The Reader

by GnollReader

Chapter 3: The wet dog

Princess Celestia was tossing and turning in her bed, her sleep troubled. For three days she had waited in hope that the gnoll would return, but he had not. Had he been scarred so much by his experiences with her subjects? Where had he gone? Her thoughts gave her no rest as she tried to find sleep.

When she turned around once again though, she found herself looking into two red eyes and a towering form above her bed. "White pony wake up." a deep voice grumbled. She gave a yelp and tried to skid away from the form, only succeeding in falling off her bed with a loud thump. "Is no time for games white pony. It has questions." she finally became aware who had come to her chambers.

"It's you! Where have you been? Wha... how did you get into my chambers?" she asked as she got up, there were usually guards everywhere in the castle.

He raised an eyebrow, "It already told white pony, it good at climbing." he shook himself, spraying his surroundings with water.

"You're soaking wet!"

He shrugged, "Is rain outside."

She used her magic to put some more logs on the fire heating her chamber, "You should dry yourself."

He shook his head, "Not important, it has question first." He reached under his rags and brought forth a little book, "This book make no sense! It reads again and again, it understands all the signs but it does not understand meaning!" he was ranting as he skipped through the pages.

"What exactly do you not understand?"

He put a claw to a page and read out loud, "And the pony jumped over the moon." he looked at her with a wild look, "Pony jump over moon? That make no sense! How does pony jump over moon? Moon up there and ponies down here! It make no sense!"

Celestia smiled, he had been reading a book with stories for little foals. The story about the pony that jumped over the moon had always been one of her and her sister's favorites, even with their troubled past. "I think you should meet my sister."

He gave her a questioning look, "Sister know why pony jump over moon?"

She smiled again, "Yes, she can explain it to you."

He gave a happy nod, "Good. It meets sister of white pony."

She mentally called for her sister, "Please stand next to that window for a moment, she will be here right away." He did not understand her request but he followed suit and positioned himself in the shadows next to the large window.

After a few moments there was a bright flash and before Celestia stood Princess Luna, deity of the moon. "Sister, thou has called for us, we mean,... you called for me, sister?" she had slowly been learning to talk normally, but old habits die hard. "Please tell me this isn't about the gnoll again."

When her sister had come with a story about a gnoll in the library she was sure that Celestia had been having a bad dream. To think that a gnoll would actually appear in Equestria after all this time was simply absurd in her opinion. In addition, what Celestia had told her about his story simply seemed unbelievable.

However, Celestia was wearing a strange smile, "I would like you to meet my sister." there was the sound of heavy footprints accompanied by falling water drops behind her. She smelled something that reminded her of wet dog and felt a hot breath down her back. She turned around, "Dear sister, I would like you to meet the gnoll."

Luna stared up at the huge creature, she was at a complete loss of words for what she was seeing. The gnoll however, had not lost his tongue. "Why pony jump over moon?"

"What?" she wasn't quite sure she was awake at this moment.

"Why pony jump over moon? It make no sense!" he asked agitatedly.

She wasn't sure how to answer, "I didn't... actually jump over it..."

He tilted his head, "What? Not this pony! Here, pony in book!" he showed her the book.

She read the title, "This is a book with tales for little foals..."

He looked at her, "So? Still makes no sense!"

"Yes, but it isn't meant to make sense. You read it to little ponies so they can sleep." he seemed to process this for a moment. She turned towards her sister, "That wasn't very nice."

Celestia was barely holding her laughter, "Yes, but your face was priceless. Besides, you wouldn't have believed me if I had told you."

Luna looked at the gnoll who was currently muttering something to himself as he was skipping through the pages again. "You're right. Do you realize how long it has been since we've seen one of their kind?"

Celestia nodded, "I remember, they left shortly before the rupture. Maybe we are getting a chance to repair the damage committed that day."

Suddenly the gnoll shut the book with a snap, "Silly book..." he muttered with a tired sigh as he placed the little book on a shelf and sat before the fire, red eyes staring into the burning timbers. "It liked the story with the pony and the wolf. That good story."

The two sisters walked up to his side, even sitting he was still massive. "We haven't been formally introduced yet, you have met my sister Celestia, I am Luna. It is a pleasure to meet you." he gave them a brief look and a short nod before turning his head back towards the fire. "May I know your name?" Luna asked carefully, she wasn't sure how to address this creature.

"It."

"It?"

He gave a nod, "It."

"That isn't a name." Luna commented.

"Is good name, is short and all ponies know it."

She shook her head, "No, you only call things 'it', surely you have another name."

He thought for a moment, "Some ponies also call it monster, beast or creature."

"Those aren't names either." she commented.

"Then it has no name." he shrugged. Celestia stepped forward,

"How about Scar?" Celestia proposed. She knew the gnolls had a very different culture concerning names. They were able to identify one another easily through smell. Names were something unfamiliar to them so they rather simply tended to give short descriptions about the most notable features instead.

"Scar..." he mulled the word over as he stared into the fire.

"Why Scar?" Luna whispered to her sister.

"Remember what I told you about his back?"

She did, "Oh... that. Is it really that bad?"

"It is." Celestia replied sadly.

He cracked his neck in thought, the loud cracks sending chills down the ponies' backs, "Scar is good name. It is Scar."

Comments

[Fanskapet]

good so far only bad thing is the random pic what happened to the gnoll one?

[Everwinter]

1585151 Yeah...........story is good but I can't even tell what the picture is....................

[GnollReader]

1585163
the picture's just something random, I'm currently doodling something up to upload ^^

[totallynotaunicorn]

Saw on featured, just started reading.
so many chapters...

[XxTestName69xX]

"Sister, though has called for us, we mean,... you called for me sister?"

thou*

[Subatomic Seal]

2279846 Wait until you read "Griffin the Griffin". 100 chapters.

[GlassFloors]

2493984
Go read Diaries of a madman, 1 million words total, three times longer than griffin

[Lucky424]

She turned towards her sister, "That wasn't very nice.

So Trollestia is alive and well then.

[DerpedRainbow]

"It liked the story with the pony and the wolf. That good story."

Neat, he likes the stories I do.

[Luckysweep]

This is long, yet it is short. Luna and the cow jumping over the moon. I would like to see how that tale started.

[Sideways guitar]

3406833 it started because luna needed to lose weight.( or was it celestia?)

[Vitae]

5014403 holy crap man...I couldn't breathe for a minute from laughing so hard.

[TacoBlend]

"It."

My first thought:

cinematicism.com/uploads/4/5/9/2/45924353/6536671_orig.jpg

[Mr Swanky Hat]

7776655 does it float?

[Cade117]

we all read down here