Chapter 4: Testing the Bonds
They went by spiral stairs and a long corridor to a part of Luna's wing where there were exercise rooms, some occupied by Night Guards practicing with various weapons or executing gymnastic and martial forms. This sort of place was quite familiar to Spike: his brother Shining Armor had spent much time in the Day Guard training chambers, during his Reserve Officer years, and of course as a Guard Cadet. The armies of Equestria in that day were thoroughly professional, and here was one of the places where they learned their profession of arms.
This being the Night Guard, of course, many of the Guards were Nocturnae: Ponies of the bat-winged, cat-eyed variant Pegasus stock that had served Princess Luna since the early centuries of the Realm, and who according to sacred Traditions Luna herself had somehow made from neglected foals left orphaned by the chaos of the early Time of Thrones. Some of those Traditions were common lore, some sacred secrets written down in the Books of the Traditions. Spike, who had already made friends all through Canterlot and its Palace in his short life, knew some of the secrets of the Thestral Traditions, and also knew better than to casually speak of them to outsiders.
Spike knew that the Night Pegasi practically worshiped Princess Luna as their sacred Mother Night, who had created them and charged them with protecting Equestria from evil daring to rise during the hours of darkness. In past centuries, there had been times when almost all Thestral stallions -- and many of the mares -- had been Night Guards. Under the more peaceful circumstances of the modern age, most Nocturnae instead pursued civilian careers -- their rather conservative and restrained ways making them excellent bankers and scholars -- but they still revered Luna, and in time of crisis were ready to flock to the Moon-Banner.
Such was their Tradition, and Spike for the first time now saw the effects in practice. Where ever Luna walked, her progress was followed by slitted eyes, shining in the dim magelight that illumed Luna's wing of the Palace, the light reflecting from the tapeta behind those eyes. Pointed, tufted ears swivelled to monitor her no less intently. The effect would have been sinister, were it not for the intense and obvious adoration that shone from each pair of great lambent eyes as they looked upon their incarnate goddess. It was obvious to Spike that exposure to the reality of Princess Luna had made them only all the more loyal to her.
Princess Celestia noticed this as well.
They would all willingly die for you, Sister, she murmured into Luna's mind.
I hope and pray that they shall never again have the cause, replied Luna in like wise. Her mind-speech was tinged with guilt and sorrow. Too many good Night-Ponies died, fighting for mine own selfish desires, a thousand years and more agone.
You know, perhaps better than I, that a time approaches in which they will have to fight for the survival of all Equestria, Celestia replied. And some shall surely fall in this battle.
Then they shall fight for a better cause this time than before, Luna said soberly. And I shall do my utmost to so arm and train and lead them that as few shall fall as is needful for victory. Passion thickened her mind-voice. I shall not betray the trust of my Children. Not this time.
Celestia felt a surge of love and admiration for her Sister.
Luna regarded her questioningly. What? she asked Celestia.
Oh, nothing, replied Celestia. Just wondering where you're keeping that dashing young Pumpernickel?
Luna flashed her a look of annoyance. Captain Pumpernickel, she said rather formally, is detached on recruiting duty, in accordance with our plans to expand the Night Guard.
Oh, Captain Pumpernickel? asked Celestia, though she full well knew the answer. I take it the lad's diligence has been rewarded? Her lovely purple eyes danced with mischief.
In point of fact, it has, replied Luna, raising her delicate muzzle high. Captain Pumpernickel is a loyal and competent officer. I wish all the Guard were his equal. Her eyes suddenly widened in dismay, as if she had made some tactical error.
Apparently she had, for Celestia smiled broadly. Oh, I imagine you do!
Thou hast a very dirty mind, Luna said, pouting at her. And Pumpernickel is a good Pony. Thou demeanest him with thine insinuations. In truth, Sister, I do mean this. He has never been aught but a good and loyal friend, one who comforted me in a very dark time of my life, when I had just come back, and felt utterly lost. I had but few friends, then -- all my old friends were almost a millennium dead and gone. She looked sad. In truth I still have not so many friends that they deserve to be scorned, for caring about mine own unworthy self. She drooped her head, letting her starlight mane cover her face.
Celestia's expression softened, and she put a wing around Luna, pressed against her side as they walked on together. Forgive me, dear Sister, I did but make merry with you. I have in fact received good report of Captain Pumpernickel, and for his loyalty to and love for you, he has my most sincere gratitude. He shall find in me a friend as well, for he has been naught but a friend to both our House and our Realm.
Nor, Celestia added, do I blame him for his earlier excess of loyalty to you, at the expense of his loyalty to me. It is but the consequence of his high heart, and race-pride. Pumpernickel is no trimmer, to bend his wings to every chance breeze of politics. His loyalty, once won, is firm and golden. I shall forever remember this, and the good turn he did my Sister when she needed, above all, an honest friend.
Spike could hear that whole conversation, though he was not certain why. He supposed that it was due to some side-effect of his recent Attunement, and his close proximity to the Sisters. It might have been accidental, or on purpose. If on purpose, he was uncertain of Celestia's motivations.
He had learned another secret, to add to the many he hoarded about Celestia and Luna and the Palace at Canterlot. It was in the nature of a Dragon to hoard, and to greatly value what he hoarded, and the value of a secret was much-reduced if generally-known. So Spike chose to say nothing.
When Celestia made that protracted declaration regarding Pumpernickel, Spike could see the effect it had on Luna by the change in the smaller Alicorn's expression. At the end, Luna was smiling happily at her Sister, and Celestia returning her warm regard.
Spike, brought up in the Palace, had understood more of that conversation than would have most Pony colts his age: both regarding Celestia's teasing accusation and the reason why Luna had defended Pumpernickel against it. He knew the selfish reasons why a stallion might pretend to love a mare of higher birth, why a mare would be ill-advised to accept such a counterfeit of love, and why Luna had been so insistent that such had not been the case with Pumpernickel. Spike, himself, would never have lied about loving somepony, but even at ten he knew that others might. One cannot grow up around a Royal Court and retain anything like perfect innocence.
Spike had not understood all of it, of course. But then, neither would have have any other being then in the Palace, save perhaps a certain statue in the gardens, two of whose occupants had known the Royal Pony Sisters all their very long lives, even before they had been royal.
One thing was certain. It made Spike see Luna in a different light. Not so much a better or worse one as a more equine one. If Luna could be lonely, and get a crush on one of her own Guard officers, a feeling which embarrassed her because she knew him an unsuitable match, and yet still found the friendship comforting and defended her friend when teased on it by her big sister, well ...
It let Spike see Luna as more a mare, somepony not that different in some ways from Twilight, or her old group of friends from the Academy, or the new group of friends they were making at Ponyville; and less a monster or goddess or inconceivable Cosmic Being. Somepony who might be lonely, and seek love or friendship from another Pony. Somepony who might, perhaps, someday be his friend.
Now that was a strange thought. Strange, but mostly reassuring. If Luna were his potential friend, it meant that she was less likely to inflict some terrible fate upon him with her mysterious super-equine magecraft. It meant that their relationship might be a social one, and Spike knew that he was actually pretty good at making fillies accept him socially, at least as a friend. He had gotten along better wth Twilght's Academy friends than had Twilight herself.
Spike felt suddenly safer and more confident, more willing to open up to Princess Luna.
And it did not occur to him until much, much later that this may have been exactly what Princess Celestia had intended by letting him listen in to their conversation.
-
Luna led the way to a large exercise room, in which waited plenty of paper, pens and ink. Each of the three participants stood in a different corner, equipped with an ample supply of writing materials. And they sent each other messages.
That was most of the testing, but then that was the best way to test a message-sending spell -- by sending messages. The practice was quite useful, especially for Spike. This was the first time that he had been attuned to more than one Pony at a time, which meant that when he sent a message he had to focus on the Princess to whom he meant to send the message.
Celestia and Luna also produced their own version of the magefire. The three sent messages to each other. The Princesses were better at this than was Spike, and better at distinguishing between recipients. Especially on the early tries, Spike sometimes sent to the wrong Sister, while they made not one mistake of that sort.
"You have the harder task," Celestia explained, smiling kindly. "We must merely distinguish between Alicorn and Dragon, while you must tell apart not merely two Alicorns, but two full sisters. My psyche is much more similar to that of Luna than either of ours is to yours, Spike."
Spike understood and even agreed with Celestia's point -- the Sisters radiated a sort of cool ageless power that he had never sensed from anypony else, not even from Cadance, whose emanations smelled -- newer. By comparison, Celestia and Luna were unlike any other Ponies, and far more different from anypony else than they were from one another. So he had an excuse for his errors.
But Spike knew that mastering this skill would make him much more useful to the Realm -- and to Twilight Sparkle. So he persevered, refusing offers of rest.
And in the end, his persistence was rewarded. His ability to sense the souls of the Sisters sharpened as he focused on it, and he could smell the difference between them. It was difficult to put into ordinary terms -- it was as if Celestia were a hot creative efflorescence, a living furnace forming new things from the old; while Luna was a cool attractor, drawing old things into new and beautiful alignments and courses. Spike did not fully understand this but he sensed its truth.
When he grasped this, it became easy to tell them apart.
"Very good!" Celestia said, when he explained to her what he was doing. "Now, I think, you can scent us truly every time!" She beamed at the Dragon.
"The young drake is determined," Luna agreed, smiling slightly at Spike. "Such determination will take thee far and serve thee well," she said directly to him.
"Eh, it's easy when you notice it," said Spike. "Why, you two are as different as Night and Day!"
Celestia and Luna both laughed: Luna's a high and merry giggle.
"Well chosen words," said Celestia. "Now, we make the game more difficult."
Now each of the moved to a different exercise rom, so that each was out of sight of and hundreds of lengths away from the others. They sent messages back and forth, at first merely to the apropriate recipient, as before. Then they began lying about who had sent them, so that the recipient had to identify the sender by soul-scent alone.
It was only when he had mastered this that Celestia and Luna alike judged the training complete.
Word of Celestia's decision came to Spike in the form of a magefire message.
The scroll said:
Dear Spike,
My congratulations upon your successful attunement with my Sister. I wish I could feast you in celebration of your achievement, but business of the Realm now demands my undivided attention elsewhere.
The storm has already begun to lash Ponyville; it would be hazardous to return you by sky chariot. Please, do accept my hospitality at the Royal Palace of Canterlot, for at least this night.
Since I am currently unable to entertain you in person, Princess Luna desires to feast you instead. I hope that my Sister will prove an adequate substitute. She would be pleased to dine with you.
Yours Truly,
Princess Celestia Sola Inivicta of Equestria
It was an offer which Spike almost couldn't refuse. Certainly, he didn't want to refuse it. Both common courtesy, and loyalty to the Crown, practically demanded his assent. Spike prided himself on being both courteous, and loyal.
Besides, Spike was curious about Princess Luna. The regal and polite Princess with whom he had attuned seemed very different from the angry and menacing Nightmare Moon he had met a few months ago at the Ponyville Town Hall. Which was the real mare? Luna seemed safe enough for ordinary social conversation -- at least now.
Princess Luna stepped into the exercise room. She was calm and composed, though Spike noticed a certain strange tension underlying her manner.
Why is she nervous? Spike wondered. Surely she knows I'm no threat to her.
"Master Spike," she said, "Allow me to conduct you to my dining chamber, that we may sup and converse together."
Spike smiled broadly, and bowed deeply at her. "I am at your service, Princess Luna."
Luna nodded in reply. "Then I shall lead on to the feast."
He followed her, out of the exercise room, and deeper into the Night Wing of the Palace.
On the origins of the Nocturnae, I assume that they were made from these children.
"Children of the Night" is slighly inconsistent with my world in that it assumes that the suffering of Equestria was caused by the ravages of Discord, implying also that Discord's reign was brief, whereas in the Shadow Wars Story Verse, of course, following the model of the Pony POVerse I have the Age of Discord last a thousand years.
Of course Equestria (which had never been anything more than a geographic concept until the Sisters unified the Realm) had adapted to a thousand years of Discord's misrule. Discord reserved his real hostility for multi-city empires and kingdoms; he mostly left alone or only occasionally interfered with single small cities or towns or villages. A lot of his major efforts were devoted to wearing down large-scale enemies such as the Crystal Empire, the Hegemony of Lith and the Heartspire of the White Queen; or fighting major foes of Ponykind such as the Dragons or the Windigoes. (Discord always conceived of the Ponies as being "his own kind" in a way he never felt about any of the other sapient beings of the Earth, due to his upbringing at Paradise Estate).
Ironically, it was the removal of Discord that created the real problems after the end of the Age of Discord. Without Discord to protect Ponykind from external foes and to prevent wars between the numerous small Pony polities, such foes attacked and such wars erupted. Doubtless, Discord, from his stone housing, laughed at the Sisters as they frantically flew about from point to point attempting to mitigate the effects of an anarchy more violent than that which the Draconequus himself had generally permitted.
It is actually this general condition of civil war in Equestria, rather than the ravages of Discord per se, which caused the existence of numerous neglected children from which Luna recruited some of the most intelligent and potentially-talented to become her Nocturnae. The song popular among the Nocturnae themselves, from which comes the video, is of course very favorable to Princess Luna, toward whom the Nocturnae have always been loyal.
Luna's specific method of recruiting the Nocturnae was very ill-chosen -- though she had to be surreptitious in order to avoid being stopped by Celestia. Equestrians in general only knew that Luna passed, and children disappeared: they did not stop to consider that the only children who disappeared were unwanted ones. Her Colony was hidden -- as far as most Ponies knew, Luna was carrying the foals off to eat them, a calumny which became the nucleus of the later concept of Nightmare Moon as a literal ogre embodied in Nightmare Night.
My concept of the Nocturnae and their Traditions comes straight from Georg, who is also the creator of Pumpernickel and Laminia.
An interesting and major question I haven't answered in my own mind at the point of writing Royal Business is this ...
... what about the non-Pegasus Nocturnae?
"Children of the Night" is, after all, narrated by one of them.
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- Jordan179 · 12k words · 16 6 · 657 views
- Tumbleweed · 6.9k words · 56 2 · 1k views
- Jordan179 · 6.2k words · 32 14 · 1.2k views
- Jordan179 · 5.5k words · 30 6 · 1.1k views
- twilightsparkle3562 · 1k words · 27 1 · 1.4k views
- Jordan179 · 4.5k words · 42 13 · 1.8k views
- Jordan179 · 2.9k words · 49 14 · 2.1k views
- Jordan179 · 5.4k words · 32 6 · 1.1k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.113 seconds
Total duration
882 users online
1,217,823 hits today, 2,364,530 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
7233738
Yeah, I'm working through a huge backlog of incomplete stories. This one's actually not that far from completion. Next chapter is the climax, then one more for the denouement. It was never meant to be longer than short novella length, anyway.
6998308
Oh yes, even though Spike is very young, and hence far from his eventual full power, my version of him is a fairly impressive entity. And he has a tough mind -- he can face things that would drive a lot of Ponies insane. Twilight is understandably protective of him and doesn't realize just how tough Spike is in truth, though her studies and experience lead her to suspect that he's hardly helpless.
This is actually one reason Spike falls more deeply for Rarity over time rather than getting over the crush -- as he gets to know her better, he realizes that she's a lot like him in being tougher than she seems. And part of the reason Rarity likes him back is that she knows he's strong. She's protective toward him too, but she rarely underestimates him once she comes to know him.
Luna likes Dragons, as she displays toward Fischfootur in All The Way Back. And she very clearly likes Spike in this story, though she does have a very obvious (to the reader) ulterior motive for her meeting with him.
This chapter, especially the first section, is abnormally high on typos. Not what any author wants the readership to focus on, I know, but it's high enough to be hard not to notice.
We've got "writte", "ractically", "mdoern" , "uon", Sike", and "expsure" in just a few paragraphs. Then followed by "SIster", "murmurred", "like wise" when you want "likewise", and "utmst".
7233831
Fixing them. Sorry, this keyboard really and deeply sucks.
7233831
Fixed. However, "like wise" is intentional -- Luna doesn't run the words together in the modern English translation convention, but keeps them apart as a phrase, because she uses older forms.
7233864
Sorry is this narrated by Luna? I thought it was Spike's POV. If so, "like wise" isn't part of the dialogue so Luna's speech patterns shouldn't affect it.
7233883
Checked it. The context is "in like wise," which is grammatically correct for either archaic or modern usage. You would say "likewise" but "in like wise," as "wise" means "nature" or "kind" in that sense. I was probably influenced to use the construction by the fact that it was describing Luna speaking, even though Spike was (telepathically) hearing her speech.
Ooh, two Jordan updates in as many days.
I see some Georg influence, including Captain Lumpy. Though now I have to wonder if Laminia tried to provoke Luna into returning to her Nightmare in this world as well...
Ah, knowledge. Often more precious than jewels, though not nearly as palatable. Still, an excellent addition to any dragon's hoard, especially one who lives in a library.
Decades later...
"... Oh, you clever horse."
"What did you call me?"
"No, Rarity, I—"
"I knew it! You think I'm hideous! Curse this alicorn growth spurt!"
I do love descriptions of alien senses, and Spike's soul-scenting was especially fascinating. So was the chapter as a whole. A good balance of magibabble and character building. I look forward to more, especially anything you might have to say about the wingless Nocturnae.
7234448
Well, I was working on Chapter 11 of All The Way Back for almost a month, and Royal Business has a short-chapter structure. But I'm glad you like it.
The Pumpernickel and Laminia story is right out of Georg's world. Though in my version the Sisters are more sexually-restrained than in his. Among other things, neither of them is having sex with Big Mac. I'm playing them more for straight drama than bawdy comedy. Though Luna does basically like Big Mac (and the Sweet Apple Acres Siblings in general).
But the basics are still the same. Pumpernickel tried to get her to raise another revolt. And Luna refused. And Laminia was a very emotionally-damaged Nocturnae who is healing with Pumernickel's help.
Spike is smart and very much appreciates the value of knowledge. He comes off as a bit anti-intellectual compared to Twilight Sparkle, but then so does almost everyone.
And yes, I think he eventually realizes that Celestia manipulated him to be friendlier toward Luna in this scene.
7234451
Luna does like Big Mac in the SWSV. She never takes him as a lover, but he's most definitely the sort of stallion of whom she approves and finds attractive -- big, smart, strong, brave and kindly. In other ages she's fallen for stallions like him.
Does Luna have a pet?
7235054
At the moment in this story, probably not. Even in the IDW-verse she acquires Tiberius (who is probably more than a normal opossum) much later on.
7233845 you've dropped some "p"'s.
7235708
My computer has damaged keys.
You keep the thestrals as a different kind of pony despite the CutieReMark. This is the trouble of writing in an universe of active production:
Let us suppose that one falls in love with a show in the 1st season. Between, Season # 1 and 2, one writes canon-compatible fanfiction because one needs moar. The show goes out on top at the end of season # 10 (we had a decade of greatness, but nothing lasts forever, so it is better to leave on top). That canon-compatible story probably will not be canon-compliant any more.
Mine own personal philosophy about canon-compliant in fanfiction, is that it means canon-compliant when the writer starts writing. AU, is not canon-compliant when the writers starts writing.
Bad Dragon was between ½ and ⅔ done with a story when Crusaders of the Lost Mark aired and caused him to have to change it.
7236713
That some Night Guard seem to be using an enchantment to look standard NIght Guard doesn't mean that there aren't some Ponies who are exactly what the enchantment is designed to make them look like. I don't see the contradiction.
Nice other than Mdoern age up there. I know all about damaged keyboards. I lost the entire left side of my last one when I had to replace it. Everything left of G.
Also, I love Children of the Night. I've known one of the animators for quite a while before MLP caught his attention.
7236847
Thestrals might really exist, but now we know that some are the product of glamor.
7236854
7235708
I have a damaged keyboardstory too for you 3:
I was smart enough never to take off the plastic on my keyboard. it worked fine for half a decade. Then my sister-in-law borrowed it. ¡She took off the plastic! About an year later.
A year after that, I spilled something onto the keyboard. ¡The right side of the keyboard died!
An year later, ¡the whole keyboard died!
I bought a new Magic Keyboard from Apple. It connects using Bluetooth and only needs charging, which it does over USB (Lightning Port) monthly. ¡I shall never take it out of the plastic and never let my sister-in-law touch it!
Spellcheck, though often rightly maligned, is not your enemy. "Change All" certainly can be, and it is painful when its dictionary mismatches your vocabulary. This is not such a a case, though. Some corrections:
weapons
Wherever
tapeta
cause, replied Luna in kind.
needs a space
well…
Huh. Don't often see someone who puts two spaces after a period as was formerly prescribed.
persevered
difference
did you mean attractor?
Invicta, I think…oddly, this line breaks mid-‘Princess’ on mobile.
courtesy
remove a space
Night
As for Night/Lunar unicorns and Earth ponies…good question! I know a few (such as David Silver) have addressed it. By Exalted logic, of course, it's silly to claim Earth ponies as Solar in the first place, though. Then you realize that Luna is a Solar alicorn, anatomically, while Nightmare was Lunar/Nocturnal…and the plot thickens.
7237758
Thank you for this. I have a dying keyboard, and it's terribly easy to typo on it, more so than most. I made most of your suggested changes; a few of the things you mentioned were actually my deliberate stylistic choices.
7237758
Well, I could see Earth Ponies and Unicorns with the Nocturnae adaptations, everything but (of course) the bat-wings. They could have tapeta and improved hearing, in particular. For the Earth Ponies, this would of course be maladpted to farming, but farming isn't the only thing Earth Ponies do. For instance, they would be wonderful for miners, who have to work in low-light conditions where good hearing can be the difference between survival and death when the threat of cave-in looms. And Unicorn scholars would benefit from requiring less light.
7236949
Yes. In fact, there are three kinds in the SWSV.
(1) Old Nocturnae - These are Night Ponies who are descended from the old Nocturnae who Luna created before her banishment. They maintain the Traditions and regard Luna as a demi-goddess. They often don't trust or get along with the normal Three Kinds very well.
(2) New Nocturnae - These are Night Ponies transfomed by Luna since her return to swell the ranks of the Night Guard. Their relationship with the Old Nocturnae is tense, because they neither maintain the Traditions nor regard Luna as a demi-goddess, though they are loyal enough to her. They get along with the normal Three Kinds just fine.
(3) Enchanted Non-Nocturnae - These are Night Guard who wear armor with the Nocturnae Enchantment. They have Nocturnae appearance and abilities while they wear the armor. They are of the normal Three (or more) Kinds. They and the Old Nocturnae have long since become accustomed to one another, though both maintain awareness of the difference.
Wow, this is good stuff! You've gone the extra mile with lore and the premise seems to be well thought-out. My only complaint is the last chapter was published a year and a half ago which is never a good sign. Hope this will go on.