//------------------------------//
// Relaxation and tough conversations 
// Story: The New Life of Shadow Ironsword 
// by ShadowIronsword 
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I set the quill down on the cushion of the couch and nodded approvingly at the letter in front of me. I had effectively let Twilight know what had been going on, and set a timeline for when I planned on visiting her in Ponyville a month down the road. “Alright, now to set in on my apology to Page for not making it today.” I stuck my tongue out of my mouth and dabbed the quill in the inkwell. 

Just as I was about to put the quill down to the paper and begin writing, Val and Amber burst through the door. Amber called out, “Hey, Shadow! I see you caught my subtle hint.” She laughed and headed into the kitchen.  

Val stayed in the foyer of his house with a mildly guilty expression on his face. “Hey, Shadow. You doing any better?”

I smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I think I’ll be fine, with time. Apparently I’ll be staying with you and Amber for the next few days. So no bucking like bunnies, got it?” I tried to hold a serious expression. But the way that Val’s face lit up into a bright red color made me bust out laughing. As I wiped a tear from my eye, and I tried to compose my expression. “Anyways, I gotta ask. What was up with your little fit back there at the forge?”

He huffed and looked off to the side, the blush slowly fading from his face. “It wasn’t a fit… Okay, so maybe it was a bit of a fit. I don’t know, Shadow. I guess, in some way, I felt jealous of Smokey? I don’t know how to put it, but yea. That’s about as close as I’m going to get to explaining it.” He huffed again and looked away. 

I furrowed my brows and tried to sit up, but the immediate sting that accompanied the movement stopped me. “Look, Val, I’m not going to say you’re stupid. But you’re bucking stupid. Why would you ever be jealous of Smokey?”

He grimaced and looked farther away from me, but walked over and sat down on a pillow before saying, “I don’t know. Mostly because you forgave him almost instantly, and I don’t know how to feel about that.” 

I quirked a grin at him and asked, “And what in Tartarus makes you think I’ve forgiven him, Val? I don’t think I’ll ever forgive Smokey for what he’s done to us.” He continued to look away from me. Careful of my injured leg, I shuffled over to reach out and cup a paw under his chin and force his head to me. “Look, I’m not going to try and change your mind, but know that I haven’t forgiven him. Just because I’ve offered him temporary sanctuary doesn’t mean that I do okay?” I gave a small smile.

I saw the ghost of a smile flash across his face before settling into a neutral expression. “Okay.”

Amber chose this exact moment to walk in and she gawked. “What in the actual hell is going on in here?”

I grinned wickedly and Val gave me a pleading look. I ignored him and pushed on to my idea. “Oh nothing, Amber, just me completely stealing your stallion from right under your nose!” I stuck my tongue out and began laughing maniacally as Val lit up like a lighthouse again. I shuffled back, so that I was fully onto the couch.

Amber spotted this and just shook her head. “Alrighty then, have fun you two~” she said. I fell further into a fit of laughter while Val just folded his ears back and thumped his head onto the cushion he was sitting on. 

“Why am I friends with you again?” he groaned, muffled by the pillow.

“Because you laugh at these moments just as much as I do, just later on.” I closed one eye and stuck my tongue out again. 

“Hnnngghh.”

Amber came and walked by the living room again. “Wow you two really are having fun, aren’t you?” She began to cackle like mad as she walked back into the kitchen. 

I chuckled and shook my head back and forth. “Come on, Val. You know she only means to poke fun at ya.”

Amber came out of the kitchen with a tub of ice cream and two spoons. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Shadow.” She stuck her tongue out at me and winked. I returned the gesture and went back to trying to write my letter to Page. Thinking back to her letter earlier that day, I brought my paw up to my chin, concentrating. Amber noticed my expression and stopped in her attempts to coax Val out of his makeshift turtle position. “What’s up, Shadow?” 

“Hmm? Oh, nothing, I’m just thinking about what Page wrote. I think she had said if we had anything planned, she’d like to know. Thing is, I can’t think of anything we had planned anytime soon.” 

She hummed and brought her hoof up to her chin as well. “No, I think you’re right, we really didn’t have anything planned. So! Maybe we should plan something, for after your leg heals up a bit and invite her along?”

I nodded, mulling the thought over. “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Let’s do that!” I went over to start writing the letter, but an amber glow surrounded the quill in my mouth and tugged it out. 

“Come on, first we’ve got to plan something.” She chuckled and shook her head slightly. “Any ideas?”

I tilted my head in confusion. “Well I mean, can’t we just go eat dinner, then drinking after that? I mean we usually do that anyways.” 

She gave me a deadpan look and when I gave no response to that she facehoofed. “Foals, Shadow?”

My eyes went wide and I felt my cheeks heat up slightly. “Right, probably not the best example for them for the adults to go get drunk.”

Val then decided to lift his head and contribute to the conversation. “Well just cause we go drinking doesn’t mean we need to get drunk. There is a thing known as drinking socially.”

“I don’t know, I’d rather not take any chances. What did you have in mind, Amber?” 

“Hmm. I really don’t know, Shadow. There’s really not much we can all do, that we’re all comfortable, or are able to do.” She brought a hoof up to her chin and scratched for a minute while I groaned and let my head hit the cushion. She tapped her chin a few times before finally saying, “Well, we’ve got some time. For now, we’ll just try and enjoy eachothers’ company, and hopefully not drive each other up the wall while you’re here. Though I have a feeling that’s going to be kind of difficult.” She started to giggle and I couldn’t help but start to chuckle myself. 

Val just sat there staring blankly. Slowly his expression started to turn more and more to dread. “What kind of fresh hell have I entered myself into?” 

I stuck my tongue out and tried to stifle my chuckles to respond, but Amber beat me to it. “Oh, just one where your best friend and marefriend get along great, and are immense jokers.” She also stuck her tongue out and began to devolve into another fit of giggles.

Val just groaned and threw his head back onto the pillow and put his hooves over his head. “Awwww, poor baby. You’ve gotta put up with some pranks from your friends. The horror!” I said in mock sympathy. 

I heard a muffled, “You two are the worst.” Come from the pillow. Amber got a devilish grin and lit her horn. I nodded and she surrounded Val in a field of telekinesis. “Wooooaaahhh!” He was lifted up and slammed down into the couch next to me on his back. Amber quickly cut off his only route of escape, other than jumping over the back of the couch. “Now, hold on, guys. I don’t know what you’re thi-”

Amber cut him off by blowing a raspberry on his stomach, making him squirm and chuckle. “N-nooo. Not this hahaha. Nooooo!” His hind legs bucked out and missed me by a hair. I quickly secured them down to the couch and nodded to Amber for the go-ahead. “Shadow, you’re a bucking traitor! You knoooOOooo-” He devolved into nothing but laughter and chuckles for nearly fifteen minutes. “Geeze you guys have been waiting for an excuse to do that, haven’t you?” He continued to chuckle and looked up at Amber, a tender look in his eyes.

“No, no, no. Not while I’m here! I don’t want to constantly hear you two bucking!” I screamed out. 

Amber chuckled and booped Val on the nose and then looked to me. “You’re right, Shadow. We’ll try to refrain from bucking.” She started to stand up, and I started to shift back to my starting position. As soon as I was out of the way Val grabbed Amber and pulled her down onto the couch with him. 

“You never said anything about cuddling, Shadow!” I chuckled and nodded my head in a conceding motion. “Yeah!” He started to wrap himself around Amber fully and laughing.

I started to chuckle and scooted over to the other end of the couch, to give them space. “So, now I finally see who the real cuddle bug is.” 

Val stuck his tongue out at me and snuggled deeper into Amber’s back. Amber chuckled and shimmied back to squish him into the couch. “Yeah, during the day he’s one of the biggest cuddlebugs.”

Val lifted his head and shouted, “I am not a cuddlebug! I merely like to have physical contact with my marefriend!”

I reached patted him on his withers, “Yeah, that’s called a cuddlebug, Val.” The shocked look on his face sent me into another spiral of laughter, in which Amber gladly joined. Val merely huffed got up and stomped up the stairs to his invention room. Amber and I looked towards each other and lost it again, falling back onto the couch and, laughing uncontrollably.





After three days of resting up at Val and Amber’s place I was cleared to head home. “Now, don’t start training right away. Give it maybe another two or three days, Shadow.” I nodded and turned to go out the door and head home.

“Wait, Shadow!” Val yelled from further inside the house. I heard the stomping of his hooves on the stairs. He came down with a piece of paper in his magic and handed it to me. I really couldn’t make out what it could be. I blinked, but Val continued on. “Show that to Vanguard, will ya?” 

“Sure, I can do that. Though, I have no idea what it is.” It looked like some kind of mechanism, but I couldn’t be sure. 

Val smirked and waved his hoof dismissively. “Oh don’t you worry about it, yet.” I sighed and shook my head in mock exaggeration. “You’ll know soon enough, Shadow. Just be patient.” I chuckled and nodded before heading out the door with the schematics tucked carefully under my wing. 

Now I’ve got to go back to the forge and check in with Dad. I wonder what he’s been up to? After several minutes of walking carefully I arrived at the forge doors. I stepped in and was immediately spotted by Rec, who waved and smiled happily. “Hey, Rec. What’s up?” She nodded her head back and forth and shrugged. I chuckled. “Are the other two still here?” Her expression darkened slightly, but she nodded and motioned back to the hallway of training rooms. “Great, thanks, as always, Rec.” She smiled and nodded happily, and moved her head back down to continue whatever work she had.

I sighed and headed back towards the actual forge room door. I opened it carefully and peeked inside. Dad was sitting on a bench waiting for a piece of metal to cool. It looked like he was in the tempering process. Perfect, it’ll be easy to talk to him, since It’s a pretty easy thing to do while he’s working. I stepped into the forge room and Dad looked over as he heard the sound of the door closing behind me. He smiled warmly and waved at me before turning his attention back to the clock on the wall. I walked up and sat down next to him, before draping a large navy blue wing around him and giving him a squeeze. “Hey, Dad.”

He smiled, but didn’t look away from the clock as he responded, “Hey, son. I noticed you’ve been out of the forge for about three days. What have you been up to? Hopefully not doing anything rash...again.” He gave shake of his head and brought up a red hoof to his forehead, chuckling slightly. “Honestly the fact that I have to add that is a little disconcerting.” I chuckled along with him, letting myself relax, just by being in the presence of my father. I’ve missed this, just me and him, being able to spend time together.

“Oh, nothing much, Amber took me up to her place and looked at the gash in my leg, told me I’d have to chill at her place, so I did. I never really got much out of Val before he crashed on the couch with Amber, so I’ve been curious as to what’s been going on over here at the forge. I’m surprised that Val didn’t make mention of it. Sometimes he’d act like we made his life a living form of Tartarus”

He nodded his head back and forth, a contemplative look on his face. “Not much really, Script came by yesterday looking for ya. Told her I didn’t know where you were, but that when I saw ya next I’d let you know she was looking for you. That does sound an awful like you and Amber together.” He gave a smirk and turned back to the clock. Suddenly he sprung into action, taking the long rod of metal out of the hot bath and letting it drip dry for a second before inserting back into an oven to heat it the blade once again. 

I hummed and pulled a blue paw up to my chin before saying, “Not like you to do staffs, who called in a favor?” I smirked as his expression shifted slightly. 

He sighed heavily before looking over with a rueful expression. “Ya know, it’s crazy how well you know me. I mean I know I’m your father and everything, but come on.” He let out a few chuckles before looking back at the clock, and removing the rod from the oven and putting it back in the oil bath. A few tongues of flame licked up from it as he dipped it in, but they didn’t catch anything, and soon the rod was soaking in the bath once again. Dad sat down on the bench again with a little huff and began to shake his head. “Ya know, you’ll eventually have to move out. You’re twenty two, Shadow.”

I looked over with a shocked expression and felt my eyes begin to tear up a bit, my vision blurring slightly. “Is that what you want!?” I sat back slightly, shocked at the venom in my own voice, but kept my eyes on Dad. How could he? After everything that’s happened...He’s just going to do this now, and completely out of the bue? 

Dad sighed slightly as he stood up and walked until he was standing directly in front of me. He placed a comforting red hoof on my shoulder and looked into my eyes, a few tears escaping his own blue eyes. Though when he spoke, he had no quiver in his voice. “Shadow, it’s not something I want but it’s inevitable. You’re a grown stallion now, you’ll have to move out and live a life of your own, outside of this forge and me.” He reached around my neck and gave me a strong hug. “I’m not saying you have to move out today, or even this year. But just keep it in the back of your mind, okay?”

I nodded and pulled back. I brought a navy blue paw up to my eyes and wiped away the few tears that had managed to drop out of my eyes. “I will, Dad, but I don’t want to move out. I’ve been so happy here at the forge with you and Val, and now even Amber. Where am I gonna go, where I’m this accepted? Tell me that, Dad. Otherwise, I don’t see much of a point of leaving.”

Surprisingly, Dad smiled. “From what I’ve heard, Ponyville took you in and didn’t turn you away just because of what you are. You took yourself out of that place out of paranoia.” I grimaced and looked down to the ground. He pushed my chin up with a gentle hoof. “Shadow, you’ve got to stop being so paranoid. If you don’t learn to open up again, you’re going to end up stuck here in a place where most of the population hates you. I honestly think you’d be happier there than here, but that decision is up to you. I’d be happy to have you here. But I can see that you aren’t truly happy here in Cloudsdale. Not even here in the forge, not truly.”

I paused for a moment before leaning forward and returning his hug. “I think I understand what you’re saying, Dad. But, I don’t know if I can just leave everything I have here.” I smirked a bit. “It’s funny, but despite everything, I’ve found ponies who are willing to accept me for who I am...what I am.” I shook my head and tightened my hold on Dad before saying, “I can’t just leave them because of what everyone else thinks. I can’t do that, it goes against everything I stand for. I stand for my friends, my family, those I care about.”

Dad put his hooves between and held me out, so that I could look him in the eyes. “Listen, just because you leave, doesn’t mean you can’t come back. You’re allowed to come back and visit. But you shouldn’t stay in a place that you’re suffering in purely because of us. Go out, live your own life. Make friends who know you, just as good as we do, who’ll stand by you.” He smiled sadly at me, then pulled me into another hug, and wrapped his wings around me, pulling me even tighter against him and encompassing me completely.

I felt tears finally start to leak out of my eyes and I pushed my muzzle into his shoulder and let them overcome me. When I was finished, Dad’s shoulder was noticeably darker in color, though he didn’t seem to care. I looked deep into his eyes and saw that he really was only doing this because he cared for me. I sighed and said, “I...I can’t promise anything yet. But I will keep it in the back of my head.” I sniffled and rubbed a paw on my muzzle, before I gasped, remembering one of the reasons I’d come looking for Dad. “Oh, and Val said he’d wanted me to give this to you.” I pulled the paper out from under my wing, and handed it to Dad. 

He hummed for a moment and turned the paper around a few times before his eyes widened slightly and his jaw went slack for a second, before he schooled it back into a mask of neutrality. “This...certainly is an interesting idea. I assume he didn’t tell you what this was?” He looked up to me, his blue eyes glimmering with mischief, and a sense of knowing.

I huffed and scuffed a paw against the floor. “No...And, if I had to hazard a guess, you’re not going to either, are you?” I looked up, only to be met by a slightly smug grin on his face. “Aaaaannnnd that’s my cue to leave! I’m not gonna stay here, just to have that jingled in my face. See ya later, Dad! I’m gonna head out, and go for a fly, since it’s almost dark anyways, then I’ll head home.” He gave me a nod and walked forward to give me a quick hug and goodbye, before turning back to his work.