I opened my eyes to a blinding light.

"I'm just curious Mr. Shadow, why do you insist on losing almost all of your blood? Is it fun? Or do you just want to see how much you can lose before you die?" A familiar voice asked.

My vision cleared a little bit, and I could make out the doctor that helped me out when I first fought a regenerans bestia.

I forced a smirk. "The latter, of course."

He rolled his eyes. "Maybe I should scan your brain for problems as well."

"Nah, I'm good. So what was wrong with me this time doc?"

"Besides losing almost all of your blood again, you have some bruised ribs."

"That's not so bad."

"Whatever you say Mr. Shadow. I'll tell everypony outside you're awake now."

"Fine by me."

He nodded and trotted out of the door. A few moments later, Rainbow, Twilight, Barry, and Ni trotted in.

"Oh hey guys, is it my birthday or something?"

"Can you do anything besides joke when you come close to dying?" Barry asked.

I shrugged. "Not really. This is how I cope."

Rainbow trotted next to my bed. She just sat there for a moment in silence.

I could make out a few tears going down her face. I pulled her close to me. "It's okay. I'm fine Rainbow. I'm still here."

I held her for a little while longer before breaking the hug.

She looked at me. "Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why do you keep putting yourself in danger?!"

"Because it's to protect everypony." I replied calmly.

"We can protect ourselves!"

"I'm sorry Rainbow, but that's where you're wrong. From the kind of threat I faced last night, there was no way Ponyville would have been fine by itself. Please try to understand, I'm doing this because I want to, and to protect Ponyville."

"Just...please stay safe the next time something like that happens."

"That would be an empty promise Rainbow. I can promise I'll do my best to come back alive, but not much more than that."

"Then promise!"

"...I promise."

She didn't say anything else. She just laid her head on my chest.

I looked up at Ni. "So what happened last night?"

"Well after you passed out from severe blood loss, I swooped down to pick you up, but not before one more regenerans bestia attacked me. After I dealt with it properly, I was able to fly you back here."

"And what about the other Mones?"

"They flew back to Cloudsdale. Spitfire said to talk to her when you can."

"Okay. Anything else?"

"Not really."

"Alright."

"I just stayed here to make sure you were okay. I'm going to head out now. Glad you're okay Shadow." Ni said as he started to trot out.

"Alright, thanks for saving my sorry ass."

He laughed. "You're welcome. Now get some rest Shadow." He finished before finally trotting out.

"So you're going to be okay then?" Twilight asked.

"Until he pulls something stupid like that again." Barry added.

"That sounds about right." I said with a smirk.

"Sarcastic asshole." Barry said rolling his eyes.

"Aww, come on Barry. You know that's why everypony loves me."

"You wish."

"Come on, bring it in bro." I said, opening up for a hug.

He let a smile slip. "Ahhhh there it is! You really do care!" I teased.

"Just shut up and go to sleep."

"Nah, I feel like I have so...much...energy..." I looked up and saw that the doctor had slipped me a sedative in my bag thingy above my bed.

"Ass...holes...ZzZzzZzzz"

I had some nightmares. I saw the base we had taken out go untouched. I saw the regenerans bestia launch an assault on Ponyville. They massacred everypony in sight. Just before they were about to kill Rainbow, my eyes shot open.

I looked around the dark room. Everything was nice and quiet. I looked down, and saw that Rainbow had fallen asleep on my chest. I smiled and gently stroked her mane. After about five minutes of that, I drifted back to sleep.

I had good dreams this time. I dreamed that me and Rainbow had become famous Wonderbolts. We had our wedding in Canterlot, and we grew old together. When that happened I woke up.

I looked down at Rainbow. She was still asleep. That last part of my dream is impossible. I'm going to have to watch Rainbow die someday. I'm going to have to watch everypony I care about die someday...

I choked back a few tears.

"Shadow? Are you okay?" Rainbow asked, making me jump a little bit.

"Uhh, yeah. I'm fine."

"I know when something's up Shadow. Tell me what's wrong."

"It's nothing. This is my burden to bare."

"You can't keep facing your problems without help Shadow."

"I know. But please, let me deal with this one myself."

"..."

"Trust me. This is for the best. Now lets think of something happier. How much longer until our wedding?"

"It's in thirteen days Shadow."

"That soon?"

She nodded. "That soon."

"Wow. I've really lost track of time."

"Yeah, I'll agree with you on that one."

"What time is it right now?"

"It's about 7:30 AM. Why?"

"Just curious." I said as I rose out of bed.

"What are you doing? You can't leave yet Shadow."

"There isn't much to do here. I'm gonna fly to Cloudsdale and talk to Spitfire about whatever it is she wanted to talk about."

"Sigh*, just please be careful Shadow."

"I will. I'll meet you back home. I love you."

"I love you too."

I shed my hospital gown and opened the room's window. I somewhat painfully spread my wings and took flight. It feels like every time I flap my wings, I'm getting a hammer to my back. After about fourty minutes of fighting to stay in flight, I finally reached Cloudsdale. This time I just landed at the edge of the city so I didn't have to fly anymore to avoid more pain.

I limped my way through the city and to the Wonderbolts HQ. I went to the locker room and struggled down the stairs. When I got downstairs, I saw Spitfire taking a nap on the central table.

I cleared my throat, making her jump awake.

"Shadow? What are you doing here?"

"Ni said you wanted to see me when I was able."

"Exactly. When you were able. You look like hell right now Shadow. It has to be painful just to stand right now."

"I've had worse."

"Is that always your excuse? That you've had worse?"

"If I didn't have an excuse, then all I would to is stay in bed all day. If I have an excuse not to, then I'll take it."

She sighed. "Well, you've got determination. I'll give you that."

"Thanks I guess. So what is it that you wanted to see me about?"

"I wanted to talk to you about your training."

"What about it?"

"Although we havn't trained you that much in the third level of combat that much, you seem to have fought exceptionally well against those bestia yesterday."

"Thanks, but where are you going with this?"

"I'm saying that with the level of training that you were on, you shouldn't have been able to last long at all with two bestia, let alone kill one of them. Needless to say, I'm impressed."

"So I get a cookie or something now?"

"No you moron. What happens now is that I start training you to be a full-fledged member of the Fugiens Mones."

"Wait, so you're going to-"

"Start training you on level four, yes." She finished for me.

"Cool, so when do I start?"

"Not now, if that's what you're thinking. First of all, I'm sleepy. Second, you still need to recover from your injuries. Last, you need to have the second potion so you can multiply your strength further."

"There's a second potion?"

"Well, there's actually four. One for when you first join, another when you finish phase three training, another after phase four, and one more for the captain."

"So what's this one supposed to do?"

"It will increase your strength like I told you. You see, after you complete a phase of training, you don't get increased strength by default."

"Because that would just be silly." I said with a roll of my eyes.

"Watch it. Anyways, you need to drink a stronger version of the previous potion to gain more strength."

"And why can't I just drink them all?"

"Because, there are limits. The only reason that I'm not giving any of you the strongest potion is because you would most likely die."

"What?"

"This is the reason we set up phases of training. If you are able to complete the first two phases, you can drink the first potion and survive. Complete the third, and you will most likely survive."

"Most likely?"

She nodded. "Your chances of survival dwindle the more potions you take. The first one is guarenteed for survival. As you progress however, your chances of death increase. This is why you must complete training first, because you'll have a better chance of survival."

"Just out of curiosity, what are the chances of survival for the potions?"

"Well, if you complete training like you're supposed to, the one that you would be drinking next, you would have a ten percent chance of mortality."

"And I have to take these potions?"

"If you want to progress any further, yes. We won't force you to take it, but it's highly recommended you do."

"Okay, what about the other two potions?"

"After stage four training, that potion leaves you with a fifty percent chance of mortality."

"Damn. What is the captain's chance?"

"My chances of survival were fairly slim. I had only a twenty percent chance of surviving."

"I really don't have any comment about that one. Well this is a first. I'm out of sarcasm."

"Apparently not, because you're still talking."

"Thanks, I appreciate you making me feel better."

"How Rainbow Dash wants to marry you, I'll never know..."

"Everypony loves the sarcasm Spitfire, even you." I said with a smirk.

"I highly doubt it." She said, rolling her eyes.

"So do I get to drink my potion now?"

"Yeah, sure. Be right back, I'm going to go grab it for you."

I nodded and sat down until she came back. About five minutes later, she flew back with another vial of that delicious fluid.

"Where do you keep that stuff anyways?"

"In a safe back there. Now are you sure you want to do this even though there's a chance you could die?"

"The way I see it, I'll die if I don't do it anyways, so lets go."

She nodded and handed me the bottle. I popped the cork and downed it. Seriously that stuff tastes incredible! It tastes just like bacon would if it were liquid!

After I finished, I let out a loud belch and dropped the bottle.

"Feel okay?" Spitfire asked.

"Oh yeah. I'll risk death any day if I can have another bottle of that stuff."

"Glad you like it."

"Well, I guess since we're done here, I'll limp back upstairs and fly home."

"You'll be fine you wuss."

I smiled and started trotting away.

"Oh, and Shadow!" Spitfire called out.

I turned around. "Yeah?"

"If you ever wake me up again, I'll make sure you'll never have kids. Are we clear?"

"What the hell kind of threat is that?!"

"A serious one." She suddenly smiled and waved. "Bye Shadow! I hope you feel better!"

I turned around and started speed trotting. I'm getting the hell out of here ASAP!

After struggling up the stairs, I made it outside of the building. I spread my wings and started flying home. After a while, I arrived back home and went inside. Rainbow was waiting for me on the couch.

"Hey Rainbow, how are ya?" I asked

"I should be asking you that question Shadow. Are you still hurt?"

"Eh, I'll be fine."

"If you're fine, you won't mind if we have some fun will you?"

"Fun?...Oh! Hell yeah! I like fun!"

She giggled. "I'm glad you do. Now let's go upstairs."

I nodded and followed her back upstairs for our 'fun time.'

Eeyup, I'm still busting your balls when it comes to this. Maybe I'll actually write through with something like this soon, I don't know, we'll see. Anywho, this was a pretty slow chapter, I know, but that was on purpose because you guys had action last chapter. This is supposed to be a little cool-down. Review/comment for me. That's right, I've actually run out of death threats for the time being. Do it anyways though :P

Chuck Norris fact of the day: Ozzy Osbourne once bit the head off of a bat. Not to be outdone, Chuck Norris bit the head off of Batman.