While rubbing my eyes, I didn’t even remember where am I right away. An unusual room, a small bed, on which I put myself with efforts, thus having absolutely “wonderful” feelings in two swelled legs, which are so because of an unpleasant pose, and acute pain in the neck and ribs. Oh, damn… With a force of will, I got a grip over myself and stood up, mentioning the actively aching side with a quite, not bad word in the process.
While waking up on the move, I looked around and finally made clear where am I: bears lair of Twilight, library “Golden oak”. Yeah, right, she persuaded me to sleep in her accommodation and not having rooms in a hotel, like I planned from the get-go. I wanted to keep some distance, but the unicorn noticed reasonably, that finding a hotel that won’t close if I show up is a great challenge, and then making a deal with its owner that will go crimson on his face, paling and stuttering from the honor of welcoming such a great alicorn as me. If he doesn’t escape of course…
No, my new pen pals honestly spread the word to the locals, so streets will not vanish if I come closer, and they will not hide in their basements… At least, not all of them. Who did not hide — got round by a wide arc, frightened to even look at me and making their pace faster in a desire to get out as soon as possible. Progress, yeah… But it’s still insufficient to calmly have rooms in a hotel without needs to breach the door and then derive the panicking owner… But this was my last sleep in Twilight’s lair in any case! I cricked with a swelled leg and swore quietly. You’ll break your back before you can fit on these one and a half meter bunks! If not the exhaustion — I’d not have fallen asleep.
I did a short warm up, trying to not worry the hurt side, made the bed and sat down to think about next steps. I can make myself busy with magic: yes, my head was dizzy, but it’s not aching and telekinesis could be spelled without an issue. On top of that, I have to eat something and visit the hospital for the purpose of treatment of my wounds — that advice came from Tia, and she knows how to heal. And yeah… I should take a checkup — just in case. Of course, it’s not my desire… But if alicorns are exposed to sicknesses and are very very mortal — it’s better to know it beforehand… Medicine is not a thing that brings pleasure, but sometimes you cannot survive without it… But how awesome would it be to hear the diagnosis in the end: “Perfectly healthy! Go away!” and not the usual: “We-e-ell, you have this and that, make sure to come after two weeks, it’s time-urgent to do this and that, after that we will order you to…” I cringed at the unpleasant memories petulantly. I will hope that the new corpse will satisfy my shy expectations…
But all of this lays ahead, for now I should find some food — stomach refreshed memories about its empty and hungry existence. I can wash myself for a start…
I walked downstairs to the first floor indolently. These stairs are such a shame! You walk downstairs with your two legs while holding your torso steady, but now there’s a fair trim on the nose because of the second pair of legs, and you have this stupid feeling that you’d turn a somersault! I hope that I would get used to it — locals walk somehow?
I stopped for a second, inspecting the main room of the library and remembering where to go forward, and thanks that Twilight made a quick tour-room of her lair yesterday. My gaze caught a clock — wow, it’s almost already eleven. I fell asleep around ten in the evening. However, maybe, it’s not a surprise — the day was full of events, so I got tired a little…
When I entered the bathroom and stopped before a sink, I froze: how to wash myself? I looked down at my hooves, looked around for a toothbrush or a bast wisp — it didn’t make itself clearer. God damn it, how to wash your face’s muzzle when you have no arms and you cannot fill your palms with water?! Telekinesis on water — and, as I suppose, on every liquid — works very poorly, it’s a fact. Staying with a stupid face for a minute, I decided to just turn the water on and try something, maybe it would work out. In the end, I adapted to swash water in my face with my own leg, and, with pain and misery, I washed myself.
By the way, a problem: omnipresence legs! The usual and common local phrases — if I judge by the experience of talking to Twilight and the others yesterday — are like: “Support my head with a leg”, “Put a leg to the forehead” and others like that call to me a few different associations, and even detailing like “fore leg” help weakly… On the other hand — how to call it differently? I raised a fore limb before me, examining it from all sides. Clearly not an arm. Frankly speaking, not a paw as well — paws have fingers or at least claws. It’s a leg! But fucking hell, this “leg” breaks my brain so hard! While shutting my own eyes with annoyance, I spit at this question with my decision of will and left the bathroom. Maybe I’d adopt to this as well. Maybe.
Well, let’s go for food? I went downstairs, grabbed bags, looked at the armor for a second — no, thanks: why do I need it in a store? — and went back, swearing at myself on the move for improvidence — I should have taken the bags at the start and not running back and forth.
In the bags, as I pointed out yesterday, were only money: maybe Tia decided that I’d buy something that I need myself. It makes sense, you know…. And it was not a small quantity of those, at least in terms of numbers: six hundred of golden — or merely goldish? …Roundels, prepackaged fifty-fifty in two sacks.
Coins, by the way, were very strange: just a cylinder with wide jutting edge and that’s all! No nominal, no profile of a monarch, no coat of arms, no the year of mint — nothing: identical empty head and verso! That’s bullshit — not money! With a small access to the materials — it’s a big gift for false-coiners! And it’s not clear with their value either. Worth of these money, if I’d believe the cartoon, comparatively not a big one — something like “one coin for a kilo of apples”. But what to pay if I need one apple, or, let us say, a cheap box of matches? Or they just have money with less value — I just didn’t get it and I’m not in touch? Yeah, it seems that the idea of going to buy some food isn’t a good one…
I was forced out of thoughts by the opening front door, before which I basically froze.
“N-nightmare? Hello…” Twilight greeted me perplexedly — she didn’t expect to run into me nose to nose. Spike that came along with her, swept a quick look over me and hastened to slip through me and hide in a room: I was absolutely not liked by the pangolin yesterday. Well, it happens sometimes. I’m not a girl to be… Liked by everyone… Damn.
“Greetings.” I drove away my thoughts and said hello back and made a step aside to let the unicorn into the house.
“You… You was going somewhere?” She interested carefully, nodding at my bags.
“I was going to buy some food. But I’ve understood that I do not know the purchasing ability of modern money.” I marked the situation.
“I’ll explain!” Mare reported with enthusiasm and returned to her previous cautious tone instantly. “But… Why did you want to buy food?”
“Because I want to eat. Surprising, isn’t?” I couldn’t hold myself and chuckled. Kinda strange question. What does she need?
“You didn’t understand me in the right way! Just… Well… Do you really think that I wouldn’t share food with you? Spike will cook the breakfast now… A late breakfast.” Twilight smiled shyly. “And all of us will have lunch! And after that I can show you the town!”
“Town? Not a bad idea.” I answered at the last phrase, thinking that it’s best to keep silence about food question.
I prefer the principle: “It’s better when people owe you than you owe them”, especially in relationships with people when you already owe them. I already have a huge debt before Tia for her help, and now “collecting credit” from someone else. From the other side, I’m not in the right spot to choose: I have nothing of my own. Even body and name are a loan.
I clenched the teeth angrily and rolled my jaw muscles. Sometimes, grief about relatives, about my old life, is taking its place from all the piles of fresh memories. There was my home, and here?…
“Ehm, Nightmare?” The library owner’s uncertain voice forced me out of my unhappy thoughts. “Did something happen?”
“Nothing to speak of.” I recalled gloomy. “I’ll be upstairs.” I moved to the stairs and didn’t even wait for an answer. Untimely short thought scattered wound that still did not heal itself, collapsing already dark mood from the morning below the line. I wanted to be alone.
I swept a funereal glance over my cot upstairs, dropped bags onto it and laid next to them, right onto smooth floorboards. It was firm a bit, but acceptable.
Thoughts about the past sprang up again. I snorted annoyingly, trying to get rid of them: does it even matter? I have to live here now, not there… To distract myself, I took the saddle bags, retrieve a sack with coins and poured them onto the floor before myself. I had one idea yesterday…
I, gradually, one by one, started to take the coins before me up. One froze before my eyes, then another one, then the third one… The muscles of the neck have strained, as if trying to compensate the weight of what was lifted, but with a very big stockpile; energy in the horn started to hum, being felt almost physically. And with every next coin this feeling… This hum was something like more nervous, and every next golden roundel felt almost as twice as heavy as the previous one with my neck. On the fifty third coin, when my horn started to get pins and needles at its bottom, I had to put my head onto my legs — on my fore legs! Because honestly — it was hard to hold it steady, and I ended my experiment and dropped a pile of money onto the floor. I think that I could take even sixty, but through even greater force. Now I’ve got a new task — was it many or not? Nevertheless, even without it, I understood something: gradual increasing of the burden allowed me to firmly understand how does this burden feel on the horn and how it signals about an upcoming overwork.
I lifted up one coin once again. It’s still a strange thing — telekinesis… In a few days I got used to that much that I use it reflexively, like I used my own hands back in the days. I forced the coin to slowly rotate and thoughtfully gazed at it. A few days ago I had to concentrate with all of my force, wanting to lift up a pillow from a bed. Is it reflexes of the body or…
I shivered, telekinesis faded away and coin drove off me under the bed, resoundingly chattering against the floorboards. Wait, what?! What a feeling that was? I found a new one with my eyes hastily, lifted it with my telekinesis and narrowly dug into it with my gaze, trying to hear all of my feelings simultaneously.
Damn, was it a trick of my mind?
It wasn’t. I FELT the coin with my telekinesis! Weakly, implicitly, like through thick gloves, but, even with closed eyes, I felt something like a round, chill item with my magic! I threw off the coin and grabbed a shoe. A more difficult form felt badly, but I could feel it nonetheless! Wow… How is it even possible?! I clearly remember, that a few days ago, when I just started to familiarize myself with telekinesis, I felt nothing! Or I just didn’t pay attention? No, It’s easy to detect…
I’ll not ask how does it work anyhow. At least for now. There are lots of things that can break your brain with ease, they’re on every step. Yesterday, when we were walking to this library, I tried to find out how such beefy Celestia can walk across clouds. Answer, if the main idea is saved, can be delivered in one word: “Magic”. Maybe she just hesitated and lost her confidence, clearly seeing me as a danger, so she tried to answer abruptly, stiffly, not going into details, maybe that part had played its role… I don’t know.
“Nightmare!” Mentioned unicorn calls me. I slightly shivered from this surprise, while going back into the real world. I didn’t drop the shoe, managed to save concentration. I’m improving over myself.
I returned the element of the armor back, next to the three alike, and swiftly scrabbled coins in a pile on the bed: another interesting moment — telekinesis, as it seems, can work in different modes for groups of objects. It was a lot easier to hold something like a united “pile of coins” than a lot of coins on a standalone basis. I couldn’t hold myself from another short experiment: I tried to divide the pile on two approximately equal parts. This activity was an easy one, but to hold two smaller parts is a different talk. I sacked money in the bag — I’ll sort them out afterwards — and stood up from the floor, moving to stairs.
“Nightm!… Oops!” I ran into Twilight a second time this day, nose to nose. She, as it seems, didn’t wait for my reaction at her call and decided to go after me herself.
I looked at the frozen mare before me on the upper stairs questioningly. When she met my gaze with my glowing eyes, she hastened to look away for some reason. I saw it more than once and still can’t understand it — why. Spike, for example, has the same narrow extended pupils, and about my iris that is shining… And what? Although, on the other side, there’s something in my new body’s gaze, something uncomfortable. Even I was trying to not look at myself in the mirror, if I remember correctly…
“Breakfast is on the table.” Pony informed me. “Let’s go?”
“Lead the way.” I nodded and gave way for Twilight to turn back, and followed her.
Unicorn started her way downstairs, weaving with her tail left-right reflexively. I lost my pace and almost began to slide down the stairs — it’s good that I was able to freeze myself in time — when I looked under mare’s tail unintentionally. There was NOTHING — only smooth lavender fur, like everywhere on her body. I shook my head, dealt with my one second stupor and followed Twilight again.
I could have been really freaked out while thinking: do ponies breed themselves with division, if not the yesterday’s shower. I’ve understood it by my own experience, that they do not, God damn it… And here it is again, this damn magic of course. I have to read something about it — I just cannot ask it head-on, really…
The first floor met me and Twilight with an inexpressive smell of some porridge and hardly sensible aroma of fresh fruits. There is no special joy in these smells, but my mood has raised — finally, food!
On a relatively small, but cozy kitchen, Spike was going to end table appointments. Small dragon looked so busily and seriously, that I couldn’t hold myself and smiled.
“It’s ready, Twilight! Come to table.” He smiled to the mare and looked at me sheepishly, went aside, while removing an apron from his body.
I followed the mare’s example: nipped onto a low, but wide stool and started to look at the today’s menu.
Entrée is kind of a substation that made of glue: either semolina, or oaten, or way too cooked rice porridge — I’m not a master in these semi fluid things, I have concerns about every God damn thing about it. No, Spike, we will not be friends. You could just make a simple buckwheat cereal, couldn’t you? Damn, this is why I wanted to go to the market, to buy things that I like… But in another person’s monastery you have to eat what others give you. Second course is a simple salad made of vegetables, sandwiches with some flowers on the desert. The last ones lifted a question — will they be able to be liked to a pony’s body, but with a kit of non-grass eating teeth? I should check it out. But for the starters — a dish of hot slimy mush that tastes like old cellulose…
…
Hm, not bad, eatable — this is my verdict in my thoughts, when I ate the whole dish. Not a masterpiece, but I hadn’t have to shove the porridge into myself with words like “For mum, for dad, for God knows who”, as I thought earlier. The salad, most of which was made up of fresh cucumbers, was also quite pleasant, although it did not cause such a storm of flavor as the one I tasted in the castle yesterday — I must be getting used to it, I guess…
Sandwiches had a dual impression: flowers had a good flavor, and, at the start, I liked everything, but aftertaste with its bitterness ruined the whole impression a bit. Moreover, I still don’t understand the reason of sandwiches with flowers being a thing: what’s the use of bread here? I know that damn sausage without bread is not everyone’s cup of tea, needless to say about the butter, but why would someone stick the flavor of flowers with heavy bread? No, I liked the flowers alone, definitely, I liked them more.
Generally — good, even tasty sometimes. The only moth that tainted the food was the need of eating only with one side of my jaws, trying to not touch the wounded cheek. Luckily, it’s not aching that hard as it was yesterday, and other wounds now cause only discomfort — not straightforward pain sensations. I had a swift thought that I’m hurrying the events with a hospital — it seems that everything will heal up by itself.
Meanwhile, the breakfast went in a gloomy and repressed atmosphere. Even when we reached the tea — by the way, it’s not black or green, it’s local herbal tea, but not bad for my taste — there still was unpleasant silent, that sometimes was cut off by an accompaniment of meal’s sounds, like swallowing and and knocks of the spoons, and by a single Spike’s request to hand over sugar. The dragon tried to mix incompatible — he tried to keep an eye on me while trying to not meet my gaze at one time, the Princess’ student, as I thought, wanted to ask something, but didn’t have the courage to start talking.
“Thanks! I’ll go upstairs.” Dealing with tea faster than others, I rose from the table and didn’t wait for the traditional: “To good health!” I left the kitchen and went to the stairs. It was my imagination or I heard sighs of relief?
I prepackaged the gold in sacks and put on my breastplate and shoes and swept a thoughtful gaze at the helmet, but after quick thinking, I decided to leave it here: they would not beat me up this time, wouldn’t they, hey? Ending my appearance with bags, I descended onto the first floor again.
“Twilight, I’m ready!” I said it for everyone to hear, examining shelves with books.
“I’m on it! A few minutes!” She recalled.
I nodded to myself and backed to books. Quite a huge collection here, especially for a humble library of a small town. And everything is in good condition — no torn or, at least, severely shabby frontispiece, and inside, as I think, no torn pages or lewd pictures on margins. I was going to grab one and review it, but it’s too late.
“I’m ready! Let’s go?” The unicorn came to me with some bags attached to her hips as well and packing a marching ink-pot and a pile of note quills into them.
“Let’s go.” I answered and stepped aside to give her way forward and went in the street right afterwards.
It met us with cloudy weather, pleasant wind and a light-blue earthpony, purposefully trotting towards the library. When she saw me, she stopped dead in her tracks and after a second-long pause just turned away dumbly and ran back — only a crimson tail flashed and disappeared around the cornet. Twilight sighed sadly, I moved with my wing uncertainly: maybe this runner just forgot to turn off her iron, who knows?
“Where are we going to?” I asked the unicorn.
“We-ell… Maybe “Sugarcube corner”?” She said it with some doubt. “It’s not that far, and I think that Pinkie would be happy to see you…”
“Why not?” I tried to shrug with shoulders as an answer. “Let’s go, I’m not against to see her too.”
Some time that we spent walking, both of us were quiet. I’ve been looking at bright and cozy houses around us, a few funny and multicolored strangers that tried to dig their head into their shoulders and hastened their pace, and sometimes they looked at Twilight with perplexity or sympathy. The mare herself, by the way, started to worry me: yesterday, in Celestia’s presence, she was confident, even though had done a serious offence and had to apologize, but today — she remembers me Fluttershy. Yeah, I should buy something for Fluttershy as an appreciation…
The mare yet again turned her head to me, tensely bit her lips and after a few seconds she turned away again, not having enough courage so start a talk.
“Twilight, you need something?” I asked directly when I caught another gaze.
“N-nothing!” She shivered and tried to turn away quickly. “Well, nothing important, I mean… Actually, I just curious, but.” She started to panic.
Yeah, if she had nails — she could have chew them up ‘till the elbow. I chuckled.
“Ask, come on.” I relented while looking at her hustle for a few seconds.
“I can?” It seems that she doesn’t believe it.
“Not about the Moon.” I answered when a conclusion has come just in time about the things she can ask about.
“A… But…” She drooped, but has already taken the paper out of her bags, ink-pot and quill, while holding it with telekinesis simultaneously.
“I don’t want to remember it.” I grumbled, foretelling her question. “Everything was gross.”
“I get it…” Twilight prolonged quietly, putting her writing implements away reluctantly.
“By the way, you wanted to tell me about the money, didn’t you?” I remembered it to the mare after a few minutes just to get rid of unpleasant silence.
“Yeah, of course!” She cheered up immediately and smiled. Yeah, that’s a horse of a different color… “The modern golden bit entered into circulation…”
…
The lecture was quite interesting, but sometimes I had to back-pedal Twilight every time she was blown away by herself when she tried to tell me about either history, personalties or magic.
Firstly, money here were under a spell, and it also serves as a perfect protection against false-coiners. So perfect, that Twi didn’t even understand whom I was talking about — it was so long ago when one tried to really do it. In reality, spell was a very simple one — not by the execution of course: mud cannot glue to coins. Stands to a reason, considering that taking these into mouth, when buying something, is a usual business for pony.
Secondly, to my big surprise, golden bit — or bits, as some call it — is the smallest instrument of payment. And yeah, for one coin you can buy something like half of a kilo of apples. And the answer on the question “What if I want to buy one apple” killed me dead: “Buy a few, take one for yourself and give others to your friends or strangers. Everyone will be happy with that gift, no one would decline it, really!” I just stood for half of a minute and stared at the mare, trying to think it out: is she joking or not. When she spotted my far-eyes, she explained that there’s a difference in big cities, where random ponies can’t get a gift just out of the blue — only for friends and pen-friends. Honestly, it didn’t make a big change for me after such an explanation…
We came to the residence of the Cake’s family and Pinkie Pie, while discussing details, like prices for immovables and wages of different professions.
Against my expectations, the tea-room was empty: no visitors, only Pinkie stood behind her desk and reclined her head upon her legs gloomily — forelegs! — and looked at a wall darkly. It seemed to me that her mane lost its former shape when compared to yesterday. Something’s wrong.
“Hi, Pinkie.” I greeted her. She exhaled heavily when noticed me, and it seems that she became even more depressed.
When I came closer, I remarked her suspicious red eyes. Yea-ah… If someone has offended her — his skin would be inside out!
“Hello, Night. And hello to you, Twilight.” She tried to pretend the earthponies’ high spirit, but it seems that she understands that it’s useless and just looked at me sadly. “Sorry-sorry-sorry, Nightmare! I haven’t achieved anything!” She sobbed with her nose.
“What’s happened?” I stopped in my tracks. “Why you’re sorry and why you must be?”
“Well, you’ve arrived in Ponyville just yesterday, yes? And that means that you need a greeting party in honor of your arrival, where you can became acquainted with all the citizens of Ponyville, to make new friends… And you really-really need friends, Night!”
Yea-ah, it seems that now I understood about the situation.
“You tried to gather guests for the party, but didn’t succeed.” I stated.
“Yes…” She jaded. “I tried, baited, blandished, but it’s a lost cause. When they hear about what we’re going to celebrate, ponies immediately decline my indentations — someone fabricated nonsense about their “superurgent-superpressing affairs”, but someone just said into my face straightly — they want to be out of your reach and will not even make a step outside!” The pink mare’s voice was clinking because of outrage. “And, in the end, I… Generally… Nothing worked out, Nightmare! Sorry! Listen all these made-up pretexts to not go and stupid bedtime stories about you was… I just couldn’t take it.” She almost dropped dead at the end of her story and sniveled with her nose.
“Ponies shouldn’t do so…” Twilight mumbled quietly and started to gaze at the floor. Her tribesmen’s behavior was really offending to her.
I bypassed the desk and hugged the sad earthpony with my wing. It was her turn to cheer me up yesterday, and today is mine… In the end, this was the very me who said that in need one sees who his friend is, wasn’t it?
“Don’t be sad, Pinkie.” I smiled at the surprised a bit pink pony with my lips only. “It’s not worth it. For the starters — I don’t like huge crowds, and another thing is that it’s better for me when they honestly refuse to go than being surrounded by false smiles and insincere declarations of friendship.”
The door bell unexpectedly clinked, and a pegasus tried to enter the store. Tried — because when he had made his way ‘till the middle of the room, he saw me behind the desk and froze, hesitating to do a step.
“Ops…” The stallion said with a strained voice.
“Come in, feel free. We’re always happy to see new faces.” I cheered him, but the stallion jumped and started to swiftly-swiftly spin his head, made a step back fitfully and closed the door, whose bell made another “clink!”
Twilight followed the pegasus with her eyes and sighed. Pinkie did the same.
“And why should we gather such ones?” I said to the pink pony, waving with a wing towards the door. “To see how they try to hide in every corner from me? If it’s so principal to you to make a party for me — invite those who know me already and who is not afraid of me. In the end, is it a bad to party with a small group?”
“In itself — maybe not.” Pinkie said thoughtfully. “But it’s a welcoming party! It’s a way to acquaint and find new friends! And it’s a good thing to have as many friends as possible! And if a few pony would come — then a few friends you’d have — this is bad!” The party pony just crushed my points. Still, I gained some ground: her mane increased its volume, ears are straightly up, and the sadness on her face was changed to kind of thrill. “No, Night, there should be everypony at this welcoming party! I’ll try again and everything will be fine!”
Damn… Stubborn as a…
“Take it easy, Pinkie. You’ll do it when the time comes. And I can find friends without a party.”
“You can. But it’s better with a party!” Pink-haired knocked a hoof against the desk determinedly. “However, you may be right in one thing: there’s no way to gather everypony in a fast pace. But I’ll try again, I promise!”
Oh, Pinkie… It’s good that she recovered — it was painful to see. I ultimately patted the pink back of the thoughtful about something pony and stepped aside, taking place before the desk near Twilight.
“Fine.” The earthpony surfaced from her thoughts and smiled. “It seems that you wanted to buy something?”
“No, we just wanted to visit you.” I smiled in answer. “Twilight’s showing me the town.”
“Got it! Wait a second…” The mare nodded with her pink mane and hid for a few seconds under the desk.
“Nightmare, Twilight, here, take it. To refresh yourselves and to make yourselves feel better.” She put a box of cakes at the market stall, emerging back. “At my expense!”
It’s almost common. Almost.
“Thanks, Pinkie.” Twi smiled, packing the box with presents in her right bag.
“Thanks.” I hesitated for a moment, but joined to the appreciation. “But I think that it’s time to go — you can be left without customers today.” I chuckled.
“Ah, nothing.” She waved away. “I was happy to see you!”
After saying goodbyes to Pinkie Pie, we left “Sugarcube corner” and moved to the center of the town, where we planned to head for the “Carousel” boutique, to Rarity.
“I’m sorry about the party, Nightmare.” Twilight condoled when we went in streets. “Pony shouldn’t repulse others in such a way! It’s wrong It’s better for them to not fear you, to learn about you, but they don’t even want to try, to give you a chance!” The unicorn sighed.
“Aren’t you afraid yourself? Could you give me a chance if not the Celestia’s word, m?” I eyed my companion from head to foot.
Twilight remained silent eloquently, dropping her ears down.
