The night was far from still and quiet. Each sound, each chirp, each stridulation, each hoot, everything that Nuance heard caused his ears to pivot about in a wild, random manner. Unlike Canterlot, it was actually dark here, though Nuance couldn’t be sure if magic was at play. An oil lantern offered a tiny island of light within the tent, but beyond the broad, open flaps of the entrance, there was only inky blackness and not even the gathered guard could be seen.
Flurry, who had chosen and embraced the night, seemed to be absolutely fine with the darkness, but for Skyla and Nuance—who, because of their fear, remained pressed tight against her sides—it was a whole different story. The moon had not yet risen, and Nuance couldn’t help but wonder if his mother, Luna, was perhaps playing a trick on him.
Just beyond the door, Nuance saw light reflecting in tiny eyes and he knew them to be spider eyes, because Pebble and Sumac had shown him the terrible, awful, horrifying truth, and that was that the night was filled with spiders. It was a truth so terrifying that Nuance almost didn’t want to exist in this world, with spiders, spiders everywhere. Even worse, both his mother, Luna, and his special somepony, Quiet, adored spiders, thus proving that life was both gross and unfair beyond reason.
“Both of you are great big babies,” Flurry said to Skyla and Nuance. “Dim’s tower has to be one of the safest places in the Crystal Empire. Remember the Great Siege of the Ice Orcs?”
Skyla nodded, and also whimpered. “But ponies were inside, and we’re outside.”
“The dark is scary because it represents the unknown.” Stretching out a wing, Flurry wrapped it around her sister and pulled her closer. Then, as an afterthought, she did the same for Nuance. “I have chosen the night, and embraced the unknown. When I stood before the Lunar Court and offered up my oath of service, I said to Luna, ‘For the last time, I feel terror.’ It was… it was… for me it was a powerful moment…” With a long exhale, her words trailed off and she gave the two smaller ponies she was holding a squeeze.
“But you’ve been scared since then,” Skyla whispered to her sister.
“I have.” Flurry nodded as Nuance looked up to see her face, so that he might understand her better. “But the fear no longer controls me and I choose to act against it. It’s a symbolic thing, I guess. I don’t know. I think about it a lot. Ponies can die from fear. So I might die from fear, or from danger, or any number of things, and maybe, that’s the point. When I act, when I respond, I should do so as if it was the last time that I might feel terror. At some point, it might be. I guess. I don’t know. This is the lesson, I guess, thinking about the oath.”
“Maybe it doesn’t mean anything and you’re just supposed to think about it.”
“Maybe, Skyla.”
“Mother Luna gives me things to think about.” The chill in the air and Flurry’s delightful warmth caused him to snuggle closer to her without even thinking about it. “Most of the time, I ignore her, but sometimes, she tells me something that I can’t stop thinking about.”
“You know, Nuance, and please, don’t take this the wrong way,” Skyla began as she peered around her sister’s neck at Nuance, “but your mother is trying to do you a favour. She’s trying to teach you to think. I bet that a lot of your problems would just go away if you’d think before you opened your mouth. But don’t feel bad! I have some problems with this too, and if I can do it, so can you.”
Much to his own dismay, Nuance found that he couldn’t even be angry with what Skyla had said, because she was right. With a sigh, he slumped over and stared down at the fancy embroidery on the cushion, which was covered in tiny blue snowflakes made with many different sizes of hearts.
In the grass beyond the open flap, spider eyes glittered.
When Nuance did say something, he was surprised by what came out of his mouth, it felt as though the very contents of his soul were somehow escaping. “Sometimes, I like to daydream that I am a knight… I dream about being big and powerful and important. But then I think about how pathetic I am, and my nosebleeds, and how scared I am of everything, and I am just so weak and powerless.” He felt Flurry’s wing squeeze him and he was grateful beyond words when it seemed that no ridicule was forthcoming.
“I was such a prat for so long,” Nuance continued and it was a struggle to do so because his throat drew tight. “Now, I’ve grown up a little and I’m starting to have dreams about doing stuff, and I’ve finally seen a teeny tiny bit of the world, and it feels like my mistakes have ruined my life before its even started. And that makes it easy to keep acting like a prat, sometimes, because it feels like life is already ruined, and I can’t seem to fix things. I can’t make ponies like me and sometimes it feels so hopeless that I just give up and I do awful stuff.”
Flurry groaned, a deep resonant sound that seemed far too large to have come from a filly still so small. After a deep breath, she groaned again, but this time it was more of a moan. She grunted once, her muscles twitching, and then her head began to bob up and down as she turned to Nuance and said, “Yeah, I kinda know where you are coming from. Ever since I showed my fuzzy pink behind at the Crystal Cotillion, I just can’t seem to get back into the good graces of the ponies around me. It is only now, later, after the fact, that I can understand what it was my parents were trying to do, and I wish I could take it all back.”
“What were they trying to do?”
“Well, Nuance, it boils down to compromise. My mother was trying to satisfy the aristocrats of our Empire and at the same time, she was trying to throw a killer party for me and my friends. And if I would have just focused on my friends, if only I would have trusted my parents, if I would have just tried to have a good time and ignore what others think, my Crystal Cotillion would have been a magical event, a party for the history books. Everypony could have gotten a little bit of what they wanted, but uh, well, there is no two ways about it, I blew it. I tried acting so grown up, and I thought I knew everything, and I was gonna show everypony just how grown up and capable I was. That isn’t what happened. It’s been almost a year, and my mother is still miffed at me, I just know it.”
“Oh, she is” Skyla interjected in the helpful manner of little sisters everywhere.
Ignoring her sister, Flurry addressed Nuance once more. “Look, Nuance, eating your mistakes builds character. It sucks. Oh boy, does it ever suck, and there are days when you just can’t meet the eyes of the ponies around you, because it just hurts so much and the shame just feels so heavy. There are times when Sunburst looks at me, and I can’t look back at him, because I just feel so disgusted by what I’ve done. But, Sunburst, he’s a great pony. He’s learned to spot when I’m having one of those sorts of days, and he tries to cheer me up. And you know what? It means more to me since I’ve realised that Sunburst was disappointed with what I’ve done, but he’s not disappointed with me.”
Eating his mistakes? Nuance had a flash of sudden understanding, and the wheels of his mind began turning. Most of his mistakes came from being prideful and his expectations of others, his sense of entitlements, and his arrogance. On the horizon of his mind, the colt had a nebulous idea that started to coalesce, but into what, he did not know. Either he was about to have an incredible idea, or he was going to have an epic gusher of a nosebleed, and he prepared for both.
When Nuance felt that he had been wronged, he expected an apology. And not just any apology, either, he expected appeasement, he demanded grovelling and a full admission of fault, because this was the only thing that made him feel better. Of course, he seldom got that—he seldom got what he wanted these days—but there were times when his mother, Celestia, admitted that a mistake had been made, and it made him feel immeasurably better.
It was then, at this moment, that Nuance knew what he had to do.
He needed to apologise to the terrible vizard. It was the last thing that Dim would expect to hear, and surely it would throw him off guard. It might even soften his dreadful Dark heart, then, maybe, if he was lucky, Nuance would be allowed to see Quiet, and with her help, he could show everypony that he was trying to do better.
“Hiyas!”
A three-part harmony scream filled the tent, with Nuance providing the highest pitch, Flurry offering the lowest, and Skyla being the midrange that held everything together. There, in the doorway, seeming to materialise from the darkness itself, was a ginormous horsey-lion-bird creature that was frequently mistaken for a sphinx. Terror on black wings, death with black claws, the vizard’s dangerous hippogriff guardian entered the tent.
Thankfully, the release valve in Nuance’s scrawny backside had clenched up so tight that it was now an impassable barrier. He screamed in terror for a second time, doing so until his lungs burned, and then, somehow, he managed a third time, a solo wailing with no harmonisation from Skyla or Flurry.
“Wow, that’s kinda impressive,” Blackbird remarked while her head cocked off to one side and she looked down at the three foals clinging to one another. “I was out hunting, and I had some ideas, and I wanted to help you, but first, I need to shoo Dim away, because he’s watching.”
“Dim is watching?” Skyla asked, breathless.
Blackbird nodded and with one extended talon-finger, she pointed at the oil burning lantern. There, within the lantern, standing atop the wick, was a teeny, tiny version of Dim, who was now waving up at Blackbird. Nuance stared wide-eyed at the lantern and realised with some sense of shock that Dim had been watching this whole time. So it was true; anywhere there was fire, there was also Dim. The dreadful rumours had been confirmed.
Dim had not ascended, but had transcended, and Nuance knew that he could never trust a candle nor open flame ever again.
“Begone, Dim, Djinn of Istanbull, and trouble us no more!”
“Curses!” Fiery Dim hissed, and he flickered out of existence.
Nuance took a deep breath, trying to collect himself while also hoping the muscles in his hindquarters might relax a little. Blackbird had moved closer in total silence, making not a single sound, and beside him, Flurry was still trembling while breathing hard. Skyla, who had her forelegs around her sister’s neck, was almost panting from her fright, and each laboured breath was a whimper.
Everything was almost fine once more, but then the tip of Nuance’s horn burst into flames and the colt let out yet another ear-piercing shriek while Blackbird’s eyes rolled in frustration. There, standing on the end of Nuance’s stubby horn, was a tiny, flamy, wispy Dim, and Nuance had to go cross-eyed to get a better look at him.
“Hey, kid, I can feel the hidden flame within you. Want to release your potential? It’ll cost you… I can awaken your inner fires, and all you’ve got to do is go away and never bother my daughter again. Care to make a deal? Work with me!”
“Dim, go away!” Blackbird licked her talon-thumb and her talon-fingers, then reached out and pinched the end of Nuance’s horn, snuffing her husband from existence with nary a care nor troubled expression. “Sorry about that… Dim gets… chaotic at night. Poor Nuance, I want you to make a deal with Dim, but not that one.”
When Blackbird pulled her talons away, Dim flickered back into existence and stood prancing on the tip of Nuance’s horn. “That was rude, Blackbird! There’ll be words about this!”
Quivering in fear, Flurry’s horn ignited with cold fire, and—while her tongue stuck out in concentration—she conjured up a blizzardy gale in miniature. The puff of frosty, arctic air struck Dim, causing him to flicker in the hurricane-force winds, and the miniscule flaming figure was extinguished once more.
Nuance’s nerves couldn’t take much more, and he felt a great many snowflakes falling upon his face. With bated breath, he waited, wondering if Dim would return, would re-ignite and stand upon the tip of his horn. Dim was, in fact, the single most terrifying pony in existence, and Nuance’s mother crafted nightmares for a living.
Sitting down, Blackbird plucked Nuance away from Flurry, lifting him by the scruff of his neck and then snuggling him close. Petrified, too afraid to protest, Nuance allowed himself to be held, to be babied, and he could feel Blackbird’s muzzle pressing against the top of his head. When she breathed, she tickled him, but he was too scared to laugh. Nuance had an alarming moment of realisation when it occurred to him that he was resting atop a gentle swell in Blackbird’s stomach, and angled his head so that he might look up at her.
“Little Quiet, she loves you to pieces, and I want her to be happy.” With a light, careful touch, Blackbird ran her talon-fingers through Nuance’s mane, and shivers ran down his neck, causing his little legs to twitch. “She and I had a talk during bathtime, and wouldn’t you know it, she has a plan to save you. Quiet, she gets that from her mother, and her mother, me, I get that from my father. We save ponies from themselves.”
Nuance nodded, because it felt like the right thing to do.
“Okay, now listen up, Nuance, because this is a detailed plan, and I’m going to tell you how to make a deal with Dim—”
“The first part of the plan is that I’m going to say I’m sorry.” Oops! Nuance had just failed at listening and he had interrupted Blackbird, but she did not seem upset. But, she did nod, and she did smile, and then Nuance knew that everything was going to be okay. Waiting, he went quiet so that he might listen.
“Oh, hey, that’s smart!” Blackbird’s eyes glittered with good-natured glee and she continued to stroke Nuance’s mane while the two sisters sat watching. “Now, most of this is Quiet’s plan, and she has some pretty high expectations of you, so listen up. Now, after apologising, the very first thing you are going to do is…”