Shadow slowly came back to the world of the living but kept his eyes closed. For several minutes Shadow stayed still listening to the surroundings before doing anything.

“We know thou have been awake for some time now Shadow, stop pretending.” Luna's voice broke the general silence of the room.

Shadow took a deep breath before sighing as he moved to sit up on the bed. After sitting up he gave a series of harsh deep coughs.

As he finished coughing he tasted metal with the texture of slime before swallowing. As he did he gave a shutter.

“Eh, oh good I was hoping to have to deal with that.” Shadow spoke to himself with dripping sarcasm as he looked around the room.

The half he saw was a typical recovery bay for injured guard which he seemed to be the only one.

Not seeing the other half of his vision Shadow turned his head and slightly shifted to look at the second of of the room.

In the second half Shadow saw another guard at the far end of the bay near the on duty guard and Princess Luna sipping tea as she looked over a scroll.

Seeing that Shadow was now paying attention to her Luna lowered the items held in her magic to the simply end table next to her.

“Blood clot?” Luna asked with a neutral tone as she look Shadow over.

“Yeah, one of the unspoken benefits of field work and one I could do without.” He replied with the same tone as before looking at the small table to see if it had a drink for him.

“We sympathize.” Luna offered as she used her magic to levitate a glass of water to Shadow. As the glassed moved towards him Shadow raised a eyebrow.

“Why are you here?” Shadow asked before taking the glass with a hoof.

“We simply wished to know that thou art doing well.” Luna answered with a small smile and a quick glance away from Shadow's gaze.

As Shadow drank he didn't buy the explanation.

“I don't buy it. You could be wherever doing whatever and have the on duty medical staff send word on my status. No, you're here for another reason.” Shadow called out the Princess doing his best to keep the skepticism out of his voice.

Luna narrowed her eyes and stared for a second before speaking.

“The doctors say thou will make a full recovery without any lose of movement or sight, however thou will require to keep thou injuries covered whilst you recovery. In addition, thou will need to take medications whilst that happens. Joyous news indeed we say.” Luna informed Shadow with an upbeat tone and smile to reassure the injured guard.

Shadow put on his are you fucking kidding me face as he stared at the Lunar princess and left an uncomfortable silence build.

Luna gave no signs that it was for her as she held the look Shadow was giving her. The two held the staring contest in an attempt to win.

Shadow was the first to look away with a click on his tongue as he brought the glass back up for another sip, which Luna mimicked with her tea.

“That's great news but again not the real reason you're here.” Shadow stated again after lowering his glass. Luna gave a barely noticeable shift of her wings as she lowered her tea.

Luna then gave a small bite of her lower lip as she looked at her cup and thought which Shadow found odd but before he could ask further Luna acted.

Shadow saw Luna concentrated before a blue dome snapped into existence that contain the Princess and guard with little else.

Shadow felt his heart start to pick up its pace as he didn't know what this would mean for him.

Luna this time gave a noticeable nervous shift as she began to speak.

“Thou art correct Shadow, we art here for another reason.”

“I've gathered that much so far.” Shadow stated before giving a nervous glance at the dome.

'Round two, fight!' Other Shadow shouted out with uncertainty and fear.

'No.'

“We art here to speak with thou about actions taken against us.” Luna added lowering her look from Shadow.

'No no.'

“We want to address what you hast done and the apparent lack of action taken.”

'No, no NOO.'

“We want... we request...” Luna started to speak with more uncertainty and hesitation that Shadow reflected internally as she gave a shift of her wings before pausing.

“What happened when thou was strike by the Elements... I need to know.” Luna finally said in a weak uneven tone as she turned her head from Shadow.

Shadow wasn't excepting the question and was prepared to have to defend himself to the Princess.

Several seconds passed as Shadow switched his line of thought to think about the question and where and/or what had brought it up.

When he didn't answer Luna started to stand up as she spoke.

“We apologize. We, we should not have asked thee. It is a private matter. We bid thee good night.” Luna hurriedly apologized but was stopped when Shadow spoke up.

“What? No. Wait, I wasn't expected you to ask about that, I had to switch around my thoughts.” Shadow quickly spoke up stopping her before she left her seat.

“I was wondering how you found out, seeing I haven't filed my AAR.” Shadow gave up and ended with a nervous chuckle as Luna sat back down.

“We hast spoke with Twilight Sparkle Shadow.” Luna informed Shadow with some confusion.

“Ah, that explains it.” He returned with a roll of his eyes to which Luna gave a small chuckle.

Shadow's visible was clearly moving around as if searching for something as neither spoke.

“Um, well I goes I'll start with the seemingly never ending colorless void.” Shadow started his explanation to Luna, whom sat in silence and simply listened.

“Then she said 'now leave here' or something like that before the void collapsed and I found myself back in the ah, real world? After that I found myself questioning what had happened and I'm guessing my boss told you the rest.” Shadow finished with before he finished what was left in his glass.

For a couple of minutes neither spoke, Luna was thinking over what she had heard and Shadow letting her.

“We art having difficulty believing thou story Shadow. Or we would if we had not experienced something similar upon our return to Equestria.” Luna finally spoke up and admitted.

“Also, we art taken back by hearing that Harmony itself was unable to influence thou and thou apparent favor of something at least as powerful.” Luna added with some worry and concern in her voice as she placed Shadow's glass back on the table.

“Thou should be most thankful thou did not have to experience Harmony's magic on thou, it is most unpleasant. We wish it on no pony.” Luna finished with a somber tone as she look up to the ceiling to something beyond.

“Yeah, I got that when she was spoken to me. Or was it after? Either way I'm just going to avoid the whole being blasted by colorful rainbow magic, so problem solve.” Shadow finally spoke up with a voice and smile that tried to reassure Luna and show confidence, for who Shadow wasn't sure.

Luna gave a smile smile and roll of her eyes as she spoke up again.

“Tell us Shadow we hast heard there was a version of us on the other side of the portal. What does thou think of her?” Luna asked with a mischief tone to change the topic and let Shadow know she wanted to speak no further on the current one.

“Yeah, there was.” Shadow answered with a happy smirk before zoning out for a second. Luna went to speak but Shadow cut her off.

“She's totally bang able, and, seemed supportive of the idea.” Shadow stated with a confident tone and smirk.

Luna simply raised an eyebrow and gave a disappointed look as she sighed.

“Well, all long as thou art not thinking of us, what is wrong with some fun.” Luna flatly replied with a flat amused voice and amused smirk.

Shadow's jaw dropped in shock and surprise as Luna turned his jab around on him, which Luna gave a laugh to as she stood to all four and dispelled her magically dome.

“With that we shall bid thee a good evening Shadow.” Luna told the stallion as she walked away with everything she had brought with her.

As Luna opened the door to leave Shadow had recovered and yelled out to the Princess.

“You've won this round but the next is mine!”

Luna said nothing until she went through the door and turned around.

“We shall see.” Luna offered before she closed the door to the medical bay with a smile showing her viewed superiority.

Shadow gave the door a death glare before he noticed the guard on duty giving him a disapproving look.

“Oh, piss off.” Shadow snapped before flapping back onto the bed.

---

The next morning after the guard shifted Shadow called over the new guard. He asked for quill, ink, and several scrolls to help him pass the time in had in medical.

The crystal earth stallion gave a nod before heading to the watch desk and wrote down the request to pass on.

Shadow could only lie on his side and stare at nothing specific while he waited and felt the pain in his chest and his back grew.

By the time it became a true annoyance a nurse stopped by and gave Shadow his meds before leaving to get his requested items.

When lunch showed up it included his request and the non requested lunch.

Pushing the food aside Shadow began to write out several scrolls. His writings took up his afternoon and Shadow had finished by the time the shift nurse took away his barely touched trays.

If Shadow had been unfamiliar with Twilight's schedule he would have been upset at her not stopping by and checking in on him.

Shortly after dinner two crystal unicorn guards entered with one carrying a box in their magic.

They stopped at the foot of the bed Shadow was occupying before speaking.

Shadow was told they were to return his armor and then escort him to speak with the Princess. Which one they wouldn't say.

Before leaving the bed Shadow wrapped the sheet around himself before getting off.

“I'm shy.” He flatly told the two before the box was gently placed on his back and walked off over their protest.

Shadow headed towards the opposite end of the room from the entrance to behind a privacy screen.

Dropping the box to the ground Shadow opened it and took out his armor to give it a quick look over.

It had been cleaned to prevent it from smelling but not obtaining blood stains. One of the back plates was ruined beyond rework while the other might be salvageable.

Shadow gave a defeated sigh as he put the plates back into their slots before donning it slowly over his bandages.

Grabbing the empty box in his teeth Shadow walked back to his old bed where he tossed the box.

“Alright, now I'm ready. Lead on minions.” The two local guards weren't happy being called minions but did as they had been told.

Before leaving Shadow was given two pill bottles and a small scroll which he stuffed into on of his pockets.

The three walked for ten minutes before they arrived at the Crystal Heart causing the two unicorns to promptly leave.

Shadow started to give his wings a stretch but quickly stopped when pain flashed across his back.

'We be walking for now.' Other Shadow observed as Shadow looked around the area to see why he had been brought here.

As he did he saw several crystal ponies give him disturbed or frightened looks before looking away or moving to avoid walking near him.

Looking into a nearby cafe Shadow saw several non crystal ponies sitting at a table.

Making a scientific wild ass guess Shadow decided it was the boss and her friends before walking over to the cafe entrance.

Before Shadow reached up to open the door physic intervened with one of its laws. Mainly, no two objects could occupy the same space as he found the door with his face.

“Fucking depth precipitation.”

Author's Notes:

A little short with not much going on I know. I thought it was a good stopping point to allow transition into what I've got coming up.

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read. I hope you enjoyed yourself. All goes well I might see you back.