“Mom, is she okay?”
“She should be fine. She’s just suffered a bit of a blow to the head.”
“Look, look! She’s waking up!”
Luna cracked open her eyes and was met with the sight of a male unicorn, no more than thirteen or fourteen, with large golden eyes. He had a steel grey coat, with a pure brunette mane. Oddly, he had not yet obtained his Cutie Mark. Luna turned her head sideways and saw another pony. She was a middle-aged pegasus earth pony mare. Her coat was similar, but a few shades lighter and speckled with white spots. Her mane was grey at this point, but it did have a few spots of color that indicated in her younger years she had a black mane. Ponies in this city had very muted colors. Strangely her Cutie Mark was a map of Equestria… 900 years ago. She was reading a newspaper.
“Don’t you have homework to do Avenir?” she said without once looking up from her article.
“But Mom shouldn’t I help this lady and make sure she’s alright? Mr. Dag would understand,” the colt begged.
“Now,” she said, matter-of-factly.
“Fine…,” he plodded out of the room, probably to do his homework as quickly as possible or to put it off to the last minute.
“I’m sorry about that,” the mother said once her son had left. She stood up to see if Luna needed anything, “He really is a sweet child, but I fear without me everything would fall apart.”
“Uh… what happened?” Luna groaned.
“My apologies, but I had heard a loud noise as my son and I were finishing our meal. I ran outside and found you unconscious on the ground. Immediately I brought you in. You’re lucky there was no serious damage. Anyway, before you insist upon it, no I do not require anything in return. It was my honor to help someone in need.”
“Thank you,” Luna said, “My name’s Mu.” She was getting good at that.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Mu. My name is Davny.”
“Well I must thank you for your help in some way Davny. I insist.”
“You don’t happen to know history do you?” she asked.
“As a matter of fact, I do,” Luna replied, “Why?”
“Do you think you could help my son with his history homework? He seems to be having trouble with it.”
“I would love to,” Luna said. She stood up out of bed slowly, her vision swirling.
“Are you okay?” Davny was genuinely concerned.
“Yes, I am fine, thank you. Which way to- Avenir, was it?- which way?”
Davny led Luna out of what looked to be the spare guest room and down the hall to another bedroom. It was clear that Avenir nested here, as the wall was plastered with personal items like posters, while mobiles dangled from the sky. And there sat the colt in question, fumbling with a large roll of parchment. Davny cleared her throat.
“Avenir sweetie, this nice lady, Mu, knows history; she would like to help you.”
Luna smiled. “I would love to.”
Avenir smiled, “Well… okay. If you think you can help, it couldn’t hurt.”
“Wonderful,” Davny said, “I’ll be in the living room if you need anything. Have fun you two.”
The door to Avenir’s room closed behind Luna, leaving the colt and the princess alone.
“So Avenir, what do you need help with?”
“Everything,” he moaned, “History is not my strong suit.”
“Oh? What is?”
“Science! Science and magic!” he said excitedly.
Luna laughed, “It certainly is a wonderful field to be sure. What about science and magic?”
“Well… the entire universe is science and magic. I want to know why the universe works the way it does. History can’t tell you that.” He deflated a little, but immediately gained it back when he said, “I even know what I’m going to do when I grow up!”
“And what would that be?” Luna was incredibly amused.
“A warlock! I even know what my beard is going to look like.”
“Your beard?”
“Duh, every warlock has to have a beard.”
“Of course, how silly of me.”
“I also have my special warlock’s uniform too! Look at it!” He showed her a very… loud set of robes, but she just smiled and nodded. He sat back down.
“But Mom wants me to be just as happy about history as science. What can history do? All those ponies are dead. History doesn’t explain the universe. History isn’t important at all.”
“Ah, but that’s where your wrong,” Luna said.
“Huh?” Avenir looked up with curiosity.
“You see, history is important every single day, because every single day is history. Here, may I give you an example?” Getting the approval from the young colt, Luna continued, “A long time ago a powerful unicorn tried to take over the world. He succeeded in every campaign he waged, conquering all of his enemies. Until he got to one that is.” Making sure she had the colt captivated, she went on, “The last enemy that lay between him and world domination was a country far to the north. So he gathered an army so large, that the entire world shook under its hooves. There was no way the unicorn could lose. He marched north to take what he thought was his, expecting a quick and easy victory. But what he didn’t notice was that winter had come to that region. He wasn’t equipped for the winter, and his troops were too far into the north to escape easily. As the army fled, the northern resistance, who were used to the extreme cold, pushed them out of all the conquered northern territory, and then some. Eventually, the unicorn’s army did succeed in fleeing, but not before he lost over 90 percent of his troops. He returned to his home country a broken stallion and was exiled. Sad story right?”
“Yeah, but where does the importance of history come in?”
“Well, a long while later, another stallion tried taking over the world. He almost won too. He was an evil stallion with horrible intentions for his enemies. The time came when he too had to attack the north. He too gathered a massive military. He too expected a quick victory. And he too was not prepared for the harsh northern winter. His army was destroyed and from then on the entire war had him on the defensive. If this unicorn had studied history and knew what fate befell those who attacked the north through the winter, he might have avoided the same punishment. That is just one of the many examples.”
Avenir was speechless. “I…wow. That is amazing.” He quickly regained his faculties, “But the fact still remains. My mother controls every aspect of my life. I get no choice with what I want to do. My only freedom is in my books.”
“I would say she only wants what’s best for you, but I suppose you’ve heard that ad nauseam. Your eye roll confirms it. Truth be told, I never really had much of a mother. But I did have someone who was there to guide me. My big sister. She’s the reason I am who I am today. I know you want the ability to do what you want, which is understandable. If what you say is true, your mother does need to ease off. There’s guidance, and then there’s dominance. You choose who you want to be. You choose your future. Your mother does not make that decision, you do. Your mother is there so you can learn from the past, without having to experience it firsthoof. She’ll tell you what to do to succeed without you having to witness the failure, because she already has.”
“I know,” Avenir sighed, “Sometimes I just wish there was another way. I think I can do my homework now. Thank you for helping me Mu.”
“You’re quite welcome. Good luck, Avenir.” Luna walked out of his room and into the living room where Davny lay on the couch reading.
“That was fast,” she said.
“It was actually very simple homework. I got him started, he can finish it himself.”
Luna stood before Davny.
“Miss Davny, I thank you for helping me. Please understand that what I am about to say is not meant to be rude.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, sitting up.
“You need to give your son more freedom.”
“Excuse me?”
“Hear me out please. Your son is incredibly smart. I understand that you just want what’s best for him, but you need to let him choose his path. Put him on the right track with the right tools to face the world. Be a guiding hoof. Not the pony dragging the chain around his neck. Trust him to do the right thing. This is his time now. You’re there to ensure it’s a better time than yours. I am sorry if I have offended, but it needed to be said. Thank you for helping me. Goodbye.” Luna started walking to the front door.
“Wait.” Luna turned around to see Davny rummaging around in a small bag. She pulled out a coin and handed it to Luna.
“For the trip home Mu. Thank you.”
Luna simply smiled warmly and walked out the door.
Luna inspected the bit. When was the last time currency had the pictures of the royal sisters on it? Luna wondered. It was at least a few centuries ago. Luna didn't know what Davny expected her to do with this.
It was dark out.
“Came for milk, stayed for the conflicts,” she grumbled.
“Did you have fun?” a voice from the darkness said.
Luna didn’t need to look to know who it was. “Maenon,” she growled. He started walking away but Luna was having none of that. She raced after him and he took off at an astounding speed, racing down the streets, weaving his way through alleys, but Luna stayed on his tail all the way out of the Residential District. They raced up and down hills, moving farther and farther from where they started. The cobblestone was replaced with dirt, the brick with foliage. It was then, after a long chase, that Maenon stopped suddenly. Luna stopped short of colliding with him and they just stared at each other, breathing heavily.
Luna could stand it no longer. “Why am I here? Where is here? What is the purpose of all this? Why have I never even heard these names before now? What are you? WHO ARE YOU?!?” Luna bellowed.
“You remember me, don’t you, your highness?” Maenon stated calmly.
“What?”
“As for where we are, well, I believe you can answer that.”
Luna looked around at her surroundings. The night sky, it was bare, except for a full moon, hanging so close Luna swore it never looked so big. The ground around them was littered with ruined stone structures, the remains of which were only stone foundations or the occasional column. Save for one building. It seemed new, as if it were built just yesterday. It was pure black marble, with red banners adorning it. On one particularly large banner was a picture of an alicorn mare. She had a dark mane, with a black coat. She didn’t look quite like Luna. In fact…
Luna looked closer. “She looks more like…”
An explosion of realization and she was falling through space
Down…
Down…
Down…