A Clean Slate

Nightshade was awoken by the chirping of the birds outside his cave. He unwound his tail from the stalactite he was sleeping on and spread his wings out, gliding down towards the cold cave floor bellow. He stretched his cold, sore back, and walked towards the calendar he had carved into the stone wall. His eyes slowly scanned the writing, attempting to find the days date. March 19th, exactly ten years since he was last thrown in exile. He turned around, and walked to the make shift table he created. On one side of the table was a pile of rocks, which he had inevitably named 'Rocky', who he used to talk to when he started feeling crazy. He leaned underneath the table and pulled out a big wooden bowl of leaves and edible plants, and set the it on the table. He emptied the bowl, and separated the greens into two piles. he slide one pile to Rocky, and kept one pile for himself.

"So Rocky, guess what today is?" he asked the rocks. the rocks, of coarse, said nothing.

"Your right! Today is the day I'm out of exile!!" he replied to the rocks as if they had answered his question.

"What's that? You want to come with me? That's crazy!! You can't come with me!!" He said, oblivious to the fact that the rock, had indeed, said nothing.

"Why you ask? Well, first off, you're just a pile of rocks, you won't be able to talk to any pony but me. Secondly, all you do is sit at that end of the table, eating my food and getting fat. I'd barley be able to carry you!" He exclaimed. A rock fell from the pile, and Nightshade lost it.

"OH! NOW YOUR BACK TALKING ME!?!" He shouted, quickly rising from his place.

"WELL THIS WILL TEACH YOU!!" he roared, and clapped his hooves together as hard as he could, creating a wave of electricity. All of the rock flew backward, and Nightshade stomped out of the cave. he stood in the warm winter sun, and let the rays soak into his black coat and warm his scales. He looked back into the cave, and laughed at himself.

"Did I really just yell at a pile of rocks?" He said aloud. This time, he heard no one. He shrugged his shoulders and started to walk away.

"Oh, wait!" He said, and turned around. He ran back into the cave, and searched for the right stalagmite.

"Dang it! Were's that stupid rock!" He exclaimed scratching his head with the thumb on one of his wings. He leaned up against the nearest stalagmite, and it slid backward.

"Oh, there it is." he said, and lifted up the broken stalagmite. Embedded in the bottom was two gems. He had been saving these for when food was scarce, or if any pony ever found him again, but he guessed he wouldn't really have a need to eat them any more. He pried the gems off, and stuffed them into his coin pouch. He then left the cave once more, and started down the mountain. He looked around him, and saw all the wood land creatures coming out of hibernation. He stopped in front of a dead tree, and tapped his wing on the trunk. He watched the top of the tree and waited. Just as he suspected, a tiny hawk head peaked out.

"Come on down Stork." He said, spreading out his wing. The hawk flew down, and landed on his wing. He had named the hawk such a name because he had found the hawk when he was walking through the marsh of the ever free forest. When Stork was a baby, he had abnormally long legs, making him resemble a stork. Lucky he grew into his legs, and was now a fine young hawk.

"we're moving today. Can you guess where?" He asked Stork.

Stork let out two squawks and a click, which Nightshade had understood to be "no."

"We're going to go live with other ponies!" he told the hawk. Stork let out a squawk of joy, and fell off Nightshades wing. He laughed and held his wing down to the ground so that Stork could walk right up. Once Nightshade was sure that Stork was on his back securely, he continued his trek down the mountain. It was about two hours of travailing before they even saw a sign of pony life, and even what they did see was just a run down house. He walked up a hill, and looked down into the nearby valley. A small town was flourishing inside the valley, and he immediately recognized it.

"There it is!" He exclaimed, and burst into a full trot. He ran down the road, Stork bairly holding on. He came to a sign and made  a complete stop, causing stork to fly off his back.

"Welcome to Ponyville..." He read aloud.

"Stork, we're home." He said.

"This is were she lives. This is were Fluttershy lives. I can finally see her again." He thought, and walked into town, unaware of the events that were about to transpire.