"'Monster,'" Shade whispers in the darkness. She pulls off her goggles and throws them onto the bed as she falls face first into her pillows. "What's wrong with me?"

Flashes of deer, diamond dogs, dragons fly past her eyes. The visions are filled with her ripping them apart, blasting them with magic, and bathing in their blood. The diamond dogs deserve all the cruelty for the kidnapping of Rarity, but the deer and dragons?

She heaves a heavy sigh. Her mother did not raise her to do all of those things. Deathly Belladonna had taught Shade to be compassionate to others, to be caring, to be friendly, to use her power for good. Shade buries her face deeper into the pillow.

A pink mare appears behind her eyelids. Inhaling the bakery scent from the pillow starts to calm Shade.

"Pinkie…"

"Yes?"

Shade turns to the voice. Lo and behold, before her very eyes stands the pony who fills Shade's day with joy and light. A small smile pulls on the corner of Shade's mouth.

Pinkie sits on the bed next to Shade and drapes herself across the ivory mare. She runs a pink hoof through the short black and red mane of Shade and nuzzles her neck tenderly.

"I'm such a horrible pony," Shade laments and buries her face in the warmth of Pinkie's chest.
She feels Pinkie flinch. "Oh. Sorry. Horns." Shade adjusts her head so that her horns run against Pinkie's neck.

Pinkie giggles and kisses the top of Shade's head. "It's okay, Shadey-wadey. Want to talk about what happened?"

"No. Then you'd hate me, too," Shade replies.

"I could never hate you," Pinkie assures and pets Shade slowly.

"I killed Celestia pet bird." Shade notices Pinkie's slight pause in her strokes.

"On accident?"

"On purpose."

"May I ask why?"

Shade exhales the breathe she subconsciously had held. "I did it because I knew she was a phoenix and would come back to life. Before I could explain myself, Fluttershy called me a 'monster' and pointed out my previous… endeavors."

Pinkie chuckles and wraps her hooves around Shade to squeeze her. "You just want to make sure something doesn't become a problem again. Your ways of doing things are a little more drastic than our ways but you are no where near a monster."

Shade looks up at Pinkie with sad eyes. "I am a monster. There's so much I have kept hidden from all of you."

"You can stop doing those things," Pinkie smiles hopefully.

"I will!" Shade proclaims. "I will spend the rest of my days making up for my past actions if I have to!"

Knocking on the door grabs their attention. Pinkie quickly kisses Shade and hops off the bed. "I'll go see who it is."

Shade grins. "Thanks."

"I'll stay at the train station," Cherry Pie had told Shade and quickly beat hooves.

Shade follows her guides while observing her surroundings lazily. She hears the ponies talking about her and the princess, who for some reason, is still with them. Shade watches the phoenix circle above them.

"Amazing, isn't she?" Princess Celestia asks with a hint of pride in her voice.

"I still can not believe that is a phoenix," Shade replies. "The ones back home are huge and have quite the temper on them." Shade sighs, "As with other Ancient beings, they are endangered and on the brink of extinction."

Princess Celestia hears the sorrow of Shade's words and also picks up on the bitterness of something the ivory pony mumbles under her breath.

"How do you find Equestria so far?" Princess Celestia inquires.

"Alien," Shade answers quickly and pauses, "yet… familiar, your majesty. This place is truly peaceful which is foreign to me. 'Peace' was just 'waiting' and preparing for the next war and or catastrophe."

Princess Celestia smiles faintly, "Your home reminds me of the years before the founding of Equestria of the times my sister and I had to actively protect our little ponies."

"I do not do peace. War is in my blood. When there is no war, I sate my bloodlust with wonderlust. I love exploring and adventuring as much as a good fight." Shade picks up on the princess' discomfort of her words. "I assure you, your highness, I can control myself and will do my utmost to not interfere with your hard work."

"Thank you. That is all I wanted to hear," Princess Celestia replies with a smile.

"Is that why you have all those scars?" The timid pegasus speaks up. "Because of your homeland being constantly at war?"

Shade grins and her eyes flash. "Yes. My scars are all reminders of how I am still here and my enemies are not."

"We are getting closer," the lavender unicorn informs the group. "That's her house there," she points out with a hoof, "the blue one."

Shade surveys the area, noting the fountain in the middle of the bustling plaza, the wide roads, and narrow alleys. "Yes. I can see why she would choose this location," she muses aloud.

As the group turns down Second Street, a voice from the white stone building calls out to them.

"Shade, what did you do this time?"

Everypony turns around and two guards ponies flare out their wings to halt the approaching large gray unicorn stallion. His smile disappears when he sees "Shade" turn around.

"This is getting annoying," the pony huffs with the same voice of his daughter as she rolls the same eyes as his daughter. Then he notices the scars that mar her body and the missing cutie mark.

"Um. What's going on here?" Grey looks to Fluttershy.

"We aren't entirely sure," Fluttershy replies.

Shade ignores the stallion and knocks on the door. She reads the sign hanging above the door aloud. "Curios and Rarities,'"

"Coming!" A bubbly voice chimes from inside.

A moment later and the door swings in to reveal a a pink pony with a wildly, curly, pink mane. Her smile grows wider upon seeing Shade. Pinkie inhales a sharp breath of air, "Are you Shade's twin sister?! She never told me she has a sister!"

Shade shakes her head and unflattens her ears from her head. "Could you lower your volume a few notches? Where is Shade now?"

"Here." The tricorn appears behind the pink mare and stares at her mimic.

"Huh," the earth pony Shade grunts in amusement when she sees her clone wearing goggles, "I think I understand the situation now."

"I, for one, would like to know," tricorn Shade speaks.

"Is Death around? She more than likely has something to do with this."

"'Death?' You mean my mum Deathly Belladonna?"

Earth pony Shade stares at her counterpart with a flat expression. "Oh, now I know for certain she is behind this if she has me calling her 'mum'. Where is she?"

"She isn't here. She's out in the field heading an excavation."

"Hmm," earth pony Shade taps her chin as she thinks. Her face brightens as a light bulb goes off above her head. "Can you not use magic to summon her?"

"Well, normally, but mum shields herself from magic."

Earth pony steps up to her tricorn self while thinking more on the subject. She glances up at the tricorn after staring at the ground for a moment and smiles. Earth pony Shade punches tricorn Shade in the chest and twists her hoof to the left. Tricorn Shade feels her lungs empty and her heart stop; she collapses to the ground and gazes up at herself in shock.

Earth pony Shade examines her left hoof and smirks, "Still got it." She holds out her hoof to the others. "Relax. If I know Death she should be popping up any mome—"

Pop!

"Shade!" Deathly Belladonna cries out. She stares at the Shade standing then at the Shade on the ground.

"Predictable," earth pony Shade comments as she reaches down and touches tricorn Shade's chest turning her hoof in the opposite direction.

Tricorn Shade inhales and coughs. She breathes heavily and scrambles to her hooves.

"Death, yes? I want answers." Earth pony Shade addresses the cerise pony.

Deathly Belladonna pulls tricorn Shade to her side and steps in front of her daughter and glares at the ivory pony with daggers. "And who might you be?" she growls.

"Déshū, ñō vlāeen bæms kän çí Death, no playing games with me," earth pony Shade says to Death.

Both Death's and Celestia's eyes grow wide.

"I don't know what in Tartarus you are talking about nor how you know the Ancient language so well."

Earth pony Shade narrows her eyes at the cerise pony. "You are not lying," she finally states after a moment of tense silence. "I will be leaving then and search for answers elsewhere," she says as she walks away.

Tricorn Shade glares at her doppelgänger.

Pinkie hops after the pony and calls out to her. "Hey! Why don't you stay so I can throw you a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party!"

"Pinkie!" Tricorn Shade hisses.

The ivory earth pony stops in her tracks. She swivels her head around and smiles. "I have the time. Come get me when you are ready, yes? I will be around."

"A second party sounds fantastic!" Princess Celestia chimes. "Especially, since the first one was cut short."

Shade finds herself pressing against Deathly Belladonna.

"Are you alright?" Death ask.

"Yes. Thanks, mum. For showing up…" Shade replies and nuzzles her mother.

"Always, Shade," Death comforts her daughter.

Death spots Grey in the corner of her eye. He stops looking at the ivory earth pony and turns his attention to them. He smiles and returns inside his shop.