After leaving Rainbow Dash back in the ward; Twilight noticed Shining Armor's shoulders slump considerably as they made their way back to Shining Armor's quarters. "Thank you again for saving her." said Twilight after they had gotten out of ear shot.
"It was just a blood transfusion, you would have done the same if you had her blood type, and so would most of the other Rangers. I'm just thankful one of us had what she needed."
"It wasn't just a blood transfusion," insisted Twilight, "The doctors said there might not be enough blood for both of you, and you told them to save her if they had to choose. You passed out half way through."
"She saved Cadance; I was merely repaying a debt. That and we can't afford to lose someone who can do a sonicrainboom."
"Are you sure you're OK?"
"Yes. With a high iron diet I should be recovered before she is; for now I just need to get some sleep."
Twilight hesitated, remembering that herb she had seen him take the night before when he thought she wasn't looking. She’d asked Healthfang about it and he said it prevented it's user from dreaming, and that a lot of Rangers used it after prolonged periods in the forest; but assured her it was completely safe. "Speaking of sleep; are you still not going to explain to me what was happening with you on our way up here?"
"I can't explain it; because I don't know what was happening."
"Can you at least try?"
"Not yet." Before Twilight could feel hurt Shining Armor continued, "You have Delta level clearance. I've started writing a report; beginning from the day we left Ponyville that details everything. I'll file it before we leave, and after that I won't be able to stop it from becoming declassified to you in one year. That will give me a deadline I have to tell you in, and if I still haven't by then, you can read about it. For now I just need time."
Twilight gave a semi-satisfied nod; by now they had come to the door to Shining Armor's quarters. He stopped, gave her a brief hug and then went in to sleep; closing the door behind him.
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The next couple weeks passed slowly for Twilight, given that Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor slept through most of it, (her own wounds, once disinfected, had been minor). That Rainbow Dash wanted to join the Rangers was only a mild surprise for Twilight, but she was still worried for her friend’s safety; maybe Shining Armor could look out for her, he was good at that… usually. Shining Armor had asked a band of Rangers who were returning to Equestria to give Spike the message that everyone was safe but wouldn’t be back for a few more weeks, and telling him to pass the message along to Cadance in turn. That done; Twilight knew Spike wouldn’t be freaking out, but she was still worried about him… there was no way he was going to keep the whole library clean, or file all the returning books correctly, he probably wouldn’t even clean at all!
Twilight shuddered at the thought.
Nevertheless; spending time in Uthraig had its perks: knowledge. Twilight had been severely disappointed at the meager underground library available in Uthraig, but there were still other Rangers to talk to. After meeting that one band of unicorn Rangers with the brilliant idea of establishing mana frequency sensitive lay lines to detect changelings and terrormongers, Twilight was fixated on the idea, wondering if she could link it with an automated teleportation matrix. How could Celestia have scrapped such a fascinating project, just because it had made no measurable progress in eight years?
Twilight tried finding those same unicorns again but they returned to Equestria the day after Rainbow Dash first woke up. She tried finding other Rangers who knew about the abandoned project, or maybe some different branch of secret arcane knowledge, but after spending several days wading through various attempts using numerous methods to hit on her, all she had found was a bizarre myriad of rumors and storytellers. Shining Armor later explained how all Ranger units needed to report to Uthraig upon finishing their tours for debriefing and so they could deliver their reports. Understandably, since most of the Rangers here had just spent at least a few weeks fighting a guerrilla war against changelings and terrormongers, most of them came back with contradictory information, or reports that didn’t quite make sense. (Hint: if someone said they’d died eight times in the last two weeks, they probably needed a long rest.)
Getting each Ranger to give their accounts was widely encouraged. Firstly, to help sort out what really happened, secondly, it was a useful form of therapy that helped identify Rangers bordering on a breakdown, and thirdly, many of the more bizarre accounts had become a primary source of entertainment, and rumors sprouted like wildflowers in the illusion plowed minds of the Rangers. Some of the rumors made sense and sparked Twilight’s vigorous curiosity; changelings were insectoid, emotional parasites, and master illusionists, maybe they were half terrormonger and half pony crossbreeds… being plausible only made the rumor that much more disturbing. Most of the rumors though were simply bizarre, and had to be made up like saying that Cerberus's cave underneath Canterlot was just a ruse, and the real gateway to Tartarus was hidden under Zecora's pillow.
A lot of strange stuff said about Zecora; and the more Twilight tried to investigate, to more confused she got. The one thing she was able to ascertain was that Zecora was not a Ranger, or an equestrian citizen, or any other category Twilight tried to put her in, except maybe some form of mercenary. Apparently she just showed up one day, and began aiding the Rangers as medic; and when she assigned rehabilitative physical and mental exercises to her healing patients, they returned to their units stronger than ever. Eventually, Celestia made a deal with Zecora; giving her first pick of new recruits each year to train, as she saw fit. Zecora didn’t have any official authority among the Rangers, per say, but by now, most of the high ranking officers were her former students and either had had the utmost respect for Zecora, or were terrified of her. This led many Rangers to theorize that Zecora was secretly the mastermind behind the Equestrian war effort, but no one could prove that she had any role beyond medic and trainer.
Estimates of her exact salary varied wildly, from six digits to eight, while speculation on what she did with her money was even wilder; from mundane theories like saving it or sending it to her family, (whoever they were), to feeding it to her dragon lover(s) and/or their half-breed child(ren). (Some theories were even weirder.) The only consistent rumor was that she employed selected elite Rangers, sworn to secrecy, to run private errands for her in between tours, but even this couldn't be verified by any real evidence.
There was still regular discussion about Denorious floating around; with most of the Rangers she spoke to fairly convinced she would eventually recover; (after all, why would her new cutie mark be bubbles if not to represent her old mind slowly bubbling back to the surface?) Dozens of songs had been written about her with names like Hay Mrs Derpy, Autumn leaves, Great to be Different, or a song that a traveling diamond dog minstrel had written that was simply titled ‘Denorious’.
At first Twilight was enamored with hearing about the exploits of who she had always thought to be a derped mail-mare, but after a few days she began getting the distinct feeling that most of what was being said wasn’t even true. This theory was confirmed when she was trying to gather information from a group of Rangers and they all suddenly started saying things that Twilight was sure they were making up on the spot and the rancorous laughter between each round supported her hypothesis of fallaciousness. It was like a contest of who could create the most ridiculous rumor.
“I heard that Denorious could light a fire by rubbing two ice cubes together.” Snickered one brown pegasus.
“I heard Denorious was bitten by a deadly viper, and after five days in excruciating agony; the viper died.” Responded a blue earth pony.
“I heard that she could get the heart of any stallion. Two seconds to win it with her face, or one second to rip it out of his chest with her hoof.” A yellow pegasus shot back after a chorus of laughter.
A larger unicorn Twilight quickly decided she didn’t like stood up; "I heard that she was the secret lovechild of Princess Celestia and the former war minister Sun Blade; and was blessed upon her birth by seven shaman of the deep desert, imbuing her with strength, speed, brilliance, wisdom, courage, justice and beauty."
“All Hail Denorious” shouted out one of the Rangers in a mock salute, “Warrior Princess of the Everfree Forest.”
Twilight was thinking through a list of spells she could use to scold them for slandering Princess Celestia, when a small green earth pony spoke out, "I heard that she got in an argument with Zecora... and won."
The assembled Rangers stopped their chuckling and rolled their eyes at the green earth pony disdainfully, "Now you know that that one's made up Clay Mould" called one of them.
"They need to be at least partially believable, otherwise they're not funny." rebuked another.
"Shutting up." conceded Clay Mould sulkily.
Further investigation revealed none of the Rangers there had actually served under Denorious but had signed up after she had gone and were just carrying on a joke they’d learned from their predecessors. After this, Twilight turned her quest for knowledge towards more tangible subjects.
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Shining Armor trudged slowly with his head held low, dragging his heart behind him. After waiting a little over two weeks at Uthraig, Rainbow Dash had been well enough to begin the journey home. He had hoped that the replica suit of armor he had commissioned for Storm to replace the one he had lost would be completed before they left, but due to backlog at the forges it would still be a few days. Shining Armor arranged for it to be delivered to Zecora’s hut when it was ready, so she could enchant it with the finishing buffs and Storm could collect it like he had originally planned.
Joining with a large party of Rangers who were already on their way back, the last six days had passed uneventfully; save for a small company of three changelings that they caught and slaughtered before they even had a change to morph. Twilight had spoken with each of the other Rangers before they were setting out, and convinced them not to give him any shifts keeping watch at night, and as much as it irked him, Shining Armor accepted her charity and with the help of the herb from Uthraig, slept peacefully.
Now however they were coming up on the final leg of the journey, and Shining Armor's failures massed against him; he had defied direct orders from Princess Celestia, lied to Zecora, taken untrained civilians into the forest, failed to protect Applejack, neglected the most basic rules of contact enabling the changelings to learn of Storm and Cadance, and nearly killed Twilight. On top of that, He’d been a jerk. His only comfort was that in the end, Cadance was safe, no thanks to him. Shining Armor wondered if he was going to be demoted, and if Cadance's parents would revoke their blessing for the wedding if he was.
As if waiting to be his executioner, Zecora stood outside her hut and from the first time he came into view her eyes never left him. The other Rangers halted about a hundred meters off, not daring to approach Zecora when she was angry, but Shining Armor had no choice and went to face her alone. "I once had a student," began Zecora after Shining Armor had stood silently before her for five agonizing minutes which seemed like five years, "Who from the first time we first met; knew I'd met someone to whom I owed a great debt. To train them and teach them in the way they should go. To share with them knowledge, that in time they might grow; into a hero; a patron of light, whose mighty talents, could aid in the fight. The student advanced and became a dear friend; my love for them grew, as their path I did wend. With many great gifts, this student was blessed. It was not very long before they were one of my best. For strong was their body, and keen was their mind, their discipline sure, their courage refined; and noble the heart that led all of these, with the work of my student, I was very well pleased. But though sometimes their wisdom did leave me beguiled; more often by far; it was that of a child!"
"Zecora I never meant to-" CRACK! The point of Zecora's hoof shot like a lance into Shining Armor's jaw, dislocating it as his mouth swung limply open.
"Do not interrupt." warned Zecora. "My thoughts you disrupt.” She cleared her throat, “In noble folly, my student sought to usurp, responsibility for the entire universe. They sought to save everyone, from forest to sea; from this crushing burden, they were never free. They denied they had limits, they denied themselves rest, addicted to struggle and to their endless quest. They drove themselves to exhaustion and then kept on going. Day and night they went madly on, never once slowing.
Then, when those whom they cared for were lost deep in the trees, they did not wait or ask for help, not even from me. So overconfident in their own earthly power, they refused to show patience, for even an hour. They went out alone to rescue their friends; and that is where, sadly, my story must end. For this was the last of their lauded acts, from this final folly, they never came back. The rogues of the forest, broke her mind without mercy, she now lives in Ponyville, and calls herself, Derpy!"
Shining Armor lifted his head in confusion, and was met with Zecora's gaze as anger; sorrow and disappointment huddled together in the cold recesses of her eyes. "I lost one student to selfless, thoughtless, hubris, folly; I do not wish to lose another, not in mind, not in body! You were shown grace where Denorious was not, but if you follow her path, you deserve what she got! I fear you've learned nothing from the fall of this mare, but your paths and your fates you must surely compare. You think her a leader? An example to all!? Despite her many fine traits, her pride was her fall! To push yourself further then what you can possibly do, these are not ideals to aspire to!
Long was I grieved that after a year in my care, your training complete, you left like a hare. Not once returning, unless to seek aid, yet far greater errors I now see you have made. Shunned not only your teacher, but your future wife! Is this how you plan to live out your life!?" Zecora touched Shining Armor's chest with her hoof and looked him silently in the eye for a long moment. He hadn't previously thought it possible, and never mentioned it afterwards, knowing no one would believe him, but he could have sworn he saw one lonely tear trickle down Zecora's face. “Now get out of the forest and do not return; until the face of his father, your firstborn has learned." Zecora grabbed his hanging jaw, wrenched it back into its socket, turned, walked into her hut and closed the door behind her, without giving him a chance to respond.