I.2 - Night is Distant
I sat on the bench for maybe an hour while I waited for Princess Celestia to return and show me to my room. My eyes wandered around the ornate stonework with gold trim and the mosaic windows depicting an odd chimera-like being, a black unicorn shrouded in smoke, and a vaguely similar-looking dark alicorn that had teeth like a carnivore. Each being was accompanied by a group of six smaller horse-things, “ponies” as they called them, with two Earth ponies, two pegasi, and two unicorns firing what looked like a rainbow-colored blast. It was… impressive, to say the least.
I also ended up meeting a third alicorn while I waited on the bench. I had been sitting for a little bit when a pink one with a pink and yellow mane tied up in a ponytail and a tattoo in the shape of a heart that may have been fashioned out of a sapphire or light blue diamond on her flank poked her head around the corner. Upon me noticing her peeking around, she walked up to me with a look of curiosity though seemed to maintain a sense of personal space.
“Oh,” she said. “You must be Celestia’s newest experiment. I thought I heard Luna grumbling about some human within castle walls.”
“Experiment?” I asked fearfully. “I don’t want to be an experiment.”
The alicorn blushed. “Sorry, that’s not what I meant. Not like a science experiment. What I mean is that she’s brought others like you here before. You’re the most recent.”
The alicorn’s apology was genuine and polite, so I figured I could ask a little more. “What do you mean ‘the most recent’?”
“Every year or so, Celestia goes to your home dimension and starts looking around for someone who’s life has taken a turn for the worse. She’s visited those who have attempted suicide, some who have deep depression, those who have lost all of their family, and even those who are simply struggling to survive. Those who she thinks may need a new place to live are brought here. What about you? I’ve heard from a few of the others, but why are you here?”
“That’s the thing. I can’t remember anything about my life before coming here other than the fact that Princess Celestia teleported me here. It’s kind of strange; I didn’t even remember where I lived before Princess Celestia told me.”
The alicorn looked at me with pity, but when she saw the annoyed look on my face she shook it off. “I’m sorry. I suppose you’ve had enough of that from Celestia herself. Speaking of which, where is she?”
“She went off to talk to the other alicorn, Princess Luna. Apparently, I am to be under her care for three months until an event called the Summer Sun Celebration, at which point Celestia will have enough power to use magic to teleport me back home. I don’t feel comfortable here.”
The pink alicorn brought a hoof to her chin. “I don’t think anyone else has wanted to leave here before from Celestia’s little experiment. That, coupled with the fact that you don’t remember anything about your life before, is quite strange. Celestia’s magic is powerful but controlled enough that something like losing your memory shouldn’t have happened. Anyways, do you have a name?”
“I can’t remember my name, either. For now, I’ve decided to call myself ‘Nemo’, a name back home that can mean ‘no one’. It’s… kind of how I feel here right now.”
The alicorn sat down on the bench next to me for a minute and looked at me with a warm smile that reminded me of Princess Celestia’s. “Don’t worry. I’m sure that at least Princess Celestia and the guard will help you be as comfortable as you can be here; Celestia prefers those under her watch to be as comfortable and happy as possible, so she’ll find a way to send you back home and recover your memory as fast as she can, I’m sure. Until then, you’re more than welcome within Canterlot Castle.”
“What’s your name? Are you a princess too? I mean, the only others I’ve seen that looked like you were Princesses Celestia and Luna.”
“My name is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, but you can just call me Cadence. Usually, I take care of affairs for a small protectorate of Equestria called the Crystal Empire.”
“Ah…”
Cadence raised an eyebrow, though her smile remained. “You didn’t understand a word of what I just said, do you?”
“Nope.”
“I figured as much. I’m sure you’ll figure it all out soon enough. Luna might seem unhappy to see you now, but she’s really nice when you get to know her better; she’s just had a hard time lately.”
“I’m going to assume you’re busy, but I need to ask you one more thing.”
“Certainly.”
“What’s that mark on your behind?”
“We call it a cutie mark. All ponies – that’s the generic term for us – get a cutie mark when they figure out what their special talent is. I’m the Princess of the Crystal Empire and specialize in spreading love among others, so my cutie mark is a heart-shaped gemstone.”
“…don’t you ever worry about abusing something so powerful as that could be? I mean, spreading love everywhere is neat, but focused towards the wrong thing could make others go haywire.”
Cadence’s smile faded. “It’s happened once before. Not to me, but it is advisable you do not bring up Nightmare Moon around Luna unless she mentions it first even if you’re just asking what it is; I or Celestia can tell you later. A pony’s cutie mark represents something they can do for the good of society, but not all of them use it that way and even we royals are not exempt from using them for harm, try as we might.”
For all its technicolor majesty, this place was a lot darker than it seemed.
Cadence’s smile returned. “Well, I really should go, but if you need me, I’ll be in the west wing of the castle. And you can also look for my husband, Shining Armor. He’s a white unicorn and Captain of the Guard. If you’re having any trouble at all, let us know.” And she got off the bench and continued down the hallway.
Perhaps staying here wouldn’t be too bad for these three months. I still wanted to go home, but knowing I could at least talk to someone here was enough to stave off some of my fears if not all.
* * *
My room was finished sometime that afternoon, to the point where I had fallen asleep on the bench to stave off boredom. I don’t quite remember falling asleep, but I do remember being woken up by a unicorn’s horn tapping my shoulder a few times. I woke up from my little nap and stood up to see a white male unicorn with a blue mane and covered in purple and gold metal armor; likely the first male I had seen since I arrived in Equestria. He held out a hoof.
“I’m guessing you’re ‘Nemo’,” the stallion said. “My name’s Shining Armor, Captain of the Guard and husband of Princess Cadence. I heard about your meeting with her earlier.”
I held out a hand but wasn’t sure of what to do. It seemed weird to just grab the hoof and shake it, so I sort of shrugged and placed some sort of confused look on my face to wordlessly explain to the unicorn that I wasn’t sure what to do.
Shining Armor got the hint pretty quickly. “I have an idea. Ball up your fist and place it against my hoof.” I did as he asked, taking my fist and placing it against his hoof knuckles first. I felt something strange gently grab me and shake my fist up and down a few times before whatever it was released me and my hand was free again.
“I’ve got other business to attend to today, so I’ll be quick,” Shining Armor started. “Princesses Celestia and Luna have a room ready for you. I’ll be leading you through the castle to the room; if other members of the guard see you’re with me, they won’t be as disturbed by the new face.”
I nodded and started following him. “Where is the room?”
“It’s in Luna’s wing of the castle. However, Celestia has placed it such that you have easy access to most castle amenities and Celestia’s chambers themselves. She has placed it there such that if Luna is still non-compliant to the order that she will take matters into her own hooves. She’s very busy, but has insisted that trying to get you home is top priority.”
I couldn’t say anything.
A short way down the hallway, I saw Princess Luna herself walking the opposite direction going towards Celestia’s portion of the castle back by the throne room. She acknowledged Shining Armor’s presence through a short nod in his direction and something of a smile. When she passed me, however, she turned slightly away and her smile turned into a very apparent scowl.
Shining Armor must have seen the Princess’ behavior, because he asked me later when Princess Luna was out of sight: “Did you do anything to Princess Luna?”
“I don’t know. I appeared here?”
“I’ve never understood her hatred against humans,” Shining Armor admitted. “I’ve heard her grumbling every once in a while about war and disease, but none of the humans that pass through here are very harmful. In fact, once they’re here, most are simply grateful to be alive or in a safe place. What about you?”
“I seem to have some sort of memory loss; I can’t remember anything of my past life, not even my name. ‘Nemo’ is only being used as a sort of placeholder until I can remember my actual name.”
“You don’t remember anything? Your name, your job, where you lived, your family… nothing?”
“No… wait!”
Shining Armor stopped in his tracks. “What is it? Is something wrong?”
“No. I… I think I remember something.”
“Like what?”
“My family. I lived with both my father and my mother, and I had a younger sister. I don’t remember what any of them look like though, or what their names were.”
Shining Armor sighed as though reminiscing as we continued on. “I have a younger sister myself. She’s in Ponyville right now as a sort of representative for Princess Celestia herself, as well as learning about the magic of friendship through her social interactions there. The compiled reports are… quite intensive to say the least.”
“Has Princess Luna ever taken a look at them?”
“I’m not sure. I think she’s read a few of them ever since Nightmare Night passed a little over a year ago, when she was first introduced to my sister. I don’t recall her reading any of them as of late, however, and think that they would do her good.”
“Does she have any friends?”
“She regularly corresponds with my sister about once a month. She very much enjoyed both of the times they spent at Nightmare Night these past few times.”
“What is Nightmare Night, exactly?”
“Well, you have a holiday in your dimension called ‘Halloween’. Nightmare Night follows most of the same traditions as that holiday, where the colts and fillies all dress up in costumes and go trick-or-treating for candy.”
“That’s odd. Pretty much the only thing different here so far has been the fact that you’re all ponies instead of humans. It’s a bit easier getting along here than I thought.”
Shining Armor laughed. “At least you won’t get too homesick during your stay.”
The laugh and the good humor were somewhat infectious and I couldn’t help but chuckle a little myself. At least most of these ponies were friendly enough or at least willing to give me a try; Shining Armor introduced me to a few of the castle guards, almost entirely white pegasi, and butlers as we walked and even showed me a few places I could spend my time, like the gardens, the library, and the dining hall and was very welcoming and accommodating himself. The guards and servants he introduced me to seemed unfazed by my appearance and quickly adjusted themselves to the addition of a human in the castle, with some of the guards even saluting me when I was introduced.
I found myself in a much better mood by the time we reached the Lunar Wing of the castle and my room, which was at the corner of a three-way intersection with one hallway leading straight into Princess Celestia’s Solar Wing. Down the hallway from my room in one direction was the observatory and one of three libraries, while in the other direction stood a large double-door that was a dark shade of blue with a black spot and a half-moon insignia that matched the ‘cutie mark’ on Princess Luna.
“That’s the Princess’ room,” Shining Armor told me. “She spends most of her time during the day either there or the library, and her nights are spent either in court if necessary or the observatory. It is advisable you don’t go into her room during the day, as she spends most of her mornings and a fair amount of the afternoon’s asleep due to staying up all night.”
I said nothing and followed Shining Armor to my suite, a rather large and comfortable place with a full bathroom, a bedroom, and a decent-sized living area with a television and radio, both of which seemed to run off a combination of magic and electricity. Also in the room was a dresser with a few changes of shirts, pants, shoes, and a few formal jackets and coats for around the castle. There were windows in the living area that looked out the gardens and gates of Canterlot and well into the distance; I estimated I was about seven stories up from the ground and had a view of almost all of Canterlot and even down into the valleys, as far as a small town with thatched-roof houses and a giant tree in the center.
“That’s Ponyville,” Shining Armor said when he noticed me staring out in that direction. “It’s one of the smaller towns, but there’s no place friendlier or more welcoming than there. It seems to also be a hub of strange magical activity ever since my sister went there for the Summer Sun Celebration a few years back.”
I didn’t fully respond to Shining Armor’s recent statement. “Is there anything else I should know? About my stay here, that is.”
The unicorn nodded and his horn was surrounded by a blue aura. This was followed by a silver tray with a cup on it, both engulfed in the same blue aura, to be placed on a table nearby, at which point the aura faded away, at which point I could see a murky orange liquid inside the otherwise clear glass cup no bigger than a shot glass.
“This is a nutritional supplement,” Shining Armor explained. “Seeing as you’re not turning directly into a pony as most other arrivals have, our food will be a little harder to digest as well as slightly unbalanced due to no meat. As a result, such that you earn proper nutrition, you are to drink two cups of this a day to get the proper amount of vitamins and minerals; Celestia refuses to serve meat here.”
“Is this stuff easy to find or make?”
“Very. Others won’t have the same taste, though, as it was made slightly sweet to overcome an otherwise bitter flavor.”
I shrugged and took the cup and drank it. It tasted strongly of orange with a slight metallic aftertaste and was bad enough that I had to run over to the sink and dunk my mouth in with a full stream, drinking gulp after gulp to get the taste out.
Shining Armor stifled a laugh. “I shall report to Princess Celestia that you drank this evening’s supplement. Dinner shall be served in about two hours; a guard will come around to get you when it’s time.”
“Thank you…”
“…Shining Armor.”
“Sorry. I’m still getting used to the whole cutie-mark and two-word names thing.”
“Quite alright. I’ve got other business to attend to, so good-bye, Nemo.”
“Thank you again.”
The unicorn nodded, saluted me, then left the room, closing the door with his magic. I was left in the middle of the suite with nothing else to do, and so decided that the events of that afternoon had tired me out and I needed a nap before anything else.
Part of me also wished that this was all a dream and I simply needed to wake up.
I’m still not quite sure what that other part of me was thinking.
* * *
Most of me was disappointed when I woke up by the sound of knocking against my suite door; I had thought originally that my landlord was knocking to ask me about the payment again, but even the comfortable bed I was in reminded me I was most definitely not at home. So did me noticing a crescent-moon shape engraved in the center of a mural of the moon princess that adorned the roof of my current bedroom within Canterlot Castle. The knocking came again and I switched out clothes before opening the door at the third knock.
Outside was a dark grey pegasus, with gold eyes and black wings that looked like bat wings covered in shiny black armor. He saluted me, then returned to being at-ease.
“You are Nemo, I presume?” he said, voice gruff compared to the others I had met though not in anger; his voice just seemed a guttural growl compared to the white pegasi.
“Yes.”
“Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadence call you to dinner in the dining hall. Well, Celestia and Cadence did,” the guard admitted. “I haven’t seen Princess Luna all day. Anyways, I am to escort you to the dining hall.”
I nodded and went to put on a formal jacket before following the pegasus out of the room and down the hall to the central wing, the Solar Wing. A few more twists and turns led us to the dining hall, a large hall filled with statues of regal alicorns and more than a few cracked Corinthian-style pillars. In the center was a large table set with at least twenty spaces, most of which were filled in with ponies of all types. At the far end were two open spaces near to two alicorns and a unicorn: Princesses Celestia and Cadence, and Shining Armor, respectively. Celestia sat at the head of the table, with the two open spots next to her. I followed the pegasus guard over to where Celestia was sitting, hearing more than a few whispers as I passed the other members of the royal court. I stood idly as the pegasus guard saluted Celestia.
“Here he is, Princess,” the guard said respectfully.
“Thank you,” Princess Celestia said warmly. “Have you seen Princess Luna at all?”
“No, madam. I will go and search for her in the observatory presently, if this pleases you.”
“Thank you. You are excused.”
The guard saluted again and left the room importantly as Celestia turned to me.
“Good evening, Nemo,” she said pleasantly. “I heard you were asleep. How are you?”
“Okay,” I told her. “I think the teleportation spell took out a fair amount of my energy.”
“I should suspect so, but I also think by tomorrow you should be doing okay. I also heard you’ve had the pleasure of meeting Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and my Captain of the Guard, Shining Armor?” She motioned to the two, Cadence sitting next to Celestia with Shining Armor on the opposite side.
“‘Cadence’ is fine, Celestia,” Cadence said. “You’ve brought one here that is more polite and cordial than most.”
“Indeed,” Shining Armor agreed as he turned to me. “You are more… pleasant than some of those Celestia has brought here.” He motioned to the seat in front of him, one seat away from Celestia.
I sat down across from Shining Armor as one of the butlers, a unicorn, brought a large plate of salad and a bowl of fruit and sat it down in front of me, in addition to a fork. There was a loaf of steaming bread in the center of the table, which Shining Armor was currently taking a knife and slicing off a fairly thick piece of, which he held out to me. I took it and muttered a “thank you” before slowly eating. The fruit was the freshest I’ve tasted and more delicious than the stuff on Earth while the salad could be garnished with any of five different bottles of salad dressing in the middle of the table; I poured a little out and found it tasted like balsamic vinaigrette, then poured a little more when I liked the flavor. The bread was soft and tasted soft and doughy and slightly sweet. A soup came out a short while later that would have been chicken noodle if there was meat in it. Despite my reserved nature about the whole thing, I tasted and liked everything and soon began to eat heartily, even taking a second serving when the unicorn butlers returned.
I had begun my second serving when Princess Luna entered the hall. She walked over to and sat down next to me, even bumping into me once; while I was sure it was an accident, she acted as though she didn’t even see me and didn’t even say ‘sorry’. The butler came out with soup and salad and fruit for her and she poured herself a bit of the balsamic vinaigrette as well then started eating.
“I’m surprised you’re not talking more,” Celestia chuckled with a glance in our direction. “Look at you two.”
I looked at the piece of bread in my hand, which was currently dipped in the vinaigrette from a small puddle on my plate, then turned to Luna, who had apparently done the same thing with hers. I gave an amused “hmm” while Luna looked around much as I had before scoffing.
“I’m sure that other ponies do what we do,” she said.
Celestia’s smile lessened slightly. “Luna, dear sister, just because you do not approve of humans does not mean you have to be so cold towards him.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said apologetically. “I want out of here the first chance I get anyways.”
“Smartest decision one of them has ever made,” Luna said.
Despite my wanting to leave, that hurt. I saw Cadence look over to me then back to Luna. “I thought he was your charge, so you could at least acknowledge him every once in a while.”
“If he wants to leave, what reason is there to invest my time in him?”
“You don’t have to teach him everything,” Cadence said. “Just make sure he’s comfortable and answer any questions he might have. It’s not that hard.”
“I still don’t see why any one of you could have taken him.”
“Court was very busy today, and I must resume it once dinner is finished,” Celestia said. “There is a lot more work to be done on my end.”
“With the recent reappearance of the Crystal Empire and the aftermath of Sombra’s defeat,” Cadence said, “I have a lot of restructuring and morale-increasing to do, including overseeing the new government being placed into effect. It’s more work than I can take.”
“And I am either accompanying my wife on her travels or spending my time training the guard,” Shining Armor said. “We all have jobs that take us outside castle walls and among the ponies, Luna, while you have been doing paperwork and royal duties within the castle and have rarely gone out since Nightmare Night. Perhaps it would be a good thing to take someone under your wing and teach him what you know, maybe even make a friend in the process. Nemo here is polite and kind and courteous, and I’m sure would give you the respect you deserve.”
You’re placing me a bit higher than I would at the moment, I thought.
“I don’t have any jobs, so you’re ordering me to foalsit?” Luna questioned.
“Not foalsit,” Celestia corrected. “Just observe and answer questions.”
“And make sure he doesn’t break anything? No way! Now, I’ve had enough of these foalish questions, so quit asking!”
One moment I was in my chair, the next I had two medical ponies taping a large cotton ball in front of my nose; Luna had started gesturing and had flung one of her hooves into my face. Thankfully nothing broke, though I did have a bloody nose and was knocked out for about a minute, during which time one of the other ponies had called for the nurse and the two white ponies with white caps featuring a red cross came in to bandage me. They were about to take me to the hospital ward when I woke up. While Celestia had half a mind to call out to see if I was okay – and Shining Armor apparently had just about screamed when I got knocked back – Luna had simply continued eating.
Once the nurses had checked me over for any other damage, I was allowed to return to the table and finish my own dinner.
“Dear sister, you are to teach Nemo here about modern Equestrian history. And that’s a royal order.”
Cadence was soon doused in a red liquid that smelled of a weak-strength wine.
Luna coughed. “What!? You have got to be kidding me!”
“I originally told you about this. But, seeing the distrust and the complete lack of respect you have for Nemo, as my guest, you are to teach him about modern Equestrian history. Nemo will learn a little bit more about us, and you will be able to interact with him. This includes at least two hours a day on days where I do not need you to have court.”
“WHAT!?” Luna shouted with enough force to nearly shatter the windows behind Cadence and Shining Armor. Every single pony in the room covered their ears, except Celestia, as Luna continued. “HOW DARE YOU IMPOSE SUCH A FOOLISH THING UPON US! HOW DARE YOU DO SUCH A THING TO INSULT OUR INTELLIGENCE!”
“I’m not insulting you’re intelligence. In fact, I think you’ll prove to be a very capable teacher.”
Luna, seemingly aware that she was fighting a losing battle, sighed. “Very well. I shall send you a notice in a few days’ time regarding a course schedule for Nemo. Until then, you know where to find me.”
“You’ll be staying right here for the rest of dinner.”
Luna didn’t growl or scoff or even argue. Instead she flapped her wings impatiently.
“Don’t worry,” Shining Armor reassured me. “The Royal Canterlot Voice is not something she uses so frequently anymore. I’m sure she’ll warm up to you… eventually.”
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only one little mistake I notice when he first meets shining armor.
“I’m guessing you’re ‘Nemo’,” the stallion said. “My name’s Shining Armor, Captain of the Guard and wife of Princess Cadence. I heard about your meeting with her earlier.”
Shouldn't it say husband of Princess Cadence or my wife is Princess Cadence?
2035165
Thank you for catching that. Piece has been edited.
2035190
It actually was going to be "Anonymous" with the reason being he had no identity and it was the name for someone with no identity on forums, but the reference to The Odyssey was better and took out the whole "Anon"-thing, so I switched it without much hesitation.
Wow. Never knew Luna could be such a bitch. That almost makes me hate her.........almost.
There are a lot of african children she could be saving, or does the spell only work on white people?
2035193
You misused the word implore. To implore is to beg of, I believe you meant impose.
I'm really not sure what to think about this fic. I really like the premise, but I also dislike it, extremely. It's interesting, and it's well written, has great grammar and paragraph structure, and all that, but..
Everyone is prone to mistakes, and that includes Celestia. If she accidentally ripped me away from my family for three months for no reason? Dipping her gold-covered hooves into things that are NONE of her fucking business? I would go fucking apeshit if that happened, believe me.
Still, if she's only taking people that have bad lives, that's sort of good. Again, though, it's really none of her business in my opinion. It's hard to take a side on this.
Also, as someone else said...
Where is it, here...
2052123
That's also a little weird.
The point is, it's interesting, even if I hate what Celestia did, so I'm going to keep reading. Trust me, it's good that you've managed to make me care. That's the only reason I even sound like I'm angry about the story. Only on Chapter two, and I have to stop reading for now, but I will keep going later.
I'm finding the representation of Luna to be a bit...off. You picture her as a spoiled little brat, in my humble opinion. She's supposed to be Celestia's equal as a ruler (wouldn't be a problem if you gave your story an alternate tag).
Just sayin'. (good story tho)
Maybe it's just me, but Celestia "rescuing" humans from earth and turning them into ponies, combined with the fact Nemo can't remember hardly anything about himself or his life feels like Celestia is or has brainwashed them into accepting it. It all just gives me a bad feeling. Hopefully things aren't as grim as I think they're going to be.
I'm trying to figure out how humans are responsible for disease, we fight that shit tooth and nail. we had no hand in making the spanish Flu or malaria, that shit happens.
5384930 Biological warfare. Hell, the Black Plague still makes people feel ill from simply describing its effects. A disease we have sent so far into remission that we don't fear it any more, and it still makes people puke. Hell, we experiment with cures to other diseases using E. coli. A disease that includes memory loss is served up daily in the US alone in the form of raw "clams." That's not even talking about the ones we make for scientific study and warfare.
It's funny how they're suppose to be equals but even the baby is above Luna in terms of status due to being a natural alicorn and twilight for being Celestia basically.