//------------------------------// // Mercy is for the Weak Part 1 // Story: She Drives Me Batty // by I Thought I Was Toast //------------------------------// I moaned and groaned as the reveille blared through my moon-blessed dreams. Rolling over, my gaze bore into the darkening cloud clock as every beep charged it with more lightning. It sat there and ignored my well-earned ire—uncaring of the fact it had disturbed a Diamond-studded dream. Still, it was time to get going, and so I hit the alarm and rolled to my hooves. I stepped gingerly down the hall as everypony else should have still been asleep. I had half an hour to complete today’s little stealth mission, and I was going to make sure I did it right this time. Butter, eggs, cheese, mushrooms, and a sprinkling of ladybugs were all I needed for today’s attempt, so I grabbed them from the fridge. The skillet was next, and I cringed as I opened the cupboard to fetch it. It was always a fifty-fifty on whether or not just opening the cupboard would unleash a clanging cacophony. I had yet to find a method of putting the pans back that worked one-hundred percent of the time, and I doubted I would anytime soon. The Nightmother watched over me in the last bit of starlight before dawn, however, and there wasn’t even a rustle as I freed a small skillet from the top of the pile of metal. Bucking the stove on so it gently crackled with lightning, I set the pan down and put some butter in. My ears flicked as the crackle of it melting and bubbling was the only sound in the air, but they slowly relaxed as I lost myself in cooking the mushrooms and ladybugs. That was the easy part. Once done and off to the side, I took a deep breath to ready myself as I solemnly lifted the first egg. Crack! I whispered thanks to the Nightmother as I managed to avoid getting shell in the bowl before me, and prayed that the rest would follow suit. Ever since I got suspended, Dad had been making me make breakfast. Eggs had been the bane of my mornings the past few weeks; I was out of practice and they just kept breaking on me, but I was sure to prevail today. I just had to. I was so sick of making hash, and every time I made pancakes I had to jog an extra lap around town. I really needed something meaty, damn it. The second egg plopped in with no problem, and I narrowly avoided catastrophe with the third by having my shadow lash out and snatch a piece of wayward shell as it fell. The air felt thick as I beat the eggs together, and I shivered at the sizzle as I poured the mix into the pan. Okay, the hard part was over. Now just let it cook, put the filling in, flip it over, and done! One, two, three. It really was done just like that, though I gulped loudly as I slid my breakfast on a plate and stared at it. Sweat beaded my brow as I leaned in to take a bite, and I chewed slowly to make sure I didn’t rush my verdict. It was… passable. There was still something off, but I could give this to Dad and ask where to go from here. Wolfing the rest down, I quickly started on more mushrooms and ladybugs for Mom and Dad. The twins always slept in, so I could wait on theirs, while Aunt Mercy was ever the wild card. The cooking went quicker this time, or at least, it felt like it did, and there were soon two omelets set and waiting on the table. No Mom and Dad, though… Strange. I’d timed everything perfectly. Creeping through the house until I was before their door, I gently knocked. “Mom? Dad?” There was no response, and I fiddled from hoof to hoof before finally deciding to poke my head in. Dad raised his head to grin at me as I opened my mouth. Putting a hoof to his lips, he signaled for quiet as I watched him, Mom, Aunt Mercy, and Pushing all curled up and cuddling in a pony pile. He and Mom were the base. Each was wrapped around my Aunt—sandwiching her, even—with little Pushing resting atop them all. Gulping hard at the sight, I pointed first at him, then Mom, and mimed gobbling up some grub, complete with licking my fangs clean. His grin grew at the sight and he nodded, bumping snoots with Mom to wake her. With a kiss, he dragged her into his shadow and slipped out of mine on the other side of the door, his movements so smooth that the still-sleeping Aunt Mercy barely stirred as she curled around her little bundle of chaos. As I closed the door to leave them in the Dreamlands, Dad chuckled and patted my back. “Morning, sport. Thanks for making breakfast again.” We made our way down the hall with both Mom and Dad sleepily wobbling. Mom murmured something that sounded vaguely like a good morning, but she was so tired that she was leaning against Dad as we walked. “Late night again?” I pulled out chairs for both of them, and helped settle Mom down in her seat. She stared at her omelet, blinking woozily until I poured her a cup of coffee. “Aye.” Dad shook his head as he sagged down in his own seat. “It’s a lot of extra work to cover for your Mom, and it’s just gonna keep piling up until we get her back.” “I’m sorry.” My ears splayed back as I looked away. “Not your fault, champ. She’s the one who chose to take a month off for you.” Leaning over, he poked Mom in the side. “Isn’t that right, dear?” “Mrgmrff…” Mom grunted as she sipped at her coffee. “She’s also the one that insists on staying up for me, even though I’ve told her a good night’s sleep is more important.” Dad poked her again and his grin only grew as Mom sluggishly swatted at him with a wing. “I’ve had double shifts the past three days with how bad it is.” “Mercy wanted to do it, too.” Taking a very small bite of her omelet, Mom’s murmur was slurred with sleep. “And? I bet Mercy was fast asleep long before I got home last night.” Dad had more gusto than Mom as he ate, but far less than he usually had. “You need to take a day off and sleep. You’ll be no good to Night if you’re falling asleep while teaching her.” “I’m sure everything will be fine. Mom knows her limits.” Shaking my head, I ignored a long, drawn out yawn from Mom. Dad was not convinced, however. “You can always let Mercy teach Night for the day, can’t you?” Woah, woah, woah. Say what now? Aunt Mercy? Teach me? She wasn’t exactly the brightest star in the sky. Mom mustered the will to glower at Dad for even suggesting it, but he was unflappable as he sat there—grinning and waiting. She lost that contest as she gave another jaw-cracking yawn that made Dad lean in for a nuzzle and kiss. “Fine.” She looked down as she pulled back from the kiss. “I’ll try and catch up on sleep, but only a few hours at most!” Looking back up with a frown, it was her turn to lean in for a kiss. “You can try to hide it, but you’re nearing your limits, too. You’re right. Mercy can handle teaching Night for just one day; I’m going to head in and get my half of the job done for both our sakes.” “But Mom!” My ears splayed back as my doom was announced. “I have a math test in two days! You can’t think Aunt Mercy will be able to help me with that!” “No, I don’t.” Mom smiled. “I’m sure she’ll want to focus on your physical training. Don’t worry, though. I can push your test a day or two back for this. Your father is right, after all. If I don’t get my rest, I won’t be able to teach you any better than your Aunt would.” “Mrgmrff… fine.” With a sigh, I relented. “But just one day! Even if she’s gonna teach me Guard stuff, I doubt she’s half the teacher you are!” “Wanna bet?” Aunt Mercy strolled into the dining room with the most guano-guzzling grin. If it weren’t for the fact she had Pushing wrapped around her neck, I would have called her smile predatory. “I can teach you all kinds of stuff your mom would never dare to—dark and secret things that would corrupt your innocent little soul.” “Eww… Aunt Mercy, be serious! This is why you could never be a better teacher than Mom!” “I was being serious.” My aunt tittered as she settled in her seat with Pushing looking between us all in her lap. “Nothing more satisfying than turning the sturdiest soldier as limp and impotent as a wet noodle. You don’t exactly have the speed and dexterity to use my knowledge on pressure points in actual combat, but does that really matter when you’d still be getting all the other benefits? Once I teach you the basics, I can just toss you at your fillyfriend to let you work out the rest.” Mom tsked. “For the love of Celestia, she doesn’t need lessons like that, Mercy. Pick something she can actually use in the Guard.” “Yeah, I don’t want any lessons like that.” My scowl was dark enough to hide my heated blush. Sticking her tongue out, my aunt was far from fazed by me. “Spoilsports.” “Yeah, well… come up with something better, okay?” I grunted and rose to make my way towards the kitchen. “I’ll be back with your breakfast in a bit.” “So, then, you plan on focusing on shadow sparring and nothing else?” Mom squinted at Aunt Mercy and arched her brow as she stepped outside to see us off. “No pressure points? No hypnosis? And definitely no poisons?” “Sure, shoot down all the fun options.” Aunt Mercy bared her fangs in a grin. “You know, I have a lot worse I could be teaching her. You oughta lighten up! I didn’t even bring up all the dark and forbidden secret techniques Daddy-Dead-To-Me forced me to learn. I could have dragged her out to the Everfree Forest and taught her how to buck somepony so hard that their soul gets punted right out of their body!” “That… sounds eerily close to necromancy.” I frowned at my Aunt. “It is!” She slapped me on the back. “I mean, come on, Night. Don’t tell me you fell for all those doom and gloom tales daydwellers tell about necromancers? That’s all a bunch of guano they spread after some unicorns got a bit too uppity for their own good. Real necromancy is completely different from raising the dead.” My frown deepened. “I can’t tell if you’re joking or not.” “And you’ll never find out, because I’m a responsible Aunt who would certainly never teach anything your mother doesn’t approve of, right?” Aunt Mercy leaned in towards Mom and wiggled her eyebrows. “Right?” Mom sighed and shook her head. “Alright, I get it. Teaching her all about poisons is holding back, but you still aren’t allowed to do it unless Tempered is there to back you up.” “Fine. I’ll just do poisons next time, then. Besides, shadow sparring can be just as fun.” Mom’s ear flicked, and she suddenly shivered, tail flicking uncontrollably. “Gah, Mercy! Stop that!” “Stop what?” Her wide, innocent eyes blinked up at Mom with fake hurt. “You know what.” Mom brought a hoof to her temple and rubbed. “Ugh… I really want to say no now, but at least lessons like that will be relatively tame.” She looked to me. “If your Aunt does anything too weird, you have permission to punch her and come back here.” “Your vote of confidence is appreciated.” My aunt rolled her eyes, and Mom shivered again before glaring at Aunt Mercy and thwapping her with a wing. I looked between the two as Aunt Mercy returned Mom’s scowl with a smug grin. “Can I just head inside now? No punching needed?” “No, Night. Hear her out first, then decide. This will be a useful lesson if you can manage to learn it.” “You’re saying I might not be able to?” “No, I’m saying you might not want to— Argh! Damn it, Mercy! Stop being a bitch!” Mom’s tail cracked like a whip as her head suddenly flinched to the side. She froze as her words caught up with her, and then she promptly turned to head back inside. “I’m going to go shower and sleep now. I’m only giving your aunt ammunition by staying out here.” I barely heard her as she turned to walk back inside, instead staring at Aunt Mercy with my mouth agape. “You just got Mom to swear.” “Yes. Yes, I did.” She was the smuggest of slugs as she smirked at me. “How?!” “Well, you see, when two mares love each other very much, they—” “You know what I mean!” I rushed forward to put a hoof over her mouth. “Don’t gimme that load of guano. You weren’t anywhere near—” There was suddenly the feel of fangs squeezing my throat and I froze, not even daring to breathe. They were small, sharp, and felt very real despite the fact my hoof was still silencing Aunt Mercy as she did her best five year old impression by sticking her tongue out and licking my hoof just like the twerps did. We stared at each other for a moment, and when I released her mouth, the fangs released their grip. As she grinned at me like a loon under moon, her voice trickled in my ear without her even moving her lips. “If you thought your shadow needed to rise out of the ground to mess with ponies, you were sorely mistaken, young grasshopper.” I could literally feel her breath on my ear, and looking down, her shadow appeared to be flying inches above my own as it leaned down to whisper. It patted my head, and I could feel her hoof running through my mane. “How?” I was quieter when asking this time. “I have tried punching ponies like that before. I used to do it when sparring in the Junior Guard to practice for when I finally figured out how to drag my shadow out of the ground. Shadow boxing just doesn’t work like that.” “Mmmm… well… remember how I said real necromancy was more than raising the dead?” “You’re kidding.” “No, no, no, no, no! Scout’s honor!” She raised her hoof as if taking an oath. “You were never in Scouts.” “Hey! I could have been!” She and her shadow both slapped me on the back. “And I’m not lying, either! On a real technical level, all shadowmancy is necromancy! I’m just telling it like it is! If the eyes are a window to the soul, then the shadow is like the spooky basement door at the back of the house! When you push your shadow out of the ground, you are literally using your own soul to animate it, so what else are you supposed to call it?” I could smell the smoke coming out of my ears as I sat there and thought about it. “Nightmother protect me, is that really what I do every time I pop my shadow out of the ground?” “You bet, pipsqueak! With enough practice, you can do some really nasty stuff with your shadow. You can suck the life right out of ponies—strengthen yourself by leeching off their own soul. You can turn your shadow into a wight or wraith or even a banshee!” Why was Aunt Mercy dancing on her tippy-hooves and giggling like a school filly? “Oh, can you just imagine wiping out a whole squad with a banshee scream? Of course, it’s hard to do that without knocking yourself out, so I’ve never tried it, but—“ With a sudden cough into her hoof, Aunt Mercy’s manic grin turned into a scowl. “—but I am a responsible Aunt who won’t be teaching you things your mother doesn’t approve of. We aren’t gonna touch any of that. We’re just gonna be focusing on how to channel your soul just an itty bit more efficiently so your shadow doesn’t have to rise from the ground to interact with others. Understood?” “Yes.” I nodded slowly, but firmly before turning to walk back inside. “Wait, wait, wait! Your mom doesn’t know about—” “Mom! Aunt Mercy is being weird!” “I can’t believe Mom is cool with you teaching me necromancy.” Sulking in a booth in Sugarcube Corner, I was stuck across from Aunt Mercy as she went to town on a mango caterpillar smoothie. “You aren’t going to be teaching me here, are you? In front of everypony?” With an obnoxiously loud and long series of slurps, Aunt Mercy stalled as her tongue slithered into the cup to get the last of her smoothie. “Mmmm… mango.” Her eyes went glassy as she briefly stared into the distance and licked her lips, and her gaze only returned to me when I gave a good, firm cough. “Oh relax, Pipsqueak. It’s only necromancy on a technical level, and your Mom said no to all the spooky stuff like I knew she would. I am teaching you how to use your shadow better—nothing more and nothing less. If I had known you were gonna raise so much of a goody-two-shoes stink about it, I would have never even told you.” “Okay, fine, whatever. Still haven’t told me why we’re here.” Aunt Mercy grinned like a loon under moon. “We’re waiting on a third, of course. Sent my shadow off to deliver a message while you weren’t looking. Training will be taking place here, despite what you may think. Today is all about learning how to have a subtle touch, after all. It’s gonna take a long time for you to get good enough to have your shadow punch somepony without dragging it out of the ground first. We’re starting much smaller than that, so small that nopony will notice if you play your cards right.” “Sooo… it’s a double session then?” I arched my brow at her. “Both stealth and shadow training?” “Sure! Let’s go with that!” Throwing back her head to cackle, my Aunt signaled the Pink Demon for another smoothie. “It’s totally not because your Mom cheated me out of that movie.” “Say what?” Before I could even stop to process what the actual buck she meant by that, her shadow came streaking and through the door. As it reached us, Aunt Mercy dove right in, popping up two tables away to wave at me. I started to get up to follow, then froze as Diamond walked through the door. She locked eyes with me, smiled daintily, and sashayed her way over to take Aunt Mercy’s seat. “My, my, playing hooky just for me, Night? Your Aunt is such a bad influence on you.” She fluttered her lashes at me, and my heart nearly stopped. “You’re lucky that proper ladies don’t kiss and tell.” “That’s your cue to kiss her.” I nearly jumped as Aunt Mercy’s shadow whispered in my ear. “No letting on that school is still in session for you either, pipsqueak, or you’ll get a big, fat F for the day. Subtlety is the name of the game, so give that filly some lip before you make her suspicious!” Dear, sweet Nightmother above, the only thing stopping me from stomping over to my Aunt to pick a fight right now was the fact that Diamond was leaning forward with her lips parted in the perfect, little pout. My heart pounded at the sight, and I couldn’t help but lick my lips hungrily. Once a week was what Mom had said. Once. A. Wee— Lesser mares and stallions had caved for less. How could I say no to my princess after so many eons apart? My mind might say neigh, but my heart? My heart screamed, ‘YAY, VERILY!’ in the Royal Canterlot Voice as I leaned in. What I meant to be a chaste peck quickly devolved until I was forced to pull back with an audible, lip-smacking pop. Once a week was not enough. Buck, buck, buck, buck, buck! The second kiss took about as long as the first, and that finally was enough to temporarily sate the beast. I smiled at Diamond and ran a hoof through my mane as she took out a mirror to get her mussed mane back in place as best she could. “Now that was a bribe.” She giggled. “I accept your payment in full. There will be no snitching from me.” “Complimentary nachos!” The Pink One dropped a basket of chips dripping with cheese, rainbows, and tarantula legs on the table before us. “A little alligator told me things were about to get spicy! Gimme a few minutes and I’ll be back with the milkshakes!” Diamond looked down at the nachos as I warily glanced at the snoozing pile of scales large enough to give Dad a run for his money. “Little… yeah…” Pinkie smiled in blissful ignorance as she retreated. Did she not realize what was going on? Or was I playing into the demon’s hooves just as I was playing into Aunt Mercy’s? The Pink One probably thought this was just good fun, after all. She needed no rules. “Err… Equus to Night? Are you brooding about Pinkie for no good reason again? She’s not gonna tell your parents. She enjoys seeing ponies smile too much.” “I’m not smiling.” “Keep lying to yourself all you want. I know that stoney scowl enough to tell you’re smiling on the inside.” “Absolutely wonderful.” It took every bone in my body to only flinch as Aunt Mercy’s shadow ruffled my mane, and I shook my head with a snort to hide it from Diamond. “No wonder Tempered calls you two adorable. You’re sickeningly sweet.” “Hey!” I pouted and Diamond thankfully giggled thinking I’d been responding to her teasing. “It’s true.” Aunt Mercy’s shadow whispered in my ear with a breathy chuckle. “But let’s begin, shall we? Start by having your shadow play hoovesies with hers, will you? I need to see how you animate your shadow before I can actually teach you.” I would have turned to glare at Aunt Mercy if I wasn’t so busy watching Diamond and giving her her proper due as she told me all about how her week had been going. I only had the one ear paying attention to my Aunt, and I wouldn’t even give her that right now if I could avoid it. Hoovesies? Really? She could have done this any other way, but she chose hoovesies? Diamond and I weren’t some side show for her to ogle! Still… as crazy as this was, she was trying to teach me a lesson, so I had my shadow run a hind hoof up to try and play with Diamond’s hooves—or at least I fumbled about trying to. I couldn’t see under the table, and as good as my ears were I didn’t think all the training in the world would let me bounce a click off a shadow. I could ‘sense’ that Diamond’s shadow was down there, but so was the table’s and the booth’s. I didn’t even bother to try to count how many little shadows there were for all the blasted gum fillies and colts insisted on sticking in places it should not go. I had been down that path before and that way lied madness. “Wow! You are bad at this, aren’t you?! Or do you want to just go for the throat and splunk the most forbidden of caves?” Aunt Mercy gleefully screeped and tittered at her table, unable to be quiet but thankfully embarrassing me in frequencies only other thestrals could hear as she laughed. “Why in the name of Celestia’s cursed creamy teats are you fumbling like a blind foal? Your Dad taught you how to feel with your shadow, yeah?” Aunt Mercy was behind Diamond, so my marefriend saw and heard nothing but my muttered curse as my cheeks suddenly burned a deep, dark black, but she had passed my Aunt on the way in and knew enough to take my hoof and smile. “Hey… at least she’s letting us see each other.” “Yeah, but she’s being an arschgeige about it.” I huffed and blew upwards as I sank my head on the table. “Me?!” Aunt Mercy was now slumped in her booth and giving strangled squeaky laughs as she clutched her side. “You were the one about to fiddle until the fat bat sang! You should be thanking me for just laughing! Imagine if I’d said nothing and just kept the lesson going! Screeheeheeheehee!” Oh sweet Nightmother above, why did she go and say that?! All my remaining composure crumbled as I turned away from Diamond and pulled back my hoof. “Oi!” And the laughter stopped as Aunt Mercy immediately scowled and her shadow hissed in my ear. ”I am not your Mom and Dad, young lady. Don’t pull the pure and innocent guano with me. You aren’t five, so you look that filly of yours in the eyes. You know I’ve done worse, and I will not have you feeling shame around me unless you're willing to accept me as mumsy dearest. Understood?” A hoof that was not there wrenched my head up before chopping into my back to straighten my spine. Poor Diamond had a fractured and brittle smile. I didn’t have the heart to look away again and make it worse. No… I couldn’t look away, but I could drag my shadow out of the ground and have it stomp on over to my Aunt. “With all due respect—” My shadow and I both growled. “—I know you just love sticking your snout where it doesn’t belong, but this is my life and I’m more than mature enough to see Diamond on my own. You’re dismissed.” “Oh, really?” Aunt Mercy cackled. “Big talk for a mare who was just curled up like a twelve year old caught sniffing for cooties.” “Leave.” I had my shadow rest a hoof on her shoulder. Aunt Mercy blinked for a few moments, realized I was serious, and frowned once more. “Look, Night. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings, but school is in session, and I’m the only reason Diamond is here. Don’t act like this is an actual date.” “And don’t act like you’re an actual teacher.” I huffed and wrapped my tail up with Diamond's beneath the table. “And this is a date.” “It most certainly is not,” Mercy started, ignoring my jab. “Morning would kill me if I let you have a real date. This is…” She tried throwing another flashy grin in an attempt to crack my stoney scowl. “…an intimate get-together!” “Cadance party! Cadance party!” A party cannon fired from back in the kitchen and the Pink One’s screams were made manifest. “Do you mind!” Aunt Mercy violently shook her hoof at the door before turning back with a sickeningly sweet smile. “It’s just a few mares all happening to be in the same building. That two of said mares happen to be fillyfriends is completely coincidental as far anypony watching can prove.” “No pony is gonna buy that guano. You gave me a date, so leave and let me enjoy it. It’s not fair to Diamond if I’m curled up and crying because of you.” “Oh, come on!” Aunt Mercy screeped as my shadow picked her up. “This isn’t fair, pipsqueak! What was I supposed to do? Was I supposed to not have fun and tease you? You know who I am! I’m sorry if I hurt and embarrassed you, but seriously?! What the buck?! Don’t make me the bad gu—” Tossing her out of Sugarcube Corner may have felt really good, but it wasn’t really the best solution when my Aunt’s shadow was still right here. It was a matter of seconds until Aunt Mercy poked her head out of it, glaring at me. “Little, bucking, hypocrite. Fine, then! Enjoy your damn date without me! I know when I’m not wanted! I just want you to think about one last thing before I go, though—one teeny-tiny, eeny-weeny, little thing to consider. You only ever turn into a squeamish, little crybaby like that around your parents, but—newsflash—you keep saying you don’t want me to be one!” My shadow tried to push her head back down, but that only served to agitate the problem further. Next she poked her head out of Diamond’s shadow, making my marefriend tumble to the side with a yelp. “I. Wasn’t. Done.” She hissed, eyes flashing at me. “Should I just walk back in? Or will you let me finish? Because I can take you tossing me out of here all day. Buck, I’m used to my family doing that by now! You know what really, bucking burns me, though… You just won’t give me a chance! In fact, you refuse to give me a chance like your parents are!” Wait, what? Did her voice just crack? “And that’s fine! That’s whatever! You’re only getting in the way of me living with the only ponies besides Checkmate who ever actually accepted me for who I am! Really, it’s not that big a deal! If I’m meant to just be your Aunt, then fine! I get that you come first to them, and that’s always how it’s been and how it should be! The last thing I want is for you to end up as trash like me!” With a gulp, Aunt Mercy looked down and away, biting her lip hard enough that I saw little iron colored drops trickle down her jaw. “But I… I just can’t stand that out of all the ways for you to treat me like your Mom and Dad, you chose the literal worst way to do it. You don’t want another Mom, but now I can’t even be your crazy, fun-loving Aunt anymore?! What’s the point of me even trying if I can’t win!” Her ears splayed down and her snarl faded. Her face was tired and creased as she looked down into the shadows. “Maybe it’s better for everypony if I just leave.” She was gone before I could open my mouth, and I was left to ponder everything she said as Diamond scooted out from the other side and into the booth beside me. There were no nuzzles or cuddles as she gently wrapped her hooves around me; she simply held me even as the kitchen door burst open. “Milkshakes are ready! I have all of your favorites, and— Wait a minute! Gummy, you bad, bad alligator! You didn’t tell me things were gonna get that kinda spicy! Just look at those faces! Those aren’t faces in need of a milkshake! Don’t you worry, girls! I’ll just tap into Rarity’s emergency stash of drama lama ice cream, and—” “Don’t.” My voice was a hoarse whisper as I finally moved to wipe my eyes. I couldn’t remember them getting damp. “It’s… not fine, but I have what I need right here.” I curled a wing around Diamond and squeezed. “Take it to Rarity’s.” “Rarity’s?” Pinkie blinked. “But… why?” “Because if my Aunt doesn’t come home, there’s only two places she’d go.” I took a deep breath. “And something tells me she’s not in the mood for partying at the bar. If… if she’s not at Rarity’s, then go get my Mom and Dad, and tell them to make a search party.” “Oh…” Pinkie’s hair deflated noisily on hearing me. Good to know she was taking me seriously, and yet infuriating all the same. “Okie-doki-loki. Mrs. Cake! Can you get the counter?! Some super serious element stuff came up!” The Pink One left, and so I huddled with Diamond in the booth. “Diamond?” I shivered and leaned into my marefriend. “Yeah?” Her hoof rubbed me gently in the back as I squeezed her closer with my wing. “Is it… wrong for me to be scared right now? I stood up to her for you—for us—but it just—” “Shush…” Her hoof was gentle but firm on my snoot. “Night, you’re thinking about it wrong. She never asked for an apology.” “What?” “She messed up. She knows that. She doesn’t want you to feel bad or apologize.” “Then why did she—” The hoof returned to my snoot and this time it stayed as Diamond looked into my eyes. “The only reason I’m here right now is because the Crusaders gave me a chance to be somepony I had never been before. They didn’t have to be my friends after helping me figure out my mark. They had no reason to with all our history. They probably shouldn’t have, in all honesty, but they did.” It was Diamond’s turn to shiver. “It is… terrifying… to try and change for the better. You question everything you know about yourself; you wonder how much you need to throw away, and if anything worthwhile is going to be left. I never told the others, but… those first few weeks, I really considered asking Daddy to move. I wanted to transfer and just have a fresh start, and if I had, then I never would have met you. In a way, I’ve been through what your Aunt is going through, Night.” The kiss was small and chaste as Diamond kissed me. “She doesn’t want an apology. She just wants to feel like you’re giving her an actual chance.” “B-but I am!” “Are you?” Diamond’s smile was somber as she rested her head on my shoulder, but I caught just a glimpse of her eyes to see the tiniest spark of mischief. “Because I can tell you that I’ve been exchanging letters with Fang and Echo, and the three of us all agree that I’m somehow more comfortable with the fact that thestrals herd than you are.”