Almanac Avocado
The faint remnants of a headache—the distilled memory of a migraine—punished Luna for trying to think. Nightmares plagued her sleep and kept her from getting fully rested. Dreadful dreams, the worst dreams had played out like bad movies from which there was no escape. This time, the Nightmare had not just swallowed her, but Overcast as well, transforming the both of them into gross, hideous parodies of their former selves.
Vividly she recalled it overcoming her, devouring her, a slick slime that swallowed up the body like viscous tar. Once surrounded, it found its way in through whatever orifice presented itself. It oozed through her ears. Slithered up under her eyelids and swam inside her eye sockets. Oily tendrils probed their way up her nose and into her vulnerable sinuses. Pendulous bloblets squished between the gaps of her teeth, schlorped over the rough surface of her tongue, leaving behind a vile polluted residue, and rammed their way down her throat in undulating rivulets that throbbed with strange, alien heartbeats.
Even worse, the same was done to Overcast.
Now left with unsettling implications, Luna wondered if she could be trusted with her sister's students. What if she led them astray? Or worse… what if Overcast became her dark protégé, a corrupted mirroring of Celestia and Twilight Sparkle? Harmony worked to restore balances, and Celestia was heavy with irrefutable goodness. Luna could not help but worry that she might be damned simply for the sake of balance, a condemned counterweight to her sister. Twilight Sparkle no doubt further tipped the scales, and if left unchecked, calamity could be the only possible outcome.
And Luna would be the one to suffer for it because that was the way of things.
Somepony had to assume the dark mantle. Luna wanted no part of it, but she felt stuck with it. Compounding her guilt, Overcast now seemed drawn into this conflict, with his role yet to be determined. Luna felt as though no good could possibly come of this, and she feared what might be—yet after her long talk with Twilight Sparkle, she wanted to have hope. Even during this moment of facing down an impossibly bleak outcome, Luna wanted to believe that she was wrong, that all of this was a misunderstanding, and that things would turn out for the best.
When an all too quiet voice in the back of her mind suggested that she was being unreasonable, her headache surged and pulsed in the worst way imaginable. Uncomfortable heat crept up the length of her ears and there was a steady but dull thumping right behind her eyes. With the voice now silenced, some of the pain subsided, but the threat was all too real; listening to that voice of reason would only cause more pain.
The remembered sensation of liquid horror creeping beneath her eyelids returned in full force, and so too did the painful struggle for air as the vile sludge poured down her throat. For a moment, the panic was too much to bear, and she feared her heart might burst in some awful way. Her legs wobbled, revealing weakness, and Luna feared that the floor might come rushing up to meet her at any second. Anxiety came in waves, each threatening to bowl her over, and all of Luna's efforts to fill her lungs with air failed. She wheezed, she swallowed, she saw starbursts exploding in her eyes, and then—
Nothing.
She saw nothing; no stars danced in her vision, they had returned to the night sky from whence they came.
As suddenly as the attack had come, it was gone.
All that lingered was the confused shame that an immortal could somehow die from an anxiety attack.
Standing in her private chambers, bewildered, ashamed, and feeling alone, Luna found that she very much wanted to be with her detainees. Being the Princess of Detention was preferable to this. Sweat dripping, her night-blue hide soaked down to the skin, somehow burning up and freezing at the same time, Luna longed to be with her new friends. They would understand. How or why they would understand didn't matter; she didn't have to rationalise it. She simply knew and the knowledge was reassuring. They weren't adults, who might chastise her for such irrational fears, but foals who had plenty of irrational fears of their own.
Mouth dry, but somehow drooling with residual terror, Luna stumbled off for a drink.
Soda pop was one of many things invented during her long absence and Luna loved the stuff. It was fizzy, effervescent, sweet, had a delightful variety of flavours, and gave one happy fun gas. With but a bottle, she could work up the sort of belch that could turn castle walls to dust—at least her imagination thought so. Always a strange one, she rather liked the nonstandard flavours that others might turn their nose up at.
Several empty bottles sat atop the stone wall near to her and she could feel the eyes of the guards upon her when she wasn't looking. She had just finished off a bottle of black licorice soda pop, and while she didn't enjoy it much if at all, she still drank it just for the experience. Flashing a disturbed grin, she popped the top off of an ice-cold bottle of mustard soda. Sniffing it was a mistake; something about the fizziness and the twangy tang of mustard almost made her face explode. Cross-eyed, her face contorting wildly, she fought the urge to sneeze until it went away.
Then, when she was confident that her face wouldn't explode in a most unprincessly manner, she tried a swallow of the urine-yellow mustard soda pop. A long pull drained almost a third of the bottle, and she swished it around the insides of her mouth so that she might fully appreciate the flavour. With a loud gulp, it went down her gullet, where it tickled her quivering innards. It was her sworn and sacred duty to experience strange new things. After all, as the Dreamwalker, she might have to craft a dream where somepony drank mustard soda pop, and she wanted the experience to be as real as possible so they could have the best possible dream experience.
She owed them that.
"Not bad," she murmured whilst peering into the bottle with one squinty eye.
When she licked her teeth, she tasted a curious mix of black licorice and sunny yellow mustard. Two tastes that did not go together, not even in the slightest. Then, ever so faintly, like dire chanting of cultists heard in the background of spooky dreams, she detected the suggestive hint of cilantro, the very first bottle of soda pop that she'd emptied out. It was rather soapy, which seemed fitting after what she'd put poor Twilight Sparkle through.
Any second now, the sugar would surely work its sweet magic, and she would be ready for detention.
The room at the top of the detention tower was occupied. Wednesday Waterkey and Top Notch greeted Luna upon her entry but she failed to return their welcome. They had decorated a bit, making the bleak room a bit more inviting. Self-help posters were hung on the walls, the sort of banal drivel that one expected to find in a school. There was even a displacer beast hanging by one tentacle encouraging the viewer to hang in there.
Top Notch in particular looked as pleased as punch.
"Help for students, by students," he said with all the dry wit he could muster.
Luna wanted to be emotional—to perhaps even have some gushing outburst—but she shoved it all down. Even with her best efforts, some of her feelings crept out. She was proud of Wednesday and Topper for their initiative—she wanted to tell them so—but the words she longed to say refused to be spoken. This had to be the good that Twilight spoke of and was surely what Celestia believed in, the virtue of the little ponies. Their capacity for greatness was most evident during moments just like this one.
It was an affirmation of everything that Luna wanted to believe, but had trouble accepting as truth. Moments like this did much for Luna's faith, not just in the little ponies, but also for herself. She was the Princess of Detention, and through the goodness of her subjects, her domain had prospered. Warm gratitude threatened to seep out of her eyes in liquid form and it took all of her willpower to keep her princessly composure.
"I've decided that I don't wish to be the Invisible Filly any longer," Wednesday said to Luna. "Quite a lot has happened actually. This morning, Topper, Overcast, and I, we, well I guess you could say that we made a pact. We pledged to never speak behind each other's backs. You should have seen Overcast. He almost showed interest."
"Where is he, anyhow?" asked Luna.
"Well, funny that you mention that…"
Luna tilted her head to look at Topper, but it seemed as though he had nothing else to say.
Wednesday, however, had plenty to say.
"Something happened in the school cafeteria today. Not sure what. I don't know what's true and what isn't, but supposedly Overcast did something. Something awful. The guard showed up kind of awful. And I don't want to spread gossip so I… well, you know. We saw each other during breakfast. Made our pledge. Overcast was actually in whatever passes as a good mood for him, I think. Can't say he was cheerful, but he did say that today was the big day and that things would change forever.
"After breakfast, we went our separate ways. I've enrolled in a recovery program to repair my lousy grades and restore my good standing, so that's where I went. Topper went to study law, because that's what he's good at. As for Overcast, he went off to his advanced matter manipulation class and he—"
"Advanced matter manipulation?" Luna's gentle interruption silenced Wednesday. "Advanced matter manipulation is for students approaching graduation." She wanted to say more, to ask more about whatever had happened and why it involved the guard, but she knew that pressing the issue would accomplish nothing. In frustration, she sighed.
"That's where he said he was going," said Top Notch in a solemn tone.
"We all had a really nice morning," Wednesday said. "Like I said, Overcast was… well, I wouldn't call it enthusiastic. Topper, this is hard, help me."
The colt shrugged and was of no use at all.
"I asked Topper to the dance. We had a very civil discussion. A very honest one. I asked him knowing full well that I can't actually dance in my condition, and um, knowing that I'm not much to look at, but when I said that Overcast lectured me and in some weird way that made me feel better, though I can't say why. But Topper said yes and I was ecstatic and the day started off so right."
"She wanted a chance to prove herself. Just like I did. Didn't feel right to refuse her. I think doing that might have made me a hypocrite and I don't much care for that. As it turns out, Whinny is great at conversation, her horn playing is top notch, and she's really very nice. And I don't feel awkward talking to her like I do with other fillies, which is great."
"And we wanted others to be happy and we wanted you to be happy so we decided to make some improvements to the detention tower after everything you said, Princess Luna. You did give us that rousing speech about having the courage to do what is necessary."
"Say, Whinny, do you think that little pep-talk might've set off Overcast?"
"That's… that's a good question, Topper. I wish I knew what he did. I don't like not knowing. And I don't want to ask around because that feels like gossip."
Luna wanted to know as well, and while she could probably find out, the detention hour was soon to begin. If the guard were involved… try as she might, Luna could not even imagine the guard getting involved with a school issue. These were students, not hardened criminals. Of course, Overcast was given to rapscallionry—but surely not to the degree that summoning the guard was necessary. The colt was given to drama, not dangerous malice.
More than anything else though, she wanted to know how and why he was enrolled in advanced matter manipulation. The school had not relaxed its standards—only the very best students were offered the chance to study here—but was Overcast truly that exceptional? Such magic required a certain level of physical maturity; the very young had difficulty even channeling the force required for such arcane endeavours.
The only thing that could be done right now was to keep calm and carry on.
"I printed fliers," Top Notch said, and he seemed proud of himself.
"You did what?" asked Luna.
"My mom, she's a good sort. She told me that when I stumble onto a worthy social cause, I should throw money at it, because that's what fixes things and makes things better. And I'm one to listen to my mom, because she's a good sort. A real good sort. I can't ever recall her ever being wrong about anything. So I followed her advice and I paid to have some fliers printed up and then I went and posted them around the school."
"Topper and I didn't have lunch in the cafeteria. We got there early, grabbed a box lunch, and took off so we could talk. And walk. And post fliers. And we had a lovely time together."
"Maybe if we'd stayed, Overcast might've behaved himself," said Top Notch, mostly to himself. "This morning, he talked about being a hero. Maybe there was a misunderstanding?"
"You printed fliers." Luna made her way to the desk, pushed the chair back, and sat down.
"We wanted our fellow students to know that if they needed help, there was some to be had," Wednesday explained. "And a flier is a good way to do that. Is it not?"
This was all so unexpected, but Luna was pleased. Now, she was committed to these changes. There was so much that she wanted to do, but her own worries and hesitations made it difficult. But now, with Wednesday and Topper taking it upon themselves to make things happen and showing a bit of initiative, the hardest part was already done. The part that Luna wasn't sure if she could accomplish on her own. How many scenarios might she have played out in her head, plotting all possible points of failure? Oh, all the ways she might have procrastinated with her princessly ponderings.
Every curl upon Wednesday's head was more precious than all the wealth in the treasury. All of Luna's fears and doubts about being the hated Princess of Detention crumbled, flying apart when blasted by incontrovertible proof of goodness. The affectionate adoration of youth would grow into something greater—though what, Luna did not know. She feared to get her hopes up, yet her caged hopes threatened to burst free from all their imagined confines. Not only was this where she needed to be, this is where she belonged. At least, for now. Perhaps with time and progression, she might move on to bigger and better things. But she doubted that those things would be quite as important.
Luna, a pony haunted by her past, now worked to build the future.
Tugged upon and pulled in every which direction, Luna struggled. She needed to stay here, but she very much wanted to know what was going on with Overcast. While these were pressing immediate concerns, she also very much wanted to talk to her sister. There was so much that needed saying, so much to discuss. Possibly too much. It might be overwhelming. But Luna was determined to stay the course, and she would talk with her sister. It just had to happen. Though it would not happen right now. Was it procrastinating when you were actually preoccupied? She couldn't go prancing off to gush to her sister, not when somepony in need of help might show up. That would be poor impulse control.
It did not matter that this joy was short-lived. Yes, this was joy, ever-elusive and feared. No, it wasn't joy that was feared, she realised, but its departure. She saw this clearly, at least at the moment. Strangely, she was not afraid; even if it left her—it most certainly would—she knew without doubt that it would return. Something had changed. A part of herself that she did not know had changed or perhaps recovered in some unknowable, unfathomable way. Yes, this joy would leave her, like birds in autumn. But spring would come; joy would return, and with reassurance came relief.
While Luna did not feel whole again, she felt better.
The cost of power was grief. In a moment of terrible clarity, Luna understood this. To be the creature she was—an alicorn—was to invite grief. She was a lightning rod for calamity. How her sister dealt with this dreadful state of being was unknown to Luna, but as she sat there, staring at Wednesday Waterkey and Top Notch, she had an inkling, an intimation of how Celestia endured. Bringing these two together, helping them, providing for their needs—this had brought her joy, and what precious joy it was.
Like a lightning rod, Luna had to stand above others. In doing so, the little ponies would be spared the worst of whatever calamity struck if she took disaster upon her own body. This was power and the cost of it was grief. A simple arrangement. So many times she'd heard spoken from so many mouths the old chestnut about absolute power corrupting absolutely. Luna herself had been corrupted; but before her fall into shadow, she had been grief-stricken.
Her corruption was the progression of a disease.
As a survivor of this disease, it was her duty to help others. Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns was a place where power concentrated. Some coped; they had friendship and togetherness. However, some lacked this support. They had power, which came at a cost, and eventually, they would know grief, which Luna determined was the terminal phase. Somehow, she would save them—if she could, if they would allow her. A pony drowning in despair sometimes resisted all efforts to save them.
Luna certainly had.
Overcast was a pony consumed by power—and grief. He had to be mourning his parents; no doubt could be had that he believed himself lost to them. Beyond that, his belief that the world was good had been damaged in a way that few could comprehend—but Luna knew. She could feel his grief quite keenly, because it so closely matched her own. Overcast mourned the world lost to him, and all of the good things found therein. His despondency, his bereavement, his desolation, all symptoms of stolen joy. At his tender age, he could barely comprehend what was lost, taken from him, but he could mourn it.
Foals didn't understand mourning—and sometimes, neither did alicorns.
It was a strange ache, a wound, a tearing open of the self. Sometimes, this would not heal on its own and if left to fester, awful things could come about. Monsters could seep from such a gash. In a moment of brutal self-honesty, Luna asked herself if her attempts to plunge the world into eternal night was an attempt to make others mourn for the sun forever lost to them. An expression of grief? In her own moment of self-pity and loss, had she robbed others of their joy so they could all be miserable together?
"Princess Luna, are you well?"
Wednesday's question jolted Luna from her thoughts, and she stared at the curly filly without answering right away. Young Wednesday had gone from being helpless to helping others. Such a rapid change. A turnabout. Moments such as this one could not be expressed with mere words. The gathering silence—like clouds over a picnic—threatened to become a storm of awkwardness.
"I'm fine, Wednesday. Thank you for asking. In fact, I'm better than I've been for a while. Because of you, actually."
Blushing furiously, Wednesday squirmed, her braces creaked and squeaked, and she became adorably bashful in the way that only fillies on the cusp of adolescence could. Luna drank the moment in and found her parched soul slaked in some inconceivable way that was immensely satisfying. Wednesday reacted to such sincere praise in much the same way plants did sunshine, which is to say that she probably grew in some important way.
"Do you hear that?" Top Notch asked. "There's somepony on the stairs. Be ready."
The filly in the doorway was somewhat younger. She hesitated, fearful and worried, and she did not take her eyes off of Luna. Thankfully, Luna's mood was ironclad at the moment, and it felt as though nothing could bring her down from the clouds where she currently resided. The new filly was chubby in a way that suggested that she would soon fill out, but that was a promise for later and she would remain awkward for a while.
Her coat was a vivid, perhaps even lurid shade of noxious creamy green. Her mane was a bit too pink and was something of a shock upon the eyes. Luna knew just enough of the new-fangled colour theory to know that pink and green did not go together; they did not compliment each other. Oversized glasses covered her face, which were broken and held together in the middle by a sticky, dirty mess of tape. Her bookbag was old, practically falling apart, and had no-doubt been somepony else's bookbag. The poor dear did not move with poise and grace, but with anxious nervousness.
"Hi," Wednesday said to the new filly. "Are you alright? My name is Wednesday, and this is Top Notch. Call him Topper."
Never taking her eyes off of Luna, the new filly replied, "I'm sorry, I seem to be having some trouble adjusting. I'm telling my hooves to move, but they're being a bit disobedient."
"Princess Luna is incredibly friendly," Top Notch said with all of the particular warmth and good cheer unique to him. "You shouldn't worry."
"I'm trying not to worry, but my stupid brain and body are betraying me!"
"Oh… oh, right. I know how that can be." Top Notch nodded knowingly, cast a sidelong glance at Wednesday, and then, quite without warning, flashed a smile.
But it was no mere common smile, no. This was an old money smile, a revered treasure from the past, lovingly handed down from generation to generation. It was as warm and reassuring as a grand and stately fireplace, the sort of centerpiece to a room that held generations of fond memories upon the mantle in the form of photographs and paintings. This smile was a holiday banquet and a house packed wall to wall with beloved family members. Even Luna found herself charmed by it, and she could not help but worry about if he might ever use it for nefarious purposes. Why, the little fellow might very well use it on Wednesday and then take to the dangerous hobby of necking until knackered.
"I'm really sorry," the new filly said. "I can't even imagine how rude I'm being, but seeing you in-pony is a bit of a shock. It's not you, if it makes you feel better, Princess Luna. When I came nose-to-nose with your sister, Princess Celestia, I widdled myself."
Before Luna could stop it, before she could even sense its escape, a hot, breathy snort blasted free from the fortress that was her face. The concussive explosion caused the room to tremble and before Luna could recover herself, she began to snortle in a most unprincessly way. Even worse, the prison break continued; after the massive blast that opened up an exit and the escaping snortles fleeing the asylum that was her headspace, the giggles too escaped their solitary confinement. She covered her mouth with her hoof to stop them, but to no avail; all the inmates were escaping.
"My name is Almanac," the new filly said, introducing herself. "Almanac Avocado. I saw the fliers. I wasn't going to come, but I did anyway. This is awkward."
"Oh, indeed it is," Top Notch agreed, and he put his heirloom smile away.
"I'm not in trouble," Almanac said. "But, I guess I am kind of in trouble? I mean, I wasn't given detention, but I am in trouble. I guess. It's complicated?"
Still, Luna giggled and it showed no signs of abating; the inmates continued their gleeful escape.
"I just want to say that I'm not scared of you because of… well, you know. Stuff." Somehow, Almanac broke the spell that rooted her to the spot and she moved into the room, but still never took her eyes off of Luna. "It's just… you know… alicorns. They're big. I don't know which beanstalk y'all fell off of, and I don't want to find out."
A most majestic, most deafening "HRONK!" shot out of Luna like a cannonball. 'Twas a strange sound, like somepony swallowing a trumpet playing goose—which might be considered a miracle of some kind considering that geese had no lips—but in reverse. She sat there for a moment, stunned into silence by the peculiar sound she'd made, until at last she was overcome by the giggles once more. For a few precious seconds, Luna felt as she once did, before the darkness, before the onset of trials, troubles, and tribulations.
A period of slumber lost to nightmares somehow made the current myrth all the more satisfying. Almanac was recovering herself a little at a time and now stood in front of the desk with her glasses askew. As for the others, Top Notch had a dry, droll expression, and Wednesday had a lopsided smirk that highlighted just enough of her facial features to show the mare that she would one day be.
"Hey," Almanac said in a preadolescent squeak, "something my dad suggested actually worked. It's too bad that I can never tell him."
"Is your father… passed on?" Top Notch asked the question with all of the politeness he could muster, which was really quite a lot.
"No," Almanac replied, "but any time he's right about something, we never hear the end of it."
"Oh." Collecting his composure, his ears pricked, Top Notch nodded. "I see."
"Of course, he's wrong about plenty of stuff…" Words trailing off into a sigh, Almanac shrugged.
Now a bit unsettled, Top Notch made a polite inquiry: "Your father… is wrong about things?"
"All the time," the young newcomer replied with a nod. "He told me that if I just show everypony the real me and if I do my best, I'll make friends in no time. I'll fit in. He said if I was honest and forthright, then I'd be a shoo-in for the most popular filly in school. There's a list, and it grows longer by the day."
Swallowing her laughter, Luna leaned forward.
"I'm starting to think I don't belong here, and I've been thinking about dropping out. Going back to my old school. Every day, it just gets… harder. But I can't quit, because there's so much pressure. So I just feel stuck."
"It's easy to get stuck," Wednesday said, and her words caused Top Notch to nod in agreement.
Watching him nod made Luna wonder what the young colt felt stuck about.
"It's too hard to keep going and quitting is complicated." The younger filly blew her radiant pink mane out of her eyes and then tossed her head back when her mane refused to cooperate. This almost dislodged her glasses, and Almanac’s horn sparked as her magic flared in preparation for having to catch her spectacles. "My parents gave up everything to move to Canterlot to be with me and all of my grandparents, my aunts, my uncles, and everypony in the family supports us because Canterlot is just too expensive and my parents can't afford to live here and—" She paused, turned her head, pricked her ears, and listened.
There were hooves on the stairs along with metallic clanking. Luna heard it quite clearly, a sound distinct to a pony clad in armor. There was a guard on the stairs. Why would a guard be coming up the stairs? There was probably a message to deliver. It was probably nothing, yet all of the hair along Luna's spine stood up while her gut muscles tightened. Whatever dread that tread upon the stairs moved closer and Luna turned all of her attention upon the doorway.
When a unicorn guard led Overcast into the room, Luna was surprised—yet also not at all. The colt had a black sack over his head, which infuriated her beyond all reason, and made her want to shout. He was also hobbled, with his left hind leg connected to his right front leg with a short length of chain. Luna affixed her chilly deadpan stare upon the guard and then restrained herself to prevent any overreaction.
"Princess Luna," the guard began, "I have brought you—"
"Is the sack necessary?" asked Luna.
"Standard procedure during arrests," the guard replied, only hesitating for an eyeblink.
"So he was arrested?"
The guard swallowed and his jaw wagged as he struggled to respond. "No. But he was detained. We've never had an incident like this in the school and therefore we had no clear procedure to follow."
"Which was?" demanded Luna, whose tone was now subzero.
"He was stunned, taken down, incompacitated, and restrained."
"And this was necessary, why? Did he pose a threat to you? Did he fight back?"
"Multiple magical misdemeanours were committed, and he incided bedlam. He also—"
"Was he a danger to you?" asked Luna. "Yes or no."
"I wasn't there. I am but the messenger."
"I see." Luna's tone was now chilly enough to liquify helium and she did not stare at the guard, but through him. "I find that it is far more likely this response was to humiliate him before his peers and to further damage his ability to fit in. Perhaps to make him quit school rather than face an expulsionary hearing. For all future incidents, I want you to remember that you are dealing with students, and that if they are not dangerous, then they are not to be harmed."
"Yes, Your Majesty," the guard replied.
"Really, is the sack necessary?" asked Luna, who struggled against her ever-growing irritation.
"It deprives the detained from sight and hearing. It is said to calm the detained and make them more manageable. Also, a unicorn that cannot see or hear is far less dangerous. Sensory deprivation allows us to—"
"Overcast… can you hear me?"
"Of course I can."
The confused expression on the guard's face stood out in sharp contrast to the smug superiourity seen on Luna's. Though still dangerously angry—unreasonably angry—the faint tickle of amusement was enough for Luna to keep herself from flying into a rage due to her current state of imbalanced humours. Though she would never admit it, she felt a certain sense of pride in Overcast's accomplishment. But she also felt worried about whatever events had transpired.
"How?" the guard asked. "The sack is magically silenced. It should be impossible to speak. Words can carry magical influence. How?"
"Take it off of him," Wednesday said to the guard. "I can't bear seeing him like this. Overcast, what happened? What did you do? Why did you do it?"
"Remove it," Luna commanded.
"He did resist his detainment—"
"I said to remove it." Spilling out of her chair, Luna was on her hooves in an eyeblink, and moved with spooky, supernatural grace.
Now silent, the unicorn guard pulled the sack from Overcast's head—and Luna's heart lept up into her throat. One ear was swollen, and so was the entire left side of the colt's face. His eye was almost shut and as Luna stood there trying to hold it all in, she could almost imagine one of the guards standing on his head or neck to keep him subdued. A curious metallic taste befouled the back of her tongue and it was rather difficult to breathe at the moment.
"You are dismissed," she said to the guard.
Saying nothing, the guard didn't leave so much as he escaped, and he departed with considerable alacrity.
Her heart pounded against her ribs like a frantic caged bird and saying nothing, she removed the hobble from Overcast. In silence, he stretched his legs while Luna stood over him, and she examined his injured face with an almost maternal concern. As for the other students, they were clustered together, each of them trying to console one another during this difficult moment. She vanished the hobble and then with a sour expression of contempt, she vanished the hated head-sack as well.
"Overcast"—now warmed somewhat, Luna's voice wavered, the unsettling evidence of her current state of emotional distress—"what did you do?"
But Overcast it seemed, had other plans. Upon seeing Almanac Avocado, he brushed past Luna, limping slightly, and he moved to where she stood. He was taller than the filly by a full head—maybe more—and she seemed to be in outright awe of him as he drew close. Unsure of what to expect, Luna waited, and as she did so, she took deep calming breaths so that she might have better control of herself.
"I know you," Overcast said. "You're one of my Blameless Ones. I wish we'd met under better circumstances, but here we are. Not that I wanted us to meet. I try to avoid others, but things have been strange lately."
"Blameless?" The word slipped out of Almanac as a squeak.
"You are one of the precious few that has never gossipped," the colt said as he stood there studying the younger, smaller filly.
"Mama raised me to respect others and to never say anything that I wouldn't say to their face."
"I see." Overcast leaned in very much like Luna did, and he examined the filly's face.
"Wait"—she squeaked again—"how do you know?"
"Almanac Avocado. Both of your parents are earth ponies. You were raised around earth ponies. Not unicorns. Which is the source of your trouble, but you don't seem to understand that part just yet. Your whole family farms. They are land rich, but cash poor. Food is plentiful but that's it. They do their best to help your parents, who moved to Canterlot to be with you and support you."
"How do you know this?" asked Almanac.
"You know nothing of unicorn culture, or any of the things that unicorns are expected to know. That's why you don't fit in. Your peers believe you to be an ignorant bumpkin… but they also believe you to be an insufferable know-it-all because of your book smarts. Without you realising it, you've walked into a no-win situation. Your teachers praise you for your smarts, but they also ridicule you and shame you behind your back for being clueless about even the most basics of unicorn-related culture."
"They do that?" she asked.
"Oh yes," Overcast replied, "and that was the purpose of today. To expose all of the duplicity." He cleared his throat, lifted his head, and then wobbled slightly on his hooves. "May I please see your glasses?"
Unsure of what was about to happen, Luna waited.
"Why do you need my glasses?"
"A simple yes or a no will do. May I?"
Flustered, blushing a bit, and no-doubt filled with far too many questions, Almanac took off her glasses and passed them to Overcast. The colt took them, held them up in front of his good eye, the one not swollen shut, and he examined them with his critical gaze. Then, saying nothing, he peeled the dirty, gunky tape off the middle, and then allowed the spectacles to come apart. Holding both pieces, the colt continued his curious examination, and Luna was completely baffled by this unexpected turn of events.
"There's a point to this, I assure you," Overcast said. "I'll get to it, I promise. I will. But right now, I must concentrate."
A pulsing glow consumed the glasses and it took Luna a few seconds to understand that Overcast was cleaning them. He was removing all the glue and gunk from the area where the bridge broke. All the previous attempts to repair them left behind residue that made it impossible for the two pieces to ever fit together properly. How he managed to do this while in so much pain scared her in some worrisome way. Was he channeling his pain and suffering into his magic? That seemed likely. Luna knew all too well the outcome of such channeling and if the colt was in fact doing this, he was further gone than she had believed.
Tapping into pain and suffering to give oneself power was to open the door to darkness.
Luna could not turn away. She had to see how this ended; she had to know what point the colt had to make. He was too logical—even if his logic was skewed—to go through all this trouble without a reason. Yet, a part of Luna doubted; the colt cared. He had to care. There was evidence that he cared, and deeply. His attention to details, the way he committed so many details to memory, the fact that he kept track of his fellow students. But then the alarm bells rang, and it occurred to Luna that the colt kept a list; he kept tabs on his fellow students, the ones he considered guilty and those he called his 'Blameless Ones'. This scared her—mostly because she did the same thing. She too had a list of ponies to look out for.
Unsettled and somewhat unhinged, Luna watched—for what else could she do?
"I want to quit school," Almanac whispered, "but I can't. I don't know how. My parents have sacrificed so much to get me here. They've given up their own lives for the sake of mine. My parents sacrificed everything that made them happy so I could be here. If I quit, I'll hurt them in ways I can't even begin to understand. But I can't keep going like this. The pressure is getting to me. There are days when I just want to do nothing but cry but I can't because everypony will just tease me."
Overcast nodded, but offered no verbal response; he was lost in concentration.
"We're poor. We can't afford anything. All my books are used and tattered and I get teased for having them. When I complained, I was told to develop some character and grow a backbone. It was my fault for being thin-skinned. Sometimes, it feels like I am suffocating. I'm sick of looking into the margins of my books and seeing the doodles and scribbles and graffiti. This is all so weird. I don't know why I am telling you this, but it seems that you already know. I should be worried about how you know, but I'm not, and maybe that should bother me."
Wednesday's leg braces creaked as she moved closer to Almanac.
"You don't know this yet," Overcast said to Almanac, "but I'm the hero. Maybe not the hero that everypony wanted, but I am the hero that they deserve."
With that said, the two halves of the broken spectacles vanished from existence and then immediately reappeared—as one. Made whole. Unbroken. Luna knew it for what it was; this was no repair spell, but it was similar enough to have the same effect. Overcast had teleported the two halves together, and fused them. The clean surface, free of contaminants, rebonded without weakness. It was impressive magery by any standard, as was befitting any student that attended this school, a place where greatness was made to flourish.
It shouldn't be so surprising, given his studies with the frogs—yet Luna was impressed.
"Do you know what this is?" asked Overcast as he slipped the repaired spectacles onto Almanac's face and adjusted them.
She shook her head.
"This," he began, his voice low, "is a gift. This is evidence. How fitting that this gift is a pair of glasses, because this will allow you to see the world for what it really is. Now, you must be asking… what is this evidence of?"
She nodded.
"Well, I'll tell you." Taking a step back, he drew in a deep breath, steadied himself, and his whole body trembled as he held his head high. "I'm sorry to be the one who tells you this. Really, I am. I wish there was some way I could let you know just how sorry I am…" His good, unswollen eye closed for a moment whilst he shuddered.
"Your teachers care nothing about you. All of their seeming and so-called friendship is fake. Fraudulent. At any time, any one of them could have fixed your glasses with a repair spell. Watch them. Watch them carefully. All throughout the day, they fix broken pencils, busted pieces of chalk, torn pages, anything and everything that suffers a mishap. But your glasses? Not worth their time. You're not worth their time. They could have fixed them. Doing so might've meant a bit less teasing. But they failed to perform this simple act. They've failed you. Learn from this and—"
"Overcast, that's more than enough," Luna said, cutting the colt off mid-sentence.
"Yes, I suppose I've inflicted more than enough truth for one day."
"I suppose… well, I suppose that seems obvious in hindsight."
Almanac's words pierced Luna's ears—and her heart. While the glasses were fixed, irreparable damage had just been done. Something needed to be said—something had to be said to stop the poison. But Luna had no idea what it was or what it might be. There was no antidote. Celestia might know what to do, what to say. Luna saw the world in a different way and so she had no idea how to respond.
"I've only ever done this with pencils," the weary, injured colt said. "Wasn't sure if this would work. That would have been embarrassing, had I failed. Would've ruined the moment, for certain. Whew." Then, wobbling quite a bit, he stumbled off, sat down on a wooden bench, and almost collapsed on the spot. Somehow, he kept himself in a sitting position, and when he tried to smile, he winced with pain.
"I don't believe you," Wednesday said to Overcast. "I don't believe you, but I don't know how to prove you wrong. Our teachers have to care about us. They do. Otherwise, they wouldn't teach. You're wrong."
"Am I?" asked Overcast.
"I refuse to be convinced of this," Wednesday said as she shook her head from side to side and caused her curls to bob. "What's gotten into you? What did you do? What have you done?"
Almanac pulled her eyeglasses off and squinting, she checked out the now repaired bridge. Her pink mane spilled down over her face and for a second, she was youthful and innocent. But when she brushed her mane back with her foreleg—a physical act reminiscent of earth ponies—her face was aglow with worshipful adoration. Luna feared this reaction, this outcome, though she could not say why. If Overcast had made her a true believer, then it was conceivable that he truly was a danger to his fellow students.
Something would have to be done.
"A lot of our teachers have cutie marks for teaching," Top Notch said as he moved to stand beside Wednesday. "Surely that would make them care about what they're doing."
"Being compelled to do something is not the same as wanting to do it," Overcast replied.
"Ooh, you're horrible! Now you're casting doubt on that, too! Stop that, Overcast! You're like a horrible cloud over everything! Just… stop that!"
"Or I'll eat a hoof sandwich?" he asked.
As if struck by some terrific invisible force, Wednesday recoiled. She blinked once, twice, and it took her several seconds to recover. When she finally did, she said, "I was wrong to say that to you. I was. Bad friendship made you the way you are and I was so focused on myself that I've not been a good friend to you. That much is obvious. I aim to fix that. The only way to prove you wrong is to be your friend and try to do better."
"Well, if she can do it, so can I." Top Notch nodded, pleased with himself, and he sighed with obvious contentment. "Group effort. Righto. Surely my parents would approve."
"Overcast"—Luna's voice drew every eye to her—"what did you do?"
"Today, I stopped being afraid," he replied. Reaching up, he gingerly touched the side of his face with his hoof. Doing so made him whimper, but then he did it again—and again. "I finally had the courage to do what needed to be done. Today, I became the hero."
"But that doesn't tell me what you did, Overcast. And I need to know." Luna went to where the colt sat, pulled up a bench, and then sat down beside him. The bench was too small, and Luna, too large. It was best described as awkward, but she persisted. There was just too much at stake to let trivial things be distractions.
Like an overly large bluebird of unhappiness, Luna perched upon her bench. Reaching out one wing, she pulled the colt close to her so that she might comfort him. Or maybe she was trying to comfort herself. She didn't know and she didn't care. He tried to resist her, but she just overpowered him. He was in incredible pain; she could sense it. Both physical and mental. She had just watched him hurt himself, pressing against his face—and it was far too much like looking into a mirror.
"What did you do?" she asked.
"What nopony else would," he replied. "Not even you, Dreamwalker."
Summoning her patience, Luna sighed.
Did she deserve this?
Most definitely.
It made her sympathise with her sister in a way that nothing else had.
If she was even half this infuriating, she owed her big sister an apology.
She felt him shudder and heard him sigh. His thin body leaned against hers and feeling him pressed to her side made her consider life. What was it exactly that she wanted from life? She didn't know. There was no answer. Which was, perhaps, a dangerous thing because immortals were blessed with prodigiously long lives. The sole reason for her existence, her purpose, her function, she was meant to be a counterweight to her sister. Together, they shepherded the celestial bodies and kept the clockwork of the universe ticking.
While this was something that Luna did, it was rather just something that happened because she existed. The same was true of her duties as the Dreamwalker. It happened. She was doing it right now as she sat on the bench trying to bring some small sense of comfort to Overcast. All of her purposes were passive, just things that happened that she only had the vaguest awareness of, unless she concentrated.
Celestia had found something that occupied her time. There was the school, first and foremost of Celestia's hobbies. And one of her sister's precious students had been stomped on by a guard. Which caused Luna to discover that the things her sister held dear, she did as well. It was a strange but welcome realisation, because it meant the future wasn't so boring and bleak. Having such a long life, it would be so easy to be overcome by despair, to become stultified by the sheer endless tedious repetitiveness of it all.
For reasons unknown, Luna thought of Twilight Sparkle and felt better.
"Overcast"—she said his name as little more than a whisper—"what made you think that today's events were necessary? What drove you to do whatever it is that you've done?"
"You already know why." He spat out these words like a foal refusing to swallow bitter medicine. "I've tried to tell others. Today, I forced them to see that the problem exists. I made it so it could not be ignored."
Almanac pulled up a bench close to Overcast's, and then sat down. As for Top Notch and Wednesday Waterkey, they stood alongside one another, in much the way dear friends or couples do. They cast worried sidelong glances at one another and rather looked like adults trapped in bodies too small. When Luna last existed in the world, they would have been adults perhaps, or on the verge of becoming so.
"I didn't want it to come to this," Overcast said, almost muttering. "But I knew it would. I knew it would. A part of me knew but another part of me kept trying to tell the rest of myself that things could change. But that voice grew quieter as days went on and all my worst suspicions were confirmed."
After a shuddering breath, he added, "When I woke up this morning, that voice had gone silent. Was it like that for you, Dreamwalker? Did that quiet voice of reason just go silent?"
Unable to respond, her words caught in her throat like a too-dry biscuit, Luna wrapped her wing a little tighter around the distraught colt. This was dangerous territory and she risked having her soul laid bare. She had trod this ground before. This path was known to her. She knew how it started—but more importantly, she knew how it ended. Overcast did not deserve such an end.
But knowing the length of this journey meant that it was familiar, and as such, there was no fear of the unknown. There was no strangeness here that she could not abide. If he continued down this path, she would go after him. Where he would go in ignorance, she would follow with foresight. Whatever monsters awaited on this path would soon learn that she was the Mother of Monsters, and this path was hers.
"Wednesday… she talked about how it took courage to be seen. She said that she had spent so long believing herself to be the Invisible Filly that it was scary to be seen again. And then she said something that got stuck in my ears." The colt went quiet, thoughtful, and his head wobbled on his neck. "She said that being seen meant holding herself accountable. After she said that, I knew that I had to do the same. I wasn't living up to my full potential. I saw it as clear as day. And that's when I decided to be the hero, because that's a thing that one decides. You either become the pony you're meant to be, or you don't."
Wednesday whined out one word—"Overcast…"—but had nothing else to say.
"I woke up feeling that way, but what she said and how she said it really got stuck in my ears. Today was the day. So I acted."
With every nerve in her body jolting and jittering, Luna waited.
"I thought about everything I'd learned recently. About focus and discipline. Dreamwalker, you taught me more than you know. More than you realise. You opened my eyes. Well, my ears, but the result remains the same. I had clarity." He moaned, swayed a little, and there was a feverish gleam in his unswollen eye. "And I suppose I had friends. Topper and Wednesday used to be part of the problem, but they had seen the error of their ways. I guess I did it just as much for them as I did myself.
"At lunch time, I waited in the cafeteria, and I prepared. I turned my listening spell back into a ventriloquism spell. It wasn't hard. I'm not saying that to be boastful, really. It was just restoring the spell back to what it was meant to be. I listened, waited for some juicy gossip, and when I found some, instead of just hearing it in my own ears, I channeled directly into the ears of everypony around me. Hundreds of ears, all hearing what I heard.
"And what they heard was the captain of the student weather team telling the leader of the chess club that she was going to steal away her best friend's colt friend, because her best friend didn't deserve him, and she really wasn't her best friend. They were only friends because their parents were friends, and then she went on to list all of the reasons she found her so-called best friend annoying and awful, but she kept her so-called friend around because her parents gave her money to go out and do fun stuff."
Closing her eyes, Luna turned her head away.
"Of course, her so-called best friend was right there in the cafeteria, and she heard every word said. I went looking for more chatter, and found some too. Everypony got to hear what I hear every day. Every awful thing. Everything was just starting to go full swing when the guards showed up and demanded that I stop. But I didn't stop. I couldn't. I don't know what came over me. I started broadcasting everything all at once. What a sound it made. All that negativity. Some of the guards were overwhelmed. I didn't mean to hurt them. That was never my intention. It just… happened. My magic got away from me.
"And then I heard it… it was lost in the noise, but all the time I spent in practice allowed me to focus on it. And then everypony heard it. Mister Burr, the head of the athletics department… he was boasting about how he'd kissed a student and stolen her love away. It was so loud… too loud. I don't know what happened. But everypony heard it. The guard did too. One of them blasted me and I don't know what happened next but I was on the ground and one of the guards was stomping on my face to make the magic stop, because Mister Burr was going into detail about what he'd done. He was saying how her sweet love was like nectar and how eager he was to drink from her again.
"After a few stomps, my spell broke. It just fizzled out. I remember the guard saying that it was just an illusion, something upsetting meant to cause a disturbance. But it wasn't an illusion. It was real. And everypony heard it."
A dreadful weight settled upon Luna's neck but she refused to bow her head. This was somehow worse than anything she might have imagined. She needed time to think before she drew any conclusions or came to any sort of judgment. More than that, Luna really wanted to talk to her sister about all of this. If Overcast had exposed an inappropriate relationship between a staff member and a student, something would have to be done—even if Overcast was in the wrong with his actions.
Without consequences, without intervention, Overcast would continue to hurt the little ponies around him, and Luna could not allow that. Yet, Overcast was also a little pony, and he too was hurting. Punishment would surely drive him further into darkness, into territory terrible and familiar to Luna. What she feared most of all however, the thing that really made her brain itch, was that Overcast was hurting himself. All the signs and symptoms were there; he was using pain as fuel for power. His anguish created a feedback loop that gave him what he craved—power—but left him wanting more.
"I can't say I understand what you've done," Almanac said to Overcast as she leaned in close beside him. "And I barely even know you. But it sounds like you need a friend or three."
"I had friends," Overcast said in return. "They spoke behind my back. They betrayed me. I had parents… and they became strangers to me. I had teachers that I admired… but then I saw them for what they were. As for Wednesday and Topper"—the colt gestured at his two nearby companions—"only time will tell if they are sincere. I am not hopeful."
"I resent that," Wednesday said and she snorted at Overcast in contempt. "You were absolutely right, you know. I was only sorry because I got caught. I played stupid games and I won stupid prizes. But now that I've seen the harm of what my careless actions have done, I want to do better and be a better pony. I don't want to hurt others. Ever. I want ponies to feel good. I want them to be happy. That's the point of my music… my very existence. You helped me to see that about myself."
"I'm guilty of it too," Top Notch said. "I've made bad jokes about the poor students in school. Said terrible things about how they'll let anypony into the school these days. It made my chums laugh. I've said all kinds of bad things about ponies just like her." Lifting his right front hoof, he gestured at Almanac and then looked elsewhere. "They're not my chums anymore. Of course, they don't know it yet, but I suppose they will soon enough. And then I'll be the one being teased and having dreadful things said about me behind my back."
Nudging Top Notch with her whole body, Wednesday said, "Apologise."
"Say again?" asked Top Notch.
"Apologise. Mean it. You'll feel better, Topper."
"Really? Well, alright then." Looking everywhere but at Almanac, Top Notch took a much-needed moment to pull himself together. Then, looking the filly he'd wronged right in the eye, he said in a strained voice, "I'm sorry. I apologise. Truly and sincerely. I didn't know I was hurting somepony. I honestly thought it was just harmless fun… but I was wrong. And I can change."
"Thank you," Almanac said to him. "That means a lot. Means quite a lot, actually. A part of me actually wants to stay in school to see how this turns out."
"I'm not sure there's a point to this," Overcast said to no one in particular. "Or if there is much of a point to anything. While this is nice and feels good now… it can't last. It won't last. Friendship can't survive us. It cannot survive life."
"Overcast"—Wednesday's patience was clearly strained—"why would you say that? Why are you such a downer?"
"If you really want to know, you should go talk with Moon Dancer." Taking a deep breath, Overcast attempted to shake his head, but the pain made him whimper. It took him several long seconds to recover, and when he did, he continued, "She used to be my foalsitter when I was younger. We still talk, she and I. Sometimes. Not so much anymore. But she can tell you all about how her friend ditched her."
"So to prove you wrong, I have to be your lifelong friend and boon companion. Got it."
"Wednesday…" Overcast breathed out her name. "When we last spoke, Moon Dancer helped me with my assignment. She was in advanced matter manipulation with me. One of her best friends just up and left without saying goodbye. Went to Ponyville, I think. It crushed her. For me, it was just more evidence that friendship is fraudulent. Fake. Fake, fake, fake. You'll move away. School will end. You'll make friends that can't stand me and you'll choose them over me. While I'm sure you mean well, and I do actually appreciate you making the effort, it's all for naught. Life will tear us apart. The illusion of friendship can't survive contact with reality."
"Overcast, Topper and I… we had a talk about you." Before Overcast could interrupt, Wednesday continued, "Nothing bad was said. Earlier today, we discussed inviting you to the dance with us, because we didn't want you to be alone."
"So I get to be a third wheel. Awkward."
"Oh, goodness no," Top Notch said with irrepressible cheerfulness. "Whinny said that it might be for the best if we let you just sit in a corner and sulk, or whatever it is that you do. She… we… the two of us, we just didn't want you to be alone. Of course, now it seems as though you might be expelled from school, or worse."
"That's… incredibly nice. You thought about me."
"We didn't want you to be alone. Yes, we discussed you moping in a corner, but we didn't mean it in a bad way, honest. I was actually pretty worried talking about it with Topper. I just thought that somepony should invite you to the dance. Even if you don't dance. Or participate. Or do anything social. I thought you could just hang out in the corner." Wednesday heaved a sigh of relief, rolled her eyes, and a huge mass of curls spilled down to obscure the upper half of her face. "We wanted you to know that somepony thought of you. And maybe we could hang out. Just a bit. Drink punch together. Just be us. Because we have something that seems to be real hard to find these days and that is—"
"If you say friendship, I'll never forgive you," Overcast said to her.
"—understanding. I think we understand each other better than most."
"It's true." Nodding at Luna, Top Notch added, "It's because of her, you know. She made this possible. Princess Luna is our common ground, something that we share together. Without her, we might not have met in a meaningful way. She gave us a chance to be ourselves and to talk and just let everything out and she kept us safe so it could happen. And now, because of her"—he nodded at her a second time—"we have something. I don't know what it is, but I know what it could become."
Something stirred within Luna's breast, something akin to a tender bloom unfurling to greet the springtime sun after a remorseless and prolonged winter. It was delicate, fragile, and something she believed destroyed a long time ago. While she couldn't say what it was, having it back was a tremendous relief. The deep and hidden places within her sinuses burned with a raging inferno while the corners of her eyes had hot stabbing pinpricks that were almost unbearable.
Looking down at the foal she sheltered beneath her wing, she examined his face with great care. It was unlikely that he was stomped on as he had claimed—though being stepped on had most certainly happened. She saw no breaks in the skin, no evidence of hard, sharp hooves smashing into soft, exposed flesh. Overcast was too aware, too alert, and too capable to be seriously hurt. As awful as it looked, it wasn't as bad as it could be, and now that she had calmed down a bit, she could see it quite clearly. A failure had still happened, corrections were necessary, and something had to be done to prevent incidents such as this one in the future.
There was a lot that needed to happen, and it all started with a talk with her sister.
When the need to sniffle announced itself, Luna ignored it. Becoming emotional would solve nothing. Sighing, she cast a quick glance at the foals around her and then tried to collect her thoughts as the sniffles demanded her attention. Overcast posed a real threat to both the students and staff; as much as it pained her to think of it, expelling him might be the best option for keeping the peace. But it would also be the worst option for Overcast, and would do absolutely nothing to help him with his troubles.
If he was expelled, she would not abandon him, though she was uncertain as to what could be done. A dark maw awaited him, a bad end that she was not convinced that he could save himself from. What he needed, as much as it galled her to admit it, were a few friends. Close friends. It was exactly what she needed as well, though Luna had trouble connecting to most adults. She'd seen far too many of their dreams to ever fully trust them, just as Overcast had overheard the very worst in his fellow students.
What Luna needed was her sister, who was also her friend.
"You're a depressing disaster," Avocado said to Overcast. "What you need is to be exposed to better ponies. Like my family." The young filly looked up at the colt beside her, half-smiled, and was immediately blinded by an avalanche of cotton candy pink mane. "Some time in the country might do you good. I can't say we're perfect, but we are different. Canterlot is a snobby place, full of snobby ponies."
"The country?" Though swollen, Overcast's lip made a valiant attempt to curl back into a sneer of horrified disgust. "Leave the city? Leave behind civilisation? Abandon culture?"
"Yeah, silly." Leaning in close, Almanac peered out from between the strands of her mane at Overcast. "Fresh air. Sunshine. Clear skies. Open fields with flowers and trees full of birds."
"Absolutely wretched."
"Ponies are nicer though. I think we're more honest. More helpful. More friendly."
"Perhaps. But boredom."
"Oh, there's no time for boredom," Almanac replied with a dismissive wave of her hoof. "There's stuff to be planted, stuff to be picked, there's eggs to collect, gardens to weed, stuff has to go to market, and there's always work to do in the kitchen so we can store up food for winter."
"That sounds…"
"Wonderful?" Almanac said with a hopeful smile.
"Completely horrendous."
"Hmph." The green filly launched a dismissive snort in Overcast's general direction and she might have rolled her eyes, but it was difficult to tell with all the flowing pink strands of her mane in the way. "So says the flagitious scofflaw."
"You're not wrong," Overcast said, his voice now low and strained thin. "Princess Luna, what is to become of me?"
"Good question, Overcast. What do you think should be done with you?"
"If I am cast out of school, then I shall continue my work out in the world. I will expose every secret, every vulgar bit of gossip, every adulterous conversation. The truth must be made known. I'm not keen on what will surely become of me, but somepony has to do it."
"Overcast… just what will that accomplish?"
"Wednesday"—he said her name in a weary way—"ponies have to be made sorry. You weren't sorry until you were caught. Until every horrible thing is exposed, nothing will ever change."
"But that… that… Overcast, that will wreck everything."
"Maybe things need to be wrecked, Wednesday. Otherwise, how can they be fixed?"
"So what then… what will you do? Just… just walk up to a mare and tell her that her husband talks about cheating on her?"
"Yes, Wednesday, I'll do exactly that."
Reaching up to rub his broad chin, Top Notch stood thoughtful for a moment, and then said, "I do believe that your plan ends with you being tarred and feathered. Or worse. You caused a panic in the school and look what happened. You'll be exiled."
"You'll be stopped, Overcast. This is… this is pointless. While your heart might be in the right place, your mind isn't. If you try to do this, others will rise up against you. You will be stopped somehow. I hate to break this to you, Overcast, but you are not the hero."
"Then I have the dirt ready and expose those who might thwart me, Wednesday. I've been thinking about this quite a lot."
"Should we be talking about banishment and exile with Princess Luna sitting right here with us?" asked Almanac. "Feels insensitive."
Lips pursed into a thoughtful-but-pouty moue, Luna had nothing to say about this.
When Luna did not respond, Almanac had more to say. "Maybe Overcast isn't wrong. Maybe ponies need a shocking reminder that their actions have consequences. Maybe, just maybe, if ponies behaved themselves and didn't act like snobby jerks, Overcast wouldn't be motivated to do… whatever it is that he's planning to do. Whatever happens, Overcast was met halfway."
"Why, thank you, Almanac."
"No! No! No!" Waving one front leg from side to side, Wednesday vehemently shook her head with each refusal. "What a terrible thing to say, Almanac! Just terrible!"
"He fixed my glasses," the avocado-green filly replied. "And he was nice to me. I keep my nose clean so I have nothing to worry about. Others will get what they so rightly deserve."
"How can you take his side on this?" Wednesday demanded.
"Well, I just thought about it, and all I could think about was how much it hurt to be snubbed. Everything that's happened has made me want to quit school. No… worse than that… there's been a few dark hours when I've wanted to quit life. So maybe it's time for others to be on the receiving end."
"But that doesn't make things better!" Wednesday shouted in exasperation.
"Neither does ignoring the problem for the sake of civility and hoping that it will just go away for whatever reason so that we all—"
"Topper, not you too!"
"Whinny, I'm not taking his side, but I am trying to understand it."
"Princess Luna"—turning her desperate gaze upon the Princess of the Night, Wednesday tried to appeal to the alicorn's sense of reason—"what do you think would happen if you went around telling ponies what other ponies dream? What would happen if you exposed everypony's secrets? I know that you have to see some awful things. But these are dreams. Dreams aren't always intentional. Sometimes, they're just… they're just, well, they don't make sense. I know that sometimes dreams reveal our innermost desires and reveal our dark sides. But we don't always act upon the things we dream."
"But we do say lots of things and I think that's intentional, so I don't know if this is a valid comparison, Wednesday."
"Topper!"
"Sorry, Whinny. Dreams just happen and we're there for them, like a foal attending class. Saying bad things is more intentional."
"But surely, sometimes we say things we don't mean. For whatever reason. Surely there are reasons." Wednesday started to back away, but halted when her hindquarters bumped the desk. "They don't have to be good reasons. It doesn't make it alright. Ponies do stupid things but I don't think there should be anarchy because of it."
"But this presents another problem."
"And that is, Topper?"
"Well, Whinny… it sets a precedent that we shouldn't trust others to do what they say. If we become aware of what is being said, and they are voicing their desires or what have you, and then we trust them to not go through with what's been said, then we're trusting them not to keep their word. I think. This is all very confusing to me. I'm not a fast thinker. I need hours, sometimes days to present a rational and well-spoken argument. It never pays to be hasty."
"He's got something of a point," Luna said, finally interjecting an opinion into this discussion.
Fuming, Wednesday shook her head. "I don't like how life is complicated. Not one bit."
Overcast squirmed beneath Luna's wing, a clear sign that he'd been babied enough. Though he wobbled a bit, and was a bit off balance, he seemed well enough—though he looked truly awful. The sort of awful that would make a mother worry. Luna thought of Overcast's mother and wondered how she must worry. While it would be tribalist to say it aloud, pegasus mothers were different in some fundamental way. It wasn't that other types of ponies were bad mothers, or were somehow lacking—pegasus mares were just different.
Almost smiling, Luna thought of Fluttershy, and wanted to be close to the sunny yellow pegasus again. There was a certain strength to her, but also a valuable serenity. Sighing, Luna pushed these distractions from her mind, and focused instead on the group of foals clustered around her. There could be no doubting it; Almanac Avocado was one of them. For better or worse, she was a part of this clique, this coterie of mismatched sorts. It made Luna worry though, because little Almanac looked up at Overcast with the same worshipful expression of unabashed adoration that Overcast had when he looked up at his Dreamwalker.
There was a herd dynamic at work, Luna realised. Wherever she might go, Overcast would follow. And where Overcast went, little Almanac would no doubt be right behind him, because that was the nature of things. It terrified Luna that this development even existed, and there were dangerous implications; if she fell into shadow, others would most certainly follow. But there were the others to think about as well. Wednesday was undeniably sincere in her desire to save Overcast from himself, which meant that she too would be right behind him, no doubt trying to warn him, and Topper would tag along because Wednesday was just that sort of filly.
A hunch told Luna that Wednesday and Top Notch would be inseparable. Perhaps it was instinct, or a touch of alicorn prognostication. Wednesday would be forever grateful that Topper had given her a chance and gotten to know her during her most awkward of awkward phases, and as for Topper—well, Topper was a settler. Once settled into place, he would never budge. Canterlot was full of these sorts of ponies and for whatever reason, Celestia prized them and adored them.
"I'm thirsty," Overcast announced.
Luna had a faint inkling of what she had to do, but first, she had to talk to her sister.
Leveling her stern gaze upon Wednesday, she said, "There is much that needs to be done and I need a pony that I can trust. You'll do."
"I'll do for what?" asked Wednesday.
"I need somepony to be Overcast's nurse and to look after him." Luna's bare explanation wasn't enough, so she elaborated thusly: "Right now, Overcast is in a heap of trouble. I need somepony to keep him out of trouble. Given all that has happened"—she hesitated, knowing that her words might be considered problematic—"I am not certain that the staff can be trusted. Things are strange, though I don't know why. Overcast was correct about one thing, and that somepony should have fixed Almanac's glasses. There is something amiss and something tells me that this has been a problem for quite some time. I can't say what is wrong exactly, because there is no one thing that I can single out. Just a lot of little troubling things that disturb me."
What she didn't say aloud was her own realisation; Celestia too had to know something was amiss, and Luna's appointment to the head of the detention program was no coincidence. She looked down at Overcast for a short time, then glanced over at Almanac, who hadn't taken her eyes off the colt. The problem with good ponies, Luna thought to herself, was that they did not listen to troublemakers. At least, not in the ways that it was prudent. Something had tweaked Overcast in the wrong way, and sent him into a downward spiral. Help should have been had long before this point—a clear indicator of system failure.
Yes, something was amiss.
Something electric jolted through Luna's mind as she became more and more aware and her heightened alicorn senses came into play. Turning to Wednesday, she said, "Trust no one. However strange this might sound, be suspicious and be bold. Trust no one. Stay together, at least until I have a chance to talk to my sister. Listen to me very carefully. The teachers have to be aware of the fact that Overcast can eavesdrop on their wrongdoing. While I cannot say why, this… this alarms me in some way. While I do not think this is a serious threat, it does feel… off. Yes, it feels off in some way. Reprisal is possible. So stay together."
"You're serious—"
"I am," Luna replied in her most commanding tone. "I cannot say what will happen, and that bothers me. The very fact that something could happen sets me on edge. Normally, I would dismiss my thoughts as dangerous paranoia. I must confess, I am prone to that, given what I know as the Dreamwalker. But this, this feels—"
"Knowing that everypony is out to get you doesn't make you paranoid."
"Overcast, stop that. Stop that at once. Do not make this worse. Cease your rapscallionry at once. Just… give it a rest, in the modern parlance."
"Do you really think that Overcast might be in danger?" asked Top Notch.
"I do not know and that is the problem. The possibility of it vexes me."
"I understand," Top Notch said. "Really, I do. There's clearly things going on that shouldn't be going on, and that leaves the doors open to even worse things that might be going on."
"Clever Topper," Wednesday said.
"Thank you, Whinny."
"Yes, clever Topper." Luna cleared her throat. "My sister might have some insight. It is time I spoke with her about a great many things. Do as I say though, and stick together."
Nodding, Wednesday replied, "Yes, of course, Princess Luna."
"What a suckup—"
"Quiet, Flunkius," Luna said to Overcast.
"Hey!"
"Overcast… do you know of a quiet out of the way place where you might go? A secluded place?"
"I have lots of those," he replied.
"Good. Go to them. Keep a low profile. I will come for you later. For now, I'd rather not make the whole school aware of the fact that I am aware of whatever problem lurks in the shadows. There is… there is something wrong. But I cannot say what it is or how I know. Overcast, use your ears to keep your companions safe. Or… better yet, try to teach your companions how to listen."
"What?"
"You heard me."
The first prickle of panic tingled Luna's spine.
"Stay together," she commanded. "Trust one another."
"Right. Will do. Well then, I'm in charge." Wednesday ignored Overcast's sneer and stood tall. "Overcast… where do we go and how do we get there?"
"I know a place," he replied, "and the best way to get there is through the service tunnels used by housekeeping and groundskeeping."
"Those should be inaccessible to students." This earned Luna the full impact of Overcast's leaden stare. If it were anypony else, she might have smacked them for such an insolent and haughty act, or at least given them a good dressing down. But Overcast had a talent, and she did not wish to discourage it.
In fact, she very much wanted to cultivate it.
"I will return to you when I can. Wednesday, I shall carry you and Overcast down the stairs. Do not worry about how I shall find you, I shall find you. Overcast"—she looked down at him and he up at her—"you and I have much to discuss. But for now, keep your friends safe."
His only response was a solemn nod.
"In the event that this is nothing," Luna said to those around her, "please, do not think less of me. Come. Let us go. Fetch your belongings and let us depart."
"This is exciting," Almanac said. "Now I have to stay in school just to see what happens!"
Whew, I guess? Big thanks to all those who helped to find typos. I couldn't have done this without you. I've stared at this mass of words for so long that I've gone blind to them. This chapter endured several extensive rewrites. The characters were uncooperative and demanded changes. I was worried about body horror in a comedy drama and Luna insisted that there wasn't enough body horror.
And yes, there is a second story going on in the background. Some have noticed, others have not. There's been a couple of messages asking what is going on... and I suppose I should remind myself that not everybody has watched every season of FiM. Assuming that people would understand the references because they've watched the source material, well, that was dumb of me. And I am sorry. No snark, no sarcasm, I swear. As a writer, sometimes you just, well, do exactly what I just did. Incorporating show elements into your fic and dropping references to specific events feels natural, but not everybody has seen the old seasons. I guess. This feels awkward. Wish I knew how to fix it. Not sure what to do.
Anyhow, I'd appreciate if you told me what you think about all of this. The story, I mean. It's been a deep dive of sorts. I was trying something new. Not sure how the end result is turning out, because I'm blind to this sort of thing. That, and I think the pandemic has rotted my brain.
Thank you, Constant Reader. There are two more chapters left. The next chapter is Annulus, and some of you might need to do some homework to understand the meaning behind that title. I wanted to call it something else, something more relatable and understandable, but I really, really want to stick with all the meaning behind the desired title. As for the last chapter, it will be called The Final Detention.
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I've already expressed some of my thoughts on the discord server, but it's always great to watch all of the pieces start fitting together as these stories approach their ends. I wish I could give more concrete feedback, but as usual nothing really comes to my mind in that sense.
Oh please. This is right before Season 2's finale. It doesn't take being an alicorn to know what's going on.
But I feel Chrysalis only made the situation worse. The school is broken and decaying. It has been for a long time.
Celestia knew about it if course. But again, she's too blind and naive to do something about it before now.
He wants to be a member of the paparazzi? If he enjoys being hated he won’t find a better way to do it.
At least he wouldn't make stuff up, though I don’t know if that’s better or worse.
Well, The Annulus is an artifact in DnD (IIRC), has an anti magic or disjunction effect.
Annulus would be where annul and maybe annihilate comes from. To remove, destroy, to make non-existent.
I am enjoying this story as I enjoy all your work. Though I am curious to see how you will navigate through canon events. If it turns out Luna is in detention and that is why she misses the wedding that would be darkly amusing.
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Astronomy. Sun and moon.
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Annulus: The ring-esque shape made by the portion of the sun not covered by the moon during a solar eclipse.
Sounds like we'll be getting that Celestia-Luna confrontation sometime next chapter...
I love how in every fanfic, Luna gets to do the wetwork because scary things go bump in the night. Luna, the patron saint of skulduggery and espionage.derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/1/1/511889.jpeg
Luna, I smell a rat.
... and you smell it too.
Overcast, I feel compelled to point out again that the world is not monolithic; and neither are ponies. For that matter, they’re not even internally self-consistent.
Well, Kudz... I can’t speak for anypony else, but I like it. I like deep dives. On the other hoof; I’ve also read the entirety of Fallout: Equestria (the original); Project Horizons; and everything published to date of Starlight over Detrot, and that’s longer than War and Peace, so... maybe I’m an outlier?
Okay. While I haven't seen a lot of the episodes, I've read enough fanfics to have an inkling what's going on. But I believe the writing and story don't demand that you know what is going on. People that don't know can be surprised and I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing.
I am really liking this Luna and how you write her and I'm looking forward to how you handle Celestia. You are doing a great job of making me feel for all of the 'misfits' in this story and they are lucky because Luna cares. (Yes, I got the Batman reference! I'd like to think that Celestia knew exactly what she was doing putting Luna in charge of Detention knowing full well that Luna would help students and in doing so help herself heal.
I don't think that you should do anything differently. In my opinion you're giving enough hints that people should pick up on it. That is the thing about writing fanfics. You have to assume that your audience is somewhat familiar with the source material. I mean I only saw the first two episodes before I read The Immortal Game and I got through it and enjoyed it. If you're really concerned maybe list what you consider necessary episodes to watch or be familiar with before reading this, but I don't really think it's necessary. Maybe poll the people reading this to see what they think?
My guess is Moon Dancer will be important and that story may or may NOT help Overcast depending on the resolution. Twilight didn't want to go to Ponyville. Then she made some very good friends (magic) that went through basically life threatening adventure together forging bonds that were extremely strong. Then she was "assigned to Ponyville to 'study' friendship. Of course that assignment by Celestia to Twilight was TOP PRIORITY! Those that don't know who Moon Dancer is should look her up. I also caught the Changeling presence which of course means Chrysalis was really doing her homework in preparation for the invasion. Kudos to her. So in this Changelings are capable of eating more than love?
10716793
They are sucking love and goodwill out of the students and staff so they can be powered up for the Wedding Invasion. Top Notch actually describes it happening to him. The school is infested. With all of the good will and love sucked out of the students and staff, everypony is full of apathy and indifference. Very bad things are happening.
10716027
Luna is basically being turned into Nocturnal, Daedric Prince of Rogues
An annulus is also a ring... as is a ponut. As things seem to be heading for the crapper, I can only guess that the next chaper is where the fecal matter strikes the rotary impeller.
Oh, Twilight. This time, not only is it Bad Friendship Mistake, you managed the collateral damage.
I very much am enjoying this story so far. Princess Luna has been written wonderfully and it is delightful to be bundled behind her ears for an adventure.
"THIS SMILE HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN THE NOTCH LINE FOR GENERATIONS!"
I know that you've said that this story isn't connected to any of your others, but when I read those lines, I immediately thought of Buckminster Bitters and his hidey-holes around the school and wondered if Overcast had stumbled across a few of them.
It probably is a perfectly cromulent word, but "rascallionry" keeps pinging my "detect incorrect word" senses with "rascallery" or "rapscallionry" not being the correct word to use, but the more correct word to use.
(Side note: All three of those words (and cromulent) are not recognised as valid words/spellings by machines. I at least thought "cromulent" had entered the common english lexicon by now as a valid word. Then again, my browser' spellcheck is not set to American English, but rather a variant of British English (which means a lot more u's and a lot less z's) .)
(We don't talk about English English, as that's the "incomprehensible by outsiders" dialect for the British)
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There's a missing P in rapscallionry. Whoops.
I'm really enjoying this. I wonder what Luna will think of Overcast after the wedding. He's got some amazing skills that could turn him into a crazy spy when he's older. He'd make a great one for Luna for sure.
Honestly I 100% agree with Overcast, he is not only the hero we deserve, he is the hero we need
THIS.
Edit: Suppose I should explain.
I'm the kind of person who doesn't enjoy noisy parties/dances. It doesn't mean that I don't want to be invited to them, as that would mean that someone thought of me and wanted to see me. Chances are that I'd politely decline the invitation to the event, but I'd use that as an opening to meet up at another time when there is less noise/dancing.
What really annoyed me was that my (former) best friend didn't invite me to his 21st and said that he knew that I wouldn't like the noise when I questioned him about my lack of invite, despite him posting it on social media. That really hurt me, that he didn't even bother inviting me. Still frelling hurts thinking about it, as we'd known each other since we were 5.