Under the starry night sky a pair of ponies sat in the garden out behind their home. An older unicorn stallion and a young earth pony filly who didn’t even have her Cutie Mark yet. With only the light of the stars and moon above them they sat together side by side and looked at something in the middle of their small garden. The garden itself was ringed by a white picket fence, and the cottage it came from was built right up against a deep forest. A cozy home for the two ponies. The nearby town was only a short walk down the road in front of their cottage.
It was a warm night as well, with nary a breeze, making it comfortable as the two of them quietly sat outside. Despite the pleasant night though, both ponies had a somber look on their faces as they stared down at the small stone in the grass with the name of a mare carved into it. Flowers had been planted around it. Lilies mostly, with some yellow daisies to accompany them.
The stallion lifted up a foreleg and draped it over the filly, hugging her closer to him and affectionately rubbing her shoulder.
“I miss her,” the filly said, barely above a whisper.
“I know. So do I,” the stallion said.
A few tears gathered at the filly’s eyes and she brought up a small hoof to wipe them away. She sniffled and rested her head against the stallion’s body. “I just wish… I just wish she could’ve at least seen me get my Cutie Mark.”
“She will see it.”
The filly looked up to see her father smiling down at her.
“She’s watching over you right now. Of course she’ll see it.”
The filly sadly looked down at the grass and absently ran a hoof over the blank spot on her flank. “Really?”
“Yes,” her father rubbed her head. “I promise.”
She looked back at the small grave marker. “I wanted to get it so bad… I wanted her to see, I know she’d have been so proud.” More tears gathered at her eyes that she didn’t bother wiping away. “I hate this. I want her back. I want her to be there when I get my Cutie Mark. I want her to be here for everything. I-I miss her so much and all I have now is this stupid blank f-flank and...”
“Shh...” Her father calmed her down. “Look.”
The filly looked at him and saw him pointing to the sky. She followed his hoof and stared up at the countless stars overhead, all of them twinkling and shining down at her.
“You may not have a Cutie Mark, but that means your life is still full of infinite possibilities. As many as there are stars in the sky. Your whole life is ahead of you and your mother will always, always be watching over you. And so will I, of course,” he chuckled and smiled at her.
The filly sniffled and nodded her head, not finding it in her to speak anymore.
“I have something important to tell you too,” her father said. “It’s why I wanted us to pay our respects tonight. Something truly wonderful has happened, things will be different starting tomorrow, and I’m going to make sure you become the happiest pony in the world.”
Darkness covered every direction and the skies most of all were a screaming and chaotic mass of impenetrable black clouds. Behind bars, a small ghostly pony figure watched the unceasing and all consuming darkness. There was nothing else. Not a single ray of sunlight could be seen, no ponies inside the darkness smiled or were able to brighten up the day. There was no joy, no hope, just overwhelming and oppressive despair raining down from the dark clouds.
The ponies far below the ghostly figure were themselves no better than phantoms. Their heads were hung low as they marched and marched at the commands of … of…
Their faces were blank as if they were completely wiped away and yet the ghostly figure knew they were filled with sorrow inside. But there was nothing she could do. Her hooves pounded on the bars but they refused to give way. Her mouth opened in a scream but no sound came out.
From behind her another ghostly figure drew up tall. White appendages, whiter than a ghost, wrapped around the small figure. Dragging her kicking and screaming in silence away from the bars. The small one looked up into the face of the nightmare monster and saw only glowing red eyes and a smiling red mouth mockingly laughing at her.
She cried but still nothing more than silence emerged from her mouth. And more mocking laughter came from the nightmare grasping her and refusing to let her free.
Over the monster’s head, something was coming from the ceiling.
Something coming down and down towards the small pony. She struggled and struggled to free herself from the monster the moment she saw what it was, but the monster was too strong. Evil, sadistic laughter overwhelmed her senses as the needle from the ceiling came close to the little pony’s neck. It led up and up and up into the sky itself where a black ooze gathered and seeped into the needle.
She noiselessly screamed as the tip of the needle reached closer and closer towards her neck. The nightmare monster brought a hoof towards her forehead and pulled her head back, holding her in place so the needle would go right where it was supposed to.
The small ghostly pony had her eyes wide open as tears poured from them—out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw another figure there. She thought she recognized it.
She knew she recognized it.
Why weren’t they helping her?
The malicious red grin over her head widened further and further as the tip of the needle, now leaking out black ooze already, was right about to enter the small pony’s neck. The pony had given up, stopped moving entirely, resigning herself to her fate. Her eyes were left half open in terrible despair as she waited for the needle.
A light flashed past the bars. A dizzying light with every color of the rainbow.
The nightmare monster hissed in pain and rage, the needle and other figure in the dark room disappeared and the little pony felt herself dropped free. The white apparition that had been holding her flew through the bars towards the source of the light, leaving the pony on her own again. Her tears gathered into a black pool that slowly became more and more translucent as the rainbow light shined in through the bars. The little pony picked herself up and walked back to the bars.
There was still so much darkness. There were still the ponies consumed by despair.
But there was a light now. A blue comet flying through the sky and leaving a rainbow trail behind it, pursued by the monster that had been tormenting her just seconds ago.
The comet lit up the sky everywhere it went, filling the little pony watching with hope and warmth. But the nightmare monster was joined by others. More white apparitions flew into the sky to join its pursuit of the comet. They crowded the sky but the comet was faster than all of them—and the brightness and light from it so intense that it made the apparitions whimper in fear and some even burn away. The first monster howled after the comet, not dissuaded at all, spectral tendrils came from it as it tried to grasp and take down the blue comet.
Turning, the blue comet flew towards the monster. Through the bars the small pony watched as they clashed in the air. Thunder and lightning rained down from the sky. Rays of light attempted to pierce the darkness but pools of black ooze gurgled up from the ground and swallowed any pony who dared raise their head to watch what was happening. The rainbow light eventually was overwhelmed by the black clouds and it grew fainter and fainter even as the comet flew on.
She banged her hooves against the bars again. She banged them again and again in a futile effort to free herself and join the comet.
Needles fell from the sky. The glowing red eyes of her nightmare monster grew bigger, the red mouth grew wider. The blue comet was swallowed by red and disappeared.
Light was gone once more and the darkness seemed to only be stronger, the black clouds closed in on everything. The little pony, trapped in her cage, reached a hoof up to her neck as she felt it burn with pain. Her reflection was there. A ghostly shimmer of a pony with a black band around its neck. Red eyes and a red smile stood outside the bars. Darkness closed in, she was falling, the phantom image of the blue comet flew through her mind, but it couldn’t help her anymore.
When she screamed this time, she finally heard it.
Wish woke up with a start and threw her covers off her, sitting up in bed and panting heavily while a cold sweat poured down her face. Another nightmare. Similar to the ones she had had many times now, but always a little different. Already it was becoming vague in her mind, the memories of what she had seen in that dream world slipping away. She had to take a minute to catch her breath and calm herself down, listening to the ticks of the clock on her bedroom wall to remind herself where she was.
Safe in bed inside her chambers of Hoofica Castle. It was dark with the curtains on her four-poster bed closed but she was sure it was morning by now. Wish took a deep breath and sat back against her velvety pillow, staring up at the canopy above her. It was the same bed and same room she had been sleeping in for months now. There was nothing to worry about. It was just a recurring nightmare. Nothing more.
The sweat subsided and she crawled along her bed to one side of it so she could pull open the curtain that faced the wall with the clock. Such a huge and luxurious bed, more fit for royalty than anypony else, it took a while to get used to and to be honest she still felt weird in it sometimes. But it was certainly fluffy and comfortable. The sheets were made from the best white silk, patterned with flowers, while her pillows were a purple velvet and filled with the softest of down. Wish got to the side of the bed and reached up for the cord to pull the curtain back, she really had to stretch for it though, something that made her frown in annoyance. She chose to blame it on the bed being too big rather than her being a short filly.
As soon as she pulled the curtain back she was greeted with a murky, almost twilight, illumination of her bed chambers. And yet the ornate clock on the wall with its swinging pendulums showed it to be 8:00 in the morning. Wish sighed, that was just another thing that had taken a little trouble to get used to over the past several months. It never looked any brighter than this now. Even with the tall paned-glass windows on the other side of her bed chamber. The world outside didn’t allow for more light than this.
Wish ignored that for now, at least she was right about what time it was. Her maid would be here soon to start the day so why bother with anything else? She crawled back over to the middle of the bed and rested, staring blankly up at the canopy and listening for her maid’s arrival. Her face was cold and expressionless as she tried to think more about the nightmare she had just woken up from. But she didn’t mind. She’d be smiling soon anyways. The times where she could go without smiling were almost a pleasant reprieve.
As much as she tried, more and more of the nightmare slipped away like water down a drain.
The sound of her bedroom door handle being turned made her ears twitch and Wish took in a deep breath. She closed her eyes—and when she opened them back up she had a bright and cheerful smile on her face, with eyes full of life and joy.
“Wish? It’s time to wake up,” her maid said as she opened up the door.
Upon seeing the open curtain and the young filly lying in bed on top of the covers, the maid smiled. “Oh, you’re already awake. Good morning, young lady.”
Wish sat up with a smile and moved towards the open edge of the bed while her maid closed the door and walked over. Sweet Candy had been her maid the entire time Wish had been here and she always made sure to be punctual. She was about middle-aged, a green earth pony with a golden mane and golden eyes. Wish had never once seen her without the black dress and white apron of the castle maids.
“Good morning,” Wish politely said to her.
Sweet Candy looked her over, noticing a few stray hairs in her mane. “Hm, I’ll draw your bath for you and then we can fix up your mane and tail before breakfast. Is that alright?”
Wish didn’t know why she asked. It was the same thing they did every morning. Which is why she knew what was coming next too.
“Yep!” Wish answered brightly.
“Great!” Sweet Candy smiled. “Oh, and just so your father can know, on a scale of one to ten, how happy are you?”
Wish’s smile grew as wide as it possibly could, her white teeth shining and her eyes sparkling. “Ten out of ten!”
It was the only answer she ever gave.
She was happy though. Truly. She had just gotten tired of the question. And she knew that-
“Wonderful! Your father will be so happy to hear that. You know it’s his whole world to make sure you’re as happy as possible,” Sweet Candy said, she giggled to herself and then brought a little stepping stool over to the bed so Wish could safely hop off it.
It took some effort for Wish to not roll her eyes. She hated that stepping stool. But in the end she just smiled and walked right down it onto the opulent carpet floor. She wasn’t sure what the carpeting was made out of but it felt different from any carpet she had walked on before coming here. She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised. Obviously the best stuff would be in the royal castle, and she had never so much been inside a mansion before here.
Sweet Candy smiled before walking to the far wall of the bedroom, that the head of her bed sat against, and opened up another door that led into Wish’s own private bathroom. It was a more luxurious bathroom than Wish could’ve ever dreamed of, bigger than the living room in her old house. A huge marble bathtub sat in it, with gold faucet sinks and perfectly polished mirrors along with the best possible beauty products any mare could want. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy having it. The only downside was how long it took to draw a bath because of how big the tub was. Wish found herself waiting around with nothing but her thoughts for company as Sweet Candy got it ready. The loud sound of water pouring into the tub filled up her bed chambers for a good couple of minutes.
“It’s ready!” Sweet Candy called out from the bathroom.
Wish sighed in relief and walked into the bathroom, her hooves gliding over the cool tile floor. Unfortunately because of the size of the tub she needed to use a stepping stool to get into and out of it as well. It really made her want to drop her smile and frown. She almost would’ve preferred Sweet Candy just picking her up. It’s not like she couldn’t have gotten in the tub by herself, but she would’ve had to pull herself up and over the side of it. And that would’ve been “unrefined”.
She dipped down into the warm water and dunked her head in. It felt great. Naturally it wasn’t just water either, Sweet Candy had mixed in special bath powders and a bubble bath mixture. Only the best for Wish. Sweet Candy had the sleeves of her dress rolled up and stood by the side of the bath with a bucket full of soaps, shampoos, brushes, and a loofah. She helped scrub Wish clean and give her the professional treatment every morning, making sure Wish didn’t skip or forget anything.
It was annoying, but Wish didn’t complain. She smiled through it all like always.
“Thank you, Sweet Candy,” Wish said as her maid rubbed shampoo into her mane.
“You’re welcome, dear,” Sweet Candy smiled back.
Five minutes later she was out of the bath and getting dried off with a fluffy towel, then Sweet Candy brought her over to the sink so she could sit in front of the mirror and watch Sweet Candy do her mane and tail. She hated looking at her reflection in the mirror like this. Normally she wouldn’t, but the big smile she had to keep on at all times when somepony else was around bothered her. Sweet Candy brought out a hairbrush and went to work while Wish stared into the mirror.
A young filly of just eight years old looked back at her. A chestnut earth pony, with rose red mane and tail and simple brown eyes. Her flank as blank as a sheet of paper. The only thing of note about her was the solid black band around her neck, almost like a tattoo. She brought a hoof up to rub at it while Sweet Candy did her mane. No matter how much she washed it never faded or came off, it had been there for months now after suddenly appearing one morning when she woke up. Everypony except her father and the King and Queen had one as far as she knew. Sweet Candy did too, you just couldn’t see it because of the collar of her dress.
Her father had told her the black bands were to keep everypony in the kingdom safe. And neither he nor anypony else would say anything else about them. Wish still wasn’t used to seeing it there every time she looked in a mirror.
“There we go,” Sweet Candy said, finishing up with her mane and tail.
Perfectly straight, her bangs fell just above her eyes. “Thank you.”
Sweet Candy smiled and brushed her off, making sure she was clean and looked perfect. “Alright, let’s get you some breakfast now and then it’ll be off to class.”
Wish knew the routine. She really didn’t understand why Sweet Candy had to keep repeating everything. It made her come off like an actress just going through the motions.
Regardless, she was hungry enough to be looking forward to breakfast anyways. They left the bathroom together and then Sweet Candy opened up the door from her bedroom into the boudoir. Candlesticks were lit around the room for extra illumination and a team of maids and butlers were setting up a table of delicious breakfast foods for Wish to eat. Like every morning, they started when she was in the bath so things were just ready the moment she came out.
The boudoir overall had more floor space than her old home did, it was filled with lavish couches and chairs, a large cabinet, windows with velvet red curtains that looked far out from the castle, paintings that covered the walls, potted flowers, a dining table, artistic statues of ponies, and a golden chandelier that hung from the ceiling. Some of her stuffed animals were lying about on the couches, along with an old music box and some coloring books and art supplies that she played with. As soon as she and Sweet Candy entered the room, the other maids and butlers bowed and stepped away from the table, one of them pulling out a chair for Wish to sit at.
She hopped up and looked at what had been prepared for her. As always it was far too much for a single filly to eat, but nopony seemed to care. Her father said it was more about her getting to choose whatever she wanted. Oatmeal, hay cereal of the finest quality hay, pancakes, toast, waffles, crepes, fresh strawberries, soup, salad, carrots, a slice of pie and cake each, all of it prepared and set up in a way to make it look more luxurious than normal. Strawberry syrup was drizzled on the strawberries as they sat in a silver bowl, the pie and cake had edible flowers placed on top of them, there was a cinnamon stick sticking out of the oatmeal. Just stuff like that that honestly just made Wish uncomfortable. It was too luxurious.
But it was delicious. The best food she had ever eaten by far. Sweet Candy tied a napkin around her neck and then Wish was allowed to eat whatever she wanted while the servants quietly stood around the table. She would’ve appreciated a little privacy.
This morning she went for the pancakes and strawberries. There was also a cool glass jug of grape juice and a goblet for her to drink out of. Sometimes it was apple juice, or orange juice, always freshly squeezed from fruit taken from the royal orchard. She also really wanted to eat that slice of cake, but she felt bad if she had something like that every morning.
Using a knife and fork she carved up and started eating the pancakes. While she was eating she found herself glancing out the window and trying to see the world outside the castle. It didn’t show much back to her though. Even if she went right up to it she’d only see the twilight world out there, with dark skies, the perpetual black storm clouds that covered everything and made it so things never got any brighter than this without something like a fire or the strikes of lightning that crashed down every now and then. The ground was dark and cold and it just stretched like that far into the distance, across the entire kingdom from the capitol to the smallest towns at the borders of Hoofica. A world that even when it wasn’t pitch black in the dead of night was still dusky and felt like it was always dark out.
It happened the same day the black bands had appeared around her neck and everypony else’s. The entire kingdom of Hoofica changed overnight. She hadn’t seen the sun or the stars in months. A sudden flash of lightning briefly lit up the windows just as Wish was thinking about it. She was used to that by now too, there was always a lot of lightning. So she went back to her meal and had her fill before Sweet Candy would take her off to class.
In the end she was only able to eat about half the stack of pancakes and a few strawberries, along with half a goblet’s worth of grape juice.
She asked Sweet Candy one day what happened with the food she didn’t eat.
“It gets thrown out”, Sweet Candy had told her.
It seemed like such a waste. So much food, so much utterly delicious food that the castle chefs must’ve put so much effort into making, and it just gets thrown out. Wish didn’t understand why, but Sweet Candy said to pay it no mind. It only mattered that she got to eat whatever she wanted.
“I’m full,” Wish said as she swallowed one last strawberry and pushed her plate away from her.
Sweet Candy clapped her hooves together and the other maids and butlers immediately got to work cleaning the table. Wish didn’t know how long it took them, but the room, and her other rooms, were always spotless when she got back from class. Wish then got off her chair and walked towards the front door leading into and out of her personal chambers with Sweet Candy by her side. Her maid opened up the door for them and led them into the hallway just outside the door.
Hoofica Castle had always looked weird to Wish. It wasn’t just because of the lighting now thanks to the dark sky and the world outside either. The whole way it was built was strange. She remembered when she saw it for the first time, on a trip to the capitol with her mother and father back when she was five years old, and how it stuck out to her. The black stone it was made out of, that all the interiors and walls were made of, was just plain uninviting and things were even darker now with only a few torches to light things up. The color wasn’t even the half of it though. There was a large lower section of the castle, going up two or three stories high and branching off into several directions. A large concert hall shot off to the south. Servant quarters, kitchens, and a barracks for guards and soldiers to the west. The front entrance to the castle was to the north. And to the east lied the throne room and the royal chambers of the King and Queen. The middle of the castle was built around a large circular courtyard and garden, while five towers of increasing size were built going up around the courtyard. They went counter-clockwise in size, with the first and smallest built at the east, directly in front of the throne room, and the next biggest built closer to the north entrance, and so forth until the fifth and tallest tower sat on the southeast side of the courtyard at over six-hundred feet tall. A long, enclosed, stairway spiraled around and through each tower to connect them, supported by heavy columns the entire length.
Wish’s personal chambers resided in the third tower. She remembered learning her history of the castle back when she was younger. Each tower had been used for something different in the old days, and the third one she was in now was for important guests of the royal family. The fourth tower used to be used by Hoofica’s soldiers for something, but there had been peace in the kingdom for hundreds of years at this point and now it was converted into a library. The fifth tower…
Wish looked to her right, down the hallway towards the stairs that led up and up to the fourth and fifth towers.
The use of the fifth tower had been gifted to her father by the Queen. It was a conservatory. Now it was her father’s personal laboratory and office. Wish had never once been up to it, her father said it had dangerous equipment and stuff inside it. She was curious about it though. The problem was there were always guards posted at every entrance into the connecting hallway. And Wish was never allowed to go off on her own anywhere in the castle outside of her own chambers anyways. She was always accompanied by either Sweet Candy, another maid, guards, or even an Inquisitor sometimes. And they all knew not to let her go to anywhere she didn’t need to go.
Sweet Candy shut the door to her chambers and smiled at Wish. “Let’s get on our way then.”
“Alright,” Wish nodded and walked with Sweet Candy to the left, heading down the hallway towards the stairs that would eventually take them to the second tower, then the first, and then the bottom portion of the castle where her classroom was.
Once they got close to the entrance to the stairs, Wish noticed the two guards standing by attention on either side of it. Two earth pony stallions holding spears and wearing black armor that seemed to melt into the walls. They might as well have been statues. The Inquisitors were just the opposite, wearing white suits that stood out everywhere. But they weren’t as common—Wish hardly ever saw one of them in the castle more than once a week. Something she was grateful for, the Head Inquisitor scared her.
Wish fought a shudder so as not to alarm Sweet Candy. It was probably better that she shouldn’t be thinking about this stuff at all.
Neither of them acknowledged the guards as they started walking down the stairs and the guards only kept looking straight ahead as well. It was a long walk down the stairs that wound around the towers and most every morning it was completely silent. Sweet Candy wouldn’t speak up until they arrived at the classroom and most of the time Wish was happy to just think by herself. Walking behind her maid she could momentarily drop her smile as well and relax her face.
Though… the foggy nightmare she had had last night made the silence around her unnerving. She now could hardly remember any details of the nightmare at all, other than that she had it in the first place. It still filled her with dread when she dwelled on it for too long. And that was all she could do in this silence. Torches lined the wall to cast an eerie glow on the black stone and it became a reprieve when they left the first set of stairs and emerged into the second tower.
The second tower was used as living quarters for the most important servants of the castle. Ones who got special privileges unlike the others in the western wing down below. Sweet Candy lived here. Though again, Wish had never seen her personal chambers or really much of anything else in the tower.
After that they went down more steps into the first tower, which had been converted into storage ages ago. She didn’t know what else it might’ve been used for or if any other ponies stopped by in it for anything. More statuesque guards stood everywhere they went right up until she and Sweet Candy left the stairs and towers behind entirely.
The top floor of the large, main section of the castle sprawled ahead of her. So many doors and hallways led elsewhere, along with stairs to the second floor and ground floor. To her right there were windows along the curved wall that peeked out into the large central courtyard. They were practically right in the middle of the castle and you could get to essentially anywhere from here. The classroom Wish was going to was closer to the western wing, actually nestled on the same floor they were on now but right above the wing. Sweet Candy now led the way again, walking across the red carpet that lined the floors of this part of the castle.
And something that always crossed Wish’s mind everyday when she came down here—there never seemed to be that many ponies here for a castle so big. She knew that the King and Queen used to hold parties, events, and the castle (part of it at least) used to be open to the public for them to come in and see it. But there was nothing like that anymore. The castle was too big for this reduced number of ponies and it just made it seem quiet and empty. It was almost just guards and servants now.
The halls they traveled down now were fairly decorative, with more large paintings on the walls while stone statues and suits of armor lined the nooks and recesses.
She looked up at one of the paintings, a huge landscape painting that showed a sunny sky, green hills, and a beautiful blue lake. It was a portrait of some place in the southwest of Hoofica that Wish had never remotely gone close to. And unfortunately it wouldn’t look the same as that painting anymore even if she did. But Wish didn’t mind so much, she loved the painting, she loved to paint in general, and she appreciated getting to walk by this every morning.
After a few more minutes they had traveled down the hallway far enough to reach the class that Wish attended. It was just one of many doors that lined the wall. But unlike the others, there were two guards standing in front of this one. It was sort of intimidating for them to stand like that right outside of a classroom but Wish knew there was no way anypony would make them leave. Not when they were supposed to be watching over and protecting her. At least that was the official way of saying it.
She didn’t even used to have class or come here at all when she first started living in the castle. Her father didn’t see any point. It was only when Wish said she was lonely and wanted to be around more fillies and colts her age did he set this up.
He even brought some former classmates and families from her old village to the castle to join her.
Sweet Candy stopped just outside the door, she didn’t stay in the classroom with Wish, though Wish didn’t know what she did while Wish was in class. “Have fun today.”
“I will,” Wish smiled up at her and waited as Sweet Candy pulled open the door for her.
Wish walked inside the classroom as the door was closed behind her. Unlike the natural black color that came from the castle stone, the classroom was painted a slightly less oppressive (but still not very pleasant) brown. Lanterns hanging from the ceiling lit it up well, making it brighter than near anywhere else in the castle. Five desks for five ponies sat in a single row near the front of the room, in front of a large chalkboard and another desk for the teacher. Naturally the middle desk was Wish’s
The other students were already there. All of them old acquaintances from her home village. Wish couldn’t say they were friends. Then or now.
But they still smiled at her. All four of them smiled widely at her like seeing her was the highlight of their day. She didn’t like it. She didn’t know much, but she knew how fake and forced those smiles were.
Because they were just like the one she was wearing right now.
“Hello, Wish!” The four of them said at once.
“Hi!” Wish said and waved at them and the teacher.
“Good morning, Wish! Are you excited for class today?” The teacher asked her. Another middle-aged mare by the name of Star Eyes, a unicorn with thick square glasses and a braided silver mane and yellow coat. She had that same pleasant countenance as Sweet Candy.
“I sure am!” Wish said and walked up to take her seat. Her desk already had some books along with pencils and paper for her to use on it.
“Great! Today we’re going to be learning about something in math called division. I know it’s nopony’s favorite subject, but it’s important to get a well-rounded education,” Star Eyes said and used her magic to lift up a piece of chalk, getting ready to start writing on the chalkboard.
Wish sat there silently with a smile on her face. Just ready to watch and listen to the teacher as she went over the lesson. No reason to say anything unless the teacher called on her. Which always happened at least once.
Since Star Eyes was writing on the board and not looking directly at her for the moment, Wish took an opportunity to steal a glance at the ponies next to her. Two fillies and two colts. The colts were seated to her right and the fillies to her left. No one ever traded seats. They were all smiling and looking dead ahead at the chalkboard, just like she was supposed to be doing.
The colt right next to her was an earth pony named Little Note. A smoky gray colt with a black mane and tail, he already had his Cutie Mark, unlike her. It was a page of sheet music, unfortunately though they never sang or learned anything about music in class. She was pretty sure that besides music his favorite subject was history. Back home they never really talked, and here they never really talked about anything other than him asking how nice her day was and how happy she was. Always through that forced smile that said he didn’t really care or see her as a friend.
The other colt was a unicorn named Comet Burst. He wore glasses too, but round ones. He also had his Cutie Mark. They all did. Wish spoke to him even less because he didn’t sit right next to her, but she knew he liked learning about science stuff. At least he used to before coming here, now he just smiled no matter what they were studying. He had a blue coat and a darker blue mane done into a bowl cut.
Both of the fillies to her left were pegasi. The girl next to her was named Bright Dawn, a bright orange pony with yellow-white mane and tail and orange eyes. Her Cutie Mark was a sun and it kind of made Wish feel bad for her. She didn’t seem to care about anything having to do with school one way or the other from what Wish remembered. But she still paid attention here, and she talked with Wish more than the others. Even if it was only out of obligation. Wish still didn’t exactly get why they acted the way they did and they were never left on their own for her to ask.
The last of her classmates was Aqua Jewel. She really liked swimming and the rain. It barely rained anymore though even with the perpetual dark clouds. Just lots of lightning. She talked to Wish quite a bit too, mostly about animals when class learned about them. It felt a little more natural than when the others talked to her but Wish could tell she’d still prefer being quite if she wasn’t forced. She had a very light blue coat and a pink mane and tail that were grown out very long.
This was her classroom. No friends. Just classmates.
It usually went the same way, first Star Eyes would explain the lesson, write some stuff on the board, then some problems or reading would be given out. From there Star Eyes usually asked Wish, and one or two of her classmates, to answer some of the questions. They also got some time to talk with each other and help each other out with the day’s work.
The same thing. Every day.
And she and everypony else in the room always smiled and acted happy through it all. It was only at the very end of class did they do something she actually enjoyed; free time. She got to paint or mess around with the art supplies currently stored at the back of the classroom along a wide shelf. The other kids here got to do whatever they wanted too. Once that was over with, Sweet Candy would arrive and take Wish back to her chambers. Right now that was still a few hours away though.
“Okay, class, pay attention now and I’ll show you how to solve these problems,” Star Eyes said from the chalkboard. “This will be your first real lesson at division.”
Wish blinked. She hadn’t really been paying attention, too lost in her thoughts. On the board was a bunch of math stuff, boring numbers and equations and a few new symbols she didn’t recognize but could infer their purposes.
“You see, division is essentially the opposite of multiplication...” Star Eyes started to explain and Wish did her best to focus.
It wasn’t easy. Not only was class—and math especially—boring, but she was still thinking about the nightmare she could no longer remember. Still thinking about everything else wrong in her life. How much she just wanted to march up the towers and see her father. And tell her maids, and the guards, and anypony else to just leave her alone and stop watching her for once.
Wish frowned, she didn’t usually feel so annoyed. She had thought she had gotten used to things by now. Maybe the nightmares were getting to her? She just really, really wanted to see her father so bad. It had been days since the last time she had gotten to see him.
Star Eyes had written down some simple problems on the chalkboard, like “Twenty-five divided by five” or “Ten divided by two” just to familiarize them with division. This was the kind of stuff Wish could already just answer on her own, cause obviously to do multiplication she knew how many times five went into twenty-five or two went into ten or four into sixteen. Which meant that what was going to happen next was-
“Wish? Can you answer these problems?” Star Eyes asked her.
She smiled up at her teacher. “Yep!”
A quick hop out of her desk seat and Wish walked over to the chalkboard. Star Eyes floated the piece of chalk to her and Wish reached up to write her answers down. Five, five, four, ten. Easy-peasy. Star Eyes smiled and nodded as she correctly answered everything before Wish hoofed the chalk back to her and stood in front of the board.
So what was coming now was-
“Excellent job, Wish! You’re so smart! Isn’t she smart, class?” Star Eyes congratulated and asked the others while lightly clapping her hooves together.
“Super smart!”
“Yep!”
“She’s the best!”
“Good job, Wish!”
Wish fought back a sigh and instead smiled proudly at the teacher and other students. “Thank you!”
She took her seat again and Star Eyes now brought out some workbooks from under her desk. Levitating them to each individual student and letting them look at them. They were just a few pages each, with the front page explaining some rules of division and how to divide big numbers, and more boring math stuff that Wish still had to read with a big smile on her face. Some of the problems inside were a little harder too. Now at least was the time when she and the others could talk with each other. Maybe Little Note or Bright Dawn would want to work together? She knew they couldn’t refuse if she asked them but she hoped they wanted to for real.
Wish looked to her right at Smoky and tried to put on a more genuine smile. “Little Note? Do you want to work together to complete the workbook?”
It was only for a fraction of a second, but he flinched when she talked to him.
Still, he turned towards her with the same wide smile on his face. “Sure!”
“Okay, that’s good...” Wish said as normally as she could. But she knew something was wrong. She knew he didn’t want to. She didn’t have it in her to ask why he felt like that and what scared him. It was just a question you couldn’t ask, she felt that deep inside.
But she wanted to at least try to be friendlier with him. Maybe start something genuine?
“Do you know how to do this one?” She asked him, pointing to some problem with a triple-digit number.
“Umm… yes, I think so,” Little Note said and started working on it with her.
Wish was pretty sure she could see Star Eyes happily nodding out of the corner of her eyes. She didn’t pay that any mind and just tried to do the problems and figure out the tougher division with Little Note as best she could. “If there are any problems you need help with you can just ask me too.”
“Mhm,” Little Note gave a tight-lipped smile and nodded.
“I don’t think I’m that great at math but I bet we can figure this whole thing out together.”
“Yep. I think so too.”
He was smiling but he didn’t sound very happy. Still though, he worked hard with her and Wish thought it was better than nothing. When they had gotten more than halfway through the workbook, Wish decided she could try chatting a little more normally with him too.
“Your favorite subject is history, right?”
“Yep.”
Wish’s smile became slightly strained as she realized that not only was he not going to say anything else about history or why he liked it unless she prodded him, he wasn’t going to ask her what her favorite subject was either. “That’s cool, how come? I’m not even sure what my favorite subject is. Art if that counts.”
“U-Umm, I-” Little Note stiffened slightly. “I think because my grandparents liked to collect old books from across Hoofica. And so did my parents.”
Wish thought she briefly saw Star Eyes frown out of the corner of her eyes again. “Oh yeah? That’s really nice. Did your parents teach you about history and old books and stuff?”
“I...” The colt froze up, staring down at his workbook.
Wish cocked her head at him. “Um, is something wrong?”
As Wish watched, tears started to pool in his eyes. The other three were now staring at him with mouths agape in fear and concern too. Mainly fear.
“L-Little Note, calm down. What’s the matter?” Star Eyes asked, walking over from her desk. She was still smiling but her eyes were screaming and she had gone pale in the face.
Tears poured down Little Notes face and dripped onto his workbook. “I can’t… I can’t anymore. I can’t do this with her...”
“W-What’s wrong?” Wish asked him.
“Little Note, please...” Star Eyes tried to calm him down.
“I miss mom and dad… I wanna go back to mom and dad...” Little Note started to cry openly.
Before Wish or anypony could say anything else, the classroom door opened up and in walked two white-suited Inquisitors. She and the others watched as the two stallion Inquisitors, a unicorn and an earth pony, swiftly walked up to Little Note and carried him out of his desk chair. Star Eyes, Comet Burst, Bright Dawn, and Aqua Jewel were completely silent, frozen even, as the Inquisitors started carrying the crying pony out of the classroom.
“H-Hey!” Wish said, the only one that could say anything. “What’s going on? Why’s he crying? Where are you taking him?”
The unicorn looked back at her and smiled. “Don’t worry, he’s just a little emotional, we’re making sure your class isn’t interrupted.”
Little Note continued to cry and hang limply between the two Inquisitors as they took him out. “I wanna go home...” He whimpered before they took him out the door and it closed shut again.
“T-Teacher!...” Wish said and turned to look at Star Eyes.
She was smiling at her. “What’s the matter, Wish? You heard what the Inquisitors said. There’s no problem.”
Wish blinked and looked up at her like she almost couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She turned to look at her other classmates and saw they were all smiling and staring down at their workbooks, trying to complete them. “But what happened with Little Note?”
“Well since he said he missed seeing his parents I’m sure the Inquisitors are just taking him to see them. It’s nothing bad, right class?” Star Eyes asked the others.
“Right!”
“Yes, teacher.”
“Uh-huh!”
“See? So you shouldn’t be upset or worried at all, Wish. The others can promise you that Little Note is going to be fine. I know, let’s go straight to free time and you can go get any art supplies you want and play with them until your maid comes to pick you up,” Star Eyes said. She was still smiling through it all but Wish could see the horrified pleading in her eyes. “That will keep you happy, right?”
Wish looked from left to right, her other classmates were now looking at her with wide, forced, smiles again. She pushed a small smile onto her own face. “Yes.”
“Wonderful,” Star Eyes clapped. “Your classmates know Little Note is okay, more than that, he’s happy. So let’s just have fun!”
“Okay,” Wish said and glanced over at Bright Dawn who was eagerly nodding back at her,
It was the same thing again. She wanted to say more and ask more questions but she knew she shouldn’t. Wish knew the others were all silently pleading for her to just drop it and have fun in class, go back to acting happy. But she didn’t know why.
Even with the extra free time she wasn’t exactly in the mood to paint anymore. She still did it of course, happily smiling as she gathered up the supplies she wanted and brought them back to her desk. She decided she would make a painting of her with her father, just about the only thing she could think of right now that might improve her mood. The others also got their own stuff to mess around with once she had chosen what she wanted. Things were quiet in the classroom as all four kids painted or drew alone. Sometimes Wish would talk to the others about their or her art. That wouldn’t be happening today though. Still, as she finished the simple painting of her and her father standing on a grassy hill, she managed a real smile. Just a small one, but still real.
Wish almost sighed in relief when the time came for class to end and Sweet Candy arrived to pick her up. She rolled up the painting she had made and decided she’d take it back to her chambers.
Sweet Candy stood right outside the door to the classroom, meanwhile her fellow students stayed in their seats, and Star Eyes sat at her desk as well. Wish always left first. She assumed either the students’ parents came to get them after Sweet Candy picked her up. Or maybe the soldiers took them back to their own quarters in the castle? It was just another one of those things Wish figured she probably shouldn’t ask about.
Now Wish and her maid left the class behind (after Wish gave Sweet Candy the painting to stick in one of her pockets) and made the slow walk back to the stairs and then eventually back to her chambers.
Sweet Candy smiled down at her. “Did you enjoy your day in class?”
“Y-Yes,” Wish couldn’t help but accidentally stutter, but she still managed to keep her smile up.
“What did you do today?”
“We learned about division… and I got to paint.”
“That sounds very fun!”
“Mhm… it was.”
When they got around most of the lower part of the castle and back to the stairs leading up to the towers, Wish glanced up at Sweet Candy. But she waited until they passed the first guards and were in the narrow corridor going up to the first tower that she decided to open her mouth. She could go without asking questions back in class, or asking some other uncomfortable things, but too much had piled up. It was too much to silently deal with.
“Um, Sweet Candy?” Wish said to her maid. “There was something else that happened during class.”
“Hm? What?” Her maid asked her with an unassuming smile.
“One of my classmates started to cry. I don’t know why. He said he wanted to go home and see his mom and dad again. And then two Inquisitors came in and took him out of the classroom.”
Sweet Candy stopped smiling.
“O-Oh, well I’m sure he’s okay. Obviously the Inquisitors just wanted to make sure you weren’t upset by one of your classmates crying and being unhappy. I don’t think you need to worry about it.”
It was similar to what Star Eyes and the Inquisitors had said. Almost like they were all instructed in the same thing.
“But… he was so sad. Everypony keeps saying the same thing but I think he was really upset. Did something bad happen to him? Is he really okay?” She stared into Sweet Candy’s eyes as hard as she could.
Sweet Candy began to sweat and she came to a stop on the steps, ushering Wish to stop with her as well. “Wish… you should just believe me and the Inquisitors. But if you can’t, and you think he, or anypony else is feeling sad or upset over something, you shouldn’t care about that either. In fact, it should make you happy.”
Wish’s jaw opened and closed a few times. “I-I don’t understand...”
“If what happened to your classmate still upsets you, if you can’t stop thinking that something bad or sad has happened, then you need to look at things from a different perspective. Instead of thinking “How sad”, you should be thinking about how fortunate you are. When somepony cries about their parents, think about how much your father loves you and how you get to see him. When somepony else is miserable, think about how lucky you are to not be miserable. Think about how you get a huge bed, servants to attend to you, better food than anypony else in this kingdom gets. Think about all those things. Soon enough, every time somepony is sad, maybe it’ll just make you happier because it shows you how fortunate you are to not be sad,” Sweet Candy told her.
“That… that just feels so wrong. I don’t… is that right?” Wish sadly asked Sweet Candy.
Sweet Candy kneeled down and put her hooves on her shoulders. “It doesn’t matter if it’s right or not. The only thing that matters is if it makes you happy. Whatever makes you happy. That’s all you need to be concerned about. Always.” She suddenly stiffened and got back up, putting a smile on her face. “W-Wish, how happy are you right now? Tell me so I can tell your father. I’m sure you’re just as happy as when you woke up.”
Wish looked up at her and bit her lip, she rubbed her head before managing to force another smile onto her face. “Ten out of ten.”
“Good. That’s very, very good. Your father will be happy to hear that,” Sweet Candy smiled. “Now let’s hurry up back to your chambers.”
Wish merely nodded. She had never seen Sweet Candy like this before. Nor had she ever heard her say such things. What she had tried to convince Wish to do… it felt so wrong. It made Wish’s chest hurt just thinking about it.
Because of that, the rest of the trip back up the towers was one made in total silence. Just like the trip down from them earlier this morning. They passed guards, other maids and butlers, walking through the torch lit hallways and stairs with big smiles on their faces. Wish had so much to think about today, it had started so normal too, the nightmare, being woken up by Sweet Candy, breakfast, etc. But then it all shattered. Things had been piling up for a while anyways, Wish normally didn’t dwell on the nightmares so much. A day like this where she just couldn’t help herself was probably inevitable irregardless of everything else that happened.
Would she be able to look at Sweet Candy the same way? Or keep going to class and acting like normal?
Her eyes glanced at the rolled up painting partially sticking out of Sweet Candy’s pocket. If she could just see her father…
They passed by a window where she could see out at the sky and the sprawling city below that existed around the castle. The capitol of Hoofica. It was dark out like always but she could tell the streets weren’t very lively despite the large population and it technically being the middle of the day. A few flashes of lightning illuminated the town briefly, showing the stone buildings and tight streets, the crowded insides of the walls, the destitute look of it all. She was sure the capitol didn’t always look so depressing. From what she had heard of it from others back in her hometown and what she had briefly seen on that visit a few years ago, it was completely different. Just another change along with the sky and the black bands and her and her father’s arrival at the castle.
It all started changing so quickly after that.
Once they got back to her chambers, Wish saw that lunch was already prepared for her. Like it always was. There was soup, sandwiches, and salads for lunch today. A wide variety of each. After being seated down she proceeded to go right for the beet salad while trying to act as normal as always in front of the other maids and butlers. Sweet Candy stood at attention right behind her the whole time.
Normal. This was normal.
After she finished eating lunch she got her painting from Sweet Candy and took it to her bedroom to put on top of one of her dressers. The next time her father was here she’d show it to him.
The day passed by in a vague blur after that. She was back in her chambers now and allowed to pretty much do whatever she wanted. Aside from leave. As long as it was a happy and fun experience for her, she got to do whatever she wanted until dinner and then bedtime. At which point Sweet Candy would leave until next morning and then things would start all over again. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, so on and so forth. Today was a Sunday but it didn’t really matter. They were all the same for her now.
When dinner came, Wish decided to forego the normal dishes entirely and went straight for the cake. She just wanted to eat something tasty and comforting. After today she needed it, even with her earlier reservations about just stuffing her face with stuff like this. Crystal clear water was used to wash it down, the chocolate goodness and rich warm fudge on the inside made her feel better, even just temporarily. She ended up eating a slice of the cake that was far too big for her, but nopony said anything or discouraged her or even asked her to mind her manners as she used her hoof to wipe a smear of chocolate off her lips. Wish decided to finish things by taking a small bowl of porridge and eating a couple spoonfuls of that just so she could at least say she ate something real before bed. So she could tell herself she wasn’t just a pig eating fancy desserts while others ate… she didn’t even know what. Probably the average, meager, foods she ate back before she and her father came to the castle.
Now as the other maids and butlers cleaned off the table and swiftly departed, it was just Wish and Sweet Candy. Her personal maid started cleaning the boudoir and then Wish’s bedchambers. After that would come a quick wash and Wish would be taken to bed.
Evenings were never exciting.
And she had been coming to dread them more and more thanks to her nightmares.
Part of her wanted to start a conversation with Sweet Candy again, ask her more about what they had talked about earlier. But those feelings were quashed quickly. Sweet Candy wouldn’t talk with her about it anymore either. Probably.
Wish had been fooling around with her stuffed animals when she heard Sweet Candy call from the bathroom. “Wish? It’s time for bed now.”
“Coming!” Wish said in as chipper a tone as she could manage. Sighing under her breath at the same time.
At least this day was finally ending. She was tired. She hated the thought of going through another nightmare. But she just wanted to wake up in bed and hope that maybe that day she’d get to see her father.
A lone candle was lit in her room for light, barely doing anything to the dark. The bathroom had a few more lights at least. The bath itself didn’t last half as long as the one she took in the mornings, it was just to get her clean enough to hop into bed and get off any dust and dirt from the castle. And she didn’t need to go through a lengthy manestyling afterwards. In, out, dry off, go to bed.
Sweet Candy was even rushing things. Wish could tell after all the other nights they had done this.
But she still ended it with a smile as she had Wish walk up the step-stool and then tightly pulled up the covers and made sure Wish was safe and secure under them. A fluff of Wish’s pillows and the both of them were just about done. Sweet Candy grabbed the cord for the curtains along the four-poster bed and started to pull them closed, but stopped when just the last little bit was left open. She looked at Wish as the filly lied on her bed.
“Good night. Sleep well.”
Wish blinked and leaned back against her pillow. “Good night.”
Sweet Candy closed the curtains and left her bedside, using a snuffer to put out the candle, and then walked out of the bedchambers and closed the door shut behind her. In the darkness, the pitch black darkness of her room, Wish listened. She heard her maid’s hoofsteps as they walked over to the front door to Wish’s quarters. She heard the slight creak as the door was opened and Sweet Candy shuffled out. She heard the slight thump as the door was closed and-
Click
There it was. She heard Sweet Candy lock the door. It was just barely perceptible to Wish as she lied down in her bed, behind another closed door. But it was the same every night. The door was always locked from the outside. Locking her in. She didn’t understand why but there was nothing she could do about it.
Wish let out a deep breath and looked up at the canopy of her bed. She could feel sleep coming to take her.
It wasn’t long after she had fallen asleep that the nightmares came too.