//------------------------------// // Chapter 21: Moving on isn't Easy // Story: The Adventures of Fragment // by A Dark Reminder //------------------------------// My eyes slowly opened as I awoke from my restless sleep. My room was dimly lit by the Sun's light as I sat up. I hadn't even bothered to cover myself with the blankets when I went to sleep last night, but I had still made a mess of my bed somehow; the pillows were out of place, the blankets and sheets were pulled from one side of the bed to the other, maybe in an attempt to cover myself in my sleep. I looked to the clock on the wall of my room and saw it was six twenty-four AM. With a heavy sigh I closed the curtains with my magic and laid back down. As I laid there my mind instantly went to my newest flashback where I had almost committed suicide due to my mother's death. By the looks of it that's also where me and Saphir made a real love connection, but thinking about Saphir brought my mind back to my family which was something I didn't like thinking about knowing that I had practically abandoned them. I tried not to dwell on it too much, but there wasn't a subject I could think about that wouldn't either make me angry or make me sad. Striker, my past, my family, it all just made me feel so regretful and sad. Gezähnt, Queen Chrysalis, and being in the military in general made me angry; Gezähnt is sociopathic, Chrysalis doesn't care who dies as long as it benefits her, and me being in her army just meant I either didn't know or didn't care. But unsurprisingly, Striker's death was what I was most focused on. What am I supposed to do now? Just move on and act like Striker's death doesn't bother me, or let the pain and grief drag me down more than it already has? Assuming that's even possible. I slowly leaned back up and let my head rest on my forehooves and let out a heavy sigh. Maybe I should talk to somepony about this; both Princess Celestia and my flashback have suggested that's a good idea. Even if Gezähnt was the one who suggested it. But who should I talk to? I guess I could talk to Princess Celestia about how she got through Princess Luna being imprisoned on the moon for a thousand years. Though she had the advantage of knowing that Luna would be back one day... I shook my head a little and looked at the clock again, seeing it was still very early. No matter who I talk to, I'm going to have to wait a while. I guess I'll walk around the castle until breakfast. Hopefully it'll be more helpful than last time. With that decided I got out of bed. As my hooves touched the floor I looked over to my bed. Seeing how messed up it was, I made my bed with the levitation spell and when that was done I turned to the door and walked towards it. As I walked out of my room and closed the door behind me, I saw that just like the morning before the hallways seemed completely abandoned with no guard patrols or anything in the area of my room. After a moment I decided to go to the statue garden. As I walked to the gardens I saw more guards than yesterday probably due to the fact that there was an assassin running around trying to either kill or capture Hofnarr. All the guards I saw looked pretty tired, which is understandable after the Cockatrice attack, the Changelings escaping, another guard getting killed and now Cyclone on the loose, all of which happening in a fairly short time frame. The guards didn't pay much attention to me as I walked through the hallways, either because they didn't care or because they knew that Striker was my friend and had died. It wasn't long before I reached the garden, which I must admit looked rather amazing in the morning Sun's glow through the forcefield; the way the light glimmered off the flowers, but the beauty did little to ease my mind. When I stepped outside I could feel a light breeze through the garden; it was a cool but sunny morning, my black exoskeleton easily absorbing the Sun's warmth while glistening in its light. As I walked I examined some of the statues there, which proved pointless since I didn't know who any of them were, that was the case until I came to Discord's statue, which still looked kind of creepy to me. I hadn't really noticed the expression on his face the other times I'd seen his statue, but as I looked at his face, it seemed like he was afraid. I couldn't blame him if he was. "Yeah... if I was going to be imprisoned for eternity being unable to do anything, I'd be scared too..." I said as I sat down in front of Discord. I sat there for a while just staring at Discord and wondering what it's like being trapped in stone. No one to hear you talk or scream or cry or anything. No one to even acknowledge you exist. Like being a ghost, forced to watch as the world moves on leaving you to helplessly go insane from being ignored by everything. I don't think there's much that can be worse than that. After what I'd guess was almost an hour I heard hoof steps from behind me, so I looked over my shoulder and saw Princess Celestia walking towards me. She wasn't smiling like she usually was. "Good morning, Fragment. Did you have trouble sleeping again?" She asked as she sat down next to me. "No. I slept just fine, but I still feel very tired." I looked back up to the statue as Princess Celestia put her hoof on my shoulder. "And the flashback I had last night doesn't help." "Do you want to talk about it?" She asked. "Not really, but I might as well." I sighed then inhaled deeply before I spoke. "It was back at the Changeling Kingdom, I'm not sure how old this memory is, but this was before me and Saphir got married." A said as Princess Celestia listened. I told her about the flashback and how I almost committed suicide by jumping off a castle tower. About how my mother had died, Gezähnt tried to talk me out of it, and how Saphir confessed her love for me and begged me not to kill myself. It was emotionally painful for me to talk about it, but I knew that I should at least try. I could smell how sad the story made Princess Celestia, but she encouraged me to continue talking about what was bothering me. It occurred to me that I hadn't really talked to her about any of my flashbacks unless I was trying to get her to help with something. So I went to the other flashbacks starting with the one where the mare who might be known as Aura first appeared in. As I recounted the flashbacks pain slowly grew in my head which I did my best to ignore it and keep talking. The last of my flashbacks that I told her was the one from over Canterlot, where I first remembered Gezähnt and Colonel Tödlich. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you any of this sooner." I said as I rubbed my head from the pain. "You don't need to apologize, Fragment. I know talking about things like this can be hard." Princess Celestia looked from me to the sky as she said that. There was a short silence after that, which I broke with a question that'd been in the back of my mind. "Princess Celestia..." I said as I looked to her. "What are you going to do with Hofnarr?" "I don't know. He's been involved at least with the attack on Ponyville, which puts him as an enemy of Equestria, but he doesn't seem that bad." "Especially when compared to Gezähnt." "I'd like to have him help us contact the Changeling Kingdom so we could take a diplomatic approach, but I'm still not sure if I could trust him with something like that. I'm conflicted between what we could accomplish and how much I can actually trust him." "What about when Princess Cadance talked to him in the dungeon?" "He was afraid for his life. I've seen what some are willing to do when they think their life is in peril, and he might have told us more if he didn't think we'd protect him. Don't think that I believe we can't trust Hofnarr at all, but I think we should try some trust building between us and him before we do something like that." "Do you have any idea how you're going to do that?" I asked as Princess Celestia turned away from the sky and back to me. "I think one way he could prove we can trust him is by helping you learn how to shapeshift. He could also provide you with advice on how to fly." "What do you mean 'advice?' You're going to have someone else teach me?" "I think it would be better that way. But as long as we're on the subject of your training, I think we should hold off on it until Striker's... passing, isn't so recent. I know how hard it is to lose somepony..." "You're talking about your sister, aren't you? From when she was imprisoned in the Moon." "After I banished her, I felt so horrible and alone. I didn't care about what she tried to do; she's my little sister and I love her, but I didn't see the signs that she was in pain. Once she was gone all I felt was regret." Princess Celestia told me as she looked up to the morning sky again. "Immortality is a curse sometimes; watching those you care about slowly age until they..." Princess Celestia didn't finish her sentence, but I knew what rest of it was. The mood was quite depressing at that point as we stood by Discord's statue. After a few more moments of silence Princess Celestia spoke again. "I must return to my duties in the courts, but I talked to Dex yesterday and asked her to show you how to properly clean your cloak. Talk to her when you're ready. Also, breakfast will be ready in ten minutes." She said as she walked away. "Breakfast? Is it that close to eight already? How long have I been out here?" I asked myself. "Oh, and one more thing." Princess Celestia said as she turned around again. "If you think you need a break from your training then I'll give you a week or two to let things wind down." "Thank you, Princess." Once I said that, she left me alone in the garden. After a little while of being alone with Discord's statue, I let out a heavy sigh and began walking back to the castle to look for Dex. I wasn't planning on actually washing my cloak until after I had eaten, but I figured I should tell Dex ahead of time. I slowly walked through the castle looking for Dex or anyone who could tell me where she was but didn't have much luck. After a few minutes of failed searching I decided to go to my room, get my cloak, have breakfast and talk to her after that. After I got my cloak from the closet in my room I went to the dining room and found that Blast Shield was there waiting for me. "Hey, Fragment." He said with a small smile, but I could smell the concern and pity he had for me. "Morning." I said as I walked by him and sat at the table. Blast Shield took a seat next to me as I looked over the food on the table. The food consisted of mostly fruits and vegetables; nothing particularly special. "Princess Celestia told me that I don't need to follow you around anymore, I think I'll keep it up." "Why don't I need a supervisor anymore?" "I personally don't know, but if I had to guess then I'd say it's because almost everypony here at the castle trusts you." Blast Shield said as I took a small bite of my food. "What about that guard who said I couldn't be trusted because I'm a Changeling?" I questioned with a raised brow. "The key word was almost. And besides, to be honest I don't think anypony really listens to that guy anyway." Blast Shield told me with a shrug and continued. "So what do you have for plans today?" "Not much for now. Dex is going to teach me how to properly clean my cloak, but beyond that I don't think I'm doing anything today." I said as I ate some more food. "Why do you ask?" "Just curious. Are you going to be taking a few days off from your training and stuff?" "As of right now I'm not sure, but I think I need some time before I get back to it." "It's understandable." Blast Shield said as I finished the rest of my breakfast. I was really hungry from not eating dinner last night. Once I was done eating me and Blast Shield started walking through the castle looking for Dex. "Hey, Blast Shield." I said as Blast Shield's attention snapped to me from out one of the windows. "Yeah?" He replied as we passed the doors to the garden. "Do you have a family? In all the time I've known you I haven't really gotten to know you." "Well I do have a family, but it's a brother and two sisters. I don't have any kind of relationship going on and my parents died a decade ago." Blast Shield said with a shrug as I raised a brow. "And you're perfectly fine with talking about your parents being dead?" "Well yeah. Ten years is plenty of time for it to stop bothering me. I suppose I get a little saddened if I talk or think about them for awhile, but overall I don't have a problem with it." "How did they die? If you don't mind me asking." "They were miners; went into deep hazardous mines and dug up minerals like iron. But the mine wasn't properly supported and caved in." Blast Shield's mood changed to a more negative one once he said that, but it quickly changed back to his normal positive state. "Luckily for us we were pretty rich given the fact the company paid well, both as a job and as compensation for everypony who died. Because of the cave in my sisters, brother and I had to get jobs too make sure the money would last." "Sounds like an... eventful foalhood." I wasn't really sure what to say to that. I knew I asked, but I hadn't thought about what I'd say. "It was. It was a very sad time in our lives, but once we got good at the jobs we were happy with things started looking up. I think the whole tragedy brought us closer together as siblings and strengthened us as ponies. Our parents would be proud to see us where we are today." Blast Shield said with a smile. I was quite surprised by how easily he could talk about something like that and then smile. What was also surprising was that I could smell that he was generally happy. "How hard was it... dealing with their deaths when you were so young?" I asked as we came to the break room. "Really hard, but it helps when you have family ready to help you when you're down. And I don't just mean relatives." Blast Shield replied as he opened the door and we walked into the room. Once we were inside I saw that Dex and some Pegasus guard I didn't recognize were sitting at a table in the room talking. "S'up, Skyward?" Blast Shield said to the guard, who just waved a hoof back to Blast Shield without looking away from Dex. I noticed he had a small smile on his face. "Hi, Fragment. You here for washing your cloak?" Dex asked as she turned to me from Skyward. "I am." I replied simply. "Um... Meet me in the washroom in about twenty minutes and I'll show you the basics, okay? There's really nothing to it." "Uh, okay I guess. Where is the washroom?" "I know where it is." Blast Shield said as he walked back to the door. "Come on, it's not too far from here." Blast shield said and walked back into the hallway with me following. Once we were back in the hallway I closed the door to the break room and Blast Shield began leading the way. in less than five minutes we were in the wash room, which had some shelves of towels, a cupboard of cleaning tools and chemicals, and some tubs with scrubbing racks and bars of soap near them. The tubs had waters of different temperatures with some being icy cold and others near boiling, creating steam. So there we sat, doing absolutely nothing for almost half an hour where the only thing happening was the occasional maid coming in, taking some items, and leaving. "Well... what now?" Blast Shield asked as he lightly banged the his head against the wall out of boredom. "I don't know." I replied as I carefully stacked the neatly folded towels into a pyramid. "In that case, if it's all the same to you, I'm going to find something else to do." Blast Shield said as he slowly walked towards the door, which had been left open by the last maid. "So wait, you're just going to leave me here alone to wait for Dex?" "No, I'm going to see if you can make that stack of towels reach the ceiling." Blast Shield said with a grin as I facehoofed. "Oh relax. How bad could it be?" He asked as he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. So now I was alone in the washroom with nothing to do but stack towels in the fanciest ways I could think of. After awhile of that I got bored with that and put the towels back, played with the bars of soap a little, folded and unfolded my cloak a few times, then stuck my hoof in one of the tubs pretending to fish in it, and after a few minutes of that Dex finally showed up. "That took longer than I expected." She said as she closed the door and shook her head lightly. "Tell me about it. I've been fishing for the past five minutes and haven't gotten a single nibble." I said as I pulled my hoof out of the semi-soapy water and dried it on a washcloth. "Do I want to know what you're talking about?" She asked with a very confused look on her face. "Probably not. What were you doing that took so long anyway?" I asked and tilted my head a little. "Skyward." "What?" "Never mind." Dex said as she shook her head again and put on a smile. "So like I said before, there's really nothing to it. May I have your cloak for a minute?" She said as I levitated my cloak over to her. She felt the cloak's fabric a little before speaking further. "First off you need to make sure the water is hot." Dex said as she walked over to one of the tubs that had steam coming off of its water with me following. She slowly stuck the tip of her hoof in the water for a moment and pulled it back out. "Good, it's hot but not burning hot." She said and turned to me. "Feel the water so you know about how hot it should be." I did as she said and stuck the tip of my left hoof in the tub. It stung a little at first but my hoof quickly adapted to the heat. "It's pretty hot." I told her as I pulled my hoof back out of the water. "Try to remember how hot; it's important for this kind of material." Dex said as she grabbed a bar of soap with her magic. As Dex explained to me the proper way to take care of my cloak -or any clothing really- a part of my mind drifted and thought about my flashback from last night. More specifically that part where Saphir told me she loved me. 'Since that day in the field hospital...' I wonder what happened there. Was one of us wounded? It was likely me given the fact that I was a soldier. Though she may have been one too for all I know. Thinking about Saphir was giving me a headache, but I was snapped out of thinking about her when I was splashed in the face by hot soapy water causing me to react by shaking my head vigorously trying to shake the water off. "What was that for?" I asked as I picked up the washcloth from before and dried my face with it. "I was telling you how to use the proper amount of soap to use but I saw that you zoned out." Dex said with a concerned expression. "Was it about Striker?" She asked as she pulled the cloak out of the water and let it drip. "It was about a flashback I had last night." I sighed. "I won't push if you don't wanna talk about it." She said as I looked into the tub and saw my reflection. I hadn't even noticed how sad I looked, but I felt much sadder than that. I took in a deep breath and spoke as I continued to stare at myself in the rippling water. "Do you remember when I told you that one of the other changelings said I had a family?" I asked. "Yeah. Gayzähnt or something, right?" "Gezähnt." I corrected. "Why do you mention him?" "He wasn't lying; I have a family... I had hoped he was lying so he wouldn't have something over me, but I've had flashbacks that proved he was right. And just like he said, I have a wife and two sons." "What are you going to do? Like, are you going to try to visit them once your training is done?" Dex asked with a very interested look on her face which I could see in the reflection of the water. "I need to. I have no idea how I'm going to do it, but I need to see them again; get closure and let them know that I'm okay." "How does this relate to the flashback you had?" My ears fell as I recalled the flashback in my mind. "Both Gezähnt and my wife, Saphir, were involved. I was at the castle in the Changeling Kingdom in one of the towers. My mother had died recently, I don't know the details, but I had gone to that tower to be alone. I don't know how long I had been there, but at some point Gezähnt showed up and tried to talk to me, but instead of helping he made me snap. I threatened to jump off the tower as I ranted about my father being dead as well and my brother hating me. That's when Saphir got involved. I don't know if she had been there the whole time eavesdropping or what, but when she heard me start talking about jumping she came out into the open and told me that she loved me." Talking about my flashback was giving me a very bad headache, so I decided to spare the details and finish. "The flashback ended with the three of us going back inside the castle." We stood in silence for a moment before Dex put her hoof on my shoulder and said: "I don't think I need to say it, but you've been through Tartarus and back more than a few times." "Tell me about it..." I sighed as I turned from the now settled water to Dex, who had a small frown on her face. "Have you ever lost someone who was close to you, Dex?" "No. I have some family and a few friends but none of them have died in a way like Striker. Although I do know some ponies who've lost others they cared about and I've seen what it does to them. You know that night guard Sinistar?" "Yeah. Wait, are you saying someone he cared about died?" I asked as I raised a brow in surprise. I didn't know much about Sinistar other than he was a guard who took his job very seriously. "To be honest I have no idea if he has. I don't think anypony here knows him that well. All I know is that some nights he goes to the highest non-royal tower, gets drunk off his flank, and starts ranting at the sky. No pony's dared talk to him about it but from what I've over heard, I think his marefriend died and he blames himself. He usually shouts the same things like 'I'm sorry' and 'forgive me.' I don't know what kind of demons Sinistar has, but I think he needs therapy that's a bit higher in quality than a bottle or two of alcohol. Sinistar is definitely depressed, and that's what happens when you let depression get you; you get drunk and bitter." She explained to me. "When does he do this?" I asked getting an idea. A bad one most likely, but an idea nonetheless. "He doesn't really have a system, it's just sometimes he'll be there with something to drink." "Does Sinistar have any friends that you know of?" "I've probably talked to every guard in this castle at least once, both day and night guards, and none of them claimed to know him. Pretty much all anypony knows about him is that he joined the guard, rose through the ranks, and became Captain of the night guard." "This getting drunk and ranting thing, does he do this like once every week or what?" "Usually yeah, once a week there's a drunk Batpony in a tower." "Do you know when the last time he did this was?" "Almost three weeks ago now. Wait... Why do you want to know?" I think she caught on. I thought as I replied. "I want to talk to him about whatever he's upset about." Dex facehoofed when she heard that. "Fragment..." She said with a sigh. I could smell minor annoyance from her. "Sit down while I explain to you all the reasons why that's a stupid idea." I did as Dex said as she hung my cloak on a drying rack for obvious reasons. "First of all, if you don't know him that well then what makes you think he'll tell you what happened? Second, talking to an upset drunk isn't usually a good idea. And third, it's just an overall bad idea." "Well someone should talk to him and find out what's wrong. I mean, why hasn't anyone been there for him? You said that he doesn't have any friends here, which means he's had no one to support him. I haven't even been here half as long as he has and everyone's been there for me. The very least I can do is pay it forward." Dex raised her hoof as if to object, but she couldn't find the words and so with a sigh she let her hoof drop back to the floor. "You've got a good point, but I'd still suggest not talking to him when he's drunk. I don't know what kind of drunk he is, but it's for your own safety. Well." Dex said as she looked over to my cloak. "I guess that's it as far as washing clothes goes. Now you just kinda let it dry and you're good to go." "So we're done?" I asked as I walked over to and felt my cloak, feeling that it was still pretty wet. "Yup. I guess I should get back to work then. And again, be careful when you talk to Sinistar if he's drunk; drunks aren't always fun to be around." Dex said as she walked out the door with me following, leaving my cloak behind to dry. "See you later, Fragment." "Bye, Dex." I replied as we went our separate ways through the castle. I wasn't sure when Sinistar would be awake, and preferably sober, so decided to wander the castle and think to pass the time. After about ten minutes of walking I saw a clock saying that it was eleven sixteen AM, so I had a lot of time to pass before I could talk to Sinistar. Once it was close to noon I headed towards the dining room, where I figured I could talk to Princess Celestia for some background information on Sinistar. If anyone knew something about Sinistar's past, it would be either a Princess or Shining Armor. I got to the dining room less than a minute before Princess Celestia did. I was disappointed but not completely surprised when Princess Celestia told me that no one knew that much about Sinistar. What she told me was what she was told by the previous Captain of the night guard. Sinistar joined the night guard when he turned twenty-one, he was sent to a combat specialist in Manehattan for advanced training when he showed impressively high fighting skills when he was twenty-three, at said training he was well known as the fastest learner in class. Sinistar was in this training for four years until he left saying that he 'had learned all he could,' though his trainer never confirmed that he had finished. Soon after he returned he was promoted to Captain of the night guard. After lunch I went back to my room and got the magic for dummies book to read to pass the time. It was hard to focus on reading with all the thoughts that were running through my head. Striker dying, Cyclone Shade being on the loose, Hofnarr's fate being uncertain, the identity of the mare from my flashbacks being revealed as Aura, and now this information about Sinistar. It was a lot to take in on a short time frame, but I didn't have much of a choice. The book ultimately served to give me the appearance of doing something when I was just thinking. After a few hours of 'reading' night fell, which meant it was time to start looking for Sinistar. It occurred to me as I put the spell book back on the shelf that of all the things I had thought about, I hadn't thought about how exactly I was going to get Sinistar to tell me what happened. As I stepped out of my room into the hallway I remembered that I had completely forgotten about my cloak and should probably get it before it slipped my mind again. While I walked through the castle to the washroom I found Blast Shield wandering around. He told me that when he came back to the washroom and saw that I was gone he decided to hangout with some other guards who were on break and after that he just started patrolling the castle because he could. I asked him if he had seen Sinistar tonight and he said that Sinistar was heading for the northern tower with a bottle of wine. When he asked why I wanted to know I just told him I wanted to see what else he knew about Cyclone Shade. I lied out of respect for Sinistar's privacy even though Dex made it seem like most of the staff already knew. After I got my cloak I asked Blast Shield for directions to the northern tower I then told him I might see him at dinner, and we split-up. It was a quick walk from the washroom to the northern tower, so I didn't have much time to formulate a plan by the time I got there. I was wearing my cloak and was standing outside of the room Sinistar was in. I knew he was in there because I could hear him talking. I think he was talking to himself based on that his voice was the only one I heard. I decided that being generally concerned for Sinistar would be my plan for getting him to talk. Maybe a little talk would help us both. I took a deep breath as I slowly opened the door. "You know I'm sorry, right?" Sinistar said as I walked into the room and closed the door behind me. I saw the wine bottle Blast Shield was talking about and it was was a little more than three quarters full. Sinistar's head was resting on the edge of the balcony that was in this room. There was little else in the room. Mostly astronomical equipment. "Ahem." Sinistar jumped a little at my sudden noise as he looked over his shoulder. "What are you doing here?" Sinistar asked as he turned back out the balcony, overviewing Canterlot. "I heard you come here sometimes and drink and I thought you might want some company." I said as I walked closer to Sinistar and he got off the balcony so he could turn to face me. "How stupid do you think I am?" He asked bluntly as he took a drink from the wine bottle. "What?" "You heard a lot more than I 'come here and drink sometimes.' I've come to this tower for years and no pony has ever come here to give me company. But you? You want an answer to the mystery of why I drink. Well it's none of your damn business why I drink. Now get out of this tower before I put your flying skills to a real test." Sinistar threatened. I wasn't sure if I should take my chances with him, but I figured I could beat him while he was drunk. I wasn't going to back down that easily. "And what, you like being all alone to feel bad?" "I'd rather be alone than with anypony in this damn castle. Now leave." "You're right, I do know more than what I said. Dex told me that you come here sometimes, get drunk, and shout at the sky. And I thought you might want someone to talk to about it; everyone needs a friend." "Not everyone deserves them." Sinistar said as he took a big gulp of wine and wiped his lips. "Go be friends with someone who wants to be your friend." "I'm just trying to--" "To what?!" He snapped at me. "To 'help' me? To 'ease my pain?' Or do you usually stick your nose where it's not welcomed?" The scent of alcohol was strong, but I could smell Sinistar's anger and regret through it. "Just because you don't think you deserve help does not mean you don't. I want to help you, Sinistar." "YOU DON'T KNOW A DAMN THING ABOUT ME!" He shouted as took a large step closer to me. I stepped back in response. "If you knew what I did you wouldn't have come here." The statement unsettled me. It was already implied that Sinistar blamed himself for something, but he made it seem so much worse than what I thought. And the fact that alcohol was coursing through his veins didn't help the situation. "All you need to know about he is that I am a coward, and I shouldn't be comforted by anything. Now leave me alone!" I could see tears in Sinistar's eyes as he turned and walked back to the balcony with the wine bottle tucked under his wing. I wanted to get something out of him, but I didn't think I'd be able to with him being drunk, so I decided to cut my losses and leave. As I closed the door behind me I saw two maids and a guard had been eavesdropping the whole time. We didn't say a word to each other as I left to go back to my room. I couldn't help wondering what had happened to Sinistar that was so bad that he believed he deserved to suffer alone. Eventually dinner time came around. I had left my cloak back in my room as I made my way to the dining room. When I had almost gotten to the dining room I met up with Blast Shield again. "Tell me again, why did you want to talk to Sinistar?" He asked with a curious look on his face. "The guard or one of the maids told you what happened, didn't they?" "Oh yeah. Cover Fire told me Sinistar was 'yelling his head off' at you, so I really don't think whatever you two were talking about had anything to do with Cyclone Shade. So are you going to tell me what you two were really talking about?" "Did you know that Sinistar gets drunk?" "Everypony here knows that. Wait, did you try to talk to him? While he was drunk?" "Yeah. I thought I could find out what was wrong, but you can see how that turned out." I told Blast Shield as I let out a sigh. "Some just don't want to be helped." Blast Shield said with a shake of his head as we walked into the dining room. Princess Celestia was already there and eating when we arrived. Our dinner was relatively silent as I thought about what might've happened that made Sinistar how he is. Slowly my mind backtracked to earlier today when me and Princess Celestia were in the garden. She told me that I didn't have to continue training if I felt like it was too soon. But did I feel like it was too soon? I wasn't sure. Sulking around doing nothing but reading books, eating, and sleeping wasn't what I wanted. It wouldn't make the pain go away faster either. No, I had to keep going. I wasn't going to put my life on hold for all of this. With this in mind, I spoke up. "Princess Celestia?" I said after I finished my glass of water. "Yes, Fragment?" She replied as she levitated a small plate with a piece of cake on it. "I don't want to delay my training. I think It'd be better both for keeping myself from thinking about everything so much, and to get on with my life. I've decided that once I'm done here I will see my family again, and the sooner I do that the better." Princess Celestia smiled at my words, seeming to be proud of me. "If you think that is the best thing you can do, then I'll make sure you get training tomorrow. Flight training to be exact. You should try to get some rest for tomorrow. Learning to fly won't be an easy task." I nodded to Princess Celestia with an appreciative smile. Once I finished my dessert I went straight to bed to get some sleep. Feeling confident that this time would provide rest.