//------------------------------//
// chapter 25 
// Story: vengeance at nightfall 
// by NightSugar pone 
//------------------------------//

“but he's a dragon!”

After a flying a fair distance away from the other dragons, the green dragon had landed, waking up Nightshade in the process. When she woke up she yawned, feeling much more like herself before noticing that she was being held close to the dragon's chest, as he made a fire to keep them warm. 

“you get too tired to fly?”
She said, and he stopped to look at her, 

“well, Centerlot is really far away, I just figured we'd rest for the night,”
She sighed and nodded. 

“that would be the better idea in this case, but um, can you please let me go?”
After she said that he put her down in front of him, and tried to fix her mane before she gently pushed his talons away, 
“it's fine, I've looked worse than this,”
She walked around to the other side of the fire and lied down, stretching and rolling her wing joints. 
“ahh, that's better,”
The dragon just stared at her as she did and stayed quiet, 
“maybe introductions are in order, you already know my name but I still don't know yours,”
He cleared his throat and puffed out his chest. 

“my name is Pyrite,”
Nightshade tilted her head to the side in confusion, 

“isn't that a female name?”
When she said this he sighed and lowered his head, looking a lot less strong than before,

“yeah, my parents thought that I was a girl because of how small my egg was,”
She gave him a small smile before flying over the fire and landing beside him. 

“it seems like we're both runts than, what an odd turn of events,”
He looked down at her before lowering his head to rest it on the ground, 

“but even your name is cooler than mine,”
Nightshade looked down at her hooves and frowned, fiddling with a blade of grass between them. 

“That's where you're wrong, my name is the same name used for poisonous berries that are as black as night, and as tiny as blueberry buds. Even the strongest creatures find themselves falling prey to such a radiant Berry,” 
She looked up at him, and their eyes met for a moment 
“I'm a danger to those around me, even more so if they love me,”
She looked away from him and went quiet as she began to think about Metamorph, and she lowered her head as well. 
“no one can love me without getting hurt,” 
She closed her eyes as she felt the familiar sensation of tears, and forced herself to fall asleep again. 

****

By the time Nightshade woke up again they were already flying over Appaloosa, and Pyrite didn't take his eyes off the sky. And although she admired his determination, she couldn't help but feel that her plan to help him would be riskier than he'd expect. When they arrived in Canterlot, he set her down and let her lead the way to the castle, frightening a few upper-class ponies as they went by. Nightshade reassured the guards that they passed, that Pyrite was perfectly safe, and that they were going to the main Hall to discuss business. A few guards galloped off to relay the message to Angel, Metamorph and the two princesses, letting them know that Nightshade was back, and safe as well. After a while of waiting the sound of many hooves walking to the main Hall got louder and louder, and the first one to run in and check on Nightshade was, princess Luna herself. She practically knocked her over with a hug, before frantically checking if she was hurt in any way. And while Celestia and Angel walked in calmly, Prince Metamorph, bolted in to stand between Nightshade and Pyrite, hissing at him fiercely. 

“stay behind me, these dragons can't be trusted,”
Pyrite instantly looked offended and moved away from Metamorph, 

“what in the hay do you think you're doing?!”
Nightshade yelled at him and got to her hooves, and turned him around to face her
“he is the one the guard was talking about,”
She walked past him and towards Pyrite, but he stopped her. 

“dragons are untrustworthy vicious beasts, that will devour anything in sight, and you expect me to let you just trust him?! He was probably the one who kidnapped you right!?!”
Metamorph yelled, and Nightshade couldn't help but give him a confused look, 

“what? I wasn't kidnapped, well I sort of was, but not by him, he saved me,”
He just snorted and stepped closer to her. 

“and you expect me to believe that? All dragons are the same: they steal and hoard anything that they want, and eat whoever tries to stop them. And I don't want you to go out that way,”
She smiled a small comforting smile, and put a hoof on his shoulder, before pushing him aside and trying to comfort the now shaking Pyrite behind him. 

“you may not like fire-breathers, but this one deserves thanks from you, rather than a death threat,”
She held one of Pyrite’s talons and he smiled and began to calm down a little bit,

“you know, a dragon can live just as long as an alicorn, maybe you should try to be with him?”
Angel said, and both Nightshade and Metamorph turned their heads to look at her and said;

“shut up Angel!”
In unison, before turning their attention back to Pyrite. 

“okay okay, fine, you didn't have to yell at me, it was just a suggestion,”
Angel rolled her eyes and sighed, 

“well, at least you tried,”
Celestia whispered to Angel, lowering a wing to comfort her, which made her smile. 

“maybe I can try my luck with him then? After all, he might just be the most exotic male I've ever been with,”
After hearing that, Celestia face-hoofed and sighed, 

“this is going to be a long meeting.”