//------------------------------// // Chapter Two--Chalk on the Floor // Story: The Pastel Moon // by MariusAngelicaSue //------------------------------// Time worked very oddly now with Nightmare Moon in power. In order to keep a time system, the moon still traveled across the sky. However, once the moon reached the horizon, the moon would turn around, and begin traveling the other way, then turn around again once it reached the other side, etc. Two touches to the horizon was twenty four hours. The moon was on the east horizon, and had just turned around, making it "morning". At this time, Nightmare Moon hadn't waken up yet, and Violet was trotting through the hallways, still tired, to set up the new painting in the hallway. Technically, the royal painter didn't set up the paintings. The servants took care of it. All Violet would usually do is hand them the painting and see it put up later in the day. Still, Violet knew that the servants worked a lot, and decided to give the picture to them herself, just to try and make things easier for them. She stifled a yawn. Violet had worked relentlessly the previous night, and the painting of Celestia had been completed. The rush of energy that she had felt staring at the bright princess after finishing it had squeezed out much of her frustrations. Once it dried, it was covered with a cloth and put in the closet, with Violet planning to bring it out when she was upset. She knew it would help a lot. However, with all of that time used up, Violet had to stay up even later to finish the Nightmare Moon painting. Now, with only a few hours of sleep, Violet walked through the hallways at a tired, slow crawl. Her exhaustion was worth it, though, with proof showing in the painting strapped to her back, wrapped in a dark blue cloth. This one was particularly good, despite it being a portrait of Nightmare Moon. She hoped that the Mare would like it, and not destroy it. But even that thought couldn't bring Violet down. Elevated from the satisfaction of success (as well as a bit of coffee), Violet looked forward to presenting the portrait with unreal optimism and a little tune in her head that she hummed all the way. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The entrance to the hallway opened with barely a creak, and Violet looked in to see the mare from the previous day - Rarity, Violet remembered - putting up tapestries, and a pegasus stallion helping her out. He had a grey coat and a yellow mane, all fancied up in a dark blue suit. His ears pricked as Violet pushed the door the rest of the way open, and looked in her direction. When the two locked eyes, the stallion merely grunted, before returning to his work. Seeing the stallion look, Rarity turned her head to see Violet quietly approaching. The servant's eyes widened and she a raised eyebrow. "What are you doing at this hour?" she called out suspiciously. Violet tried to give a bright smile, despite her weariness. "Oh, I was just hoping that I could help you out a little." She turned to show the covered painting on her back. There was slight surprise on Rarity's face, but it was quickly wiped away as she trotted towards Violet, her usual expression back on. "Well, alright then," the mare spoke as blue magic levitated the painting off of Violet's back. "I suppose this has freed up a bit more time for me. It is such a long way to your workroom, you know." She turned away from the painter. "So, thank you." Her voice was dignified and level, but a polite word from the servants wasn't often heard, and Violet smiled in appreciation. But as she turned away from the two workers, she could feel a sigh forming in her throat, thinking of the journey all the way back to her room. She would probably have to get to work soon, and wouldn't be able to get enough sleep. The ponies in this castle always woke her up rudely, too. Why did this place have to be so bitter? Rarity was certainly in this category of unpleasantness. Violet trotted down the hallways, thinking of the times ponies always lashed out at her with a sharp tongue. But at least Rarity gave some level of kindness, Violet admitted. She stopped walking for a second, and sighed, shaking her thoughts out of her head. Violet couldn't feel very chipper in this castle, either. How could she blame everyone else for feeling the same? Shaking her head again, she began her trek back to her room, the sound of Rarity's magic removing the cloth on the painting fading as Violet left. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oh, sweet, sweet, bed, how I've missed you! Violet thought with a sigh of relief as she collapsed onto the mattress. The time on a clock on the wall told her that she had about half an hour before her night started, and Violet planned to sleep the deepest sleep she possibly could to get as much energy she could for the time ahead of her. Exhausted, she closed her eyes, and she was out faster than a light. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A loud knocking on her door shattered through Violet's dreams. It was a shame too, it was such a happy dream. It was about....what was it? She couldn't quite remember. Oh well, it had been lovely nonetheless, Violet knew. She gave a little yawn before calling out to the pony outside her door. "What is it?" "Madam, its twenty past time you woke up. You're late." Violet jolted straight out of bed. "What?!" She began racing around her room, putting on her uniform, brushing her mane, and collecting all of her tools. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?!" "It's not my job to wake you up, you know." There was an edge of annoyance in the voice. "The only reason I came is because Nightmare Moon's in the painting hall, and she's been asking for you. " Violet froze, dropping everything. What?! What did I do? Is it the Nightmare Moon painting?! Her breathing became more and more rapid. Calm down, calm down! She yelled at herself. Take deep breaths! Shuddering, she began taking longer, deeper breaths. "I-I'm coming in, just a sec." She called to the door, her voice shaky. There was no answer, just the sound of hooves trotting away. Violet closed her eyes, trying to sort her thoughts. Look, just get your stuff and face it head on, alright? You never know what might happen. Yesterday proved that. Slightly comforted by these words, she collected the rest of her items, and exited the room to walk the hallway to the painting hall. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The large door was opened with a cautious hoof. Violet Tempera took another breath, and poked her head into the throne room. There Nightmare Moon stood right at the entrance, waiting for Violet, with those sharp eyes of her. Violet almost choked. "M-Majesty!" she coughed. "I didn't expect you right there!" The Queen said nothing, only narrowed her eyes. Violet found herself starting to shake. What's going on? What's wrong? "You finished the painting of me, correct?" Nightmare Moon's voice boomed. Violet looked up at her, and could only nod. Nightmare Moon gave a small smile, and began to move to the paintings hung up on the wall. As Violet looked on the wall, she felt her stomach twist into a ball as she saw a bright, glowing painting, contrasting the rest of the portraits. "Then could you please explain to me why my sister was put up on the wall?" Violet stared at the bright face of Princess Celestia looking back for what seemed like forever. She couldn't believe it. Fear froze her thoughts in place, it choked her tongue in her throat. She found herself unable to think or talk, only feeling her mane prickle in terror of the Mare next to her. She was snapped out of her paralysis as she saw a turquoise beam strike out to the painting, and the entire image burst into flames. The two stared as the picture darkened, and finally fell to the ground in a black, smoking mess. Violet turned to Nightmare Moon and saw the scowl in that dark face, and how it revealed sharp, gleaming fangs. She saw the venom in her eyes, and the power and anger radiating off of her. She found her tongue again. "I-I'm so sorry, your Majesty!" She began to panic. "I never intended for the painting to get up there! I did do the other one! I swear! I'll go back and bring it just please don't-" BOOM! A crack of thunder echoed through the halls, making Violet jump in the air, and curl up on the ground, staring up at the Tyrant in terror. Her saddlebags became undone, spilling her art supplies everywhere. Nightmare Moon's eyes were glowing white, and a magical steam floated off of her horn. "GUARDS!" Nightmare Moon declared in her Royal Voice. Immediately two armor-clad stallions bursted into the room, spears in hoof. "What is it, your Majesty?" The white light faded from Nightmare Moon's eyes, and they pierced straight into Violet. "Take this mare to the dungeon. She is charged with treason." The guards turned towards Violet and pointed their obsidian spears at her neck. Violet swallowed, and pressed her ears against her skull. "H-how long w-will I be there?" She stuttered. "Oh, don't worry, it's not too long." Nightmare Moon smirked. "It won't be long." Violet shuddered. Suddenly, she felt a hard shove from one of the guards. "Move along!" he ordered. Complying, Violet stood up on shaking knees, and they began to lead to the dungeons. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The hard concrete of the dungeon floor scraped against Violet's cheek as she was forcefully thrown into the cell. She sat back up, sore all over, and pressed a hoof to her face. She looked back in time to see the guards slam the cell door with a loud clang that made her wince. She stood back up and watched as the two stallions walked off to the prison guard, who was out of sight. Violet couldn't see them, but she could hear the conversation and the shifting of items between them. "Here's the saddlebag of the mare." "It's mostly empty." "Yeah, it came open and spilled everything in the painting halls. Some of the maids will clean it up." "Alright. Anything else?" "It seems that she'll be punished pretty soon, so be ready for that." "Okay." The sound of a pair of hoofsteps walked away and back up the stairs, and soon the dungeon grew quieter. That is, except for the whispering between prisoners, but it was barely audible. For a little while, Violet just sat there in disbelief, trying to process what had happened in such a short span of time. How did the painting get up there? It seemed that Violet had accidentally switched it with the Nightmare Moon portrait, but did nopony see it before it was put up? She put her hooves up to the sides of her head as she tried searching her mind to remember anything that could have caused this. Did they leave the cloth on, only to be removed by Nightmare Moon? It seems so. She thought in defeat, her hooves slumping back to the floor. Violet looked down at the cold floor, regret deep in her chest. Why did I have to make that stupid painting and ruin everything? Life was fine before, why did I have to mess it up? "Hey!" Violet looked up to the sound of knocking on stone. She looked to her right, and heard the voice of a mare whispering from the other side. "Hello?" she responded. "Hi! I'm Wild Ace. You?" Violet stared at the wall, and began to inch closer. "...Violet Tempera." "Nice to meet you!" "Y-you too." Not expecting this friendliness, Violet didn't talk any more, and a minute of silence followed before this Wild Ace asked another question. "How'd you end up in here?" Violet still said nothing. She wasn't sure how to answer, she wasn't sure how to explain it. So she decided to give the blunt truth. "I...made a painting of Celestia, and it was hung up in one of the hallways." Her ears folded back at the story. "Woah, really?!" Violet nodded, but soon realized her mistake. "Yeah, I did." "Geez, that takes some guts! I'm impressed!" "Oh, I didn't do it on purpose. I had painted it the night before to relieve some stress, and it had somehow gotten switched around. I'm not sure how it had ended up on the wall." "Oh. So you're the royal painter then?" "Was, I suppose." "Don't worry about that. Did Nightmare Moon hurt you?" "No, she didn't. But it seems I'm going to be punished soon." Wild Ace didn't say anything. It grew eerily quiet, and Violet felt the weight of what she just said begin to shift onto her. I'm going to be punished soon. She felt her eyes welling up. But, almost as if she could feel Violet's sadness seeping through the wall, Wild Ace chirped up. "Hey, you know how I got stuck in here?" "Sure." "I was gambling with the royal guard. Played a lot of poker games with them." "Let me guess, you lost and ended up in debt?" "Nope!" Wild Ace laughed. "It was the opposite. I put the entire guard into debt after winning all the games!" "Wait, really?!" "Yeah! Nightmare Moon was furious when she heard about it. So she took all of the bits back, and threw me in here." "Wow, that's actually really funny. A-aside from the you getting-thrown-into-jail part." "It is. I've been in here for a few months now." "How long is your sentence?" "Not sure. Most ponies in here don't stay for very long, the dungeon isn't big enough for longer sentences. Most prisoners here stay for a week or two before moving out and who knows what happening to them." "Why do you think you've stayed for so long then?" "I'm hoping that maybe I just got lucky and Nightmare Moon forgot about me." "That's lucky?" "It's better than what happens to the ponies that leave here." Violet felt herself pale at this. This place was awful! "Uh....do you think you could tell me about the other ponies kept in here?" "Oh sure. There's lots of them. There's Sky Chaser, who was part of a small group of rebel pegasi that tried attacking the castle. Unfortunately, they were defeated by the guards, led by Captain Rainbow Dash. The leader was escorted out a week ago. "Then there's Dark Facade. He was a spy that was in the castle. He was caught a day ago, and hasn't said much since. All he said was his name, and nothing else. "There's also Fluttershy, who fought against Nightmare Moon when she threatened a group of personal animals. Fluttershy really likes animals, and she's really nice. She was brought here a few days ago, and we've been helping her out with the situation. Poor thing's so scared." Violet silently listened, her back leaning on the wall, Ace's voice behind her. All these ponies who stood up against the tyrant, and look how it all ended: beaten down, defeated, all just waiting for the time when they would be taken out of the cell and never come back. And now Violet was with them, just the same. She felt her chest tightening in sadness, and tears started to come in her eyes. She gave a shaky breath, trying to control yourself. "Hey Violet, you okay?" Violet said nothing in response, and simply broke down into sobs. She could hear the stroking of stone on the other side, and the concern in Ace's voice. "Hey, don't think hard on it. Look, I'm sorry for scaring you, I didn't want that. Just....just try and have a little hope, okay? We all haven't been just sitting around, we're all working on plans to escape. Just try not to worry." Violet sniffled. While the words were a little comforting, she needed these tears to flow. She needed to cry out all those emotions of fear, anger, and sadness that she had been under for years. Her sobbing continued on for a few minutes, until she finally quieted down. "Are you better now?" The voice wasn't Ace's. It was much deeper, a stallions, and it wasn't coming through the wall. Violet looked up to see the prison guard looking down on her, his face expressing concern. Violet's mind jumped to the worst scenario. I'm being punished already? Violet only nodded. The guard nodded as well. "Your name is Violet Tempera?" "It is. Why are you here?" The stallion cocked his head to the side, before darting his eyes to the ground. "I just wanted to say that the painting you made of Celestia was really beautiful." Violet's eyes widened. "W-what?" "Well, I just get really tired of seeing black and blue everywhere. The whites and golds of the portrait were a welcome change." Violet scrunched her face in confusion, but soon it relaxed in understanding. "I suppose I'm not the only one who's tired of seeing Nightmare Moon plastered everywhere." The stallion looked back up. "Oh, you're certainly not the only one." "Why do you say that?" The stallion gave a small smile. "How do you think that painting could have gotten up there by accident? Did you really think that nopony saw the painting while it was being put up, and that nopony saw it while passing by?" Violet opened her mouth to say something, but her jaw was only left hanging. She remembered hearing Rarity uncover the painting with her magic. She must have seen it then. The stallion's voice cut in. "Lots of ponies were happy to see the painting, especially after so many years of Celestia's banishment. So," Violet looked down as a small piece of chalk was tossed through the cell bars and landed with a clink at her hooves. "...do you think you could draw her again?" Violet looked back at the guard, and nodded, still at a loss for words. "Sure." She grabbed the piece of chalk with her teeth, and began to draw out the body. On and on she dragged the small white stick across the ground, and the picture continued to unfold in front of the two of them. It wasn't until the piece of chalk was ground into a small stump that Violet spat it out, and backed up to admire the portrait covering almost the entire floor. Violet looked up to see the stallion staring at the picture, when she remembered something. "What's your name?" The guard looked up. "Oh, it's uh, Astral Vision." he lifted his horn. "I'm an astronomer." Violet tilted her head. "Really? How'd you get to be a prison guard?" Astral shrugged. "It's a bit of a long story. It took a while to get here." Violet said nothing as she nodded, and Astral turned away. "Alright, I'm going to get back to my post. Thanks for the picture." "Yeah." Violet replied as Astral walked away. "Thanks for the chalk."