Past Actions, Future Consequences

by Rill

Ch.11 Welcome to Ponyville

The crayon hung in the air, gently spinning as its young user focused on it. Focusing on the lone object, Shadow slowly ignited his horn, gently channeling a trickle of magic into the crayon, heating it up until the wax started to melt. As he reformed the tip of the heavily used colored stick, the colt could still barely get over the sight of it. His magic therapist had suggested using them to rebuild his stamina and control. The stallion, who was only a few years younger than Shadow's father, had also admitted to the colt that coloring was a great way to pass the time. Opening the brand new box as soon as he had gotten back to his room, the colt had been left speechless by what he saw. Unsure of whether he was seeing things or not, Shadow had picked a bright yellow stick from the box, feeling it with his hooves and even gently biting it, just to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Back home, wax was one of the most expensive commodities on the island, since the island’s bees tended to swarm and mercilessly sting anypony that got within twenty feet of a hive. Consequently, any wax that a pony managed to gather was used for things like candles and for sealing jars. The idea of dyeing it different colors and letting fillies and colts color with it would have been ludicrous at best.

Satisfied with his tip, Shadow set the green stick back in its place before picking a different color. “Good afternoon Equestria!” Shadow’s ears perked at the mare’s slightly scratchy voice as it filled the room. Setting the new crayon aside, the young alicorn looked at the wooden box on the nightstand next to his bed. With a slight burst of magic, the radio’s volume rose. Of all the things that he had seen so far, this ‘simple’ device was probably the most fascinating to the colt.

His first thought had been that it was some sort of record player, having seen one once back home, but its small size and lack of any records quickly ended that thought. Likewise, the thought that there was a tiny pony inside playing the music died almost as quickly when he realized that, even if there were ponies that small, there was no way to feed them if they were inside, much less for them to play a dozen instruments at once. He had seen a pony back home using an odd contraption that allowed him to play a half dozen different instruments at once, but a pony would be hard pressed to call the noise that resulted ‘music’.

Unable to figure it out, he had opted to simply use his magic to bring the strange device closer. Even up close, he was no closer to an answer. The box was made of two pieces of wood screwed together, with a couple knobs and a dial on the front as well as two large holes that the music came out of. Pulling on it a little more, Shadow had nearly jumped out of his bed when the music suddenly died. Spinning the thing around in the air, he had felt a growing sense of panic as he tried in vain to figure out how he had broken it, only for that sense of panic to shatter at the sound of Rainbow Dash’s laughter. “Calm down kid, you just unplugged it.” The look he had given her stopped her laughter as she stared back in equal confusion, “You know, from the wall?” At his uncomprehending stare, the athlete pointed to the socket in the wall “It won’t work without electricity.”

When he then asked what electricity was, Shadow had thought for a split second that the flyer might faint from shock, though she had stared at him for several seconds like he had asked her what the sun was. What had followed was an interesting and rather painful attempt on the part of the pegasus to explain what electricity was and answer the colt’s numerous questions. It had ultimately ended with Rainbow Dash admitting that she wasn’t the pony to ask and that Twilight would know more.

Despite her failure to explain it to him, Rainbow Dash did mention that the lights also ran on electricity, inadvertently answering one of the questions that had been floating in the back of Shadow’s mind. He had seen the overhead lights throughout the building, yet had never seen them flicker or wave, like a candle. Even a quick check with his magic had only told him that there wasn’t any fire involved.

Shaking his head at the memory, Shadow focused on the radio as the mare continued to talk, “Vinyl Scratch here at KPNY radio with the latest hits to get you through your day.” Shadow smiled at the mare’s voice. He didn’t know what she looked like, but he liked her enthusiasm and energy. “Now, before we get back to the latest hits, including Countess Coloratura’s newest single, we got some news for anypony in Trottingham or Manehattan. In a press conference earlier today, Princess Celestia announced the planned construction of two new weather factories-” Anything else the mare had to say was lost when Shadow twisted a knob with his magic, flying past a dozen stations before landing on a slightly static-y one that specialized in country music. Shadow didn’t care what else she had to say. The less he heard about the solar tyrant, the better.

---

Cheerilee stood outside the door, her hoof raised to knock. Swallowing against the slight nervousness she felt, the mare brought her hoof against the door, rapping gently against the wood. Why she was nervous, she couldn’t quite tell. Smiling at the sound of a lone voice calling out from inside, the earth pony slowly opened the door, letting herself in before gently closing it behind her. Turning around, the mare paused at the sight of a young colt lying in the lone bed on the other side of the room. For a moment, the two ponies simply stared at the other. Cheerilee could see that the young colt was nervous. It didn’t take a genius to notice the wider than normal eyes, the slight increase in breathing or how the crayon hovering by the colt’s head slowly settled back down onto the bed, as if the colt was afraid to make any sudden moves. Putting on what she hoped was a friendly smile; Ponyville’s lone teacher greeted her newest student.

For his part, Shadow didn’t say anything at first. Cheerilee found this rather odd, since most fillies and colts she knew had a tendency to be outgoing and friendly. Instead, she got the distinct impression that the colt was evaluating her, sizing her up as if she was a possible threat. Had she done something wrong? Had she said something wrong? As she stood there, letting the colt get used to her, she recalled what had happened a several days earlier.

She had been sitting at her desk in the town’s schoolhouse putting the final touches on her plans for the new school year nearly two weeks earlier when she heard a knock at the door. Looking up, the mulberry colored pony had been surprised to see Princess Twilight standing in the doorway. The two mares had talked for a while, with Princess Celestia’s former student telling her about Shadow. Cheerilee had heard from a number of ponies that there was an alicorn colt in the town’s hospital, but she had originally chalked that up to the post-forest fire hysteria and the town’s active rumor mill. To hear the same thing from Princess Twilight on the other hoof… She had been surprised to hear that he would be staying in town for the foreseeable future. When she told the youngest Princess as much, Twilight agreed, adding that for whatever reason, Celestia and Luna had decided that Shadow would be better off in Ponyville for the time being.

Not being one to question the princess’s decision, the town’s lone teacher had been more than happy to help Twilight get Shadow enrolled, though there had been some issues when it came to the part concerning his parents. Twilight had admitted that they suspected he was an orphan, though they were still hoping to find his parents or a family member. Having somehow known that this might be an issue, Twilight gave Cheerilee a letter from Princess Celestia asking that Shadow be admitted into her class.

Hearing the sounds of Sapphire Shore’s latest hit, the teacher returned to the present in time to see the young colt still staring back at her. Taking a look at him, Cheerilee was surprised at his condition. When she first saw him, she had thought that Shadow’s coat was black and white which, while not unheard of, would have been unusual. Instead, a quick glance confirmed that it was white bandages that covered him from just behind the shoulders to his tail, or what was left of it; she couldn’t see any hair coming out of the bandage-wrapped stump. Taking a slight step back as Shadow’s horn began to glow, she watched as a blanket gently covered him from the shoulders down.

“Can I help you?”

Cheerilee blinked as she realized her mistake, which was confirmed by the look of slowly growing annoyance on the young alicorn’s face. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare” Cheerilee said as she moved a chair closer to Shadow’s bed. “I’m not used to being here, or seeing ponies in here. Mind if I sit?”

Seeing the colt shrug, the mare lowered herself into the chair with a frown. Most ponies wouldn’t have noticed, but the way Shadow had shrugged spoke less of not caring, but rather suggested he thought he didn’t have a choice in the matter. Relieving herself of her saddlebag, the teacher set it on the floor before turning to the room’s sole resident. “How are you feeling?”

Shadow barely managed to suppress the groan that threatened to escape. She had to ask the one question everypony and their cousin would ask whenever they came into the room. Even if they had asked him five minutes earlier, the first question out of the nurses’ mouth would inevitably be: ‘How are you feeling’? Despite his loathing for the hated question, Shadow didn’t hold it against the earth pony mare for asking it. “Bored” Shadow replied as he set the crayon back in its slot.

Cheerilee smiled at the colt’s frank answer, knowing from experience how boring being stuck in bed could get. “Well, maybe this will help…” She said, reaching into her saddlebag. Pulling a small stack of papers out, she shuffled them a little, noting with a small smile the look of curiosity on Shadow’s face. “I was told recently that you’d be staying in Ponyville for a while and that you’d be joining my class.”

Shadow felt something inside him sink at the mare’s pronouncement. How could he have been so stupid? He had originally planned to put as much distance between him and this town, as well as the solar tyrant, as possible the first chance he got, but the teacher crushed that plan like a bug with that one sentence. How would he disappear if he was going to be stuck here? How could he when other ponies would expect to see him? If he tried to slip away unnoticed, how far would he get before somepony noticed? How long would it be after that before Celestia herself descended on him from above? A few particular phrases came to the young colt’s mind but he forced himself to keep quiet. He didn’t need to let the mare sitting next to him in on his busted plans. On top of that, she was an earth pony, and he couldn’t lose control in front of her, or let her in on his true feelings.

“…normally getting your school records wouldn’t be a problem, but since we don’t know where you’re from, I need to know where you stand relative to your classmates.” Looking up from the stack of papers, Cheerilee tilted her head at the colt’s slight frown, “Everything alright?”

“Yeah” Shadow responded, waving a bandaged hoof like he was swatting at flies “I’m just not fond of tests.”

Ponyville’s head teacher laughed. “Don’t worry about it; most ponies I know aren’t, including the adults.” Seeing a faint smile, the mare set the dozen sheets of paper on the bed in front of Shadow.

Shadow felt the smile on his face vanish as the stack of papers was set down before him. Groaning silently to himself, the colt picked up the top sheet, what confidence he had faltering at the sight of what was printed on it. He knew at a glance that the sheet was filled with math problems, the pluses and minuses made that clear. He had no doubt he could solve the problems. The thing that left him feeling nervous was the fact that the numbers were in Equestrian. Thinking back, Shadow couldn’t remember a single time in the last year when he needed to read a number in Equestrian. Like every other pony back home, he had learned how to read, write and count in Equestrian and, like most of the island’s residents, didn’t bother to try and remember any of it. Why should he remember something that he was never going to use anyway?

Cheerilee watched as the colt’s face slowly soured as he looked over the first sheet. A few minutes later, a crayon slowly rose from its box as her new student seemed ready to answer the first question, only for the piece of wax to come to a rest on the bed a moment later. “You don’t have to worry about being graded; this is just to see what you know.”

“That’s not the problem.”

Cheerilee chose to ignore the slight testiness of his reply. “What is it?”

“The last time I had to use Equestrian numbers was at least a year ago in school when we were learning them.”

“Really?” Cheerilee’s eyebrow quirked at the colt’s statement; where was he from? Everypony knew Equestrian; it was practically an international language. “Where are you from?”

“Very far away” Shadow replied, sighing as he looked at the sheet.

The teacher pursed her lips at the colt’s less than informative answer. “How about this…” She picked up the sheet, “two plus two.”

“Really?” This time, Shadow didn’t bother to hide his disbelief. Seeing the mare’s raised eyebrow, he sighed in resignation “four.”

“Four plus ten?”

Time seemed to fly as the two ponies worked through the pile of paper. Glancing at the room’s clock, Cheerilee stood, feeling a few joints pop. “Since it’s starting to get dark, I’ll let you get some rest” She said as she put the papers in her bag, ignoring the colt’s sigh of relief. “Get well soon; I can’t wait to see you in class, Shadow.” With a parting smile, the teacher let herself out of the room, nodding to the nurse in the hall. Mentally going over his answers, Cheerilee was glad to know that Shadow was about average for his age when it came to math. As she held the door for Rainbow Dash, Cheerilee smiled at how Shadow tore through the rest of the stack, relatively speaking. She’d have to borrow a translator lens from Princess Twilight, but she had little doubt that his ‘grade’ would be similar to his math score.

---

Shadow’s sigh of relief practically echoed around the room as the door clicked shut. Feeling his heart stop at his mistake, the colt warily eyed the door, the lack of any response eliciting a smaller sigh of relief. The mare had seemed nice enough, but if experience had taught him one thing, it was that you could never be sure about a pony, especially earth ponies. Sure he had met a number of earth ponies who acted differently than he had expected, members of the Tranquility’s crew coming readily to mind, but while they had quickly more or less accepted him as part of the crew, Shadow chalked that up to the fact that he had been working alongside them as soon as the ocean had calmed down enough. Even the nurses who pestered him with repetitious, idiotic questions weren’t as he had expected, though he wasn’t surprised. Even back home, ponies showed at least a little sympathy when they heard somepony was sick, even if they weren’t in the same tribe. Shadow had no doubt that part of the reason the nurses were so nice was the fact that they worked around sick and injured ponies everyday. He also wouldn’t have been surprised if Celestia had told them to be nice to him. What better way to try and trick him into revealing things?

Shadow let out a mirthless chuckle at that last thought. The idea made the colt wonder if Celestia hadn’t originally been an earth pony, since it was exactly how he’d expect to be treated back home. Shrugging, he returned to the half-finished drawing before him. Hearing a knock on the door, Shadow set the crayon down as his stomach growled please be dinner “Come in.”

The injured alicorn smiled at the sight of the rainbow mane and its owner walking through the door. His smile increased even more when he noticed the covered tray on the mare’s back. “Hey kid!”

“Please tell me that’s food!”

Rainbow Dash laughed as she turned to close the door behind her, only to feel the weight on her back disappear. “Of course it is, but it’s not yours.”

The airborne tray, as well as the smile on Shadow’s face, froze in place as her words seemed to echo around the suddenly quiet room. Turning back to her young friend, Rainbow noticed the slowly growing look of disappointment on the colt’s face as he floated the tray to a nearby table. As she approached his bed, the older flier’s smile grew as Shadow sniffed the air, his ears perking up as he began to notice the new scent that was quickly filling the room. Trotting over to the window, Rainbow Dash cracked it open, knowing what she had planned was technically against the hospital’s rules. Pushing a small table to the foot of Shadow’s bed where he lay, the mare looked at the young colt and tapped her saddlebag with a wing.

Frowning slightly, Shadow understood the silent message, undoing the bag’s strap with his magic. Opening the bag’s flap, the colt’s head rocked back as he got a face full of the mysterious scent. Reaching into the saddlebag, he pulled out a greasy looking paper bag with something printed on the outside that he couldn’t identify. Turning to his guest, the colt’s frown deepened as the mare offered him the tray she had arrived with, minus the food which she had set on another table. Taking it, Shadow opened the bag and dumped the contents onto the tray.

“I figured you might want something other than this… stuff” Rainbow explained, pointing to the extremely plain dinner on the table.

“What is it?”

The polychromatic athlete felt her jaw drop at the simple question. What is it? “Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of daisy burgers and hay fries.”

“Of course I’ve heard of them” Shadow said as he inhaled the smell of grease covered daisies and hay “I’ve just never seen one before.”

Rainbow Dash smiled as the colt seemed to be torn between savoring the smell of the food before him and tearing into it. “Word of advice, Shadow” She said, peeling the cover off the jello cup before her, “They don’t taste so good when they’re cold.”

Lifting the burger up to his nose, Shadow took one last sniff before biting into it. The world around the young colt virtually disappeared as his mouth came alive with flavors. How could something so plain as daisies and hay taste so good? Shuddering slightly as a wave of pleasure rolled over him, the colt took another bite, having barely swallowed the first. Of all the things he had seen and done in Equestria, the memory of this meal would likely be the best of them all, which made the colt enjoy the food even more, since one way or another, he didn’t expect to be around for long.

The two fliers continued their meal in silence for the next few minutes, with Shadow enjoying his dinner and Rainbow Dash wondering if she shouldn’t have bought another burger for herself. “Not that I’m complaining” Shadow said as he dipped a couple fries in a puddle of ketchup, “but what are you doing here? I thought you’d be flying.”

“I am, though the doc wants me to take it easy for a while until I build my muscles back up.” Rainbow said, stuffing her garbage into the grease covered bag “besides dinner, I wanted to return your book.”
“Did you enjoy it?” Shadow asked around his final fries.

“Bucking loved it!” Rainbow Dash enthused, nearly leaping from her chair. “It is easily one of the best books I’ve ever read.” She grabbed the book from the nearby table, looking over the cover. “Though it got a lot darker than I was expecting; not that I’m complaining. Probably a good thing it’s fiction.” She added as she set the book back down.

“Who said anything about it being fiction?” Shadow said; a knowing smile now firmly planted on his face.

“Wait…” Rainbow said, trying to process what Shadow had said. “How much of it is real?”

“All of it.”

“Nuh uh.”

“Yep” The smile on Shadow’s face seemed to want to grow even more, despite the lack of room. “Back home, there’s an island history museum, and she has her own wing.”

“Her own wing?” Rainbow asked incredulously.

Shadow nodded as much as he could, “I’ve also been to her grave and read about half of her complete diary.”

“There’s more!”

“Of course there is. You didn’t think they’d put everything in the school version, did you?”

“School version?” Shadow nodded again as his guest looked at the book again. “How much more is there?”

“That’s only about a third of her diary.”

“A third! Great” Rainbow said, pouting after she had a chance to think about it, “Now I’ll never know how it ends.”

Shadow felt for the pegasus mare. He hated not knowing how a book ended as well, but he couldn’t tell her how it ended. Doing so could reveal his connection to Summer Breeze, and even though she didn’t look like the kind of pony to rat out another, Rainbow Dash was one of Celestia’s subjects and would tell the alicorn the truth if she asked. Also, since he had the original version and not a copy, anything he told her might put it in danger.

“I bet you’re excited” Rainbow said, trying to change the subject.

“About what?”

“You know…” The older mare replied, slowly frowning at the colt’s raised eyebrow, “about getting out of here?” Shadow’s raised eyebrow told her everything. “Nopony told you?”

“Considering I found out less than an hour ago that I’d be going to school here, I’m not surprised that everypony knows before I do.”

“Huh… So that’s what Cheerilee was doing here.” Rainbow said, as she recalled seeing the town’s teacher at the entrance.

“She seemed nice.”

“She is” Rainbow replied, “But from what I’ve heard, odds are good they’ll let you out of here in a couple days.”

“Where am I going to stay?”

“With Twilight of course… I suppose nopony told you that either.”

“Nope.”

“Huh… I’m going to have to talk to Twilight about that.”

---

Across Ponyville, Twilight stood in the middle of one of her home’s many rooms, looking over the changes and comparing what she saw to what was on her checklist. The room itself had been nothing spectacular, as far as crystal-lined rooms went, and for the most part had been left vacant since she had had no need for it. Beneath the large window overlooking the town, a bed stood ready for its new owner when he arrived. Covering it was a set of sheets that Rarity had insisted on making, much to Twilight’s relief. With the bits she had saved thanks to her friend, the alicorn had bought a nightstand, along with a lamp and, at Rainbow Dash’s insistence, a small radio. Not that anypony would see it Twilight smirked as she crossed off the box on her list. What little space that was left on the nightstand was filled with more cards than Twilight had thought could fit. She could see cards from a good number of the town’s residents, Luna and Celestia, Cadence and her brother, as well as her friends, including two from Pinkie Pie, one of which promised as much fudge as the card’s bearer could eat.

Twilight shook her head at the thought of Shadow trying some of Pinkie’s fudge. As she smiled at the thought, the young alicorn felt the sense of uncertainty that had become all too familiar creep into the back of her mind again. There was still so much they didn’t know about the colt, and what they did know left her with even more questions. Thanks to Rainbow Dash, they knew he was an orphan, but that had left her wondering why Shadow would try such a dangerous spell in the first place.

Across the room’s walls, posters donated by her friends, depicting everything from an art deco style Manehattan skyline to a signed Wonderbolts poster had been hung. Despite her continuing doubts with the clone’s claim, a large Crystal Empire flag hung above the lone bed, thanks to a letter to her brother. Looking over her admittedly short list one last time, Twilight left the room, pausing at the door just long enough to cast a dust-free spell over everything. The first thing she didn’t want Shadow to see was a fine layer of dust over everything.

---

“Keep it up Shadow; less than a mile to go.”

Shadow barely acknowledged the older unicorn’s statement with a grunt as he forced himself to keep up the steady pace, despite the burning in his legs. Igniting his horn, the colt grabbed a nearby towel, wiping his face before tossing it back on the waiting chair. How far had he gone so far on this Celestia-damned machine; four miles? Five? While he had relished the idea of walking a few weeks earlier, the young alicorn had quickly come to loathe the treadmill, and the fact that he didn’t know how to make it slow down only added to his hatred for the machine.

“Almost there kiddo; only half a mile left.”

Hearing a strained cheer, Shadow looked over to his left at the rainbow-maned pegasus as she held most of her body off the floor using only the tips of her wings and back hooves. As he watched, Rainbow Dash quivered slightly as she lowered herself to the floor before pushing herself back up again. Every time she got to her maximum height, the mare would count off, letting everypony in the room know how many she had done. After the first couple dozen, Shadow had tuned the athlete out as he focused on not letting the discomfort in his legs show. The young alicorn shook his head as he listened to his older friend’s count which had somehow gone from reasonable to completely unrealistic. Shadow suspected that she had inflated her numbers when she noticed he had stopped paying attention; not that he blamed her. Pegasi were naturally competitive and tended to try and out-compete each other in contests of strength and endurance. On more than one occasion, Shadow had seen these contests devolve into shouting matches as two pegasi would accuse the other of cheating. The shouting match would usually end with a unicorn judge making the final call, since neither pegasus would trust an earth pony or another pegasus, since one would likely lie and the other would side with whichever pony they were closest to. Shadow’s smiled to himself as he remembered how Star Gazer had systematically challenged every other pegasus in their class, until she had beaten every last one.

The young orphan felt himself hitch, barely catching himself in time as he stumbled. Hearing the larger unicorn next to him say something, Shadow mumbled something about being fine. The last thing he needed was for somepony to get too nosy and find out what had caused him to stumble. Shifting his eyes, Shadow looked into the nearby mirror that ran the length of the room, watching the room’s two unexpected guests. One was his doctor, who had decided to see for himself how his star patient was doing, but it was the multi-hued purple alicorn mare next to him that Shadow was interested in.

Princess Twilight Sparkle had visited a couple times during the past few weeks, and each time, Shadow had made a point of knowing where she was at all times. He knew from talking with Rainbow Dash that she was Celestia’s former student and that was more than enough to convince the colt to not trust the mare. That was assuming he trusted the room’s other alicorn in the first place. For the moment, she and the doctor were talking and that was just fine with the young colt. While he couldn’t hear what they were saying, Shadow had few doubts that his name was being used fairly often.

Feeling the treadmill beneath him slow, the young alicorn looked up to see his therapist’s horn glowing as the stallion brought the machine to a stop. Looking up in confusion, Shadow saw the smile on the older pony’s face. “Well done kid; go hit the showers.” Smiling slightly, Shadow hopped off the treadmill, pointedly ignoring the feeling of Princess Sparkle’s eyes on him as he crossed the room. Smiling to himself at the thought of his lack of reaction to her, Shadow made a beeline for the shower stall furthest from the attached room’s door. Grabbing the knobs with his magic, the alicorn turned the knobs until the water coming out was just slightly above freezing. Stepping beneath the freezing spray, Shadow sighed in relief as he felt the aching in his legs and back disappear. Lowering himself onto the nearby bench, the colt slowly lay down beneath the cold water. Closing his eyes, Shadow felt his mind wander as he thought about what was coming next. He knew from Rainbow Dash that as soon as they let him out, he was going to be living with Princess Twilight and yet Shadow hadn’t been surprised by that news. Since she was Celestia’s former student, the solar tyrant could trust the purple alicorn and since she was an alicorn like him, he might be less intimidated by her. Shadow huffed at this. If half of what Rainbow had told him was true, Princess Twilight was easily one of the most intimidating ponies Shadow had ever met, which made him wonder why Celestia hadn’t taken him as soon as it was clear he was going to live. It wasn’t like he could stop her, so what was she waiting for? Was she trying to be subtle with her snooping or was she just waiting for him to get stronger before she disappeared him?

Feeling himself start to shiver, Shadow adjusted the knobs on the wall until the ice-like water was as hot as he could stand and steam slowly obscured the stall’s three walls. Despite not trusting her, Shadow couldn’t help but feel slightly drawn toward Princess Twilight. Unlike most ponies, she didn’t ask him how he was doing every few minutes and didn’t try to fill the inevitable silences with noise or pointless talk, instead opting for one of the books she always had in her saddlebags. That alone had gotten the young colt’s attention, yet even when nothing was being said, he never felt completely comfortable around her.

Before he could think about the princess any further, the sound of another pony entering the room caught Shadow’s attention, his ears perking as the sound of hooves hitting the tile floor. He didn’t need to guess who it was, since there was only one pony he knew whose hoof falls fell in that particular cadence.

“You still alive in there?”

Shadow snorted, smiling at Rainbow Dash’s question, “Yeah.”

“Must be pretty excited” the colt’s companion said over the sound of both showers. “I overheard your therapist and doctor talking. From the sound of it, you’re finally getting out of here today.” Running the bar of soap over her battered wing, the older flier paused at the lack of reaction from the shower stall next to hers. “You okay over there?”

“Yeah.”

Rainbow Dash sighed in relief at finally getting a response, though she didn’t miss how long it took for him to respond “Everything alright?”

“Yeah.”

The rainbow-maned athlete snorted at the response. “We both know that’s a load of horseapples kid.” The mare said as she held her soap-covered wing under the warm stream of water, “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know” Shadow said after a while. Rainbow Dash could hear the weariness in the colt’s voice and decided not to push him. “First I lose everypony I ever loved. Then a week after having to leave my home, the ship I’m on is attacked and I’m damn near killed. I eventually make it to Equestria only for the universe to try and kill me three more times.” In the other stall, Rainbow could hear the shower go silent. “Now I’m stuck in a town where I have no friends, know next to nopony, and am having every decision made for me.”

Rainbow smiled at the young alicorn’s complaints. “I know a bit about how you feel, though you’re wrong on a few things.”

“Such as?”

Rainbow Dash ignored the snark in Shadow’s reply. “You have friends here, kid.” The mare said as she turned her shower off. “Yours truly, for one” Rainbow reached for the towel hanging nearby “plus three certain fillies you saved, along with their families.” The recovering athlete went to work on her waterlogged mane as she spoke “Though if you give it time, you’ll make plenty of friends at school.” Tossing the towel aside, the mare walked out of the stall, stopping to look in on Shadow’s. “Can I ask you something?”

“I don’t know, can you?”

Rainbow Dash winced at having walked right into that response. “I was there for the Everfree fire and I know about the island fire, but what was the third thing you mentioned?”

“I don’t know what it was, but it was shortly after the island fire…” As he related the ambush, Shadow ignited his horn. Around him, all of the water on the walls and floors started to swirl around the stall as the colt’s magic dried the small area. At the same time, the spell pulled at the water trapped in his mane and coat, leaving the young alicorn completely dry as it added the extra water to the thin sphere of water around Shadow. With a thought, the bubble of water shrank into a hoof-sized ball behind the young magic user before falling onto the floor drain with a small splash.

“Impressive” Rainbow said as Shadow finally joined her.

“Thanks.”

Shadow held out his formerly injured wing as the doctor gently examined it, gingerly holding it with his magic as he peered closely at it. “Well” he said after a few silent moments, “I can see hints of new feathers growing, but you won’t be airborne for at least another month or so.” Seeing his young patient smile, the stallion let go of Shadow’s wing, shifting his focus to the colt’s numerous burns and scars. Smiling at the sight of the first hints of fur, the room’s lone unicorn motioned for Shadow to stand as he levitated a small pile of bandages over from a nearby table. With skill from years of practice, the stallion wrapped his young patient, covering everything from Shadow’s shoulder blades and back, along with his damaged wing. “How’s it feel?” Shadow shrugged as he tested the wrappings around his hind legs. “I’ll take that as your approval” The stallion said, smirking as his patient trotted around the room. Igniting his horn, the doctor smiled at Shadow’s slight yelp of surprise as his bandages changed color, darkening until they matched the color of his coat. While he didn’t say anything, Shadow wasn’t the first burn victim he’d treated, and if past experience was anything, the colt wouldn’t want to walk around covered in highly visible bandages.

“Anything else?”

“Just his discharge paperwork, Princess” Before he could turn around, the stallion heard a slight pop followed very quickly by a small stack of papers landing on the nearby table, “Which to the surprise of absolutely nopony, is already filled out and signed.” Looking up as he skimmed the stack of paper, he noted the smirk on the alicorn’s face. Spotting his patient standing nearby, he nodded to the younger alicorn, “Congratulations young stallion, everything is in order and you are free to go.”

To the surprise of the three adults in the room, Shadow didn’t shout for joy or show any emotion at all. Instead, the colt simply nodded as he turned to grab his saddlebag, which he had brought to every therapy session. As he approached, a purple haze began to envelop the lone bag. Igniting his horn, Shadow’s magic quickly took control of the bag, his wordless message clear to everypony in the room. Wincing slightly as the familiar weight settled on his back, the colt tightened the strap as far as he could stand. As his back was turned, Twilight glanced at the doctor, who only shrugged at her raised eyebrow. Without a word, the Princess and her friend joined the young colt, leading him out of the room. As he watched them disappear from view, a smile slowly grew on the doctor’s face, a sense of pleasure growing at having seen another patient walk out on their own. Turning to the table, he felt a little bit of that pleasure drain at the sight of the waiting paperwork. Rolling his eyes, the stallion sighed as he grabbed the papers with his magic. If he had to do an hour of paperwork for every patient of his that walked out the front door, he’d gladly satisfy the bureaucracy.