//------------------------------//
// Chapter 16: Dinner and Discourse 
// Story: Tales from the Second Age of Magic 
// by VeganSpyro97 
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“Stop fiddling with it!” Static hissed, batting at Crimson’s hand with a wing. 
“I can’t help it! These formal clothes are so hot and difficult to move in!” The Architect was tugging at his new suits collar, trying to find some way to let some cool air inside. The Pegasus on his left kept trying to stop him though, as they were almost at their destination. 
“Well cut it out! You’re going to ruin Rarity’s hard work!” Static said from between clenched teeth. “She rushed this job just so you’d have something nice to wear!”
On his right, Twilight lit her horn and forced the two apart- again. “If you two don’t stop, I will throw you in through their front door and leave you there! You’ve been like this for half an hour, and it’s driving me insane!”
Static and Crimson managed to both look shameful, but Static still kept an eye on Crimson. It was for his own protection! Rarity would kick the plot of anyone who ruined her work for no good reason. 
Crimon’s suit jacket was a lovely shade of deep burgundy, contrasted by a white tie and black shirt underneath, with matching black pants. The shoes Rarity had made looked like Oxford shoes, only the leather was fake. There were no fancy patterns on the toes either. These were simple and to the point. 
Static was wearing a blue dress that faded towards purple and pink further down its length, with a bright pink, tiny top hat fascinator piece pinned onto the top of her mane. She wore similarly pink socks as well, with black boots to go with them. 
Capping off the trio, Twilight had gone with a simple black dress that hung down over her cutie mark, but had slits cut in the back for her wings. Her mane was pulled up into a bun at the back of her head, tucked neatly between her ears, while her bangs had been parted more than usual, showing off the length of her horn and sending her mane out to the sides of her head in stylish ‘flicks’. 
All in all, apart from Crimson and Static’s fussing, they looked ready for a night out. 
They trotted- and walked, in Crimson’s case- leisurely through town, some of the late night ponies watching Crimson in curiosity. While he had ventured into town a little, he was still considered an odd sight by most, though dotted here and there were ponies who stared balefully at him, failing to properly conceal their disgust or contempt. 
Crimson made a point of ignoring them, while Static made note of the individuals, for future reference. 
They reached the address in a few short minutes, enjoying the cool air of early winter night, while relishing the lack of biting chill, thanks to Twilight and her repertoire of spells keeping them warm with a simple heating charm. Standing in front of the door, Crimson swallowed loudly, before pressing the tips of his index fingers together in front of him. “Maybe this is a bad idea…..you heard how angry Misty was before. It’s probably better if I just-”
Before Crimson could turn all the way around, Twilight wordlessly lit her horn and twisted him gently back around until he was facing the door, before looking up at him with those big, expressive eyes, though they were a little narrowed. “You’re not going back home, we’re having dinner with True Shot and his family.”
Crimson took his sweet time giving up on trying to leave, but in the end he gave up, slumping a little where he stood, resigned expression twisting his mouth into a small frown. 
The cool night breeze blew softly, ruffling the ponies fur and feathers as Twilight knocked firmly but carefully on the hardwood door, then returned her hoof back to the floor, quickly checking over herself to make sure she was still presentable, then doing the same for her friends. 
Moments after Twilight’s light rapping on the door, the portal into the abode opened, revealing True Shot standing on the other side, wearing a simple but smart suit instead of his familiar uniform. “Ah, Princess. Ser Static. Crimson.” He said, greeting them all with a polite nod and a smile. “I’m glad you accepted Misty’s invitation. Once she heard that the three of you were all coming, she was over the moon! I hope none of the ponies in Canterlot heard about this. Did any of them give you trouble?”
“We’re glad to come.” Twilight returned, smiling back. “And thankfully, no. Besides, I’m not turning down the invitation of a friend, just because the nobles think it’s improper.” 
True Shot beamed happily, nodding in relief and agreement. “Well, please, come in, and make yourselves at home, all of you. I know it’s not much, but we love it here.”
Static and Twilight entered first, the Princess before the Pegasus, and then, hesitantly, came Crimson. Stepping inside revealed a comely little home, with blue, almost sea green wallpaper, wooden beams supporting the roof, and cleverly concealed electrical wires feeding the lights that hung on the ceiling and walls. The smells of cooking foods, a mix of spices intermingling with the base ingredients wafted through from the kitchen door to the right, while the sound of clanking dishes and silverware drifted in from the opposite door. There was a stairwell directly ahead, leading up to the second floor, which was currently unlit and dark, as it apparently wasn’t in use. 
But what caught the guests eyes were the picture frames, filled with dozens of photographs. In some, for a time, there were only two ponies, a mare and her young filly, happily baking away in a kitchen, or carefully dusting off pieces of old artifacts, trying on dresses with big grins. 
Then….then came the change. The Unicorn mare’s horn vanished, replaced by a cracked, awful stump. The smiling, happy filly vanished, a far more serious looking mare standing beside the broken horned Unicorn and True Shot, for a family photo out in front of the house. Misty Dawn was instantly recognizable, and True Shot was as well. That left the Unicorn mare, who couldn’t have been anyone but Aurora. She was a periwinkle blue, with a soft, verdant green mane, that brightened to a yellow, very similar to her daughter’s colours, only with a darker coat. 
“The dining room is through here.” True Shot explained, his eyes tracking their own gazes with a slight, sorrowful frown. “Aurora is setting the table for us, while Misty is adding the finishing touches to dinner.” He turned to Twilight with mild concern. “I hope that beanfeast isn’t too simple a meal for-”
“Beanfeast is wonderful! My mother used to make it for me and my brother when we were little.” Twilight exclaimed, cutting past the trivial concerns of suitability. “Do you have it with buttered bread?”
True Shot beamed. “Always. You can’t have beanfeast without buttered bread.”
“Truer words have never been spoken.” Static stated, solemnly. Then she, Twilight and True Shot all chuckled, walking calmly into the dining room. Crimson followed behind, walking slowly, nervously. 
Standing there was the Unicorn, Aurora, her horn stump sparking as she struggled to keep the numerous bowls, plates and cutlery aloft in her magical grasp. She stood between wooden table, and a cabinet of similarly dark stained wood. Static moved first, the moment she saw the plates start to sink lower, threatening to slip free of her grip on them. Her hooves were there to catch the plates before they had started to fall properly. They were covered in purple floral patterns that were framed by a green rim on the edges of the ceramic disks, and the bowls were done in the same way, the green wrapped around the rim. 
“Oh, thank you, dear.” Aurora gratefully lifted the much lighter load and deposited the plates onto the table in front of the six chairs, then she took the bowls from Static, and put them onto the plates, and the spoons beside the plates. She shook her head with an embarrassed chuckle. “I normally wouldn’t let guests do any of the prep work, but I think you may have just saved us a few bits.”
“Not a problem, miss.” Static replied. 
“You must be Static Thunder.” Aurora greeted, offering a quick hug. That was something that Static had found since she had come to Equestria. Hugs were among the most commonplace greetings between friends, family and even strangers, and she had come to the conclusion that it was one of the best things in the world. Hugs were wonderful. There were never enough hugs. Period. “True Shot has told me about you- and of course the newspapers from Canterlot have talked about you too. Have you been doing well since you left the city?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“And of course, I recognize you, Princess.”
“Twilight is fine. We’re all friends here.”
Aurora nodded, chuckling through her nerves. “Oh my, I knew you were humble, Princ- uh, Twilight, but I didn’t know you prefer to be called by name.”
“I should probably just issue a royal decree about how and when ponies call me Princess, at this point.” The lavender Alicorn mumbled. Still, she offered a hug to the surprised mare, who took it, rosy cheeked at the thought that royalty cared enough about her to give such a display. 
Aurora’s eyes then turned to Crimson, scanning his tall form with the familiarity of any mother when watching their children, taking note of his healthy musculature, no longer thinned by poor nutrition, and boosted by hard work. Those bright, violet orbs swept over his face, absorbing that expression, the twisting muscles that were attempting to conceal the nerves, the fear, the trepidation of her  surrogate child. The fear of judgement that lingered in his burgundy eyes, and the slight shifting of his eyes, that kept him from making eye contact. 
The Unicorn mare moved through the space between Twilight and Static, her own features bearing a soft smile that lit her eyes into a warm, welcoming sight to any who might gaze upon it. She was a sublime picture of serenity, despite her injury, and she still carried with her a lust for life that Crimson could see had not diminished at all, but had instead, chosen to burn brighter than ever. 
And most of all. Love. Acceptance. All the things he had dreaded he would not find, no matter what True Shot had told him. He knelt down, a smile slowly breaking through the barricade of fear, and shining through. 
Without a word, the two embraced, holding each other close. They were a sanctuary for each other, in that moment, friends, and more besides, that had suffered together, and had saved one another. They did not withdraw from each other for some time, time that felt stretched out, each moment a wonderful lifetime of comfort in each others arms. 
And then it ended, the hug breaking as the two stood back, staring fondly at one another. “You look good, Crimson. You’ve been eating properly, at long last.” Aurora said, brightly, a cheeky smile on her face as she turned to his friends. “You have no idea how hard it was to get him to eat his fruits and vegetables when he visited us. He was a little nightmare- absolutely refused to touch them unless they were drowned in sauces and gravy.”
Static and Twilight laughed, as Crimson smiled in fond remembrance, even though it was admittedly something he was embarrassed about to this day. 
Misty Dawn chose that exact moment to step into the dining room, and Crimson’s smile vanished under the undisguised, unconcealed, withering glare that the Unicorn he adored like a sister directed his way, not breaking from her stride as she crossed to the table- made of the same mahogany wood as the cottages front door- and set down the steaming pan of food, without so much as bumping into any of the four ponies that had been standing in the way. The light from the dining room fireplace, piled high with burning logs, did nothing to warm her appearance, only to accent just how stiff and practiced her movements were.
Her stride and poise was just as dignified and severe as her expression, once she turned her head away from Crimson to greet her guests. Her mane and tail were impeccably groomed, and only Rarity or Celestia herself could ever hope to boast a coat as meticulously well maintained as this mare. She was wearing a long suit jacket, coloured a charcoal grey, with a pair of coat-tails dangling on either side of her own voluminous tail, and a white, collared shirt beneath the jacket.
She greeted Static and Twilight with the barest hints of merriment in her tone, but refused to even speak a word of greeting to Crimson, instead directing him to the chair at the table she designated as his. 
Twilight frowned as she saw how that chair had been selected precisely because it was as far away from where Aurora was then directed to by her daughter. And judging by Aurora’s own expression of disapproval, she had noticed it too. 
Misty courteously began to serve everypony- only everypony- their food, but just glared at Crimson when it came time to serve him, forcing him to stand up and serve himself, bringing more frowns, from everyone else.
“So….” Aurora began, tracing a circular pattern onto the table-top. “Have you found a special somepony yet, Crimson?”
Crimson, in the middle of trying to eat his first spoonful of beanfeast in spite of Misty’s consistent glaring, nearly sprayed beans all over the table in front of him at the question asked by Aurora, and Misty had gone rigid, slowly turning to stare at her mother with wide eyes, before they narrowed with an accompanying huff. 
Coughing a moment, to try and clear his throat, the Architect thumped his chest with a balled fist, before spluttering his response. “W-well no, not really! I’ve been a little busy to pay attention to pretty mares!”
“So you have noticed some pretty mares around then.” Aurora said, a smug little smirk creeping across her face while Misty scrunched up her face. “And who might they be?”
Static was trying not to laugh at her friends expense, and Twilight hadn’t been able to keep herself from chuckling behind her hoof, and True Shot was grinning at the Architect with a raised eyebrow. 
“W-well, no, not really.” Crimson stammered, his eyes darting over to Twilight in a brief supplication for help. Unfortunately, that brief glance was easily misunderstood. 
“Oh, my.” Aurora’s wry smile only grew wider, her voice turning soft and suggestive. “You certainly aim high, Crimson.”
Static burst out laughing as Twilight went beetroot red at the implication, and Crimson did his best to sink under the table from where he sat. 
“Mother!?” Misty cried, dismayed. “How could you such a thing in front of a Princess?!” 
Aurora blanched for a moment, eyes widening for a second, before the dreaded smirk rushed back. “Well, the Princess said not to call her Princess, and she is well known to be friendly and open, so why treat her any differently to a normal pony, when that is clearly what she prefers?”
Misty opened her mouth to protest, only to see the bashful Alicorn nodding in agreement. She snapped her jaw shut and folded her forelegs indignantly, using her magic to spoon another load of beans into her mouth. 
“I’m not interested in Twilight like that.” Crimson protested, a little weakly. “She’s just a good friend- and technically my boss too.” 
“That’s true.” True Shot rumbled, gently waving his own laden cutlery around as he spoke. “It wouldn’t be proper for a Princess to go sneaking off with one of her guards….though I seem to remember that kind of behaviour running in her family. How is Shining Armour, anyway?”
Twilight covered her face in her wings as Static nearly fell off her chair from laughing. The Alicorn cleared her throat and quickly smoothed out a curl that had suddenly sprung up in her mane. “You know my brother?”
“Well, I did.” True Shot explained, munching on beans. “He was just joining up to the guard when I was almost ready for my first assignment. We bonded a little during training, and I sparred with him a few times. Good colt. Good guard material too.”
“Oh, well, he and Cadence are still learning the ins and outs of having an Alicorn foal to look after, but they’re coping as well as they can.”
“I imagine they would be. And what about you, Miss Static? Any developments in the family department since the papers lost track of you?”
Static nodded, a dopey little smile wrinkling her snout. “Shy and I adopted a Changeling nymph after the battle. Poor thing lost her parents, so we thought we’d look after her.” Static deliberately left out the part that Crystal was Chrysalis’s daughter. No point drumming up pointless worries. “And now….me and Shy…..we’re getting married next Spring.”
Aurora perked up, ears standing bolt upright and her eyes filling with joy. “Oh, darling, that’s wonderful!! Where is the ceremony?” 
“Luna agreed to preside over the ceremony, so we’ll be doing it in Canterlot. Twilight’s been organizing it for us, though, obviously we’ve been making requests.” Static beamed around her spoon as she took a bite. “And our friend Rarity insisted on making the dresses.”
“How lovely!” Aurora tittered, looking over at True Shot. “I remember when we got married. Oh, it feels like so long ago!”
“It was this year, sweetheart.” True Shot mumbled. 
Aurora ignored him, carrying on regardless. “We had it on the coast, near his hometown. Have you ever heard of Tall Tale? Nice place, right by the ocean, and the forest too! They have such lovely beaches….”
“I don’t think they want to hear about your wedding, mom.” Misty muttered, clearly annoyed. Aurora turned a harsh glare towards her daughter, and Crimson felt the room go cold, the warm hospitality waning sharply.
“The Princess and Miss Thunder don’t seem to agree, Misty.” Aurora spoke, not angrily, or loudly, but in a calm, serious tone of voice reserved for mothers when disappointed with their children. “They seem to be enjoying our conversation, despite the earlier embarrassment. What makes you think they aren’t?”
“They’re faking.” Misty said, simply. “They don’t want to be rude, so they’re faking, aren’t you?”
Twilight blinked owlishly, mouth trying to work but not quite getting the words out for a second. “U-uh, no. I’m not faking. I was enjoying the story, and I’d love to hear more, honestly!”
“Me too!” Static nodded. “I wanna know what it feels like for when I go through it.”
“Yeah, that sounded believable.” Misty gritted her teeth as she turned to the quietest corner of the room. “And you? Suppose you’ve got something to say about it?” Misty snarled at Crimson, daring him to speak. 
“I-I…..I just thought that it was nice to hear about.” Crimson said, quietly, trying to be as non-confrontational as possible, half mumbling the words in an attempt to not draw Misty’s ire. 
It failed. 
“Oh, of course you think so. You want to get back in the good books with Mom so bad that you’ll just suck up to her the first chance you get!” Misty snapped, lips peeling back into the beginnings of a snarl. 
“Misty Dawn! That is enough!” Aurora snapped, her horn sparking suddenly as she barked at her daughter. “I don’t know what has gotten into you, but it stops now!”
“Why are you always so eager to forgive him?!” Misty bellowed back. “After everything he did to you, you’re just going to welcome him back with open arms?!”
“You know that what happened was not his fault, Misty.” True Shot tried to reason with her, reaching a hoof out to touch her shoulder. 
“You’re just as bad!” Misty turned on him, eyes flashing in the firelight. “You were supposed to keep us safe, mister guardspony! And you let him fill Mom’s head up with stupid ideas about going to see his people! Why did you even let us go there in the first place?!” True Shot tried to cut back in, but Misty was not done, rounding out to the Princess and Static to give them a taste of her fury. “And you!!! If you had any idea what happened- what he did! Then you would throw him in a prison cell, and then throw away the key- or better yet, have him executed!!”
Crimson drew in on himself, eyes downcast and half closed.
“MISTY DAWN!” Aurora thundered, horn sending a shower of sparks all over the table, tiny burns and scorch marks left on the table where they landed. “THAT IS ENOUGH!!” Shakily, Aurora sat back down, and reigned in her breath as Misty also sank back into her chair, her eyes wide and locked onto her mother. “I know you blame Crimson for what happened, but I do not. True Shot does not. And I’m certain that the Princess is well aware of what happened, and that neither she, nor Miss Thunder, blame him. You may wish to keep Crimson away from this family, but he IS family. Whether you like it or not, I wish to keep him in my life, and you cannot simply force him to leave.” The unicorn sighed heavily, her breath a little ragged. “Now, think about what you just did, young lady. You have yelled at our guests, and at True Shot, and no doubt hurt Crimson deeply with those particular….remarks….” Aurora blinked, suddenly weaving in place, unsteady and shaking like a leaf. “Oh…..oh, oh dear…..” 
Once again, Static moved first, launching herself across the table, catching Aurora as the Unicorn toppled out of her chair in a dead faint, with True Shot joining her a split second later to cradle his wife’s head. His horn flared briefly, and he let out a relieved smile. “She’ll be alright. She’s just worn herself out is all.” His eyes met Misty’s and he frowned. “I’ll get her upstairs and in bed, so she can rest.”
Crimson, hands gripping the table, knuckles white and legs fully stretched out, his chair tipped onto it’s back from where he’d jumped up, let out an uneasy breath as True Shot picked his wife up in his magic, and carried her out of the room, the sound of his hoof-steps telling each of the remaining ponies that he was traversing the stairwell. 
Misty stared in horror at the retreating form of her mother and her husband, before she whirled on Crimson, eyes glowing in anger, her horn lit up in a fit of rage. “THIS IS YOUR FAULT!!”
Crimson flinched back, his legs catching on the legs of his overturned chair and sending him sprawling over it, landing with a pained grunt as the air was smashed out of his lungs in a wheezing gasp. He turned to look back at Misty, struggling to reestablish control of his lungs as the furious mare stalked closer. 
She was screaming at him again, though it was less true language so much as it was outraged attempts at noises that conveyed her mood, instead of what she wanted to tell him. The reason she was finding so much trouble in forming coherent sentences was the two ponies holding her back, Static having grabbed Misty by her left foreleg and trying to haul her back, whilst Twilight was pulling at her tail with magic as the mare flailed her limbs ineffectually in Crimson’s direction. 
“YOUR FAULT!!” Misty screeched. “YOUR FAULT!! SHE GOT HURT!!! AND IT’S YOUR FAULT!!”
Static was clearly not enjoying tonight, given her strained expression of exhortation, using all of her strength to hold back the enraged, howling banshee that was trying to punch her friend in the face several hundred times. “You! Need-!” Static strained against another particularly violent attempt to deck Crimson in the face. “Need to lay- Off the Hayburgers!!” Static grunted, feeling the burn in her muscles as the small, but dense Unicorn attempted to wriggle free. “You’re- Bloody heavy!!”
“Please, Misty!! You have to stop this!” Twilight begged, imploring the mare to see reason. “Crimson has been nothing but a gentlestallion and a hard worker ever since he got here! He told us everything that happened! We know why you feel like it’s his fault, but you can’t blame him! He was as much a victim as you all were!!”
“THEN WHY DIDN’T HE HAVE TO SUFFER?!?! WHERE’S HIS BROKEN BONES?!?!” Misty thrashed, wildly. 
Static grunted as she took a hoof in the chest, the keratin thwacking loudly against her ribcage, making something shift that shouldn’t have. “We’re holding his broken bones back, right now!” She gasped, feeling a nasty warmth spreading through the muscles in her chest where she’d been hit, a sure sign of oncoming bruising.
“THEN LET ME BREAK THEM!! AT LEAST THEN HE’D HAVE PAID FOR WHAT HAPPENED!!”
Static growled, completely done with this game. She dug her hind hooves into the carpet, allowed Misty some slack and ducked lower. When the mare’s hips collided with her shoulder, Static reared up, throwing Misty into the air before slamming her down on the floor, which escaped damage thanks to a quick softening spell from Twilight. Static pinned the other mare down, her hooves trapping Misty’s against the wood. “You ever stop to think that maybe you’re the one hurting him?” Static thundered, channeling the pain from her dislocated rib into a strength of both body and voice. She was forcing Misty to listen. “He gave up his family, his people, his home, all to save you! He made himself an outcast in his own nation, to save the family he’d found in all of you! And what does his adopted sister do, after he gives up everything for her? She shuns him, screams at him, tells her she hates him, because of things he couldn’t have known, and things he actively fought against! Of all the worst things that could happen to him, do you think that might just come in first?!”
Twilight moved down beside Misty, who’s incredulous stare turned to regard her in confusion, conflict lingering behind those eyes. She spoke quietly, but with such earnesty and  honesty that her voice was quivering with it. “He loves you like a sister,  Misty. He loves your mother like she was his own, and he and True Shot get on so well that if he was a pony, I’d have no trouble believing they were actually family. He fought for you, and when he finally gets to see you again, you treat him like dirt, right when he needs his family the most. Right when he needs you the most.” The Alicorn looked up to Crimson with a smile, eyes filling with confidence Crimson wished he could have. “I know that it’s hard to open up to him, or even be near him, but can you at least see what you’re doing to him? Can you at least understand how much you are hurting him, and your family, by treating him like this?”
As Twilight spoke, Misty’s struggles slowed, growing weaker by the second. She fell almost still halfway through, her eyes starting to grow wide as she listened to the Princess. And by the end, her bottom lip was drawing up to her mouth and starting to quiver. 
“Misty.” Twilight continued, while Static loosened her grip on Misty’s forelegs, but still ready to stop her from doing anything rash. “Take it from us; sometimes, we hurt the people we love without realizing we’re doing it, and sometimes we blame people for things we shouldn’t. He warned your mother that it was dangerous to go, and he couldn’t really stop her if she decided to follow him back if he said no. So what else could he do? Let her go off alone? Let her take some of you with her, and get you all killed when they found you? And, try to think about what would have happened that day if Crimson had gone back alone. They would have captured him- just like they captured you and your mother, and they would have hurt him, maybe killed him, trying to understand how he could do magic.” Twilight spoke in a soft voice, but the words were like poison to Misty’s reservations. She stared up at Static and the Princess with wide eyes as the Royal talked, realizing what would have happened. “And there would only be one person who could help him- and without you there as a distraction, do you really think he would have escaped?”
“He saved all of you- and you saved him, too.” Static added.
Misty’s wide eyes started to water, as she realized what the two ponies were telling her. Instead of a mother with a broken horn- something that could be worked around, possibly healed in time, and something that had not stopped Aurora from living life to the fullest- her closest friend would have died, murdered by his own people as they attempted to understand something they likely never could. Crimson HAD warned her mother. Crimson HAD done everything in his power to make sure that they wouldn’t be spotted. Crimson HAD gotten them out. If his people had discovered his secret a day later, then his precautions would have protected them- at the cost of his life. They would have seen Crimson walk through those doors, and he would never come out again. Crimson had given up his life for them, and would be dead if he hadn’t. Her mother had been hurt, but he’d lost half of everything he knew. 
Her wide eyes slowly turned to meet his own, and she could see it, clearly. The pain, the hurt that she had put there. The guilt she had forced on him for something he hadn’t had any control over. It was there, plain to see in his stare, in the way he had pulled himself up to sit against the wall, away from her, yet still close. He needed compassion and love from the family that had taken him in. He needed that connection with them, now that his own was denied to him. Friends had helped, but it wasn’t enough, she could see it, a story woven into his features like thread in a tapestry. 
 Having lost one family, he needed the other, desperately. He needed their love and acceptance. 
And she’d shown him nothing but hatred and disdain. 
Worse than even that, was that she’d let her hatred turn her into something awful. She’d screamed at her mother, the very mare she loved more than anything. And she’d screamed at everyone else, too. Her f…..her father. Her guests. Her Princess! And Her friend ...She'd made him feel unwanted. She’d hurt him- for doing nothing short of saving their lives. 
The full weight of what she had done descended upon her, and all the tension in her muscles fled. She was too busy crying to try fighting back anymore.


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True Shot waved his guests goodbye as they trotted and walked off down the road, the Pegasus and Alicorn pressing close to their friend as they walked, offering comfort as they went. 
Misty had burst into tears after the Princess and Miss Thunder’s words to her, and had later fled to her room. 
At the very least, the Princess and the Knight seemed to have gotten through to her, as she had mumbled what had sounded like an attempt at an apology, before her emotions and her guilt had driven her to solitude. 
The winter snows piled up outside, as the three figures up ahead slowly vanished into the thick deluge of white. Misty knew what she had done, now. Now she and Crimson could try to start over, to mend the bridge between them and become friends again. The captain sighed. That would not be for some time, however. Misty would need time to reflect, and Crimson time to heal from this most recent blow. It would take time, and he doubted that they would ever go back to how things used to be between them. That was truly impossible, with all that had happened. 
Misty had internalized her anger for months, and that was something that wouldn’t just go away. She would have to work at it. And Crimson would have to work through his guilt, and forgive himself for something he shouldn’t have to. They both had a long way to go before they could truly reconcile, but at least that journey had started. He glanced back inside, envisioning his family, all four of them, sat around the fire, laughing and joking as they had in the desert, back before it had all gone wrong. Maybe they could get that back.
True Shot chuckled at the thought. One day, perhaps. One day. 
“A journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step.” True Shot murmured, reminded of that one quote that students and religious figures always liked to use. “And it’s always a doozy.” 
Chuckling to himself at his little addition, True Shot turned back around, and trotted back inside, quietly pulling the door closed behind him, and leaving the snows to the long dark of night. It was going to be a long winter. But spring always comes in the end.


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