Mistress Do Well: Revelation
by milesprower06
Solution in the Desert
At first, Rainbow thought it was quite odd that she saw nearly all the businesses in town just opening up when she arrived at eight in the evening.
"It's just too hot in the daytime during this time of year, so nearly everypony stays inside until the sun starts to go down."
"How does everypony afford to stay open with so little business hours?"
"Oh they're not open less or anything like that. Summer hours here extend pretty late into the night. Especially for the couples from Las Pegasus looking to get away from the city. I guess nothing's more romantic than a hot spring under the stars."
Noctilucent walked up to the entrance of one of the smaller diners in town, and opened the door for his new companion. Together, they walked up to the front counter, and were promptly seated at a booth. The place had an old-timey feel to it, not unlike Appleloosa.
“If you need a recommendation, try any of their pies, they're fantastic.” Noctilucent suggested.
Rainbow barely had time to glance at the menu before a unicorn waitress came up with a pen and notepad.
“Hello and welcome. Miss, can I get you a water to start off?”
“Nah, I'll do a mug of apple cider and a slice of apple pie.” Rainbow replied, the waitress jotting her order down speedily.
“The usual for you, Nocty?” She asked, the pegasus nodding with a smile. She wrote his order down, and was off to the back of the house.
“'Nocty'?” Rainbow asked, amused.
“Yeah, they give their regulars here pet names when they're over three syllables.” He joked, getting a chuckle out of Rainbow. She wasn't quite sure what to make of this stallion yet, but there was something about his eyes; he had been through something fierce, you could tell just by studying his features.
“So I'm curious; what could I possibly do to help an Element of Harmony?”
“I'll be honest, I'm not sure. I almost didn't come, simply because Luna suggested it.”
“Ah. Well, we're getting somewhere already. Sounds like you've also had a less-than-favorable run-in with our Princess of the Night.”
“You don't know the half of it...” Rainbow muttered. Noctilucent let out a chuckle.
“That's a bet that I'd take you up on,” he replied.
Rainbow gave him a small smile. That just wasn't small talk, Rainbow could tell he was serious. Maybe there was something he could do to help. The waitress returned levitating two glasses and two plates. The cider and apple pie was set down in front of Rainbow, and Noctilucent's “usual” turned out to be a cup of coffee and a slice of lemon pie with sour cherries on top.
“Enjoy. Give a holler if you need anythin'.” She said before walking off to help another table of recently-arrived patrons.
“We might need more than one slice of pie, because it sounds like we both have a story to tell here. So what's yours?” Rainbow said, taking a bite.
"Well, saying I had a very rough time growing up would be putting it rather lightly. It seemed happiness was always in short supply wherever I went. My mom killed herself for reasons I still can't figure out, I never knew my father, and my grandmother cared for me until my early teen years, up until she passed away."
"I'm... I'm sorry." Rainbow said, really not expecting things to take this kind of downward turn so instantly.
"I heard that quite often when I couch surfed at my friends' places. I always tried to never overstay my welcome. It seemed I always felt alone. I was never very lucky in the relationship department either, even as far back as my first Hearts and Hooves Day card. It got even worse after I didn't have any family left. I hired a whorse, but didn't have the courage to go through with it. I helped my best friend get a mare drunk. After arguing with him, I walked out, letting him rape her."
Rainbow would be wondering why the hell she traveled out here to hear this downer story, but Noctilucent was smiling all the way through it. He wasn't telling her his problems, he was telling a story.
"So how did you make it after your grandmother died?"
"Taking odd jobs here and there. After awhile, I tried getting something longer term, but I couldn't hold anything down. I barely made enough to pay rent in my joke of an apartment, and get the cheapest food in my belly. When I got tired of looking, I lived off of what little inheritance I had from my grandmother, volunteering at a hospital, reading books to terminally ill foals."
"That's awfully generous of you."
"It was too much. On my last day, one of them had died quietly during reading time. I couldn't take it anymore. I quit, and started pushing everypony else away."
"So how did you end up over here in Mustang Springs?"
Noctilucent took a sizable bite of pie, his lips puckering at the tart flavor. After swallowing, he looked back up at Rainbow.
"I tried to kill myself."
Rainbow didn't know how to react to this, so she bought herself a bit of time by taking another bite of pie.
"I didn't know what else to do. I had pushed everyone away, no one to help me, or so I thought. So I went up the mountain a bit to a cliff, and broke my wing," he explained, glancing to his left wing, which was in a wire frame.
"Luna caught me at the last second after I jumped. She took me to the hospital in Canterlot to get my wing treated. It took me a week to get well enough to travel. She placed a geas on me, essentially taking away my free will. Looking back, it's a good thing she did, otherwise I think I would've tried again."
"You were okay with her taking away your choice?"
"Not at first. At first I was angry. I hated her for forcing me to go on. But then when she sent me here, I saw what suicide does to those that are left behind. More than half of those orphans are leftovers from ponies who weren't able to endure, and took the easy way out. I can help make their lives better."
Noctilucent glanced down at his cutie mark.
"I guess you could say I'm the candle at their bedside."
The dappled pegasus took the coffee cup in his good wing and took a sip.
"Now, how about you?"
Rainbow cleared her throat and took a swig of cider.
“A year ago, I got my priorities a little mixed up, and my best friends responded by kidnapping me, locking me in a basement, and subjecting me to physical and sexual abuse. The ringleader, Rarity, had convinced all of them that they had to break me down and build me up into a better mare.”
“She convinced the rest of your friends, your best friends, to do that?” Noctilucent asked, getting a nod in return.
“I've thought a lot about it, and the only explanation I can come up with, the only one that I can live with, is that she used her magic to twist their sense of morality. It got steadily worse over three days, before one of them, Twilight, came to her senses and got me out of there."
"Well, I guess there's the answer as to why she was stripped of her crown." Noctilucent mused.
"She took me and healed the wounds that I had suffered. But it didn't help how angry I was, not to mention how scared out of my mind and psychologically damaged I was. I ran away. I took off in the night, stealing one of Rarity's fine jewels to survive. I spent a year going from place to place. I went all over the country, never feeling any better. The combination of what they did to me, and the horrible friend I had turned into to cause them to do it... It was debilitating. I hated them and I hated myself. After nearly an entire year, I had had enough. I was convinced that no one wanted me, and that no one loved me. I went to a forest up north just outside the Crystal Empire. I found what I thought was a suitable branch, and I got my rope ready..."
Noctilucent knew all too well where this was going.
"When I had the noose around my neck and jumped, the branch started to crack. It took a few seconds to break completely, and I spent the rest of the night on the forest floor. I just learned last night that it wasn't my body weight that broke the branch, it was Luna. That night, I dreamed of Twilight, and for the very first time, I started to wonder if I could ever forgive them for what they did... Or myself for what I did."
"So that's what we have in common."
"I guess so."
"In situations like that, it's hard to see how selfish it is." Noctilucent offered, taking his last bite of pie.
Rainbow thought about it, and agreed.
"It was selfish of me. I wanted my death to hurt them. I wanted my body to be found and for news of it to reach them, so they had a permanent consequence for what they did. But thanks to Luna, I got the courage up to go back to Ponyville, and find that I had feelings for Twilight."
Noctilucent leaned forweard.
"Was it right what she did to me? Or you? I'm sure we could debate that forever. As ponies, we don't like our choices and decisions being taken away and made by somepony else. But she's given me happiness and a purpose here. If I had given it all up, I wouldn't be here right now for these orphans. What about you? Sure, her involvement ended when she cut you down from the tree, but I think that's because she knew that you had enough sense to go on. I don't think I did. I think I would have tried again if she didn't take away my free will. You, on the other hand, returned to Ponyville, and discovered your love for your best friend. Aren't you grateful for that?"
“No, it's not that. Her involvement didn't end after I fell from the tree. It's what happened after I came back. That night, when I went to sleep, I dreamed that Rarity was the one chained down in the basement. As you can imagine, I took advantage of that. I was still very angry inside, and I took it out on her. I woke up the instant I slit her throat. The next day, I'm told she died in her coma that Twilight put her into a year ago. I know Luna played a part.”
For the first time during this conversation, Noctilucent gave a truly perplexed expression.
“I'm sorry, there has to be some mistake.”
The cyan pegasus shook her head.
“Luna told me herself. She called it 'poetic justice.'”
“I'd say it's more of a poetic lie. Rainbow, Luna wouldn't harm a soul. Not in their sleep, not through the hooves of somepony else, no matter what they've done.”
Confusion began to seep into Rainbow's thoughts.
“What are you saying?”
“I'm saying her stance is militant when it comes to preserving all equine life. She told me it has something to do with what she went through as Nightmare Moon. I don't know why she told you that, but everything I've experienced tells me that just can't be true. Did you ever see a body?”
Rainbow's mind became increasingly desperate to not freak out, to try and reason with Noctilucent's argument.
“No, Celestia had her cremated. I mean, we buried the...”
Rainbow looked as if she saw a ghost as all this information collided in her mind. Without warning, she dug into her saddlebags, and pulled out her bag of bits. She left the appropriate amount for the pie and cider, plus tip. She replaced her bag, and reached across the table, shaking her dining guest's hoof.
“I'm sorry to eat and run. It's been a pleasure, Noctilucent.”
Rainbow bolted out of the diner, and was airborne before she was even three steps outside. Several seconds later, there was a loud bang, followed by a long sparkling noise, as the Mustang Springs dusk was ringed by an expanding Sonic Rainboom, as a rainbow trail blazed off into the eastern night sky.