Ch. 4: Curse Not The Darkness
Curse Not The Darkness
---{Narrator}
“At ease,” insisted Celestia.
Nightmare Moon awkwardly rose to stand. It was a little strange how seeing some pony even more nervous than herself made Celestia relax. Though, tension on either side would make any line of questioning difficult. Perhaps a change of location and subject was in order.
“Would you mind if we moved somewhere else?” the princess asked, “This hallway isn’t exactly the best place for a one-to-one.”
“W-W-What?” the dark mare stammered as her cheeks suddenly turned red, “One-to-one?”
Celestia blinked. “Well, yes. I have a few questions to ask. I’m sure you have questions as well.”
“Oh, right.” The redness left as Nightmare slapped her own head with a hoof. “Questions. Yes. Of course. Those I have.”
What in the world did she think I meant? wondered Celestia. She didn’t press the issue, however, and trotted down the hallway.
---{Dilan Shier}
Why in the world did I imagine her on top of…? I wondered. I shook my head before following Princess Celestia.
“Your Majesty!” called a young man’s voice.
Both of us turned to look. The pony that had called looked rather shaky, trotting along. He was wearing a red cap and a red button-down vest.
Is that a… bellhop? I blinked at the sight.
“Ah, I knew I was forgetting something,” muttered Princess Celestia.
It was about then that I realized the bellhop was carrying something on his back. It was my armor… all six pieces of it. I couldn’t help but gasp. This guy’s back strength and balance was amazing.
“Thank you, Atlas,” the princess told him.
“But of course, Your Highness,” he said while bowing.
A glow of radiant gold light surrounded the armor as it was lifted into the air. I saw a similar glow surrounding Princess Celestia’s horn. Was that how normal magic worked in this world?
I might have to ask her to teach me how to do that, I thought, Of course, that’s assuming she doesn’t get upset with me like Princess Luna did.
Atlas turned around and left. Aside from a couple guards at either end of the hallway, it was just Princess Celestia and I.
“I had these get polished while you were recovering,” she mentioned, “Would you like to put them back on now?”
Her question snapped me out of the awe of her golden magic. I took a quick look down at my bare, black hide. I struggled for words as my face suddenly felt very hot. My front hooves instantly snapped into a folded defense over my chest. I had completely forgotten about my… er… modesty.
“Yes, please,” I squeaked.
---{Narrator}
Strange, thought Celestia, She’s all jumpy and she’s turning red again. I hope she’s not coming down with a fever. I’d hate to get on that doctor’s case about not performing a proper diagnosis. More importantly, though, an ill mind may produce inconsistent answers during our discussion.
She levitated the blue armor so that it was within range of Nightmare Moon. The other mare looked at her questioningly. She did know how to grab something out of someone else’s magical hold, right?
---{Dilan Shier}
How am I supposed to get dressed if you keep floating it in the air like that? I wondered, but didn’t voice, Oh, wait. I guess I could…
Using the same mental will from earlier, I slowly raised my smoke-hair up. I felt a little off balance holding more than one or two objects in it. But I managed to bring them within range so that I could start grabbing the items with my hooves’ invisible finger touch.
---{Narrator}
That shadow magic mane still unnerves me. Celestia shivered.
---{Dilan Shier}
As the last piece of my armor snapped around my hoof, I let out a pleased sigh.
“That feels better,” I commented.
I was no longer completely indecent in the presence of royalty.
“Ready to go?” asked that royalty.
“Yeah,” I affirmed.
---{Third-person}
Let’s jump ahead a few minutes.
---{Narrator}
“Wow.”
That was Nightmare Moon’s first word upon seeing the castle garden. Celestia turned to look, trying to gauge her expression. She was surprised that Nightmare’s voice sounded like a whisper of amazement. But her eyes didn’t lie. Nightmare was genuinely taking in the sight before her.
---{Dilan Shier}
Words failed me. Yet, they didn’t give up trying to describe the scenery to my mind. The green leaves, the vibrant flora, the glittering fountain, the quiet chirps of various animals… all of this and more was spread before me. I was afraid to breathe lest I were to disturb this vision of serenity.
“It is quite a sight, isn't it?”
I flinched in reflex at the princess’s question. I had briefly forgotten that she was here. I cleared my throat to regain my composure.
“Yes, it is,” I answered, “Words simply cannot do it justice. I feel like I could stare at this place for hours on end.”
Of course, I knew I couldn’t. Straight answers for any discussion required constant eye contact. Maybe I could get away with taking a side glance every once in a while. But there was much I needed to find out. I had no idea how long I was going to be stranded in this world. Like it or not, I was going to have to find ways to adapt.
Still, it felt right to give Princess Celestia’s questions precedence. After all, I was the foreigner in this scenario. Respect went to authorities and whatnot.
After taking a couple breaths, I asked, “So, how do you want to start?”
“If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to start with what you know,” said the princess.
“What I know,” I echoed, “Anything specific?”
“Let’s start with Nightmare Moon and the past events regarding her,” she clarified.
“If by past you mean several years, I don’t really know much beyond what was described in a book. I think the title was something along the lines of The Mare in the Moon, Updated Version.”
“An excerpt from The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide.” Princess Celestia nodded. “Go on.”
“I guess the reality has yet to sink in that I’m in her body. I know her story, what led to her ‘birth’, and how she was defeated. But it’s all second-hand information. I mean I remember waking up in the middle of a forest called Everfree, finding out that I can fly, going into Ponyville with Zecora, and leading up to getting hit by the light of the Elements. But, before all of that, I wasn’t even Nightmare Moon.”
“When you say, ‘before all of that,’ what do you mean?”
“How do I put this?” I hummed. “I was a human, living in a completely different world.”
“A human?” Celestia tilted her head before shaking it. “Sorry. Please continue.”
“One drunken night, I got hit by a Ford. Next thing I knew, I was wandering the dark emptiness of Hell.”
---{Narrator}
Celestia barely hid her gasp at that last word.
Few ponies know of the older name for Tartarus, she thought.
Though, the would-be Nightmare moon hadn’t heard the gasp.
She continued, “That’s when things got really weird. A cloud that looked like smoke, but felt as solid as a brick slammed into me from nowhere. It caught on fire and I saw a woman’s face screaming and melting inside.”
Nightmare put a hoof over her mouth. Her cheeks briefly expanded before resuming their usual shape. As she pulled her hoof away, she closed her eyes. Her breaths sounded quick and anxious.
“The memory still sickens me,” she muttered.
As not-Nightmare Moon stood there panting, Celestia was momentarily lost in her own thoughts.
That cloud she described while in Tartarus, Celestia pondered, Could that have been what was left of the Nightmare after Luna was freed? Why would it run into a human’s soul? And that description of a fiery woman’s face… What is going on?
However, she also wanted to deal with the current situation. Some pony, or perhaps somebody, was about to lose their breakfast all over the trimmed lawn. She didn’t want to keep this lady thinking about something that induced sickness. She also didn’t want to add more work to the gardener’s clean-up list than what was necessary. A change of subject was in order.
---{Dilan Shier}
“While I can’t claim to know what all of that means,” interrupted Princess Celestia, “These small bits of information may eventually help build the bigger picture.”
Darn it, stomach, I thought, still distracted by the Hell image, Don’t make me vomit my own esophagus.
“Now I suppose it’s my turn.”
“Your… turn?” I didn’t quite catch her meaning.
“I’ve asked for at least two questions’ worth of knowledge from you,” she pointed out, “It’s only fair that I allow you to ask me.”
Well, I did have a few things I wanted to know.
“I got the impression from Princess Luna that we were in the city of Canterlot,” I began, “Where is that?”
“Canterlot is the capital city of the nation Equestria. It’s in the mountainous region a little northeast of Ponyville.”
“If this country’s name is Equestria, what is the world that it is in called?”
“That’s actually been up for debate for centuries.”
Did I just see her hide a blush? I blinked.
“You see, most ponies refer to the world as Equus,” she explained, “But as this world is occupied by much more life than just ponies, some of the neighboring countries are still insisting on calling it other names. These names have ranged from everything as elaborate as ‘Orion’s Orb’ to something as mundane as calling it Equestria, exactly the same as the country.”
“Interesting,” I commented, “So what do you prefer to call this world?”
She smiled fondly, “Well, I’ve always been somewhat partial toward the name…”
---{Third-person}
A gust of wind prevents anybody else from hearing Celestia’s answer except for herself and Dilan Shier. Oh, don’t give me that look. Where’s the fun in life without a little mystery in the mix?
---{Dilan Shier}
“That’s a… rather unique name,” I remarked after a pause, “I’m not sure I could pronounce that even though I just heard you say it.”
“And that’s what I like about it,” she said while still holding that silly, little grin.
“All right, now for a slightly harder one.” I looked straight at her. “When I spoke with Princess Luna last night, she gave the impression that she disliked me with great intensity. Why is that?”
The grin vanished. Princess Celestia held her lips in a neutral position.
“I can’t speak directly for her,” she admitted, “but I imagine it’s because you look like some pony she’d rather forget. She literally was Nightmare Moon for so many years.”
“One thousand years,” I idly commented as I closed my eyes, “Most of the people in my world don’t even live past one hundred. I can’t even begin to grasp the amount of changes that one would go through living for over a thousand.”
I opened them again. “How do you keep your sanity for so long?”
“It helps to find outlets,” she answered, “Find ways to unwind. Save a little time on the side to do something completely out of the norm, within reason of course. I find it helps when I have numerous friends that I can talk to. Even when they don’t fully understand, I find that just having some pony nearby that can listen really helps me to calm down.”
“Huh,” I said, “That’s kind of like what I did with my friends.”
“I believe it is your turn again.” Her gentle tone returned to one of less wavering. “I know very little about humans aside from a few myths. How would you describe them seeing as you were one to begin with?”
“You know, that’s a really good question,” I acknowledged, “Any answer I could come up with probably wouldn’t do my whole species any justice. Um… I guess I could start with a few simple sentences.”
I lifted my hoof, imitating Hamlet’s skull-holding pose. “Sometimes we’re up. Sometimes we’re down. Sometimes the world goes round and round. Sometimes we have it. Sometimes we don’t. What matters most isn’t our physical quote. If you just take a look inside our soul cards, you’ll find that we’ve got a lot in common.”
My hoof was starting to ache in that position. So, I put it back down. “Sure, there have been a few more slip-ups than most of us would care to admit. But that’s only when you read Chapter Black. On the whole, I’d say the human race has taken quite a few leaps from the hunting and gathering Homo Halibus.”
I never thought I was going to be a philosopher/lecturer, yet here I was.
“In a world where magic is considered little more than a performance, we’ve done some things that were originally thought impossible. Humans have developed long distance communication via phone calls and email. Long distance travel was made easier with cars on the land and planes in the air. Speaking of long distance, we got a man to land on the moon.”
I pretended to cover the side of my mouth while whispering, “Don’t let the naysayers tell you otherwise with their so-called ‘conspiracy theories’. It was so a giant leap for mankind.”
“Anyway,” I resumed normal speaking volume, “That’s barely a scratch in the technology. The human race has come a long way with their psychological diagnoses too. Did you know it wasn’t until just recently that Asperger’s and autism were acknowledged as genuine conditions? Then, they came up with whole social group settings to help these people interact with a more neurotypical society without completely destroying personalities in the process.”
---{Narrator}
Several key terms went right over Celestia’s head. Yet, she couldn’t help but be fascinated by this one human’s enthusiasm in this discussion topic. It was like she was listening to Twilight Sparkle all over again.
“And oh my gosh, the internet,” not-Nightmare continued, “That’s something that the more developed countries couldn’t live without. It’s become like a replacement for libraries. Almost anything that there is to know is on there and it can be checked relatively faster than opening a book. It’s absolutely crazy.”
She suddenly stopped, as if realizing something.
“I’m sorry. I completely forgot that you were standing there.”
“No, not at all,” Celestia insisted, “It’s all very interesting.”
Not-Nightmare scratched her neck and chuckled sheepishly.
“By the way, what is your name?” Celestia inquired, “You’re certainly not the same Nightmare Moon that I knew for so long.”
“Oh forgive me, Your Majesty.” She cleared her throat. “I’m Dilan Shier.”
---{Dilan Shier}
“That’s a nice name,” she commented.
“I’ve been meaning to ask something else,” I pitched in, “You’re the older of two sisters, right?”
“Yes.”
“But you both hold the title ‘Princess’.”
“That’s right.”
“In the kingdoms of my world, the oldest woman in a royal position holds the title of ‘Queen’. Considering your age, aren’t you technically Queen of Equestria? Why don’t you hold that as your title?”
“Well…” She paused. I assumed she was searching for the right words.
But before she could finish her train of thought, something popped into existence right in front of her face. I performed a double-take. A small rolled up piece of paper resembling a scroll literally popped into existence. It then followed gravity’s pull to the ground in front of her.
I… that… what? My thoughts failed me.
Fortunately, Princess Celestia held slightly less surprise at this defiance of the law of conservation of mass. She picked it up in her golden magical aura.
“The Crystal Empire?” she muttered.
As the scroll unrolled, I noticed a uniquely patterned seal on one end. Was that how she determined from the where the scroll had originated? Her eyes were busy swiveling left and right along whatever was on her side of the parchment. She let out a gasp.
“W-What is it?” I stammered.
The scroll quickly re-rolled itself.
“An important matter has come to my attention,” she replied, “I’m afraid we’ll have to catch up with each other at a later time. I must leave immediately.”
Crap. What could be so serious? I had no idea.
“I’ve already let the guards know that you’re a guest of the castle,” she added, “Feel free to explore at your leisure.”
With that, she flapped her wings and took to the skies. Almost two seconds after that, she seemed to vanish into a sun’s flare. As I stood there staring blankly, a random hummingbird decided to fly in close and stare at my chest piece.
“What in the world was that all about?” I asked it.
The rapidly flapping bird simply hummed and went to a patch of flowers on my left. I guess it didn’t know either.
---{Third-Person}
If the mind-swap verse is a multi-verse where a verse or two’s in mind, how much in a mind-swap verse does a universe not wear a verse to mind?
---{Dilan Shier}
The course of history has produced a number of fascinating results from people who were bored out of their skulls. My case was less than anything groundbreaking. The first hour or so consisted of my reaching with my various ‘arms’. I didn’t mean just my front hooves. My wings stretched out and I could sort of grab some of the grass with my mane.
Of course, there was also that tail I had that seemed to work on its own time. When I focused certain muscles, I could swing it all the way out in front of me. It even made a whip-cracking sound if I moved it fast enough. But when I didn’t focus on it at all, it floated out just slightly around my back hooves. What was the point of this tail? I wasn’t going to go out of my way to wander the unknown world that I couldn’t pronounce and fight criminals or something. That kind of thing only happened in video games.
Well, it also happened in some questionable fan fiction where Cloud and Sephiroth… and I quickly focused my attention on a nearby rose bush.
“Huh,” I muttered, “Those flowers smell good.”
They really did. I was surprised that I could recognize their scent from this distance. Before I knew what was happening, my eyes were caught in a reddish-pink haze. I felt like I was floating even though I knew my wings weren’t moving. My mouth began to water as I imagined the taste of soft, dark chocolate.
“Good roses, aren’t they?”
“Hrm?” The vision popped. I turned to look for the voice. The pony I saw looked older with his gray mane, battered hat and rake.
At that point, I felt something was occupying my mouth. I looked down as best as I could at my muzzle. I saw red, chewed up petals. Somehow, I had walked over to the rose bush without even realizing it.
Am I… eating… a rose? I wondered, Why does it taste so good?
I swallowed the mouthful and chuckled nervously.
“Y-Yeah, they are,” I stammered.
The old man-pony just smiled back.
“I heard you’re the Princess’s newest guest,” he commented, “If you’re hungry, why don’t you head into the dining hall? They can probably serve you a little better than this outdoor salad.”
Word gets around fast, I thought, Didn’t Princess Celestia just tell me about being a guest several minutes ago?
“Thank you, sir.” I nodded to him. “I may just do that.”
With that, he went back to doing his task of raking some leaves. Where did those even come from? I didn’t see that many trees around, let alone with those broad leaves. One of these days, this world was going to give me a real headache. I attempted to forget about illogical foliage by heading back inside the castle.
---{Narrator}
Luna’s eye opened slightly, interrupting her sleep.
Why do I have a sudden craving for rose water syrup? she wondered.
The moment didn’t last long as she soon went back to sleep.
---
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I suppose the chapter that I write after this will help me determine if I want to add another tag or not.
3233145 Loved the wordplay. 'Hail to the King'?
So Princess Luna and Dilan are still connected, even though they share different bodies. Interesting...
oh was that a shout out about that story that did something similar with sombra?
I would recommend less perspective changes. At most, you should have 2 - 3, not one every few sentences. It's quite distracting...
the third person tidbits when they aren't really doing anything like 'mind-verse' are annoying, put them at the end authors note. >:( also those bits where the p.o.v changes just put P.O.V (character name here)
The answer is no, because all proper Verses have several verses in mind.
6299974 NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!! DONT ADD TO THE HEADACHE!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Eh..mind...stop..work...
. . . Wut
8548808
9433307
Im sorry you two can not understand simplest multiversal lingo. this is a quite cear meaning to most folk.
9981903
Well some folk don't have the weirdness of english language in their native ones
Pansy
You're going to be one of those writers that makes eating an apple sound like a sexual experience, and you're going to go on, and on about it, aren't you...
...I hope he doesn't smell a stallions' musk, because when he comes out of the red haze, he is going to have something else occupying his mouth. 😎
(Hey, you wrote it first.)
Monk
On Death: "You were born. Isn't it interesting that the very first act we all do, is a crime so heinous that it comes with a death sentence." -Unknown