After serving breakfast to all her animal friends and watering the plants, Fluttershy sits in at the dining table as she sips afternoon tea. Today she was feeling adventurous and put two teaspoons of honey instead of her usual one. She giggles to herself. As she sets the cup down on a saucer, she sighs contently. Rapid knocks on the door make her jump out of her chair with a squeak and duck under the table.

"Hey, Fluttershy! I'm here! Quit hiding and open the door!"

Fluttershy exhales a sigh of relief and happily trots to the door. She opens the door with a smile, "Hello, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow Dash hugs Fluttershy. "It's good to see you again, Flutters!"

Fluttershy hugs her friend back. "Yes. It has been a while."

Pop.

Fluttershy opens her eyes and sees Shade standing a few feet behind Rainbow Dash. Shade waves. Fluttershy's face brightens, and she bulldozes over Rainbow Dash to hug Shade.

Rainbow Dash stares at the two in confusion.

"Shade! What are you doing here?" Fluttershy asks as she breaks away from their embrace.

Shade rests a fetlock on Fluttershy's shoulder and smiles. "I just needed to come see you and check up on the others." Shade's horn lights up and brings out a package from her saddlebags. The box was small and metallic. "I think you will like this."

"You shouldn't have, Shade," Fluttershy says as she accepts the tin box. She opens the box and discovers the pleasant aromatic contents within. Fluttershy inhales the scent, "What kind of tea is this? It smells wonderful!"

"I cultivated it myself. I call it 'Fluttershy's Comfort.'"

"Can I brew a pot?" Fluttershy asks gleefully.

"I would not mind a cup," Shade smiles.

Fluttershy turns around to enter her house and sees Rainbow Dash sitting in the doorway with her hooves across her chest. "Oh, hello Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy smiles sheepishly.

"Yeah, hi. I am here, too." Rainbow Dash deadpans. She gets up and points a hoof at Shade and confronts Fluttershy, "How do you know her?"

"Shade is one of my first friends I made here in Ponyville."

Shade walks up to Fluttershy's side wearing a neutral expression.

Rainbow Dash scans Shade. She walks past them and unfurls her wings. "I-I got you something, too! I just forgot it back home. I'll be back!"

Fluttershy and Shade watch as she zooms away. Shade stifles a yawn behind a hoof. Fluttershy wraps a wing around Shade and ushers them inside. "You can lay down on my bed, Shade."

Shade wipes her hooves clean on the welcome mat before entering. "I will take you up on your offer. Thank you, Fluttershy."

Shade had not known how tired she was until after her shower when she laid her head down to rest on Fluttershy's bed. Before long she had fallen asleep. She wakes up with a warm body and wings covering her. She smiles faintly, and a reoccurring thought runs through her mind: why are ponies so affectionate? Perhaps wanting to be with another increases survivability and was a type of self-preservation? Whatever the reason, Shade did not mind waking up next to Fluttershy. Shade envelops Fluttershy with magic and rolls out of bed, as to not disturb the sleeping Pegasus.

Shade carefully closes the door behind her and walks to town. She knows Fluttershy's feelings and Fluttershy knows her feelings. Shade only likes Fluttershy as a friend. The whole being a pony is the only obstacle Shade faces. Most ponies look the same to Shade, especially when she was color blind. She sighs as she walks down Main Street. Emotions suck.

Shade turns down a dark alley and uses her magic to turn invisible. Ten seconds later, a pony steps cautiously into the alley. Shade grins as the pony walks by and tackles them to the ground.

"You breathe too loudly, Vinyl," Shade comments as she gets off the vampony.

Vinyl stomps her hoof in the ground and frowns. She then smiles and hugs Shade.

Shade returns the hug and says with concern, "Is it not dangerous for you to be out?"

Vinyl presses a button on the right headphone ear piece. When you are hungry you get desperate. She projects her thoughts to Shade with a weak grin.

Shade notices Vinyls ribs protruding from her side and furrows her brows. She places a hoof on Vinyl's shoulder, "I will find that hunter and kill them. You should have told me sooner, Vinyl." In a crimson flash, Shade teleports the two of them to Vinyl's lair.

Vinyl's letter is one of the main reasons Shade returns to Ponyville. Vinyl had written that she felt she was being hunted a month earlier, then four days ago Vinyl barely escaped a trap laid by a vampony hunter. Shade frowns at Vinyl's fragile state. She had apparently lied about the last time she ate.

Shade levitates four jars full of an orange liquid out of her saddlebags, and Vinyl licks her lips. "Drink one after I leave and ration the other three until you get to Manehattan."

Vinyl graciously accepts the jars of blood and asks, How have our tests progressed?

"Not well," Shade states. Vinyl splays her ears back and sits on her rump. "As I have said before since you were born a vampony there is no cure. Well, death, but that is not an option."

It is always an option, is Vinyl's grim response.

Shade lifts up Vinyl's head with a hoof under her chin and removes her purple tinted glasses to stare into her ruby eyes. "It. Is. Not. An. Option." Shade nuzzles her friend's neck and says, "I take care of my friends. I will find a way to help you."

Thanks, Shade. Vinyl smiles.

Shade teleports to the park to give Vinyl some privacy. The park is where Vinyl informs Shade where the attack had happened. Shade lights up her horn and immediately detects high traces of silver. Looking at the ground, she cocks a brow and hums in interest; the whole park had a large anti-vampony glyph buried two feet underground, not just any type of glyph, this glyph was made entirely of silver. Shade conjures up a shovel and begins to dig.

Fifteen minutes later, she finds the glyph and discovers that it is made of thick silver wire. With a purity of .999 and a thickness of a quarter inch, only a veteran hunter has the resources to build such an elaborate trap. Further scanning of the silver reveals that it has been enchanted, only activating on full moons. This kind of trap is for permanent use. Vinyl had said an injured pig drew her in. Shade climbs out of the hole and refills it. Shade draws in a deep breath and channels magic into her horn to scan a ten-mile radius. She frowns. Silver follows the border of Ponyville, and the spell locates seven more traps.

Fortunately, an easy way to disarm the traps exists, but what concerns Shade the most is the identity of the hunter. With the full moon over, Shade thinks now is the best time for Vinyl to leave Ponyville. Leaving at night is too obvious. Shade decides to leave with Vinyl and escort her to Manehattan during the day. Shade goes to the nearby stream to wash up and spends the rest of the night in the park staring up at the night sky.

Pinkie Pie stares at her friend. Her brow further droops with worry. She waves her hoof in front of Shade's open eyes, yet Shade did not move. She says to wake up, and Shade remains as still as a corpse. Pinkie reaches for Shade's neck to check for a pulse.

"Boo!" Shade interjects.

"Aahhh!" Pinkie Pie screams. She giggles and then hiccups.

"Good morning, Pinkie," Shade chuckles.

"Good one!" Hiccup! "Shade!"

"What time is it?"

"Six-thirty-five on this July twenty-sixth morning!" Pinkie informs happily.

Shade gets up from the grass and stretches her limbs. As she cracks her neck, she notices Pinkie Pie glaring at her. "What?"

"You didn't tell me you were coming!" Pinkie Pie pouts.

"I wanted to surprise you," Shade replies with a smile. Her horn sparks and confetti explodes from her saddlebags, "Surprise!"

Pinkie Pie glares at Shade for a moment and lunges at Shade wrapping her hooves around Shade's neck. "Oh, Shadey-wadey! I missed you!"

"I know," Shade returns the hug, "The postal service must have made a fortune from all the stamps we bought to send letters every single day for four years." Shade breaks their embrace and remarks, "Frankly, I am more surprised that we were even able to receive mail."

"Well, since you are here, I won't have to send you the letter I wrote to you when I could just tell you what happened!"

"So," Shade breaks the long silence, "go on."

"Oh! Right!" Pinkie giggles. "Yesterday, a new pony moved into town, and I got to throw her a big party!"

"You mean Rainbow Dash?"

Pinkie's smile disappears. "How did you know?"

"I met her yesterday, and we talked for a bit before I passed out on Fluttershy's bed."

"Oh." Pinkie replies and her mane deflates.

"I wanted to see everypony when I got back. The fatigue caught up to me, and I didn't have the chance to visit everypony."

"It's just that Fluttershy nor Rainbow Dash said anything about you being here."

"Huh. I wonder why." Shade notices Pinkie's crestfallen state. She nudges Pinkie playfully and smiles, "I am here now, Pinkie-winkie."

Pinkie Pie giggles and playfully pushes Shade back, "Yeah you are!" Her face twists into confusion, "Why are you here?"

Shade sits down on the grass. "I missed you all and Death was getting on my last nerve." Shade cocks her head at Pinkie Pie when the pink mare did not reply, and she stares ahead with a broad grin.

Pinkie's Mind

Shade smiles and tucks back her mane from her face, "I missed you, Pinkie, and I just had to see you again."

Pinkie Pie titters, "Oh, Shade! We wrote every day to each other."

"Yes. . ." Shade reaches out her hoof and touches Pinkie's cheek tenderly, "I always felt that actions spoke louder than words. I never felt my feelings reached you through mere parchment and ink."

"O-oh. . ." Pinkie sighs as Shade's cool touch draws out the heat from her cheeks.

Shade removes her hoof and stands up. She looks down at the ground and runs a hoof through her mane, "I have never been good at expressing my emotions, and there are few things I don't understand, especially when it comes to. . . liking somepony." Shade takes a deep breath and turns her eyes up at Pinkie Pie as her cheeks begin to flush. "What I mean is: I love you."

Pinkie's heart soars with joy. "Shade, I love you, too!"

Shade's cheeks flush red, "I am glad. Now, it doesn't feel weird to have all these feelings I have for you and wanting to k-kiss you. . ."

Pinkie pounces on Shade and pushes her down on the grass. Shade stares up at Pinkie in surprise. Pinkie is not going to let this moment pass. She plants her lips onto Shade's and immediately tastes Shade's cold, minty breath.

"Pinkie. . ." Shade moans as Pinkie Pie's lips caress her neck.

"Shade," Pinkie pants, "I can't hold myself back any longer!"

"Pinkie."

"Oh, Shade!"

"Pinkie!" Shade shouts.

Pinkie Pie opens her eyes and finds her muzzle inside Shade's hoof. Shade gives her glance that is equal parts concern and shock. Pinkie Pie titters nervously. "I. . . I uh, I didn't get a lot of sleep. . . I must have sorry for that."

"As long as you are fine," Shade says as she wipes her left forehoof on the grass. "It just tickled." Pinkie Pie digs her hoof in the grass absently. Shade hugs Pinkie Pie which takes her by surprise. "You should probably head back to bed. I'll come by later, and we can have lunch together."

Pinkie Pie wraps her hooves around Shade's neck and squeezes her gently, "I'd love that."