• Published 1st Sep 2012
  • 30,766 Views, 743 Comments

To Befriend the Night - LucidTech



Submitting to Trials, Tribulations, Lies, Misunderstanding, and Pain. And all these things for one purpose. To Befriend the Night.

  • ...
91
 743
 30,766

Chapter Two

The chase to find Hendrick had been quite short, ending almost as soon as it began. Mere steps outside the dining room, in fact. Hendrick lay with his face pressed up against the smooth marble floor and his legs dangling strangely behind him. As Luna had approached him, she heard him mumbling something under his breath once again but was unable to determine what he was saying, due to both the low volume of his words as well as the marble floor that more or less obstructed his mouth.

When she stepped towards him once again in worry and confusion, wanting to make sure he hadn't hurt himself, he suddenly began to squirm, seemingly in the attempt to place his feet on the ground. After watching helplessly for a few moments Luna grappled his form in her magic and re-orientated him right side up. As she did so he suddenly became perfectly still, his body became stiff and his muscles taut, leaving little difference between him and a statue. She placed the frozen pony carefully onto the tile floor properly oriented and he locked eyes with her.

“Are you okay, Hendrick?” Luna asked, her curiosity for the stallion drowning out the concern that she tried to force into the words.

“Please let me leave,” he pled suddenly, looking to Luna with pupils barely bigger than pinpricks. "I'm sorry for what I've done, all of it, just please let me leave."

Foremost in Luna's mind, however, was whether sending this klutzy, panicking, lost, confused pony into the city alone was a good idea. “Are you sure that-” His body began to shake with fear and Luna stopped herself. Not only did she already feel guilty for the terror she caused, even on accident, but she also did not want word to go around that she was forcing ponies to remain in the castle against their will. “You are free to go whenever you want, Hendrick," she conceded. "The exit isn’t barred.”

“Th-thank you.” He took a few slow steps backwards, his eyes on the lunar princess all the while. Then, breaking off into a clumsy run, he disappeared around a corner and heading to the exit of the castle with all his strength. That was the last that Luna saw of him that night.


The early afternoon of Canterlot found Vinyl Scratch wandering her way through the cobblestone roads of the capital. As she did so, ponies would move out of her way, just like every other day. While the DJ would sometimes toy with the idea that some of them did it out of respect, she knew very well the true reason behind it. All in all she supposed she couldn't blame them as it all tended to boil down to a desire to get from point A to point B without being run into by a blind unicorn who had a bad habit of stumbling on the cobblestones.

The culprit for her handicap was a disease unique to unicorns. Rare, even then. It took sight from a pony, but allowed them the ability to sense magical presences, something not to be underestimated certainly, but the debate was still on going as to if it could truly measure up to the loss of sight. In some respects it was almost a sight unto itself, as all ponies held a unique magical feeling to them and as such the victim of the disease would still be able to recognize friends. However, while this magical malady could be used to avoid direct collisions with other ponies, the cobblestones that made up every major road of Canterlot were completely devoid of any magical identifier themselves. A fact which had caused her more than enough trouble in the past.

And, to no surprise from anyone, it seemed that today would be an example of what she lacked. The DJ found herself once again off balance as her hoof made contact with the side of a disheveled stone and her emotions spiked into a strange mixture of fear and apathy caused by the frequency of these 'trips'. Casting a simple protection spell to minimize the pain from the trip, the DJ awaited the familiar feeling of the stones. Before her body could meet the road however, she felt an odd magical signature press against her side, pushing her upright and stabilizing her once more.

It was strange. The magical presence from the being next to her. It was like a pony... and yet... not, but she'd come in contact with many strange presence before, not the least of which was Discord, and in comparison with that particular crime against universal sense, this one only seemed sort of out of place and she was willing to overlook it.

“Thank you,” the DJ said, the pony next to her backing away to avoid any further unnecessary contact.

“No problem,” came the reply, the tone slightly meek.

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt your magical signature before. Are you new to Canterlot?”

“Uhm... You could say that?” His voice was unsure and Vinyl immediately recognized that he didn't know what she was talking about.

“Ah, well, thanks for helping me out all the same. It's nice to meet you, what's your name?”

“Hendrick.” Came the blunt, immediate, reply.

“That's a strange name." Said the DJ and, after allowing a couple moments for a response from the stallion, she continued. "Well, I’m-”

“DJ Pon3!” a mare said, a tone similar to that of an approaching bully decorating her voice. “I see that you managed to stay upright this time thanks to this mysterious earth pony here.”

“Hello, Page,” the unicorn replied emptily.

“Front Page?” Hendrick asked, his curiosity plain in his voice.

“Ah, yes, you know of me? Can’t say I’m surprised. I do work the most popular newspaper business in all of Equestria.”

“What do you want, Page?” the D.J. interrupted, slightly discouraged as she believed her companion to have left her side, figuratively.

“I was just wondering if you took a look at my article this morning- oh wait, you can’t, sorry. I forgot.” Though the unicorn was blind and thus unable to see the look on Front Page's face, she could still practically taste the stupid smug smile on the air.

“Well, it was rather ill-founded,” the earth pony spoke up next to her once again, catching the attention of both rivals.

“I beg your pardon?”

“It was the article on Luna, correct? Well, it wasn’t told from any actual meetings with her, a fact which you poorly hid behind several cutting remarks that were complete fabrications with no basis in reality. Any writer worth their weight in salt will stretch the truth, of course, but to make up lies like that shows absolutely no respect for a job that is, as far as I can tell, about telling the truth.”

Front Page was dumbstruck, but Hendrick continued. “And what’s more, the kerning on the second half of the page drove me nearly insane and the poor formatting with no segways between the ideas was ill-conceived. It seems to me that you didn’t put any love or effort into your work at all and it could be said that you simply put it out there with the intent to garner misplaced affection from long time readers. Of course, if you continue writing like this I'd be surprised if you're still afloat in a year or two irregardless of whatever loyalty base you think you stand on.”

There was a silence that hung over the entire crowd, all ponies now looking at the altercation that had just occurred. No kicks or punches had been thrown, of course, but some ponies could tell there'd been a very one sided fight all the same. Then, Front Page broke into tears.

It took a couple moments for D.J. Pon3's wriggling conscience to make it's way to the front of her mind. But when it did she quickly cut into the scene, directing her words to the motionless stallion by her side. “Apologize to her, Hendrick,” the D.J. said, almost resigned, as she looked toward the unique magical signature.

“Wh-what? Wasn’t she insulting you just a moment ago?” Confusion practically leaked from his words, carried on a tone of doubt as he watched the grown mare crying in the middle of the street.

“Yes, and while that is no way to behave, you did one worse and insulted her talent. At least she didn’t do that to me.”

“I-I-I....”

“She only made fun of my blindness. You practically tore her life’s work down around her.” The DJ couldn’t believe a pony would do that: just jump into a rant about how horrible someone was at something in which they were supposedly talented.

“Oh...” There was only shame and regret in the voice now. As if coming to a realization that had been a long time coming. It took him a moment to collect himself, but it wasn't too terribly long before he approached the crying form of Front Page. His steps seemed to register with her, but she didn't act on them, so Hendrick continued his advance until he was within whispering distance of the emotionally damaged mare. “I’m very sorry for that, I'm not the best at keeping my tongue in check and where I come from, we have tougher hide. It’s much harder to hurt us emotionally.” He explained. "I see now how terrible I've hurt you, I can only imagine if you'd done the same to me." His voice was directed to the mare, but the voice reached all those present.

“I will not take back anything that I said though, and this is important for you to understand. Is it possible that all your time being the top reporter may have gone to your head? That you may have lost sight of that love which you gave to your job that got you where you are now? I know a lot of peop-" He coughed immediately. "Ponies?" He hazarded and, when noone seemed to object to the word, he continued. "I know a lot of ponies who lose sight of why they started their job in the first place, so it is important that you always keep that in mind. Without honor for our work, what are we?”

“I never...” Page’s words were interrupted with some sniffs as she tried to restrain her tears. “I never thought I would learn something about writing from a blank flank.”

“Yes, well... knowledge comes from unexpected places.”

“I’ll see if I can’t talk to Luna tonight, during her court. Find the real story. It will probably an uphill fight to get in though, especially if my reputation precedes me.”

“I may be able to help with that...” the stallion offered, “but I’m not quite sure. We didn’t leave on the best of terms last night.”

“Thank you,” Page said, then turned to face the D.J. whose glasses blocked the tell-tale crimson of her sickness. “And miss Scratch, I’m sorry for poking fun at your blindness.”

The mare was slightly taken aback by the sudden one-eighty heel-turn of her aggressor, but nodded. “Thanks for the apology.”

“Yes, well, I feel as if I’ve awoken for the first time in a long time. I want you to understand that I truly regret what I said.” Page nodded to the mare, though she couldn’t see it, then turned to the stallion by her side. “If you need a way to pass the time until the lunar court opens, would you maybe join me for a lunch?”

“Yea... sure...” Hesitance once again made itself known in his voice and he sounded like that was the very last thing that he wanted to do. However, he never declined it and before too long they had gone away to eat their meal. With that decided, the duo left Vinyl alone with her thoughts as she contemplated the strange, yet heartwarming, absurdity that had just gripped the street.

“Vinyl, are you alright?" The tone was extremely confused, and rightfully so for what they had just walked in on. "Why is everyone just lingering around? Wait, hey, is that stallion crying tears of happiness?” A familiar magical signature approached and the DJ smiled.

“You will never believe what just happened, ‘Tavi.”


The duo approached the castle slowly: the mare out of hesitancy, and the stallion because he was following her. “Thanks again for this,” the mare said in a quiet voice as they reached the castle gates. At which the stallion merely fidgeted nervously, causing more than a little doubt to enter the reporter's mind.

On the approach to the entrance, a pair of guards caught sight of the mare and snorted indignantly, waiting for her to get close enough before they voiced their disdain. “What business do you have here, Front Page? Come to insult the princesses to their faces?” It was common knowledge, of course, that the guards cared deeply for their princesses, but it came to a shock to Front Page how much they seemed to care for Luna, given the rumors she had heard.

“N-no. I was hoping that I could have a meeting with Luna, so I may apologize and ask her questions for a more accurate article.” She was perturbed by the assumptions, assumptions that would have been true if she was the same mare she had been that same morning.

“Uhuh, and how can we trust you?”

“I trust her...” Hendrick's voice was shattering and breaking and everything about him screamed to Front Page that he had every belief that this plan would burn down in a blaze of glory. He walked out from behind the mare, flinching slightly as he recognized the pair as two of the guards who had been turned away by Luna.

“Hey, is that...” one of the guards began, turning to his companion.

“Of course it is. You know anypony else without a cutie mark?”

“Right, well...” The first guard turned backed to the duo, his voice at a normal level. “If Mr. Hendrick trusts you, then I guess we can let you in. But!” -His gaze narrowed on Front Page- “If we hear so much as a disappointed cough from Luna, you are going to be out of the castle faster then you can say, ‘ink it’. Am I understood?”

“Yes, of course.” Front Page readily agreed, a bit too readily in fact, and the guards exchanged several glances before they let the duo through.

The guards nodded eventually and simultaneously stepped to the sides of the door, allowing Page and Hendrick entry. After passing them, the guards moved back together, blocking to doorway. After rounding a corner, Page eyed the stallion. “Mr. Hendrick? What’s the story behind that?”

“Well...” The stallion looked toward her for a moment, then looked back to the hallway ahead. “I went to dinner with Luna. Kinda became famous with the guards, I guess.”

“Dinner with the princess. Boy, you get around, don’t you?” Her question went unanswered however, as the stallion merely kept walking, sweat beginning to form on his brow. Taking the silence for what it was, Page decided to change the subject. “So, you said that from where you come from, ponies are harder to insult emotionally and that it was more common. Does that mean that you were made fun of a lot for not having a cutie mark?”

“Hey, look, we’re here,” the stallion said, changing the subject immediately and making Front Page extremely preturbed by the fact that he didn't answer any of her questions in any useful way. As he approached the door, the magic activated once again and he walked into the room face forward for the first time. As he stood at the doorway, he clumsily swung one of his front hooves to invite the mare first entry into the room. She obliged, retrieving a notebook and pencil from her saddlebags as she did so.

“Hello, Your Highness.”

“Hello. I understand you are the one responsible behind this morning’s paper?” Luna looked down from her throne with a bit of malevolence haunting her gaze, but her voice completely bare of it.

“Indeed I am, and I apologize for that. I have come to ask for your forgiveness as well as an interview. An interview that I will put in tomorrow’s paper with actual truth, something I had forgotten about until recently.”

“And to whom do you owe that gift?” Luna asked, a slight smile on her face as she caught sight of a form near the door way, still partially obscured by shadows.

“That would be Hendrick.” At the mention of his name the stallion emerged from the hall, taking slow, unsteady steps.

A coy smile spread across the princess's face as she looked at the familiar stallion. “Why am I not surprised.”