Undecided

Luna was setting about calling the guards when Twilgiht had finally decided to speak up.

"No, don't call the guards!"

The looks she got from Tia and Luna made it clear to her that she needed to explain the situation.

"He didn't mean to attack you! You scared him! Luna you know how Fluttershy responds to fear by hiding? Well Jecht responds to fear by violence! He didn't mean to actually hurt anypony, he was just scared!" Twilight cried.

It was Celestia that spoke up, still nursing her cut leg, "But then why was he coming up behind you with a knife back on the hill?"

Twilight didn't exactly know how to respond and remained silent.

Celestia nooded to Luna, who then turned to call the guards again when Twilight stopped her again.

"I may not know why he was behind me with a knife, but I know he meant no harm!" Scooping up Jecht's bone knife, Twilight took off after the stallion.

"Do we go after her Tia?" Luna asked.

"No, I don't exactly trust this stallion, Jecht, but if Twilight trusts him then I have full faith in her." With that said Luna set about bandaging up Tia's leg.

For the first time since his escape from captivity Jecht found himself crying, his mind constantly shifting back to the look on Twilight's face. He didn't know why it hurt him so much, but it did. In three days she had become the first pony he'd ever let himself get close to. He could let his guard down near her and not become uncomfortable. For three days, he hadn't had a single incident regarding his instincts. That was all ruined though. He'd attacked both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. To make things worse is that he had horrified Twilight, his only friend.

Pushing further into the maze, Jecht could think of little else other than how he never wanted to be seen again.

Twilight was racing through the maze. She was horrified at seeing Celestia harmed, sure. But she knew that it wasn't Jecht's fault. For some reason though, she had been more horrified when Celestia had made to attack Jecht. Her heart was pounding, and she was quickly becoming tired, but she had to find Jecht.

It had gotten late, and Twilight was still wandering the maze looking for Jecht. It didn't help that it was fall and the weather was getting cold. Still Twilight continued, ignoring the fatigue and cold plaguing her.

The elements getting to her, Twilight failed to see a protruding root and tripped over it. Falling, Jecht's knife slipped from her grasp and upon hitting the ground, drew a deep cut across her right jawline. Gasping in pain, and too tired and cold to move again, Twilight curled into a ball and started crying to herself.

Jecht had just awoken from a small nap. Getting up he continued his limping through the garden. He'd been trotting for about 30 minutes when he heard a small gasp on the other side. Freezing in place, Jecht perked up his ears and waited to see if he could here anything else. That's when he detected faint crying.

Worried for whom ever it was, Jecht started to force his way throguh the hedge in between him and the other pony. It took about 10 minutes to get through, and he was covered in scrapes and scratches when he got to the other side. Emerging from the hedge he found none other than Twilight.

Running over he checked her for injuries. Aside from her lips being a pale colour, her jaw had a deep gash in it and the tissue beneath it was also a pale colour. 'Damn, it must be colder than I though.' Jecht mentally berated himself. He may not have wings, but he was still a pegasi, and paegasi don't get cold easily.

Lifting Twilight onto his back, Jecht painfully started trotting through the maze, desperate to find the exit and get Twilight to safety.

"I'm starting to regret my former decision Luna." said a very worried Celestia.

"How so, Tia?" "Well it's late, and it's cold out tonight, I've heard nothing from Twilight. What if you were right about the stallion?!" If a Princess Goddess could look on the verge of panic, it would look like Celestia did just then.

Suddenly a guard ran in. "Your Highness'! There seems to be an intruder in Princess Celestia's bedchambers!"

"And is the pony still there?" questioned Luna.

"Uhm, yes ma'am. He told us to stay quiet as to not awaken Twilight."

"Twilight!" Celestia shouted as she took off towards her room, tailed by Luna.

As Tia neared, she slowed and quieted her hoof steps as to not disturb Twilight if she was still sleeping. Sticking her head in she was greeted with a rather cute scene. Twilgiht was curled up under her covers, while the stallion, Jecht, was wrapped around her above the covers.

Pulling her head out the door, Tia whispered to a pair of guards, telling them to not allow anypony to disturb the two in the room.

Twilight woke up feeling extremely comfortable. Her blankets were extra toasty and seemed to hold themselves around her. Her mind slowly pulled itself out of it's post wake-up haze when she remembered that the last thing she could recall was following Jecht into the garden maze. She tried to shift out from under the covers only to find that she couldn't move. Thats when she realized that she had a pony wrapped around her. Squirming around she found herself muzzle to muzzle with Jecht. Some hidden side to her urged her forward, and she found herself kissing the stallion. As soon as her lips connected Jecht began to stir. Blushing furiously Twilight pulled back to Jecht's amused voice.

"Well then, I guess I won't have to remind you to thank me for pulling you out of that garden, eh?"

Twilgiht giggled nervously when she felt a twinge of pain in her jaw. Noticing her wince, Jecht told her to come over to the bathroom. When Twilight trotted over Jecht set himself to work cleaning her face up with a small cloth.

"Silly Twilight, you don't drop a knife under you when you fall." Jecht laughed.

"Hey, look, now we match!" Twilight laughed right back. Then she suddenly grew really serious as she took in her surroundings, "Wait! Why are we in Princess Celestia's room?"

"A question I was meaning to ask as well My Faithful Student." chuckled Celestia herself as she stood behind the two ponies.

Jecht shuffled around for a second before explaining himself.

"Well, Twilight, you once talked about the route from the main entrance hall to Celestia's room. I remembered it last night as I brought you back to the castle. You were hypothermic from the cold and the cut. I knew you needed a warm bed and this was all my mind could think of."

Twilight blushed at the sudden realization that she'd spent the night in Celestia's bed with a stallion, of course nothing happened but still, Celestia's bed with Jecht.

"That was very quick thinking on your part Jecht. I thank you for taking care of Twilight, and forgive you for yesterday's.... misunderstandings." Celestia complimented, "Anyway I'll leave you two to take care of things." and with that Celestia was out the door.

"So you came after me. I figured after the scene with the Princess' you wouldn't have wanted to have anything to do with me."

"What makes you think that Jecht?" quested the ever inquisitive lavander mare.

"Well we don't exactly know each other that well."

"But you still saved me in the maze, remmeber? Besides we spent a whole two days cooped up together."

"True. Well then I guess we just are a pair of weirdos eh?" chuckled Jecht as he pulled Twilight into a hug.

"Speak for yourself, Jecht." Twi laughed.

"At least I don't kiss ponies to wake them up." "Well I don't drag mares into Celestia's bed so there." "Oh and here I figured you were comfortable." "I was quite comfortable, infact I never felt better than I did waking with yo..."

Suddenly Twilight ducked her head blushing furiously as she realized what she had just said.

"Well, in the words of a smart pony I know, 'You're really cute when you blush.'" Jecht said as he lifted Twilgiht's head up and looked her in the eyes.

Lavander met deep purple as the two drew each other into a passionate kiss.

Remembering that Jecht had once been a pegasus, Twilgiht rubbed the sensitive spots where his wings had once connected on a whim, causing him to shudder. In response Jecht slid his hoof down and rubbed it once against her mare hood. It drew an adorable squeek that did funny things the way their mouths were connected.

Just as the two made to take things a bit further, poor Luna walked in to tell them of breakfast only to scramble back out the door hooves akimbo.

After Luna had made her hasty retreat, Jecht and Twilgiht cleaned themselves up and headed down stairs to entertain their hosts.

"So, I can't help but wonder, where did you sleep since I, uh, borrowed your bed last night." Jecht ventured about halfway through breakfast.

"I just slept in Twilight's old room in the library, it was actually really comfortble." Celstia then turned to Luna, "You've been oddly quiet this morning little sister, whats wrong?"

Jecht stared down at his plate, thankful that it was his right side facing Celestia. Twilight coughed slightly and started twiddling her hooves and Luna blushed deep red. Noticing the three ponies reactions and Celestia's mind being a bit too imaginative, she found herself blushing as well, "Actually it doesn't matter. Anyway, Twilight, Jecht, how much longer do you plan on staying."

Eager to change the subject Twilight quickly answered. "We actually were thinking of going back to Ponyville today. Me and Jecht were talking as we walked down here, and he wants to bury that knife of his."

"Ah, like burying the past. Makes sense." Celestia grinned.

Jecht's face fell slightly, "No actually, burying my grand father. This is part of him."

Celestia's and Luna's faces looked mildly revolted and Twilight had a mix of disdain and care.

"I'm confused, what do you mean it's part of your grandfather?" Twilgiht hesitantly asked, remembring the last time anypony ventured near the topic of Jecht's past.

Jecht sighed slightly before giving an answer, "Give me an hour. It's about time I told somepony about my life, and I can't think of three ponies I trust more."

With that Jecht stood up and trotted off alone to steel himself for the mental torture he prepared to endure.

It was quick for Pop Obsidian. A well aimed spear ended his life in seconds. I remember father going down next trying to protect me and mum. After that they forced my mum onto the ground and....they.. well they raped her in front of me. I remember she bit one of them and they killed her too.

After that it was constant beatings, they got so bad that a well placed punch ripped my eye out. After that it became a game to see how messed up they could make my right side look. My cheek and legs were next victims of the tortures.

After a few months my wings had matured and I attempted to fly away. They grounded me with a net and spent the next two days carving and pulling my wings from their sockets. The pain was.....excrutiating, worse than anything from before. I think it was another, hmm 6 months, maybe 7, when I was sleeping, wanting nothing more than to never wake up. I did though, to see a massive explosion of rainbow colour, followed by a deafening boom. I was loose of my bonds and I saw the knife they'd used to remove my wings, the knife they'd made out of pop Obsidian. I remember picking it up, and killing the pony, then running. But I remember going back the next night. I... I killed them....all of them. I didn't want to, and there were a few ponies my age, but they attacked me to, so I killed them. I...I couldn't stop....everytime I struck I remembered everything...my wings...the beatings....everything....

As he finished the story, Jecht resembled nothing more than a quivering colt. His left cheek was wet with tears and he had a far off look in his eye.

Moving carefully, Twilight moved up to him and drew him into a hug. She just rocked and held him close, trying to sooth him and chase away whatever inner demons chewing at him. Eventually Jecht fell into a slumber, and Twilight found herself, still holding Jecht close to her, lifted by Celestia and taken to Celestia's bedroom.

"Just stay in here Twilight. You and Jecht just stay until you're both ready." As she left, she found tears rolling down her perfect face.

It was a fitful nightmare. Every torture he'd ever endured was being looped in his head and Jecht could not escape. He watched in horror as the spectral stallion in his dreams came closer and started ripping his wings from there sockets. He screamed as the first came loose and spewed blood everywhere. gore and muscle fibre hanging from his shoulder, then the second tear as his other wing was pulled loose. Lost in blackness and seas of pain, there was a small flash of lavander light in the distance.

"It's ok Jecht."

The light flashed again.

"It's all ok, just let it go."

'Let what go?'

When the light flashed again he saw a bloodied bone knife in his hoof.

"Just let it all go, it's over now, it's all better."

'It's over...'

The flash this time was near blinding.

"I'm here now, I won't let anything hurt you. I'm here."

'You are?'

The next flash of light revealed a beautiful lavander unicorn mare. It was Twilight, and she held her hoof out for him.

"I'll always be here for you, I promise."

Dropping the knife, determined to forget about it, Jecht reached out and took Twilight's hoof.

There was one more blinding lavander flash, and a distinct feeling on his lips.

Opening his eye, Jecht found Twilight curled next to him, embracing him with her lips planted firmly on his.