A Canterlot Unicorn in Princess Platinum's Court

CHAPTER 5

UNREASONABLE DISCOURSE

The morning found me snuggled comfortably in bed with my fourth book, when the door burst open with such force that the doorknob made a dent in the adjoining wall. I had to clamp both hooves over my mouth to keep from shrieking in fright, such was the state of my nerves. I hadn't slept all night, keeping myself going on nothing but wakefulness spells.

"Show yourself!" came Clover's voice from the dim. "Come out and face me you pestilent monster!

I couldn't see her from where I lay. Wary of anypony coming in while I was doing anything unmonsterly, I'd conjured a barrier of oily smoke that hovered at the edges of the magic circle. It took three deep, calming breaths to keep me from shaking, and three more to get myself into character.

I dismissed my reading light and relit my mane, casting the room around me in pink and purple light. I'd spent some time working on my illusions, finding a shade of flame that looked intimidating without clashing with my colour scheme. Lacking anywhere better to hide them, I shoved the chessboard and the dinner platter from the night before under the bed, then dismissed the barrier.

Light streamed in from the window, driving away the artificial gloom and forcing me to squint to see Clover. The evidence of her sleep deprivation was more prominent now, bloodless skin and uneven gait joining the worsening circles under her eyes. She didn't meet my eyes, instead looking fixedly at the books piled up beside me.

"Good morning," I said. I felt more natural in my fake amusement, now. I'd spent much of the night practicing my tone under a silencing spell, narrating my plan to myself while I worked on my enchantments.

"Every book. You took out every book in the castle library that made reference to Night Mares."

"I'm given to understand that there are no withdrawal limits. Besides, these are fascinating. Did you know Night Mares can't tell lies? I didn't."

Clover stormed up to the barrier, only stopping short of crossing the circle itself. "You are entitled to reasonable hospitality and nothing more. Give me back my books at once or so help me I will find a way to make you suffer."

"But then what will I read?" I whined. "I'll tell you what: you can have half, and when you're done with those, come back and we can swap."

Without waiting for a response, I picked up the top half of my "to read" pile, plus the three I'd already read, and passed them over to Clover.

"Other half."

"What?"

"Give me," hissed Clover, "the other half. I don't trust you. I don't trust you not to give me the books with mistakes, or a pile of decoys that only mention Night Mares in passing. Give me the books you kept for yourself, and take these ones back."

I almost told her that she should take a random mixture of the two piles rather than risking a double-bluff. My common sense managed to put a stop to that, so I swapped stacks with her in silence, keeping only the book I had been reading before she came in. She looked ready to demand that as well, but held her tongue.

Reluctantly, she turned to go, then spun back and walked right over the circle. "No, wait, I'm not done yet. You can't have left the room, which means you've been acting through the servants. How did you find every single book before I even found one?"

"A spell."

"What. Spell."

"A spell to look for words."

"And how did this spell find those words from inside the circle?"

"Obviously it had to leave the circle first."

"How did the spell leave the circle?"

"It was carried."

Clover visibly restrained herself. Her eyes had narrowed to pinpricks, and even from where I lay meters away I could hear her grinding her teeth. "Give me a straight answer, right now."

I pouted. "Oh, you're no fun. I gave a servant, whose name I don't recall, a spellform inscribed with a spell to search the library for the term 'Night Mare'. I asked her to bring me anything that it pointed out to her."

Clover's eyes widened. "The circle should prevent any of your magic from crossing the boundary. How did you-"

"The spellform didn't have any of my magic in it. The energy comes from the unicorn using it."

In truth, I was just guessing. I had no idea how Clover's 'circle of salt and silver' worked, so I'd systematically made every kind of magic item I could think of and thrown them at the barrier.

"Tell me," Clover said, "that the spell you had cast served no hidden purpose."

"The spell I had cast for me served no hidden purpose. It looked for books containing the term 'Night Mare', nothing more."

"I will instruct the servants not to humor any more such requests. Goodbye." With that, Clover hopped gingerly over the barrier and stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

I sagged with relief. My heart was hammering in my ears, and beads of sweat had formed on my brow. I wished, not for the first time, that Princess Celestia had let me learn medical-grade anti-anxiety spells when I had the chance.

I turned back to the book I'd been reading. For a book of fables, it wasn't especially soothing. Of the twenty one stories it contained, four featured Night Mares in a prominent role. I'd only just read the last one.

It was about a about a magician named Evanescent, who was locked in a bitter rivalry with a wizard called Gambol. In the course of her research, Evanescent discovered in a deep cave the prison of a Night Mare by the name of Palimpsest, who had been bound there in ages past.

Evanescent sought out Palimpsest, asking for knowledge of spells long forgotten. Palimpsest offered a deal. A single soul on which to feed, she said, would soothe her hunger, and Evanescence need not fear, for a single soul would not give her the strength to escape her prison.

Evanescent agreed, and returned to her city and snuck into Gambol's home while he slept. Catching him by surprise, she subdued him with magic and brought him to the Night Mare's lair. As promised, Palimpsest granted to Evanescent a book of powerful spells, and sent her on her way.

Rather than devouring Gambol's soul, however, Palimpsest offered him deal: the souls of ten ponies, in exchange for his freedom. Gambol agreed, and the next night he returned to his city and crept through the slums and tenements, and with magic chains bound ten criminals and madponies he was confident wouldn't be missed, to bring before Palimpsest. After she'd sent Gambol on his way, however, Palimpsest made the same offer: if each on the ten brought ten victims of their own, Palimpsest would release them. They agreed, and that night they crept into the city, going from house to house looting and kidnapping. Working together they brought, in twos and threes, the promised hundred souls. Again, however, when the ten went on their way, Palimpsest made her offer, and the next night the hundred ponies went into the countryside and travelled from village to village, taking for her one thousand captives.

At last, Palimpsest came before her thousand prisoners. This time, however, she made a new offer: she would release them only on the condition that they deliver to her in bondage every single pony in the city. The country ponies agreed readily, for they hated the city ponies who had delivered them as captives; but they despaired, for the city had high walls and many skilled soldiers, and they were only peasant farmers. And so Palimpsest offered to arm them with her dark powers, if they would in turn agree to serve her. And the ponies agreed, for their farms had been burned and they had no homes to return to.

And so Palimpsest's army fell upon the city, weilding her dark magic and cursed weapons. And, when she was given her due, she devoured the souls of each and every pony that had lived within its walls. And, when at last the she came upon Evanescent, she struck her down and reclaimed the book of spells. With her hunger sated, Palimpsest's power swelled, and she tore through the bindings that anchored her to the cave, free to plague the world again.

As disturbing as it was, it gave me an idea, though nothing to do with my escape. Rather, in the great checklist in the back of my mind, I'd written in a new header. The header read: Long-Term Plans.

The task of getting myself thousands of years into the future was far from trivial. It had occurred to me, out of the blue, that it was quite possible I would never make it home; and furthermore, even if I did, it might be some time before I did. And, if I was to spend any amount of time in the past, I might as well make myself useful.

It hadn't escaped my notice that the light of civilization was rather on the dim side, and, while I could hardly blame them for it, the ponies here were utter savages. I had even come across passages in my readings that indicated the pracise of slavery, as unthinkable as it was, was still alive and well. It was undeniable to anyone with the pertinent information with which to compare, that any country not ruled by Princess Celestia was barely worth living in.

And so I came to a dilemma. For whatever reason, Princess Celestia's united Equestria was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps she controlled some part of the continent, while Canterlot had yet to be incorporated into her rule. Perhaps she hadn't even been born yet – even to me, Princess Celestia was very closed-lipped about her origins. I could hardly pledge myself to the service of a pony who didn't even exist yet. What to do?

Now, I was a practical Canterlot pony – the real Canterlot, not this rotten hovel – and I would never dream of shying away from hard work, especially when I was the only one for the job. It seemed to me that this was very straightforward problem, in which the country had a dearth of decent leadership. I was hardly in any position to deny that there was an obvious solution. It was evident that, as the only educated, enlightened pony in the whole world I had a moral obligation to take over, for the good of the species as a whole.

And so I resolved, and, as it wasn't relevant to the situation, put the thing clear out of my mind.