Past Actions, Future Consequences

by Rill

The Crystal Empire - Part 2

Waiting for a break in the traffic, Shadow couldn’t help but smile at all of the ponies around him. Everywhere he looked; ponies were out and about, some getting ready for the upcoming holiday by doing some last minute shopping, while the better prepared strolled along the sidewalks, gawking at the window displays. From his vantage point along the curb, the orphan couldn’t help but notice the filly across the street, or more precisely, he couldn’t help notice the suspiciously familiar young dragon riding on the filly’s back. Trotting with Shining Armor across the street, Shadow tried to not look too obvious as he looked at the filly’s passenger as she trotted by him, a smile growing on his face as he took in the details. Oh this is too good! Somehow, somepony had gotten Spike’s measurements, or at least a very good set of photos, and had made a perfect plush replica of the young dragon. While he found it rather odd, Shadow couldn’t say that he wasn’t surprised, considering what Shining Armor had told him about Spike’s exploits. If Twilight’s brother was to be believed, and the colt found no reason not to believe him, Twilight’s assistant had not only helped save the Empire when Sombra returned, but had also saved a number of ponies during the previous year’s Equestrian Games. Mentally, Shadow noted to himself to find something special for Spike to thank him.

Looking up, Shadow couldn’t help but admire the stallion next to him. Here was a pony who had not only seemed to somehow keep his mind free of Celestia’s influence, but had also married a Princess, defeated a surprise invasion, and was probably the only pony to go hoof to hoof with Sombra and survive when thousands of others hadn’t. The young alicorn found himself hoping that he could become half the pony Shining Armor was.

Pausing at a window display, Shadow’s face practically split in half at the stuffed dragon sitting in the window. Tapping the prince on the leg, the colt pointed at the dragon, the sparkle in his eye combined with his smirk telling the stallion everything he needed to know. A couple minutes later, Shining Armor and Shadow rejoined the crowds outside the store, a stuffed version of a certain young dragon firmly secured to the colt’s back with a spell. While he had no plans on giving the young dragon the toy, finding the idea of the dragon having a stuffed version of himself rather creepy, he couldn’t wait to see Spike’s reaction when they got back to the palace.

Stepping out of the tunnel, Shadow felt his jaw hit the ground again at the first glimpse of the inside of the Crystal Empire’s stadium. It had never occurred to the colt that somepony would have the bright idea of building several stories of seats around a single field. Craning his head back as they walked out onto the field, he could see an entire wall of glass wrapping around the top of the stadium, allowing the late afternoon light to bathe the field and eastern half of the stadium’s seats, while everything above it was open air. Lowering his head, Shadow noticed that, besides him and Shining Armor, the only other creatures on the field were a half-dozen ponies in armor, an even mix of pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies, and one older earth pony stallion who was currently chewing out the other six.

“-sweet Celestia, just what in Tartarus was that? Are you six trying to be the most pathetic, plot backward recruits I’ve ever seen?!”

As he and Shining Armor stood off to the side and watched, Shadow couldn’t help but smile at the older stallion’s tirades. “He reminds me of the Tranquility’s Second Mate” Shadow said, wincing as the drill instructor laid into his recruits again.

“Really?”

“Yup; if I didn’t know better, I’d have thought he had High Tide as a mentor.”

Shining Armor’s head whipped around at the colt’s comment. Wait. High Tide?! “Yellow coat, black mane-”

“-Petty, bad with the mares, disturbingly good with a violin?”

“Yeah, that’s him” Twilight’s brother said, smiling. “He was my DI back in basic, and I always wondered what happened to him.” Shadow’s head canted at this. As far as he was concerned, it explained a lot about the Tranquility’s second most loathed crewmember.
"Are you joking recruit?! If you hope to have even a snowball's chance in Tartarus of beating any of her records, you better fucking improve!" Both observers looked up at the sergeant as he focused his ire on one particularly unfortunate recruit. As they watched, both ponies frowned as the instructor roared, making some more references to her. “Dear sweet Luna in a fucking cradle; go run laps until I tell you to stop!”

Falling into step alongside Shining Armor, Shadow was surprised at how quietly the stallion could walk across the snow, the sound of the colt’s steps seeming to echo around the stadium compared to the sound Shining Armor made. As they approached, Shadow saw the sergeant’s ears turn as the colt’s hoof broke through a particularly noisy patch of crusted snow. As the older stallion turned around, the young alicorn was shocked to see that the larger earth pony had a large scar running down the front of his face from his ear to his nose, with the only interruption in the pink line being where the stallion’s left eye should have been.

“Sir!” The stallion rose to his full height as he saluted Twilight’s brother.

“As you were, Sergeant…” Shining Armor said, returning the salute.

“Rough House, Sir.” The scarred soldier relaxed as he moved closer. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Not a problem Sergeant. I was just giving Shadow here a tour of the city.”

Shadow shrank back slightly as the weathered stallion looked down on him, though his apprehension quickly passed as the sergeant smiled. “You got a bit of growing to do, but I’m sure I could whip you into a proper soldier in no time.”

Shining Armor couldn’t help but laugh with the sergeant at Shadow’s reaction. “That won’t be for a few more years” He eventually said. “We managed to catch a bit of your performance Sergeant, and I was wondering who you were referring to.” The prince said as the colt and two stallions watched the recruits complete their first lap.

“Oh her” The sergeant’s smile faded as it took on a less joyous feel. “I was just trying to motivate these slackers by letting them think they actually stood a chance in Tartarus of beating the mare who still holds practically half the records in the Imperial Guard.”

“What’s her name?” Shadow asked.

“Summer Breeze” The colt’s heart practically stopped at the mention of his ancestor’s name and the fact that the sergeant held her in high regard, if the tone in his voice was any indication. Stunned as he was, the colt didn’t notice Shining Armor’s glance. “Please believe me when I say that she was the most gifted swordsmare I have ever seen, sir. If she hadn't been killed by Sombra while trying to get help, she'd probably be your second-in-command.”

“She was that good?” Shadow asked, barely able to contain himself, now that he was talking to somepony who knew his ancestor.

“That she was” Rough House said, the smile returning to his face. “She was young, reckless and more than willing to get into a good scrap, but I’ll be damned if she wasn’t one of the best guards I ever had the pleasure of training. She always carried a pair of swords with her, and I swear she could make those things sing when she practiced. She liked to enhance her blades with her magic, no mean feat considering she'd be doing that while using her magic to swing the blades, and could bury them up to their hilts in a solid oak log; then yank them out like she was pulling them from a hay bale.” The sergeant’s smile grew sad as he watched the half dozen recruits run. “She was a joy to train, though I’m sure she felt different. Unfortunately, she was killed by that fucker Sombra.” The soldier’s teeth ground as he spat out the dark unicorn’s name. “I’ve heard rumors that she survived and was with the Equestrian Army when they tried to liberate us, but since I was cooling my hooves in a dungeon while waiting to be executed for ‘treason’, I can’t say if those rumors are true or not, though I doubt they are. If she had been there, that bastard never would have won.”

Sighing with a shudder, the sergeant looked down at Shadow, his eyes noting the colt’s cutie mark, “So what’s your talent?”

“Defensive magic” Shadow replied, glancing at his flank.

“Shields?” Smirking, Shadow ignited his horn, golden dome of magic as large as himself bursting to life in front of the sergeant. “How old are you?”

“Eleven.”

“Not bad” He said, slowly circling the colt’s shield. A little more energy than what’s probably necessary, but not surprising given his age. The sergeant poked the golden barrier, surprised at the shield’s rigidity. “What spell are you using?” The older stallion couldn’t help but smile as the young colt projected the spell’s design. Looking over the crystallic text, the sergeant frowned. While he didn’t recognize a few of the words, what caught his attention was the second spell matrix attached to the shield’s matrix. Even though he couldn’t use magic himself, that hadn’t stopped him from learning everything he could about magic. “Interesting design; I take it you modified it?” Seeing the colt nod, the stallion nodded. “Not bad overall, though if I had to change one thing, I’d reduce its rigidity.” Seeing Shadow’s raised eyebrow, the stallion explained “Even though they’re made from steel, the best swords flex. It allows them to take the blow, but if it doesn’t flex enough, even a sword made from the best steel in the world will still shatter. The same principle applies to shields.” As if to drive in his point, the large earth pony spun on his front hooves, shattering the shield with a single buck.

Shadow frowned at the sergeant’s words as the shards of his shield vanished. Even though shields were one of his favorite spells, he had never thought about making his shields flexible, since the idea ran against everything he knew about them, as little as that knowledge was. Usually, a rigid shield served its purpose admirably when somepony decided to take their frustration out on him or his sister. Shrugging, the colt focused on his shield, altering the spell forming it.

Seeing the colt look up at him, the sergeant poked the new shield. Smiling at the improvement, he bucked it. Stumbling as the shield absorbed his blow and returned it, the soldier nodded in approval. “Much better” he said as an idea formed in his mind “Care to give it a proper test?” Seeing the colt shrug, the older stallion brought a hoof to his lips, his shrill whistle shattering the stadium’s silence. Seeing his recruits galloping toward him, the sergeant glanced at Shadow “You know how to sling a snowball?” Seeing the colt nod, the stallion smiled “Think you can take them all on?”

Shadow looked over the six recruits as the stood in formation, trying to catch their breaths “Oh yeah.”

“Good. Listen up you pathetic lot.” The six huffing ponies looked nervously at their instructor. “Since tomorrow is Hearth’s Warming Eve, I got a little present for you six. Shadow here needs to test his shields, so I volunteered your pathetic plots. If you can beat him, I’ll give you a day off of training.” This caught the recruits’ attention as they held their breaths. “Of course, if you lose…” Shadow smiled innocently as the recruits looked at him nervously, while the sergeant continued, “The rules are so simple, even you six probably can’t fuck it up: take snow, make ball. Throw ball at opponent. Hit him and win. He hits you, you’re out. Understand?” Seeing them nod, the stallion pointed to the open field. “Try not to embarrass yourselves too badly.”

Trotting to his side of the field, Shadow smiled as he overheard the confused whispers of the recruits. Some thought the sergeant was playing a sick joke on the colt, while a few regarded Shadow warily, clearly wondering why the most notorious DI in the Empire would pit one colt against them.

“Ready?” Seeing his recruits and Shadow nod, the sergeant shouted at the top of his lungs, “Go!”

Grinning, Shadow’s horn burst to life as he called upon the smoke screen he had learned from Trixie. Blowing away the smoke with a quick breeze a few seconds later, the colt’s grin turned predatory at the confusion and shock of the half-dozen recruits in front of him. Without warning, two of his clones, both missing their horns, leaped into the air, their wings swiftly carrying them up until they were level with the highest seats in the stadium. On the ground, Shadow and the other three clones created dozens of snowballs before launching them into the air. Overhead, the two airborne clones waited for the balls to reach them. As the snowy projectiles paused in midair, the two clones clapped their wings together in front of themselves, the blast of air sending the snowballs screaming for the recruits below.

For their part, the recruits managed to quickly gather their wits, all six dodging the sudden barrage, some by nothing more than a hair. As fast as they were, speed wasn’t enough for one recruit, as the pegasus mare barely managed to get off the ground before being shot down by a dozen balls of snow from the ground-bound colts.

Shadow smiled to himself as the tagged mare got herself off of the field. The young alicorn hadn’t expected the move to work. It had originally been Star Gazer’s idea and they had been working on it for a few weeks before the fire, hoping to use it during the next town-wide snowball fight as a way to take out as many earth ponies as quickly as possible since, like school, what team you were on was determined by your tribe. Sparing a quick glance to the side, the colt could see the mare doing push-ups with her wings while Sergeant Rough House eyed her, practically daring her to think about stopping. Jumping at the sound of a snowball hitting something solid, Shadow turned to see a wall of gold between him and the recruits, the offending snowball slowly sliding down the wall of magic. Nodding his thanks to the clone, the colt turned to the five older ponies. First he’d have to deal with the remaining pegasus, and once he was out, then the fun would begin. Letting the predatory grin return to his face, Shadow ignited his horn, a gleaming shield stopping another barrage of snow as a dozen snowballs floated next to him.

Rough House had to work to keep the surprise off his face as his impromptu combat exercise started in earnest. The stallion prided himself on being able to read other ponies, and while that particular skill hadn’t helped much with the failed uprising against Sombra, it had helped in the time since the Empire’s return, helping the NCO find ponies who could help rebuild his home’s shattered military. Unlike most ponies, Shadow had been a refreshingly open book to the sergeant. One look had told him that the colt had been through more than most ponies and that there was more to him than most ponies saw; the five clones that the colt was using to drive his opponents back being a good example. Watching another barrage of snow pelt his recruits, Sergeant Rough House couldn’t help but whistle at the colt’s ability to sling snow. Even if Shadow won, this would still be good evasion practice for the five older ponies on the field. “So” the sergeant said, leaning over to Shining Armor “Where exactly did you find this kid?”

“I didn’t” Shining replied as the colt in question changed the shape of his shield and spun it like a fan, tearing apart the hoof-full of incoming snowballs. “He’s visiting with my sister, and Princess Celestia pulled him out of the Everfree when it was burning.”

The sergeant nodded. “That explains the burns.” Sensing the prince’s raised eyebrow, the older stallion explained. “Growing up, I had a unicorn friend who decided one day he wanted to be a pyromancer.” Glancing to the side, the drill instructor could see Shining Armor wince. “Needless to say, things didn’t go quite as planned.”

“Did he survive?”

“He did” Rough House replied “Though he was never quite the same. His coat eventually grew back, but you could tell something had happened by the way he walked and moved.” Together, the two stallions watched the snowball fight for a while, their concentration broken by the sound of the nearby recruit doing pushups. “Out of curiosity” Rough House eventually said, “where is he from?”

Shining Armor shrugged. “We don’t know. All anypony knows is that he’s from an island outside of Equestria. Twilight’s current theory is that his ancestors escaped the empire before it disappeared, which seems to be all but confirmed at this point.” As if to illustrate his point, Shadow’s black coat glinted like a freshly knapped obsidian arrowhead as the colt threw himself into the fight. “Care to bet on who’ll win?”

Rough House looked at the conspiratorial smile on his Prince’s face. Chuckling, the scarred stallion shook his head “Sorry sir, but I’m betting on the colt too.” Watching another recruit drag himself off the field, the sergeant sighed “While these six will make decent guards with some more work, they never had a chance against your young friend.”

“Then why are they out there?”

“Mainly to remind them that there will always be somepony better out there, and to motivate them to train harder. I also wanted to see what Shadow could do” The older pony shrugged as recruits number three and four removed themselves from the field. “The fact that this is fucking entertaining is just a side benefit” He added with a smile.

Definitely like High Tide Shining thought as the snowball fight continued. Ever since the Everfree fire, the stallion had come to expect a steady stream of letters from his sister about the young colt. From those letters and the Tranquility report, he knew as much about the young alicorn as anypony else, leaving the younger stallion to think he had a good grasp of the colt. Shining Armor was glad that Shadow had upended those assumptions. I wonder if he’ll teach me a few of his tricks, the prince thought as he watched a snowball chase after a fleeing recruit before splattering itself against the unicorn’s flank while Shadow’s last remaining clone burst into a cloud of smoke as it took a snowball to the face. Considering that his soon to be born child could be an alicorn as well, Shining Armor knew he needed all the help he could get.

Shadow huffed as he tried to catch his breath. He had lost track of time a while back, but judging by the lengthening shadows crossing the arena’s field, he didn’t have much time left if he wanted to get back to the castle in time for dinner. Across from him, his lone opponent stood, the grey and blonde unicorn stallion panting just as much as him. Grinning, Shadow launched a stream of snowballs at the stallion, only to watch them splatter against the older pony’s shield. Grumbling, the colt prepared a shield, knowing that while the stallion couldn’t attack and defend at the same time, his counter attacks would be painful if they connected. Secretly, Shadow was glad that Rough House had sprung this fight on them. Back home, he had been excluded from the snowball fights at school since he had turned eight. Most of his classmates claimed that it was to keep things fair, though anypony with wings or a horn knew otherwise. Ponyville on the other hoof, had been much more inviting, with more than one shouting match breaking out over which team he’d be on.

Watching his opponent, Shadow didn’t flinch as the stallion used his magic to send a dozen balls of ice and snow at the colt. At the last moment, the disguised alicorn leaped to the side while changing his shield’s spell. Like the morning of that fateful spring day, Shadow’s shield redirected the snowballs, sending them spinning faster and faster around the colt’s body before launching them at the stallion. The larger pony didn’t stand a chance. The first two balls hit the unicorn in the chest, forcing him to turn, which only presented a larger target for the rest of the balls. Within a second, the ten other balls of snow had slammed into the stallion’s side, leaving a line of snow running from his chest to his dock. Sighing in relief, Shadow sat down, reveling in the snow’s chill.

“Not bad recruit” Rough House said as he, Shining Armor and the other recruits walked back onto the field. “In fact, you six did so well that I’ve decided to give you tomorrow off as an early Hearth’s Warming present.”

Watching the sergeant and his recruits leave, Shining Armor could barely contain his laugh. Present my flank, they had tomorrow off anyways. Seeing Shadow’s head tilt, the stallion shook his head, instead leading the colt to his waiting bag, his stuffed Spike and the two clones guarding them. Watching the two clones fade out of existence, Shining Armor turned, leading the way back to the castle. For a while, the two simply basked in the late afternoon light, content to let the descending calm do all the talking.

“There’s one last thing I need to get” Shadow said, finally breaking the silence a couple blocks from the castle. Shrugging, the Crystal Empire’s Prince followed the colt to a flower booth. The mare in charge had arranged the hundreds of flowers by type and color, the walls of her stall covered in a fragrant riot of color. Slightly confused, Shining Armor watched as Shadow looked over the selection, the way he eyed the flowers and examined them telling the stallion that this wasn’t a spur of the moment thing. Within a couple minutes, the colt had a trio of flowers, a rose, a tulip and an iris, safely in his magic, thanking the vendor as she collected his bits.

“Who are the flowers for?” Twilight’s brother asked as they started back for the castle.

“You’ll see” Shadow replied, his eyes fixed firmly on their destination.

As they trotted onto the plaza surrounding the Empire’s tallest building, Shining Armor was surprised to see Shadow veer to the right instead of heading for the stairs in the castle’s legs. Intrigued, the stallion followed silently behind. The one thing that became immediately clear to him was that Shadow was on a mission. Without warning, the colt came to a sudden halt under the castle’s grand balcony. Confused but knowing he’d find out soon enough, Cadance’s husband watched as the young alicorn delicately grasped the three flowers in his mouth. With a burst of magic, Shadow sent a quick breeze flying across the pavement, blowing the snow off of everything within fifty meters. Before the snow had even begun to settle, the young alicorn looked down, clearly searching for something on the pavement. Unsure what to do, Shining Armor opted to silently follow the colt. A couple minutes later, Shadow slowed before stopping entirely, his eyes focused on a patch of cracked stones. Following the colt’s gaze upward, the prince found himself standing almost directly beneath the balcony’s railing. Silently, Shadow set the three flowers down on the snow-filled cracks, before taking a step back and bowing to the flowers, his lips moving silently as he said something.

“What was that about” Shining asked as he and Shadow turned for the castle’s entrance.

“You remember that book I let you read earlier today?”

“Yeah…” Shining Armor glanced back at the three flowers and the pair of cratered stones, feeling his stomach lurched as he understood what the colt was saying. Not knowing what to say, the stallion turned his attention back to where he was going. He’d talk to Cadance later that night, knowing that she’d have no problem with what he had in mind.

Shadow slowly walked down the silent hall, the thick blue rug silencing what little sound his hooves made. All around him, the palace lay in silence as most of the building’s staff spent the day at home with their families, while only a small contingent of guards roamed the halls, their silver armor decked out with small bits of tinsel or other assorted Hearth’s Warming materials. Slowing his pace, the lone colt looked at the paintings lining the walls. It took the young alicorn little effort to realize that each painting was of one of the previous royal families. Taking his time, Shadow studied each family portrait. The first portrait featured a somber looking white coated, crown wearing stallion with a black mane sitting next to an equally unsmiling pink and yellow mare. Between them, a young filly sat stiffly, though Shadow wondered how they got a filly that young to sit still for five minutes, let alone long enough for a painting. In the next painting, he could see the filly, now a full grown mare, staring out at him, her husband and three children surrounding her.

The family portraits continued like this, one painting showing the Empire’s ruler and their family, followed by one of their children and their family. Below each portrait was a small bronze plaque inscribed with the names and dates of everypony above it. Not knowing what time it was and not caring, Shadow let himself be drawn into the history before him. Now, for the first time, he could add a face to some of the names he had grown up hearing. Emperor Quartz: who led a campaign against the Gryphon Kingdom after the gryphons declared war against the Empire and Equestria. His daughter, Crown Empress Mountain View, who helped to end the first Gryphonic War, then succeeded her father ten years later. At the last painting, the colt paused, confused by the words on the plaque beneath: An unknown imperial family. ‘An unknown imperial family’?! How could they not know who any of these ponies were? Looking up, Shadow studied the final portrait, his eyes playing over Emperor Citrine’s smiling features, the lines on the stallion’s face showing that he had spent a good part of his life smiling and laughing. Next to him, his wife Amethyst sat, a smaller but no less pleasant smile gracing her face. In front of them, their two children sat, Crown Princess Crystal Rose seated firmly between her parents, her smile mirroring that of her father. Sitting next to her, a colt the same age as her with grey fur and a black mane and tail stared back at him, the faintest hint of a smile on his face.

Shadow’s face soured as he stared at the grey and black colt. Did his family suspect anything? Did they have any hint at the monster they were raising? About what he’d do only a few years later? Ruffling his feathers, the young alicorn forced himself to look away, his eyes falling on a small signature in the painting’s bottom corner. He couldn’t have been much older than them Shadow thought as he read the signature of Summer Breeze’s future husband.

“There you are.”

Shadow didn’t even flinch as Princess Cadance broke her silence, silently walking up next to him. Despite his initial reservations and silent curses at Twilight’s lack of warning, he had warmed up to the Empire’s ruler fairly quickly, the numerous stories she told of growing up in Canterlot, foalsitting Twilight and dating Shining Armor wearing down his defenses. The final bits of rubble had crumbled to dust when she recounted how Sombra had been defeated for the second time. How could he not respect her and even like her after she’d been foalnapped by Changelings right before her wedding, then going on to rescue an entire Empire shortly after that?

“I see you’ve found my favorite portrait.” Laughing at the younger alicorn’s response, the pink alicorn nodded. “Despite a certain future tyrant in it, I can’t help but smile every time I pass it. I think the artist did an amazing job capturing the family. The fact that theirs is the first family portrait where ponies are smiling is just a bonus.” Turning to leave, Shadow fell in step next to her. “I just wish I could find the artist who painted it.”

“You won’t.” Shadow replied, pride and sadness mixing in his chest as he walked. “He died a long time ago.”

Cadance nodded sadly. “I was afraid so. I wonder what he did to anger Sombra.”

“He survived that bastard” Shadow said as the two alicorns rounded a corner. “He was killed during the Lunar Rebellion” he finished, the Equestrian term for the Nightmare War feeling strange on his tongue.

“How do you know?”

“I’m his only living descendant.”

Cadance frowned. “I thought Summer Breeze was your ancestor.”

“She is” Shadow said “and she married Burnt Umber after the Empire fell.”

Cadance fell silent as she thought about what her young companion had said. While Shining Armor had told her who Shadow’s ancestor was, he hadn’t said anything about her husband. Though she had never had that great of an interest in history, she often found herself wondering how the Empire’s previous rulers might have handled things in her place.

Any further opportunity to ponder the potential actions of long dead rulers ended as she opened the doors to the Royal Apartments. Inside, Twilight and her brother were hanging the final decorations while Spike lit the numerous candles around the room, their green flames a nice change of pace from the usual orange and gold. Across the room, a fire burned steadily in the fireplace, filling the large room with warmth and golden light. Sliding next to her husband, Cadance planted a quick kiss on her surprised husband’s cheek, mentally noting the sound of Shadow’s hooves on the hardwood floor as the colt walked around the outside of the room to get to his room, instead of taking the more direct path that passed in front of the fireplace.

“So, where did you find him?” Shining asked as he returned his wife’s affection with a kiss of his own.

“Looking at the portraits of our predecessors” Cadance replied as she plucked a cheese cube from the table and popped it in her mouth. “Turns out one of his ancestors painted the final portrait.”

“Interesting” Twilight’s brother said as he grabbed a carrot “A final present from your aunts came while you were gone.”

“Really? They usually get their shopping done early.”

“Well, it had a certain colt’s name on it, so who knows what it is.”

Nodding, the rest of the conversation ended as the colt in question joined them, along with Spike and Twilight. The table before them had been covered with food, with no square inch spared as Cadance and Spike had spent the previous afternoon and most of the next day baking and cooking the small feast. For Shadow, he couldn’t remember the last time he had seen so much food on Hearth’s Warming Eve. Before him, a dozen different cheeses had been cubed and skewered with toothpicks, while a large salad waited tantalizingly nearby. A full half of the table was covered in platters and trays of cookies, ranging from plain sugar cookies and gingerbread ponies to iced and candied molasses trees similar to the one that stood in the room’s far corner, a small mountain of wrapped gifts waiting underneath to be opened.

Sighing in appreciation as he chewed on six different kinds of cheese at once, the young orphan tried to ignore the slowly growing pain in his chest. All around him was a reminder of everything he never had back home. Before today, the most he had ever expected during this holiday was a small meal with his twin sister and their parents, possibly followed by a small present if their parents had scraped up enough silvers. In truth, Hearth’s Warming wasn’t as much a holiday to the colt as it was an excuse for those with more to lord it over the other two tribes. The only upside of the week-long celebration was that there was no school, letting the young alicorn sleep in. Setting the toothpicks aside, Shadow mentally clamped down on the growing ache in his chest, as he did every time he thought about everything and everypony he had lost. Slowly, the ache subsided, though it didn’t go away completely. It never did. Instead, it retreated, waiting for the next opportunity – a smell, a laugh, a pony that looked eerily familiar from the right angle – to come roaring back, threatening to overwhelm him.

In what seemed to be only an instant, the youngest alicorn in the room looked at the wall, the nearby clock telling how many hours had passed. Glancing out the window, the sky had darkened long ago, the thousands of stars hidden behind a thick layer of clouds that let out a steady stream of fat, heavy snowflakes that drifted lazily to the ground. Clamping down on his feelings before they could try anything, Shadow trotted over to the tree where everypony had gathered, wrapped gifts already being passed around. Nodding his thanks, Shadow carefully opened Twilight’s gift, not surprised that it was a set of books, but caught off-guard by it being the complete Daring Do collection, with each book signed by the author herself. Looking up, he didn’t need to say anything, the knowing smile on Twilight’s lips saying everything. In turn, the colt gave Twilight her gift, a horn written copy of his father’s potion recipes, which the colt had translated into Equestrian. It was one of two copies he had made, with the other copy going to Zecora.

All too soon it seemed, the mound of gifts disappeared, until one final one remained. Shadow’s eyes grew as the paper wrapped object floated over to him, safe in Cadance’s magic. Smiling and nodding in thanks, the colt flipped the gift over, carefully undoing the wrapping, oddly unwilling to damage the beautiful paper more than he had to. Frowning at the picture frame’s back, the young alicorn turned it over, his heart stopping an instant later. From behind the glass cover, Shadow could see himself smiling back, his sister above him, her wings frozen mid-beat as their parents stood behind Shadow, his multicolored vest standing out in the afternoon light.

He remembered that day like it was yesterday. He remembered how his dad had told them that morning that he had used some silvers he had been saving to pay Shutter Speed to take a family picture of them. He couldn’t help but smile at how he had come out from their makeshift shower shivering uncontrollably after attempting to scrub every last speck of dust and dirt from his coat and mane. Unnoticed by him, a few tears hit the glass as the shine in his coat disappeared, the room around him darkening noticeably. In an instant it was gone. Like that late spring night, the shield he had built to protect himself shattered. As it did, he could feel everything he had tried to bury, his rage, his grief, his anger at his greatest failure flood in. As the emotions hit him, Shadow could feel the tears start to stream down his face, to land on the picture of his family. He felt somepony embrace him and with that one simple gesture, the last shred of control he had evaporated, finally allowing him to release all the pain and anguish he had been holding back, for everyone to see and hear. He buried his head into whoever was holding him, and just let himself go.

Author's Note:

Shadow donated the stuffed Spike doll to Toys for Foals.

Comments

[Da Fennec]

Which stuffed Spike? The one that was created during the dinner or he plush version I'd think the former would object. I do wonder how Spike reacted to seeing his plush doppelganger. Shadow seems to have a different outlook on the 'Lunar Rebellion' and Celestia's actions hopefully in time that will all be worked out

[Rill]

8615483
Some of Shadow's feelings about Celestia are explained in the next chapter, but chapters 16 and 17 go into much more detail, especially about the 'Lunar Rebellion / Nightmare War'.

[Da Fennec]

8616328 Looking forward to that then