Getting reacquainted

It had been a long time. At least it felt that way. The city was always busy, day or night, and it showed. The street corners he patrolled when he was in the City Guard looked the same, yet different ponies occupied its corners. The old tea shop Earl Grey ran was now owned by somepony else. His old friend Blue was no where to be found. The old diner that he took Peach Dream at a date on was now a Heybucks coffee shop. The restaurant next to the alley he took....her on a date to...was under a new name....

The memories of that mare....he quickly trotted on down the street. That was an old world to him. Back when he had a much more naive mind. The Royal Guard laughed to himself at the memories of the times he tried to take the law into his own hooves like some super hero, only to nearly be blown to bits once, and be beaten to near death several other times, one of which robbed him of an eye. He lost much trying to live that life. His job, his eye, and....her. So much had happened since then....

The Royal Guard Captain trotted down familiar streets, remembering a few old places and seeing plenty new. This used to be his route. Used to. Now it was another ponies route. Oh he had so many enemies back then. Now they were either irrelevant or in no position to challenge him. Having spent his years in the Royal Guard and becoming and officer had put him in a better place than he ever had been in before. Renny enjoyed the occasions where he could make his own calls and not be questioned. The scale and importance of his duties now dwarfed what little help he was back in the City Guard. He was far better off now.

He passed his former residence, the building looking a bit worse for the wear. Maybe the landladies still ran the place....Maybe he best not find out.

His life in the Royal guard was not what he originally thought it would be, but he had adapted to it much better now. He plenty good at being a guard, but ever since the buffalo incident he knew he could do more. Gradually he climbed up and ventured into intelligence and secretive services. Soon enough he got involved in the underground work of the Royal Guard and was made into a Captain. Less educated ponies would ask if that made him on par with His Majesty Shining Armor, but many would forget the difference between 'rank' and 'title'. There was so much more he could do with such a rank in the Royal Guard. Ponies doubted less. He could ask for more, and often he did. Not many would question the Royal Guard's activities, and he was more than willing to take full advantage of that. Whether it be undercover agents or detaining the yet proven guilty, the criminals would find their old tactics ineffective. There had to be order. Equestria and her interests were at stake more and more every day. He wouldn't let it fall victim like he did.

He arrived at his destination. An ally. The last place he was able to set two eyes upon. The Royal Guard Captain stared down the alley, his golden armor reflecting into the alley. Slowly walking down, he could see where he had laid on the ground, helpless and beaten to near death. He was a different pony then.....That little filly came to his rescue....The filly and her 'escort'.

Nameless. How long ago did he see her last? He smiled to himself at how excited she would get when he bought her ice cream. Vanilla was her favorite. He wondered if she was still a maid for that family.

"Times sure change...." The Royal Guard Captain turned his back on the alley. Maybe he should try one of the newer places for some food. That one where the old school house was looked alright.

Shadowfax patrolled the busy streets of her hometown, only complaining every few minutes or so. She didn't normally patrol city's streets, especially during that day at that,  but Manehatten was different for her. She knew these streets, grew up in the slums and was subjected to horrible influences and racists. However she didn't give in, but instead made it a goal to clean up this city and change a few lives for the better.

Thats why she was here to watch and protect, even in broad daylight mugging happened. She made her way into the Market area, usually filled with ponies and crooks looking to make a quick snatch but found it was surprisingly calm at this hour.  Sighing in relief, she scans a restaurant to take a quick break and get her fill before continuing onwards.  However something else caught her eye, a lone guard standing in golden armour and one she hadn't seen in along time. Moving quickly to the alley way he was emerging from, she gives a shout and gets his attention.

"Renny! It's been too long!" She grins even bigger and stops in front of him. "Well look at you! I'd heard they made you a captain, but didn't know if I was to believe it. Just don't let them put you behind a desk!"

She laughs and gives him a light punch on the shoulder. "Hows life been treating you?"

Renaultar turned sharply, bringing his eye about to see the new arrival. This batpony, he didn't recognise her, and knowingly did not address him by his rank. Perhaps....wait, he DID know her. His expression went from a mild frown to a smile.

"Corporal Shadowfax. Wow. I haven't seen you in a while." He leaned in to squint at her rank insignia in the darkened ally. "Inspector? Wow. You have gotten yourself into a respectable place." His eye was guarded, being respectable with where it looked at the lovely mare. Rather he admired her badge a bit.

Shadow pumps out her chest and stands a bit taller, allowing her prideful badge to glint in the sunlight. Though she didn't want to appear arrogant she had put in so much blood, sweat, and tears to get where she was today.

"Yup! Took a lot of work, but its totally worth it; got good hours, usually work alone, get interesting assignments, and great health insurance." She smiled, relaxing her pose and looked at Renny. She had also heard about his eye, but didn't mention it fearing it would bring up bad memories for her old friend. "We both started from the dump and look where we are now. What brings you here anyways?"

Renny wondered if it was that comparable that they started at the bottom. In a way, he felt a sense of superiority to most other employs since he joined the Royal Guard. He had put a lot of effort into that. Many aspects of his previous life now seemed....wasted.

"Work brings me here. Business of the Crown. I'm taking some time to see the old places again though. What are you doing? Surely you are not still walking the beat, are you?"

Shadow chuckled lightly and shrugged.

"Yeah, though not on orders. This place is still dangerous and the guard here aren't what they used to be." Shadow's stomach rumbles and she blushes, looking away and giving an embarrassed laugh.
"Er.. excuse me Renny, It's been awhile since I ate. If you're sticking around, would you like to get some lunch and catch up?"

There were plenty of places to eat at in the area, fast foods to cafes. Shadow herself was planning to get something light to last her for awhile, a sandwich and coffee or something else along that lines.

Renny seemed detached for a moment, eyes starring off as his mind wondered more and more. The Guard was not what it used to be here? It was already having its troubles and corruption. The reports must have been worse than he thought. Maybe even the Royal guard itself was affected in a few ways. More extreme measures were going to have to be taken. Measures that previously were not favored by the crown, but....

"...Who do you answer to again Inspector Shadow?" He met her eyes again, breaking from his mental process.

Shadow blinks at the sudden question changing the subject back into the older topic.

"Er, some higher ponies in EBI and Guard, I don't usually get their names or meet the directors except for a few cases where they wanted info traded face to face. But other than that my orders are sent down through command and given to me by a captain or in my work mail. Why the sudden interest?"

She locks eyes with him, trying to get a read on him through his facial expression. Something had put him into a deeper thought, and she doubted it had to do with lunch. The Renny she remembered seemed to have bigger interest in mares than his work, but he may be taking his new position more seriously now that he had some power.

Renny smiled. His eye began to wonder on her. "Well then, maybe we should go find us a place to eat. You know the streets better than I do now." He relaxed himself a bit, showing some of his old self, though he had some motivation. It was hard to find any useful ponies that weren't already in so many pies. He had something to gain here.

Shadow grinned back and give him a look, the sudden change to serious and back made her wonder but perhaps he was only curious. Nodding she lead him through the streets, stopping at a nice Cafe and approached the counter. Giving the overhanging menu a glance she selected a few items she thought would do fine.

"Coffee, black, no sugar, and a small sandwhich."

Pretty cliche. She turns and looks at Renny, raising a eyebrow.

"What about you? Who do you get orders from, or do they allow you to free rein?"

"Something like that. I'm not really at liberty to say...." He peered at the menu. "Hmm...I'll have a cobb sandwhich please."

He was not being too helpful giving Shadow incomplete answers, and he knew it, but he rather the conversation go elsewhere. "So, its been a while. Have you settled down? Find somepony? New hobbies?" He attempted to 'catch up' with her and repair any lost connections with her from all the time he was gone.

Shadow moves over to a seat, motioning for Renny to sit with her. The waiter would bring their food to the table in a minute. She laughed at his questions and shook her head.

"Me? I can't keep a hobby, compared to my job small things like that is boring. I've gone on a few dates, but haven't gotten into a real relationship in a long time. What about you? Last I remember you thought of yourself as a mare killer."

She grins and laughs again.

Renny smirked at her and leaned in on the table from his seat toward her. "Who said I still wasn't? I'm still in the game. Just been on....break. But I'm considering getting back into it right about now...." He gave her his customary mare killer smirk. Old habits die hard.

Shadow had a light blush appear on her checks and gave a Renny a smile. A waiter stops and sets down plates and drinks then returns back to the kitchens.

" Glad to see some of your charm is still in ya, for a bit I uou had me thinking you were all work and no fun."

She sips on her coffee,  the hot drink warming her and washing away tiredness she had. Sighing contentedly she looks at Renny.

"What got you out of your 'game'?"

"Work is rather important to me now. I was a bit of an idiot before....." He let his eyes unfocus bit as he pondered her question. That subject brought up a lot of emotions.

"....Well...I ran into this mare...." He sighed. "....She became my fiancee and then I lost my job, and her after..." He shrugged and busied himself with his sandwhich, not showing a hint of any more emotion than he was moments ago, as if it were simply trivial.

Shadow cringes and frowns, she plays with her sandwich embarrassed for bringing up the subject seeing it was a unhappy memory.

"Oh, sorry Renny. Didn't mean to bring up your unwanted past, but I never knew. I mean, I keep tabs on you, making sure you were doing good but I never got word you were... engaged.."

She takes a bite and swallows it down, letting silence fill the air for a bit. Unsure on what to talk about and not wanting to go deep into his engagement, she switches back to the topic of work.

"So how is your job? Up to anything important?"

Renny shrugged and waved his hoof at her reassuringly at her apologies. "No no. Its all said and done now. Thats nothing really. Sure it was a rough few years after that, but then I got in the Royal Guard. Lets just say that there is going to be a lot of big time cleaning up to do....What about your job?"

He was smooth with his words, not really showing much trouble at all about the subject, despite his earlier hesitations. There was perhaps more to his story, but the right questions were not asked. Rather, he seemed interested in Shadowfax more.

Shadow smiles seeing he wasn't too put off by the earlier topic and jumped into detailing her own.

"Lately I've been doing nothing, they send me a few leads and I go and clear them up easy as can be. They sent me here to investigate some murders, most of the targets killed in the same way and had some similarities that lead us to believe it was connected. I managed to find some possible targets, questioned them. Most of these had been 'borrowing' money from the local Mafia, and were being dealt with. DNA lead me to the killer and I got him locked up before anyone else got whacked."

She grunts and frowns.

"Only problem is, the Family still knows their names and will just send some more hitponies once this blows over. I requested a SWAT force to go in and take them down, but Manehatten declined, and my request to the EBI gave me some half assed reason about preventing guerrilla warfare on the streets."

Renny smirked. The wonders of a red tape and corrupt city. "Pity that you can get so close and do nothing....There is a lot going wrong with this city, and a lot bigger things too. But you have my curiosity. What kind of business are these ponies in? Does it happen to involve a lot of steel shipping?"

An oddly specific question for him to ask. The captain had a few interests of his own in the going ons here. Usually the city did not like to directly answer to the Royal Guard in 'sensitive matters' but Shadowfax here was a perfect chance to get in.

Shadowfax frowned and nodded, then sipped on some coffee. She was surprised he had known or was it just a good guess?

"Yeah, they involve themselves in that kind of work, smuggling of weapons, drugs, and of late some steel. Not normal for the Mafia, but I guess somepony wants it. How did you know about that anyways? I doubt you read it in a random report.."

Renny had to consider this now. He could get her in the loop, tell her a little bit and use her, or just leave it be....Perhaps he should get to know her more and make sure she was trustable.

"Hmm...Maybe...I'll tell you later...When we get more time to enjoy eachothers company. Hmmm?" He smirked at her with 'that' look.

Shadow blushes, seeing him give her 'that look'.

"Wait, you're staying around? And what does that mean exactly!? Are you... flirting with me?"

They had a 'thing' once, but that was a long time ago.

Renny chuckled and leaned toward her. "Maaaaaaaybe. I will be in town a while....Got a place?" He didn't care about being too forward. It was Renny afterall. "Don't tell me the gold makes you shy now."

Shadow blushes harder and giggled. She had nice suite in the better part of town, paid for by her work.

"Yeah I got a place uptown, im just surprised at this turn of events."

She smiled.

Renny happily went to eating his sandwhich, wanting to make it dissapear sooner rather than later. "Well then, you will have to tell me when you get off work. I do hope there is a piano somewhere over at your place too."