"Ughhhh..." Lunar Shade groaned as she slowly got off of the warm, welcoming couch she had been sleeping on. Although the groaning was not out of frustration, but out of pain. More specifically, pain caused by her meal of Night Shade salad from the previous night.

"Well good morning Lunar Shade." Twilight merrily said as she walked down the stairs, but her cheerful smile quickly turned into a concerned frown when she saw Lunar Shade wince at her greeting. "What's wrong Shade, are you not feeling well?" She asked.

"Besides the after effects from my Night Shade salad, I feel just great." Shade said, wincing on the final word.

"Well I hope you feel bet-Wait WHAT?!" Twilight immediately rushed over to Shade as she used her magic to get her emergency medical kit. "Whatever you do don't panic!I'll get Doctor Stable, try not to go to sleep! Oh, why did this have to hap-" A black hoof silenced Twilight, bringing the lavender mare out of her little tangent.

"Twilight, calm down. Your giving me a bigger headache than I already have." Shade removed her hoof from Twilights mouth and brought it to her head, feeling her headache slowly turning into a migraine. "Now, before anything else happens, could I get a couple of painkillers?"

"Uh, sure. They're in the kitchen." Twilight and Shade walked into the kitchen with completely different attitudes. While Twilight was a little on edge from Shades words, said black mare was holding her head in annoyance. "H-here you go." Twilight shakily said as she levitated a bottle of aspirin and a glass of water to Shade.

Shade just lightly nodded as she took some of the aspirin, feeling the headache diminish into nothing.

"Now, you're probably wondering how I survived eating nightshade, aren't you?" Twilight just dumbly nodded at Shades question, prompting the assassin to continue. "Well for starters, I have a natural immunity to nightshade belladonna, a.k.a deadly nightshade. For most ponies, it would cause them to slip into a coma and die. But it only gives me a headache similar to a headache from a hangover." Shade said, watching as realization dawned on Twilights face, but winced from the painful squeal she let out a second later.

"I have so many questions! How did this immunity develop? Is it hereditary?! When did you first find out?! I just can't wai-" Twilight was stopped by an all too eager purple claw while the owner scrunched his brow in annoyance.

"I know you like knowledge and all Twilight, but wait until after breakfast first." Spike waerily said before turning to Lunar Shade. "Morning Shade, hope you slept well."

"I did actually, but did you?"

"Yeah." The purple dragon answered as he removed his claw from a slightly blushing lavender mares mouth. "except for when I was woken up by somepony shouting like a madmare earlier."He cast a non-chalant glance at Twilight, which she responded with a sheepish grin.

"Sorry about that. I was kinda-sorta overreacting about something"

"What was it?" Spike asked as he put on an apron and started pulling out various pots and pans for breakfast.

"She's talking about one of my more peculiar traits." Shade responded as she pulled one of the cupboards open, getting dishes and silver ware as she continued. "She had discovered not a few minutes ago an immunity I had which allows safe consumption of deadly nightshade."

"consum-what?"

"It means she can eat a very deadly plant without any or minor side effects" The lavender mare said matter-of-factly, while using her magic to arrange all of the plates,glasses, and silverware Shade was bringing out.

"Coooool." Spike cooed, absentmindingly turning on the stove as he started cooking.

Shade just smirked as she sat down, slight amusement in her eyes. "Coming from the dragon that's the little brother of a princess."

This caused a giggle to escape the cooking dragons mouth.

"Yeah, I guess so. But its still pretty cool."

The trio idly talked about all sorts of things while waiting for, and during, breakfast. Their topics ranged from the simplest of pleasures on a quiet day to the most rambunctious of things they've done. Eventually as they started eating their breakfast of toast, eggs, and hay bacon, their conversation turned to some of their most outrageous adventures, to an every day life in Ponyville.

"Wait a minute. Your telling me that you not only got chased by a hydra, but burst into flames afterwords?" Shade asked, her brow brought up in bewilderment.

"Yeah, and I still didn't discover how Pinkie sense works." Twilight said, rubbing the back of her neck as she finished her final forkful of food.

"Well, I guess I'll start dishes." A cheerful Spike declared as he got up, only to watch the dishes become surrounded by a lavender aura.

"Don't worry about it Spike, I'll do the dishes since my number one assistant made breakfast" Twilight cast a cheerful smile at her assistant, levitating and gently dropping the dishes into the nearby sink as she did so.

This small event gave Shade an idea, an idea she quickly put into motion. "Well Twilight, since you'll be busy with the dishes for a while, I guess Spike and I will go look for some books to read. Right Spike?" Shade smiled at Spike with a suggestive eyebrow.

Spike was about to protest but realized what Shade really meant. " Sure!" I know where all the best books of each section are!" He lifted himself out of his seat as Shade walked into the main part of the library with the purple dragon in tow.

"So how long will she take?" Shade asked as she cast a glance back towards the kitchen.

"We'll be fine for about twenty minutes or so. Well, If she doesn't try reading while washing." This caused both of them to giggle at the absurdity of that scenario. "So, where should we start?" Spike asked as they both sat on Shades make-shift bed.

Shade giggled at the young drakes enthusiastic expression and attitude.

"Well then, lets begin. First off there's multiple syllables you must learn, but we'll stick to the simpler ones for the most basic of replies." For about the next twenty minutes, The young dragon learned how to say a few words in his native tongue, as well as hearing the giggles from the assassin next to him. Eventually after some time, Shade began helping Spike with idle conversation, helping his pronunciation every so often.

"Coi ui vi jikael kear naeck, ui ti coi?" (It is a wonderful day today, is it not?) Spike asked, unsure if he had pronounced the sentence right.

Shades only reaction was a simple nod as she responded.

"Kii axun coi ui vi jikael kear, Spike." (Why yes it is a wonderful day, Spike.) Shade replied, a glimmer of understanding flashing in Spikes eyes. "It seems your learning faster than I did.

"Maybe in no time, I'll be even better than you!" Spike gleefully replied, both him and Shade giggling as Twilight walked in.

"What are you two giggling about?" Twilight merrily asked, wiping her hooves with a dry towel as she did so.

"We're just talking about some of our favorite books." Shade cooly replied.

Spike giggled a little. "Yeah, just some books."

Twilight just stood there, and eyebrow arched in confusion. "O kay then. Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to join me in the market today Shade." The lavender mare asked as saddlebags levitated to her sides.

"I might as well get a lay of the land." Shade said as she began to get up, but stopped half way. "You go on ahead, I just need to take my cloak off."

"Alright. I'll be outside."

As Twilight walked outside, Shade hesitated on taking off her black cloak. Even though she knew it would stick out like a sore hoof in a small town, she didn't want to part with the article of clothing she's been through so much with. From her very first day of being accepted into the order all those years ago, to the spot she was standing right now. She could even still smell the pony that gave this cloak to her. Shade just closed her eyes for a few brief minutes in remembrance.

"Father..."

The smell of burnt wood and cheap wine wafted into her nose, bringing a sense of calm to her hesitant mind.

She immediately began taking all of her clothing off as Spike started reorganizing books. Starting with her hood, and ending with the light shirt touching her chest. In the end, the ebony pegasus had stripped herself of all her clothing and gear. Well, except for a piece or two.

Shade made sure to keep the tiny sliver of her emerald proudly displayed across her chest while her precious orange feather was hidden in a sea of black ones. With a final sigh of relief, she adjusted her left wing and heard metal scraping against metal, smirking as she heard her "secret weapon".

With all the preparations set, Shade gave a light huff as she stepped out into the morning sunlight.

Author's Note

Hey guys! Sorry this took so long, it's just that I had some things that needed to get done. But I hope this makes up for it!