Twilight Shadows

Chapter 17

**Hi guys, it's the author, and some of my readers have been questioning about the difference between Shadows and Twilights. Well, here's the difference...

Twilights have wings, but cannot shape-shift. Shadows can shape-shift, but don't have wings.**

Noah stared at me blankly. "Your wings?" I turned away from him and nodded. "Show me."

I summoned my wings, and felt the familiar tingling sensation of feathery wings sprouting from my back. I lifted my right hand and stroked the wound gently. Even through my shiny black feathers, I could see the silvery blood stains.

"Silver..." Noah murmured. "Interesting." Before he could say anything else, I folded my wings and they disappeared.

"What's so... interesting about silver..." I shuddered. "Blood?"

"Silver blood is extremely rare." Noah's face darkened. "And it's usually not a good sign... Unless you're born from the royals. Well, that's not necessarily true either... A royal's blood is usually gold, not silver." Noah sighed. "I don't know, Steph, I don't know..."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Joshua watching and listening to our conversation, his eyes narrowing.

"Why is silver blood not good?" I asked curiously.

"I... can't say, Steph. I'm not sure, but what I'm thinking is highly dangerous for you to know about. It's for your own good to not know." Noah looked away.

"I can take care of myself. I already TOLD you." I said, trying to play it cool and not lose my temper. "If it's so important and dangerous, then I deserve the right to know. And it's about me. So, I definitely deserve to know. 'You can't keep it a secret forever'..." I smirked. "Sound familiar? I will know sooner or later, although I prefer sooner."

Noah looked back at me, and scanned me with his eyes. I heard something like "Silver..." before he turned and walked away. By this time, I was getting pretty angry.

"FINE THEN, HAVE IT YOUR WAY!" I yelled over my shoulder at Noah as I walked away into the dark woods. I stomped through the underbrush, not bothering to keep my footsteps silent. I released Nightmare because she always helped me through difficult situations like this.

"Hey girlie..." I stroked her scaly back, since that always calmed me down. "Who really am I?"

Nightmare looked up at me, her big round eyes reflecting my face. I stopped walking. A chill went down my back as I reached a small waterfall, with small flowers growing around the pond that the waterfall flowed into. The sight itself was amazing, but what really made me gasp in awe was the unicorn that was perched on top of a rock by the waterfall.

"Nightmare... is that... a unicorn?" I asked, shocked. Nightmare trotted over to the unicorn. I never realized that Nightmare was already as big as a full grown horse. With Nightmare and the unicorn in the same place, it felt really magical.

Nightmare and the unicorn touched noses (I guess that's how mystical animals greet each other) and the unicorn began stomping its foot and snorting. I walked over cautiously.

The unicorn stopped stomping and looked at me. Its gleaming white pelt reflected the moonlight. I just realized that it was already nighttime. It shook its mane and whinnied. I walked over to Nightmare and stood in front of the unicorn. 

I held out my hand and held my breath. The unicorn took a step closer to me and nuzzled my outstretched hand. With my other hand, I reached over and stroked its mane. It was soft and light, like a moonlight's rays. The unicorn itself was lean and strong, and had a kind look in its eyes.

I withdrew my hands and looked at them in shock. They were covered in silver powder, probably from the unicorn.

"You... produce silver powder?" I asked, full of wonder. The unicorn whinnied softly and nodded. "Amazing..."

Then Nightmare started making growling noises and snorts. It appeared as if Nightmare was talking to the unicorn. After a few moments of both mystical animals whinnying and snorting, Nightmare turned her attention back to me.

I felt the world spinning out of view again as I looked into her eyes.

~💖~  

My vision came back after a few moments. I was looking through the past in Nightmare's eyes again. This time, I was looking at the unicorn, and touched noses with it.

Oh, I realized. This was pretty recent.

Then the "other me" walked over, hunched and cautiously making her way. I turned back to the unicorn. Suddenly, I spoke as Nightmare.

"Hi there..." I spoke. "Are you a hybrid breed of the Moonlight Unicorns?"

I expected the unicorn to whinny, but it spoke just fine. "Indeed I am... To be more precise, a crossbreed between the Moonlight Unicorns and the Dark Dawn Unicorns. They're quite different from each other in a few ways... Complete opposites, if you ask me. I'm Dawnlight. Oh, and, who's that mortal?"

"Mortal?" I asked. "Who?"

"The one making her way towards us, obviously. They must think we're runaway horses."

"Oh, that one."

"Yep."

"She's my friend. I actually bonded with her. Well, she's not a mortal either. She's a Twilight..."

"A Twilight? That's extremely rare."

"Agreed."

"You're lucky to have such a nice bond with a Twilight."

By this time, I was thinking that a conversation between two mystical animals was indeed very awkward. Well, they've never met before so that's reasonable.

"Anyways..." The Nightmare-me said. "You should meet her."

Just as I finished speaking that, the "other me" put out her hand and Dawnlight nuzzled the "other me", and she stroked Dawnlight's mane. Then, she took her hands back and stared at them in wonder.

Nightmare (um, I) spoke again. "Aren't breeding two different unicorns from different Clans illegal?"

"Well, yeah... That's why I've been moving around the country rapidly lately." Dawnlight said. "The council of Horned Elders have heard of me, and are constantly on a watch for a silvery unicorn... *cough, cough* me *cough, cough*."

I took a moment to take this information in. An illegal breed... I thought. Is that who I am? Is that why Noah couldn't say anything about it?

Abruptly, the vision ended.

~💖~  

I found myself on my knees before Nightmare who was looking down at me.

"Thanks, girl..." I shuddered, recovering from my thoughts. "Half-breeds... Why are they illegal? What have they ever done?" Nightmare looked down at me sadly, as if to say, You don't know, do you... I shook my head.

"Please show me, if you could..." I said. Dawnlight whinnied and I looked at her. She tossed her mane and her horn glowed with a silvery-blue aura. Next thing I knew, she pointed her horn at me and an electrical blue beam shot me.

It felt like the same thing Nightmare would've done to show me something from the past.

The world was spinning out of view again, and I closed my eyes.