//------------------------------// // I.6 - Night is Cold // Story: Night // by Revenant Wings //------------------------------// The next morning, I received a notice in the morning before breakfast saying that Princess Luna was going to teach me about modern Equestrian history. The notice was paired with a rather large book – about seven hundred pages written in fairly small text. The notice also said that I had to read the first chapter in order to speed things along; the quicker we finished the textbook, the quicker we could stop having to deal with each other. This was a perfectly fine arrangement. It was hard to believe I had spent only five days in Equestria. The days had gone by so slowly it had felt like it had been longer, yet I had only arrived on a Wednesday and it was Sunday. I wondered if there was a difference in time between the worlds, like if I went back it would be Monday or Tuesday or perhaps even later instead of whatever day it was. And I still had a whole day ahead of me before the teaching sessions with Princess Luna were to begin. With nothing else to do, I drank the supplement when the guard came around and proceeded to follow him down to the dining hall. Shining Armor was there, as was Princess Celestia. Neither looked very happy. They acknowledged me weakly as I sat down and a plate was brought in front of me. I ate silently for a minute, noticing the downcast faces on both of them; Shining Armor in particular seemed to have watery eyes and whatever emotion that came across Celestia’s face was almost immediately blinked away the next yet it kept creeping back. Celestia kept opening her mouth to speak, yet she wouldn’t get much more than a simple syllable out before losing her nerve and closing her mouth yet again. “I… got the message from Luna,” I said. “Good… good…” Celestia said. She had a distant look in her eyes as she stared towards the entrance, out the doors and into the hallway, always keeping the opposite side of her face away from where I could see it. I noticed Shining Armor had barely touched his plate. I mentioned this. “Yeah, I know,” he said, choking on his words like he was trying to force them out. He looked around nervously for a moment before leaving the table. “I’ll be right back,” he said, then bolted out of the hall so fast only a blue streak from his mane and tail remained behind and the hall fell silent again. I slowly took another bite of my food. Celestia sighed. I looked at her. “…is there something you’re not telling me?” Celestia flinched. “I mean with Shining Armor.” “…he hasn’t taken very well to the fact that you’re adamant on leaving.” “Why should he?” “Nemo,” Princess Celestia reprimanded me, then sighed and calmed herself down to a much more gentle tone before continuing. “One of the first things you need to understand and grasp about this world is that all ponies, whether or not they are capable of magic, each have a tendency to create bonds with others very quickly. If somepony finds somepony else they have similarities to, even if it’s due to the slightest of interactions, they will quickly become attached as friends. You mentioned to Shining Armor you had a sister that moved away; Shining Armor has a sister who used to live her in Canterlot before continuing her studies elsewhere. That may not seem like much, but Shining has stated he felt something of a kindred bond between you two. Your rejection of his friendship once you realized my ulterior motives were behind it was not taken lightly...” Celestia turned her face around so that I could see the opposite side and I gasped. On her cheek was a massive bruise. “Funny thing, though,” Celestia continued. “It wasn’t you he was mad at. He was mad at me. He thought he would make a new friend because I was pushing him to help you out around here, but as soon as he heard about the confrontation between us yesterday morning he decked me pretty hard. ‘It wasn’t right of you to do that,’ he told me. ‘Either to him or to me.’ He had a point.” Celestia winced and rubbed the bruise. “I have yet to be able to rid this bruise with magic.” “What did he say about me?” “Oh, he was more mad than anything, but very protective. His kindred bond with you made him mad towards me and sympathetic with you. He had been shouting at me all morning until a few minutes before you came in.” I began to feel bad for what I said to him. It wasn’t Shining Armor that had backstabbed me, but Princess Celestia – but I had already given her a lashing and still wasn’t satisfied. Shining Armor returned a short while later. He walked back over to his seat and sat down, picking at his food. He occasionally shot glances at Celestia that I couldn’t register the emotion that caused it, whether it was hurt or betrayal or sadness or anger. That was nothing compared to the look he gave me, one that was hurt at doing what he did and tried to tell me he didn’t mean to but somehow knew words wouldn’t work. He didn’t speak for the entire time that I was in the dining hall and left soon afterwards. I turned to Celestia. “Where do you think Cadence would be?” * * * Cadence was in her personal parlor room in her wing of the castle, which was where Celestia said she might be. She was reclining on a rather large sofa that had space for one more and appeared to be sunning herself with the direction the sofa was placed with regards to the large window at the opposite side of the room. I didn’t enter right away even though I could see her, instead knocking on the open door and calling around the corner to where I could see her on the couch. “Cadence! It’s Nemo. Can I come in and speak with you for a moment?” The alicorn was silent for a moment and I was afraid she would deny my request. Thankfully, a short while later I heard Cadence call. “Come on in, Nemo.” I walked slowly and carefully over to where Cadence was sitting on the couch. The alicorn motioned with a hoof over to an armchair close-by and I sat down in it while Cadence adjusted herself on the couch so that she was more upright. I was silent for a long moment until Cadence made a motion for me to speak with her hoof. “I… wanted to talk about Shining Armor.” “I figured it would be that,” Cadence said, not reprimanding me. Yet. “He came in to speak with me last night and was not very happy about your confrontation with Celestia. Not that you confronted her, interestingly enough, but that you felt betrayed by him afterwards. I’m afraid he has yet to give me the details. Please… entertain me.” I explained how I had still wanted to go back home. However, I had started to think that I was getting close to Shining Armor to the point where I could have called him a friend and had begun to think I would miss him when I returned. These beliefs were somewhat torn apart if not destroyed when Celestia revealed to me that she had used Shining Armor becoming friends with me to attempt to establish some sort of ‘kindred bond’ that would have connected us; it had worked with Shining Armor, who ended up genuinely considering me a friend, but Celestia had only meant to use the friendship between us as a reason to get me to stay. Shining Armor initially knew of Celestia’s purposes, but she had somewhat masked it and later became hurt by his own feelings of betraying me when Celestia’s intentions were revealed. “So the kindred bond is at this moment one-sided,” Cadence said. “Interesting…” “What’s interesting?” I asked. “You’re still a little mad at Shining Armor for participating in Celestia’s actions, aren’t you?” Cadence asked. “Yes!” I nearly shouted. “He knew Celestia’s purpose behind the actions and still went through with it. He knew that Celestia wanted to establish the kindred bond between us and make it where I became close to him. What Celestia didn’t tell him was that she was going to use the bond not just to make this place more comfortable for me but to make it impossible for me to leave without feeling like I was leaving him behind.” “So you are not affected by the kindred bond between you. Shining Armor is.” “What exactly does it do?” “It’s basically an advanced form of empathy. If somepony becomes hurt, those who have established a kindred bond will also be hurt though in a much minor way. If somepony becomes angry with someone, the ones who have the kindred bond will attempt to understand their anger and will sometimes become angry with the source themselves.” “So it’s an empathetic link?” “That’s what I just said.” “…so Celestia was using emotional manipulation? That’s downright cruel.” “Oh, trust me. Celestia has done much worse.” “I’ve told you my story, so please tell me what, pray tell, Celestia could have done.” “She banished her sister to the moon for a thousand years.” “And that’s another thing: what’s with you people and things happening a thousand years ago? Half the book I’m supposed to read for Luna’s ‘classes’ deals with events that happened a thousand years ago with hardly any deviation.” “Calm yourself down and let me explain. A long time ago, Celestia and her sister Luna ruled over the sun and the moon together like they do now. Celestia would raise the sun and Luna would raise the moon. But Luna became jealous because the ponies almost never saw her night since they slept to it. So Luna became Nightmare Moon, a malicious entity planning on making the land suffer in eternal night. Celestia took up the Elements of Harmony and used their power to banish her sister to the moon.” “Couldn’t she have just used it to purge Luna of Nightmare Moon’s influence?” “She could have. Celestia tried to say that the threat of Nightmare Moon was eliminated only by banishing it to the moon when in reality all Celestia needed the Elements for was to free Luna from their influence. Instead, she chose a route that shifted the blame from her onto somepony else.” “Like she was doing with me when she first attempted to explain that the spell to send me home would take three months after initially bringing me here against my will.” There was a spark of recognition in Cadence’s face. “I didn’t think of it that way originally. But… at least there’s someone here for you to speak to. Luna was alone with her thoughts.” “The way Celestia has been treating me and manipulating everyone around me… it feels that way sometimes.” Cadence nodded thoughtfully before inviting me to stay for tea. I politely declined the invitation and told her I had to read some of the book for Luna’s teaching session later that evening but I would like to eventually. I also left her with a message to Shining Armor saying that I wanted to apologize to him but was going to be busy for the rest of the day, which the pink alicorn said she’d attempt to deliver if Shining was receptive to it. Deep down, I really hoped he was. * * * I spent the rest of the day reading the first few chapters of the book that Luna had given me. The note had said to expect to be ready to proceed over the first part of the book and to be given homework for it, which was easy enough; I had remembered I went through fifteen years of school through that point. All the same, it was better to have read the material ahead of time and at least then I wouldn’t be so much under Luna’s skin. I took dinner in the main hall with the ponies and retreated before many of the others did. Shining Armor followed me out of the hall like he wanted to say something, but when I asked him what he wanted he shook his hoof and waved me onwards without saying a word. After the awkwardness of the situation went away, I left for my room, got a few pieces of paper with some wood and graphite pencils and made my way over to the observatory and library down the hall from my room. I knocked on the door to the observatory three times (as was seemed to be customary) and waited until a voice shouted to me “Come on in.” I opened the door to see a large round room with a telescope on a platform overhead while the ground floor was filled with bookshelves of all different sizes and what looked like a few books more than could fit in them; a few were scattered about the ground. I walked across the room, picking my way among the discarded books, until I came to a large window that faced to the evening sun. Luna was standing near the window with a blackboard and chalk that faced a desk. The back of the desk was to the window, while the front of the desk faced a podium at which Luna was standing and glaring at me. “I made it,” I told Luna. “Seven twenty-five. According to the time dinner ends, that’s five minutes early.” “You’re not getting out early, if that’s what you think,” Luna spat. “Please sit down. The quicker you stop running your mouth the quicker we can start this session.” I was not shocked by the behavior and sat down at the desk with the book in front of me and prepared to take notes. “Now,” Luna began. “This is going to be a simple affair by most of our school’s standards. This course will cover a simple survey of modern Equestrian history from one thousand five hundred years ago to the present day. Of course, I’ll be going back just a little bit further from that in order to make sure you get the Equestrian origin story.” “Fine by me,” I said. “Of course, there are a few rules I have. First is that you don’t talk while I’m talking or at all for the entire session, for that matter, unless I have specifically answered a question. Secondly, until you get a concept there is little we can move on to until you get it, so I’m going to be spending as long as I have to on a concept until I manage to drill it into your head. Thirdly, don’t ask questions.” Don’t ask questions, I thought. A simple rule for making sure these sessions went by smoothly and quickly. “Now, we’re going to be skipping the prologue and moving straight into the first lesson on chapter one. I expect to get through chapter one by the end of the week, but I have no idea if that’s even possible. Shall we begin?” About three-fourths of the way through the lesson, I had to be taken to the hospital ward for a broken wrist. They didn’t believe me when I told them Luna had smacked my hand with not one but both of the eight-hundred page textbooks at the same time simply because I asked her to repeat a single line of information I hadn’t heard correctly. By the time my hospital visit was over and I had a bandage placed on my wrist, the session time was over as well. Luna quit the session early, but handed me an essay for chapter one and a series of multiple choice and short answer questions that were to be completed by the third session. By an essay, I mean Luna wanted a researched three-page essay on the topic with two outside resources, and by a series of multiple choice questions I mean she had ten pages of them for me to complete, and by short answer questions I mean Luna wanted me to do seven of the ten offered in one paragraph each. I carried the stack of papers to my room and started using the book to answer the multiple choice questions for the rest of the night. By the time I was finished with the fifth page, a clock on the wall said two in the morning and a guard was coming around to see why the light was still on so late. I dismissed him saying I was studying and was heading to bed at that moment. And so I did. Over the next week and a half my schedule became radically different. In the mornings I would go to breakfast in the hall before returning to my room to study the book Luna had given me. I answered most of the questions on my own, but I often found myself going to the library. The librarian, a certain pony by the name of Dewey Decimal, was eager to help out with both the answers to the questions and where I could find the needed material to answer them. Afternoons were punctuated by lunch and more studying, followed by dinner in the evening before I went back to the room to rest my hand and do not much else. On every other night, the schedule changed for me to go to Luna’s sessions, where she drilled me with questions about the previous session and continued drilling my head with information. On Thursday, we finished chapter one before the end of the night. I expected her to be proud of me but didn’t show it, and neither did she. Instead, she gave me the homework for chapter two, which was double that of chapter one, and expected me to finish it in the same amount of time... the following Thursday. On Friday of that week Shining Armor did not invite me to go with his buddies to the pubs in downtown Canterlot. A talk with Revenant Wings on Saturday morning revealed that Shining Armor hadn’t gone at all, nor had he mentioned to the others about going like he usually did. He just sort of woke up with nausea and a headache and a few bottles strewn about his office in the guard barracks; six bottles were completely drained but a seventh only had about a half gone. On Wednesday of the next week, I became so tired with the late nights of staying up to do homework that I passed out on the couch and didn’t finish the work for chapter two. At the exact time the lesson was supposed to start on Thursday I told her I didn’t finish the work for chapter two, the result being that I had to duck a flying book that harmlessly hit the glass window behind me. “You are so slow at retrieving information!” Luna shouted at me. “I have seen high school students from some of the smaller communities finish this book and its work faster than you have! If this were a proper university, we’d be learning about the Crystal Empire and the reign of King Sombra right now.” “Um… the book says that isn’t until chapter five…” “And some schools can finish that in two weeks or less,” Luna countered. “Why, of all the possible idiots that Celestia could have brought through here, does she saddle me with you?” “It’s not my fault!” I said. “I didn’t want to come here. I didn’t have a choice.” “That’s not my problem,” Luna said dismissively. “It’s not, but you could relate! I was going along just fine in my own world until suddenly your sister and fellow princess plucks me with her magic and effectively banishes me here. It’s just like your little experience as Nightmare Mo—” “DON’T YOU DARE MENTION NIGHTMARE MOON TO ME!” Luna roared, the gale-force winds coming from her mouth rocketing me out of the desk and against the glass pane and upsetting a few of the bookshelves. “DON’T YOU EVER MENTION THAT AROUND ME!” The winds died down and I picked myself up from the floor. “Don’t you even remember anything of your life before here?” Luna shouted. “No! I lost my memory of almost everything before now! I’m twenty-two years old, I used to live in the city of Denver in the United States, I had a sister that moved away from me to get away from home, but that’s about it! I can’t tell you what I did, I can’t tell you what my education level was, I can’t even tell you—” “What do you mean you can’t tell me? If you can’t even tell me about your own life, what makes you think you could finish a high-school level textbook!?” “I don’t know!” I knelt down on the floor crying. “I don’t know… I don’t even know why I’m here…” Luna ignored my crying and continued staring at me with bared teeth. “If you can’t remember, I’ll make you remember!” And she jumped at me, horn glowing blue. I flinched, but no pain appeared. A series of images flashed before my eyes. One was a woman leaning over a crib, but I couldn’t remember any details of her face. Another was a broken brown bottle on the floor. A later one showed what looked like a report card with a D on it. The next was a letter saying that I had been expelled from high school due to flunking out. I saw no more. Unbeknownst to me, instinct had kicked in and I had started flailing. By the time I realized I had been snapped out of the stream of images, I looked around to see Luna sprawled out on the floor a few feet away from me, groaning. When my vision had cleared from the tears in my eyes I saw a black mark against the blue fur on Luna’s cheek. “You…” Luna grunted, picking herself up. When she continued, her voice was dripping with malice. “Take your book and papers. Finish the homework by next session. Meanwhile, I will be speaking with Celestia about this.” I did as Luna asked, and fled for my room. The books were quickly and unceremoniously deposited on the couch and I dashed off for my room, hiding myself under the covers without even taking my clothes off.