//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Suffocation // Story: Laughter is Faith // by Redric Carrun //------------------------------// “So that's really your name?” “Yeah,” the filly – whose name was apparently Apple Bloom – whispered. “How'd she know?” Sweetie Belle tilted her head. “Your name's really Scootaloo? What kind of name is that? It doesn't even mean anything.” “Hey!” Scootaloo frowned. Quickly, Apple Bloom leaned in and pointed towards the center of the throne room. “What's she doing?” Standing where Apple Bloom had pointed was Nightmare Moon, scratching at the cobblestone floor with a single hoof. The scraping of hoof on stone made a grating noise that hung in the air. “I don't know,” Scootaloo whispered back. “But she's been doing it for a long time now.” “Maybe she's polishing the floor,” Sweetie suggested. Scootaloo scoffed. “That's just stupid. Why would she do that?” “Hey! I was only guessing.” Nightmare Moon scraped the ground again. She spoke without turning, her regal voice carrying through the whole expanse of the room. “I am looking for the Elements.” The fillies jumped, but Nightmare Moon continued unperturbed. Scrape. “My sister hid them somewhere here before our last battle, as a way to surprise me with their presence. They are still here – I can sense them.” Scrape. “The only thing I don't know is the method to reveal them from their hiding place.” Scrape. “It must have been something simple – some switch, or minor cantrip. She could not have expected me to give her a chance for anything more complicated than that.” A small voice piped up. “How could you do this to your own sister?” The other fillies started. “Sweetie Belle!” Apple Bloom hissed. “What are you doin'? Are you tryin' to make her mad?” Nightmare paused in her search, and turned to regard the small white unicorn. The filly didn't flinch under the Princess' gaze, her own face scrunched up in foallike determination. “You talked about how much that poison hurt her, and you were laughing about it! Even if she did trap you on the moon, you were the one who made her do it. You tried to cause eternal night. You're still trying to cause it! How can you hate your own sister that much?” The room was still for a moment. Nightmare Moon's mane flickered silently in the darkness. “... Do you love your sister?” “Of course I do!” Sweetie Belle replied. “She's my sister!” Nightmare nodded. “A sister can be a wonderful thing, if you love her, and she is good. She is somepony who will be around you for a great deal of your life. A good sister is a blessing.” “Yeah,” Apple Bloom said. “Mah sister's always lookin' out for me!” “She can bring you comfort, when times are tough. Companionship. She can be a strength for you, when you have none.” Nightmare tilted her head. “Your sisters are older than you, yes? Mine is as well. I know well how much a sister can help you grow, and be happy.” “Then why?” Scootaloo asked. “Why are you fighting with her?” “That is what a sister can be, at the best of times. But a strong sister may not always be a blessing.” Nightmare looked each filly in the eye in turn. “You are young yet. Still, I think you two, at least, who have sisters of your own, may already understand how suffocating it can be to have someone older than you, so alike you in many ways, but better, simply because they have had more time to get better in. Just a year or two more experience; not much, in the long run. But they will always be ahead of you by those years, and there is nothing you can do about it. And the better your sister is, the worse it gets.” Scootaloo frowned. Nothing Nightmare was saying was making any sense. A sister would be great to have, especially if it were somepony as awesome as Rainbow Dash. But Scootaloo didn't have one herself. She glanced at the other two, wondering if there was some speck of truth to Nightmare's words. Apple Bloom was staring up at the Princess with a look of confusion. Her frown was much like Scootaloo's, and the pegasus could tell that Apple Bloom had no idea what Nightmare was talking about either. But Sweetie Belle flinched. “It was years before I rebelled,” Nightmare continued. “Hundreds of years ruling beside my sister, and many years before that as well. I was always with her, everywhere we went. You three are young; you cannot begin to understand the length of the time I'm speaking of. And my sister... My sister was a genius.” “I loved her, of course.” Nightmare scoffed. “She was wonderful. Braver and stronger than I was, and she always managed to keep us safe, no matter what brainless scheme we came up with. And she was beautiful, too, and kind. She was always looking out for me. How could I not love her? Everypony did. And she loved them back.” “Every. Single. One.” Nightmare scowled. “Did you know that was the reason sunglasses were invented? It was. Three ponies – a pegasus, an earthpony and a unicorn – grew so enamored with my sister that they decided they wanted to be able to look at her Sun, so that they could admire it without being blinded. They made it a challenge among themselves.” “The unicorn devised a spell that strengthened his eyes. It took a lot of time and effort to cast, and, of course, only a unicorn could use it, but the spell was very clever, as was the pony who made it. From his testings, he devised a way to limit the body's sensations, and so came up with spells that would be used as medicinal anesthetics for centuries to come.” “The pegasus tried packing thin clouds together to screen the Sun's rays. It didn't work as well as she had hoped, but in the process she happened to discover the secret of making and distilling rainbows, revolutionizing the weather industry in a way no other discovery has done before or since.” “The earthpony was a glassblower, and she set about making dark glass lenses to see through. It took a lot of tries, and most of the glasses she made were either too light for the Sun, or too dark to see through at all. She gave away all of her failures. By the time she succeeded, everypony and their mother was wearing a pair.” “And all this happened because they loved Celestia, whose Sun was hard to look at.” Nightmare whirled round, and began to pace. “Why? Why did they go to such great lengths for her, while my night, with the wonderful, gentle colors and swirls and eddies of its stars, and the radiant majesty of the Moon, went unnoticed? I worked for them. I built the sky for them to watch. I strove to protect them from the dangers of this world just as much as my sister did. But they strove for her, rather than trust in me enough to brave the darkness. Why did they love her so?” She lifted a hoof before her face. Her foreleg trembled. Her muscles were taught beneath her skin, and her voice sank to a whisper. “I would have protected them...” The room was quiet. Sweetie Belle stood up. “T- that's it?” she cried. “You hate your sister because she's better than you? That's just – just stupid. You're stupid! You can't just go and beat up ponies because your sister is good at things, or pretty, or, or a-anything... You can't...” Her voice trailed off. The others said nothing. Scootaloo glanced back and forth between Sweetie and the Princess as the two stared at each other. Nightmare's face was impassive. Sweetie Belle looked like she was going to be sick. Then, all of a sudden, Nightmare's ears perked up. She glanced around. “Well well. It seems that your little rescue party was more resourceful than I gave them credit for. To think that they would actually be able to best an Ursa Major. Which of them do you think that was, I wonder?” Scootaloo jumped. “Rainbow Dash! I knew she could do it! She could totally take an Ursuhmay thingy or whatever.” Apple Bloom squinted, and held a hoof to her chin. “What's an Ursa Major?” “Woah...” Sweetie Belle's eyes widened. “An Ursa Major is really, really dangerous. Rarity is always complaining about how she can't get any quality replica fur, because the actual fur is too hard to get. She has to make it herself...” “Indeed,” Nightmare said. “Anypony who can get past an enraged Ursa is worth watching.” Her horn shone, and a circle of color formed in the air. In it, the fillies could see the image of a forest path. “Let's just take a look at our little adventurers, shall we?” Murmurs and whispers of voices came through the screen. The fillies leaned forward in spellbound silence as the voices became clear. A pink pony bounced into view of the scrying spell. “... think it's obvious that I should have been the one to win the Cake Day eat-off, but Celestia totally got a head start on me, and I just couldn't make up the lost time. I mean, she eats really fast!” “Ah,” Nightmare mused. “A pony who knows my sister personally.” “That's Pinkie Pie!” Sweetie Belle said. “She visited us this morning.” “Are we just giving up the whole 'hide the name' thing?” Scootaloo asked. “Pinkie, it's not that I don't believe you,” came another voice, as a purple unicorn walked into frame. “I just can't imagine the Princess of Equestria devouring an entire cake in one sitting.” “Isn't that the librarian?” Apple Bloom asked. “Twilight Somethin'? What's she doin' here?” Scootaloo sighed. “Yeah, we've given up the whole 'hide the name' thing.” Another voice spoke out as a pegasus wrapped in a cloak floated in through the undergrowth. “The world is a cruel place, Twilight. Even the Princess herself has her sins. Sometimes it's the ones we think are the best among us who are willing to eat an entire cake.” “Rainbow Dash,” a new voice said, “I find it difficult to tell if that is your usual cynicism showing through, or if you are simply making fun of Twilight's unwillingness to admit the Princess might have such a harmless flaw as a bit of yearly self-indulgence.” Rainbow smirked. “Can't it be both?” “Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo cheered. “Is that Rarity?” Sweetie Belle asked. “She's actually here? To save me?” “Of course she is,” Apple Bloom nodded. “That's what sisters do for each other.” A yellow pegasus walked into frame, softly chiding her flying companion. “Rainbow, I think you've hurt Twilight's feelings.” Rainbow Dash glanced over at the librarian. Twilight was walking stiffly at a brisk pace, trying to keep at the head of the party. “It's alright, Fluttershy,” Twilight said. “It's just – a little friendly teasing. I just haven't been around many ponies with different views from mine, that's all. I'll be fine.” “Oh,” Fluttershy mumbled. “Um. Okay...” “Oh, come on,” Rainbow Dash groaned. “Look, I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't be talking about things I don't know. Hay, maybe the Princess really is an angel. Maybe she doesn't eat whole cakes at a time.” “She does~” Pinkie said cheerfully. “It's alright, Rainbow,” Twilight said, not turning around. “You're entitled to your own opinion.” “No, it's not alright.” Rainbow sighed. “Come on. Look at me.” She drifted over until she was in front of Twilight, who stopped and looked away. “I shouldn't be making fun of you like that right now, especially if you're not used to it. It's distracting you, and that could get you killed. That's not worth taking out some random aggression on you for.” Twilight stared at her for a moment. Then she nodded. “That's very mature of you, Rainbow Dash.” Rainbow smirked. “What, I apologize to you and you call me old? What kind of a 'thank you' is that? Sheesh, and ponies wonder why I'm all doom and gloom all the time.” Twilight blinked. Then she started to laugh. “Hey,” Pinkie said. “Does anypony know where Applejack is?” “See?” Apple Bloom asked, waving to Sweetie Belle. “Applejack's here, just like I told you she would be!” “It would seem you were all correct,” Nightmare chuckled. “Your idols must care for you a great deal.” Back in the woods, the five ponies searched frantically around them for a few instants. Then there was a snap from above the area of the trail they had just walked past. With a cry of alarm, an orange earthpony swung down to dangle from a vine wrapped around one hindleg, her head just inches above the forest floor. Her stetson fell off to the ground beneath her. Apple Bloom blushed as Scootaloo hid a grin. “Yeah, she's coming to save you, alright.” “Applejack!” Rarity cried. “Are you okay?” “Daggum it,” Applejack growled. She struggled uselessly to reach her bindings. “No! It's like this whole forest is tryin' tah kill me.” “That's a Snare Vine,” Twilight observed. “Colloquially known by the less tasteful title 'Hanging Vine'. How did that lift you off the ground? They normally trap smaller creatures – ones around the size of a rabbit, or a common snipe.” “Well it helps if'n there's about six of them,” Applejack frowned, crossing her forelegs in midair. Rainbow Dash was struggling not to laugh. “How did you manage to set off six of them at once?” she asked. “Ah don't know, okay? It just happened. Now can one of you get me down? Mah head's startin' to get heavy...” The other fillies laughed as Apple Bloom stared crestfallen at the scene in front of her. Quietly, Nightmare Moon stepped away from the little group. 'This is the team arrayed against me?' She asked herself. 'An agent of my sister and a warrior of some reported skill, I can see as reasonable. But a librarian, an armorer, a soft-spoken mare and a clumsy farmer?' Nightmare shook her head. 'No. They cleared the Ursa, somehow. Let that be proof enough of their quality. It would not do to underestimate any of these mares, no matter how meek their appearance may be.' Nightmare strode up the steps to the dais in front of the thrones, where she began to carve a rune into the stone floor. Lighting crackled from her glowing horn, melting a pattern that began to glow both with heat and its own mysterious light. “If this is the path they choose to take,” she declared, “then let it lead them nowhere but trouble. We will see how they handle something more... unorthodox.”