The maid had been quiet, as she escorted the two royal guests to their new quarter. She had not commented on the chaos inside, the torn-out door or the indecency of Diamond Shadow keeping her wing around Autumn. She was a royal maid and if Princess Luna was not going to throw those two out for wrecking a guest room, she was not going to treat them as anything less than esteemed guests.

She was going to shake her head at them, once the door closed, though.

In the new room, the two followers just dropped their luggage and flopped onto the bed. The attempted ponynapping had not helped them rest from a night of work and teaching.

Autumn just lit his horn up and closed the drapes, plunging the room in wonderful darkness and crawled towards the pillow.
He was just about to shuffle below the blanket, when he felt two strong forearms around his neck.
Usually, the embrace would send a smile onto his face and make his heart skip once or twice, but this embrace felt wrong. Too tight, slightly shaky and laced with quick breaths.

“Love?” The stallion asked carefully. “Are you all right? She didn’t hurt you, did she?”

Autumn felt Diamond Shadow shake her head against the back of his neck. “Autumn…” she whispered slowly, clearly trying to calm herself “I love you.”

Autumn felt her grip tighten once again and put a hoof on hers. “I love you too.” He answered gently.

Diamond Shadow shifted and came closer, her whole barrel pushing against the stallion’s back and she slung one hindleg around his body. As if she wanted to make sure that she felt as much of him as possible. “I know that I can be tough to be around.” She whispered “And sometimes, I am terribly nasty. But that is not because I don’t love you.”

A soft whimper rang in Autumn’s ear and sent a shiver over his spine. Diamond Shadow rarely showed these emotions. Joy, anger, frustration. He had seen her show those. But he had rarely ever seen her show sadness.

“When I yell at you or call you an idiot or when I am just so frustrated with everything… it is not and it will never be because I don’t love you!” Diamond Shadow whispered, but to Autumn, it felt like she was screaming. “I just know you. I know what you are capable of and how good you are. You are the kindest, sweetest and most wonderful stallion I have ever known and you deserve all the good in the world. And when I snap at you… it’s partially because I can be myself around you. Because I don’t have to be under cover or act as an honour guard. Because with you I am so comfortable that I can forget my cover.”

Autumn didn’t answer. He felt Diamond Shadow calm herself a little and the rustling of the pillows and a silky tickling of her mane on his neck told him that she was scooping closer. Finally, her cheek rested just below his jawbone and she let out a small sigh. “The thought of losing you… of you getting snatched away from under my hooves. It scares me.”

“I’m safe and with you, love” Autumn stressed gently “You foiled her. And if she comes back, you will save me again.” He twisted his head a bit and kissed her on the tip of the nose. “You are my heroine.”

Diamond Shadow sighed. “I love the way you do that…” she whispered and rubbed her temple against his neck. “You make me feel so special. So wonderful.”

“You are all those things. And you can add smart, strong, caring and beautiful.” Autumn answered and kissed her again.

The mare was glad that Autumn could not see her wry, almost sad smile in the dark. She had long ago given up on the latter two. Fights and dark deeds weighted on her soul and her body was overly muscled and her face scarred, robbing her of beauty. Still, whenever he looked at her, she felt not just loved, in spite of her shortcomings, but as if she was as beautiful and good as Autumn said, she was.

Slowly her grip on the stallion loosened and she retreated to the point where she was loosely hugging him. “Good Morning.” She whispered softly and closed her eyes.

“I thought we were supposed to sleep now.” Autumn said confused.

“Yes, but it is like 10 A.M.” Diamond Shadow stated “Saying Good Night would be completely wrong.”

Author's Note

Character stuff that isn't integral to the plot but I felt, I had to write down.