//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 // Story: My Little Pony: Infinite Night [ENG] // by Claud Melchior //------------------------------// The first week was the hardest for Twilight. Nightmare Moon had not understated her statement that she and Twilight will spend a lot of time together. Nightmare Moon almost never moved from Twilight’s side, which made Twilight learn more than she could ever imagine. However she manages to rule her kingdom like this, is Spike a mystery, but most of all, it annoys him that Twilight couldn't been able to work on the spell very often. Of course, Spike was never allowed to attend the training and Nightmare Moon didn't care much about him at all. And whenever they could, Twilight and Spike went to the library and continued working on Starswirl's spell. There were almost no books about time magic and those that found them contradicted each other in many places. Every wizard understood time magic differently. To the annoyance of Twilight, as it unnecessarily complicated her project and she progressed very slowly. Adding that the training with Nightmare Moon demanded everything from Twilight meant she was often too exhausted to continue to work on the scroll. Nobody was allowed to leave the palace "for their own safety", which meant that Spike never had much to do but eating gems and read books he didn't understand, hoping to escape from Nightmare Moon. Because sometimes you can really doubt the nature of the Queen and sometimes you can even doubt that you will survive the next night under this moody alihorn. But after all, Nightmare Moon kept her word and there were no more incidents with Twilight. Although he and Twilight noticed that the queen sometimes had some issues to stay calm. Sometimes a lot. And one time she exploded, hitting one of her guards, causing him to fly through two walls. Twilight had many questions for the other Twilight, but she and Spike agreed not to go to the dungeon. It would only question Twilight's role and the last thing the duo needs is a suspicious Nightmare Moon. Not much happened In the second week except that Twilight was able to rewrite a part of the spell and to impress Nightmare Moon with her progress. And Spike landed in a pit during one of his trips in the palace and had to be released from the guards while Nightmare Moon laughed at him. More nights went by and Twilight and Spike slowly lost the feeling of daytime. But in the third week, Spike noticed something about Twilight. He gradually got the impression that Twilight was starting to settle in this place. Twilight was treated the same way as Nightmare Moon and she seems to get used to it. Twilight began to read other books and raved about all the special spells that Nightmare Moon taught her. But every time she told Spike what she learned to do new things, like magic healing or illusion magic, it shivered Spike down the spine. Twilight used to be so excited about Celestia when she was still a filly. But Nightmare Moon began to behave differently as well if a storm started to slow in her. She was always so happy in Twilight's presence, and she occasionally started to give Spike some gems. She also got less and less angry and it seemed like Twilight and Nightmare Moon were starting to get along. Like a master and his student. He just wanted to return home. Back in Celestia's Equestria of Harmony. Away from this eternal night and its moody queen. And as fast as possible! Because Spike fears that Twilight might make wrong decisions when the time comes.