The clouds drift along in the open sky as Darkness lays on a tree branch with his eyes closed and a pure white teenage normal dragon on his lap, who yawns before settling back down. Darkness takes a deep breath and opens his eyes to stare at the sky, admiring how beautiful the Pegasus weather team keep it.

"This truly is such a different world to the one us alters know as home, but if Yuuki originates from this world... Does that not make it our home as well? We are alters born from Yuuki after all... However, only Kiara and Despair share his racial attributes. Where as me and the other alters are interpretations of that worlds mythical creatures... I suppose time will tell for sure." Darkness muses to himself making the dragon open one eye and sigh.

Suddenly a scream is heard from the distance and Darkness sits upright, making the dragon open her eyes in surprise. As if acting on instinct, Darkness moves the dragon and jumps down from the tree heading towards the noise. 'Why am I doing this? What compels this body of mine to move with such... Enthusiasm.' Darkness asks himself confused at his actions. After passing through several trees he jumps over a log and out of some bushes to see a yellow Pegasus with a pink mane and tail being tied up by five of Despair's knights.

"Will you just hold her still!" The first knight demands.

"I would if she stopped squirming!" The second knight protests.

"Guys, we aren't alone!" The third directs them to Darkness' presence.

"What do you want? You're one of the boss' brother's alters? We don't want no trouble, so just walk away." The fourth stands in front of the other three, holding his longsword.

"Yeah, we are only collecting some test subjects for Lady Luxure... We'll give you some bits if you turn a blind eye." The fifth states as he walks over to Darkness and places his hand on his shoulder.

Darkness, without thinking, grabs the knight's wrist and twists it backwards, breaking it. He then punches the knight hard in the stomach before slamming his elbow down on the back of his neck putting him on the floor, lifeless.

"You... Dare to harm such an innocent, beautiful creature... Then have the gall to bribe me..." Darkness clenches his fists before summoning a kite shield and sword. The kite shield is rather intricate, sporting purple runes across its black face and is fairly big allowing for full defence. The sword itself is a longsword with dark purple runes along it's black blade.

The fourth knight charges at Darkness and attempts a slash attack, which is easily blocked before he gets kicked back hard in the stomach. The third knight sprints at Darkness, trying for a downward slash, which is deflected. Darkness preforms a counter attack by slamming his shield into the third knight, knocking him off balance. The fourth knight comes back around for another attack, but is dodged before his legs are kicked out from under him and he is put on the floor. Darkness then drives his sword down into the fourth knight's chest, killing him. The third knight tries to jump on Darkness' back, but gets flung over before his neck is snapped by Darkness' shear vice grip.

"Let's finish him and get her back to the boss!" The second knight advises the first knight.

The two nod at each other and run at Darkness who sighs deeply before sheathing his sword into the top of his shield. He then picks up one of the dead knights swords and throws it at the second knight. The thrown sword goes straight through the visor of the second knight and he falls to the floor. The first knight continues his charge only to be punched in the stomach and then again in the face crushing his helmet inwards. He is then flipped over and his neck cleanly snapped. After all knights are dead they begin to dissipate and disperse. Darkness looks towards the Pegasus who has her eyes closed, likely because of all the fighting. Darkness makes his weapons disappear and walks over to the Pegasus. He kneels down and gently places his hand on her cheek. The contact makes her flinch her a second, but quickly calms down when she can't hear anymore fighting. Darkness' helmet begins to disappear in a dark smoke effect before revealing his fair complexion, blonde hair and the full view of his yellow dragon-like eyes.

"Are you unharmed, my lady?" Darkness asks, stroking her cheek softly.

The Pegasus slowly opens her rose coloured eyes and stares up at Darkness. The pair share an equally deep stare before the Pegasus blushes deeply and looks very shy.

"Umm... T-thank you for saving me... W-who are you?" The Pegasus asks.

"My name is Darkness, my lady. I am an alter of Yuuki, Princess Luna's bodyguard." Darkness introduces himself before starting to untie the Pegasus.

"My name is Fluttershy. It's nice to meet you..." Fluttershy returns the introduction.

Darkness looks sad as he slowly begins to massage the marks where the rope was roughly tied around her. Fluttershy blushes as he massages her sore coat, but doesn't shy away from his touch.

"I'm glad that, other than these marks, you're alright. I heard the scream and as if on instinct my body moved by itself to your aid. I, myself, do not fully understand why." Darkness explains before sitting down beside Fluttershy.

"Thank you for saving me... Your eyes are different than most ponies I've seen." Fluttershy points out as she relaxes beside him.

Darkness chuckles slightly and sighs before spreading a pair of black dragons wings that have dark purple trim. "I'm a dragon. Although not many see my eyes because I always wear this full suit of armour."

Fluttershy's nervousness seems to melt away as she marvels at Darkness' wings. She glances between his wings and his eyes then looks at his armour with a sad expression.

"It's a bit sad you hide such majestic wings and beautiful eyes within that armour... Do you not think to remove it?" Fluttershy asks.

"Well-" Darkness begins before it suddenly starts to pour down with rain.

The pair stand up and Fluttershy takes Darkness' hand as she hastily leads him to cover. Darkness is led down the nearby path to a quaint near some woods. Fluttershy takes him inside before she stops for a breather.

"You can stay here for now if you want. The rain will stop at some point... Oh..." Fluttershy mutters before looking at Darkness who is dripping wet.

"I suppose this armour does have a practical downside in this world where it can rain." Darkness states, before starting to take off his amour.

Fluttershy shuts the door and heads upstairs to bring back a towel for Darkness. In the time it took her to go upstairs, get the towel and come back down, Darkness had removed all but his boots. His soaking wet armour was placed by the fireplace to be dried out. Fluttershy now found herself staring at an entirely different person. Out of his armour, Darkness was wearing a simple dark purple shirt which had gold trim, simple trousers also with gold trim and a dark purple pair of socks. She pondered as she gave him the towel, at how he could remain so very dashing and charming without wearing his armour.

"I must apologise for dripping all over your clean wood floor. I do feel a little vulnerable... It's highly uncommon if not extremely rare, one should see me out of my armour." Darkness explains as he dries his neck.

"Perhaps you could use the bathroom upstairs... you know, take a bath and relax while I dry your clothes by the fire... I mean, the fire I will start... If you want me to." Fluttershy offers with a tinge of nervousness anypony should have noticed.

"That would actually be very wonderful, thank you. If you have a basket I could leave my clothes outside the door." Darkness states, as Fluttershy leads him upstairs and to the bathroom.

After waiting outside the bathroom for ten minutes Darkness finally passed the basket to the other side of the door for Fluttershy to take. Once the door was closed again and she wished him a relaxing time in the bath she flew into the air and hurried downstairs. With never before seen haste she not only started a warm fire, but managed to hang up Darkness' clothes, sort out all her animals afternoon lunch, prepare tea and biscuits, dry herself off and brush her mane and let in, dry and feed the pure white dragon that Darkness had with him before, all without thinking.

"You must be his dragon. Thinking about it you have a different feel to you than other dragons I've met." Fluttershy thinks deeper for a second before looking up the stairs at the bathroom. "But then... He is much different than any dragon I've ever met... He is also so handsome, charming, kind, warm..." Fluttershy trails off before she is nudged by the white dragon.

The white dragon tilts her head slightly and produces what could only be described as the cutest dragon like, what would be equivalent to a cats 'meow' Fluttershy had ever heard.

"Do I like him..? Well... I mean... We have only just met... He is nice... Very warm to be around... Kind enough to save me... Doesn't seem to mind animals... How could I possibly... Yes." Fluttershy resolves her own question in a one sided debate with the white dragon.

The white dragon curls up beside the fire and shuts her eyes while Fluttershy waits nervously for Darkness to finish in the bathroom. After what seemed like hours, but was actually only about half an hour to an hour, Fluttershy is snapped out of her daydream state by a voice from the top of the stairs. She looks up to see Darkness standing at the top of the stairs wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. The blush on her face could put a red dragon to shame.

"I'd hate to tear my lady away from her daydreaming, but I must ask if my clothes are done drying yet. I feel somewhat exposed like this." Darkness admits, looking slightly away from Fluttershy, wearing a matching blush.

Fluttershy snaps herself out of it long enough to check his clothes, place them in a basket, and fly them up to Darkness before hovering back down wearing an even deeper blush after seeing him up close. Giving thanks, Darkness quickly gets dressed and walks downstairs to join Fluttershy on her sofa, after which she pours him some tea and offers biscuits.

"You're quite the generous host, lady Fluttershy." Darkness smiles as he takes a sip of his tea.

"Y-you're welcome... Just Fluttershy is fine by the way... If you want, that is." Fluttershy sips her own tea trying very hard not to explode.

"I'm glad Athena made it here okay. I did abandon her somewhat with haste to rush to your aid... Even after musing it over in the hot water of your bath... I'm no closer to the answer I seek. Why did I jump so willing and without thought into action at merely hearing your scream... I'm not as logical as my brother binary, but one could argue that the very emotions and aspects of Yuuki's personality we were born from, are made even more real in this world. That by being born into real bodies, the aspects that made us who we are... Become real instincts to us now. Chivalry and honour are my main two aspects... Much like the knights of old, you might have noticed in how I use 'my lady' and such." Darkness tries to explain.

"I guess that does explain a few things, especially your choice in clothing and armour. Where are you staying currently? with Yuuki?" Fluttershy asks.

Darkness shakes his head and sighs deeply. "I'm afraid not... All the alters agreed that as we are now, we must find a way to survive in this world without relying on our boss. While we would still heed his call without question, we are now our own people... Even Yuuki agrees that with how we are now, growing up on our own path is how we must develop. Needless to say I've slept outside for the past few nights since leaving Twilight's castle. So I currently have no place of-" Darkness is cut short by an excited soft voice.

"You could stay here! I-I mean... I have the space and the animals would not bother you much. I'd be more than happy to let you stay here with me." Fluttershy states with haste.

Darkness gives Fluttershy a warm smile and looks at Athena curled up by the fireplace. "That would be very nice. Actually, I'm quite the lover of animals so living here would be quite the blessing and a warm bed would be most welcome. I did not expect this when I awoke this morning, but I most certainly will not complain." Darkness thanks Fluttershy before relaxing back on the sofa.

Fluttershy slides off the sofa and stands up. "Excuse me for just one moment." Fluttershy trots into the kitchen before hiding behind the wall and nearly hyperventilating. Looking around at the birds that are populating the kitchen currently, she speaks as quietly as possible. "That was too easy to be real... How did he agree to it so quickly... Is it just a massive coincidence that he loves animals too? Is this all just a dream?" Fluttershy appears so lost in her rambling to the birds she doesn't notice a presence behind her.

"Is everything alright, Fluttershy?" Darkness' voice asks from behind.

Fluttershy turns around coming face to face with Darkness and within a split second both faces reached a level of blush many wouldn't even hear of. Fluttershy's lips were planted perfectly on Darkness' as he was leaning down to meet her eye level. The pair only break their accidental kiss after about a minute.

"That was... Interesting... In a good way... P-perhaps I should get some rest... It has been an eventful day thus far... We can talk again later should you still be up and the circumstance permits conversation." Darkness states all while keeping eye contact with Fluttershy.

"S-sure... I should be awake still, it's only the afternoon after all... I think... Have a good rest..." Fluttershy replies as Darkness leaves the kitchen and heads upstairs.

Fluttershy could only swear that her heart should have exploded by now with all the blushing and nervousness she was experiencing. After calming down slightly she set about doing house work to try and take her mind off Darkness, who was in the same house, merely earshot away, in her spare room.

"How in Equestria did this happen?" Fluttershy asks herself while looking at a pure white rabbit beside her, whom only offers a shrug in response.

Author's Note

I hope you enjoyed this chapter of CLC which has finally been released after too long of the last chapter. It's only two more chapters till Despair's tea party, so look forward to that. I will try to focus my attention more on this fic and LoB... Hopefully. Until next time.