//------------------------------// // Adjusting // Story: Shadowed Past, Twilit Future // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// 2. Adjusting Shadow listened to the sound of Twilight's breathing. At first, he could easily tell that she was still awake, but her breathing slowed as he regulated his. At long last, at the 21st hour, her breathing slowed to the regular pattern of slumber. Carefully, so as to make as little noise as possible, Shadow slid out of bed and gently walked over to hers. He watched her sleep for a time. It hadn't been all that difficult for Shadow to tell that Twilight had offered him her spare bed for more than just his own benefit. She had her own reasons for wanting him there. At first, he hadn't been sure what her motivations could be, but a key phrase had enlightened him. "Somehow I don't think he'll need it when he gets back." Although she'd tried to make the statement casual, Shadow heard the hidden pain in her voice. It wouldn't have been as obvious had she been sleeping well, but her lack of good sleep had also been obvious in her walk and mannerisms. Slowly walking down the stairs, Shadow paused as he passed her work desk. Letters still lay on it, each dated from several weeks back. It only took a cursory glance to guess their contents, and the fact that they were still left open on her desk after so long left little doubt as to the meaning. Twilight was lonely. It had been relatively easy for Shadow to empathize with her, even though he tried to resist. He knew what it was, too. When she'd looked up at him when he called her name, he had seen a shadow there, the shadow of hidden pain, that he recognized from when he first met Maria. And the glow in Maria's eyes when Gerald had told her Shadow was there to keep her company...that same glow was there when Twilight had offered the spare bed to Shadow, and even brighter when he accepted it. He walked slowly down the stairs, trying to tame his wandering thoughts. Even with all the lights out, it was easy for him to manuever. The moon was full tonight, although not very high, and gave him more than enough light to manuever. The unusually strong chaos flows he'd felt before had another effect he hadn't accounted for. Although he never actually needed to sleep - as the chaos energy he could absorb kept him fully refreshed - he often found it a relaxing and somewhat pleasureable activity. However, the unusualy strong chaos flows of Equestria left him...antsy. He wasn't able to settle down. Sighing, he glanced around. Looking up, he smiled. It wouldn't take him long to find something to pass the time till dawn. After all, this was a library, and the quiet contemplation of a good book had always been a welcome pasttime for him. Glancing over the shelves, he found he didn't recognize any of the titles. Most of these books had been published in Equestria. Levitating the entire top shelf of the first bookcase, he looked for a place to read. While there was enough light to see, if he wanted to read comfortably inside, he'd have to turn a light on...and that might wake Twilight. Instead, he carefully levitated the books out to the balcony and set them down carefully. Settling himself down, he discovered his supposition was correct: outside, the moon provided more than enough light to read by, and would until it began to set. He levitated the first book, and began to read. Three books in, he heard the sound of a large form approaching. Glancing up, he saw the moon was near zenith...and a shadow had passed over it. He leapt to his feet, getting into a defensive stance, wishing Twilight had had time and energy to help him find a way to focus his chaos energy. He didn't want to experiment with something that might wake her up. "Peace," said a feminine voice in the night. "It is only us." A winged form slowly descended, alighting gently on the balcony next to the stack of books. He could see a silhouette of a unicorn, but he could hear the folding of wings, and there was only one entity present. He sighed, putting a few details together. "Princess Luna, I presume?" He decided not to bow. While Twilight had spoken highly of the Night Princess while in Mobius, Shadow wanted to form his own opinions. Besides, he bowed to no one. The blue alicorn tilted her head. "We were expecting Twilight Sparkle. Who might you be, stallion?" "I'm Shadow. I'm staying here with Twilight for a time." Luna pulled her head back. "I...see." She had dropped out of the royal we. "Are you the Shadow that Rainbow Dash spoke of while she was training as head of my Olympics team? The Ultimate Life Form?" Shadow nodded. "That would be me." Luna nodded. "Pray tell, what purpose has brought you to Equestria?" Shadow shrugged. "To make a home." Luna blinked slowly, staring at him. "You would make a home with Twilight Sparkle?" she asked, her voice and gaze intent. Shadow shook his head. "I didn't mean it like that. Twilight offered me a bed while I got settled. I don't intend the arrangment to be permanent." "Oh." Somehow, Luna sounded...dissapointed. As Shadow thought about what he'd warned Twilight about regarding her reputation, Luna continued. "I see Twilight sleeps well." "Yes," he replied quietly. "It took her a bit to settle down, but she now sleeps comfortably and deeply." "I am glad," Luna responded. "She has not slept well since Spike left home. It is...not good for her to lose so much sleep." Shadow nodded. "She doesn't handle being alone well, does she?" Luna looked away. "It is obviously no secret to you if I tell you it is one of her greatest fears. I...saw what the loneliness was doing to her, and suggested she come back to Canterlot and stay at the palace. ...she refused. Ponyville has been her home and the place of so muchjoy and friendship. She felt that to come back to Canterlot alone would be as to turn her back on all she learned and found here." She sighed. "So every night since as I raise the moon, I stop by here to check on her. Some nights, she is out here, reading. Others, she slept fitfully, troubled by nightmares. I...did what I could to ease them, but there is only so much my magic is capable of." Shadow nodded. "Given the cause, I'd say your presence did more for her than your magic did." Luna bowed her head. "It did seem that way. My sister and I have been worried about her, but Celestia feels she could not act to intervene unless Twilight requested it...and she never did. She seemed determined to struggle through this on her own." Shadow chuckled to himself. "Stubborn mare," he muttered under his breath. "I'd thought all those friendhsip lessons had taught her to call on her friends in times of need." He tried not to think about how long it took HIM to accept help from his friends...let alone seek it out. Luna chuckled as well. "It is true. She did send a letter covering exactly that. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to have stuck. Tia would have sent it back...but Twilight has yet to establish a new receiving enchantment since Spike's departure." Shadow smiled. "I'll see if I can't get her to do that." Luna nodded her thanks. "I will leave you to your reading then. Although you should get inside soon. The pegasi have scheduled a light shower within the hour, and it would not do for the books to get wet." With that, Luna took her leave, winging back into the sky. Carefully, Shadow gathered up the books and brought them in, returning them to the shelves. As he worked, he thought about that conversation. After a while, he shook his head. He couldn't quite understand why his thoughts kept straying to the purple unicorn upstairs. Yes, she was a friend, but there was only so much he could do... Pausing, he spotted the kitchen. He wasn't entirely sure what all was available in Equestria in the way of food - given ponies were herbivores - but it couldn't hurt to familiarize himself. ----------- Twilight awoke slowly, the sound of the birds chirping in her ears, the scent of dew in her nostrils, and the light of dawn on her eyelids. Carefully, she blinked away the last bit of sleep and glanced over to the guest bed. It was empty, and as neat as if it hadn't been slept in. Twilight felt herself beginning to shudder. Had it all been a dream? Was the loneliness beginning to make her lose touch with reality? The smell of pancakes touched her nostrils, banishing her fears. Someone was cooking breakfast. She got up out of bed, wondering what was going on, somewhat out of it as she was. Then a voice called up from below. "Hotcakes!" Shadow called. "Get them while they're hot...cakes." Then a quiet mutter. "I can't believe I actually said that..." Twilight came downstairs, staring at the breakfast laid out. Glancing sidelong at Shadow, she asked, "...did you just make a joke?" Not meeting her eyes, Shadow said, "...no." Twilight couldn't help it. She giggled. As Shadow stared at her, she stopped. "Sorry." She came up to the table and began to eat. "This is really good!" she said after a few mouthfuls. "I didn't know you could cook." Shadow shrugged. "I have a lot of free time on my hands, and it's against my nature to waste it. I have a lot of skills I have little use for." Twilight grinned. "What, like underwater basket weaving?" "As I said, little use." Twilight stared at him for a bit. "...that was a joke..." "...oh." They were silent for a while as they ate. Then Twilight looked up. "You're an early riser." "I don't sleep." "Oh." She paused. "What?" "I can sustain myself on the chaos energy flow. It both replenishes and revitalizes me. I don't need to sleep, although I sometimes do to relax. I am still unused to the strong chaos flow here due to Discord's activity, and was left with too much nervous energy to sleep last night." He shrugged his shoulders as he continued to eat. "I spent most of the night reading...except for when Luna stopped by." "Princess Luna stopped by?" Twilight asked in shock. "I can't believe I missed her. I hope she wasn't upset-" "She was rather pleased to see you getting a good night's sleep, and surprised to find me here." Twilight couldn't help but blush. "...oh..." As they finished the meal, Shadow levitated the dishes over to the sink and proceeded to clean them. Twilight watched, smiling. "You seem to have mastered the basics of unicorn magic relatively easily." Shadow smiled. With a thought, he sent a dish rag flying over to Twilight, which she caught with her own telekinesis. "I wash. You dry." Twilight laughed. levitating the clean dishes and the towel to dry them off. Once the dishes were clean and put away, she turned to Shadow. "So what would you like to do today?" she asked happily. Shadow thought for a time. "Maybe you could show me around Ponyville? I didn't get to see much of it yesterday, after all." "Sure!" Twilight said happily. "I know this town like the back of my hoof!" Holding up her hoof, she paused. "Where'd that scuff come from?" Shadow looked at her for a while. "A joke?" "Just a little one." She grinned at him. Shadow smiled back. "Scuff or joke?" With a laugh, Twilight headed for the door. "Come on, Shadow! Race you to Town Hall!" She ran out the door. "I don't even know where that is!" he called after her, heading out in hot pursuit. Despite that, he couldn't help but smile. For the first time since his days aboard the ARK with Maria, he felt strangely...at peace.