Banishment is Friendship

Shade gasped in horror at the hilt protruding from her abdomen. She clutched the worn, crimson leather grip with her left hand and rested her right hand on the purple sapphire pommel; she turned her confused cymophane eyes at the woman who smirked devilishly at her. The woman whom Shade looked up to, the woman whom Shade respected, the woman whom Shade loved: her mother.

Valkyrie impaled her second dagger beside the first. She lifted the light Shade by the blades which slashed her up to her diaphragm. Shade gasped for air.

"I have come for what is rightfully mine!" Valkyrie hissed.

"Mo. . ." Shade choked and spat up blood. She felt her extremities growing cold.

She saw her mother's eyes ablaze. They were unfamiliar to her. Instead of the hard amethyst eyes, she had grown up with seeing, her mother's eyes were demonic red with yellow irises; they were filled with hate and fury. She suddenly found herself on the ground. Her mother had been tackled by someone. She laid there on the hard pebbles lamely and numb.

Shade saw her father, Grey, wrestling with the demon. After a short squabble, he got off of the limp body of the woman and walked over to her. Her eyes swelled with tears.

Grey knelt beside her and lifted her into his arms. He pulled the daggers out of her and began to heal her with a yellow aura.

"Don't worry, sweetie, daddy is here," he smiled warmly down at her.

"Dad," she coughed up blood.

"Shh, not yet, sweetie."

I'm so sorry, she thought and drifted off to sleep. Before she could close her eyes, she was rudely awakened by him dropping her. She opened her eyes and watched in terror as her mother lifted Grey up off the ground, her arm sticking out of his chest.

"Oh, don't look so surprised, darling," Valkyrie cooed in his ear, "You learned this from me, remember?" His body went limp and she tossed him to the side.

"NO!" Shade roared and jumped up with renewed vigor. She ran through Valkyrie, using her mother's own daggers to stab her diaphragm. Shade threw her to the ground and pounced on top of her. Valkyrie brought up her hand but Shade sliced off her arms with her daggers. Shade plunged both into the woman's chest repeatedly, yelling at the top of her lungs.

Shade watched the fire die from her mother's eyes. Panting, she got off her corpse and stumbled over to Grey's body. She rolled him over but his eyes were glazed over.

"No. . ." she sobbed, "Nononononononononono!" She hugged him tightly, "No! You can't leave! Not again. . ." Hot tears streamed down her face, "D-Daddy. . ."

Shade sat up. She examined the dusty room and saw the adolescent dragon standing before her.

"What?" her voice cracked.

He held out a white dish rag for her in his claws, "You were crying. Are you okay?"

She swiped his hand away and got to her hooves. She turned her back to him, wiped her cheeks, and answered brusquely, "Just my mind playing tricks on me."

Spike rubbed his injured hand, "R-Right. I found some books that will help me teach you our language."

"Good." Shade cleared her throat, "Make a fire and I'll go get our breakfast, as I said I would."

"Thanks!" he replied happily, "I am down to my last sapphire and. . . I can't hunt. . ."

Shade cast a glance back at the thin dragon and snorted, "I keep my word."

She used the time walking to the woods to sort through her mind and dream. Ever since she woke up in the hospital, the scene of her father murdering her mother would play every time she went to sleep. She had not seen her mother since then. The only thing she had to go by that said she was alive was the amulet her mother presented her two weeks before her death.

She heard her mother's voice through the amulet, but in her dream. . . her mother looked and sounded much different. Then there was Grey. He looked exactly the same only older. How many years has her immortal blood kept her alive? How many years have passed by since she stopped aging? Was Grey the only source for her answers? She stopped talking to her uncles because they would always say the same thing, 'Why don't you ask your father'? It irritated her the most.

A scent drifted across her nose, sent by the wind. A scent she would know anywhere: blood. She shook the thoughts out of her head and followed the scent into the woods.

"Help!" she heard a male voice cry.

Yeah, draw more predators to you, Shade thought. Shade broke through some bushes and a voice above her caught her attention.

"Oh, thank Celestia's royal butt!" She turned her head up to see a light colored, winged-pony stuck in a tree. A branch poked right through one of his wings. "Would the pretty, kind mare, kindly help me down?"

"I don't know, when I see one I'll ask her," Shade deadpanned.

"I happen to have a mirror in my saddlebag!"

"What makes you think I am 'kind'?" Shade questioned and sat on her haunches.

"The fact that you even bothered to come out here," the stallion chuckled nervously.

"Blood and cries always draw predators," Shade grinned which exposed her canines.

She heard the stallion gulp, "Well, then, please get me down before any predators arrive."

Shade tapped her chin in mock thought, "No."

"Please! I've been here since the morning!" he pleaded.

"Live bait always draws out bigger game," Shade replied and hid in the bushes beside her.

"Come back! I don't want to be bait!" he cried.

She heard the stallion try to free himself which only led to cursing and crying. A couple minutes passed and a new, familiar scent wafted into her nostrils. The stallion must have smelled it, as well, since he stopped making a ruckus. A manticore broke through the trees and eyed his catch. He stalked closer and licked his chops, wanting to take his time with his meal. Wood-like wolves jumped out of the bushes behind the manticore and attacked the beast. Shade used this distraction to move to the bushes in front of the tree to get a better view of the battle.

Within a matter of moments, the wood-wolves were overwhelmed by the veteran manticore. With three of the five already destroyed, the other two high-tailed their selves away. With a noticeable limp, the manticore continued his journey across the clearing to his treat. The manticore stopped right at the tree and looked up to gaze at his hard fought prize. Shade struck.

She leapt up in the air and clamped her jaws on the neck of the manticore.  It roared and swiped the pest off him. He growled in pain. His action caused her to remove a mouthful of black mane and fur. The stallion watched in awe at the fight in front of him. The manticore charged at her and Shade dodged under the lumbering beast, kicking back her legs, which unbalanced the beast and made him tumble into trees. Shade charged at the exposed belly of the beast. The manticore saw this and swung his scorpion stinger at her. Shade latched onto the tail and bit it in half, removing his main method of attack and defense.

The manticore roared and charged at the white hellion before him. Shade stopped his paw from crushing her and stabbed his pad with her horn. He pulled back his paw and Shade lunged at his throat again. She sank her canines in the bald spot she made seconds earlier. She twisted her head and tore out a chunk of his throat. The ferocious beast moaned and fell to his side. Shade thrust her snout into the cavity she created and crunched through his spine, ending its suffering. Shade jumped off the beast and licked her chops victoriously.

Lime Flyer could not believe his eyes: that mare killed a manticore. Not only did she kill it but she bit it and drank its blood. Her glowing yellow eyes locked onto his frightened sapphire pinpricks. She trotted to the tree.

"How am I supposed to get you down? With the ladder in my ass?" she said.

"You can use your magic to release me, too! Though, I would like to see this ladder you are hiding!" he joked.

"I don't have magic," Shade stated.

"That's like saying a pegasus can't fly!"

"If I had magic, do you think I would've attacked that manticore bare. . . hoofed?" Shade remarked.

"Uh. . . yeah?" he replied matter-of-factly.

Shade smirked up at him, "Yeah. Yeah, I still would have." She jumped with all her strength and was able to reach the lowest branch of the tree. She continued to jump from limb to limb to reach the pegasus.

Lime Flyer saw her hooves and heard her grunting as she pulled herself up. He waved to her casually. She snorted passed him and examined his wing closely. The branch had impaled him through his left humerus; it did not look pretty.

"I don't think you'll be flying anytime soon," she commented.

"So, it's as bad as it feels?" Lime asked weakly.

"Afraid so. I'll be able to remove it when we get back to the castle," Shade answered. She punched the base of the branch and cleanly chopped it from the tree.

Lime Flyer cried in pain when he tried to move it. Shade hopped off the branch and down to the next one below. Lime Flyer followed her down. Shade walked over to the manticore, bit its tail, and started dragging the corpse. She motioned with her head for him to follow her.

Well, at least she won't eat me soon, Lime Flyer thought optimistically as he followed the capable ivory tricorn mare.