Separation
It had already been three days since Angel last saw her sister, watching her fly off in such a bad mood made her somehow feel guilty for it. On the bright side of the situation, neither of the stallions bugged her about Nightshade's whereabouts, she guessed that they might have thought that she left because of them, which wasn't entirely wrong; they did annoy her enough to make her storm out and fly to the gryphon Kingdom. And although Angel knew that their job would be harder to do alone, she knew that having her sister constantly be upset would be far worse for all four of them. So while they waited for her return they looked at the places marked on the map and settled on seeing them separately after they read up on them, and so went on the long wait.
****
After three weeks of waiting Nightshade finally returned to the castle, but she didn't at all seem happy to be back at all: her mane looked messier than usual and her fur looked matted in some areas. All and all, she looked like a totally flipped version of herself. She took off her crown and saddlebags and set them down near her bed before slipping off her silvery-blue hoof covers and climbing into bed.
“Nightshade? Is that you,”
The familiar voice brought her back to reality and she sat up to look over at Metamorph as he looked in from her doorway, and his expression of joy slowly fell as he got closer to her bed.
“What happened? You don't look that good at all,”
He said as he sat on part of her bed, and she sunk back under the covers
“I spent my whole life trying to preserve something that was already gone, and now I've got nothing to go back to,”
She said in a weak and almost sickening voice, and Prince Metamorph moved to lie down beside her.
“Why don't you tell me about it? Maybe getting it off your chest will help you feel better,”
She looked up at him and rolled over to face him before throwing her hooves around his neck and pulling him into a hug as she softly cried into his shoulder, he wrapped his hooves around her and pulled her closer as he soothingly rubbed her back with a hoof.
“It's ok, I'm here for you,”
He softly said and she hugged him tighter
“I knew I should have just let myself stay, whatever would have happened would have been better than feeling myself die a little bit more on my way back,”
She moved her head up and nuzzled his neck softly with the side of her muzzle.
“You know, your mother and your sister missed you a great deal, maybe it would have been easier to bring one of them with you,”
He said and he gently ran his hoof through her mane
“even I wouldn't have minded the trip if you asked me to go with you,”
She leant back and looked up at him with a small smile, and he wiped away some of her tears with a hoof.
“I'm sure your family will be thrilled to have you back,”
“You know,”
Nightshade said with a sniffle
“I think you might be right Morphy,”
After she said this she got up and kissed his cheek softly before hopping off her bed and trotting out of the room, starting to look for everyone else.
Metamorph ran a hoof over the cheek she kissed and just sighed
“That mare is one heck of an emotional roller coaster,”
He got up off her bed before fixing it and leaving her room as well.
After some searching Nightshade found her sister and Valour, as well as the two princesses, discussing the map from her room, she hadn't even noticed that it was missing before then. As she walked into the room they all looked at her and Angel sprung from her seat to hug her sister
“Oh I missed you so much,”
She leant back and looked at her sister
“So, how did it go with Windbreaker?”
She asked almost instantly knew as she began to examine her sister's physical state.
“Well, actually, it didn't go so well, especially since he got another mate already,”
She said as she looked away and Angel held her sister close in a comforting hug
“I'm so sorry, I really didn't know,”
Angel said and the sound of Valour getting up got her attention and he slowly walked over to them.
“A relationship you wanted to rekindle has fallen apart, it's rather sad don't you think?”
He said as he got closer and almost shoved Angel aside as he stepped in front of her
“now you can make your choice, yes?”
Nightshade took a step back as her ears perked up before quickly dropping to the side
“What is wrong with you?!”
She practically hissed at him and he just frowned
“My longest most pleasant and favourable relationship just ended and the first thing you think about is who I choose?! You have definitely got it twisted,”
She turned around and began to head out of the room and to the ballroom, sitting in the centre of it and looking at the interior of it.
“If only I stayed long enough to enjoy the night properly, none of this turmoil would have happened,”
She looked down at the shiny clean floors in front of her and almost jumped at the sound of Valour’s voice
“Do you really think there is something wrong with me princess? Isn't that a little against what you've been trying to promote?”
He walked into the room and stood a few feet behind her, and she turned to look at him angrily.
“I know well enough that you don't want my affections as much as Metamorph does, and I don't understand why you keep trying to me when the odds of getting me are slim,”
She said as she got up and faced him, seeing his smirk as he stepped closer.
“Such a ridiculous mare, thinking you can say no to me without any repercussions?”
Seconds after he said that he ran at her and pinned her against a wall with a hoof over her throat
“You were right about one thing, your affections weren't my main focus, it's a shame that you are so pretty though, I'd hate to damage such beauty.”
He leant in and sniffed at her neck before running his tongue over an artery before pulling away
“but there is something about your blood that's intoxicating.”
He bared his fangs and just as he began to lean in light blue magic threw him away from her, and she fell to the ground just as Angel let her magic drop and ran over to her sister. And carrying her to her room, heart pounding so fast that she felt too weak to even stand when they got there.
“Your ok right? He didn't bite you?”
Angel said as she looked her sister over for any bite marks
“We…..we need to get rid of him and check his kind for double-crossers, he might have had a more sinister plan in mind.”