The next day…
An Incessant knocking woke me early the next day.. I groaned, groggily. “Coming,” I shouted. Opening the door I blinked in shock to see a very frazzled Twilight Sparkle awaiting me on the other side.
“You got into a fight!? Ten minutes after I left you? What happened?” She seemed on the verge of one of her infamous breakdowns Rarity had warned me about. Celestia, I hope this isn’t all because of me.
“I can explain?”
“Explain, explain, I leave you alone and you start fighting with ponies‽”
Yep, total breakdown.
“Look, sit down.” I walked over to the living room area and sat on the large couch, seeming to sink into it. “I’ll tell you everything, but on two conditions.”
She paused before answering, “And what are those?”
“Well, one you’ve got to sit down.” I motioned to the couch I was sitting down on. “Two you’ve got to calm down,” I said gently.
I saw Twilight draw her hoof up to her chest while she breathed in, and released the breath with an outward stretch of the same hoof. She visibly relaxed and said, “Okay I think I’m good. Now, please tell me what happened.”
“Okay, after you left I went to the bar and sat in a stool and started chatting with the bartender, Pip. I looked down the bar and noticed that a stallion named Black Marble, or something, pushing himself onto a mare. Then, when he was rejected, he attempted to hit her. I couldn’t just sit by and let that happen so I stepped in and stopped his punch. I tried to calmly tell him to walk away, but he wasn’t having it.”
“Wait, you’re telling me he not only tried to push himself onto a mare, but tried, and failed to hit the same mare? Then when asked to stop, he continued anyway!?” Twilight all but screamed.
“Yes, and yes. But that’s not all. He used his magic to blast me up against a wall… twice.” I winced from the memory of the pain, my chest still hurt a little. “I had to pin him with my sword to his throat to get him to stop. At which point the guards showed up.”
“Oh no, what did you do?”
“I recalled one of my Dad’s old sayings of wisdom: If you haven’t done anything wrong, then you haven’t got anything to fear from the guard. So, I cooperated with the guard, and because of that I got off with just having to give my official statement.”
“Okay, I thought you had started it or something.”
“Well technically I did, at least the fight between me and Black Marble.”
“Not all fights can be avoided, Shadow. I could introduce you to Tirek sometime if you don’t believe me.”
“Whatever you say Twilight.” I gave a shrug. “Come on, let’s go get some breakfast. Know any good places?”
I looked down to the fungus-like table for what seemed the millionth time since we arrived. “Are you sure these are safe to eat off of?” I gave the table a suspicious eye. Twilight giggled. “What!? I’m just trying to make sure that I’m eating off a safe surface!”
“Well I’ve been eating here for years, so I’d say I’m a shining example of how safe these tables are.” She gave another chuckle as I continued to eye the table.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw a pony approach our table. He was an earth pony that had a beige coat, a slicked back blue mane, and a pair of golden-brown eyes. He carried himself with a sense of refinement, with his posture and his buttoned down collar-vest. “Hello, my name is Haut Savoir, what can I get you?”
“Ummm, give me a second, I’ve been a bit busy since I arrived.” Picking up one of the menus on the table; I noticed that Twilight hadn’t touched hers. “Aren’t you gonna look at the menu, Twilight?”
“Oh, I already know what I want. Savoir, can I get my usual?”
“Yes, Princess Sparkle.” Twilight rolled her eyes.
“Haut, I thought I told you to stop referring to me so formally!”
“And I told you Princess Sparkle that I have to, I don’t want to insult your title by being so flippant.”
Twilight huffed. “I’m not going to get you to stop calling me that, am I?”
“Not unless you order me to, Princess Sparkle.” Haut smiled and winked playfully at her, then turned to me. “What will it be… Mr...”
“Shadow, and I think I’ll take a daffodil sandwich.” I turned up to Haut and handed him both menus with a smile.
“Ooh good choice, Shadow! That’s my usual.” She smiled at me.
“Yes, that is a very good choice, Mr Shadow,” Haut said with a smile before walking off.
“Okay so, what did the guard do, exactly, to the stallion? And what about the mare?” Twilight leaned forward.
“Well, ya see…” I spent the next half hour recapping everything I remembered about what the guard said about the mare, and what he planned to do with the stallion..
I finished my daffodil sandwich in time to see Twilight about to take her last bite. Damn, this is nice. I wish I had this while I was back in Cloudsdale or when I was part of my mom’s pack. I looked back out to the town square we were in, were ponies of all types were laughing, playing and talking. These ponies are so nice. They really do treat each other well. Flashbacks of his time in cloudsdale, faux-respect, and honesty came to my mind; they made this seem fake, almost like a dream. No this is real. I don’t know how I know, but I do. That thought caused me to smile.
I began to look back to the right, scanning the crowd that was there. They were all gathered for the local market, which was already in full swing. When my eyes made contact with a similar set of lime green ones. For a moment I saw something beyond the endless icy hatred I had only seen in my prior encounter with him. No, no no no. This can’t be happening. Smokey with his sky blue coat and smoky gray mane started making his way towards, when I saw his gaze flip to my right. Crap he’s seen Twilight! No, no! I won’t let him insult Twilight, she’s the closest friend I’ve got outside of Val! I started to make a move to get up.
“Oh no, Shadow. There’s no reason to get up to greet me. After all we know each other so well.” He gave a wicked smile in my direction. One that Twilight did not catch, as she was busy wiping her mouth.
I was struck into a silence as I watched Smokey approach Twilight, a warm smile on his face. “Oh? And who are you?” She gave a little gasp. “Oh are you Platinum Valor? I’ve heard so much about you from Shadow!”
“Actually I am not Platinum, but I will be happy to visit him and let him know that he should come visit.” He gave another wicked smile in my direction. “Actually my name is —”
“That’s bucking it! You don’t get to come here and intrude on the one happy thing I’ve had in years! How dare you? How dare you think you can talk with Twilight?”
Gone was the friendly front he had put up. In it’s place was the icy cold hatred I had seen prior. “I could say the same thing to you Shadow. After all you have done things that would be seen as sinful to even the dirtiest individual.”
“What do you mean by that? I haven’t killed anypony! You tried to bucking kill me!” I felt all the rage and panic that I’d felt all those years back. I pulled my sword out and mumbled around the handle, “If it’s a fight you’ve come looking for I’ll give you one!”
“Are you so sure, Shadow?”
“Yes I’m sure I’ll give you a—”
“No that’s not what I meant. Are you sure you’ve never killed anypony before?” He gave me an icy glare, as if that was the only expression he could look at me with.
“What the hell? Yes I’m sure I’ve never killed anypony! What the hell kind of question is that?” I took a couple steps closer so we were muzzle to muzzle.
The iciness of his glare softened for a split second before hardening into a look of pure rage. “How dare you! You don’t even know who your actions, or inaction, killed!”
“What the hell are you talking about? I would never just sit by and let anyone die! Even if you were in danger I would drop everything to go and save you!” I felt a tide of rage begin to swell within me. How can he sit there and tell me that I let somepony die? I gripped my sword tighter in my mouth and pulled my head to the left to prepare for a swing.
As I started to pull my head to the right in a swing, just to feel my head come to a sudden stop. “Shadow, you can’t attack him! He hasn’t done anything illegal!”
I felt tears start to sting in the corners of my eyes. “You don’t know that! He’s the one who tried to kill me Twilight!” I fully turned towards her, momentarily forgetting about Smokey, with a pleading expression on my face. For her part she just seemed to stare off into space with a blank stare.
“What does it matter? All I did was try and avenge the one you killed!” I whipped my head back towards Smokey, only to be blinded by a dust cloud he kicked up with a strong beat of his wings. “You like that, Shadow?”
“Oof!” I received a swift kick to my gut from my right. I heard my sword clang to the ground as I gasp for air, while stumbling back away from the cloud of dust. “You’ll pay for that!”
“Really? It looks like you’ve got nowhere to run, and you’re disarmed! What are you gonna do, Shadow? What does the mighty wolven mutt have to offer?” He gave a wicked smirk as the ponies gathered all heard his jeer. “What do you not believe me? Do you think he’s a normal pony? Well then, Shadow? Are you gonna prove them right, or leave them in the dark, guessing?”
With one of my two base instincts, fight or flight, disabled I chose the only one left to me. I opened my wings wide and tried to take off into the sky. That is when I felt a strong tug on my trench coat. I turned back to see Twilight staring back up at me with pleading eyes. “Please, Shadow, they’ll understand! They won’t just throw you out for being different!”
“No! No, you don’t know what I’ve been through! I’ve been told that too many times, and had the same result come about! I’ve been shunned and ridiculed everywhere I go that I reveal what I really am! Just let me go, and I’ll leave now, before they all connect what I am to you!”
“Shadow, you don’t have to—”
“No, let him go. He deserves whatever he’s about to experience.”
Stupid, stupid Shadow. What were you thinking, allowing yourself to hope? You’ve got to be as tough as stone to survive. I flew at top speed away from the town square. I didn’t care where I was, I just wanted out of there.
Though, once I got five miles out I felt my strength give out, and my wings stop beating. As I collapsed to the ground, in a crash landing, I felt my left foreleg bend at unnatural angle. “Aahhh! Fuck!” I turned over onto my back and cradled my foreleg. Damn I need to go ba— No I can’t go back. Not now. I need to move on, or back to Cloudsdale, at least I can have my sword—. “Oh buck me! How did I leave my sword in the middle of the town!?” Crap he’s got my sword! I can’t let him keep it! I need to go back and get it. I looked down to my, currently broken, foreleg and winced. I’m not fighting anyone in this condition. My thoughts turned once again to Twilight. No, she won’t let him have it. I looked down to the ground and mumbled, “But that means I’ve got to face her.” Well, I’m not going to go back tonight. Though, there was the ‘house’ that Zecora helped build. Wait, that’s it! I’ll just go to Zecora, she’s sure to have something for my leg. I attempted to take off just to fall back to the earth before I could even get twelve feet off the ground.
Maybe I’ll just wait here for a bit, I’m certainly not walking anywhere. I sat my flank on the ground and waited till I felt like I had enough energy to reach the Everfree Forest without incident and headed off to Zecora’s hut.