//------------------------------// // Chapter 21: Paradise // Story: Worth Less Than a Fly // by nightshade745 //------------------------------// Hours of brainstorming...5 days...7 rough drafts...5 scenarios...over 25,000 words...and a few MLP episodes later, we get this! A character I wasn't planning to introduce for several more chapters is here to help fix the problem. The situation? I changed the outcome of Fluttershy and Twilight's conversation (you won't have to go back to understand what changed). In order for future plans to work I needed: A)Twilight keep Shadaico a secret from Celestia, or B)Something keeps Celestia from going out and trying to kill/capture him. It wasn't easy, but I think I've got something that keeps everyone in character and progresses the story...a lot... Celestia, Shining Armor, and a strong brown workhorse sat at a small round table in a random room. The table was covered in the original blueprints of Canterlot Castle! They were pretty old, but the care they'd been maintained with guaranteed they'd last many years to come. The workhorse found the plans fascinating, and important. He'd need them if he was to repair the damage to the castle. Shining was there to keep him from bringing in an army of workers and swarming the castle in civilians under the guise of repairing the roof. Shining might have been a little paranoid that some of them would have ideas other than repairing the castle. Celestia wasn't as worried about other ponies as she was about the wolf. It had been the only thing on her mind. It was nearing the end of the day after the attack and she hadn't slept in almost 36 hours. Celestia kept drifting into her own thoughts while Shining and the workhorse negotiated a balance of speed, security, and workers. Celestia had assured them at the start that as long as it got done in a year, she would be fine with it. Going on those assumptions, Shining was trying to keep as many workers out of the castle as possible, maintain a huge security force, and delay the completion for almost that full time span. While the workhorse was taking the opposite approach. He wanted to finish repairs in record time by brining in his entire build team! Said plan, would mean little security of course. The two kept bargaining and lowering their demands. The workhorse wanted to impress Celestia, but he did not want to make the good captain angry with him. Shining Armor found his respect just a tad lacking, but he was eager to please. He may have asked Celestia why she wasn't participating in the discussion very much, but that could get awkward with the workhorse there. Fortune was on Shining's side as they suddenly came to an agreement. It was inevitable they would reach common ground with them both giving in to the other in small increments, but it was no less appreciated. The workhorse left, slightly disappointed that his repair efforts were set to be finished in about two months. Shining was about to consult Celestia when a guard from the hall interrupted. "Princess, you have a visitor." "Please send them in," Celestia almost seemed like she didn't want to talk to Shining. He grumbled to himself as he waited for this visitor to arrive. As soon as her business was done, he needed to have a talk with Celestia. When a pretty and young looking unicorn walked through the door, he scowled. She had a bright pink coat with no imperfections that was neatly brushed. Her mane was a lush blond that was curled into two cones that dangle on each side of her head. Her eyes were sky blue and she wore a large smile. She had a few freckles on her cheeks and a merry skip to her step. She wasn't wearing anything except a simple crystal earing on her right ear. When she came a little closer, Shining found her cutie mark confusing. It looked like a diagram of three sound waves stacked on-top of each other. Celestia stared at the mare with her mouth hanging open more and more as she neared. "P-Paradise?" The mare showed her perfect teeth as her face curled up into a huge grin. "It's been a while." The mare lunged at Celestia, making Shining jump. When he realized they were embraced in a powerful hug, he was dumbfounded. Who was this mare? "I don't mean to interrupt, but...who is she?" They slowly untangled from each other with slight blushes on their faces. "My name is Paradise," she greeted him. Celestia gave Shining a proper introduction. "This is Shining Armor, a captain of the Royal Guard," she praised. "Ooh, a captain! It's nice to meet you Mr. Armor." "I would say its a pleasure to meet you, but I don't know anything about you I'm afraid." Shining was trying to be friendly, but he was too confused to think straight. When was the last time he saw Celestia hug anypony? "Of course you wouldn't know little old me." She looked at Celestia with a narrow eye, "its not like I'm in a history book or anything." Celestia frowned, "history books aren't specific about the role you played I'm afraid." "WHAT?! What are you saying Celestia?" Paradise demanded. "Well, history books go through many rewrites and changes. Somewhere along the way, you might have been cut from the pages," Celestia explained with sad eyes. Paradise was stunned. "After all I did for the Crystal Empire...and they just leave me out?" Shining jumped in, "whoa whoa, what's this about the Crystal Empire?" Celestia too had a sudden revelation. "Paradise, the empire's curse has been lifted for months. Yet, you only came back now? Why did you take so long?" "What does she have to do with the Crystal Empire?" Shining asked again. Paradise seemed to ignore him. "I was left without my memories like the rest of the Crystal Ponies. After I got my memories back, I decided to learn everything I could on my own first. I visited a few places and tried to learn what happened after the Empire...fell." She seemed to hate saying that. "While on one of my trips, I heard about what happened here. I came to the conclusion you'd need me again." "Its so good to see you again Paradise, but how can I send you back into service this soon. I haven't seen you in a thousand years! There's so much we need to talk about." Celestia's voice radiated old memories. "Your kingdom should come first, Celestia," the mare was touched, but still scolded Celestia. "Who are you?" Shining tried again slightly louder than before. She turned towards him and smiled, "I'm sorry, what was that?" "Who are you?" he was now thoroughly frustrated. "I already told you, my name is Paradise. Just a simple mare living a simple life." Celestia actually giggled at her teasing. "That's enough Paradise. Tell him a little about yourself." She huffed like a filly would when their mother had told them to clean their room. "I am Paradise, ex-Special Forces of the Equestrian Royal Army. I was a master spy, agent, and assassin." Shining's jaw dropped, this cute little mare was an assassin?! She giggled at him and tried to cover her mouth. She continued, "I helped take down Discord and King Sombra." She paused as her demeanor seemed to darken. "But when Sombra was sealed away, I was still in the city. His curse caught me off guard." "You were an assassin?" Shining had finally registered that fact. "Often called the best," she chirped. "You fought Discord?!" "I confronted him three times, including at the theater where he was defeated." She seemed generally ignorant of how amazing a story she was telling. "You fought King Sombra a thousand years ago?!" Shining was still in awe. "I didn't really fight him," she hummed. "It was my job to gather intelligence on his plans and then assassinate him." "Your......a legend." Shining shook his head quickly, "if all that's true." Celestia smiled, "it is." Shining slipped right back into shock at that. "Your a captain of the royal guard, surely you've done some impressive things in your time," Paradise encouraged him honestly. Celestia rushed to his defense. "He is the youngest captain Equestria's ever had!" "There you go, your famous too!" she smiled at him. "Thanks," he forced a smile in return. "Oh you think too low of yourself Mr. Armor. You married a princess and you fought an army of vicious changelings!" "How'd you know about that?" "I've been gathering information for the past few months, how would I not hear about that?" she asked playfully. The speed at which she could switch emotions was hard to keep up with. "So you know all about me?" "Of course. I may not know all of Equestria's history up to this point, but I've got enough." "Well its so good to see you after all these years," Celestia joined their chat again. "You forget Celestia, that as far as I'm concerned, I was talking to you only a few months ago." "But I haven't seen you in a thousand-" Paradise interrupted her by laughing. "I know, I know. Why do you have to be so technical?" Celestia sighed. "You were always an interesting mare to have around." Paradise suddenly became serious, "well, it's time to get down to business I'm afraid." Shining was taken off guard, "what business?" "This 'Canterlot Castle Fire' business." She pulled out a newspaper from seemingly nowhere. "Can I help with this?" she asked Celestia. "Are you still good at what you do?" Paradise chuckled. "That's not a fair question. You haven't seen me work in-" "Can we focus on what it is you intend to offer?" Shining stopped her. "Mr. Armor, I know for a fact that the monster was not defeated as this paper says. Why would outposts and soldiers across Equestria be running around in the wilderness so soon after a surprise attack?" Shining grinned nervously, "was it really that easy to figure out?" "Only a well educated pony is going to question these things, Mr. Armor. How well educated is the average modern pony?" "I see," Celestia thought about her logic for a moment. "Do I have permission to get involved in this or not?" Paradise requested again. "I'd love to get you back into service. What do you need?" "I need to know everything about the threat!" she stated immediately. Shining was more than willing to join Celestia in telling the mare everything. From the changeling, to the wolf's attempt to infiltrate the castle, to its disappearance. The only fact they kept from her was the chaos magic that was detected where it had disappeared. Shining had tried to let Celestia tell Paradise, but she didn't. She just ended the facts session. It was good for Celestia and Shining Armor to go over everything that had happened too, as would become apparent in a moment. Paradise took a moment to compile all the information before she asked a peculiar question, "have you slept since then?" Celestia lowered her head slightly, "I couldn't go to sleep while that wolf was on the loose." "So what exactly do you think of it?" Paradise's neutral expression made determining what she wanted to hear impossible. "I think.......the wolf is a monster that must be stopped!" Celestia became aggressive. "What do you intend to do with it once you catch it?" Celestia hesitated. "I...don't know." "I see." Paradise lowered her gaze. "You haven't changed much. Your still passionate about your beliefs, but you still believe all life is sacred. You don't want to kill something, especially if you know its sapient. But at the same time, you let your anger flow whenever something threatens the lives of the innocent." Celestia looked up, the bags clearly visible under her eyes now. "If I did catch the wolf...I wouldn't know what to do." "Locking it up for its crimes would be your first option. Or you could go to it with peace." "Peace?" Shining asked with quizzical look. "I would like that, but..." Celestia failed to finish her own sentence. "You told me that wolf was trying to flee. It wasn't until you removed the seals that it attacked. Now tell me, how difficult was it to take the screws out?" "Well, I pulled pretty hard and he was moving in the opposite direction pretty fast. I'd say a normal pony would have a real difficult time removing them without magic." "And the wolf obviously wasn't capable of removing them on his own. But you told me this changeling was only two inches tall? I highly doubt his little buddy was going to take them out for him." "So you're sure it was just a rescue mission that went bad?" Shining prodded. "Exactly. If you thought your best friend was being held captive by....let's say the changelings! Wouldn't you go after them? Maybe you would be looking for a fight, but this wolf obviously wasn't." Celestia nodded slowly. "Maybe I was quick to jump to the conclusion that the wolf was our enemy. If we do find the wolf, you recommend we approach it peacefully?" "If at all. I suspect it's going to try and lie low, recuperate for a while. And it sure isn't about to do anything that's going to attract attention." "When we do find it, we shouldn't worry?" Shining tried to point out that this might not be a good course of action. "No, we shouldn't. This thing isn't about to start a fight with us now. Because this time, we'll be ready for it." Celestia had to agree with Paradise. Maybe it was her tired mind, maybe it was because she hadn't seen her in so long, or it could have been she was actually making sense. "We won't hurt it or blame it for what happened here then. So what do we intend to do?" "Just focus on translating its language. That should be our priority. Once we can understand it and it can understand us, we can reunite the two of them and get some explanations for all of this. We'll even be able to explain our own actions." Celestia yawned, it was nearing time to lower the sun and get some dinner. "Excuse me," she blushed a little in embarrassment. "It is late. Maybe you should go to bed." Before any of them could make a move, a parchment appeared in front of Celestia's face. Paradise was the only one without a clue what was going on. Celestia immediately unrolled it and began reading. She nearly dropped the letter halfway through. Twilight had found the very creature they'd been talking about... "Is it from Twilight?" Shining leaned forward a little. "Yes....she found the wolf." Shining stared at her. Paradise inhaled slowly to calm herself. "So, how about it Celestia? Are we going to keep the peace, or go in spells a'blazing?" Paradise proposed. Talking about ending the violence had been a lot easier when her student's life wasn't on the line. "I can't Paradise. I can't take the risk that we're wrong and let Twilight get hurt." "Who's Twilight?" Paradise asked. "She's my younger sister," Shining mentioned. "She's also Celestia's most skillful and favored student." Paradise seemed to understand. "It's not a risk, you agreed with me just a second ago that this wolf is just a victim like us! Please don't take another innocent life," Paradise begged. Shining thought those were some interesting words coming from an assassin. "I have to agree with Celestia. If we're wrong and Twilight got hurt..." he couldn't finish. "Her letter says that her friend Fluttershy found it badly injured in the forest. Despite the fact that it left here without an injury." "That's perfect!" Paradise near cheered. "Hm?" Celestia tilted her head. "Think about it! A super dangerous wolf got hurt to near death by a bunch of animals in the forest? I don't think so. As long as the seals stay in, it won't hurt anypony. If it is injured and they're caring for it, it isn't going anywhere soon. It's going to stay put and get as much treatment as it can out of them. Tell me I'm wrong!" she jumped at Shining as he was about to say something. Celestia leaned back and thought about that. She couldn't deny that Paradise was a genius and new how to argue. It's what had made her a great spy...and a great friend. That wolf needed to lay low now that the military was looking for it. If it could get medical attention in the meantime, it was not going to take any risks that could jeopardize that. Given enough time, it could settle down and give them the opportunity they needed to overcome the language difficulties. But Celestia was scared for her student anyway. "Paradise, I just don't feel comfortable telling my student to watch over this creature. Even if we know it isn't about to hurt her or anypony else, it could become angry and..." she failed to finish again. "Then assign me to protect Twilight," Paradise commanded. If Shining had been drinking anything, he would have spit it out. "If anypony is going to protect my sister, it should be her big brother!" "No way, your emotional attachment makes you mentally unsound for this kind of operation." "I have the most powerful shield spells in the kingdom! Nopony can protect Twilight better than I can." "What do you know about gathering intelligence or keeping watch? I bet you don't even have experience being a body guard!" Paradise was in his face shouting. "Why don't you both go and guard Twilight then?" Celestia offered. "Fine with me," Shining sat back down. "What?! I don't need some soldier boy hanging over my shoulder-" "Paradise! This already goes against my better judgment. I'm tired, I'm scared, my student's life may be in jeopardy...yet I feel like this is the right thing to do." Paradise and Shining gave her a look. "Something in my heart tells me that this wolf deserves the benefit of the doubt for its actions and I will not overlook what my heart tells me again," she stated with a fire in her eyes. Shining knew she was thinking about the Nightmare Moon incident. He had heard rumors that Celestia had felt something was wrong with Luna...and ignored it. She apparently wasn't going to do that again today. "Understood!" Paradise didn't quite understand what Celestia meant, despite their old friendship. She hadn't been there when Luna turned into Nightmare Moon, she had already vanished with the Crystal Empire. Either way, what she knew was right was what Celestia had decided on. "Thank you Celestia." "I ask of you two only a few things. Protect Twilight with your lives. And...try to work together," she mumbled with a sigh. Paradise looked at Shining with narrow eyes, then she smiled. "I'll do my best." "Thank you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to write a letter to my student that will calm her down. Then I'm going to have some dinner and get some well deserved sleep." As Celestia left the room, she nodded to both of them with a fragile smile. Paradise turned to Shining with simple instructions. "If we're going to be watching this wolf, we can't let it know we're official. Think of this as an undercover mission. That means no uniform, no armor, and no soldiers." She was right, but he didn't like the idea. "Okay." "You're defense. If something does happen to go wrong, our fault or otherwise, you are only to use shields, got it?" "You want me to just stand there and let it attack me?" he asked sarcastically. "You'll be a distraction of course. I'll go for the kill," she said with a disturbing smile. "I can agree to that, but you have to do something in return." "What's that?" "I want to know more about you. Where you grew up, how close you and Celestia were, what all you did before the Crystal Empire." "It's a deal!" She extended her hoof so they could shake on it. "Good." "You hate changelings, right?" she asked suddenly while they were shaking hooves. "Uh, yeah. Why?" he blinked at her. "That's too bad..." *************************************************************************** Blank read over the letter in his hooves a second time. He was disguised as a zebra again and he sat in a chair at an empty market in Canterlot. He was slightly disappointed that the place was still closed and that nopony had come back. It had been a full day! The sun was about to set and the fires were long since out. What was the problem with some ponies? Despite his desire for a good salad, the letter was holding his attention firmly. It was addressed from Celestia to Twilight Sparkle, he had intercepted it! The bit in the letter about trying to remain peaceful and keeping the wolf secret was fine, but the mention of two body guards got him smiling. Shining Armor was a stallion of youth and strength. Not to mention he was Twilight's older brother. It was no wonder he'd been picked. Blank just wondered what Cadenza would think about this. When he caught the name of the second body guard, he started to laugh. He laughed for several minutes before he finally got control of himself. "Paradise. Looks like you finally came back. Oh I can't wait to see you again." The rest of the letter was boring dribble about remaining calm and things Celestia suggested she do to keep the wolf in a good mood and make it less likely to leave. There was a lot more words than necessary to deliver the simple message. "The wolf won't hurt you. We need you to keep it safe and secret while we work out a way to communicate." Why did ponies need so many words when they could just say what they mean? Blank never understood them. *************************************************************************** Twilight paced back and forth across the room. She was in Fluttershy's kitchen waiting for a reply. Spike sat at the table trying to alphabetically arrange a few gemstones. He wasn't mad at Twilight, just a little worried about Fluttershy. She had come to think of the wolf as a patient and now she knew he could potentially kill her. Twilight almost had to talk Fluttershy into going back into the room with him. It had been 15 minutes now and there was still no reply. Twilight was imaging armies of guards storming out of the castle and bursting down Fluttershy's door at any second. There was a sudden crash from the living room! Twilight rushed in, preparing to save Fluttershy from the monstrous wolf. What she found instead was a lot less climatic. The wolf was up, but it had dropped a glass of water that Fluttershy had obviously brought it. What made it amazing though, was the apologetic look it was giving Fluttershy. It was actually sorry for breaking the glass! Twilight stared across the room for a while as Fluttershy cleaned up the mess. As Fluttershy moved past her to get a new glass, she noticed Twilight's stunned expression. "Are you okay Twilight?" "What happened?" "Well, it woke up and licked its lips. I thought he looked thirsty so I tried to give him a drink of water, but the glass slipped out of his paws and he didn't get much to drink." "I thought you were scared of him?" Twilight followed her into the kitchen where Spike was still arranging the gems. "I was, but then he looked at me. I j-just can't see it Twilight. There's too much pain and sorrow in those eyes. There's too much regret for him to be a monster. He must be the wrong wolf Twilight, it can't be him." She was quiet, but assertive. "How can you tell that?" "He's....sad Twilight. I don't know why, but he's sad. The way he moves, the way his eyes roll over everything. He's been hurt, and not just physically. He's not a heartless monster, he's just suffered a cruel life. He's my patient, I have to look past his exterior and the stories around him and treat him like I would any other animal." Twilight wasn't sure how to respond. "It attacked Canterlot Fluttershy." "But it could have had a good reason." She had gotten a new glass of water by this point. "Celestia might be taking it away, you shouldn't get attached to it." "I know," she enter the room with the glass in her hooves. She was using her wings to move around now. When she returned to the living room, Wolfy was standing by the couch! Fluttershy near dropped the glass. "You shouldn't be standing on a broken leg!" she rushed towards him, forgetting she had a glass of water in her hooves. Twilight dropped into a fighting stance, expecting it to attack them at any second. It didn't have magic to do so, and its body was badly damaged, but it could still get in a good bite. When Fluttershy got close, it sat down. As Fluttershy tried to scold it, it only looked at the glass in her hooves. Eventually she realized and held it out to him. He Carefully took it from her and drank the water down slowly and carefully. Wolfy cautiously gave the glass back. Twilight stood up again with mild surprise. Wolfy had yet to show even the slightest hostile action. That was until it began to walk. Fluttershy was panicking as she desperately tried to get him to go lay down on the couch again. Wolf refused to obey and continued walking on his broken leg towards a window. It was clear from his wincing that every step was causing him agony, but he forced himself on. Twilight couldn't help but wonder why. Where was it going, what was it going to do? Fluttershy seemed to give up on stopping it and tried to help it move instead. The wolf gratefully let her and she could even see a smile cross its lips. Wolfy was seeming like less and less of a monster. A memory of the fire flashed through her mind. No, gentle right now or not, this thing was dangerous. Wolfy had reached the window and was content to sit in front of it and gaze out at the sunset. Fluttershy sat next to him and admired it too. Twilight found herself watching an interesting scene. A pony and her dog--wolf--watching the sunset together. Something about it was relaxing. Something about it told her everything was going to be okay. Fluttershy was clearly still holding on to some of her fears, because there was a small bubble of space between them, but the tender moment was undeniable. Fluttershy and Wolfy stared out the window, over the tree tops, and beheld Celestia's sun as it began the final part of its decent out of the sky. Twilight's resolve that the wolf was evil and dangerous had taken a crippling blow in only a few minutes. Who knew how long it'd be before she too didn't see him as a monster. *************************************************************************** Luna had already raised the moon and set it on its course through the sky. She was currently enjoying her breakfast with a certain changeling. Luna was laid out on her bed with her tray of food while the changeling sat on his haunches a short distance away also on her bed. Luna had given him a large purple grape, which he seemed to really be enjoying at the moment. It wasn't that he was eating it yet, he was just smelling the sphere in his hooves for now. Luna held no ill will against him for what the wolf had done. She just wanted to forget that anything had happened at all. When the door to her chambers opened, she looked up expecting Celestia. She instead found herself looking at Cadence! "Cadenza! Shouldn't you be asleep at this hour?" "I would, but Shining is leaving on some important business in the morning and I kind of wanted to know more about this changeling." Cadence came closer to the bed and lowered her eye level a little. The changeling tightened his grip on the grape a little as though she was going to take it from him. He was clearly nervous, but he wasn't running for cover from her. Her huge eyes examining him made him cautious. Luna began to answer her. "I can tell you everything we know for certain, but there's still a lot left to speculation." "That's fine, I just want to know why we were attacked last night and how he was involved." She looked away from him. "What we know is the changeling used magic to contact someone outside the castle. A day later that wolf snuck into the castle and tried to leave with him. It didn't seem like he tried to resit the wolf's efforts and the two exchanged words before the battle last night." Now that Cadence wasn't looking at him, the changeling in question finally took a slow bite of his grape. Cadence noticed but didn't look at him. "So the wolf really was trying to help him?" "That's what we've deduced. The two seem to be close and until we can decipher their language, negotiating will be impossible." "Have you scanned the changeling for any...inconsistencies?" "I have, but they are inconclusive. I expect that what I detected is just a consequence of his small stature though." "What did you detect?" Cadence leaned in a little. "A dense packet of magic stored deep within him." Cadence tilted her head. "It is most likely just a result of his small body storing all the magic he'd have if he were normal sized. Not to mention, he's a changeling, and the energy originates in the area we'd expect his stomach to be." Cadence nodded. "You think he has just as much magic as a normal sized changeling?" Luna nodded. "I have been doing a close examination of Changeling history as well," Luna offered happily. "Have you found anything interesting?" Cadence came a little closer as though they were passing secrets. "I have reason to believe there is more then one hive now. And if there is more then one hive, there could be more-" "More Queens, or even Kings!" Cadence interrupted in her excitement. She quickly took an apologetic look. "Yes," Luna beamed. "But if there are indeed other hives, we have to wonder what relation to each other they have. Are they all allies, or are they competitors...enemies. After all, they may be fighting over the love of us ponies." "Hm," Cadence hummed in thought. Changelings were certainly getting interesting. Speaking of which, the small changeling had come to the conclusion they weren't going to disturb him and he had eaten a large portion of the grape. Luna saw something in his eyes though. A sadness or a regret. ***** Nash was ignoring the random strange noises the two alicorns were making. They weren't interested in him anyway and he hoped it'd stay that way. Nash had taken a glance at his wings while Luna had gone through her morning rituals (which included breaking her clock again). His wings were growing back slowly and he was relieved by that. As for the dark alicorn, it was almost like nothing had happened. The only thing different about today was her bandages. There weren't many but she did have some small bruises that would take a few days to go away. The dark alicorn had even given him a sample of his favorite fruit! Grapes had always been Nash's favorite fruit. Heck, they'd always been his favorite food in general! The big juicy ones were the best, the ones that popped when you bit into them. He wouldn't be able to enjoy that sensation again though, seeing as how one grape was the size of a basketball now. Another oddity he found, was his hunger. The grape was big and delicious and Nash hadn't eaten a crumb in almost a week now, but he didn't feel even a pinch of hunger. Maybe his old theory that his species didn't need to eat was true. He could eat, but he didn't feel the need to. The grape tasted sweat, and its purple juice seeped out and dribbled down his chin. He did his best to lap up the escaping liquid, but several drops reached the bed sheets underneath him. He didn't think that'd bother the alicorn. After all, nearly getting killed by his best friend hadn't changed her attitude towards him. He found that rather odd too. Nash had devoured nearly half the grape before his thoughts began to darken. Here he was enjoying himself and Shadaico could have been dead for all he knew. He hadn't heard a word from him since the battle, heck is was most likely that he had died. Nash slipped deep into depression and almost put the half eaten grape down. He hadn't really thought too deep into it but why else would the dark alicorn have come back? If Shadaico hadn't been killed, wouldn't he have killed her? Nash felt a sudden poke at the back of his skull. Nash smiled, Shadaico was calling! "Hey Shadaico, are you okay?" Nash asked with concern. "Yeah, how about you?" he mumbled back. "I'm doing...okay." Nash suddenly looked at the grape in his hooves for a moment, feeling shame. "Listen, I'm sorry about...everything. Its all my fault," Shadaico apologized almost like he was ready to cry. "Don't go blaming yourself. I'm the one who begged you to help me!" Nash felt like scum for letting himself be happy just a second ago. "But I'm the one who just charged in there without thinking," Shadaico asserted sadly. "I'm the one that told you the ponies were going to kill me!" Nash yelled back across the line. "And they weren't?" Shadaico asked with disbelieve evident. "I'm so sorry Shadaico." Nash responded remorsefully. "You got hurt because I panicked. They've been treating me real well since your...entrance." "How could you know they didn't actually want to hurt you? And what makes you think I got hurt?" Shadaico got defensive. "I don't know, I heard so many explosions that I didn't think you couldn't have been hurt." "Well, I'm fine. You said they're treating you well?" "Yeah, got my own little bed and everything," Nash admitted. "I just can't figure these ponies out. Maybe they thought I was kidnapping you and felt bad for you," Nash could swear Shadaico sounded like he was joking. "I don't know Shadaico. All I know is not much has changed around here." Shadaico paused for a moment. He considered telling Nash about that Blank guy, but he felt that Nash didn't need to worry about that at the moment. "Listen, I hate to admit this, but I'm not going anywhere for a while. If you're comfortable where you are, I'll just focus on healing. Sound like a plan?" Shadaico sounded a little more optimistic. "It sounds like a good plan to me. Shadaico?" "Yeah." "Be good." Nash heard chuckling as Shadaico dropped the connection. Nash quickly went back at his grape. He still felt bad for getting Shadaico hurt, but he'd been scared. He'd never been in a situation like this before.....who has after all. Nash almost didn't feel like finishing his grape. ***** Cadence and Luna had felt the emotions of the exchange carefully. Both of them were trying to understand what the small changeling and his wolf partner were talking about. Both of them seemed to be apologizing to each other and there was a great deal of regret oozing from both of them. Cadence was satisfied that the two of them had to have been friends and that everything they had done now made perfect sense. Luna was in the same boat. ***** Twilight eyed the wolf as he wrapped up his long distance conversation. "What was that about?" she mentally asked herself. She couldn't understand their words, but she could detect the emotions of the two. She could tell that the wolf was apologizing and felt a great deal of sorrow. That sadness weakened near the end of the short exchange, being replaced by a weak sense of joy. Wolfy turned away from the window and headed back towards the couch. Fluttershy helped him again without hesitation. Once Wolfy was back on the couch, Spike joined them in the living room. "Has Celestia replied yet?" Twilight demanded quickly. "Nope, not yet." Fluttershy was petting Wolfy, "maybe she won't take him away." "I thought he was evil," Spike looked at the two of them suspiciously. "He's not evil, just misunderstood," Fluttershy assured him. "We'll see about that," Twilight sighed. She wasn't leaving Fluttershy alone with that thing, not until Celestia's letter arrived and told her what to do. It was looking like time for another sleepover. Celestia's letter would never arrive...