The Fifth Hour's Pale Moonlight
Outside the train's shuddering window was Equestria's bright white moon, turning its light onto me to wake me up. Below it were the many vast regions of the land, bright enough under the early morning's starry sky to savour from my view. The train was high enough to see so much, but there was still a bit of time before we could alight at Canterlot, the capital and seat of the twin God-Queens.
It was hard to get worked up for it at the moment. After work ended the evening before, I barely had time to rush home and ready myself before heading for the train station in Ponyville. Falling asleep on the train itself once we were finally off wasn't easy, and now I was nursing a few aches from sleeping on seats not built for my rather extraordinary needs. Across me, Twilight was still sleeping peacefully, a few flicks of her tail complementing the rhythm of her breathing every now and then. Resting on these seats must be something she's developed an art for.
It wasn't just the both of us here, however. Someone else with us seemed as displeased as I was. Spike, Twilight's... baby dragon pet, was well awake and staring out the window as well. His eyes lingered away, the green in them marred by dark spots around highlighted by moonlight. They shifted and met mine, then stilled.
"Hey."
He called out to me first. There was a pause before I gave my answer.
"Yo."
Silence. We were exhausted, I supposed. His eyes drooped back down, then away.
"How're you dealing with Ponyville? I'm sure Twilight's been helpful." He started again, probing me.
"Can't even begin to say how much. She's taught me a lot, been a friend... made it fine, I guess." Come to think of it, he wasn't a pony, either. "Been to Canterlot much? I hope the beds there are more suited for us."
His eyes narrowed a little.
"Yeah, they are. I'm going to take a nap moment we get to our rooms." He yawned, the tip of a green flame poking out of his throat. "Twilight will be up and about though, and she'll probably drag me along instead. Bet you could stay in bed if you asked nicely."
His eyes shut, and he leaned his back on Twilight to try sleeping again. My gaze lingered on them until we reached our stop at last. The moment the train braked, Twilight shook awake, renewed with rest wrested from these seats.
"We're here, guys! Let's move out! Spike, wake up! You too, hope it's not too early, you can sleep a little longer when we reach."Twilight leapt from her seat, Spike and I crawled. She trotted before us, we staggered. The white and gold of Canterlot wasn't enough to catch my attention this time, but with my eyes to the ground there seemed reflected a path of pale white light. Twilight followed it and we were brought to the Palace, guard ponies with wings of bats standing sentinel this time.
"Purpose of visit?" The bat-winged stallion guards were more awake then even Twilight, eyes bright with energy. Before we could answer, a loud booming voice threw me back.
"Welcomed guests! It is most pleasing to finally see you! Twilight Sparkle, Spike the Dragon and..."
A great dark winged figure descended from the lit night sky. It resembled Princess Celestia, but was a dark blue throughout its whole body, splotches of black and the brand of a crescent moon upon its hind legs. Around its black tiara was a mane resembling woven sky, stars swimming within. It spoke my name without a hint of difficulty, even.
"Princess Luna! We're honoured to meet you!" Twilight and the guards drooped to something akin to a kowtow, Spike merely bowed. I followed Spike's example.
The twin of Celestia breathed in deep, but Twilight shook her head. She started back and wide eyed and seemed to have realised something. "It's good to meet you in person," she spoke, softer with a voice not as refined as her sister. "We too should welcome you as our guest. You seem very interesting, indeed. We hope you'll get some sleep before the sun rises, we are certain the palace quarters will be more than pleasing for you."
She and her escort lead us to the guest quarters. Only Spike entered the room meant for both Twilight and him, and she told him she expected him in the library within the next two hours. "Oh, but you look really tired, rest up well, alright? Princess Celestia won't be expecting you for four." She faced me with those words , smiled and left, leaving me with just Princess Luna.
Recalling the story about her fall from grace, I wondered if it was perhaps inappropriate to leave her so suddenly and sleep. "Go on now, we've got more... work to do. We shall see you soon!" Princess Luna assured me, standing by the door to my quarters. I thanked her for her hospitality, and entered my room, whose bed was decorated with her sigils in a web-like pattern. Not that I had energy to think over it, for I was tiring and the bed was wondrously inviting. It was easy to do as she asked and go to sleep.
Twilight was speaking to me. We were in a restaurant that I recognized as one of my favourites back home. We sipped on our drinks, ignoring Spike and his winged partner sitting away from us, though they watched us distantly. No words came out of our mouths, but the thoughts behind them seemed clear and that was enough. No sooner did a waiter walk by and serve us both my favourites of all foods. A beef steak, drizzled in smoking mushroom sauce, and a cutting of grilled salmon besides them soaked in pepper. I dearly wanted to have my steak again, but instead gave it to Twilight, as thanks and because I wanted her to taste what I considered food of gods. I took a bite off my own salmon and watched her face as she took her serving. As her mouth closed over, her eyes turned into starlit void, and colours melted over us and turned dark. There was a voice at last behind them, though it did not seem like Twilight's at all.
"It is good to see you again, honoured guest. How are you faring today?"
Princess Celestia greeted me from her seat in the dining hall. She sat facing the doorway I entered from, on a grand chair at a round table. To her left was another pony much like her, though obviously younger. A horn and wings both, and a pink coat. Eyes not dignified like Princess Celestia's or faint-lit like Luna's, but bright with vigour. An image not unlike a glass heart decorated her back legs.
"I would like to extend my greetings as well! I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, but please, just call me Princess Cadence."
"Good morning, Princess Celestia and Princess Cadence." I took a bow, and then I was welcome to seat myself. Upon waking at sunrise I had plenty of time to wash and dress myself, so today I didn't feel as much an embarrassment as before. Rarity had been helpful, making some semblance of formal clothes familiar to me from description. At least now I felt fit to face them properly.
"We hope you will find your breakfast suited to your tastes. Consider it Canterlot's gift."
Princess Celestia smiled as her servants were summoned to deliver our meal. Among the spread available, Princess Celestia had to herself eggs cooked till they bloomed, woven with herbs almost unearthly in their shape. The other had waffles, a stack whose tiny grooves numbered innumerable amidst a honey that almost glowed. Despite their own, both looked on curiously as the waiter removed the lid on my plate, and within was what was clearly a salmon steak, grilled to near-perfection with steaming pepper sprinkled over. Fortunately I had enough semblance of self left to stop my drool leaking.
"Shall we begin?"
The meat tasted different from what I knew, but having it alone was enough. Manners almost went out the window. The argument for eating slowly and gracefully was that I'd have more time to enjoy the meal, and that eventually won over. Conversation went pleasantly from the start. Yes, Equestria has been very welcoming and thank you very much. I would be sure to voice out any concerns if I had more trouble adjusting. Explain more of my culture and lifestyle? Certainly, here, let me show you what we call a phone... interesting, no? I believe I have power enough for another picture. As you can see, it has a camera built into it that doesn't require physical film... you both look quite dashing.
"Morning, Princess Celestia! And Cadence!"
A shrill male voice came rushing in, followed by its owner. A white-coated blue-haired male unicorn, a brand of a shield marked with a somewhat familiar six-pointed star where ponies had their brands. He wore a headpiece like a galea, the ones that the guards wore, but more finely decorated. He sat himself to Princess Candence's left, then shared a kiss.
"Oh, that's right! Twily's told me about you! I'm Shining Armour–Prince Shining Armour, Caden– Princess Cadence's husband. Good to see you!"
'Twily'?
He grinned at me, but it lacked the grace of the Princesses. I merely nodded, not sure how else to respond, again. Time to sip my tea again.
"Morning, Princess Celestia! I brought those documents– Oh, BBBFF!"
'BBB-FF?'
Twilight had come in from behind me, carrying a stack of notes. She then ran to Shining Armour and they embraced.
"Goodness! Are you alright?" Princess Celestia took note of my sudden coughing. "No, no, just choked a little. Went down wrongly, I'm very sorry about that, please excuse me."
"Little sis! It's so good to see you again. I didn't know you'd be here!" The white stallion cooed over Twilight. The discomfort in my throat faded, but in its place was a slight hollow in my chest.
Twilight took her seat to Shining's side, then passed her documents to Princess Celestia.
"Now let's get to business," she said, her voice yet gentle and dignified. "I have been looking more into what we know of your kind in our records. As I've said, we know your kind has come here and left before. This is confirmed in the most ancient of our texts, perhaps when written language was first developed."
"Might be why we speak the same! Maybe our languages once met?" Twilight would have been quickly lost in speculation had Princess Celestia not continued.
"However, nowhere is it clear stated by what means they left. The fragments are contradictory and unreliable... crossing a bridge of light, ferried by water, past a reflection... do you recall anything like this?"
"I'm afraid not. I know I was nowhere near the sea, and there were no bright lights of any sort." I recalled nothing, really. I was lost, and saw nothing.
"Then I am afraid it may be a very long time till we can find you a way back."
The hollow in my chest grew larger, and a chill overtook my arms. I reached for my cup to sip some more tea, but hadn't the strength to even lift it anymore. I was still facing Celestia, but my eyes weren't really focused anywhere, and the room blurred away.
"Our offer of you as our guest still stands, of course. As of now you are afforded residency indefinitely, and are free to do as you wish within our laws. We will not cease our efforts in returning you, but you should be prepared to stay for a long while. In fact, if you wish it, you will be afforded a room here at the Palace instead."
Ah, wonderful. I'd have to stay here but I get to live like the ponies. Never mind that I wasn't one. At least in the palace I'd have full reign over myself. I could hide away and pretend everything was fine. The luxurious pleasures of royalty could make the days pass faster, perhaps. If only I could just sleep now and have them wake me up once everything was finished.
I was asked to think it over the day, and was dismissed. The room shared their sympathies and left me be. I stumbled out, not sure where to go if I had anywhere to go at all, then wandered the halls of the Palace aimlessly.
For a whole day I wandered, stopping only when called to lunch and dinner in an empty dining room, traces of leftovers in the air each time. I had intended to tour the palace to see how much I'd like living here, but I could barely give opinion on the colours of the walls, much less what the place itself was like when it all melted into a mess of grey if I stopped concentrating at any time. I could only do that for a few minutes.
The windows lost their light, and finally exhaustion crept up to me. I'd missed my chance to see the raising and setting of the moon and sun, I realised, but that barely mattered now. The guard outside my room only got a nod for his greeting as I went in, legs too tired to walk more but heart not yet still enough to sleep.
The bed didn't even look all that inviting now, anyway. The only light in the room came from the balcony, where a brilliant night sky shone in defiance to me. I found myself drawn there, in the stars there were a few things yet familiar.
Three in a row, Orion's Belt. A little below shone one far brighter than the others. Sirius among Canis Major. Much of the rest didn't make sense, or seemed to shift even as I watched. Then there was Princess Luna, kicking the moon a little to move it. It wasn't the same. It wasn't the same at all.
"Hey, um... good night for stargazing, huh?"
Twilight's voice. She was on the balcony next to mine. She leaned on the railings towards me, watching with those large eyes of hers. Her hair had a little bit of dishevelment, and the scent of old parchment wafted.
"It could be."
"I'm really sorry about today." She frowned. "I spent the whole day combing the archives again, but there really wasn't anything that could help. And those that maybe, maybe could, the research needed to get those working would take... well..."
I didn't need her to continue.
"Well, um... maybe you could find more things to do in the meantime!" Twilight suggested, slight hope in her voice unrestrained. That hope found a way deep in to ensnare me, beckoning from deep within something. "I mean.... find a way you can spend your time here happy?"
"Twilight, it might be a little strange to ask this, but... what's your dream?"
"Hmm? Dream?"
"Yeah. What... keeps you living? What do you want to have?"
A brief silence overtook us both. Twilight looked around, hints of pink shading her cheeks.
"Eheh, well... ever since I was little, I've always wanted to know things."
"Know things?"
"Yeah! Like, what water is made of, why things fall down... that's when I turned to books. Books taught me so much. And when I learned more, and the ponies behind these great discoveries, I decided I wanted to be one of those ponies. Famous ponies like Starswirl the Bearded... I wanted to learn things and discover new facts, then use them to make the world better. I want my name to be known like that one day."
"So I studied hard and became Princess Celestia's pupil. In fact, finding out just how far I could go was what made me earn my cutie mark!"
She gestured to the brand of the six-pointed stars upon her.
"And, well... here I am now, still going for that."
Those purple eyes sparkled now. They reached into me and pulled me, refusing to let me go. What she said...
"You know, Twilight, I'll always remember the first book I really read. It was a big book of knowledge, just a lot of facts for kids."
Twilight kept silent and smiling, her ears slowly rising.
"It changed me forever. It told me what the world was like beyond what I had seen. It told me what was deep in the ground, why seasons come and go, how our bodies worked, how our people came to be. That's what got me into books too. I also wanted to know more."
"Huh, sounds like me!"
"Of course, I was a small kid. I couldn't decide just yet if that was what I really wanted to do when I grew up. Then I found something else."
"And what would that be?" Twilight's ears stood alert. That face she wore, eyes wide and filled with curiosity...
"It's something I want to show you myself, Twilight. Could I come over to you?"
"Sorry, Spike's sleeping and I don't want to bother the poor guy. I'll come over to you instead!"
Moments later, Twilight was here with me. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. A sliver of battery was left that would be completely gone if I went through with what I was planning. Not that I had anything to lose, it would be all gone anyway by the time I had any chance of returning.
"Here, Twilight. Take a look at these pictures."
Twilight was confused, her brow twitching as she looked over the last folder on my phone.
"A circle?"
"Not exactly, Twilight. See, many years ago we started trying to learn about space. Even now, we don't know how to send people up beyond our Moon, but we could send machines, probes to float away for as long as they could last and collect information to send back. Then we started thinking, what if there were other worlds with intelligent life like us? What if they met our machines, and wanted to know about us? How would we communicate when there's no guarantee that we'd even think of language as remotely similarly?"
Twilight's silence, wonder building in her eyes. It was invigorating.
"So we decided to introduce ourselves through pictures and music, and show our understanding of the universe was at least taking a first step. Here, you go through the pictures, I'll explain them to you."
She sat by me on the open, balcony, night air stilling around us. The first was a map of the universe around us we knew. Pulsars, great spinning stars as I explained to Twilight, were used to mark where our world was.
Next were mathematical definitions. Those worlds would be in the same universe as us, so we defined our measurements based on constants in nature. Those circles, they represented how one of the most common elements changes states. That number shows the time taken for it so they can figure out what one second is.
Images of planets, other worlds we knew near ours. A picture of Earth's atmosphere, Twilight recognised the chemical names indicating the gases we had. Structures of elements, then how they came together to form the building blocks of life as we knew. These weren't too foreign to her, but from another perspective it kept her captured.
Pictures of us. Now Twilight's eyes lit like the stars above her. The creation and birth of new life. A mother nursing her child. Scenes of people with their children and families, or just on their own, living.
"Hey, the people over here look way more like you!"
We moved on to the pictures of the world itself. A street where carriages both self-powered and pulled by animals traveled. A field of winged train carriages that could take to the skies. Large dishes that communicated with machines beyond the sky. Massive workshops that churned out thousands of products daily. Vast cities that knew no night or day, making do with their own lights when the sun went down.
We came to the end, a message. Twilight had leaned in close and read the words in a whisper.
"This is a present from a small distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts, and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours..."
We read it to the end together. The heat in my mouth spread to my eyes. At last, all power in my phone was lost and it shut off, never knowing if it would be used again.
"What do you think, Twilight?"
"I-I don't know what to say. It's beautiful, your hopes and wishes and accomplishments and all... I wanted to hear the sounds, I want to know more."
Her own warmth grew into me from my side.
"Mmhmm. That's when I made my decision. I wanted to be one of the great people who brought us so far, and still continue to move us forward. That what I would do with everything I learned, or just... leave my mark, somehow. So I studied hard, got accepted to school, and when I was almost there... well, here I am now."
No one said anything for the passing minutes. We sat there unmoving and watched the skies. The soft moonlight tried to ease me, but I turned it away.
"You don't have to stop here, you know."
Twilight started, sitting straight and looking clear at me.
"You're in Equestria now. How many of your people even know about us? Our last visitor was in the ancient past. Imagine... you going home with Equestria's collective knowledge. You'd be a revolutionary! What if you studied magic and brought it back? What if you created something new because of what you know now and what you'll learn here? Come on... don't be sad."
Hope unyielding in her voice. Again, her words held me thrall.
"You're right, Twilight. It's not over yet. But on one condition."
"Hmm?"
"Let me help you. Your dream's so much like mine, we're the same. I want you to reach it, too. Ask me about absolutely anything, I'll do my best to answer. If you need a partner with your projects, come find me. Let's remember what we said to each other here, alright? And if any of us ever falter, the other will come wake us up."
She smiled. My lips were bound to do the same.
"So that means you ARE coming back to Ponyville with me, right?"
"Absolutely. You're my friend."
With our heads and hearts clear, we could finally find it in ourselves to enjoy the night sky. We sat with each other, without any more words needed. The moonlight seemed satisfied with us at last, and gave us a more soothing view. Stars dimmed, soaking in the comforting night sky. Twilight set her back on mine, gazing upwards with only soft breathing heard.
Stargazing on a palace balcony with a girl. Huh. I was even dressed for the part.
What felt like only moments later, Twilight excused herself, a soft goodnight trailing her head out the room door.
We were back at the restaurant. Twilight bit onto the steak and swallowed, then offered me something off her own plate. With her smile was joyous laughter in the background around us.
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5086923
There will probably be at least one such scene in the future. There are none yet, though, so maybe see if you like what it is for now.
He turned Twilight into a carnivore, lol!
5086925 what if thats exactly what i came for? haha i say some people are too skittish on the issue and need to lighten up, its all in the name of fun anyways
5086925 Mostly it's seeming like Slice-of-Life, which is one of my favorite genres here.
Nice job so far!
5086937
Congratulations, looks like you've found a treasure trove.
5086938
That's really what it's meant to be, alongside romance and SPOILERS
5086930
Where did you get that?
5086951
Well, Twilight ate beef steak (unless they make their meat out of tofu). And carnivores eat meat. Am I missing something here?
5087202
Oh, those were dreams.
5091852
It's the power of first-person perspective and why I love writing in that style. It's heavily influenced by Vladimir Nabokov's writing, I love the hell out of Pale Fire and Lolita.
Remember, since everything is through his perspective, it's skewed to his biases. What if he's lying about say, Shining Armour lacking dignity just because he doesn't like the way he looks?
5091873 yep thats the way it works, and some people may wonder if it makes sense but you have to step back and see the bigger picture
So this is like a MLP version of The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath ? Sort of? Does this make Discord = Nyarlathotep ?
5098442
Nah. It's just a lot of waifuing.
You sir, made me sob. You've got talent there, dude.
"We're here, guys! Let's move out! Spike, wake up! You too, hope it's not too early, you can sleep a little longer when we reach."
Reach where? By the way, I am truly loving this story! Keep up the great work!