Author's Note

Yay! New chapter! As I said, I promise to work on this until it's done, though as you'll see, some days are going to be skipped in this chapter, thus, I want more of the 'Teacher Sessions' to appear for each skipped day! A compilation of seven points!

Comment down below to tell me what do you want to learn about this world and NNN through the Teacher Session. Also, give the student and teacher a name! They need it.

Hope you enjoy this random chapter.

Later

Chapter 10:

As the two stallions walked through the long dim light corridors, the two made sure to be on the lookout for any traps there might be. They disabled the occasional darts and jumped over the spike pits, which looked more like plastic than anything else, and they continued to trek forward.

“I think what’s going to be the hardest part is just getting up those stairs.” Midnight muttered as he pointed to the very tight staircase. It was narrow enough to make it nearly impossible to fly without hitting yourself, and even more so for one with huge wings like Midnight. The white stallion could also feel his magic wavering as he neared the stairs, and upon taking the first step, he felt it instantly shut itself off. Taking a step back, he felt energy surging back into him, but this only caused him to frown.

“Yep. Well, at least we’ve trained to run for hours on end right?” Shining stated, causing Midnight to smile.

“Based on how tall the tower appeared when we first arrived, this shouldn’t take us more than fifteen minutes.” The blue pegasus said with a grin before running up, with Shining Armor following.

Fifteen Minutes Later…

“Huh. That’s strange, we should’ve been at the top of this tower by now.” The young soldier said as he looked up and saw an endless spiral of stairs. Shining Armor looked around to see if they could exit the staircase, but to his surprise, there was nothing but stairs and more stairs. Even the way they came from was now just an endless spiral of steps.

“I’m starting to think that coming up here was a bad idea.” The white stallion said, dread filling him as he started to believe that they’ve entered a trap. Midnight simply waved his hoof around.

“Nonsense. I’m sure we’ll find a way out soon!” The blue pegasus said before continuing his march upwards.

Twenty Minutes Later…

“Uhm… Yeah, this is going to become slightly annoying.” Midnight said, taking a second to pause and look around for any clues before resuming his trek, with Shining Armor following behind.

One Hour Later…

“Heh. This could be a training montage you know! ‘Midnight and Shining Running For One Hour Loop!’” The blue pegasus exclaimed excitedly, with Shining taking a quick moment to breathe, causing the youngster to look at him. “Aw! Don’t tell me you’re tired already! The Equestrian Armed Forces should be able to march 40 miles for 54 hours at the minimum. So this will be a piece of cake.” The blue pegasus stated, causing Shining to blink at him.

“You do realize that The Equestrian Armed Forces and The Royal Guard are two different things, not to mention that the first was disbanded when the Thousand Year Peace began, right?” The white stallion asked, causing Midnight to let out a laugh.

“Of course! I’m not a dum dum! But if our ancestors managed to do that, then so should we!” The blue pegasus said as he continued to march on.

Two Hours Later…

“Do you feel the burn Shining! Do you feel it!”

“Yes, I can Midnight.” The Captain of the Royal Guard said with a hint of annoyance, not at Midnight specifically, but at how long they’ve been walking without a single sign of an exit. “Let’s take a break for now, ok?”

“Nope! We have to go higher and higher, Shining!” Midnight stated as he continued to walk up, forcing Shining to follow as there was a genuine risk that if they spread apart, they might not be able to encounter each other again.

Six and a Half Hours Later…

“My little pony, my little pony… ma ah ah ah My Little Pony! I used to wonder what friendship could be My Little Pony! Until you all shared its magic with me!”

Shining could only place a hoof to his face as Midnight began to sing My Little Pony for the hundredth time or so. A yawn escaped his mouth as the white stallion started to feel a tad tired.

“Come on Shining! Sing it with me!” Midnight quickly added before continuing on his lines. Shining Armor could only roll his eyes before begrudgingly singing along since there was nothing else to do but walk.

Day Two

Shining munched on a piece of bread that Midnight brought along. It tasted great. What did not though was the fact that-

“How are we still walking!?” Shining yelled as he looked up, the endless loop of stairs practically in the same position as yesterday. The blue pegasus simply shrugged.

“Idk. But don’t worry. I’ve brought some provisions that should last us a long time!” Midnight said, giving the Captain a cup of water which he accepted, feeling thirsty.

Day Three

Shining groaned as yet another day passed. His legs started to buckle as they’ve passed the 54-hour mark for a long time. The only thing that prevented him from passing out was the food that Midnight gave him and the colt’s constant random actions, which were probably the pegasus’s way of maintaining his sanity.

Perhaps there was something that he could talk about with Midnight? They probably were going to be staying here for an eternity.

The stallion blinked before facehoofing himself.

One. Eternity. Later.

“So uhm. I think we’re kind of stuck here.” Shining said, dozing off from time to time as they found themselves within a black void. The stairs had ended up disappearing at one point, but when they entered the blackness and tried to return, the void was the only thing that greeted them.

“Later. In the Void.” Midnight said out loud, before laughing at a joke that he only knew.

So much later that the old narrator got tired of waiting, and they had to hire a new one

“So we’ve basically failed the challenge from the get-go since we’re infinitely trapped here, right?” Shining asked as he placed a pawn only for it to get knocked over by Midnight’s Queen. The young colt looked up from the chessboard they were playing on before answering.

“Actually, I don’t think we should be further than November 14th if I’m correct. My sleep schedule hadn’t changed during this time, and thus it’s pretty easy to tell how many days have passed. Oh and checkmate.” Midnight said, causing Shining to groan as he was defeated for the hundredth time.

“How did you become so good?” The white stallion asked, causing Midnight to smile as he began to look back into his memories.

“When you’re competing against Twilight, you need to quickly grow if you want to keep up. Even though I’ve yet to dominate her, I’m able to get to the endgame most of the time against her, which is a feat to be honest as she usually can beat you during the midgame.” The blue pegasus said, chuckling a bit. “We’re going to get out of here, I know we will because Discord will probably realize he accidentally left something in the kitchen and lower the chaos around here.” The blue pegasus guessed, not really caring if it was going to be true or not. Shining Armor simply sighed as he tried to think of something to ask Midnight.

“What are you going to do later?” Shining Armor asked, prompting the young colt to scoff.

“Getting out of this place, obviously, finish whatever this whole ‘NNN’ stuff is, and go back to training Gallus I guess.” Midnight said, guessing what Shining was trying to say. The white stallion nodded, all of those being valid questions. The Captain of the Royal Guard was about to let the conversation end there until he decided to press forward with the question.

“How about much later?”

“What do you mean ‘much later’?” The young stallion asked, tilting his head towards the Captain. “The only thing I plan is to train and be a guard for the rest of my life because it’s the only thing I know and what I’m best at.” Midnight stated, causing Shining to shake his head.

“Like… I know you’ve lived a secluded life Midnight, and you’ve basically dedicated every second to the military, but… wouldn’t it be fair if you gave yourself some time? Or maybe dedicate your time to finding a… a special somepony?” Shining asked, surprised at himself. It wasn’t his intention to go this route. Midnight simply blinked.

“Special somepony? I think Gallus mentioned it when we were talking about Twilight.” Midnight said, unaware that he made Shining think that Gallus, Twilight’s former student, wanted to hit her on. The Captain’s face slowly turned into a shade of red. He didn’t know if it was coming from embarrassment, anger, or both.

“I think I’m going to have to go and talk with him,” Shining said. “But anyway, a special somepony is somebody you deeply care for.”

“Like Twilight?”

Shining once deadpanned as Midnight looked at him innocently.

“She’s been a sister to me since I met her. That qualifies right?” The blue pegasus added, causing Shining to let out a heavy sigh. He wouldn’t object when the time eventually came where Twilight would present her coltfriend to the family, but at the same time, the Captain had to admit that he was sometimes extremely protective of her, which was a good thing in his eyes!

“Uhm no. You like Twilight, but as a sister. You like like Moonlight as a best friend. A special somepony though is a like like like. How in the world does that work, I frankly don’t know, but that’s what kids usually say.” Shining said, scratching his mane, before realizing a mistake in his wording. “Wait, I got it mixed up. Like like like is when you have a crush and like like like like is the special somepony when both of you are engaged. Like times five would be marriage, and like times six is parenthood, and like times seven would be sticking till the end, even though you could argue that like times six and seven are just five but exten- you get what I’m saying?” The white stallion asked, before sighing as he saw Midnight still being confused.

“Uhm… nope.” The blue pegasus admitted, scratching his mane in confusion. “Why are you telling me these confusing things that I can’t understand?” Midnight asked.

“Because you’ve… you’re… I feel that you’ve fallen behind somewhere down the line in terms of your maturity. It isn’t that bad to act innocent like Pinkie from time to time, but you take it to a whole new level. Again, I have to ask, didn’t your parents teach you these things at the age of thirteen?” Shining asked though he noticed Midnight’s ears flickering a bit.

“...no,” Midnight said with a hint of confusion. “I went to military school at the age of twelve, so whatever you’re talking about, I’ve never learned.” The colt said.

“Then what about health class? Weren’t you supposed to take a test about it?” The white stallion asked again, prompting Midnight to shrug.

“I slept through the class, I was concentrating on studying other topics, and the final test was easy due to the process of elimination because I just needed to circle what I didn’t know.” The blue pegasus said, causing Shining to deadpan once again.

“Ugh… well… we kind of do need your innocence to stay alive during these challenges, as it allows you to stay concentrated and think outside the box, but promise me that when this whole ordeal is over, you’ll try your best to… ‘mature’ for a lack of a better term.” The white stallion asked. Seeing how his Captain was behaving, Midnight slowly nodded.

“Alright… I’ll try ‘maturing’ if you will. Later.” The blue pegasus said as the two stayed silent in the void. “Want to play again?”

“Sure. Let’s just hope we won’t be stuck here forever.” Shining said as they reassembled the pieces and began to play again.

“Maybe if Discord is looking at us, he’ll be bored of seeing us play chess for 24 hours straight!” The blue pegasus exclaimed before letting out a laugh.