//------------------------------//
// chapter 18 
// Story: vengeance at nightfall 
// by NightSugar pone 
//------------------------------//

study and acceptance 


After another long time of panicking Metamorph was finally able to convince Nightshade that her eyes might go back to normal after a good night of rest, and he escorted her back to the room while trying to keep her calm. 

****

After that night Nightshade woke up feeling refreshed and smiled as she carefully got out of bed and went to the washroom, but upon seeing her own eyes still blue and still with slits for pupils her smile instantly changed to a look of horror. Immediately she tried to rub her eyes to get rid of it but didn't work, and she galloped out of the room all together and bounded down the hall to the library in the castle. When she got close enough the guard by the door opened it for her, she quickly thanked him on her way in and instantly began to searching for a book that would have a way to fix a magical defect. But after a long while of searching she began to feel more and more helpless, with each book she found, and each moment she spent scanning the pages for an answer she turned up empty hoofed. 

“why is it not going away now?! This is probably the worst time for my eyes to look weird and unnatural,”
She slammed a book shut and slid it away from her as her ears folded back, 
“and the way I killed that stallion, it scared Metamorph.”
She stared down at her hooves and the blue splatter on them seemed to flash red for a second and she jumped back quickly, her heart was racing as she sat there and she slowly turned her head to a room she was warned about a while ago. It was full of old books and spells that required dark or corrupted magic and even sparked it sometimes. She swallowed hard as she got up and walked towards it slowly as if she was creeping up on her prey, and when she got close enough she saw that a lock was on the door to the room. She looked over at the guard hesitantly and her ears tilted to him to be sure that he was occupied, and as soon as she was sure that he wasn't paying attention she teleported herself into the room and was instantly hit with the familiar feeling of heaviness. The dark spells had been looked up all together which made her feel the stress on her body, but she forced herself up and began to look around; there were a lot of scrolls but a couple journals as well, all with wax seals or locks. 
“you couldn't make it easy huh auntie,” 
She said to herself as she pulled a scroll off of a shelf 
“wow, curses with gems, that's one I've never heard of before. Cool but useless,”
She shrugged and put it back before pulling out another one, and another one until she gave up on her search and sighed, oddly enough she felt a little better than she did before. And after teleporting back out she began to put the books back and swiftly made her way out, only this time the guard saw her eyes and stopped her. 

“your highness, are you alright? Your eyes look strange,” 
She looked down at the ground and sighed, 

“does it really look that bad?”
He began to respond but the moment she looked up at him he stopped and tilted his ears back, 

“w-well, they are unusual, but they aren't horrible and frightening,”
He smiled nervously and she smiled back at him. 

“thank you, sir, oh, and can you tell the princesses about this so they can help me find a way to fix it?”
He nodded, and she said a quick goodbye as she trotted back to the room. When she got back Sapphire and Metamorph were now up and about, and the moment Metamorph saw her he gasped in shock. Nightshade turned her head away from him and looked away as she stepped into the room, but he quickly moved in front of her and looked at her eyes, 

“they didn't change back, was that why you left so early?”
She didn't say anything, instead, she just looked into his eyes and folded her ears back slowly, 

“will you…still, love me with my eyes like this?”
He was speechless for a moment before pulling her into a hug. 

“you didn't hate me because I was a changeling, I won't think of you any different,”
He leant back but kept a hoof around her back 
“you're still the same Nightshade I met months ago.”
After the first few days of everyone being shocked with nightshade's eyes things slowly began to calm down, and just like she guessed before, many ponies and even some changelings complained about the gryphons moving. But like before, they eventually stopped fighting and complaining about it. Windbreaker had decided to come back to the castle to help with the decisions regarding the gryphons as well and moved into the castle as well. Although Nightshade was thrilled to have a friend close by she did still worry about him and Metamorph eventually getting into a fight, and she tried to keep a reasonable distance between the two and the time she spent with them, and as she kept track of the different lands that were being populated in Equestria from the diverse group of citizens, she also made it important to keep them and herself busy.

****

Weeks upon weeks went by and she slowly began to accept her title properly, although she still hated being called a princess it made her feel as though she had a purpose, it gave her the drive she needed to keep Equestria in line with each new decision she made. And for the first time in a long time, she felt like she belonged at her mother's and sister's sides, as an equal as well as a sister and daughter.