• Published 21st Jan 2013
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Night - Revenant Wings



A human is transported to Equestria by Princess Celestia... and he wants to get out. He's placed under the care of Princess Luna... who also wants him to get out. +COMPLETED+

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I.3 - Initiation

A day passed without any further mention of Princess Luna teaching me. After a relatively normal breakfast of fruit, eggs, and pancakes with syrup, I tried other ways to immerse myself within Equestrian government and politics to teach me more, like sitting in on Celestia’s court; I had to eventually excuse myself as court tended to be a long and boring process of petitioning Celestia for some building project or annexation, followed by a long string of arguments between Princess Celestia and her royal court over reasons why they should or shouldn’t comply with the request – with a few comments from the proposer as to why it was necessary – before voting and coming up with a decision, though Celestia herself did have the final say. She didn’t rule with absolute power, though; she never raised her voice and always spoke calmly and politely despite the occasionally heated arguments that passed back and forth around her and for the most part seemed to agree with whatever side of the argument won. Once, she outright told someone “no” when they had proposed launching a sneak attack on a neighboring kingdom and didn’t even let the court argue about it, simply sending the pony in question out almost immediately. After this, though, court calmed down and I quietly left after about a half an hour of sitting in on a proposal regarding a new tax increase that had a few ponies with moneybag cutie marks come in with charts and graphs and turned into an economics lesson that almost bored me to sleep.

Outside, I noticed a list of ponies that were to see the Princess for court that day. About halfway down the list was Princess Luna herself; the line with her name on it was crossed out, and a note was placed next to it in very regal script that said “I’m not arguing with you anymore.” Under that was a note that said “Damn it.”

It was still midmorning of my second day when I left the royal court out of boredom. I went over to Princess Cadence’s wing and found her offices and was allowed to sit in on some of her proceedings. It was slightly more interesting than Princess Celestia’s court, mostly dealing with military strategies from a few second-in-commands under Shining Armor as to how to protect the Crystal Empire and form its own military branch. Cadence was as kindly as Celestia could be even in her more serious demeanor: her primary thought was protecting the Crystal Empire as a proper part of Equestria, and not attacking or threatening other nations. Eventually, I left that, too, when lunch was called and everyone went down to the dining hall.

The whole of the court was there eating sandwiches when I walked in with Princess Cadence and the second-in-commands. I walked over to the spot I had been placed at the previous night and sat myself down to what one referred to as a ‘daffodil and daisy sandwich’ and a bowl of fruit. I ate quietly and lightly next to Luna, who was still arguing over the recent order to teach me modern Equestrian history with Celestia.

“But ‘Tia, I don’t want to,” Luna pouted.

“Luna, I’ve told you before,” Celestia said sternly, “you’re doing it whether or not you like it.”

“But couldn’t you just send him to a university professor or hire one here?”

“Shining Armor had a point in last night’s conversation: you don’t get out that much and you need more social interaction with others beyond visiting Ponyville on Nightmare Night. I do not intend to keep that away from you, but you need more contact with others, human or pony, and so I shall not hear another word from you. Besides, what is two hours in the evening from whole nights I sometimes find you awake with nothing to do?”

Luna “hmph”d and resumed eating.

Shining Armor spoke to me after lunch was over.

“If you need something to do, you could come down to the barracks with me and watch drills and some sparing practices.”

That didn’t sound like a bad idea, and I went down with Shining Armor to the barracks where a bunch of Pegasus and unicorn ponies dressed in gold armor were waiting for their Captain’s command. I watched a few formation drills before the ponies each grabbed a spear and went outside to a large arena to battle one another. The spears had dull points and couldn’t even scratch the armor, but each was going at each other’s throats viciously and, much to my own embarrassment, it was extremely amusing to watch. Shining Armor himself sparred once, proving well to the others why he was Captain and they were not: his match ended with the Pegasus he was dueling on his back under Shining Armor with a spear to the throat in ten seconds. Shining Armor gently tapped the armor of the Pegasus and told him something about flying in a U-shape as opposed to a V before wandering to the bench where I was sitting on the sidelines.

“Manage to do anything else today?” he asked me.

“I sat in on Celestia’s and Cadence’s court for a little while, hoping they could teach me something about politics. Celestia’s bored me and Cadence’s was interesting with military strategies, but I don’t feel I’ve learned anything. Luna’s still arguing with Celestia, so teaching doesn’t seem to be in the near future at this point.”

“I’m sure everything will be fine,” Shining Armor tried to reassure me. “Like I said before, Luna’s not exactly the easiest to get along with, but she’s very nice and considerate when she opens up. Anyways, want to go out for a drink afterwards with me and a few of the guys? There’s a place around here that has a mean hard cider.”

“Will I be able to without identification?”

“If you’re with me, you can.”

“…why are you being so nice to me? I mean, I hardly know you from yesterday, and yet you already are asking me to head out for a night on the town with you and a few of your friends like we’ve known each other for longer.”

Shining Armor sighed. “A few years ago, my little sister, a smart and talented unicorn by the name of Twilight Sparkle, went to Ponyville to oversee preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration and to confront Nightmare Moon. We were really close before she left, but when she did, it was without warning and, before I knew it, she had made a few friends and decided to stay there when the whole of the Summer Sun Celebration was over.”

Shining Armor brought his face down. “I kind of understand how you feel, to be separated from your family like that. Do you remember much about your sister? What she was like?”

I sat there and thought about it for a moment. “Well, I think she was always the smartest one of our family. She had a lot of help from other relatives, and soon she moved across country to go to a good college up by our grandparents. She moved away with them to get away from drama back home.”

“What sort of drama?”

“I don’t know. But I do know that she told me she felt everything was going to be alright, and that maybe we’d be able to see each other again. I took her to the airport and watched as her plane flew away. I remember her giving me a small statue of a Pegasus from Greek culture – Greece is a nation back on Earth – but I think I threw it away because I didn’t want to be reminded about how she left.”

“Sounds like things were difficult for you back home.”

“Maybe. But I can’t help but feel I just needed a second chance, that maybe if I go back that everything will be alright.”

“…but, what if this was your second chance?”

“I don’t know whether I’m lucky or doomed, and at the moment, I’m feeling the latter.”

Shining Armor placed a hoof on my shoulder. “I know you might be feeling a bit homesick, but at least try and give us a chance. If Princess Celestia figured you should be brought here even for reasons you can’t remember right now, she probably had a damn good reason to. Both she and Cadence are more than willing to welcome you here, as am I, so why don’t you just give this place one more chance. Please?”

I sighed, partially out of defeat. “Okay. I’ll go drinking with you after your training session and see what happens.”

To this response, Shining Armor took his hoof off of my shoulder and turned back to his guards for a minute. “Hey! No fighting dirty! This is just a practice match!” He turned back to me. “Great! I’ll let the guys know when we’re let off duty. No active threats at the moment means we should be able to get one in after dinner.”

I nodded and tried to smile.

* * *

Dinner was much the same as the previous night, only without Luna’s gesturing hooves knocking me out. She did seem to sit up taller to where her head was as high above mine as Celestia’s was standing up normally as though to make me smaller in her mind. I don’t know if she considered me a threat or a nuisance, though I figured either way she didn’t think very much of me. I was torn between complaining about it being one hell of a welcome wagon and wanting to get home faster and ended up picking at my food more than I did eat it.

Celestia seemed to notice my behavior and whispered something to Shining Armor. Shining Armor grinned and whispered something back, something that made the smile on Celestia’s face go from small and almost dainty to wide and almost exposing her teeth. Nothing more was said between the two other than an approving nod from Celestia in my direction before the smile faded back to what it was before. Even Cadence was staring oddly at them, and when she asked about what they were talking about, Shining Armor only whistled innocently as though ignoring her.

I only ate one serving that night, likely since my stomach was beginning to regulate itself after the teleportation and inter-dimensional travel and I wasn’t as sick as I had felt the day before. When that was finished, I left the dining hall after dessert was served and took my supplement drink before a knock sounded at the door. I opened the door to see Shining Armor standing there dressed in a red suit with silver clasps and a gold collar along with a sort of harness-like accessory with a badge shaped like a shield with a stylized lavender six-pointed star on it. His mane, without the purple and gold cap, was a mix of blue and a lighter blue and hardly looked like a brush had been taken to it.

“Ready, Nemo?” he asked eagerly. “The guys will be waiting for us at the castle entrance.”

“This isn’t some sort of cruel joke, is it?”

“What? No, no, no! I’m serious. We’ll head out on the town, hit a bar, get a side of celery and ranch or something and toss back a few drinks. We usually do this at the end of the week.”

I was uneasy, but I grabbed a coat and followed Shining Armor through the castle and down to the entrance. At the entrance were a few of the white pegasi and unicorns, along with one of the black pegasi with bat wings and a shock of blonde for a mane, standing around waiting. One of the white pegasi called over to Shining Armor when he approached.

“Hey, Shiny! I heard you were bringing Nemo along with us. We going lightweight this evening?”

“Probably best this time,” Shining Armor, “but we’ll see how he can handle himself.”

“Fine by me. We all ready? Time for one of the more respectable places, boys!”

I followed the entourage out of the castle and into the well-lit streets of Canterlot. It wasn’t far before we came to a street where no carriages ran, but was lit up as though it was the middle of the day with restaurants and bars and shops; I swear I even saw what looked like it might have been a strip club somewhere in there.

Shining Armor and his buddies, however, led me to a slightly quieter pub that was none the less filled with unicorns and pegasi and even a few earth ponies playing cards, drinking, eating, playing darts and pool and something that vaguely looked like shuffleboard. Shining Armor selected a table near an empty dart board. A waitress came by dressed in a black apron and asked if anyone wanted something to drink.

“A round of golden cider for the table,” Shining Armor said. “Seven to be exact. Also, bring out a few of the fruit and sauce trays.”

The waitress nodded and left while Shining Armor picked up a few sets of darts and handed me one. “Care to play? Me and you versus Revenant Wings and Thomas Scott?”

A white pegasus and the dark pegasus with the blonde mane started flapping their wings eagerly.

“Such odd names…” I said, taking three darts with dark blue tails.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, one of you has a name that sounds like it would describe a cutie mark, while the other of you seems to be someone that came from Earth like I did.”

“You’re right about that,” Shining said as he passed two sets of darts to the pegasi, then placed a shoulder around the black pegasi with bat wings. “Thomas here came from Earth about two years ago.”

“My father committed suicide and my mother kicked me out of the house,” the pegasus responded, though he didn’t seem to depressed about it. “I was on the streets for a little while and nearly landed myself in jail a few times.”

“That sounds terrible…”

“It was,” Thomas replied, “but Celestia picked me up and said I could stay here. It was amazing, and I asked her if I could get a spot in the military to release a bit of my pent up anger. I went through training and became one of Luna’s guards. I have the early morning shift with good pay and a girlfriend now, as well as a bunch of friends in the guard, and have never been happier. Things really turned around ever since I came here.”

The game started soon after and the drinks came out shortly after that. I tasted my glass of cider to find it still had the taste of apples and alcohol, but there was a vague taste of honey in with it that made it sweet and a slight aftertaste of cinnamon that left a slightly spicy taste on the tip of my tongue… and it was good. Shining Armor and I beat the pegasi fantastically in darts (mostly due to Shining Armor, though Revenant put up a good fight towards the end) and traded with the other unicorns and pegasi at the table. Shining Armor drank more than anyone at the table and still managed to speak normally – “The least it’s taken him to be just buzzed is five,” Revenant told me – while Thomas was slurring at two and I, unused to the taste and potency of the alcoholic drink in front of me, didn’t even finish the second though found myself quite open to talk. Shining Armor called off the drinks after the second dart game was done and ordered a round of waters and two more baskets of celery stalks for us to eat before heading back out and back to the castle.

We arrived back at the castle around nine that night, with the other guards going their own way while Shining Armor took it upon himself to escort me back through the castle to where my suite was.

“Now, wasn’t that fun?” Shining Armor asked, still not even fazed by the drinks.

“Yeah, it was,” I admitted. A smile had formed on my face and I had to admit I was kind of sad when it ended. “I would totally do that again sometime.”

“Cool! Anyways, I’m off these next two days for the weekend so maybe I’ll take you a few other places around Canterlot and get you outside the castle more; can’t do too well to keep you cooped up here, eh?”

“Sounds fine by me.”

Luna passed by us on the way. She ignored us at first, but soon stopped as we continued and I heard her sniff the air.

“You’ve been drinking already, human?” she asked. “No doubt this was a trend back at home.”

“I’ve told you before, Princess,” I said as respectfully as I could, stopping in the middle of the hallway with Shining Armor. “I don’t remember anything about my past life. And besides, Shining Armor was the one who invited me to do so.”

“It’s true, Princess Luna,” Shining Armor said. “I took him out for a few drinks along with the guards. Nemo here is buzzed but not drunk; he couldn’t finish a second.”

“I didn’t think it’d be so strong with a taste that good.”

“I know, right?” Shining Armor said ecstatically. “That place makes the best.”

Luna sighed and rolled her eyes as though we were a couple of youngsters. “Well, do be careful not to have any brilliant ideas. I still don’t know why you could have taken up the role.”

“And what are you doing to keep you so busy tonight?” Shining Armor asked rather accusingly.

“If you weren’t the husband of Princess Cadence,” Luna said, “I would have told you it was none of your business and you’re poking your nose where it doesn’t belong. But, since you’re the one asking the question – and Celestia thinks highly of you – I’m reviewing a peace treaty with the northern kingdom with Princess Celestia.”

“By which you mean…?” I asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Presenting this course schedule for you to Princess Celestia and attempting to come to peace with it.”

“I’m willing to take on anything you have to throw at me. I’ll learn whatever you have to teach me.”

Luna laughed. “You can’t even remember your life before here where others could remember the exact minute at which they spoke their first words as foals! I should like to see how well you do here if you were cast into the Everfree Forest.”

“Now, Luna…”

“Don’t you scold me, Shining Armor!”

“I’m not. But you should be a bit nicer to Nemo. He hasn’t any remembrance of his former life, yet he still wants to go back home. Perhaps there’s something there that was working in his favor.”

“Then why did Celestia want to bring him here?”

Shining Armor wanted to say something in retaliation, but it mustn’t have been anything good, because all he did was glare.

Luna scoffed. “I don’t see what my dear sister sees in you, anyways,” she said, then continued her way down the hall.

When I felt that the alicorn was out of hearing range, I shot out a few expletives.

“I was going to say something along those lines,” Shining Armor agreed.

“Why does she hate me?” I asked no one in particular. “All I did was show up here because Princess Celestia brought me here, and she’s mad at me. Nothing was under my control here!” I shouted in the direction that Luna had gone down. “Do you think I want to be here!? Huh!? Do you!?”

Shining Armor nudged me back in the other direction. “Come on. Let’s get you back to your room.”

I followed more out of complacency than out of actually agreeing with him. I wanted to lash out a bit more, but figured I had done enough damage already. Shining Armor walked in with me and sat down next to me as I drank a large glass of water in the living room.

“And things had been going so well tonight, too…” he said.

“Why does she hate me?” I choked out. “This whole thing wasn’t even my idea.”

Shining Armor placed a hoof around my shoulder, but it didn’t feel comforting at all. It felt strange, foreign.

“I want to go home,” I cried. “I want to go home…”