//------------------------------// // Magics Examination // Story: Imperial Forclousure // by The Sound of Loneliness //------------------------------// Tiny was bored out of her mind. Nightmare promised to find her some punishment, but she never came. Making her wait endlessly, having to practice manners with Shadow endlessly and being bored endlessly probably was her punishment. The worst thing was that everyone was quickly forgetting about her. Daybreaker only cared enough to not allow her to end up in a cell, which probably would be less homey than the last one. The only other one who even talked to her was Shadow and even Shadow lost interest in her, instead, having a weird staring match with her two daughters across the hall. Her only saving grace was that she could observe other changelings that were walking around and working. The first thing she noticed is that they were almost completely silent with each other. They didn't stare at each other instead of talking, but every single one of them somehow usually knew what they 'ought to do without anyone saying it aloud. For complex instructions, they still used words, but for most things they only had to use body language. It was kind of fascinating to watch, actually. Twilight would've loved to see this. She also watched Nightmare Moon having a very short chat with Celestia and then leaving her with Rainbow Dash. Then her sister finally remembered her. Tiny did notice something about Nightmare, it was easier to see from a distance, the shade of her smoke was lighter. "Oh, what-ever am I go-ing to do with you..." Nightmare monotonously stressed every syllable. "You should feel very grateful to not be my mother's foal. If she was your mother, you would've forgotten how your plot feels with how poorly you behave." "Sorry..." Tiny really didn't have a lot to say in her defense. In retrospect, Flurry didn't really explain to her exactly why she was needed here. "Shadow," the Changeling dreamily turned to see who called her name. Her eyes immediately widened and she quickly gave a curt bow. "You seem distracted," Nightmare Moon pointed out. "I have been daydreaming, Mistress. It won't happen again." "Why, I don't mind you having a little time for yourself. I am glad you have enough to daydream, but your charge is bored." Shadow glanced at Tiny, evidently having forgotten about her entirely. "Forgive me, Mistress," she bowed. "I will find work for young Tiny." "Actually, dear Shadow, I think I will take care of that for now. Have a little more time, you deserve it more than anyone else I know," Nightmare Moon said tenderly. "Come, Tiny." Tiny dropped her look to the floor and obediently followed her older sister. Nightmare brought her outside, Tiny had never been outside the ruins before. There was a grand cliff and forest behind it. "Sit with me. It's a pretty sunset Daybreaker made," Nightmare pointed out. Tiny did as asked, putting her plot on the grass, "You already know what I want to know," Nightmare said straightforwardly, giving Tiny a sideways glance. "Flurry said you are in trouble and you will need my help soon. She said she'll send me together with Rainbow. I am sorry for misbehaving... again," Tiny gave Nightmare a little guilty smile. "Did the Princess tell you exactly what I need help with?" "No, she just said you are going to die all over again." "Really now? Well, that is interesting indeed..." Nightmare Moon sat quietly, contemplating. "Did she tell you what you must do?" "To speak to a zebra. Flurry said that a zebra will show me what to do. She said that a zebra would have stripes and-" "I know how a zebra looks, thank you, dear sister. I think I know exactly whom you speak of. As a matter of fact, I sent a detachment to retrieve her, but they did not return as of yet. This forest has a tendency to confuse travelers." "Weren't you going to punish me?" Tiny asked, not quite believing that Nightmare would simply allow her to meet the zebra. "Oh, I will. I will see you sorting supply crates until all of them are arranged in alphabetical order and according to their size and weight. But first, I believe we must speak. Sister, you cannot keep disobeying my instructions. I understand that you do what you see as best, but you are in no position to judge what is the best course of action. I left you with Princess Twilight because it was safer: for both you and us. I understand that she might be too orthodox of a teacher, but teaching is her forte. A few years under her tutelage would've landed you in any of the best academies in my old Empire. I would even go as far as to say that I would've been very lucky to have had such a brilliant tutor as Twilight is. She does not deserve such treatment, there is no greater insult to a teacher than a student running away from a lesson." "They were boring," Tiny shrugged, suspecting that Nightmare's point went past her. Nightmare Moon sighed, "Tiny, did Twilight do something mean to you?" "No?" Tiny cautiously answered. "Speak truthfully, I will have a word with her if she hurt you in any way." "She didn't do anything," Tiny shook her head, she hated the idea of Twilight landing in trouble because she failed to answer. "Does she deserve such disrespect as you show?" "No..." Tiny looked down at the pavement, already starting to see where this was heading. "Then what shouldn't you have done?" "I shouldn't have run off," Tiny gloomily answered. "Good. You will apologize to Twilight as soon as you see her again. Such an opportunity you are wasting! I had to learn mostly from self-studying while you have the most talented scholar to teach you! I hope you will see just how much good it does to you one day." "Did you say you were self-studying? Didn't you have tutors too?" Tiny tried to change the subject. She already learned that Nightmare usually enjoyed talking about the past and it was sure better than being lectured. Also, Nightmare might forget about those boxes if it went on long enough... "Dearest Mother preferred to afford the best care to Celestia," Nightmare Moon spat out with a bitterness Tiny had never heard from her before. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. "Luna and I were only afforded second best. Which we were none too happy about. I'll just say that our tutors were unsatisfied with Luna. When Luna afforded me control, I preferred studying in our young years. Before an opportunity too good to pass up came about that is." "Did you like studying magic too?" "As improbable as it would sound, no. I preferred studying something more practical, my favorite subject was Strategy. I learned magic out of necessity, rather than desire. At the time, for us to cast but the most necessary spells was considered unprincessly. But War would teach you such things far better than any tutor could, I took care to write down all war magics I came upon for later use. I would theorize that my book is the singlemost potentially destructive thing in the world. In retrospect, I should have burned it," Nightmare Moon finished with a tinge of regret. "Why? If you really wrote down every war spell..." "Then this knowledge would be used to cause pointless destruction! Sometimes knowledge is left forgotten for a reason. We have enough weapons as is." Tiny contemplated what to answer to that. She couldn't honestly say she knew what Nightmare really meant. Wasn't destruction an inherent part of war either way? She couldn't directly speak against Nightmare either, that rarely ever ended well for her or anyone else for that matter, "I don't understand. Why did you learn to fight if you don't want to?" "Because war is more than simply fighting, my young sister. I did not learn to fight, I learned to command. Wisdom wins a war, not strength. The leader must never fight and I only did so on a couple of occasions." "I understand even less now," Tiny honestly admitted, Tiny quite honestly did not see the relation to what she was asking. "Why did you learn all of that if you never wanted to use it?" Nightmare Moon tiredly sighed, "I never said I did not intend to use it," she spoke chidingly. "I intended to use my knowledge as my bid for the throne. In battle, I could have won, but what wins the war is always wisdom. I was young and brash, both of which tend to negatively correlate with wisdom." "You mean you lost?!" Tiny was slightly shocked. Everyone behaved as if she won... "Haven't you heard the legend? I challenged Celestia to a duel, she accepted to avoid further loss of life. I came alone, as I promised. Celestia brought Elements of Harmony to gain an edge. I should have known, but I still underestimated her hubris. To think that she could wield all six of them alone! What makes this even more outrageous is that she was correct! Oh, I spent more than a little time venting my rage on the moon!" "If you lost why does everyone ask you what to do?" "Because that was over a thousand years ago!" Nightmare Moon cried out. "After I was released when Celestia finally found herself, someone who could erase her failure to free Luna from me, they defeated me again with the Elements and I was forced to lay and wait for my next opportunity!" Tiny noticed Nightmare Moon slipping out of her balance and beginning to rant and rave. "Oh, how sweet my reckoning was! I used Celestia's most precious thing against her - her subjects. Celestia considers herself nothing less of a missionary, harming her subjects feels nothing short of harming her own life's very purpose. I turned her subjects against her and made her watch as her remaining supporters had to take arms to defend themselves. I also made sure to separate the Elements before they could assemble against me. Rarity proved to be an asset to me, she brought confusion and division to them that I required. With that done I only had to wait. Celestia could not stop the carnage... not without culling thousands of her little ponies. But then it was. There always is another way - to surrender," Nightmare's voice became cloyingly sweet. "As soon as she did, I immediately ordered my soldiers to stop. Then, I gave her the same treatment as she gave me. I made her dear little pets send her to the moon in turn and then I simply sent them on their way to wallow in their defeat. Their sweet suffering gave me more pleasure than I had in many a year. It was a glorious triumph!" "Then... why is she here?" For that simple question, her all-knowing sister had no immediate answer. Nightmare Moon simply stared at the orange sky. "I discovered that everything I did in my life was hollow and pointless," she dryly answered after a minute of deliberation. "I defeated my enemies and proved that I could do just as well in ruling my subjects as Celestia did. Yet there was no happiness in it. I enjoyed bringing ruin upon them, but it quickly passed and their ruin became mine. Ponies obeyed me, but they were miserable in it. They still laughed and joked, came together to celebrate, but they all were miserable without even noticing it. Even though they could still find joy in their lives, how could that compare to life itself bringing them joy? Old Equestria was a wonderous place. Where a pony had to work not to survive and not even to serve Celestia but because it made them happy. Rarity's profession before I made her my willing puppet was tailorship, she had stunning dresses made for all her friends for no other reason but because she loved seeing them happy. She had her own boutique and dreams of becoming the most esteemed tailor in Equestria. "I ruined it. I destroyed everything she was striving for so utterly that not even her dream has lived. She doesn't even realize how much I have hurt her. This is no glorious victory but a tragedy, a horrid tragedy. All of them faced the same, even foals with their whole lives still ahead of them were not spared. They too were now chained to work that would never make them happy, simply because they had to earn a living now. They gave me nothing but their adoration and loyalty when they should have only shown me their disdain. I sat on the throne and watched as they all got consumed by their petty nightly chores while comprehending how utterly I have failed. This was the very opposite of what I wished for when I was warring with Celestia! "At first, I tried to live with it. We rarely get all we want in life, as I thought. But living with it never became easier, especially for Luna. She had to be the one I hurt the most. I betrayed her trust twice, I stole her body, I imprisoned her sister, I murdered her subjects. I was so disgustingly selfish! I did my best to soothe her, but my words were hollow after everything I had done. "I had to face the fact that all I achieved was misery for everyone, including myself. I hesitated, but I had to at least attempt to resolve the enormous problem that I had created. To begin, I re-assembled the element bearers, they were worse for wear but for the task of returning Celestia to us, they agreed to work with each other once more. Then, I had to grovel before Celestia for her help. To her credit, she did try to help me, for what little it was worth. What I did to her seemingly crushed her even more than it did me. She existed on pure reflex, her presence inspired more sorrow than comfort. Then... an accident happened and Celestia was no more, only Daybreaker. I do not wish to elaborate further." That was way-way more than what Tiny expected would follow from her questions. She didn't know what to say, literally. "I suppose you got your punishment," Nightmare Moon said on a suddenly much lighter note. "If you so dislike Twilight's formal style of teaching, then perhaps you would be more satisfied by Daybreaker's personal approach." Tiny's spirit immediately sank at the mere memory of Daybreaker taking care of her for not even a day. "I think she might be less harsh on you this time. Come with me, I will show you." Upon re-entering inside the ruined great hall, they rubbed shoulders with Applejack. Nightmare Moon gave her a short nod of acknowledgment and went on. Applejack gave Tiny a confused stare, but didn't act. Tiny hasn't seen Daybreaker in the last hour and she wasn't in the hall. Nightmare seemed to know where she was going though, so Tiny just trailed behind. They found Daybreaker at the end of the stairway leading to the same catacombs that Tiny and Rainbow popped in. She was giving some Changelings directions of some kind. "Daybreaker!" Nightmare Moon called sternly. Daybreaker immediately fell silent and turned to look at them. Daybreaker visibly slouched and didn't look directly at Nightmare, "Since my sister has decided to follow us, you will now take care of her and teach her," Nightmare Moon said with finality. "You will treat her as honorably and kindly as I treated you. See to it that she stays out of trouble." "As you command, sister," Daybreaker said uncharacteristically humbly and mildly. Nightmare Moon gave Tiny a glance and then floated away without saying a single word more. "Follow me," Daybreaker grunted. Why Nightmare would say that Daybreaker would be gentler now that she's in a terrible mood baffled Tiny. If anything, Daybreaker was going to make her count the bricks in some wall, or come up with some other deliberately boring and pointless assignment for her. Changelings have evidently started moving their equipment underground. There weren't many of them, but there were a lot of crates. Daybreaker pulled over one small crate with 'C1' stamped on the top side of it and put it next to the wall. She then pulled over a larger crate and put it next to the smaller one, forming a makeshift table with a chair. "Sit," Daybreaker ordered. Daybreaker then looked through the rest of the crates in the stockpile, cracked one open and pulled out a rifle. "I don't know why does my sister want to bother with you, but you will no longer be leisurely walking with us!" Daybreaker forcefully put the rifle in front of Tiny on the larger crate with a thud. "From now on, you will learn to be useful." Tiny silently stared at the presented weapon, "Do you want me to shoot it?" Tiny asked with slight disbelief. Daybreaker rolled her eyes, "Certainly not! You yourself don't know what you will be doing tomorrow! Teaching you to shoot won't bring anyone any good, least of all yourself. You will learn to maintain the weapons of our soldiers so they may do other, more important work. Now, watch," Daybreaker engulfed the rifle in her golden magical aura and lifted it off the table. First, she slowly unscrewed the stock, and put it down on the table with the screw next to it. Then, Daybreaker pressed a button at the side of the rifle and pulled the charging handle out. She then pressed down on the forestock, opening the receiver. Daybreaker pulled the spring out and set it down by the handle. Next was the bolt, Daybreaker pulled the bolt carrier from the chamber, flipped it vertically and let the bolt fall down on the crate. "This would be enough for now," she said as she put the open rifle down by its contents. "Trigger assembly, gas piston and barrel will come later." "How do you know how to do this?" Tiny asked, surprised how seemingly proficient the older mare is with weapons she would never use. "That, my sister, is what you must know to be respected by warriors. From a pikepony to a general, none would respect you if you won't demonstrate your understanding of their field. Warriors are the societal class only loyal to their own. Nightmare is only so popular with her soldiers even after so many years because she was with them everywhere, from training to a ditch." "Really? Nightmare in a ditch?" Imagining Nightmare muddy was a little hard. "Almost literally at that, yes," Daybreaker confirmed, her face never deviating from her perfect frown. "Nightmare would never hide from her enemies in a ditch. But in times of war, she went with her loyal, unlike Celestia." Tiny blinked and looked down at the disassembled rifle. Looked simple enough. Just put the bolt back into the bolt carrier; slide it into the chamber, ensuring the tail fits to the piston tube. Tiny suddenly caught herself: she couldn't remember how she knew all of the names of the components. Tiny sat dumbfounded for almost a minute, before looking up at Daybreaker, who expectantly lifted an eyebrow. She was amazingly patient, but Tiny decided that it would be better to avoid straining her patience. Tiny picked up the bolt and slid it back into the bolt carrier she then put it back into the chamber. Easy enough. Tiny then lifted the spring and put it to the back of the bolt carrier. Next, tiny held the rifle closed and pressed the charging handle into the back of the receiver. The stock came next, but that was easy, Tiny was familiar with screws from maintaining her wagon with Mister Rich. Daybreaker lifted the rifle, examined how it was locked and then pulled the handle until it clicked, "Good enough," she mumbled, before releasing the spring with a press of the trigger. "Now, do it faster." "Hmm... too slow. I counted fifteen seconds. You can do quicker." "Come on!" Tiny groaned. "It was thirteen! I cut two seconds by screwing the stock at the same time." "Indeed. You would've still been at seventeen seconds otherwise." Tiny groaned again. She spent twenty minutes trying to perfect her routine and it seemed that Daybreaker would never be satisfied with her time. She was supposed to be searching for the zebra, not assembling rifles! "Why are we doing this? I could be a lot more useful with my spells than by doing this!" "Because teaching a curveball like you magic is dangerous." Tiny couldn't help but appreciate how brutally straightforward Daybreaker could be especially compared to some others she knew. "But I am not even asking you to teach me combat spells! Just teach me a spell to hide changelings on missions, or maybe something to dry their clothes, or communicate at a distance, just something, anything!" Daybreaker did not immediately refuse, instead humming deeply as she delved into thought. Tiny was mildly shocked that Daybreaker was actually considering it. "I'd do all chores you want and I won't misbehave anymore!" Tiny tried to sweeten the deal. "Hmm... That assuming you can resist," Daybreaker gloomily pointed out. "Fine, you will have your instruction. I suppose it would be a poor public image for Nightmare to break her word." "Oh! Thank you!" "But no more disobeying!" Daybreaker warned sharply. "Next time I will punish you," she warned. "I will teach you a spell that you may use to repel dirt from yourself or items you enchant. That would be adequate for you to make yourself useful." Tiny was ecstatic, she was going to learn some more spells! Even if it was just so she could clean after Nightmare's soldiers. But she suddenly had a question, "So, we can just enchant clothes and wheels and shoes to always be clean? Why isn't everyone?" Daybreaker gave her an indulgent smile, "Do you believe unicorns have nothing better to do than to enchant everyone's possessions? Those that can cast enchantments do not concern themselves with something so petty. How do you imagine expansive, vaulted, things like Nightmare's palace were built? Certainly not with merely stone and mortar, it would have taken decades." "Everyone keeps mentioning it, but is it really that big?" Tiny shrugged. "Mister Rich said it was big enough to fit a ship in one of its rooms." Daybreaker rolled her eyes yet again, "Ugh! Yes, she does have a palace that big. If you don't make yourself too much of a nuisance, you might even see it. Now, observe." Daybreaker gathered a layer of dust off the floor and sprinkled it over the rifle as if it was salt. Daybreaker then glanced at Tiny to ensure her attention. With a light pulse, all dust flew off the rifle as if someone blew at it. Daybreaker then picked up more dust, this time it didn't stay on the rifle for a moment before being repelled. Daybreaker then pulled another rifle from the same crate and set it down by Tiny. "Now, repeat." Tiny stared at Daybreaker, "How?" she asked. "Just as you saw." "But how did you do that?" Daybreaker rolled her eyes at that. Tiny sighed, Daybreaker always seemed to have in her mind a certain way everyone was supposed to behave. It suddenly occurred to Tiny that this may be why Daybreaker had such low opinions of nearly everyone she met. "You were taught the basics of magical theory by Nightmare herself, so use what you learned and copy what I just showed you. Unless you are willing to prove to me that not even Nightmare could teach one coot such as you." Tiny still felt befuddled, how could theory help her to learn a spell from just seeing it used once? "Am I supposed to invent a new spell?" Tiny cautiously guessed. Daybreaker loudly sighed, "No, you are meant to repeat the one I just showed you. You know exactly how to do that," Daybreaker reiterated, now with audible annoyance. Tiny stared intently at the rifle, trying to understand how she was supposed to do this. "I don't understand!" Tiny eventually gave up, failing to remember anything that could be of use to her now. "Nightmare only taught me stupid training spells!" "It is beyond me why she even tries with you," Daybreaker admitted with a frown for the record books. "You are clearly a waste of our effort," Daybreaker stood up from her seat. "No-no-no!" Tiny blabbered in panic, fearing that she will be made to waste time on some menial errand again. "I-I'll do it, look!" Tiny focused on the rifle again and tried to do the same as Daybreaker did. She made a pulsing aura around the rifle. Tiny swiftly scooped some more dust from the floor with her magic and dropped it at the weapon, it didn't fly off. Daybreaker raised her brow at that, "Is this all?" Tiny tried a pulse of a different frequency, but it didn't work. Tiny tried again, this time the dust moved! But it was just the rifle vibrating. "Stop wasting my time," Daybreaker grunted. "Strip that rifle several hundred more times. When I next see you I want to see time under 3 seconds." "I don't understand!" Tiny cried out. "How am I supposed to do something I don't know how to do?!" Tiny swiped the rifle off the crate in frustration. It hit the stone floor with a racket. At that Daybreaker actually froze and simply stared at her, her face completely flat and motionless. "Why do you hate me so much?" Tiny asked. Daybreaker slowly blinked and then stared at Tiny for a moment more, Tiny stared right back. Daybreaker deeply sighed and sat back on the other side of the crate, "Listen: you are not here because it is your destiny or because of your blood, or because you deserve it," Daybreaker sais with deliberate calmness. "You are here because you were in the correct place at the correct time. Nightmare showed you so much favor, she brought you along even though you only brew trouble, she personally taught you, gave you the best teacher she knew and even when you directly violate her will she does not punish you. Unlike me," Daybreaker added. "She treats you better than she treats me and you squander all you are given! You ungrateful whelp, undeserving and ignorant, dare to ignore the teaching of my royal sister!" "You are mad because I am not learning quick enough?" Tiny tilted her head slightly in confusion. "No, I am displeased with your lack of respect," Daybreaker muttered through gritted teeth. "I am... sorry?" "Oh, now you are sorry! But I fear it is much too late, Nightmare no longer has any time for you! Isn't that a pickle?" Daybreaker feigned regret. "Doesn't that just mean it's you who has to teach me?" Tiny just couldn't help but use it against her. "I suppose that is correct," Daybreaker sighed, her excitement now depleted. "A truly fitting punishment. Enough of this. Since you are unable to replicate the simplest spells, I would have to take you through the process again. Where are your books?" "In Mister Rich's wagon..." "But of course, I should have known. Well, it seems you would have to learn on the fly then. As you already know, the most important skill for a mage is their focus. Nightmare has drilled as much into you herself and I do not believe that even you could undo that amount of effort this quickly, therefore I will continue. This spell relies on weaving, a concept you should have known by now. You must have your spell take a form, like a sock, rather than remain formless, like a gush of the wind. That is why you fail because you attempt to have a formless burst stick to a solid object. I suspect you have also failed at illusion magic for this very reason." To Tiny it seemed that Daybreaker had the wrong information. Tiny did remember reading about weaving in the textbook Nightmare had her study, but she never got to practice it. Daybreaker didn't enjoy being told she was wrong by people lower than her in rank, so Tiny held her tongue. "The spell itself is trivial, simply create a repulsion field. I imagine you know how to do that." "Is it like a telekinesis spell?" "It is similar enough, but stretched out. It must remain even after you cease even though you no longer maintain it." "How?" "By casting a modified telekinetic spell, of course." "Is this really all there's to it?" Tiny asked, still not quite convinced. "I could also teach you how to have it react to react only to non-living matter, but one thing at a time, I think." "Okay..." Tiny stared down at the rifle yet again. She lightly poked it with her magic to ensure she was doing what she thought she was doing just in case. Tiny then enveloped the rifle and tried to use the extension modifier Flurry told her about. She wasn't entirely sure exactly how Flurry did it, but she did feel it when she used her helmet. Every time she used it, the modifier seemingly looped the spell back to the beginning. Tiny had the rifle float above the crate and tried to loop the spell. She felt a light pulse go off. Tiny then let go of the rifle, but it kept floating above the crate. Daybreaker experimentally poked the weapon with her hoof. It entered a light spin but didn't drop. "That is not quite the repulsion field I meant," she gave her verdict. "But that is better than failing completely." That was a rather begrudging compliment if Tiny ever heard one, but from Daybreaker even that much was a lot. "So, are you going to teach me how?" "I suppose I would have to," Daybreaker musingly said. "We would need books, however. Which we have none." "Isn't this your old home? Shouldn't there be a library?" "Do you really think Celestia would just leave books to rot in ruins?" Daybreaker asked straightly. "Books were far-far more valuable than they are now in the times when we lived here. Everything she could, she took with her to Canterlot, except... well, I suppose that is our only option then." "What is?" "Nightmare's own spellbook. That is the only material we have left unless Nightmare elects to send you back. Nightmare is a generous ruler, if you please her sufficiently, she might allow us to use it." "How?" "Well, you would have to demonstrate that you finally learned something instead of missing every instruction you are given. So, I suggest you train." Tiny once again stared at the unfortunate rifle.