He found himself at the princess’ birthday brunch again. Queen Celestia was lazily gliding along the ceiling with Philomena circling around her, like the sun circling Equus. His parents were dancing behind him, silently content.
‘Well aren’t you going to eat anything?’ Golden Crown asked while he wolfed down a sandwich.
‘Oh right…’ Noble Heart mumbled as he looked at the feast before him.
A bear was lounging in the middle of the round table keeping close guard over a maple syrup pitcher. Noble Heart shooed it away and placed thick, rich slices of Prench toast on his plate.
‘You fool, why did you touch it?!’ his mother screeched in his ear.
Noble Heart suddenly felt himself yanked up in the air by a magical force and he was once again levitating upside down before Princess Blueblood.
‘The future is wrought with darkness, colt,’ she hissed in his ear. ‘Find the nightmare. Find the darkness.’
He wriggled in her grasp. ‘Let me go!’
‘Find the darkness,’ she repeated. ‘Find the nightmare.’
‘Celestia! Queen Celestia, help!’ Noble Heart cried.
But when he looked to her, she and her phoenix were frozen in mid air. Philomena’s beautiful fiery feathers were blackening, and as she changed, so, too, did Celestia.
‘Queen Celestia?’ He watched in horror as his goddess and queen became grey and lifeless.
‘Find the nightmare. Find the darkness.’
Finally, the dead bird and pony dropped down to the ground. Grogar, lord of death, stood over them as his bells clanged loudly, announcing the sun god’s demise.
‘Find the darkness. Find the nightmare.’
A deep, cruel laugh echoed from Grogar.
‘The night!’ he— no, he was transforming into something else! ‘Shall last forever!’ And a mare, as large and as powerful as Celestia, but with none of her warmth, reared triumphantly over her corpse.
‘Nightmare Moon,’ Noble Heart breathed in shock.
‘The title of Blueblood is not as superfluous as you think, colt. Find the nightmare. Find the darkness.’
That was all he heard before the evil god lunged at him.
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“Wake up, kid!”
Noble Heart jerked up.
“You alright there, son?” somepony asked.
The colt looked to see who had woken him.
Noble Heart nodded at the donkey and attempted to stand up, only slip on a scroll.
“I’ll take that as a no!” the donkey exclaimed as he caught and steadied the young noble.
“Oh, now you’ve done it, Cranky!” the head chef chastised as she trotted over. “I told you to leave him alone.”
Cranky snorted in annoyance. “Well excuse me, princess! You’ll have to forgive me for wanting to wake up a colt when he’s whimpering and twitching in his sleep!”
Noble Heart lifted his hooves so the chef could collect his books and scrolls.
“I’m sorry for any trouble we caused.
Noble Heart waved off her apology.
“You want a quill and ink, son?” Cranky asked.
Noble Heart immediately fished through his saddle bags for his supplies.
‘No trouble,’ he scrawled. ‘Thank you.’
“Well it was no problem,” Cranky nodded.
“Would you like some breakfast?” the chef asked as she placed all his research materials on the table he was using last night.
Noble Heart looked around him. Already his servants were prepping for the day: throwing bread dough in the oven, milking the milch cows, and washing produce and eggs. Even though he wasn’t particularly hungry, he nodded.
“What do you want, young lord? I’ll serve it right up for you.”
The colt pointed to the bread dough being placed in the oven.
“Of course, once that’s done, I’ll give you the first— no the best loaf."
He nodded again, unable to do much else.
“You want me to take you to the dining hall, son?” Cranky asked, before picking up the heavy saddlebags with his teeth.
Noble Heart shook his head and pointed to the other room where the servants’ long tables sat.
The donkey looked surprised for a moment, but he did not say anything. Cranky led Noble Heart to the benches.
Everyone immediately stiffened when he sat down next to Cranky, and those who were enjoying their morning tobacco began to snuff out their pipes.
Noble Heart immediately shook his head and everyone froze, unsure of whether he was disapproving their smoking habits or encouraging them.
Noble Heart pulled out a blank scroll and scribbled something down for Cranky to read.
“He said you can keep talking and smoking,” the donkey announced.
A collective breath was exhaled and everyone immediately tried to rekindle their pipes.
“Oh thank the gods,” rumbled a bull as he continued reading the morning paper.
Even though it was already 7:30, the sun had only begun to rise. Noble Heart looked outside with longing. The deep, pre-sunshine blue was proof enough that Queen Celestia had not, been in fact slain in the night, but nevertheless, he still felt shaken by the nightmare he had.
‘Find the darkness. Find the nightmare,’ Princess Blueblood’s words echoed in his mind.
Noble Heart opened up the ‘Story of the Heavenly Sisters’ and once again read it, this time drinking in the pictures.
How had this story been forgotten by ponies? Surely some mention of Queen Celestia’s sister would have been worthwhile information to keep.
He sighed softly as he closed the book. Was this what the princess had spoken to him about?
He unfurled the most recent moon chart he had and gazed at the Mare in the Moon etched in its image.
Who else could she have meant? Nightmare Moon was a god of nightmare and darkness, so she had have been the one he was told to find.
“Breakfast!” the head chef announced as the kitchen staff streamed in, bearing platters of food.
Noble Heart immediately began to put all his things away into his saddle bags.
‘Ah, poor us, poor me having to live this glorious life luxury, where all save the Queen bows and scrapes to serve us… for now.’
It couldn’t mean…
Noble Heart’s eyes narrowed as he gazed down at the spine of ‘Predictions and Prophesies.’ He started to pull it out.
“Son,” Cranky broke his concentration, “from what I can see, you are a very studious colt who likes his books and scrolls and whatnot. But I’m afraid that the table isn’t the place to do your schoolwork. Nobody here would willingly damage your books and papers, but accidents do happen, and I’d hate to see what would happen if your tutor or your parents found out you accidentally got crumbs on those things.”
Noble Heart let go of the tome and slid his panniers beneath his seat.
‘Predictions and Prophesies’ would still be there, but the tea and bread wouldn’t be hot forever.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
When most everyone had finished eating, Noble Heart opened up the appendix to ‘Predictions and Prophesies.’
With a heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach, the colt realized that Nightmare Moon had her own entry.
Noble Heart steeled himself and turned to her prophesy.
‘Nightmare Moon: see Mare in the Moon.’
This couldn’t be good.
‘The Mare in the Moon: Myth from olden pony times. A powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria. Defeated by the Elements of Harmony and imprisoned in the moon. Legend has it, on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape and she will bring about nighttime eternal.’
Oh... oh dear.
Noble Heart quietly shut the book and slid it in his saddle bags.
“You alright there, son?” Cranky asked.
The colt looked at him dumbly and nodded.
“You sure?” the donkey pressed, not at all convinced.
Noble Heart nodded again.
“Well, do you need anything?”
He shook his head.
“If you say so.”
Everybody got up and started to go to their stations.
Noble Heart stood, too, and made his way to the castle's main entrance.
The gathering tempest was Nightmare Moon! She was the one the princess warned him about, and Nightmare Moon was the probably the reason why the princess was clinging to her position as Blueblood: so somepony could guard the throne while Queen Celestia was battling her sister.
It all made sense! Why hadn’t anypony seen it before?
Noble Heart stopped before the massive doors and stared outside. He needed to get to Canterlot to speak with the princess! But how?
“You want to go for a walk out on the gardens, son?” Cranky asked, pulling him from his reverie. “The outside gardens may not be much anymore but the greenhouse is still nice.”
Noble Heart flattened his ears against his skull and looked down.
“Aw, come on, don’t be like that, kid,” the donkey gently pressed. “I won’t tell no one that you’ve been outside.
The colt shook his head.
“Don’t you miss being outside, son?” he asked. “I don’t think anyone’s seen you outside since you got here. Don’t tell me you like being cooped up in this musty old castle?”
Noble Heart shook his head again, still looking at the floor.
“I’ll hide you nice and well from prying eyes, don’t worry! I know these gardens like I know my muzzle.”
Unable to get the message across, Noble Heart simply walked up to the massive entry way and pressed a hoof to it.
Where he touched the air, it rippled like water but would not let him pass.
Cranky looked at the colt dumbfounded.
Noble Heart sat down and pressed both front hooves mournfully to his enchanted cage.
The donkey stomped outside and stood before him with a scowl on his face. “So it ain’t enough they cut out your tongue,” he growled. “Your family had to sink your hooves in mud, too?! Well, not if Cranky Doodle Donkey has anything to say about that! Wait here!”
Noble Heart watched him march away. He didn’t exactly know what the gardener had in mind for him, seeing how donkeys didn’t have a lick of magic in them, but he nevertheless waited, curious to see what Cranky had in mind for him.
Cranky came back with panniers strapped to his back and small bag in his mouth.
“Okay, kid, before I give this to you, I have a couple questions to ask: do you want to stay here?”
Noble Heart shook his head.
“Then if you don’t want to stay here, where do you want to go?”
The colt reached into his saddlebags and pulled out a sheet of paper. ‘To Canterlot to see Princess Blueblood.’
The donkey grinned and kicked the tiny purse over to Noble Heart’s side of the entryway. “Just the answer I was looking for.”
Noble Heart opened it and found a small, deep violet pearl. He frowned in confusion.
“I want you to eat it.”
The colt recoiled in surprise.
“Don’t make that face, kid, cause that pearl’s got some powerful sea serpent magic in it.
Noble Heart looked at the innocuous item in shock and then back at Cranky. Not even the Platinum's, with their centuries of collecting, commissioning, and crafting had such treasure. He wondered where his donkey gardener of all souls had gotten it.
“Let’s just say that I’ve traveled far and wide and I met lots of characters on my journeys,” Cranky said with a smirk. “Anyway, that pearl’s some real serious magic and what it can do is make the one who eats able to go with the flow. You want to go to Canterlot to see the princess? It’ll take you right there. But I’m telling you now, the pearl only lasts so long, and Steven told me that after the effects wear off, you’re going to feel mighty sick afterward. You still want to bail on this joint?”
Without hesitation, Noble Heart licked the pearl out of his hoof.
Cranky grinned. “Let’s go, kid; we gotta get to Canterlot.”
Noble Heart felt as if a wave of water had just sloshed inside him, filling his body from frog to horn tip with the sea. He tottered slightly and leaned against the wall for support, but once he got enough of his faculties, he cautiously walked up to the limits of his cage and stepped forward.
He grinned as he stumbled to where Cranky was standing.
The donkey laughed and trotted ahead. “Let’s get to the train!”