I woke up from a nightmare at around three in the morning. All I could remember was that it was about a test that had gone terribly but that was enough to kick me out of my dreams and into the waking world with tears in my eyes. I... I tried real hard to not cry, since it was a stupid thing to do because I couldn't fix the root cause of it, and there was no one to cry to, and even if there was someone, they wouldn't care, and if they don't care, why should I? After all, the nightmare was about some retarded test given to me by some retarded 'school' more than five years ago and I should be over that by now.
But of course, that didn't me from being a crybaby bitch and crying for two minutes, like, get over it you dumb bitch, it was a dream of all things.
After my two minute long moment of weakness, I made a mental note to not do that again, and got out of bed. I washed my face and made some chai. While the chai was getting finished, I went to lie down in the living room for a minute.
I hadn't even got to the sofa when I heard something hit my back door with an audible thump. I went to investigate and pulled aside the curtains of the back door. Strangely, there wasn't any forest wildlife in my backyard like I had expected. Another thump sounded, making me jump a little and then look down. It was a large moth- no, it was the large moth that I had in my house a few days back. The bug took flight, hitting my door once again as it tried to enter. Clearly, it could not comprehend clear glass. I opened the door, and this time, instead of flying into the glass door, it flew into my leg.
I picked it up in one hoof and looked it in the eye, admiring how cute and dumb it looked. The moth just wiggled its legs in the air and squeaked loudly in what I assumed to be protest. Seeing that improved my mood somewhat. I tucked the bug under my left arm as if it were a plushie and went to check on the chai.
Maybe I can show the moth to someone.
That'd be later though. Right now, I still had quite a lot of time until work. Fortunately, my chai was finished and I had a cute bug to accompany me till then.
I poured a cup of chai out and took it to the living room where I set it on the table to cool a bit. I lay down on the couch with the moth in my arms. The bug seemed to have accepted its fate as a huggable creature and rest in my arms, not doing much.
I was about to nuzzle it when a dark liquid-y thing started to come out of the couch. I sat upright as the stuff gathered up and took the familiar shape of an alicorn with eyes all over.
"Hey, Voth," I greeted. There was some important stuff I had to tell him.
"YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY," Voth said, getting straight to the point.
"Yeah, so, Grogar's bell was kinda a dead end since I couldn't find much on it," I started, and I could feel that Voth wasn't too happy to hear that. "However, I did find an artefact that might be the thing we're looking for and I might have a location for it."
"EXPLAIN."
"So, there's a thing called 'the key' which is described as being extremely powerful but it can only be found by those who don't want it, which is basically the same as the thing you wanted me to find. I know where it might be, I just need a good excuse to go there since its in an abandoned fort that no one should go to."
"GOOD YOU HAVE WORKED FAST FOR A LOWER BEING," Voth said with what seemed to be happiness, while I was choosing between being offended or being flattered. I chose the latter since Voth probably doesn't mean 'lower being' in a bad way. "HOWEVER I STILL NEED YOU TO FIND ME GROGAR'S BELL DUE TO ITS RELATION TO MY KIND IF YOU FIND IT I WILL GIVE YOU ADDITIONAL COMPENSATION."
That sounded... decent, I guess. I didn't really want anything but the deal sounded decent to me. I mean, when I give him 'the key', I only get my freedom from him, and even though he was good, I wanted some more stuff other than that.
"I'll try to do that," I said, "What would you give me in compensation?"
"THAT IS UP TO YOU TO DECIDE." Well, that was vague.
"Uhh, that's cool but I don't really know what I can get. Could you give me a list?" I asked, hoping her would elaborate.
"I CAN GIVE YOU SOME POWER AND INFORMATION ON CERTAIN ARTEFACTS THAT I KNOW OF BUT DO NOT HAVE USE OF." Not as vague but still vague.
"That's... less than expected... or does 'power' mean more than just, like, strength?"
"POWER MEANS STRENGTH BUT THAT POWER IS NOT LIMITED TO A SINGLE OUTPUT WITH THE POWER YOU CAN SUMMON CREATURES FOR YOU, GAIN MAGICAL PROFICIENCY, INTERACT WITH MY WORLD AND SO ON FOR INSTANCE YOU CAN USE THE POWER TO TELL HOW THE CREATURE IN YOUR ARMS IS FEELING," Voth elaborated, seemingly happy to share knowledge.
"Really? What's he feeling like right now?" I asked as I pet the moth.
"HE IS IN COMFORT," Voth replied.
"Hmmm, okay... So, if I understood correctly, the power you'd give me is like, good for everything."
"IT WILL NOT TRANSLATE INTO PHYSICAL STRENGTH UNLESS YOU USE IT FOR BIOMANCY AND INCREASE THE STRENGTH YOUR FLESH," Voth said, clearing any confusion I had, but also name-dropping something that sounded cool.
"What's biomancy?"
"IT IS THE MAGIC WHICH ALLOWS YOU TO GAIN CONTROL OVER LIVING ORGANISMS AND ALTER THEM OR MAKE THEM OBEY YOUR COMMANDS," Voth answered, as he started to melt back into the sofa. "I AM GOING NOW, CALL ME WHEN YOU FIND THE KEY."
And with that, Voth was gone, leaving me alone... not really, I had the moth with me. I picked up the cup of chai in my magic and took a sip, burning my tongue.
I walked into the library, whose door was unlocked, probably by Twilight. However, she wasn't anywhere to be seen. I guess she was having breakfast upstairs. I left my saddlebags by my chair at the front desk, and with the moth on my arm, I went up the stairs.
I knocked on the door at the end of the stairs since it was Twilight's home now and I didn't want to accidentally break in. The door opened for a moment and Spike stepped out before he closed the door behind him.
"Hi, Anya, if you're looking for Twilight, you'll have to wait," he said immediately. He was going to continue but was interrupted by the moth on my arm squeaking. "What... what is that?"
"It's a really big moth," I answered before moving my arm closer to him to let him see the moth up close, "Pretty cool, right?"
"Yeah, kinda cool for a bug, don't think Twilight would like it," Spike said as he poked at said bug before he continued, "Why don't you go downstairs and wait for Twilight. She has a uhh she's in a meeting with the princess."
"The princess? Princess Celestia is here?" I asked, remembering Voth's advice on avoiding the sun princess.
"Yeah, it's her. Anyway, I'll see you in a bit. Try to act... normal when the princess comes downstairs since she doesn't really like ponies being nervous of her," he said as he opened the door and slipped back inside before closing it.
I took a deep breath before turning around and heading down. There was still at least half an hour before the library opened and I didn't have much to do till then. I sat at my desk and set down the moth next to the computer, where it just crawled around slowly.
I wanted to try and find stuff about biomancy but I had a feeling that it was some type of dark magic and with the princess upstairs, I was not going to take any risk. I opted to sit in my chair and watch the moth crawl all over the computer instead. I spent the next minute like that.
I caught a movement in the corner of my eye and turned my head to investigate. I saw a black coloured pony with midnight blue hair coming down the stairs as if they were sneaking. I recognised her. It was Nightmare Moon. She looked my way as she got off the stairs and the next moment, I felt myself being hugged.
Nightmare had crossed the small distance between the stairs and the desk in a moment and pulled me into a hug. It was so fast that I couldn't really react to it. I did notice that she seemed very weak. Her wings still looked bad and her horn, despite having grown back halfway, still wasn't in any position to do magic.
"Oh my Faust! I thought I'd never see you again!" She said, very excited and happy to see me for some reason. I hugged her back, unsure of what to say or do.
"Hi, Nightmare Moon," I said, finally coming up with some words.
"Hi, uh I don't think I know your name, I never really go to ask you that night, or maybe I did and forgot it," she said very fast as she pulled away from me. "So, what's your name?"
"My name is Anya," I answered, "So, why are you here?"
"Oh! The princes- I mean, princess Celestia wanted to talk to the element of magic, Twilight, about something and she told me that I have to come with her as well, and I remembered that there's the nice pony in this town and that I could go find her but guess what she did," she answered all in one breath. If I were to guess, the 'nice pony' was me but I couldn't be sure.
"What?" I asked, not wanting to say my answer out loud just in case.
"She found me!" she answered excitedly as she hugged me once again, nuzzling my chest. I was starting to feel that something was off about her. She was too different from the last time I saw her and that was less than ten days ago. Was she hiding her feelings?
"Say, do you know why the princess is here, like, the reason why she's talking with Twilight?" I asked her. She went very still at that question, making me a bit worried.
She looked up at my face before looking back down and burying her face in my chest fluff. Her happy facade had disappeared, showing how she truly felt.
"I- I... don't wan-," she said shakily as she hesitated before finally caving in, "Celestia wants to leave me under Twilight's watch be- because I'm not welcome at the castle and becaus- because I'm not a good pony."
I could tell that she was crying when my chest fur started feeling wet, and that sucked since I didn't want her to cry. I run a hoof through her hair and pat her back for some time before saying something.
"Look, you aren't a bad pony, you were just... misguided earlier," I began.
"B- but I hurt you and others," she said, trying to counter me, making me a bit sad.
"And now you regret that. If you were a bad pony, would you do that?" I asked rhetorically. She stayed silent after that, her crying slowly subsiding. I hoped that she had seen my point and stayed quiet because of that and not because she didn't want to argue with me.
I pulled away from the hug, making her confused and a bit scared but I knew what I was doing.
"Wanna see something cool?" I asked her as I reached for the moth that had perched itself on top of the computer. Nightmare nodded a bit hesitantly.
"Here," I said as I picked up the moth and held it out to Nightmare so that she could see it. She was curious at first but when she saw it up close, I swear I saw stars in her eyes. She wordlessly took the bug from me, letting me check the time. There were still another fifteen minutes till eight. I pushed the power button on the computer and turned back to see what Nightmare was doing with the moth.
The scene was admittedly cute, with Nightmare hugging the oversized bug with a smile on her face, while said bug seemed to have no reaction whatsoever. It was good to know that her mood had improved.
Of course, like all good things, it wasn't meant to last.
There was the sound of a door slamming coming from upstairs. Nightmare seemed to teleport with how fast she moved, putting me in between herself and the source of the noise, the princess of the sun coming downstairs. If that wasn't good enough, she looked like she wanted to go into rage mode.
She saw me and nightmare who had tried her best to hide behind me and my chair, and walked straight to us. She put on a neutral expression as she neared us but the fact that she was almost stomping gave away how she felt.
She stopped in front of my desk and greeted me with a very flat sounding voice, "Good morning, Miss Khan. I would like to know what you and her were doing here."
"We uhh we weren't doing much, just chatting," I answered, trying hard not to be intimated by the princess. Nightmare didn't say anything and continued cowering behind me. The princess raised an eyebrow at that, as if she didn't believe me.
"Nightmare Moon," she said, make Nightmare slowly walk out from her hiding spot behind me. Nightmare had a all too familiar terrified expression, like she knew that it was over for her. The princess continued, "I had told you NOT to go anywhere without my permission and an escort. It is a matter of security that you said you understood."
'Whose security?' I thought, seeing how hostile the princess was to Nightmare for something thiss small.
The princess stayed silent, letting the tension grow, which made Nightmare's mood worse, and I knew that she was doing that on purpose.
"May I speak, princess?" I said, breaking the silence. The princess might have had her reasons to be hostile to Nightmare but she was overdoing it.
"I understand that you want to criticise my harshness but it is necessary that you understand the security issue that is her sneaking away for whatever reason," the princess said, assuming that I didn't know that stuff.
"Okay, sneaking away is bad, I agree with that, but she came downstairs to just talk to me, and not like, do anything bad," I countered. "Plus, she stayed in the library and isn't much of a threat."
"I do not believe I said that she was a threat," the princess said, technically telling the truth to counter my last point. Most people would just go along with it, but, I was not most people.
"Counterpoint: It was implied and said implication could only be missed if you were like, completely stupid," I argued back. The princess hummed at that, seemingly thinking.
"...I suppose you may have a point," she said to me before turning to Nightmare and saying sternly, "Do not leave this building."
She turned and left, going back upstairs. We both just sat where we were for a few moments, hearing the footsteps recede. Nightmare Moon then jumped onto me and hugged me, all while thanking me and stuff. I was just astonished that I managed to argue with the princess, and win.
Nightmare and me had talked for like, ten minutes, and it was mostly her telling me about how much Canterlot sucked and how she didn't want to be there and that Celestia was always angry at her for no reason. I listened to her vent, nodding and stuff since I didn't want to see her sad for whatever reason.
I had to stop her for a moment though with the time being almost eight.
"Yo, Nightmare, I'll be back in a second," I said, interrupting the story she was telling me about some guy named 'Fancy Pants' and how he accidentally switched up Nightmare and Luna.
"Huh, where are you going?" she asked, sitting up from her spot on the floor where she had layed in a loafing position like a cat.
"Gotta turn the sign at the door," I answered. Nightmare looked unsure and unhappy that I was gong away. even if it was for just a moment.
It took me a few seconds and like I had said, I was back at my chair. Nightmare still seemed upset that I had left her for some time.
"Okay, I'm back, you can continue your story," I said. Nightmare went back to loafing and was about to open her mouth when we heard the upstairs door open. We both turned to look at who was coming down.
Princess Celestia was coming downstairs with Twilight close behind her. Neither of them looked particularly happy, which made Nightmare upset. I got out of my chair and put a hoof on her shoulder to bring some comfort to her.
"I think I have to go now," Nightmare whispered to me sadly.
She got up, ready to go when the princess teleported a ring thing and placed it on Nightmare's broken horn, making her confused. The ring was a magic suppression device.
"I've decided that staying in Ponyville for some time will be better for you. You'll be staying under Twilight's supervision and I expect you to behave," the princess said to Nightmare as she left the library.
Nightmare stood silently, processing Celestia's words before a large smile fitness on her face.
"I'm staying here," she whispered excitedly as she looked to me.
"Yes, you are," interrupted Twilight in a very annoying voice as she teleported herself a scroll, "However, there will be some rules that you'll have to follow and there will be consequences if you don't."
It broke my heart a little seeing Nightmare go from almost exploding due to happiness to looking nervous and scared.
"Hey, Twilight," I said, interrupting her before she could start reading out all the rules, earning a glare from her in return.
"As for you, I don't want you to go arguing with the princess or encouraging bad behavi-", she didn't get to finish as I picked up the moth that Nightmare had left on the desk and brought it close to her, making her take a step back.
"Woe be upon ye," I said as I gently threw the moth at her. The moth, not wanting to fall, took flight and landed on Twilight's face.
The scream that followed was the second loudest thing after Nightmare's and mine laughter.