"Shade!" Pinkie chimes and hugs Shade.

Shade shakes her head. "What? Where? What happened?"

Pinkie's eyes start to well with tears. She swallows the lump in her throat. "Nothing! I'm just so glad to see you!"

"Uh-huh," Shade grunts in disbelief. She nuzzles Pinkie affectionately as the memory of earlier floods her mind. "How did the fashion show go?"

"Fantastic! Hoity Toity showed up and loved all of Rarity's dresses and ordered more from her. Rarity was ecstatic!" Pinkie informs Shade.

"That's great. So what—what?" Shade blushes when Pinkie starts petting her barrel.

"Don't scare me like that again," Pinkie speaks low.

"If I get to keep waking up next to you… I can't guarantee anything," Shade smirks.

In the darkness, with the aid of darkvision, Shade notices Pinkie frown. Shade also senses Pinkie's salty sadness from the pillow next to hers. She reaches out to stroke Pinki's curly mane.

"I'll try to keep dying to once a year," Shade smiles.

Pinkie presses her lips against Shade's lips softly. The kiss catches Shade off guard. For the moment, Shade enjoys Pinkie's warmth and the fluttering of her heart.

"I love you, Shade. I don't want to lose you again," Pinkie whispers and pulls Shade closer in an embrace.

Shade stares up into Pinkie's glimmering eyes. All the memories they share together flashes in the back of Shade's mind. Shade breathes in Pinkie's scent and makes a final decision.

"I… I love you, too, Pinkie. I want to always wake up beside you. I want to always see you happy. Any day without you is a day I feel is wasted." Shade sits up in bed with Pinkie. Shade pets Pinkie's wet cheek, "Will you be my special somepony?"

"Yes!" Pinkie cries and hugs Shade tightly, planting her with passionate kiss.

Shade returns Pinkie's affection. They spend the next few minutes kissing and holding each other close. The alarm clock catches the two of them off guard. They share a laugh.

Pinkie kisses Shade's forehead and leaps off the bed. "Time for work. I have the rest of the day off after lunch..."

Shade smiles, "Fantastic. I'll clear up my schedule for you."

Pinkie beams from ear to ear. "Great!" she prances out the room.

Shade sighs contently and lays back on her pillow. She giggles to herself and squeezes the pillows next to her.

"Shade!" Pinkie calls from downstairs, "Fluttershy is here!"

With the flash of her horn she teleports herself to the bottom of the stairs. Pinkie waves and winks to her before springing out the door. Fluttershy waits in the middle of the room with wicker baskets in a pile beside her.

"Good morning, Fluttershy," Shade greets her friend. She walks up to the pegasus and bows, "How are you, my lady?"

Fluttershy smiles. "Good morning, Shade. I am well. Well, actually, I am worried."

"What about?" Shade asks.

"This morning, a little bird—well a frog—told me that the pond is getting overcrowded. And I wanted to move the frogs to Froggy Bottom Bog. If it isn't too much to ask…"

"Of course I'll help out!" Shade grins. Her stomach grumbles loudly. "Heh. After breakfast. I'm famished."

Fluttershy giggles, "Okay."

Shade heads to the kitchen, "Want some tea? Have you eaten breakfast yet?"

"Yes, please. I already had breakfast," Fluttershy answers as she follows Shade.

Shade is using her magic to open cabinets and pull out the necessary items as she peruses the fridge.

Fluttershy awes at the display of magic. "Wow, Shade, you have mastered your magic spectacularly."

"Thank you," Shade accepts the comment.

She removes a bowl of fruit salad with her hoof from the fridge and set the bowl in the island. Simultaneously, she fills the kettle with water, turns on the stove, and sets the table.

"Does Pinkie always come by to wake you up?" Fluttershy questions Shade as she sits at the table.

Shade taps her chin in thought. "I would say about eighty percent of the time, so far." Shade eats a spoon full of fruit salad when she notices Fluttershy staring at her. Shade swallows her food before she asks, "What?"

"I... had a strange dream about you," Fluttershy shares.

"Oh?"

"Smoke was coming from the Everfree Forest. We all thought it might have been another sleeping dragon. We go to investigate, but you weren't with us and we couldn't find you. When we get to the smoke, a whole city is on fire along with the surrounding forest. We see you fighting another pony that resembles you, except she doesn't have horns nor a cutie mark," Fluttershy elaborates.

Shade chews her fruit salad slowly. Before she can say something Fluttershy continues.

"There were dead deer all around and some had caught on fire from the flames. From the conversation you two were having it sounded like you started the fire and the massacre."

A long silence fills the room. Minutes later, the kettle whistles and Shade gets up from the table.

"I must have had my reasons," Shade comments as she turns off the stove.

She carries the kettle with her teeth and levitates four metal canisters with her. She places the kettle on the table and the canisters in front of Fluttershy.

Fluttershy gazes up at Shade with troubling eyes.

"I'm not saying I would go out of my way to do those things. Maybe those deer were planning to attack Ponyville or declare war with Equestria?" Shade tries to assuage Fluttershy.

Fluttershy smiles weakly, "I trust you, Shade."

"You call yourself 'powerful?' You are weak!" the earth pony Shade growls and throws tricorn Shade overhead. "Only the weak destroy!"

Tricorn Shade skids across the ground and jumps to her hooves. "They attacked me first! I'll show them to never challenge me and I'll show you my true power!" She levels her horns at her doppelgänger and unleashes a torrent of red and black magic.

Earth pony Shade leaps out of the way and charges at her mimic. She bucks tricorn Shade in the ribs sending her across the scorched earth. "I am no saint but I do not lie to my friends nor manipulate them!"

"Fluttershy?"

"Eep!" the mare squeaks. She notices the concerning look on Shade's face. "I-I'm fine."

Fluttershy and Shade spend the morning gathering up half the frogs in the park pond. With her magic she makes short work of rounding up the frogs. Shade had been half tempted to teleport the frogs to the Dragonlands. She spends the later half of the morning taking the frogs to the bog with Fluttershy.

They go their separate ways when they return to Ponyville. Shade goes over to Sugar Cube Corner to help the Cakes and Pinkie with the lunch rush. When the rush dies down, the Cakes tell Pinkie she can have the rest of the day off. Mrs. Cake winks at Shade before Shade leaves the shop making her cheeks turn scarlet.

Pinkie freezes in front of Shade.

"My tail is twitching!" Pinkie announces.

"Ooo!" Shade claps her hooves together. "These are always fun!" She turns her head up to the sky.

Pinkie grabs Shade's leg "We should get back inside," Pinkie warns.

Shade cocks her head at Pinkie. "Why? Where's the fun in that?" Shade summons a rainbow umbrella hat on her head. She smiles at Pinkie.

Pinkie lights up and pulls a similar hat out of her mane.

On their way to Shade's house, Pinkie jumps from hiding spot to hiding spot. Shade chuckles at her hijinks. Pinkie becomes aware of her actions and blushes. She returns to waking side by side with Shade.

"Sorry for being weird…" Pinkie apologizes.

Shade picks up her chin gently and smiles at Pinkie. "Pinkie. I love you for you, quirkiness and all. You don't need to change yourself or act any differently. Okay?"

Pinkie blushes again. "I'm sorry. This is kinda new to me. I just… I know I can get annoying…"

Shade hugs Pinkie. "Stop. Have I ever called you annoying?"

"Well—"

"The first time we met doesn't count," Shade says.

Pinkie hugs Shade. "You're the best!"

"Tell me something I don't know." Shade smiles as she remembers the first time she met this bubbly, pink pony all those years ago.

Pinkie starts to vibrate and sits down when her tail stops twitching. "Hmm... Twitchy twitcha twitcha twitch."

"Uh oh," Shade comments.

"Pinkie Pie? What in the wide, wide world of Equestria are you up to?" Twilight questions as she walks up to her two friends.

"Oh! It's my tail! It's my tail! It's a-twitch a-twitchin'!" Pinkie grabs her tail and shows it to Twilight. "And you know what that means!"

"Actually, Pinkie, I haven't the slightest idea," Twilight deadpan.

"The twitchin' means my Pinkie Sense is telling me that stuff's gonna start falling! You two better duck for cover," Pinkie explains.

Shade affirms with a nod.

"That explains the crazy hats," Twilight comments. "Pinkie, it's not going to rain. The pegasi report clearly states 'clear weather' for today. Why," Twilight turns her head up to the sky, "there's barely even a cloud in the–" Splat! "Ugh!"

A frog lands in Twilight's face and croaks.

"He just said 'nice catch' in Frog," Pinkie grins.

Shade snickers behind a hoof.

Twilight glares at the frog on her face that croaks again.

"Oh, I'm so, so sorry. You okay, Twilight Sparkle?" Fluttershy apologizes from the air.

She has the frogs in a small cart she is attached to. Shade wonders how the cart can float.

"Why are you taking more of the frogs to the bog?" Shade inquires.

"When they saw most of their friends gone, the others wanted to go, as well," Fluttershy answers.

"Do you need any help?" offers Shade.

"No. Thank you though." She puts a basket handle in her mouth and flies off muffling, "Bye-Bye."

Twilight glowers at the slimy creature crawling on her face.

"Um... Twilight? You gotta little somethin' on your face there," Pinkie points out.

"Oh, really? Did your Pinkie Sense tell you that, too?" is Twilight's sardonic response.

"Nah! I could just see it," Pinkie replies and walks off.

Shade follows and says to Pinkie, "Odd, how your tail twitching intensified when Twilight was around."

"What do you mean?" Pinkie asks.

"Every time you have one of your 'Pinkie Sense' episodes, I've been taking notes about it. When your tells, your twitching for example, intensify near a pony, that means something will happen to them all day," Shade informs Pinkie.

"Really?"

"Only one way to test out my theory!" Shade grins.

As if on cue, Pinkie's tail starts to twitch.

"Let's go over to Twilight," Shade sing songs as she trots after the lavender pony.

Pinkie zips over to Twilight, where her tail starts twitching wildly. "My tail! My tail! Twitch-a-twitch! Twitch-a-twitch! Somethin' else is gonna fall!"

"Or somepony," Shade thinks with a grin as she watches Twilight walking towards a ditch.

"Oh, Pinkie, please. Nothing else is gonna fa—" Twilight is cut of when she falls into the ditch.

"Oh no, Twilight fell! Is it... safe to go help her?" Spike turns to Pinkie for confirmation.

"It's okay, my tail stopped twitching," Pinkie states and hops away with a smiling Shade in tow. "I can't believe you were right! Well, I can believe it."

"One experiment does not prove a theory, Pinkie. We will have to continue more tests," Shade explains.

Pinkie stops.

Shade turns to her to see Pinkie's ears flapping. A smile creeps on Shade's muzzle. "Let's go to Twilight."

Pinkie runs up to the lavender mare where Pinkie's ears start flopping more. "My ears are flopping! My ears are flopping!" Pinkie announces.

Shade quickly examines the area and spots the hazard behind Twilight.

Spike looks around and yelps in fear, "What does that mean?!"

Shade backs away from Twilight and pulls Pinkie back by her tail. Applejack follows Shade's lead, as does Spike.

"I'll start a bath for you," Pinkie looks at Twilight crestfallen.

"Huh?" Twilight chuckles, "Why would I need a bath? This thing keeps on getting more ridiculous by the minute!"

Cue karma.

Splash!

An old stallion pulling a wagon speeds by and hits the mud puddle behind Twilight, drenching her in mud. Twilight grumbles.

"This day just keeps getting better and better!" Shade exclaimes with glee.

Twilight groans in defeat. "Fine. Tell me how you know what is going to happen, Pinkie?"

Shade casts a spell that instantly cleans Twilight.

Twilight blinks and examines herself. "Whoa. Thanks, Shade."

"Eeyup," Shade replies and bumps hooves with Applejack.

Pinkie, Shade, and Twilight start walking.

"Sooo, basically, it works like this: I get different, little, niggly feelings and they mean different things. Like when my back is itchy, it means it's my lucky day." Pinkie casts a glance at Shade, "Like when I woke up this morning when my back was itching." Shade winks at Pinkie. "And, when my knee gets pinchy, that means something scary's about to happen," Pinkie continues.

"It is one of Pinkie's super powers," Shade inputs, "Clairvoyance."

"Well, I still don't believe all this... 'special power' stuff. It's just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo," Twilight states.

Pinkie stops and confronts Twilight, "What's not to believe? You do magic, what's the difference?"

"Huge! For one thing," Twilight notices a soap box and clears away the items on top of it so she can stand on the box, "magic is something you study and practice. It only happens when you decide to do it, and it's meant to make something specific that you choose to happen, happen. With you, uh, it makes no sense at all!"

Shade incinerates the wooden box Twilight is standing on, making the pony yelp. Shade pulls Twilight close, face to face. "How narrow minded and proud are you going to be?" Shade snaps. "Unicorns are not the only species to know magic. How do you think pegasi fly, control the weather, and float on clouds? How do you think earth ponies grow food better than other species, have such tough bodies, and have incredible strength?"
Shade releases Twilight and pushes the pony away. "Magic."

Shade chuckles and huffs at Twilight, "Sparkler, with all your knowledge about magic, you have barely even scratched the surface of what I know."

Twilight walks away from them and stops in front of the library a short ways away. "I don't believe this."

Pinkie's ears flop, next her eyes flutter, and then her knees start twitching. Shade grins wickedly at Twilight.

"What is tha—"

Slam!

The front door of the library swings open and crushes Twilight. Spike is backing out of the door, carrying a stack of books.

Shade laughs and conjures a sapphire from her magic pocket to give to Spike. "Good work, Spike!" Shade praises the young drake.

"Oh, boy!" Spike exclaims. "What did I do good?"

Shade shoos Spike away, "It doesn't matter. Go about your business."

Spike happily waddles away staring at the sapphire atop the books.

The door closes and Twilight is comically flatened against the door. She falls to the ground with a groan.

Pinkie helps Twilight up. "You don't believe because you don't understand."

Twilight rubs her head. Her eyes shine with the spark of an idea. "You're right come with me!"

Twilight opens the door and rushes inside. Pinkie and Shade follow.

While Twilight runs tests on Pinkie in the basement, Shade decides to stay and read at the library. By the time Shade hears Pinkie's voice, Shade finishes the book "Super Naturals." She uses her magic to put the book back in order along with the other twenty books.

"I said 'I'm sorry,'" Pinkie says behind a disgruntle Twilight who is rubbing her nose.

"I swear you and Spike are setting me up," Twilight voices her skepticism.

"That was a quick ten minutes," Shade says walking towards them.

"An uneventful ten minutes," Twilight adds. "None of this makes sense. Rargh!" She grumbles and storms up the stairs to her room.

"What happened?" Shade asks Pinkie.

Spike titters, "I, uh, kinda slammed the door on her. Again."

"Fantastic!" Shade pats Spikes head. "Here," she summons a ruby as large as his head and presses it against him, "your reward."

"Yippee!" Spike interjects and takes a bite out of the ruby.

Shade chuckles at his gluttonous behavior.

Shade leads Pinkie to the park to enjoy a picnic lunch. A question pops into Shade's mind as she chews her sandwich.

"Did you have one of your combos when Spike slammed the door on Twilight?"

"Yup!" Pinkie affirms and swallows a second sandwich whole.

"I think I can safely prove my theory with your Pinkie Sense then," Shade mulls.

"Hurray!" Pinkie cheers.

Shade smiles. "What do you usually do on your days off?"

"Usually, I walk around town looking for somepony to help, or planning somepony's birthday or a party, and looking for new friends," Pinkie lists. "Oh! Some times I go to the school to help out or just relive old times."

Shade gets to her hooves and dismisses the picnic setup. "Wanna go to the school?"

"I'd go anywhere with you!" Pinkie hops onto Shade with a big hug.

They nuzzle and start off to the schoolhouse.

"It certainly is a lot smaller than I remember," Shade comments as she inspects the small seesaw and swings.

Pinkie giggles. "That's because we're bigger now, silly!"

"I guess you're right," Shade grins sheepishly having not notice that fact sooner.

"Remember that day you wanted to wrestle the entire class after you learned martial arts?"

Shade smiles fondly. "Yeah. I was undefeated."

"That's not what I remember," Pinkie says and grins at Shade.

"You tricked me!" Shade pouted. "That didn't count."

Pinkie tackles Shade and pins the ivory pony to the ground. "All's fair in love and war," Pinkie whispers and winks.

Shade ignites her horn with a smug grin. Before she can cast her spell, Pinkie catches Shade off guard again with a second attack: a kiss.

Scootaloo sighs out of boredom. History. Shmistory. She leans on her hoof to gaze out the window. Her wings shoot open as she watches Pinkie Pie and Shade making out in the playground.

"What is it?" Apple Bloom asks and turns to look outside.

Scootaloo zips to the window and closes the blinds.

"Scootaloo," Miss Cherilee calls out to the orange filly, "please return to your seat."

"Yes, ma'am!" Scootaloo answers and takes one last look outside to see the two mares still kissing.

Shade lays breathlessly underneath Pinkie staring up at her behind her goggles. Pinkie snickers.

Pinkie licks her lips and purrs in Shade's ear, "I love how minty your breath is, Shadey-wadey."

Shade whimpers when Pinkie attacks her ear. "Pinkie, we can't do this here. What if the foals see us?" Shade pleads.

Pinkie giggles. "You're so cute, Shade."

Pinkie gets off of Shade when her nose starts to itch. Shade painfully remembers what that means. She gets to her hooves and puts up a crimson bubble shield for her and Pinkie. The bees fly by and start to attack a bush.

"That's odd," Shade says as she dispels the shield.

"Oh! Applejack has a new apple cellar. Let's go check it out!" Pinkie chimes and pulls Shade along.

Twenty minutes later, after taking the scenic route, the two reach Sweet Apple Acres.

"So where is this cellar?" Shade inquires of Pinkie after they search the main yard.

"No idea!" Pinkie chimes.

"Wanna split up to cover more ground?"

"Sounds good to me!" Pinkie salutes Shade and hops away.

Shade facehoofs. She ignites her horn and locates AJ near the barn and… ten feet underground. That makes sense. Shade is about to call out to Pinkie but notices her having fun playing with a butterfly so leaves her alone.

Shade head to the barn and sees Twilight observing Pinkie with binoculars. Twilight and Spike are talking when he runs to hide behind a bale of hay. She walks over to the barn side door. Then Twilight walks toward Pinkie when a door opens from the ground. Shade smirks when Twilight falls down.

"Karma. Sweet sweet karma," Shade grins.

"Who's 'karma?'" Pinkie pops up behind Shade.

Shade chortles. "A very close acquaintance of Twilight's."

"Is she nice? Can I meet her?" Pinkie searches the area for this "Karma" pony.

"I'm sure you have met her plenty of times," Shade says and walks over to the open door in the ground.

Applejack leaps out of the cellar and dashes to the house. Shade stops her with her magic and brings her near.

"Where's the fire, AJ?" Shade cracks.

"Twilight! She—!"

"Fell. Yes I saw." Shade releases her friend and heads down the cellar. "I'm seriously going to have to start charging for healing everypony," Shade mumbles.

One spell later Twilight is back to normal.

"—ting!" Twilight yells as she sits up. She looks around her and she finds herself outside with Applejack, Pinkie, Shade, and Spike looking at her.

"Just admit defeat and your suffering will end," Shade smirks.

"Yeah!" Pinkie adds. "Aren't you tired of following us already?"

Shade eyes grow big. "What?" She pulls Twilight close, "You were following us? Since when?"

"Since… the picnic…" Twilight chuckles nervously.

Shade's face grows red. She releases the mare and coughs into a hoof. "I guess it was bound to come out sooner or later."

"With that amount of PDA, I think so," Twilight inputs.

"'PDA?'" AJ reiterates.

Shade sighs. She pulls Pinkie close to her who beams from ear to ear. "Pinkie and I are officially dating."

Applejack blushes. "O-oh! W-well I'm happy for y'all. Honest."

Pinkie Pie begins to shiver and shake catching everypony off guard.

"Oh no! What does that one mean?" Spike wonders hysterical.

"I've never seen that one before," Shade admits. "What does that mean, Pinkie?"

"Dunno, never gotten any like it before, but whatever that shudder's about, it's a doozy. Something you'd never expect to happen is gonna happen!" She shudders again, "Hu-bu-bu-bu-bu hu-bu-bu-bu! And it's gonna happen... at Froggy Bottom Bogg!"

Applejack gasps, "That's where Fluttershy is headed!"

"Oh no! Is it about her?" Spike worries.

Pinkie shrugs, "Uh, I'm not sure."

"What the hay are we waiting for?" AJ rears back on her hooves and takes off.

Everypony runs and Twilight reluctantly follows. Twilight picks up Spike and places him on her back.

"Hey! I thought you didn't believe in this stuff?" Spike voices.

"I don't. I just want to be there to see the look on Pinkie's face when we find out nothing's wrong," Twilight jeers at Pinkie.

"Okie-dokie!" Pinkie chimes.

Shade glares at Twilight. She ignites her horns and teleports Applejack, Pinkie, Spike, and herself to Froggy Bottom Bogg.

Spike shakes his head and discovers he is on Shade's back. "Wh-where is Twilight?"

"I could only teleport three other beings with me at a time," Shade lies. "If she's as smart and powerful as I think she is, she should be here—"

Pop!

"Right about now," Shade smirks.

Twilight is sitting on her haunches with her mane and coat smoking. She shakes her head to stop her eyes from spinning.

"Ha!" Twilight stands up triumphantly.

"Congratulations! Here's your prize!" Shade bucks Spike off her back and launches him at Twilight. "Now, let's look for Fluttershy," Shade commands.

After about twenty minutes of searching, everypony hears Spike exclaim, "Fluttershy!"

Everypony rendezvous where Spike, Fluttershy, and Pinkie are at.

"You're okay!" Spike cheers.

"Of course," Fluttershy replies matter-of-factly.

"Phew, what a relief," Applejack sighs.

"I'm so glad everything's all right," Pinkie comments.

Twilight comes behind the group with a self righteous grin. "Sorry, I know it's not nice to gloat but... Aha! I told you there was nothing to worry about, and I was right. Pinkie Pie said whatever she was shuddering about was a-," gas begins to fill the area which makes Twilight cough, "-doozy, and—and the only—doozy here is how right I am," she preens between coughing fits.

She notices her friends creeping away from her and Shade scowling at something behind her.

"W-Well t-then, s-see what's b-b-behind you, Twilight!" Spike sputters pointing a claw behind her.

Twilight cranks her neck behind her slowly and turns her head up to follow the four orange stalks that grew out of the water.

"I see it... But I don't believe it!" Twilight gasps.

"Seeing is believing, Sparkler," Shade grins as she step up beside the lavender pony.

"Is that a hydra?" Pinkie inquires aloud.

The hydra roars.

"I got this! Lead the others to safety!" Shade orders and jumps at the beast with her horns alight.

Shade blasts one head with magic in the face and bucks the farthest one to the right in the neck.

"Pinkie! Come on!" Shade hears Twilight.

Shade glances back at the pink pony to see her frozen with fear. The farthest left head lunges at Pinkie. Shade roars and blasts the neck with powerful magic, lobbing the rest of the head off.

Shade holds the head with her magic and jumps down off the hydra landing in front of Pinkie. "Go! I got this covered." Shade uses the head to swat the other three heads back.

Pinkie nods and runs after Twilight. She glances back to see Shade lifting up her goggles and wink at the pink pony.

Shade discards the head to the woods in time to see a new head replace the missing one.

"Now," Shade takes a stance charging up her horn, "I don't have to hold back!"

She releases her magic at the head that shoots toward her which instantly obliterates the head. The hydra rears back and turns its body to swipbat Shade with its spike tail. Shade charges up her left hoof with magic and punches the tail away with force.

Shade focuses all her magic around the hydra. She holds it in place. A few seconds of straining later and Shade levitates the hydra five feet in the air.

Her eyes glow white and she shouts with fury. "Attacking Pinkie was the last mistake of your life!"
She crushes the hydra with her magic in a sickening squish of bones snapping and organs exploding.

The ten foot diameter sphere of hydra concentrate plops into the water. Shade's eyes return to normal and she breaths heavily through her nostrils. She collapses to a knee to keep from falling over. A body holds her up and she sees Pinkie beside her.

Shade smiles at Pinkie. Pinkie hugs Shade tight. Shade returns her affection and leans on Pinkie. The others stop a few feet behind them.

Twilight gawks at the hydra ball. "Wh-what power…" she awes in silence.

"I don't know about y'all but I'm about ready as can be to head back home," Applejack states.

"Ditto," Shade chuckles.

"There's certainly no denying either of your two's powers," Twilight admits.

"Thank you, Twilight," Pinkie smiles.