The Steadfast Sky : A Canterlot Cell
The Grey Potter
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/11495/The-Steadfast-Sky
http://cosmicponyfiction.tumblr.com
~Discord~
So, earlier, I had sauntered into the library. Asked if Celestia was there. Explained that we needed to talk Element stuff. Joked that we had a fight, and that we were leaving. Just laughed it off, really. Should have left the second I couldn’t find sunbutt, but the last thing I wanted to do was talk to that pearly snotrag. So I kept up pretenses of looking for her, poked my head around each corner, maybe messed with a few of the Illuminators… small stuff. Swapped ink bottles, swapped titles of books. Small things.
Then, while I slunk around the upper stacks, there was this little cough behind me. Loudest thing, deep and attention grabbing. I turned…
The Head Illuminator shifted on his hooves, glancing at the crowd behind him. The upper stacks were unusually dim, devoid of sunlight, full of book dust, but the nervous, shifting crowd behind him blotted out the rest of the light. Hid it beneath flags even, holy hell, they had dragged out the formal flags for a meeting with me? I got a sick swoop in my stomach, reminded of something, a memory from far too long ago…
“A-hem.”
“Yeees?” I leaned on a table, standing tall. “Sure are a lot of you here.”
He cleared his throat again. Rolled his shoulders. Avoided continuing.
“Look, whatever it is,” I said, “I’m busy looking for Celestia. And since you guys don’t know where she is…” I snickered. “I mean, I get the hint. I’ll go look elsewhere, alright?”
“Your behavior, Kindness,” he finally said.
I acted clueless, “My behavior?”
“Do not lean on the table!” he snapped, “Stand firmly on all fours while you treat your elders with respect and dignity.” The crowd mumbled behind him, flagpoles clattering in light collisions.
I rolled my eyes. “We’re really doing this now—“
“We are really doing this, Prince Kindness!” he shouted.
I dropped down, surprised. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry! Calm down… Look, I’ve been bothering you a lot about this stuff. I’ll just go look elsewhere now, okay? Stop bugging you while you work.”
“While some would appreciate absolute peace,” Inkwell said, “that is not what we’ve gathered about, Kindness.”
“Really?” I glanced up at those flags again. “I supposed this was bigger business than just a telling-off.”
“Please. Prince of Kindness. Tell us the truth.” The Head Illuminator held himself high, beard quivering. “Last night, was there a fight between you and the Princess of Loyalty?”
“Just a private thing,” I explain. “I’m doing my best to make up, so don’t you worry about it. Just need to find her to apologize, right?”
“Is it also true,” he continued, “That you plan on leaving the safety of Canterlot?”
“Well,” I laughed, “That’s a bit more, you know, up in the air…”
My voice died. Was this really something I should say to the leader of the Illuminators?
“But really!” I quickly clarified, “That’s just an idea we passed around. Talked about, nothing firm. Just, you know… We want to find the Elements as soon as possible! If another method for their discovery comes up, then that’s that, isn’t it?”
“We know exactly where Generosity, Honesty, and Magic are.”
“Oh! Well, then where are they?”
“They still remain in their tombs, of course.”
“So nobody’s gone to claim them?”
“None of the other Elements have been reclaimed,” he said firmly.
“But it’s been so long, Illuminator Inkwell,” I calmly explained, “Luna and I are concerned.”
I thought, maybe that would make him a bit more relaxed, less mad at me. But no, he bristled further, crowd behind him mumbling, shaking their heads.
“It is not something that you should concern yourself with, Kindness!” the Head Illuminator barked.
“Why not?” I asked, “I’m an Element, aren’t I? Shouldn’t I care about what is happening with the unclaimed Elements?”
He sniffed loudly, holding himself high enough to look down on me.
“You avoid our lessons,” he growled. “Dismiss our ways, question our religion, and disrespect everything we have to offer you. Yet now you come to us and think you can tell us how this entire system works?”
“Well I um…” I felt cornered, like the crowd was pressing me deeper into the stacks. I laughed nervously, honestly startled. But it was the wrong move. The crowd buzzed and pressed closer, making the short corridor of books even darker.
“It was Luna’s idea, I swear!” I quickly explained. “I don’t mean to offend!”
“You do offend,” Ivory Inkwell said. “Often. Repeatedly. With your entire being.”
He’s dead serious. And I don’t really know what to say to that. A part of me gets an offended jolt, the word ‘monster’ floating through my head… Good god, the Illuminators are buffoonish, bookish fanatics! Where did this come from?!
“Well, I’m sorry,” I said lamely.
“No you are not,” he snapped, “We do not need your empty apologies, Kindness.”
“Well, well, ah…” I gave an exaggerated shrug, “What do you want from me?”
That, finally and at last, made the crowd less tense. The Head sunk a little, though his jaw was still set tight, eyes boring daggers into my face.
“To accept a lesson,” he snapped. “Come with us. Spend just a week among us, Kindness. No magic, no tricks, just a small taste of scholarly learning and understanding. Understand, as your Element urges you to understand.”
“Eh…”
Wrong answer. The crowd pushed in. Light all but gone, air stuffy, every eye on me.
“I just have other things on my plate now! Celestia—!”
“It’s not an option!” Inkwell barked.
I laughed, nerves gone crazy. “Like hell it’s an option!”
Three Illuminators shot forward. An aura pinches my hands, but in a reflex, I melted the magic to water. It didn’t matter. Brain reeling, an Earth Pony was on me in an instant. A silver loop snapped around my wrist. My left arm went numb, frosty. My magic flared briefly, yet died before it could surface…
I toppled over, chin smacked the floor. An Illuminator held the rope tightly in his mouth, dragging me. I yanked my arm back. The scholar tumbled forward, eyes wide.
Another cold weight splashed into my back, frost jabbing into my spine. My wing collided with another’s jaw. Another aura pinched around my jaws… a muzzle.
As if I intended to bite them.
I snapped at the sparkling aura, hair on end and anger boiling in my gut.
But four hooves slammed on my back. The silver bag snagged my horn. With a yank, the bag pressed over my left skull, numbing frost boring through my eye, the flesh of my ear.
I toppled over, eyes popping, trying to force my mind through the sudden haze. My brain was freezing over, going numb…
And that was the last aware thought I had. I was giggling and confused when they threw me into a classroom, but that didn’t last long. No, they didn’t want me to stay addled! They wanted me to be able to think and talk. Just not leave.
Never thought I’d see these cuffs again. Never even thought I’d be stuck in them. I can feel magic burning in my bones, flaring under my frozen skin. It burns, just trying to cast. I wouldn’t be surprised if my skin started searing away.
That Stringhalt goop. That ‘smooze’ crap. They didn’t even bother with the leather sacks. Guess they knew I could bust out of those. No, now I’m slapped in silver, shifting scales, material quivering and shifting over my hands, over the base of my wings… Who the hell had this idea, and how badly am I going to beat the shit—
I kicked the door and shouted, “Okay! Joke’s over! You can let me out now!” And when no response came, “This is bull and you know it! Why?! Is this punishment?! What the hell do all of you think you’re doing?! I am the goddamn PRINCE!”
They left me some bread and a jug of cider, but I upturned and smashed them in my attempts to destroy the bookshelves. I don’t care if they took it as my “violent bestial nature” or whatever the hell they’re thinking. They think they can do this to me?! Well! No books for them!
So here I was. Bound up by the hands and the wings, and left to stew in hatred and apathy. Eerily similar to how I was kept in that Stringhalt zoo. Oh, the obvious connection crossed my mind then. But… why? Why would Apple want the Illuminators to manhandle and hogtie me? He had eyes for Celestia, didn’t he? I’ve only talked to him two or maybe three times since I got here, but the Illuminators clearly had their own reasons for wrapping me like a Hearth’s Warming present—
“Found her.”
I jumped up. Or did something equivalent on my numb, stubby hands. Luna?!
“She didn’t want to talk. Left.”
“Who didn’t? Luna?” She sounded so close… I moved towards the door, thinking, knowing she was just on the other side of it.
“Let’s just…”
“Just what? Life, sky, whatever, it’s so good to hear—”
“…Meet at my room. Talk about Celestia there. Okay?”
“Celestia?! I think that’s the least of our… oh, duh.”
I collapsed back to the floor. She was talking to me via the Element. Like we planned… Wow, did I feel like an idiot. I kicked a few more books around, swatting them in the corners just to topple them again .
I spent the night in that stupid cupboard of a classroom, letting the moonlight seep through the stupidly narrow stained crack of a window. The books made for awful bedding, and I wasn’t about to tear them up for anything better. I’m frustrated, not… completely destructive. I thought of dumb things. Of wanting Ruin’s Journal to read. Of wondering why the Illuminators thought this was a good idea. Okay, they have me trapped. But I’m not going to listen to them like this! I thought briefly of kicking some of them in the teeth, but a guilty part of me dismissed the idea. I don’t want to hurt them… I want them to beg for my forgiveness.
And finally, kicked books and imagined humorously humiliating apologies exhausted, I comforted myself with thoughts of Luna. Luna coming to get me, us running away together… My Element flickered in response, but there was no way to send a message, or even blast a ray out the window. For that, I’d need my magic…
I wondered what was going to happen in the morning.
And I fell asleep to the cold sacks shifting strangely around my numbed limbs.
~æ~
I honestly think that was the worst night of sleep I’ve had in a long time. I’m slipped more bread and cider while I’m asleep, this time with a fat slice of ham on the side. How thoughtful. I think of smashing those too, ruin more books while I’m at it. But I can’t. The feeling of hunger is already driving me crazy. Hate that empty feeling. Hate it.
Also hate the feeling of trying to eat when your hands are too numb to hold anything. I wind up crouched over my food, tearing through it like some kind of dog.
I re-find my not-particularly-comfortable place on the floor and lie down. At least at the zoo I had pillows. Great, now I’m starting to think that’s preferable? So what dumb thoughts am I going to entertain myself with today... A day without magic. This is going to be downright awful.
But then, the door opened. I wriggled around, and saw Book Binding stride in, head high and looking down at me.
“Hello, traitor!” I said cheerfully.
She sniffed loudly, looking at the scattered books. The room fills with orange light, and the books start tucking themselves back on the shelves.
“Oh, why bother?” I continued, just as giddy, “I’m just going to knock them right back down again.”
“Then do so after I’m gone,” she said. “I will not teach in squalor.”
“Oh, so this is what this is about?” I snipped, “You’re trying to force me to do lessons?”
“We hope to teach you something, yes…”
“Well I can’t take notes! Not with jelly for hands!” I heaved my arms forward to make a point. The bag shook violently as it slapped against the floor. She merely glanced at my cuffs, then set her books down wordlessly. And she’s actually opening the book, and oh god she really wants to do this?
I cried, “If you think I’m going to take lessons like this, then you’re sorely mistaken, Booky!”
“Oh, I know you’ll be much less receptive than normal to a lesson about History or Liturature.”
“But you’re going to do it anyway, huh?!”
“No,” The Illuminator flipped through the pages of her volume in silence. Finally finding the right page, she slipped the bookmark from the spine. “I am going to relate to you a letter. It pertains very much to you…” Her eyes flicked up to mine. “I know you are not in the mood to listen. But…” She lifted the first sheet of parchment. “From Head Illuminator, Ivory Inkwell.”
“LA LA LA LA LA, WHO’S THAT IDIOT, NOT IMPORTANT TO ME.”
“Dearest Prince of Kindness…”
“I have a name, you know!” I shouted at her feet, “Or is the name not pony enough for you?! Should I start calling myself Glitter Snout?! Would you like that?!”
Loudly, Booky continued, “Forgive us for the events hours prior, we bear you no ill will…!”
“Bullcrap you all do! Attack me, imprison me, and you call that ‘no ill will?!’”
“We beg!” Booky shouted, “That you accept an explanation of our actions…!”
“You know the last time I was caught, it was because I looked so weird!” I bellowed, “So is that it?! I’m just such a little oddball?!”
“…As many of our order is experiencing a crisis of faith!”
“Oh, is that so? Why?!” I cried, “Because I’m such a little brat, is that it?!”
Book Binding slammed the letter down, glaring at me.
“It is not just you!” she bellowed, “Though refusing to listen while shouting questions is absolutely deplorable, and you will do well to sit still and listen for once, you little, you, you, you—!”
She yanked the page back up before her eyes, aura nearly tearing the page in half. Shaking slightly, she continued.
“We accept order. We seek harmony. The two, they always seemed to travel together, hoofbeat following hoofbeat. Order was the world in harmony.
“I think most of us here are, to be frank, terrified. We feel as though the Elements of Laughter, Loyalty, and Kindness may have been mistakenly chosen.”
“Just because I like a couple pranks…!”
“It’s not just the pranks, Discord!” Booky cried, “Within the year, you have ALL lost your inner harmony. You are barely even friends anymore!”
Well... well that’s just bullshit. Yep. Complete crap. I mean, yes, Celestia’s out of her gourd, but me and Luna… we’re fine. Completely friendly. Totally harmonious. I try to think of a counter example, but before I can, she continued.
“Our biggest failure with the First Gods,” she explained, “Is that none of them were friends. It was more important, in the eyes of the Illuminator Order, to make sure the tribes were unified. Two must be from each tribe. That’s what we thought Harmony would stem from. But they missed that vital spark of friendship, of true, personal harmony. Maybe that is why our country now wallows. We trumpet this philosophy, and yet, we failed to understand it at a basic level, so miserably.
“And now our second gods wither before all are even present.”
Book Binding paused. As if expecting me to shout, or react, or say something.
I had nothing to say.
So she continued.
“Perhaps you have all grown enough to submit to Nightmares. We cannot take that risk. This is why we have trapped you here.
“Forgive us of our fears, of our need to capture you. In doing so, we have treated Kindness with such contempt. We hope for you to learn from this experience, to resume growing and maturing. However, if Harmony continues to wane from you three, what choice would we have but to prevent further Nightmares, and to seek the true Second Gods?”
Again, she stopped. I’m sure I had an objection in me, but it wasn’t quite there yet. I just stared at her feet, stewing, cold creeping all across my body. A lesson? Tie me up to teach me about friendship...?
Again, she continued. There was more…
“Discord.” I flinched. That wasn’t her reciting voice. “I personally implore you to consider what is important to you. Is this country important?”
I stared at her. “I honestly can say that I don’t care either way for it. I don’t want ponies to be suffering, but the country…”
“Then,” she interrupted, “At the very least, does friendship matter to you?”
“Without the friendship of both Luna and Celestia,” I spat. “I’d be dead. And that’s the truth. I know Celestia and I don’t get along all that great… but they both mean the world to me.”
“Then perhaps our fears will be unfounded. But until more is done to disprove this conviction…” Finally, I heard her as she flipped through her heavy book. After a moment’s silence, the volume thumped shut, and Book Binding suddenly stood. I heard her gather up her things, and watched as she walked to the door. “I’ll see you again in a few hours, Prince of Kindness.”
“In a few hours? Why?” I mumbled, finally finding my objections, “Are you going to check back and see... if I’ve turned into shadows? Or whatever a Nightmare is...” My voice trailed off. Term seemed so vaguely familiar, but, but... “What exactly are you hoping will happen to me?”
“At the end of a god’s life,” she dully explained. “He or she becomes transformed entirely by their weaknesses. By their flaws. By their own hatred and selfishness. We’ve been able to observe this change five times already, we know, almost too clearly, its stages...” She looked down at me. “And I do mean transformed... As far along as you are, the fact that you can still wear your Element, that are even able to talk normally is a good sign.”
“Come on,” I pleaded, “So you’re worried! I get it! But just leaving me here? Tied up? Is this really necessary…?”
“It’s not up to me,” she said shortly.
“What do you think I’ll learn?” I begged. “About being a friend and a ruler, just tied up in this cell?”
“You’re not in a cell, Prince of Kindness,” she looked down at me, face stony. “You’re in a library, and one not chosen at random either.” She sniffed, “If you took the time to read the volumes instead of damaging them, perhaps you’d understand.”
And before I could object further, the door clicked firmly shut.
I stared at the door, thoughts settling. Sidelong, holding myself back, I rolled over, and glanced at the title of the book right at eye level.
Letters: Internal Affairs Between the Element of Magic and his Fellows…. Vol. III Element of Generosity, Vol. VII Staff, Vol. IV Element of Kindness…
I hacked up a laugh. And with a half-hearted flick of my tail, slapped a few more books from the shelf.