//------------------------------//
// Chapter 36: 
// Story: New Beginnings 
// by Black Alicorn 
//------------------------------//

Twilight tossed and turned in her sleep. She reached out her hoof to the right side of the bed, only to find it was empty. She woke up all of a sudden as it registered in her mind that something was missing. As her eyes lazily opened she realized it wasn't something missing, it was someone. She tossed her head up in fright. He was nowhere in sight. Had he left her again? Was she alone in this massive metal machine? Curiosity and fear getting the best of her, she slowly crawled out of bed and left through the open door.

Her hoofsteps echoed through the narrow halls of the ship. Her heartbeat quickened with each step. Some of the lights flickered on and off. Maybe the power systems had ben damaged in the crash. It all gave an eerie feeling to the ship.  Something brushed up against her leg. The sound she heard terrified her.
"Meow."
She looked down to the ground to see a black cat purring while brushing up on her. It looked to her and stared at her with it's big green eyes. Twilight sighed as she realised her fears were unfounded. She rubbed the cat a bit on the top of it's head. It purred more intensely in response. She resumed her journey through the bowels of the ship.
As she progressed further and further down the hall, the echoes of her hoofsteps became louder and louder.
Suddenly, they increased in pace. That wasn't her walking. From all around her, the sound of rapid hoofsteps echoed through the halls, even though she was completely still. They all centered behind her, then stopped. Twilight slowly began to turn her head around.
"BOOO!!"
Twilight screamed as she nearly jumped to the ceiling. Nothing was behind her. As she settled back on the ground, cackling laughter could be heard.
"You should have seen the look on your face!" The voice continued it's ecstatic laughter. But no one was there. Twilight realised who it was.
"Sam!"
"I'm sorry..." Sam laughed for a few moments before finishing her sentence.
"I couldn't resist...I'm quite partial to practical jokes...Oh the stories I could tell you..."
"Later...Where'd Wolf go?"
"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you. He gave me strict ordered not to."
Twilight looked up at the ceiling. Sam paused.
A few moments later, she errupted into laughter.
"Strict orders! Priceless! Oh, I'm gonna die of a heart attack, and I don't even have a heart!"
She laughed for a bit longer, before answering Twilight's question.
"He's in the kitchen."
Twilight smiled.
"Thank you Sam."
"Don't mention it."
Twlight began to walk away.
"Seriously, don't mention it. He'll have my processor on a stick."
As Twilight began to walk away, Sam burst out in a new, louder fit of laughter. She rolled her eyes as she wondered if Sam had gone a bit...crazy...

2 minutes later, Red Dawn kitchen.

Twilight could smell something cooking. The smell was...different, to say the least. As she slowly entered the kitchen the smell of something frying hit her. it was coming from deeper inside the kitchen. From where she was right now, she could see a finely set table, with a bowl of what seemed to be a salad on one side, the other empty. She slowly entered the inner sections of the kitchen. A crackling sound could be heard as she saw him tending something brown on a grill. The smell was definitely coming from that. She came closer. Suddenly, Wolf turned, looking for something. He jumped as he saw Twilight standing right there in front of him.
"Sorry..." Twilight said sheepishly.
"It's alright...Just go sit down and start eating. I'll be with you in a minute..."
"Okay..."
She turned around and began to walk away, but she had to ask.
"What are you cooking?"
His face fell as she asked him that question.
"I'll tell you at the table..."
"Okay."
Twilight turned around and walked out, taking her seat at the table.
Wolf wiped his forehead as he exhaled. He thought he escaped that question...

Twilight was eating her salad slowly, partly because she was waiting for Wolf. For the most part though...pretty much cause it tasted horrible compared to salads she ate elsewhere. It was edible, but it wouldn't be hard to find something better.
Wolf came out of the kitchen with a plate in his hand. He set it down on the table and sat in the chair opposite Twilight. Twilight saw what looked like a sandwich on the plate. It seemed to have lettuce cheese and that brown thing she saw earlier. Wolf picked it up with his hands and took a bite out of it. He seemed to savor it...
"So what were you cooking..."
He swallowed suddenly as his face fell. How would he explain it to her? 
"Well?"
"Um..."
Before he could answer, Twilight noticed something drip out of the sandwich and onto the plate. It was a brownish red liquid, obviously coming from the brown thing in the sandwich. 
Her eyes went wide as she realised what he was eating. She got up out of her chair, he face turning a bit green. Wolf shook his head.
"Yes...that's what you think it is..."
Twilight had to fight hard to stop herself from throwing up all over the floor. What poor creature was he eating? She had seen his canines, of course, but she assumed that a race advanced enough to conquer the stars would disregard them as a useless tool of the past. 
"How can you eat that...that's another living thing!"
"Was, another living thing. Your point being?"
"How can you just eat something that was alive?!"
"You eat plants. They're alive. Ever think about that? You eat just plants. We eat both plants and meat."
She shook her head in disgust. She stared at him with a pleading look. As he finished swallowing the bite he was chewing, he looked at her, and said.
"Oh no, uh-uh. I'll give up the guns, eventually, I'll give up the knives, but I will not, I repeat, NOT give up the occasional burger and or steak. BIG no-no there."
"Fine...Can we get going?"
"As soon as I finish this..."
A few minutes later, outside the Red Dawn.

Midday.
The sun was just beggining to set when they came out together. Birds happily chirping in the air, and all sorts of animals were running around happily, finishing up their dayily routine's and preparing for the night.. He breathed the air in as yet another day in paradise was finishing. The nagging thoughts in the back of his mind about him and Twilight were gone now, just another thing of the past. He had hoped that any problems they might face, Heaven forbid, that they would be that easy to resolve. But one thing remained in his mind, and it was a hell of an issue seeing as he caused it. He turned to Twilight.
"What's the situation with Fluttershy?"
She looked up to him and smiled. 
"You were gone for almost two weeks. In that time, Rainbow Dash assembled the crew that rebuilt the Town Hall and built Fluttershy a new cottage, this time closer to the Whitetail Woods, instead of Everfree."
He breathed a sigh of relief as it set in. She wasn't homeless anymore, to thanks to him. He felt like a complete jerk for spending twelve days fixing his ship when he could have helped right one of his wrongs. At least the matter was taken care of...
"So...you okay?" He asked her.
"With what?"
"You know...back in the kitchen..."
Twilight shuddered at the thought.
"It'll take some getting used to..."
Twilight was thinking about some other issues, one that she wanted to solve immediately...
"No more sleeping on the couch for you mister..."
Wolf did a double take as she said that. He needed to make sure he heard what he heard before jumping to conclusions.
"What did you say?"
"I said you're not sleeping on the couch anymore...You're coming up with me..."
She shot him a look that told him more than enough...
"Spike's a heavy sleeper, and sleepovers at the Applejack's, Rarity's, or the Cutie Mark Crusader Clubhouse are common...So we'll have plenty of time...together..."
She bumped him with her flank as she finished her statement.
Wolf pulled the collar of his shirt open as he was thinking if he should run while he still had the chance...

A few minutes later, at the library...
As they were opening the door, Twilight's eye fell to the goden chariot out back...
As they opened the door, they were greeted by the sight of a large white stallion sitting on the floor and talking with Nyx.
"Mom, look, Uncle Shining's here!"
Shining Armor couldn't help but smile at the sight of his sister. He barely managed to get up before Twilight came over and hugged him.
"I missed you BBBFF..." She said as a tear fell from her eye.
"I missed you too Twilie..."
As they broke their embrace, Shining's Armor's piercing gaze fell upon Wolf.
"Hello there..." Wolf spoke.
Shining's behavior changed. He suddenly became more edgy, and alert.
"So you're him..."
"Well, 'him' is more of a general term, my name, is Wolf."
"I know. I've heard of you...What you've done."
"Word travels fast around here."
"Yeah, being in a position as high as mine helps too..."
"And what position would that be?"
Shining Armor shifted a bit.
"Captain. Of The Princesses Royal Guard."
"Hurray for you..."
It was quite clear that they were annoyed by each other's presence. You could cut the tension with a knife. Twilight could see their annoyance.
"Uh, so Wolf, this is my brother, Shining Armor. Shining, this is Wolf."
"Charmed." Wolf said in a sarcastic tone.
"Likewise. Say, you mind giving us a little privacy? I'd like to have a little talk with my sister."
"Sure..." Wolf said as he walked past him, going into the kitchen and closing the door behind him.
"You too Nyx..."
"But..."
"No buts, just go upstairs please..."
"Okay..." Once he was certain that Nyx was upstairs, he turned to Twilight.
"Twilie! What are you thinking?! This...THING is dangerous! You know that! You know what he's done! For Celestia's sake, you've seen what he's done! I want him out of here, fast and I wan you to stay away from him! You hear me?"
Twilight huffed as she walked over to the window.
"Doesn't feel good does it?"
"What?"
"Doesn't feel good when you're own flesh and blood hooks up with somepony without you knowing it does it? Well know you know what I felt like when I found out you were getting married..."
"Twilie, that's different. You know I had responsibilities. And besides, it was somepony that both you and I knew well. This is completely different! I mean, he's from another planet for crying out loud! Who knows what his intentions are?"
He paused for a minute to catch his breath.
"I want you to break it off with him."
"No."
"What?"
"NO. I had no say in who you loved and married, now you have no say in who I love."
"Twilie, I want you to stop this before something happens that we'll both regret."
She turned around to face him.
"Like what?"
"I don't want you going too far with him."
She froze. She knew exactly what he was talking about. Shining Armor noticed how suddenly she stopped moving and how her eyes fell to the floor. He then realised it.
"No..."
He turned around and walked towards the kitchen.
"Where are you going?"
"To end this, right here, right now."
"Shining Armor, what are you going to do?"
"Twilie, whatever you do, do not open this door."
"Why? Shining Armor! Come back here! Shining!"
Twilight's cried were drowned at as he closed the kitchen door behind him, then locked it with a spell. To ensure that no one would get in, he moved the table in front of the door to barricade it. Twilight still yelled and beat on the door from outside. Wolf was on one side of the room, Shining Armor on the other. Wolf spoke up.
"What's wrong with her?"
"None of your business. You stay away from her, you hear me?"
"Listen pal, I've finally found a little bit of hapiness after going through hell. I don't care who you are, but I'm not leaving her."
"And I'm not letting you get close to her."
"Then it seems we have a problem."

Outside the room, Twilight was pacing back and forth. She was nervous. What was going on in there? All of a sudden, she heard yells, and clattering. She heard a few thumps as something fell to the floor and shattered. Grunts followed the shatering glass, as she realised what was going on. Terror filled her heart.
"Stop it! Stop it!" She beat on the door as she desperately screamed from outside.
A loud scream was heard from within, followed by a loud thump. She was absolutely terified now. She began beating on the door as she continued screaming. As her last resort, she teleported inside. What she saw there nearly caused her to fall dead from fear. After she finished screaming at the top of her lungs, she yelled as loud as she can.
"SHINING!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!!!"

End Chapter 36