//------------------------------// // Ch.12 Settling In // Story: Past Actions, Future Consequences // by Rill //------------------------------// Twilight stood frozen in place, her mind trying to comprehend what had just happened. Shaking her head to try and clear her mind from the sudden burst of magic from Shadow’s shield, the older alicorn felt her heart race at the scene before her. Spike stood under a golden dome, his fists pounding uselessly against the shimmering barrier while tears streamed down his face. She could see that he was shouting as well, but whatever he was saying was completely blocked by the shield. Seeming to realize the futility of it, Spike quit pounding on his prison, choosing instead to watch his young captor. Shadow slowly paced around the shield, circling it like he had captured a dangerous creature and was making sure its cage was both secure and strong enough. Twilight frowned as she watched the scene, something less than obvious about it catching her attention. It was as Shadow completed his second circuit around Spike’s prison that she realized what it was: Shadow never walked next to his barrier. The colt never got closer than a few feet from the shield. The princess felt her jaw slowly drop as she looked at Shadow’s face and the final pieces of the puzzle fell into place. Shadow wasn’t just scared of Spike; he was terrified. She had only to look at the colt’s large, shaking eyes to confirm her suspicion. Though it was a small detail that most ponies would miss, it stood out like a sore hoof to the alicorn. The face of barely concealed terror was one she knew quite well, having worn it herself on several occasions, most recently during her battle with Tirek. “Dragon.” Twilight froze at Shadow's single, venom-laden word. She didn't need magic to sense the colt's hatred for Spike; she could practically feel it radiating from him. So it’s not just fear that caused him to trap Spike under a shield, Twilight thought as the way he had hissed that one word spoke volumes to the princess. Igniting her horn while his back was turned, Twilight experimentally tapped the shield, her head rocking back slightly at the nearly instant magical backlash. Dousing her magic for the moment, the mare slowly approached the colt while he stood glaring at Spike, who had his back to the shield’s far wall, trying to put as much distance between him and Shadow as he could. “Shadow” Twilight said gently, not wanting to spook the colt, “Could you please let Spike go?” “No.” Shadow never took his eyes off the lizard as he replied. “Why not?” “He’s a dragon.” Twilight frowned at the venom in the colt’s voice “He’s my friend.” Not seeing the colt even twitch, Twilight moved a little closer, “He’s also my assistant and kind of like a little brother as well.” Shadow turned to look at the other alicorn in the room. “He’s a vicious, fire-breathing dragon” He replied, as if his reasons should be perfectly obvious. “Yes he is a dragon and he does breathe fire, but he is not vicious.” Seeing the colt’s incredulous look, she added, “I promise.” “You promise.” “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Twilight replied, going through the motions. Shadow didn’t know what to think of the display. “What was that?” “A Pinkie Promise” Twilight replied, “And breaking a Pinkie Promise is the quickest way to lose a friend.” Shadow snorted at her explanation. Since when in any way were they friends? Seeing that he was still unconvinced, Twilight sighed. How was she going to convince him to drop the shield? “I swear that he is no threat, Shadow.” The young alicorn turned to face Twilight. “You swear?” Twilight swallowed nervously “Yes?” “Do you swear on your life?” “Yes.” Twilight saw the colt’s eyes narrow. “Do you have any family?” “A mom, dad, brother and sister-in-law.” “Do you swear on their lives, on Rainbow Dash’s life, on the lives of all of your friends?” “Yes.” Shadow glared at the princess. Normally he would have continued, but considering her position and where she lived, Shadow doubted that Twilight was overly attached to her possessions, since she could probably replace them quite easily. Giving a final huff, Shadow flashed his horn, the golden dome around Spike vanishing a second later. Unsurprisingly to Shadow, the dragon immediately grabbed the opening and dashed behind Twilight. Without another word, Shadow turned and walked away. Twilight watched Shadow stalk off to the nearest bookshelf. Sighing in relief, she turned to the young dragon behind her, whispering to him. “Are you alright?” Seeing Spike nod, Twilight picked him up with her magic, setting him on her back before trotting for the nearby staircase. The journey to the castle’s kitchen was an unusually quick one, borne by Twilight’s desire to get as much distance between Shadow and Spike as possible. For his part, Spike managed to keep quiet until the kitchen door clicked shut behind them. “What in Tartarus was that all about!” He exploded. “I don’t know, Spike.” Twilight replied as she let him down. “Believe me, I had no idea he would be like this. If I did, I would have handled your introduction much differently.” “I believe you, Twilight, but why didn’t you free me?” The dragon groused as he pulled a gem covered cookie from his private stash. “You are the Element of Magic after all, so it shouldn’t have been a problem.” “I could have, but I would have just made things worse if I had.” “Worse?” The young drake asked, clearly not convinced “How?” “Do you remember that letter you got from Princess Celestia the morning of the fire?” Spike nodded before looking up at Twilight, “Wait. Is he the one the letter was talking about?” “Yes” In all of the chaos during the fire and after, Twilight had never had a chance to show the picture to Spike and had forgotten until that moment. “He’s the one the princesses wanted to talk to, but I doubt he’ll say anything until he feels comfortable and taking down his shield wouldn’t have helped. On top of that, I think you scared him.” “I scared him?” If she hadn’t seen it for herself, Twilight would have shared in Spike’s disbelief. “I believe so. You wouldn’t have noticed it, but when he trapped you, he put way more power into that shield than he needed. Not only that, I watched him watch you and I could see the fear in his eyes and in how he circled you.” “Huh.” Spike looked down as he mulled over Twilight’s words. “I just hope you don’t expect me to forgive him.” Twilight sighed. She knew that Spike could hold a grudge when he wanted, and Shadow had more than gotten under the young dragon’s scales. “No, but I’d like you to try and cut him some slack.” “Why should I?” “Because he’s been through more in the last few months than most ponies go through in their entire lives.” Seeing Spike’s raised eyebrow, Twilight continued. “He watched his parents and twin sister die in a fire while barely escaping himself. After that, the ship he was on got attacked by what could easily be described as a sea dragon and he was nearly killed fighting it.” Twilight could see that what she was saying was getting through to Spike. “After reaching Equestria, he barely survived two more fires and if Rainbow Dash is right, a manticore attack.” “Are you trying to convince me to forgive him or to keep my distance?” Spike turned away, rummaging through a nearby cabinet, “I suppose I can cut him some slack, all things considered” he said, pulling out a couple potatoes, “But don’t expect me to just forget about this.” “Thank you, Spike” Twilight said as she nuzzled her number one assistant. Letting the dragon playfully push her away, the alicorn ignited her horn, disappearing from the room with a flash. Hearing something heavy hit the ground as she reappeared, Twilight looked around, quickly spotting Shadow as he picked himself off the floor. Rushing over, Twilight backed off as the colt brushed her hoof aside “Are you alright?” “Yeah” Shadow replied, calling on his pain relief spell to deal with the pain from where he had hit the bookshelf. Sighing in relief, he turned back to Twilight “What was that?” “What?” “How did you just appear out of nowhere?” “Oh, that?” Twilight said, smiling at the younger alicorn’s attitude change, “I just teleported from the kitchen.” “Teleportation is impossible.” Feeling the smile on her face grow, Twilight charged her horn, disappearing with a flash of magic before appearing in midair two stories above the colt. Before gravity could take over, Twilight’s horn flashed again and she was one floor lower, next to a loaded bookshelf. By the time she returned after another half dozen teleports, Shadow’s jaw was slack in disbelief. “You have got to teach me how to do that.” Shadow said as soon as his mind started to work again. Frowning, Shadow’s head tilted to the side as something came to mind, “This might actually explain somethings…” “What?” “Back home, there were a couple times when I went to sleep in my bed but woke up in the woods around my house.” “Couldn’t you have just sleepwalked?” Shadow shook his head. “The doors and windows were always locked in the morning, and there were spells on all the locks to keep anypony from leaving the house in their sleep, since that last thing you wanted to do was sleepwalk straight into a pack of hungry timber wolves.” Thinking about it for a few more seconds before shrugging, the colt ignited his horn, picking up the book he had dropped with Twilight’s sudden appearance. Looking over his shoulder, Twilight raised an eyebrow at the cover’s title, Letters for Little Learners. “I know what you’re thinking” Shadow said, catching Twilight off guard. “I know this was written for foals.” Twilight wondered if it was the foal on the cover or the large letters with simple images next to them that hinted at its target audience. “Then why read it?” “Because my Equestrian is pathetic at best, and I won’t even mention modern Equestrian.” “‘Modern Equestrian’?” “How can I read anything here” Shadow gestured to the hundreds of books around them “If I can’t read this” He gestured to the book. “It’s kind of amazing how much Equestrian has changed over a thousand years, yet how it hasn’t.” Shadow opened the book to the first page “This letter I recognize, while this one…” He flipped a few pages, “I never would have guessed.” Twilight nodded at his logic. “So you like books?” “I suppose” Shadow said as he set the foal’s book back where he got it from. Twilight smiled. Though he tried to hide it, she could tell that he had an interest in books. “Well, now that you live here, you have access to every book in the library.” Shadow spun around at her statement, surprise and disbelief in his eyes. “Wait; really?” Twilight shrugged “Of course.” Shadow craned his neck, to try and see all the books. He could read any of these he wanted? “I swear no harm will come to any book I borrow.” Twilight’s eyebrows quirked at this, “Why do I get the feeling there’s a story behind this?” "Last year, my class went to the town library to do research for an assignment. During the trip, one of the other students somehow destroyed a book. To avoid the librarian's wrath, they had to blame somepony else. Three guesses who they picked." "You?" "When in doubt, blame the only half-breed in town who has an interest in books." "What happened?" "I tried to explain things to my teacher, but she sided with the students from her tribe who blamed me. I was immediately banned from the library and forced to wait outside in the rain." Shadow gently returned the book to its place on the shelf "Got plenty of shield practice that day" he added, almost as an afterthought. "Couldn't they just replace the book?" "Sure, but it would take at least six months to get a hoof made copy. Needless to say, books tend to be rather expensive and well protected." Twilight found herself uneasy with what Shadow had casually said. How could they blame a pony just on the words of a couple other kids? While the injustice of the situation and Shadow’s casual dismissal of the incident rubbed her the wrong way, Twilight couldn’t keep what else he had said from bouncing around her head, sided with the students from her tribe. Why would she side with students from her tribe? Didn’t she care about the truth? Was she a tribalist? Twilight felt a knot form in her stomach as she watched Shadow peruse the books. The way he had spoken about the incident like it was perfectly normal… Could he be a tribalist as well? Deciding to leave it alone for the moment, Twilight walked over to Shadow, "Why did you trap Spike in that shield?" "He's a dragon." Shadow's matter-of-fact reply caught the young Princess off guard. "He's a baby dragon." "For now" Shadow said, setting the book down before turning to face Twilight, "But he'll get bigger. While he can't do much damage now, when he's full grown, he could sneeze and wipe out an entire village. The last time there was a dragon back home; over a hundred ponies were killed in one blast." "When was that?" "A thousand years ago. Needless to say, we learned our lesson very quickly." "Spike isn't like other dragons." The young alicorn shrugged. “Do you think you’ll be able to get along with him?” Shadow seemed to think about it for a moment before nodding. “You swore he’s not a danger, and since I have no choice, I have to believe you.” Twilight winced at his words. “Besides, he’s still young, so I doubt he’s much of a threat… for now.” The princess silently groaned to herself. This was not how she had hoped for this conversation to go, but considering what had happened less than an hour ago, this was an improvement and for the moment, she’d take what she could get. Twilight bit down on the noodle-laden fork as she mulled over what Shadow had said earlier. Like almost every other pony, she had had no inkling of the Crystal Empire’s existence until her then-mentor had sent her and her friends to help Shining Armor and Cadance. After Sombra had been defeated and she and her friends had returned home, she had made it her mission to learn as much about the Empire as she could. The resulting chaos of books and scrolls had left Discord wondering if she was studying chaos magic, much to the then-unicorn’s annoyance. Yet despite all of her studying, Twilight couldn’t recall a single mention of a dragon attack in over three thousand years of Crystal Empire history. Perhaps Cadance might know something the young Princess thought, mentally noting to send her sister-in-law a letter. Glancing up from her plate, the older alicorn glanced over at the colt sitting across from her. After his less than satisfying reason for trapping Spike in a shield, Twilight had decided to change the topic to a less potentially problematic subject, instead asking Shadow to recall all the times he had woken up somewhere other than his bed. She had asked him to try and remember every detail he could, no matter how small. To neither alicorn’s great surprise, Shadow couldn’t recall any details about the half dozen incidents, except where he had eventually woken up. Twilight had known it was a long shot, but she had been hoping to find something similar about the incidents that could lead her to a trigger. After that, the two alicorns had spent the rest of the time before dinner going over the basic theory of teleportation. To the princess’s surprise, Shadow was – while not overly eager – an attentive student who had asked her more than a few good questions. By the time they had stopped for dinner, Shadow seemed to have a grasp of the basics of how teleportation worked, as well as the numerous safety measures in place to prevent accidents. Unlike what had happened when Shadow had seen Spike for the first time, dinner was a thankfully quiet affair. Shadow hadn’t said two words since the two alicorns had walked in to find Spike wearing the apron and chef’s hat that Pinkie Pie had gotten him as a Hearth’s Warming present. While dinner had been uneventful so far, Twilight could see lingering tension from earlier in the castle’s two other residents. The princess would occasionally catch her assistant stealing a glance at Shadow and every time she did, Twilight could see a mix of fear and resentment on the young dragon’s face. Shadow on the other hoof, had opted for a more subtle approach. He studiously avoided looking at the dragon, yet she could see him watching Spike’s reflection in the nearby wall. Though she didn’t say anything, Twilight had also noticed how Shadow didn’t touch his plate until she had taken a couple bites from hers. For a while, the dragon and two alicorns ate in silence; two content to let the silence continue for as long as possible, while the third watched them with concern. Despite everyone going back for seconds, or for thirds in Shadow’s case, the meal slowly wound down, with no one wanting to be the first to leave. Unable to sit because of his burns, Shadow stood at the table, an unfamiliar but not unwelcome feeling of lethargy and fullness filling him. Sighing in unconcealed pleasure, the colt let out a belch that all but rattled the glasses on the table. “Feel good?” Twilight asked, wondering if he picked that up from Rainbow Dash. “After a good meal, it always feels good” The young alicorn replied as he slowly moved to set his plate by the sink. “So you liked it?” Spike asked, addressing the colt for the first time. Twilight saw Shadow’s slight hitch at the dragon’s question. “That was one of the best meals I’ve had in months.” Shadow said, leaving out how little he had eaten after the barely edible slop on the Tranquility. “Well I thought it was a great dinner Spike. Thank you” Twilight said as she stood, smiling at how the young dragon seemed to grow at the two compliments. “It was nothing” Spike said, setting his plates with the others. “Would you mind doing the dishes while I show Shadow around?” “Sure thing Twi” The young drake said, tossing a casual salute as he filled the sink. Seeing Twilight tilt her head, Shadow followed her out of the kitchen. As he left, the colt looked back at Spike, watching as the dragon flicked a switch on the radio on the countertop, strains of Sapphire Shores’ latest hit filling the room as the door closed behind the colt. For a few minutes, the two alicorns walked in silence, the sound of the hoof steps echoing around them; Twilight’s a steady rhythm while Shadow’s was more irregular as he limped along beside her. Around him, the colt couldn’t help but notice the stark contrast between what was around him and the trunk of the castle. Unlike the warm and inviting atmosphere below them, the walls of the hallway were completely barren, giving the place a cold and almost sterile feeling. “Thank you for complimenting Spike’s cooking. I know it meant a lot to him.” Shadow shrugged. He hadn’t been lying about what he said. He also hadn’t been planning to compliment the lizard, but since he was stuck there until the solar tyrant made her move, having one less thing to worry about would be a bonus. Shadow paused mid-stride as they walked by a pair of open doors; something inside having caught his attention. Slowly limping in, Shadow felt his jaw drop at the sight of the chandelier that dominated the room’s ceiling. Back home, there had been a few things that had left the colt with the same sense of disbelief; a couple pieces of pottery in Dragon’s Bay and the first time he saw Whitehead Falls came readily to mind, but what he saw now was in a category all its own. Behind him, he could hear the sound of Twilight stop as she realized he wasn’t with her, followed shortly after by her walking up behind him. As she entered, the room lit up, crystals in the ceiling glowing to life as if they sensed her presence. As the room brightened, Shadow felt his jaw drop as the light hit the numerous gems hanging from the chandelier’s limbs, spots of color dashing across the room’s walls as the gems slowly twisted in a slight breeze. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Shadow silently nodded as he took it all in. With the light, the colt could see that the chandelier wasn’t metal or crystal like he had expected, but was instead the bottom half of what used to be a very large tree. Hearing a nearly imperceptible sigh, Shadow looked up at the alicorn next to him. “What happened?” If the sigh hadn’t been enough, the hidden look on her face, followed by the shock of his question, told him that the room held a special significance for Twilight. “I was so stupid” Twilight whispered, a few tears slowly rolling down her face “I shouldn’t have interrupted myself... I should have paid more attention…” Watching, the few tears Twilight had already shed were joined by more until they became a small stream. “No pony, not even the princesses knows how he escaped Tartarus” Twilight began, her eyes looking over each gem. Shadow felt his stomach drop as she spoke. Nothing good ever came from a story that started with something escaping Tartarus. "… I had barely gotten out with Owlowiscious when Tirek's attack hit. Other than a hoof-full of books, everything inside, everything I owned, was destroyed." "What happened to the bastard?" "He's locked in a cage in Tartarus for the rest of eternity." Twilight said, smiling slightly “Unfortunately, the fight between me and him caused a lot of damage around Ponyville. You saw some of it when we visited your new school. We’re still working on replacing the playground equipment” She added as she turned. Shadow barely flinched as Twilight’s hoof came down on his shoulder, gently nudging towards the doors. So she’s lost her home too the colt thought as the pair walked into the hall, the room behind them darkening behind them. How could Celestia send an unreliable agent – not to mention a former enemy – to deal with such a threat and expect it to work out? Why didn’t she deal with Tirek herself when the threat he posed was so low? Shadow shook his head at the question. He’d never understand how the solar tyrant thought, though he’d probably get a chance to ask her soon enough. Looking up, Shadow stopped alongside Twilight as the older alicorn stopped at an unmarked door. With a simple push, Twilight opened the door, standing aside to let the younger alicorn in first. Stepping through, Shadow managed to keep from jumping as the smaller room’s lights burst to life. “What do you think?” Shadow looked back at Twilight, noting the hopeful look on her face before turning back to the room. He knew it was his bedroom, the bed along one wall making that obvious. What caught the colt’s attention were the numerous sheets of paper covering the walls. Walking deeper into the room, Shadow stared at the posters, one with a stylized depiction of Manehattan’s skyline, while another showed Canterlot sitting on its mountainside perch, the white of the city’s marble contrasting against the green of the mountain behind it. Why would somepony cover walls with paper, especially when the walls were made of crystal and more interesting than most of the sheets of paper covering them? Above the bed, somepony had hung a large flag on the wall. Shadow couldn’t place the flag, but he knew it wasn’t the Equestrian flag, which he had seen plenty of times since waking up on the Tranquility. “So?” Shadow looked over at the hopeful alicorn standing on the other side of the door. “It’s definitely… colorful.” He replied after a moment. “Thanks” Twilight said, taking his reply as permission to enter “I’ve never decorated a colt’s bedroom before, so I didn’t know what would work. Fortunately, I had my friends to help me.” The alicorn paused as something came to mind. “Now that I think about it, I should probably cast an anti-teleportation spell on this room while I’m here.” “Why?” The sudden suspicion in Shadow’s voice caught the young Princess off guard. Had she said something wrong? “You’ve admitted that you occasionally teleport in your sleep, and while more training will stop that, it would probably be best to prevent you from teleporting while in here, unless you want to risk teleporting twenty feet that way.” Shadow looked over at the window fifteen feet away that Twilight was pointing at. Outside, both alicorns could see the lights of Ponyville from several stories up. “Oh… right.” Stepping back as Twilight ignited her horn, Shadow watched the larger alicorn, his own horn glowing slightly as he felt her magic, analyzing the spell. To the colt’s surprise, in the end it was a relatively simple spell; a simple shield spell matrix with one attachment to make it invisible, another to attach it to the room’s walls while leaving the doorway alone, and a third attachment that Shadow didn’t recognize, but could only assume would prevent anypony in the room from teleporting. Completing the spell, Twilight turned, knowing that Shadow had analyzed the spell as she had cast it. Why didn’t he trust her? Tossing that question with all the others, the purple alicorn took another look around the room. “I’ll leave you alone to get settled in. The bathroom is down the hall” She pointed to her left “and my room is two doors down” Twilight added, pointing to her right. “The kitchen is all the way down the hall, so don’t hesitate to get something if you’re hungry, though don’t be surprised if you find Spike eating as well.” Nodding, Shadow loosened the strap around his waist, letting his bags gently hit the floor. Stepping out of the room, Twilight heard the sound of the radio come to life as she walked back to the kitchen. Twilight sat at the desk of her small study, a good portion of the nearby candle having disappeared over the last few hours. In front of her, the letter from Cadance sat, its words confounding the alicorn: Twilight, I took a look and there have not been any reported house fires in the Empire since its return. On a hunch, I had an aide look into missing pony reports, but none match your mysterious colt's description, and all are for ponies that disappeared before the Empire fell. I wish I could help more, but this is all I have at the moment. Cadance P.S. Shiny says hello. Ponyville’s oldest alicorn groaned again as Cadance’s words played out in her head. She had no reason to doubt Cadance, which meant that Shadow couldn’t possibly be from the Crystal Empire. Yet… If he wasn’t from the Empire, how in Celestia’s name was he fluent in Crystallic, and what in Tartarus did he mean earlier by ‘modern Equestrian’? Massaging her forehead with a hoof, the alicorn slowly stood, opening the nearby window with her magic so Owlowiscious could get in. Cracking her neck, she ignited her horn, the familiar feeling of magic embracing her as she disappeared from the room, only to reappear in the kitchen a moment later. Yawning, she slowly shambled down the hall, her bed calling for her. Pausing at the door to her room, the alicorn’s horn gently glowed as she checked on Shadow’s room. While it had initially felt wrong to her, she had altered the blocking spell she had cast. The slight change would not only let her know if anypony tried to teleport in the room, it also let her know if he was in the room at all. Fortunately, the spell told her that he was in his bed and sound asleep, having fallen asleep while listening to some music. Closing the door behind her, Twilight slowly walked through her room, not bothering to turn on any lights. One of the first things she had done when she moved in was alter the spell for the light crystals in the ceiling so that she could control them with a simple switch she had mounted by the door, just above the floor. Sensing her bed before her, the young Princess pulled back the covers with a hoof, before slipping under them. Sighing in relief, the alicorn closed her eyes, glad the day was finally over and hoping that Princess Luna would stop by her dreams. She had some things she needed to talk to the older alicorn about. “Very good” Twilight said, watching Shadow from a distance as the young alicorn focused his magic. “Now close your eyes and visualize where you want to appear.” One of the colt’s eyebrows rose at the princess’s first instruction, though he silently obeyed, his eyes closing a moment later. Twilight quietly sighed to herself at this. When she had gotten up, she had hoped that he’d warm up to her, but any hope of that had been strained during a breakfast that had been nearly as tense as dinner the previous night. As usual, Spike had gotten up before her, already half way through preparing breakfast when she had walked in. By the time everything was ready, Shadow had arrived, appearing as silently as his namesake before Twilight could go wake him up. The meal that had followed had been only slightly less tense than dinner the previous evening, with Shadow carefully watching Spike, though she had felt his eyes watching her on more than one occasion as well. Both she and Spike had tried to get the colt to open up, but other than one or two word answers, Shadow had remained stubbornly silent. Breakfast had lasted like that for another half hour before Spike set his plates in the sink, announcing that he was heading over to Rarity’s to help the unicorn. Twilight had known about his plans since yesterday, but her assistant’s early departure left her wondering if he had used it as an excuse to get out of the castle and away from Shadow’s constant gaze. Yet, she had noticed that as soon as the young dragon had left, the tension coming from the castle’s newest occupant seemed to drain a little. After helping to clean the few dishes in the sink, she and Shadow made their way to the library, Twilight quizzing the colt on what they had gone over the previous evening. The princess couldn’t help but smile as the younger alicorn recalled everything they had talked about. Not sure how to go about teaching such a relatively complex spell to a colt so young, Twilight had settled with creating a small target zone for Shadow to try and teleport into, which she had created by setting a couple pillows on the floor in a rough square shape. Across the room, Shadow had watched her, his eyes never leaving her once. While she appreciated his rapt attention, Twilight found it a little unsettling as well; like he was watching to make sure she didn’t try anything. As she explained the basic mechanics of teleportation, she had watched Shadow’s face fall, as he seemed to realize that this wasn’t going to be as simple as levitating a book. His greatest resistance had come when she had explained how it usually worked best when the caster closed their eyes when they visualized their destination. Whether it was because of her or because of something else, it had taken Twilight close to ten minutes to convince Shadow that it would be easier for him if he closed his eyes. He had even managed to extract a promise from her that she would not move while his eyes were closed, which was what led to her current position of sitting in the middle of the library’s main floor, with Shadow on one side and his target on the other. “Do you got an image of your target in your mind?” Twilight asked, raising her voice to make sure she was heard. Seeing the colt nod, the princess smiled “Good. Now visualize the spell matrix I showed you while keeping the previous image in mind.” As she watched, she could see Shadow’s horn start to glow with a golden aura that reminded her for some reason of topaz. Shaking her head at the stray thought, Twilight watched as the glow intensified, the light coming from his horn forcing her to squint. Before she could say anything, Shadow disappeared in a burst of smoke and sound that left Twilight coughing as her ears rang from the bang that still echoed around the castle. As her hearing began to return to normal, the princess noted the sound of coughing coming from where Shadow had been, along with a number of curses. Igniting her horn, Twilight opened a small portal over their heads, the smoke filling the room rushing into the hole in the air as the spell created a slight increase in air pressure in the room. “For a first attempt, that wasn’t too bad” Twilight said as the final wisps of smoke disappeared “though I think you put a little too much power into the spell.” “Is there supposed to be so much smoke?” “Normally there isn’t supposed to be any smoke” Twilight frowned as a thought occurred to her “did you happen to be thinking of any other spell when you were trying to teleport?” Shadow opened his mouth to tell her no, but he paused. Closing his eyes, he tried to recall everything he had done up until the attempt failed. He had had a clear mental picture of where he wanted to go and had seen the spell matrix overlying the mental picture as he had cast the spell. As he had begun to cast the spell, he had let his mind wander to how much he would have benefited from knowing this spell back home, how he could have avoided so many beatings. That thought had led to thinking about Trixie and how useful her smoke bomb spell could have been as well… Shadow groaned as he connected the dots. “Yeah, I was thinking about a smoke bomb spell I could have used back home as I tried to teleport.” Twilight nodded from where she stood. “One of the drawbacks of teleportation is that if you think about anything else, it can interfere with your spell. I remember one time when I was learning this from Princess Celestia, I thought about my family’s trip to the pool the previous day and instead of teleporting a pillow, I ended up draining half the pool into the room that Celestia and I were using.” “What’s a pool?” Twilight found herself slightly shocked at the colt’s question. How could he not know such a universal term? “Imagine a small, artificial pond meant for ponies to swim in.” Seeing Shadow frown, she made a mental note to show him the town’s public pool “Ready to try again?” Seeing the colt nod, Twilight smiled “Just remember to think about the spell and just the spell. Also, you only need to use maybe half the power you did last time to successfully teleport.” “What if I want to go a longer distance?” “The power needed to cast the spell has a linear relation to the distance of the teleport, but since you’re not going far, you don’t need much power.” Seeing Shadow’s confused look, she mentally face hoofed at the technical nature of her answer. “Longer distances need more power than shorter distances.” Sighing in relief at his understanding, she resumed her earlier position. “Close your eyes and visualize your destination.” A smile slowly blossomed on her face as Shadow’s horn came to life, its intensity less than half that of the previous attempt. Feeling the power build, Twilight jumped as somepony suddenly chose that moment to rapidly knock on the castle’s front door. With a bang that left the book cases on the third level rattling, Shadow disappeared from sight as his horn flared at the sudden interruption. Twilight spun around at the colt’s disappearance, a sense of terror slowly growing in her when Shadow failed to appear where he was supposed to. Where had he gone? A week earlier, she had gotten a letter from Princess Luna that had contained everything she knew and suspected about Shadow and had expressed the lunar diarch’s concern that Shadow might be a potential flight risk. Would he try to run now? Before she could think, whoever was at the door began knocking again in a fashion that would put a woodpecker to shame. Grumbling, Twilight teleported over to the door, yanking it open with her magic before whoever was on the other side tried to knock again. “Hi Twilight!” Ponyville’s original alicorn leaned back at her friend’s enthusiastic greeting. “Pinkie, what are you doing here?” “Delivering invites of course!” The perpetually happy earth pony replied as she reached into her tail, retrieving a pair of envelopes. Twilight frowned as she took the waiting envelopes “To what?” The smile on Pinkie Pie’s face grew at the question “To the party of course!” “What party?” “Geeze Twilight, where have you been? To my Thanks-for-Saving-Ponyville-slash-Welcome-to-Ponyville,-Shadow party.” Twilight paused as she tried to get her head around what her friend had said. “I thought that party wasn’t until later?” “It was, but then I heard that somepony got out of the hospital early, and I thought ‘what better way to celebrate than moving up the date of the party’.” Ponyville’s perpetually energetic party planner craned her neck around Twilight, trying to look into the castle, “So where is he? You, Dashie, Rarity and Cheerilee have already met him, but I haven’t yet, so where is he?” While he had yet to meet Applejack as well, Twilight had wanted Pinkie to be last, if only so Shadow could get used to Ponyville a little before meeting the town’s living embodiment of a sugar rush. “Actually” Twilight said as she backed up, allowing Pinkie Pie in, only to watch the mare zip around the library, “I’m not sure where he is at the moment.” Pinkie Pie stopped mid stride at Twilight’s words. “Are you playing Hide and Seek? Ooh, can I play too? Can I? Can I? Can I?” Twilight closed her eyes, feeling herself getting slightly nauseous watching her friend jump up and down. How could she explain how she’d lost him while trying to teach him? “Don’t you have more invites to deliver?” She asked as a thought occurred to her. Against every law of physics that Twilight knew, Pinkie froze halfway through a jump as Twilight spoke. Gasping, the pink mare reached into her tail, pulling out a number of envelopes, “You’re right Twilight! I got to get all these out before the party tonight!” With a sound similar to that of an arrow narrowly missing a pony’s face, Pinkie Pie disappeared, leaving a cartoonish silhouette of herself where she had been a heartbeat earlier. Sighing, Twilight teleported the two invites onto the kitchen table. As much as she loved Pinkie Pie, the mare had a penchant for appearing unexpectedly, even when it wasn’t the best time to do so. Sparing one last thought for her friend, Twilight trotted toward the staircase. If Shadow wasn’t in the library, hopefully he was somewhere else in the castle.