An Eternal Night To Remember

Chapter 2

The balloon had been adrift for more than two hours, and the sun had finally set. The moon had taken its rightful place as the sentinel of the night sky, lighting the world below in a silver blanket of light. The wind was calm but swift, moving us along at a steady pace towards our destination. Nobody was talking; we were all just admiring the view of the countryside underneath us.

I pulled back my hood and slipped off the jacket, folding it up and placing it in one of the bags Kimono had brought along. The shirt I was wearing underneath was light blue and had no sleeves, exposing my arms to the cool night air. I very rarely wore my jacket during the night, preferring to show off my alabaster skin to the starry sky above. I always loved the night, even before I came here. I remember staring at up at the sky for hours, dreaming about the planets and cosmological bodies that floated out in that infinite nothingness. I always wondered whether there was life on other planets, and I guess that I figured that out when I came here. Though I probably wasn’t on another planet, but in another dimension, as magic didn’t exist where I came from, and we definitely didn’t have magically infused hydrogen that acted as a sun.

That took some getting used to, realizing that the sun above could be moved, and that it wasn’t really a sun at all. It was classified as an arcane sun, a ball of hydrogen isotopes that had been created through the fusion of hydrogen and pure magical energy. It had about the mass of the moon, and due to it being mostly magic, it was fairly simple to move if you had enough unicorns. There have even been cases of unicorns powerful enough to move the sun and moon by themselves. The moon, while being made of rock, also had magical properties, giving off its own, weak glow that was enhanced by reflected sunlight. They were the only known arcane celestial bodies in the entire night sky. Astronomers had found other planets that orbited suns, but no suns that orbited planets. It seemed as though our world was alone in the universe.

Our world. Sometimes I still couldn’t believe that I lived in a world full of magic and talking ponies. I still don’t even know how I came here. One day I was on Earth, and the next I was here. Was it a cosmic accident? Or was I here for something else? Part of me wanted to go back and visit my world, see my family again, who may not remember me. I may not remember them. I only have a vague idea what they looked like, anyway. I know that I had a sister who was about two years younger than me, and she loved ponies. Why did I go to magical pony land and not her?

There’s another part of me that is frightened to visit my home, the part of me that knows what my world was like. I was only ten, but I had already seen what war could do to people. I remember my neighbor, a woman who was a few years younger than my mom. Her husband was in the army and was fighting in another country that started with an I. One day she received a letter in the mail; her husband had been killed. She had come over to our house and cried while my mom held her. I think I was seven when that happened.

I was pulled out of my reverie by a slight tug on my pant leg. I looked down to see Kimono staring at me with worried eyes.

“You have that look on your face again, Daniel. You’re thinking about home, aren’t you?”

I sat down and ran a hand through her mane. “This place is my home, Kimono. I wouldn’t leave you, or anyone for that place. I just wonder what my family’s doing right now, and if they miss me,” I said.

“I’m sure they miss you, but I don’t like it when you think about them. You always look so sad when you do. I hate seeing you like this.” She leaned over and nuzzled my neck.

“I know, but I just can’t help thinking about it. I just want one day to go and see them. They wouldn’t recognize me, I’m sure, but I’d just like to see how they fared.”

Kimono sat down on her stomach beside me, stretching out her legs. “What do you want to see during the Celebration? I want to buy some silk for a few new dresses and see the gardens again. I had such a lovely time there when I visited the place as a little filly. What about you?”

“I want to check with some of the archaeologists I know. Apparently a pegasus by the name of Daring Do found some old ruins near the border of Unicornia and the northern wastelands. They don’t belong to any known pony tribe or civilization that exists in the Known World. From what I know it’s some sort of temple to a god or a great king. This may give us insight to what other civilizations could be out there.”

The Known World, as it was called, was made up of three distinct areas. The first was the one that I lived in, called Equestria. It was mostly temperate forest and grassland, with some mountains to the far west and north. It housed the equines; the three pony tribes, the Breezies, and the donkeys. The earth ponies lived in the grasslands, which they called Terra, in several villages, mostly taking care of farming and agriculture. The unicorns lived in a slightly mountainous region called Unicornia, with small villages at the borders, while most unicorns lived in the capital, Unicorn City. They used magic to raise and lower the sun, as well as take care of any major problems with their magic. Then there were the pegasi, who lived on the cliffs by the Forever Sea, calling their land Pegasopolis. They fished and had the ability to direct clouds with wind, causing a lot of them to be hired out by other villages in cases of famine and drought. The Breezies were a tribe of diminutive equines with butterfly wings and antennae on their heads who lived in the heavily forested areas. They foraged most of their food from the forest they lived in. They cared for the plants and the animals that lived there, helping to reforest areas that have suffered due to environmental factors. Finally, the donkeys lived in remote villages in the desert, near the border with the griffons. They worked primarily as miners, digging up salt and gold.

The second region was inhabited by the griffons, and aptly named Gryphonia. This region was mostly dry, arid mountains, where the griffons hunted and farmed what land they could. They built their nests in caves that were either natural or carved into the living rock. Each had a nest, and each nest had a Nest Mother, who was the matriarch and head of the clan. The griffons had a large population, but mostly stayed in the desert, which was incredibly vast and had plenty of resources for those who knew where to look. South of Gryphonia was the Scorched Place, as the griffons called it, an uninhabitable desert that never received any rain and was made up of sand. It was a dangerous place to go, as gigantic scorpions called dowpincers lived in the area, killing anything that happened to step on the sand. Many griffons and pegasi had attempted to cross the Scorched Place, but they either gave up or were never seen again.

The final region was located to the far northeast, past the only sliver of wasteland that was possible to cross. It was a glacial area called Mammoth’s Hold, and, despite the name, was inhabited by reindeer. Not much was known about them, as they were incredibly secretive. The tundra and glaciers they lived on provided enough food for them to survive eve in the harsh environment. To the north was an impassable wall of ice, beyond which was said to be the afterlife, or so the reindeer believed. They worshipped mammoths, who they believed to be divine beings that ferried the souls of the dead beyond the ice. Mammoths hadn’t been seen for thousands of years, and were probably extinct, but the reindeer still believed. They even had a mountain that they viewed as being the tusk of a great mammoth that created the world by burying himself in ice. The sun and the moon were supposed to be his eyes, which he gave up to bring life to the planet. As crazy as this world is, I’d believe it if I saw enough evidence.

Currently, the grasslands of Terra were starting to give way to the more forested and hilly areas that indicated the border between it and Unicornia. There wasn’t an official border, but it was generally accepted that the sort of in-between land that we drifted over now belonged to whichever tribe needed it the most at any current time. The ponies of Equestria generally shared things, anyway, so it wasn’t much of a big deal to them who was using the land, or for what purpose. The borders had become blurred in recent years, anyway, and there were many that wished for Equestria to become an actual nation, complete with a parliament and everything.

After another hour Minty, who was doing a surprisingly fantastic job of not killing us, started ranting about socks, as she is wont to do. It was fascinating, really, how if socks didn’t exist, civilization itself wouldn’t exist, never mind the fact that the reindeer never wore socks and were doing just fine. Minty firmly believed that socks were the answer to all of life’s problems, even going so far as to give a sock to a sea serpent about a month ago, hoping he wouldn’t eat us. He tried to anyway, and we only got away after I shot an arrow into his eye.

“But Minty,” Pinkie interrupted, “If the number of socks you have is in proportion to your socioeconomic status, why don’t you live in a mansion? You have an entire room full of socks, so shouldn’t you be the richest pony in Equestria?”

“Of course I’m the richest pony in Equestria. How do you think I get the money for the balloon repairs that I have to do all the time?”

“That makes no sense, Minty,” I interjected. “I know that you sell socks and help out with the baking at Sugarcube Corner, but that shouldn’t be enough money to repair the balloon for all the times we’ve destroyed it. Come to think of it, what do you do for food?”

Minty just laughed and adjusted the controls of the balloon, bringing us to a higher altitude and letting us catch a faster wind. “That’s a secret that, and I’m not telling.”

Note to self: Investigate the possibility that Minty is a master thief and has robbed any vaults filled with treasure.

The next few hours passed in relative silence, with both Kimono and Pinkie falling asleep, leaving Minty and I as the only ones awake. The area below had become more mountainous, and we had caught a breeze that was moving us along faster than expected. I figured that it was around one in the morning, and judging from the landscape, we were about two hours away from Unicornia, making this one of the fastest trips I’ve ever made to the place. A balloon ride normally takes twelve or so hours, and walking normally took a week, but it looked like we would be there in nine hours, maybe ten.

“Hey Daniel.”

“What is it, Minty?”

“Do you think that we’ll see Lily when we get there? She said she might be at the High Castle, but only if she was able to finish her botany studies with the griffins.”

“I don’t know, but if she isn’t, we’ll still manage to have a fun time. You shouldn’t be too down about it,” I said.

Lily, her full name being Lily Lightly, was a light pink unicorn with a pink and blue mane, and had a lily for a cutiemark. She studied botany at Unicornia University, and had travelled to Gryphonia to study some of their unique flora. She was a good friend of mine, and she was also Minty’s unrequited crush. Either Lily didn’t want to hurt Minty’s feelings or she was denser than a block of lead when it came to love, because Minty had the most poorly hidden crush on her I’ve ever seen. Anytime Lily would talk to her she would blush and start stammering out things about socks, much more than usual. Whenever we went to Unicornia I would try and set the two up on a date, but I’ve had no luck, as something always gets in the way.

Minty just sighed and stared straight ahead, the light breeze gently rocking the basket we were in. Her eyes had a faraway look in them. I wondered if this was the look that Kimono didn’t like to see on me, because if it was, I could agree that I didn’t like it much, either.

A few minutes passed before I heard Minty speak up again, sounding like she was on the verge of crying. “I just love her so much, Daniel. She’s the most amazing mare I’ve ever met. She’s so beautiful and talented, and whenever I think about her my heart feels like it’s going to burst from my chest. I’m happiest when I’m around her, even if for a few minutes. Her laugh is sweeter than any music I’ve ever heard, and I would give anything to hear it. But I can never tell her how I feel. I always seize up and go on and on about my stupid socks! Who am I kidding; she’ll never go for me. She could have any stallion in Unicornia. Why would she want a mare like me?”

To say I was stunned would be a grave understatement. I had never heard Minty say anything like this, or sound so melancholy. She even insulted socks, for crying out loud. I had no idea what to do or say, not wanting to stick my foot in my mouth. I thought for a minute and decided to go with my gut reaction.

“You should tell her.”

Minty looked away from the controls and towards me, a look of pure confusion on her face.

“But I just told you that I can’t! How can I tell her something when I’m not physically able?”

“I know that this may be difficult, but it would be for the best. If she’s at the Celebration, I’ll figure out a way to get you two and let you spend time together. Enjoy the festival, play some games, see some exhibits and shows, then take her somewhere secluded and tell her. If you tell her what you told me a few minutes ago, you may have a shot at her. Even if she doesn’t feel the same way, you’ll get the secret off your chest, and you might be able to move on and find someone else. Anything is better than wallowing in heartache and self-pity.”

Minty looked thoughtful for a moment before finally nodding her head. “I’ll try, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to. Can you take control of the balloon for a bit? I’m kind of tired.”

“Sure,” I said.

I took the controls and watched while Minty curled up in a corner, when a sudden thought infiltrated my mind.

I’m flying the balloon.

I’m flying the fucking balloon! This is awesome! I’ve never flown the balloon before! This is the dawn of a new era, one in which Minty and Lily are together and where I can fly the balloon without Minty tying me up with hemp rope and gagging me with a sock! Hear me, my subjects; I am the Balloon King, Lord of all that floats! I am ruler of the skies and the heavens! Not the pegasi or the griffons, nor the unicorns that control the celestial bodies. Nay! It is I, and it shall forever be! The Balloon King has spoken!

As it turned out, flying the balloon was kind of boring. All I did was keep us at a near constant elevation and make sure the balloon stuck to its course. I wondered why I was so obsessed with flying the balloon in the past. Maybe it was because she always insisted on it? Come to think of it, without Minty’s crazy and inept aviation skills, we wouldn’t have had half the adventures that had graced us in the past. I should be grateful for that. Those adventures may have always been life-threatening, but they had brought us so much joy and fun. Our escapades had given us so much room to grow and change, familiarizing us with the world and its inhabitants. Part of me thought that Minty purposely crashed the balloon, if only to give us some excitement.

Another hour passed and we were definitely in Unicornia. The landscape was nothing but snowcapped mountains and fjords, bisected by the blue waters of the Concord River. It ran from the glaciers to the northeast, through Equestria and down to Gryphonia, where it turned into a mere trickle that fed some bogs and swamps. The river curved around the mountain that was the foundation of Unicorn City, so we should have been only a few minutes until the city came into view. My hunch was right, as the capital appeared once we rounded a mountain that was obstructing the view.

There isn’t much to say about Unicorn City except that it’s one of the most beautiful sights one could lay their eyes on. The city was built on the second tallest mountain in Equestria, and the city fit like the crown atop a monarch’s head. An outer wall of ancient, white stone wrapped around the city, forever guarding it against invasion. Turrets and guard towers were equally spaced among the ramparts, housing the Unicorn Guard, who kept an ever-vigilant eye out for any signs of trouble. Houses and mansions clustered together in specific arrangements along streets and alleyways, giving the impression of a helix pattern found on crystals. Four monolithic towers had been erected in four, specific points, representing the four cardinal directions. The jewel of the city, however, was a gigantic castle that seemed to have stepped from the pages of a fairytale. The High Castle, as it was commonly referred to, was built of marble and basalt, sporting many fine towers gilded with decorations and carvings. The center of the castle was a large dome, which housed the Council of Mages and Unicornia University, a place of learning for all unicorns. In recent years it had opened up to the other tribes, offering courses in other subjects besides magic.

The city was bustling with activity, despite it being night. The city had been decorated, and shopkeepers and business ponies had opened booths and stands everywhere. Many had games or sold food, while others peddled their wares, from exotic griffin spices to donkey jewelry. The city parks, normally barren except for trees and fountains, had been prepared for arrivals by balloon or air-chariot, sporting landing fields and runways. I directed the balloon to an empty patch of grass, landing it as softly as I could. The landing was still bumpy, though, and it jostled the three ponies awake. They sat up, bleary eyed, and rubbed away their sleep with their hooves.

“Time to get up, ladies. I need you to help tie down the balloon.”

I cut the flow of power from the magestone and swiftly jumped out of the basket, staking a metal spike into the ground, tethering the balloon to it. My three compatriots followed suit, placing their spikes into the ground. We pulled our luggage from the basket, me placing my bow and quiver on my back, while I placed a small backpack over that. Once we made sure the balloon was safely deflated, we all headed out into the city, our eyes sparkling with excitement. It was present on some ponies more than others, though.

“Are you excited? ‘Cause I’m excited! I’m super excited! Ooh, what’s over there? And there? There are so many things here! I’ve never been so excited!” Pinkie’s voice had risen a few octaves higher and she had begun bouncing around, barely able to contain any of her energy. I swear, sometimes it can seem like she’s a completely different pony. She’s normally pretty mellow, but as soon as she joins up with a party or a festival, she becomes an excitable ball of fun, never staying in more than one place for a few seconds.

Minty’s excitement was much more subdued, but it was still apparent. Her eyes were as wide as saucers and her grin had become impossibly large, threatening to overtake her face. She trotted along swiftly, with a merry strut in her step. I was glad that she was so happy; it would hopefully take her mind off of Lily.

Kimono, unlike the others, stayed right by my side, walking slowly and taking in everything with an observing eye. She was trying to act mature and ladylike, but I could tell that she wished to run around and join in with the exuberance of her friends.

“There’s no need to be so reserved, Kimono. It is one of the largest festivals ever; nobody will care if you cut loose. I can see a stallion over by the fried vegetable stand checking you out. He’s pretty cute, too. Go talk to him.” I gave her a nudge, gently pushing her towards the area the stallion was at.

“I do not need you to tell me how to have a good time. And I’m not going to hook up with some random stallion. Wait, you mean that one? Well, he is quite handsome, and I guess talking with him couldn’t hurt.” She trotted off in his direction, her tail swishing more than usual.

I knew the stallion, actually. His name was Shining Armor, and he was Captain of the Guard for the city. They must have given him the Celebration off, as he wasn’t wearing any armor or uniform. Shining was a really nice guy, and I think he and Kimono would be good together. I only wish that his sister had inherited some of his traits. Her name was Twilight Sparkle, and she was a member of the Council of Mages, and the youngest to ever receive the title. She may be a prodigy, but she had an unbearable personality. Twilight’s pretentious and smarter-than-thou attitude would grate on my nerves whenever I came in contact with her. She was a perfectionist, and gave the other council members the idea to make me write that stupid journal. I could hardly look at her after a certain incident when she came to visit Ponyville. After up and disappearing, I went looking for her and, unfortunately, I found her. In the castle linen closet. Becoming intimate with Spike. I took a very long, very cold shower after that, and the image of those two fornicating has forever been burned into my mind. I only hoped that I wouldn’t see her before the sun was raised, that way I would have time to enjoy the festivities before she chewed me out for not finishing the journal. I would tell her that I was close, and hopefully she would forget about it after a while.

“I saw what you did with Kimono and my brother, Daniel. Also, do you have the journal?” a voice behind me asked.

Dear gods, what have I done to offend you? Whatever it was, I promise that I’ll make it right, if you give me the chance. Sincerely, Daniel.

I turned and faced my second-worst nightmare, Twilight Sparkle. She was an average sized unicorn mare with a purple coat and black mane with a pink stripe running through it. Her cutiemark was of a starburst, signifying her proficiency in the arcane arts. She was wearing the Council uniform, a set of red robes that had gold trim around the edges. Strangely, she wore bracers around each hoof, with each one containing a small magestone imbedded in the metal. A runic cypher necklace encircled her neck, completing her attire.

“Are you mad that I tried to set up Kimono and Shining?” I asked.

Twilight shook her head. “On the contrary, I think it’s a great idea. My brother deserves a nice mare like her. Now then, do you have the journal?”

“No, I don’t. I only filled about half of it, and most is a convoluted mess. There are a lot of things about my life that I can’t remember clearly, and I constantly keep forgetting certain things. I’ll try to fill out more of it, but you’ll just have to make do with what I give you,” I lied, waiting for another lecture on procrastination, laziness, and the importance of staying organized. Surprisingly, it never came.

“I should have expected this from you. Normally I’d spend the next hour lecturing you, but it is a holiday, and I have to prepare to raise the sun with the other mages. But you had better not forget. I already pre-made a list to remind myself to check in on the journal. I’ll see with you about it in a month. Enjoy the Celebration.” With that she turned and walked off.

I’d dodged a bullet, but an artillery shell was fast approaching. She made a list. Twilight Sparkle had put my name on a list, and she always checked her lists and followed them to a T. I would have to make as much bullshit up as possible to put in the journal, which I hoped was still in my trashcan.

I wandered around for a bit, sampling food and trying to find my friends. I found Shining Armor giving Kimono a teddy bear that he won from a game, so I decided to leave them alone, as they looked to be doing just fine by themselves. Pinkie was stuffing her face with gargantuan amounts of sweets and baked goods, and frankly, her eating habits grossed me out when she ate like that. For whatever reason her body was able to defy all known natural laws, swallowing cupcakes whole and drinking enough hard cider to inebriate a flock of griffons.

I searched around for Minty but didn’t see her, so I tried going farther into the city, near the market district. I was flagged down by vendors of all kinds, trying to sell their wares to the only known human who, for some reason, they perceived to be rich. I did stop and speak with some salesmen named Film and Flam after they sang a catchy song about their machine, the Heavenly Harvester 3000. It could apparently increase the speed of a harvest by seventy five percent, and I had to hand it to them, it was a clever machine. I told them to head down to Ponyville after the Celebration, as the local farmers would be very interested in it. I made subtle references to what a great town it would be to settle in, as they seemed like nice lads, and Ponyville was in desperate need of stallions.

I eventually found myself in a place that was dedicated to the sale of flowers and exotic flora, and I was in for a big surprise. The street I was standing in divided into two, forming a v, with houses and buildings in between. On the right side of the v-street stood Minty, browsing through some lilies and bouquets of roses. On the other side of the street, heckling with a merchant over the cost of something or other was Lily Lightly. It was obvious they hadn’t seen each yet, nor had they seen me. I knew that this was a perfect opportunity to try and get the two to spend time together, but I needed to figure out a way how.

After several moments an impossibly convoluted scheme blossomed from the half-dead bush that is my mind, and I began to chuckle in a low, maniacal laugh, and slinked into a nearby alleyway, with only one thought permeating my head.

It’s shipping time, bitches

Author's Note: Not much happens in this chapter, as it was to mainly illustrate some background information and set things up for the later plot. There will be some shipping, but it will be so minor that I decided to not include a romance tag. At some point in the future I'll include why Minty fell for Lily, but that won't be for a long time.