We live in a world of denial, and we don't know what the truth is anymore.

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You couldn't sort it out in your head. Three days ago you hesitated in a fight where, if it was anything else, you would have ripped into chunks and ate it. But for a reason unknown to you, you hesitated, and even felt a rush of... what? A rush of what? You didn't know at all. It wasn't adrenaline, you have felt adrenaline before. The best way to describe it was that something really strong kicked you in the chest. Of course that might have been Luna nearly giving you a heart attack with enough electricity to give someone a seizure. No, you were sure it happened when you accidentally cut her. Not after, not before, but exactly when you realized what happened. She was fine afterwards, and that gave you another rush of something. Something completely the opposite of the first rush. Almost as if they had taken the three hundred pound steel plates off of you, but that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Especially since they had just started trusting you and the trust was betrayed. What surprised you the most was that Raven Heart decided to stay. After that undoubtably frightening display of power, she had decided to stay as your guard. You must learn what happened to you that day. It doesn't feel right. It defies all natural instinct, everything you were taught as a child, and everything you understood the world to be. It didn't fit with the way you saw this world. You survive because you are stronger, smarter, or faster. You take the chance to spread genes when you can. You don't protect anyone other than yourself. Disobeying this breeds weakness, you were told. But then why did you feel the need to help when she started bleeding? Why does she help find food for you? Why do you want to act on something you aren't even sure you understand yet? Why? It was the only possible question you could ask, and you needed to find the answer. So you decide to find the answer in the only way you can think of at the moment.

"Hey Raven Heart?"

"Yes?" She asks in her usual soft voice.

"Do you know how to read?"

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That was a strange question. Obviously she had thought about it before, but this confirmed it. Winter didn't know how to read, and while it was not unexpected it still surprised her to a degree. She had listened in on some of his therapy sessions, which she could tell he was cheating his way through, if one could do such a thing. Raven found that, one, they weren't really helping all that much, and two, he was shockingly smart for something that was supposedly extinct. He had never shown indication of being able to read or write, but he knew what was involved in the process and was extremely adaptive. She guessed she could teach him. Judging by the current level of his intelligence, an IQ of 143 on the Stanford-Binet test, she doubted it would take him more than a few hours. He was unbelievably smart compared to pony standards, but had shared that they had a similar test in his old, what was it that he called it? Clan? Yes, clan. Anyway, he had shared with her that in his old clan, they had a similar test and that he actually scored only slightly above average. If 143 was only slightly above average she wondered what the gifted creatures were like.

"Raven Heart?" He growled again. He was constantly growling, but it was not hostile, nor was it seductive. It was as if someone had an extremely low voice and was speaking normally, which is essentially what was happening.

"Oh sorry, I got lost in thought for a second. I'll teach you if you want me to."

"How did you know I wanted you to teach me?" Although the tone of his voice suggested that he knew perfectly how she found out.

"Just grab a book off of that shelf and we can get started."

He chose one of several childrens' books on the shelf, and brought it over to the bed. Normally she would be suspicious of any creature beckoning her to a bed, but Winter didn't show any indication of having emotion at all, and would probably be very straight forward about it. That and he would have to try very hard to get through the specially issued armor made just for the ponies who guarded him on a regular basis. So basically just her, since no one else wanted to do it. Raven Heart pointed at one of the letters on the page.

"This is an A, say ah for me."

"Ah" He growled.

"Good, that's what it sounds like."

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Over then next few hours in the day, the almost black pegasus taught you the sounds of each word in the alphabet, shown you some normal words, went to get some slightly more complex books, taught you some grammar, brought you a grammar textbook, hid a small bird amongst the normal salad that you got for dinner, and went to recommend to the princesses that you should get access to the library. You sat there under the candle light and read a dictionary. You had learned how to read fluently in five hours and seventeen minutes. You're sure that it breaks some kind of record. Maybe that's what you would look for, a record book. No, you must stay on task, you must find the meanings of these rushes shat you always seem to get around your guard pony.

"Hey Winter, I'm going to need you to turn the light out. Ponies are complaining, and you need some sleep anyway." Said Raven's unmistakable voice from outside the door.

You blow out the candle with a fanned tail that has just grown from your spine, and is now receding. You didn't care that ponies were complaining, they didn't deserve the comfortable lives that they had anyway. You also were unaware of any need to sleep, but if you didn't then you would be punished and so on. All you could do was blink a few times, look through the complete blackness with clear sight, and continue to read.

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She had convinced the princesses to let Winter have some time in the library tomorrow instead of taking the tests that doctors liked to put him through. It was easy enough despite the disapproval from Luna. Cadance had flown in yesterday, to take a look at this new creature they had found, and Raven saw on her face that she had suspicions of something between her and Winter. The fact that it was Cadance startled her though. The princess of love suspecting something between the black pegasus and the so called monster suggested something that she didn't think she was ready for. Was she really in love with a monster that probably didn't even know the meaning of emotion? No, he just needed help. He was stuck in a cage made of uncomfortable furniture, medical testing equipment, and a stuck-up psychologist. He had even killed a pony apparently. Love didn't happen between creatures like that under those circumstances, did it?

"No, it doesn't." Raven Heart says to herself, with a nagging doubt in her head.

Author's Note

I'm still not sure about the idea of me, a writer notorious for violent stories, writing a romance. But hey, you never know. Also, say thanks to John Hammond and his accursed park for making me listen to this,

All constructive criticism and compliments are accepted.