looked serious for a time, before grinning.

"Spectra's right. We have no business here. Hunter's, let's go."

The Hunters walked off in a direction out of Ponyville. Spectra smiled and looked to the Library. Brain was talking to Twilight about something. Twilight blushed and closed her eyes. Spectra saw Brain look left and right before kissing Twilight on the cheek and running off to join the Hunters. As Brain passed Spectra, he saw Brain wink at him. Spectra remembered those words that Brain said.

"Never forget, Spectra. We are not heroes. We are not bad guys. We are Bounty Hunters!"

Spectra smiled and looked to the Triad, who were bowing down before Spectra.

"Your power is amazing, master! Orders?"

Spectra hummed in thought before pointing at the Triad.

"I want you to do a perimeter check twice a week. I want to know what's getting into Ponyville and what's getting out."

The pegasus bowed his head and the Triad rose to their feet.

"Yes, master."

Spectra saw the Triad turn around and run towards the Everfree Forest at amazing speeds. Spectra shrugged and looked unimpressed.

"I can go Mach 10. Beat that."

Spectra walked towards the library and casually walked back into his room to begin reading. Nitro, Shadow and Aeb looked confused while Twilight was still blushing.

"A stallion....kissed me...."

Shadow and Aeb snickered and headed towards the Everfree Forest.

"Later, guys. We need to complete Aeb's castle."

Nitro poked Twilight, trying to get her attention. She looked to be in a trance.

"Twilight?"

"A stallion...oh, huh? Nitro? What? Spectra? Hunters?"

Nitro laughed and nudged her back inside her library.

"I'll explain inside."

-----Everfree Forest-----

Shadow and Aeb were walking towards the castle Aeb officially owned as his home, talking about food.

"Pyronine was de-lish! Too bad they went extinct. What do Changeling's eat?"

Aeb shrugged. "Mostly love, but we can feed on bugs and meat sometimes."

A cough and a moan reverberated through the forest. Shadow's ears perked up, while Aeb looked terrified.

"I've lived here long enough to pick up some tricks. Somepony there?!"

Another cough. Shadow turned his attention to the bush on the path. He cautiously walked up to it and used his magic to push it to the sides. Behind the bush was a young colt, about Rose's age, covered in blood and cuts from the thorns of the bush. But something was off about him. Shadow turned to Aeb with a confused look.

"I don't believe it. It's a Darkane foal."