Eternal Requiem

Chapters

Chapter 1: Freedom to Think
Chapter 2: Freedom to Respond
Chapter 3: Freedom to Take
Chapter 4: Freedom to Party
Chapter 5: Freedom to Judge
Introduction: Freedom and the Resolution to an Absolution

Chapter 1: Freedom to Think

He couldn't believe what he saw as he was literally pulled away from his "home" for the past millennium. Give or take a year or two.

The castle, the glorious castle that his Master had once lived within was in...ruin. Literally. It was a pile of rocks and stone in the vague shape of what had undoubtedly been a magnificent castle...Okay, it wasn't that bad. But it wouldn't last another millennium, that he was sure of.

'I guess Master's sibling couldn't stand to be in the place where Master had "turned against her," or something to that effect.' He thought to himself. Though he would have voiced it if he were able.

He had been expecting to be brought to the same throne room he had sworn himself to the Eternal Night, the one used by his Master and her sister. The accursed Day.

And as luck would have it, it was just that. Day. The sun was high above him, at least he assumed it was, based on the position of shadows, and how bright it was. If he could, he would sigh out loud. He much preferred the cool dark of night over the blistering heat of the sun.

If he hadn't already made that obvious.

And it seemed as if a forest had grown where Her Magnificence once called home, and even within his magical prison, he could sense the ambient magic, just pure magic, in the air. Had the final battle done that? The weapon the accursed Day had used against his dark Goddess?...And why was she so quiet?

She referring to the purple unicorn mare with the purple cutie mark currently moving him with her magic. She had been...incredibly quiet. Considering her first reaction to finding him was to talk to herself. He guessed no one knew he was still conscious then. Or she was just a bitc-

"I must admit, you aren't at all what I was expecting." Brought out of his thoughts by the purple mare's words, he turned his attention to her again, and found her looking back at him as she walked. Him naturally in tow. Occasionally glancing in front of her to make sure she was still going in the right direction.

"The only creature known to have joined Nightmare Moon not through fear, but through agreement with her," as she paused to take a breath, he couldn't help but seethe inside his stony prison. Of course he did! She was the only creature to ever earn his respect. And there had been others...at least he thought so..."and to stand by her even as she was being sealed..." He thought he saw her shiver momentarily.

"I honestly thought it would be scarier looking."...So he wasn't scary looking...Why did he feel so disappointed by that? And what did she mean by "it?" It was considered rude to say that right to someone's...face...She didn't know he was conscious. She was simply talking to herself. Trying to pass the time. His mind boggled as she took another deep breath. She was still going to talk? He also dimly noted that she wasn't even looking at him anymore, just the path ahead of her.

"I wonder what Princess Celestia wants with it...maybe to reevaluate..." And the rest was just mumbled nonsense that he couldn't make out. So it was the Day Princess who requested his presence. And for her to send just one civilian looking mare instead of an armored guard...She thought highly of the prison he was in. And he couldn't help but agree with her, it had held him for a millennium after all. And didn't seem to have weakened any in that time.

The rest of the trip through the forest passed in relative peace. He couldn't make out what the purple mare was mumbling to herself about, and they did not run into any dangerous creatures along the way. So when they emerged out of the forest, he realized just how wrong he had been. That forest had been heavily shaded. This was blinding. And he couldn't even blink! How was the young mare not rolling around on the ground in pain from this!?

The logical part of his mind, which he was still surprised had survived with as much of it as intact as it had, noted that she would have to be used to such sunlight. And that he wasn't used to so much light after so long being imprisoned. He promptly told that part of his mind to go stuff it...Whatever that meant. Was it supposed to mean something? Why had he thought it?

He noted they were approaching a town. A relatively small town. One that, if he were remembering the area as well as he thought he was, wasn't there back before his imprisonment. It seemed like a nice place, based entirely on appearances. The kind of town everyone knew everyone else, and everything that happened was soon known by the entire town.

And they were headed straight towards it.

They passed by a nice cottage on the way into town. It was close to the forest they had just left. And it seemed to be owned by some sort of veterinarian, or a meat eating creature, if the number of animals surrounding it was an indication of how many must have been inside it. It was right then that he realized something...troubling.

He missed bacon.

Even his dark Mistress had been disgusted by his omnivorous nature. So he had attempted to give it up...Yeah, he discovered that wasn't going to happen. Ever. So he discreetly ate meat when no one was around to see it. They knew he was doing it, but didn't comment on it. Better to just ignore it altogether.

And they were in the town, he realized with some frustration. His thoughts over food having distracted him long enough for them to enter the town itself. Ponies stopping to stare at him as they passed. The mare responsible for his freedom from the metal prison, said a few words to nearly every pony they passed. Assuring them that everything was fine. And it was during one of these brief conversations that he discovered something that just outright horrified him. Something so terrible he couldn't believe his ears.

They were still using the pony specific terms of "everypony" and "anypony!" That had annoyed him to no end, being called a pony when he clearly wasn't, every time someone wanted to lump him together with more than just himself. No matter the creatures involved. It had been just sheer coincidence that none of the purple mare's speech had included the need for lumping multiple creatures together.

Screw whatever he had been planning to say to the accursed Day Princess if...when they met face to face. He would be heard, he would tell her exactly what he thought of the practice! Other creatures deserved to be included! Ponies weren't the only sapient creatures in the world! Terms like "everybody" and "everyone" weren't species exclusive like "everypony" and "anypony" were.

The purple unicorn mare somehow affiliated with the accursed Day Princess stopped in front of a rather...strange building. One that he didn't even notice because if his tirade about grammar and racism...specism...Whatever it was called. Anyway, it was a building that looked like it was actually made out of sweets of all kind. And he wouldn't be surprised if it actually were, given how just downright innocent and eccentric some ponies could be.

His logical side reminded him that if it were, animals would make short work of it. Making such a building unnecessarily flashy, needlessly expensive, and completely pointless.

So it was just unnecessarily flashy then.

With a roll of his eyes, if he could do such a thing that is, he was pulled along by the purple mare up to the front door...and promptly set down off to the side, just to the left of the door. He pictured how a glare might look, and then pictured himself giving the oblivious purple mare the hardest one he could imagine. She simply walked through the doors, and he heard some excited...screaming? Screaming. As the door closed behind her. Cutting off whomever that had been.

Leaving him alone. In the middle of town, full of curious ponies whom had never seen anything like him before. Whom were probably just being polite by allowing the purple mare to pass without much question about himself.

Oh look, there were already some ponies approaching him. Some of them were even kids.

She was going to pay, he swore. Once he was free. She. Would. Pay.

He would have breathed a sigh of relief if he were currently physically capable of doing such a thing, as he heard the door to the strange...he guessed it was a pastry shop. He heard the pastry shop door open behind him. And he heard the distinctive footsteps of a pony, er, hoofsteps of a pony, walking his way. The fillies and colts playing with the "strange ape statue" were already going back to their own business.

So it was with considerable surprise that he noted the color that approached at the edge of his vision was not the lavender-ish purple he had been expecting, but a bright pink.

Soon he was face to face with yet another new pony who undoubtedly wanted to see the strange statue the purple mare had been toting around town. He prepared for the usual prods and strange terms he did not understand he had come to expect in the, maybe ten minutes? Twenty minutes at the most, that the purple mare had been gone. And he inwardly cringed as the pink mare took in a deep breath.

And then he was floating again. He could see the purple glow at the edge of his vision again, giving him a pretty good idea of who was responsible. And lo and behold, there the purple mare was again.

"Pinkie, please. I asked you not to draw attention to it." She was lecturing the pink mare whom he now knew was named "Pinkie."

"Aw c'mon Twilight! Just look at him! I've never seen a statue like him before!" That was good, he supposed. That meant she had never encountered any humans before...but why was that good again? Was it good? And did he just finally learn the name of the mysterious purple pony? Twilight huh...fit. Somehow, he knew it fit. Just as much as the name "Pinkie" fit the pink mare.

"-and then Discord looked kind of like him when we used our super awesome powers to defeat him, and then I saw something that remind me of Discord in my coffee, it said f. k. which are letters in the alphabet and Discord seemed like the kind of guy who would rearrange the alphabet just to mess with teachers, or at least I got that impression-" Wait, she was still talking!? He decided to patiently wait for her to finish before starting his usual tirade he had developed within his time as a-'What did she just say!?' Discord!? As in, chaos incarnate Discord? Discord, whom had been so terrible that he had been turned to stone by the accursed Day Princess and his Master back when her Moon was still subservient to the Sun?

Ah, he understood now. His shoulders would have sank if they had been made of flesh and bone at the moment. But he stood in the air, unmoving as ever. He didn't notice anyway.

They were simply going to reinforce the spell put on him, to make sure what happened to Discord doesn't happen again. At least for a long, long time.

He bleakly noted that they were on the move again, Twilight walking just ahead of him, and himself being forced to follow, being pulled along by her magic. The pink one, Pinkie, was following them. Spouting off some nonsense about cupcakes and frosting. He paid both of them little mind.

He pulled his mind from all thoughts aside from what his fate was to be. And he noted that they were moving into a train. And he only noticed because his head knocked against the top of the door as he was pulled in.

He briefly wondered if the train ride to wherever they were headed would be interesting.

It wasn't.

Author's Note

And there we have the first "real" chapter to this story.

Bit of a slow start, and it only barely peaked 2000 words. Which I have decided on as the minimum for each chapter. Though if I can make it farther than 3000 without adding too much needless padding, I will try.

So, like it, if you like it. Favorite it, if you want. And leave a comment. I desperately need constructive criticism. Tell me what I've done wrong, any continuity errors, outright contradictions within the story. Anything.

Chapter 2: Freedom to Respond

'This is the most boring train ride I have ever been on.' He decided with a mental sigh. Mental because such an action would require him to put effort into it. Which would require motion.

And breathing.

Breathing which required lungs. And while he was pretty sure he still had lungs, his working theory behind his stone prison being that it was merely a magical shell that paused time itself for him on everything but his waking mind, which he honestly hoped was an oversight, he did not have the necessary ability to draw in air.

Which reminded him, he had constructed a few choice words to say in his time since the final battle between the now sovereign ruler of Equestria and his dark mistress. Quite a few words in fact. He had nothing else to do but think during his imprisonment.

Except that first twenty years. He mainly spent those relatively short decades screaming inside of his own mind. He mostly thought about how the Day Princess was going to die a slow and painful death. Freezing, he determined, was the best option for such a task. The wonder that is Homo Sapiens Sapiens, the human species every modern human is part of, had come up with such downright great ways to keep the body alive under incredibly painful circumstances. Cut someone open, introduce enough of a drop in temperature, and let them watch as their organs stopped one by one.

The logical side of his brain that he was getting increasingly annoyed at informed him that he didn't know nearly enough about the human body, or what his species had accomplished, to know if such a thing was even possible. He briefly wondered if this is what created someone like Discord, logic getting in the way of everything they found fun.

Now he added yet another thing to add to his ever-growing list. 'Why was I conscious?' It was one of the cruelest things he had ever experienced.

Dear goddess, did the pink one ever shut up? He was surprised his latest tirade about nothing had lasted as long as it did. He had gotten used to such ramblings going on for years straight, simply as a way not to go completely mad. But this mare just didn't stop talking. He wasn't even listening anymore, but he could still hear every word she said right next to him. Not once had she paused to take a breath in the whole train ride.

Another troubling thought, why did he know what a train was? He hadn't remembered seeing a train before his imprisonment, but he distinctly remembered them. And he also remembered being inside of one quite a few times.

'Must be the millennium I spent completely awake for nothing but silence.' He decided, with no attempt to hide the bitterness that leaked into his thoughts. Not like he could hide it anyway.

Must have been why such ordinary looking mares had been able to take on a force like Discord and win. Discord must have been driven mad, madder than he used to be at least, with no outlet for his chaotic nature.

If he were able to, he would have let a bitter smile form across his face. The Elements of Harmony were still in use, even after a thousand years of peace, relatively speaking, until Discord's return. The Day Princess couldn't have used them all by herself, so that would make these two mares the ”-and then Mrs. Cake let me eat as many strawberry flavored cream-covered totally delicious and scrumptious tarts as I could!”

How is she still talking!?

With a sigh, he decided to put his internal ramblings on hold for a moment, and turned his attention to the two mares sitting across from him. He had been placed across multiple seats laying down, though it wasn't enough, with his legs from the knees down hanging out in the middle of the train car they were in. He only barely registered that they were entering some kind of tunnel as he did so, and the scenery was lower when they came out than it was when they entered.

“And that's when I found out I had a totally awesome, super duper power to eat over three times my body mass in less than ten seconds!” And he immediately regretted his decision to do so, grateful the story she was telling was at it's end. And then the purple one, Twilight, started speaking. Her voice and manner of speech a striking contrast compared to the hyper pink mare, Pinkie, whom was less calm and tended to string on sentences into one big mess, as he had noticed in the increasingly long train ride.

“Pinkie, we need to focus.” She berated the pink one, though not as harsh as he would have. “Now are you absolutely sure everpony left for Canterlot while I was in the Everfree Forest? The princess was very specific on when we were to bring it.”

Canterlot huh? Did that even exist back before his imprisonment? It sounded vaguely familiar. And it sounded pompous as all hell for whatever reason...Probably the new location of the royal castle as well. As they wouldn't store the Elements of Harmony, which he still dreaded they were only traveling to use on him, anywhere else but near the princesses. Now princess, singular, he supposed.

“Sheesh Twilight, do you really think I'm that irresponsible?” She asked with a huge grin, to which the lavender mare only rolled her eyes. “Of course they did! I saw them get on the train with my own eyes!”

That seemed to satisfy the lavender mare named Twilight, who turned her attention away from the pink mare named Pinkie, who was now staring out the window making funny faces at what they passed, and began to write on a blank scroll. Muttering to herself all the while.

“I shall now give a physical description of the human while it is in it's stone prison.” Ah, good. He would finally be able to remember what he looked like it seemed. It was still worrying that he couldn't recall anything other than his gender and his species, while still retaining all of his memories...Or what he thought were all of his memories. He wouldn't really be able to remember if anything were missing.

“The human has a mane on the top of it's head, and no hair can be seen anywhere else, though it is nearly covered in a kind of clothing, so such an assumption should not be made at this time. It's limbs are thinner than a pony's, closer to the kind the more slender ponies like Princess Celestia have. And it does not appear to be overweight given it's visible build and height. Though such an assumption must not be taken for granted until more is learned of it's kind.” So he wasn't overweight. Not something he had thought about, but good to know, he supposed.

“It is reportedly male based on the legends spoken of in such books as 'The Mare in the Moon' and other writings detailing Nightmare Moon. Again, assumptions should not be made until confirmation on gender is established.” At this, she paused to look over her notes, before nodding in satisfaction.

“It's forelimbs end in what resemble claws, though they do not have sharp points like is found on normal claws. This combined with it's lack of anything resembling a natural weapon, gives one the impression that it's species is peaceful in nature. Most likely herbivorous. All in all, it is physically similar to an ape. Though nothing like any of the currently known kinds of apes. Perhaps an offshoot of some of the smaller types?”

It physically pained him just how much she was getting wrong about his species. And it honestly angered him. Humans were complex. They were scavengers, hunters, omnivores, and much more than what they appeared at a first glance. They were the apex predator, for crying out loud! They were at the top of the food chain, with no natural predators of their own.

Or at least he assumed so, it had been so long since he had seen another human that such things were starting to become fuzzy. He didn't even notice that she hadn't described his features in a way that would matter to him, nothing on how he, specifically a unique human looked like.

“It is clad in clothing of some kind, color and material indeterminable while in it's prison. The clothing extends from it's torso to the not-claws. With an entirely separate piece extending down it's hind limbs. What these hind limbs end in is indeterminable at this time, as it is covered in a final piece of clothing, similar to what some ponies wear during special occasions. But not exactly enough that I am hesitant to give them the same name. Color and material indeterminable like the rest.” It went without saying that he didn't quite remember what he had been wearing when he was imprisoned, and such a vague description didn't help matters.

The purple mare finally stopped speaking what she wrote out loud, wrote a few more lines before putting the quill and scroll she was writing with away in her saddlebag, and turned to watch the bright pink one interacting with some of the other passengers. A dark green pegasus mare with a paintbrush for a cutie mark, a light yellow unicorn stallion with a cookie for a cutie mark, and a light green unicorn colt, barely old enough to speak, with no cutie mark present.

He was still getting the odd look every once in a while by the other passengers, but he paid them no mind. Something far more important had his attention at the moment. The train was slowing down. Out of the corner of his never-blinking eye he could see buildings. They were at this “Canterlot” at last.

'That was the most boring train ride I have ever been on.' He repeated his words from earlier. And he felt more than ever the need to stretch his limbs. But he didn't. Stone prison and all.

Did he mention he was still incredibly bitter about the whole thing?

He dimly noticed the purple glow signifying the mare known as Twilight's magic at the edge of his vision, before he was lifted up out of his seat and out the door of the train.

His head smacked against the top doorway again.

They had been walking for several long minutes, through the streets of what appeared to be a very high-class city. The kind that always looked too clean, and filled with buildings that looked too expensive, and the ponies they were passing weren't much better. Very rich looking ponies, with very neat and stylish hair, adorning many kinds of jewels, were literally everywhere. And they mostly seemed to be unicorns.

He unconsciously suppressed a growl of anger, until he realized he didn't need to. These ponies reminded him way too much of the ones that had called for the execution of his mistress when their daily lives had been disrupted because of the lack of, well, a day. They had been thoroughly punished of course, even he had to admit the Day Princess wasn't quite that evil, but they had remained resolute in their decision.

He turned his attention to the pink mare trotting beside the lavender one, her constant bouncing and hyper behavior enough of a distraction for him to force his anger down. Such a thing would be saved only for his meeting with the now sovereign ruler of Equestria. If there was a meeting, he realized with a mental groan. The possibility of them just reinforcing his prison still weighing heavily on his mind. He was probably considered a monster, both figuratively and literally, in the minds of these ponies. Especially in the eyes of the Day Princess. As he had been one of the ones to encourage her sister's rebellion. One of the few to still exist to this day in all likelihood.

Of course he had only encouraged her after she had started calling herself Nightmare Moon, so anything done on his part probably didn't do much to her decision. But the Day Princess probably wasn't going to see things that way, and in all likelihood, would push a considerable amount of her grief onto him. Which was very, very bad.

As much as he hated her, he couldn't deny that she had truly cared about his mistress.

He briefly considered going into another rant to pass the time, when he was blinded by a great flash of light, and then violently shoved into the side of a building. He didn't feel any of it of course, and he heard the lavender mare, Twilight, yelp in surprise. Followed by a thud.

“C'mon Twilight! Stop playing in the dirt, I know it can be fun sometimes but sheesh. You said we needed to get to the castle ASAP.” He couldn't tell if the pink one was mocking the lavender one, or if she was being completely honest.

After listening to her for as long as he had been, he was sure he didn't want to know the answer to that question.

Feeling thoroughly annoyed at being shoved into a wall, albeit painlessly, he felt the distinct feeling of magic envelop him, and he was soon lifted off the ground and being carried through the air again. This time facing away from the two mares in front of him. Now behind him, he supposed.

He heard two sets of hoofsteps, so he assumed the one called Twilight was alright. And as he was being carried away, he noticed some of the ponies who had been giving him strange looks earlier look downright shocked, probably at the way he had been slammed into a building.

Add another item to the list of things the Day Princess and those affiliated with them were going to pay for, if he ever got out.

The two mares suddenly stopped, and so did he within moments as well. As he wasn't facing forwards, he couldn't see why. But soon realized what was going on as soon as they were on the move again.

They were entering a structure. A large structure. A large structure with an incredibly fancy and intricate interior. A large structure that was most definitely a castle.

The royal castle. They had finally arrived. He could feel his nonexistent heartbeat quicken with each door they passed. Both the lavender mare and the pink one were silent as they walked. Occasionally they passed a group of two or so guards, guards which looked the same as how he remembered. It had to be a spell, he reasoned. Though he tried not to pay too much mind to it.

The number of guards increased as they continued on their way to the throne room.

Or the dungeon, his pessimistic side supplied. Best place to reinforce his prison and then leave for another couple millennia.

Finally after what seemed like hours, though was probably no more than a few minutes, they entered through yet another doorway. This time was different. The ponies taking him stopped in what he would guess to be the center of the room. Himself being placed down directly behind them. Still facing away from them. And that's when he heard it.

“Ah, Twilight Sparkle, my most faithful student. I see you have returned from your assignment.” It was a melodious voice. Almost beautiful even. The kind of voice that could inspire fear, devotion, and loyalty. This was the voice of a leader, of a ruler.

This was the voice of the Day Princess, Celestia herself. Elder sister to his dark mistress.

This was the voice of the one he held nothing but contempt for.

“Yes princess, I have brought the human as you requested. Am I right in guessing my friends arrived before I did?”

This was it, the moment had finally come.

“You would be correct my student, all but one of them have already arrived. And I can see she arrived with you.”

A millennium of waiting.

“Yep! Heya princess!”

A millennium of nothing but silence.

“And I see she is just as enthusiastic as ever.” Princess Celestia said with the faintest chuckle.

A millennium of nothing but his own thoughts to keep himself sane.

“So now that you have it, can you tell me what you needed it for?”

There were no words.

“I shall explain when your friends arrive. For now we shall head to the throne room.” She called for a guard to escort the other Element Bearers. And with naut a salute, he went off to do as he was ordered.

No words to adequately express what he was feeling at that exact moment.

He barely registered that he was moving again, he barely even registered that they were speaking as they went. All he could focus on was what he so desperately wanted to say. Oh how he wished he could move his mouth, and force his vocal cords to make the necessary sounds to what he so desired to say.

Soon they arrived in a room larger than the rest, he was placed back onto the floor of what was the throne room. There were many voices in this room, all speaking seemingly at once. This went on for a few moments before the Day Princess interjected.

“Enough.” Instantly the entire room was bathed in silence. He heard hoofsteps, louder than the rest approach him. Coming from something larger than a normal pony. Making a slight metallic clink with every step.

He saw the glow of magic at the edge of his vision again, not the purple he had become used to, but a light yellow. He felt his heartbeat quicken, or he would if he had a working heart at the moment, as he was being slowly turned. Soon, he was face to face with the last pony he had ever wanted to see again.

Princess Celestia, ruler of the sun. Queen of the Day. She looked just as he remembered her. An alicorn. A pony with both a horn, and wings. She was incredibly powerful, and incredibly imposing. Time had done nothing to lessen this.

Though he distinctly remembered her being much taller, if he was right about him standing at his full height in his prison, then it appeared he was taller than her. His eyes level with the tip of her horn.

He barely gave such thoughts any mind, what truly caught his notice, were her eyes. Not full of malice, hatred, or even any anger. They merely looked into him, through him even, with pity and sorrow.

“I must admit to never expecting to see you again.” She finally spoke after a long moment. “You look exactly as I remember you...you proud fool.” She had let her head droop just ever slightly as she uttered the last part.

“You were full of so much life, so much curiosity. Such a desire to learn in a colt, excuse me, a boy, as young as you. A desire I have seldom seen matched. You could have used your thirst for knowledge for much more worthwhile endeavors.” Her eyes turned back up to meet his own. And he couldn't even bring himself to feel as angry as he knew he should have.

“But instead you chose to follow in the hoofsteps of a fool and her cosmic temper tantrum.” He heard multiple gasps as the Day Princess continued her bitter ramblings. He thought he heard the pink one mutter something about faces, but paid it no mind.

"And look where you are now, I can barely look at you, it pains me to see one of my subjects, no matter their allegiances, in such a sorry state.” She stared into him for a few more moments before seemingly snapping out of whatever she was in. She turned toward the now fully identified Twilight Sparkle, the protege of the Day Princess.

“You girls may begin. We have to make sure.” They all seemingly nodded at once. And that was when he realized how many people were in the room with him. Seven. There were seven ponies in the room, not counting the guards. The Day Princess was now standing off to the side. Five of them were wearing necklaces with jewels of strange shapes, shapes matching their respective cutie marks.

The lavender mare known as Twilight Sparkle had a crown, a crown with a glinting purple jewel shaped like her cutie mark.

Ah, the Elements of Harmony. And they were going to use them. On him.

He was sure that if he were able to, he would have been crying. A millennium alone, and in silence. His hope crushed, his mistress gone. Only to be taken out of that prison, have his prison of stone reinforced, and be moved to a new dungeon.

He could feel the energy those mares were pumping out now, and it only served to terrify him even more. The one in the middle of their little group, the one who had found him, taken him out of his room for the last millennium, was channeling all of the Elements' powers into her. Slowly building, her eyes glazing over, becoming pure white.

And then a blast of all the colors of the rainbow struck him, and he was blinded by an intense light.

He could feel himself falling.

And he caught himself.

He stayed in his crouched position, on his knees, his hands supporting him, and kept his face down. A slight tremor rocked his body as he sucked in air, breathing for the first time in just over a millennium.

Finally he raised his head, revealing to the ponies present piercing icy blue eyes, framed by a black mane. He was breathing heavily, but he never took his eyes off of a certain pony. Her own gaze staring impassively back at him.

He took in another deep breath, before speaking in a raspy tone of voice.

You...you...” He took in another breath, having the complete attention of every pony in the room. His eyes widened as he raised an arm.

"You absolute bitch!”

He was on his feet. His arm outstretched, glowing with an icy blue light. Ice exploded outward from his hand. Aimed straight at Princess Celestia.

She merely broke through his attack with a blast of her horn, the blast continuing toward him until hitting him squarely in the forehead.

The last thing he heard was panicked shouting. And the last thing he saw was the incredulous shocked stares of six young mares.

And then the sweet embrace of darkness claimed him.

The throne room burst into action, all six of the Elements of Harmony having no idea what to think of what transpired, but immediately took positions in front of Princess Celestia.

Admittedly a useless gesture, she supposed. If something with the power to kill her presented itself, they would not be able to use the Elements of Harmony in time to stop them. Such a power was incredibly rare, and she had met none with such a power in some time. Save maybe Discord, but that wasn't his style.

The human's actions had shocked her. Not the attack itself, no.

She had expected such a thing to happen.

No, she had anticipated such a thing, and had a carefully powered blast ready just in case. Just enough power to render a creature of his size and durability unconscious.

What had shocked her was just how immediate she had been attacked. That was a bad sign. It meant one of two things, neither a pleasant thought.

On one hoof, it could mean Nightmare Moon's servants had truly hated her and her sun that much.

On the other, it could very well mean he was provoked by her words beforehand. Meaning he could have been awake the entire time. Such a thought brought chills to her.

This brought something to mind she had heard long ago, something from the very human she just blasted, something he had said when he read about the Elements of Harmony. Something she never understood until now.

“Hm. "Good is not nice" indeed.”

Author's Note

And that's the second chapter of Eternal Requiem. Sorry it took so long to get out. College assignments have eaten up a lot of my time. Please rate, comment, and point out anything you may notice as being wrong in this chapter. Continuity errors, contradictions in the chapter itself. That sort of thing. Please do, I need all the constructive criticism I can get.

He's not too much of a Mary Sue, is he?

Chapter 3: Freedom to Take

Everything was going to be perfect. That which he dreamed since he was small. In power that was. Not small in stature- and you get the idea.

Everything was as it should have been. Everything was perfect. Everything was right.

He was standing in the middle of the throne room that now belonged solely to his mistress. Creatures of all kinds were gathered, all to see her in all her great dark power.

She was sitting on the throne she once shared with her sister, looking out at her new subjects with a cool calm. Her slitted green eyes ever watchful of those around her. She took her time to get together in her head what she wanted to say, and when she opened her mouth to speak, a hushed silence fell over the massive crowd.

“My loyal servants, though it took us far too long to achieve our victory, we beseech you all, cherish this celebration, you have all earned it!” A massive cheer arose from many of those present, himself included. He did all he could to ignore the angry stares of those whom were still unhappy at his master's defeat of their princess.

He was cheering so hard that he almost knocked over the dark coated pony standing next to him.

“My little ponies, eat, drink, and be merry! For things have changed, and those changes are here to stay, thou wouldst not want to pass up such an opportunity!” Gazing upon his mistress in her moment of triumph, he couldn't help but smile. She was the victor, she was happy. She was loved by her subjects just like she always wanted to be. And he had been a part of making that dream become a reality.

“For such a glorious occasion we shall declare this night the “Night of the Full Moon!” Such wonderful celebrations shall be had on this new holiday!“

Now darkness reigned supreme over everything. Eternal night had finally arrived, and it was here to stay.

He was the happiest he had ever felt in his life.

He awoke to the sound of beeping.

Opening his eyes was far harder than he expected it to be, and he barely opened them enough to see that he was in a white room of some kind before he had to shut his eyes from the blinding light above him.

“Ah, a hospital, how wonderful.” He rasped out loud in a bitter tone, though not through any real effort. He barely even recognized he had spoken. The events of yesterday, possibly even longer, played out in his memories. Scrunching his closed eyes even further, he attempted to speak in as serious a tone as was possible.

“Blinding light, my old nemesis, we meet again.” He may have been more than a little delirious at the time. If his allegiances and general dislike of the sun on principle hadn't clued everyone in, he was not a morning person. He also wasn’t an evening person, or even a general all around day person.

With a tired sigh, he rose up into a sitting position. He blearily blinked at the tubes in his arms, and followed them up to see he was connected to an IV. He took this opportunity to examine the room they had deemed worthy for their newest prisoner.

It was a very nice, modern hospital room. Looking out of the nearby window, he could see that night had fallen while he was asleep. The moon was visible, and a quick glance at the clock told him it had just begun. He sighed in contentment.

He took another glance around his room and came to another conclusion. There was way too much white for his tastes, but he couldn't help but feel relaxed. It was quiet. Not the soul crushing quiet of his stone prison no, this was comforting, relaxing. He almost smiled.

Almost.

As the minutes ticked on, he felt his mind awaken from it's dreary state somewhat, and his mind became clear in an instant. He was injured enough to warrant an IV.

It didn't make any sense, he couldn't have been harmed enough by the accursed day princess to warrant the condition he was in. Thinking back to their confrontation, he tried to remember if he perhaps had been like this even before then. Had he been injured a millennium ago, and simply forgotten about it? He quickly came to the most logical conclusion he could fathom given the circumstances.

“I am still dreaming.”

It was as if everything outside of his little hospital room washed away into nothing, and he felt the never ending weight of nothingness close in around him from all sides. With a scoff, he turned his head to the side and whispered his opinion on the situation.

“Dreaming is not as nice as I imagined it would be. Can I go back to the happy dream?” When absolutely nothing changed he let out a tired sigh. Perfect.

“I do hope I've not fallen into a coma.” He muttered aloud to himself. The last thing he could remember was the blast by that accursed day princess striking him in the head. Which made him wonder if perhaps she was unfamiliar with just how delicate mortal heads were...

Putting those thoughts on hold, he laid back down into the not-real hospital bed.

As he felt sleep pull at his consciousness again he briefly wondered who was beside him, as he could see a dark coated pony out of the corner of his eye. It took a moment to recognize them from the nicer dream. How long had they been there?

Through a half-lidded gaze he watched as they opened their mouth to speak, but found the words coming out in a muffled mess.

“You are [...]ol you [...]nt. Why must you f[...]ight!”

No, he was mistaken. He simply couldn't hear them.

With a muffled grunt, he fell back into the hospital bed, and watched as everything around him faded into nothing. Darkness claimed him once again.

He awoke to the sound of hooves clopping, muffled speaking, and a blinding light that could have come only from the accursed sun.

He struggled to open even a single eye, and found that he couldn't hold it open for more than a few seconds. Though a quick glance around had told him all he needed to know.

It was a very clean hospital room, though nothing like the one he saw in his second dream. At least he thought it wasn't, the memory of the dream was already fading, so he instead grunted in annoyance. He found this to be a mistake, as all around him became quiet for a moment, before all of the noise from earlier came crashing back, only this time directly next to him.

Forcing his eye open for another moment, he saw it to be a pink unicorn stallion with a light blue mane. He couldn't see his cutie mark, but he assumed it had something to do with medicine. As this pony was a doctor. Or maybe a nurse. But he was going to assume doctor. He had the strange stereotypical metal thing he did not know the name of on his forehead. After immediately shutting his eye again from the bright light, he heard the pink stallion take a deep breath.

He sounded young. “He seems to be awake nurse Heart Throb, and based on how he reacted to the princess he might react violently to us. I need you to either hold him down, or give him something to make him sleep for a while longer as I insert the thermometer.”

It took him a moment to realize why he would need to be held down, and when he did his eyes opened in a panic. He focused magic into his fingers and tried to lift his arms to defend himself from the ensuing probing. He couldn't lift his arms.

The spell completed, he felt the room's temperature drop significantly, and also felt a slight numbing in his legs. Attempting to raise up, he only managed to raise his head, and found himself strapped to the bed he was currently in. He also discovered the reason for the numbing in his legs, he had frozen the bottom half of the bed, and himself. He could already feel the heat rush to his cheeks from such an amateur mistake.

“I don't think he likes that doctor.” He heard whom he assumed was the nurse say through chattering teeth. To which the doctor only grunted in annoyance. Glancing at each of them, he found the nurse to be a dark brown earth pony with a blonde mane, and a syringe for a cutie mark. And now that he could see the doctor properly, he found a stethoscope cutie mark on his flank. It only took him a moment for him to decide what to do, and he had to fight off the smirk that almost spread across his lips.

He narrowed his eyes and took great pleasure as both ponies flinched.

“No, I don't.” His voice came out cold, exactly as he wanted it to. And it seemed appropriate. He knew exactly what they were going to say to him even before they said it. First they would offer their apologies, and then they would call for backup.

“You can talk!?” They both shouted at once. To which he simply blinked in response. He hadn't been expecting that.

“Of course I can speak.” He was confused, and it showed on his face. The two ponies suddenly looked a lot more nervous than they did before.

“But the legends say that you were a mindless bea-” The nurse stopped cold as the temperature dropped even more, and one glance at the human's face told her everything she needed to know.

He was livid.

In the back of her mind, the part that currently wasn't frozen with fear, she realized what a strange combination it was. Such freezing cold coming from pure emotion and magical instinct, while the human looked as if he could burst into flames at any moment. She didn't voice it, of course.

He took several deep breaths to calm himself down. That was something he hated about himself. Just how hot his temper could be when it came to his intelligence being questioned. Normally his anger came out in a cold, tranquil fury, or at least he thought it did. With a final deep breath he could feel his emotions coming back under his control. He lessened the freezing cold air coming from him to a slight chill, and then finally it faded away into nothing.

“A word of advice.” He stated, looking directly into the eyes of the brown earth pony nurse. His voice had turned cold. “It would be in your best interest to not assume the magical monster is no longer a threat once it is strapped down, especially if you have made no attempt at limiting it's magic. Doubly so if said monster is from what I can only assume are legends and monster myths.” If what the nurse had said earlier was true, he was in at least a few legends.

“Noted.” She squeaked out.

“Excellent.” He nodded to her once, before taking a glance out of the nearby window and saw that he was in the same city as before. He turned his gaze back to the nurse, and he wondered why he felt that something was off.

His eyes widened in horrified realization when he noticed the pink stallion doctor was missing. That would mean...

“What is the meaning of this?” A naturally melodious voice called out.

Oh god damn it.

A glance to his left revealed the owner of the voice, exactly who he was dreading it to be. There she stood in all of her usual glory. Her horn was as sharp looking as ever, her wings were tucked to her sides, her mane was just as ridiculous, and majestic he grudgingly admitted, as it always was. It was Princess Celestia, ruler of the sun, queen of the day. The sovereign ruler of Equestria. And the very person he had tried to murder.

What does one say to such a person? A person whose very life you had attempted, rather futilely though not that it mattered, to kill? They gazed into each others eyes for several long moments before he decided to make his move. He raised his hand, still strapped to the bed after all, and made a slight movement using his fingers. He almost laughed when he noticed the spell she immediately prepared in response.

“Hello.” He stated in a flat tone.

The magic gathering within her horn blinked out of existence once the pony princess realized that he was greeting her. And he felt a moment of personal triumph as he witnessed something he was sure not many creatures had been granted the privilege to see. Princess Celestia's normally calm exterior melted away for just a moment to give way for outright shock. He thought he even saw her jaw dropping, when it was suddenly back just as soon as it had left. He watched with rapt attention as she took a moment to gather her thoughts before opening her mouth to speak.

“It would seem you are in a much more reasonable mood now. Some of my little ponies were worried that you were rabid. You put on quite the show back there.” After a thousand years and that was what she had to say? Well, two could play that game.

“Yes, well. Do not downplay your enemy's intelligence and you won't have that problem.” They both knew he was sidestepping his violent first impression on the rest of Equestria after a thousand years. And he felt the slightest bit grateful that she seemed to ignore it. She simply met his steady gaze with her own.

“I will not limit the imaginations of my subjects.” That had come out in what for her would be an icy cold tone. He simply nodded in acceptance. “Good.”

They continued on in silence for more than a few moments, the nurse was attempting to get rid of the ice that had sprung up in the room, and the pink doctor looked nervously between both him and the princess. The human ignored him.

It took five minutes for them to crack through the ice that had formed around him because of his botched spell. And with a gentle nod from the princess, the doctor and nurse took their leave. It took a few more moments for the frost-covered human to gather his thoughts enough to speak. Normally he would have owed her for freeing him, yes. But she was also the one who had imprisoned him in the first place. And had left him to rot for a millennium.

“I apologize for the mess.” He commented offhandedly. “But they were going to do something everyone in this building would regret.” He finished, his steady gaze never leaving hers. He owed her nothing.

“Be that as it may,” He caught the briefest hint of a frown, though an outside observer would notice nothing wrong. “I have to insist you consider the position you are in.” Wow, she almost sounded angry. That was never a good sign. But of course that didn't stop him.

“Yes yes, I know.” He tried to wave a hand to emphasize his understanding, but he only barely managed to make it turn to the side. “The great and terrible human, enemy of all creatures that frolic in the sunshine, returned at last a millennium after being defeated by their generous and extremely kind monarch. Why, I even had the audacity to attempt to straight out murder you at the first chance, I can only imagine the rumors going around about me.” He allowed his calm expression to slip slightly, a smirk forming across his lips as he spoke the next part.

“Please tell me I'm featured in trashy romance novels. I have always wanted to be featured in a work that tries to cast my self admittedly, unashamedly dark behavior in a “lighter” outlook, and be “redeemed” through the power of love and kindness. Oh oh, let me guess, I also turn into a pony, right?” He guffawed in amusement at the thought.

“I am sorry to say that the idea of inter-species romance is not as popular as it once was.” He thought he saw the barest hint of a smile on her face as she spoke.

“Ah well, can't win 'em all.” He decided to attempt to shrug. He failed to shrug.

“I really must insist you take this more seriously.”

“And why would I go and do something like that?” He asked, almost caught off guard at how gravely she had spoken.

She seemingly ignored him. ”I would very much like for you to answer a few of my questions.” He responded by raising a single eyebrow, obviously asking why he would do something like that after all that had happened.

“If you are cooperative, you may have a much greater chance at leniency.” He wanted to ask if she meant his past crimes, or the more recent one, but he wisely chose to keep his mouth shut, at least concerning that topic.

“An interrogation then.” He stated, the princess frowned, but did not object to the term. After thinking it over for a few moments, he decided with a vocal “Fine.” As soon as the words left him, he felt himself being enveloped, and he could see bright yellow at the edge of his vision. Just to tell if he was lying, he guessed.

Before she could start asking questions, he laid down one ground rule for the interrogation “If you make sure I do not go back to my forever prison, I shall answer any question you have for me.”

She paused a moment, seemingly thinking over any way he could use such a term to hinder the questioning, and after deciding that any way would be too obvious for one of Nightmare Moon's tactical advisers, she reluctantly nodded in agreement. “Of course.”

“Then ask away.” He stated. His face back into his icy cold stare.

“What year do you believe it to be?” He would have facepalmed if he could, being asked such an obviously trapped question. He owed her nothing.

“No idea.” He answered truthfully. And he really didn't. He knew how long he had been imprisoned, around a thousand years, but he didn't know the exact date.

“Elaborate.” She all but commanded. So answering in such a way would only make her angry. He needed to be more direct in his answers then.

“Looking out the window,” he glanced out of said window. “I see a city I have never seen before, a big, important, snooty looking one. I was freed in your throne room, yet I did not recognize it. I surmise that this city did not exist back before you imprisoned me.” He turned his icy cold stare back on Celestia. “If I would have to guess? More than a couple centuries. Nurse...Heart Throb was it? She mentioned that in those legends, I was said to be a mindless beast. It has been a good long time, princess. A thousand years at the very least.”

An answer that gave no mention to his awareness, yet gave exactly what she had asked for. A simple escape when one thought about it. She likely believed him to be a bit out of it after so long. And she seemed to be mulling over his words. Before finally she turned her gaze back to him, her mouth opening to ask another question.

“Why was your first action upon being freed to attack me?” She likely knew all of the possible answers he could give to this one, and just needed him to clarify which theory was correct. Too bad he owed her nothing.

“I was pissed off at you. Very, very pissed off.” When he realized what the obvious conclusion was, he added as if it were an afterthought, “You did almost single-handedly, hoofedly, destroy my most sacred dream, and banish the one person, pony, I adored above all others. If it weren't for these bonds, and my self-preservation screaming at me right now, I would be attempting to freeze you again.” He admitted with no shame. And he even visibly startled the princess with how resolute his reply was.

“I see. One last question.” Well, that had been a short interrogation...or questioning, as he was forced to admit. It wasn't like an interrogation at all.

“How much can you recall about your species and the culture you come from?” That question had caught him off guard. But it didn't stop his mouth from answering faster than he could realize that he should keep such information to himself.

“A lot.” He then scowled at her. “Why do you need to know this?” She didn't answer his question, she simply turned towards the door to his hospital room, trotted halfway out, and turned her head towards him to say a few parting words.

“I thank you for your cooperation.” And with that, she left. The doctor and nurse came back into the room shortly after. And while he was distracted they drugged him, sending back into the darkness of sleep.

A couple of hours later, loud cursing could be heard all throughout the building after the lone human awoke to find himself alone, still strapped down. He was cursing something about thermometers, though no pony would go anywhere close to what was making such dreadful threats. He was particularly threatening what he would do with said thermometer to the doctor who had drugged him when he was able to move again.

It was two days before he worked up the nerve to ask for a mirror. And he had to physically strain to keep his mouth shut when they actually brought him one. Seriously though! Why the hell would they just give the legendary horrible monster something like that? Mirrors tended to be very sharp when broken.

He wasn't going to harm anyone of course. Not only would it just be a confirmation of their assumptions to his morality and intelligence, but it would also only end in him being trapped in his stone prison again. He would play the good little prisoner on parole, and he wouldn't do anything to jeopardize his freedom...Unless he was reasonably sure he could get away with it.

And he was stalling. He realized with some frustration. His bonds long removed under the condition he not leave the bed, he was sitting up in the bed, his back was against the wall the bed was resting parallel to.

He was nervous.

Nervous about what his appearance was. How could he not be nervous over such a thing? He had no memory on what he looked like, other than that he was rather thin (he could confirm this every time he looked down), he had pretty much no muscle on him. And he knew he had black hair, long enough to be visible at nearly all moments. He was thankfully wearing clothes, just as the mare named Twilight had unintentionally informed him.

Looking down again he had a black robe of some material. It felt a bit like silk, though he had his suspicions that it was made of something completely different. It was rather large on his surprisingly sickly-looking frame. It went all the way down to his ankles, where he could see black shoes of an undetermined material. On the back of the robe, which he had to contort into quite an uncomfortable position to see, had a giant white crescent moon. Inside the crescent were two word, "Eternal" and "Moon." In German. Which was strange, as he hardly knew any German, other than a few words here and there. He had to have put those words there though, German was not very common in Equestria, or any of it's neighboring countries. It was, however, one of the core languages in human society.

He grasped at the neckline of his robe and saw that he was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt underneath with no symbol, words, or images of any kind of it. Which felt wrong somehow, though he didn't know why that would be. And black pants made of what felt like the same material as the robe.

Other than these two things he had become mostly aware of while he had been strapped down, he had no idea what the rest of his appearance would be. And he was stalling again.

Sucking in a deep breath, he slowly raised the mirror to face him, and gasped at what he saw.

He wasn't ugly! Relief flooded him the moment he realized he wasn't a hideous mutant or something, and he took another good look at himself.

The first thing he noticed was that he was right about his hair. It was a dark black, and fell around his eyes, over his ears, and down to the beginning of his upper back. He then noticed that he was in fact wearing glasses. He assumed the reason he hadn't realized since being freed was that he was simply too used to wearing them to notice. The next thing he became aware of was that his eyes were blue. Light blue.

And finally he saw that he had a fairly normal looking face, at least he assumed so. He wouldn't call himself handsome by any means, but his face had no irregular bumps or grooves. And his eyes seemed oddly piercing. No matter how much he tried to relax his face, his eyes never lost their piercing gaze staring back at him. Another thing about himself that didn't feel right, though he chalked that up with the millennium he was so cruelly left to rot in an immortal prison.

Yes, he was still bitter. Just because he had been almost pleasant with his hated enemy meant nothing. It was called self-preservation. He wanted to keep his new freedom.

It was another two hours before he was given food. No meat, of course. It was quite a lot of food, though he could just attribute that to the hospital having no idea what the hell the strange ape in their care could actually eat. At least fifteen different fruits, there were more bananas than anything else, some grains, vegetables, dairy products, and even a small slice of cake. Just in case.

Then there were the things he just simply could not digest. Some hay fries, pure grain, a few seeds that he could not recognize as any of the few seeds humans could digest. A sandwich full of flower petals, and even a small bunny.

A small bunny.

A. Small. Bunny.

A small, baby, bunny.

They weren't very subtle, were they? Looking down at the frightened creature, which was currently hiding behind a particularly large grapefruit, he glanced at the door to his hospital room/holding cell, and strained to keep the grin off of his face when he saw that they weren't even trying to hide the fact they were spying on him.

Keeping a close eye on them out of the corner of his eye, he slowly reached out towards the small white rabbit, which was frozen in place by the undiluted terror running through it's veins, and let a small smirk pass his lips as he watched the doctors and nurses gathered outside his door momentarily panic.

They almost instantly calmed down when they saw him gently pick up the creature, pat it on the head a few times, and offer it one of the carrots that came with their little dietary experiment. The small bunny instantly warmed up to the human, eagerly biting away at the food it was being given.

“I'm keeping him.” He said to them, he never took his gaze off of the white rabbit, though he did let his eyes wander slightly downward. “Or her.” He finished with some amusement.

He later found out the small bunny belonged to one of the nurses whom had reluctantly allowed her pet's offspring to be used in the experiment. Under many assurances that if it looked like the bunny would be harmed they would stop it, of course.

When asked to give her back to the nurse, the robed human simply glared at her until she whittled her demand down to letting him buy the baby bunny from her. Which he paid with a light silvery-blue gem he had found in his pocket, which had turned out to be worth quite a bit more than he had expected. Something about such gems becoming rare after princess Luna had been banished, they offered no name for the gem, and he couldn't remember anything about it. He had even refused to allow the hospital staff to remove his new pure white baby bunny from his hospital room.

“I think I'll name you Nightmare.” He stated, looking down at the newly named Nightmare, who looked up at him with wide innocent eyes. Seemingly satisfied with the name. "Be proud of it, you are named after someone I look up to very much."

It was another day before he heard a small shout come from outside of his room. Not one of pain, but of surprise. “Oh, princess!”

With a sigh, he perched the baby bunny up onto his shoulder, positioning her so she would faced the door to his room. That was when he heard many hoofsteps approach his room. And then the door clicked once before opening.

Royal guards of one shape and size poured into the room, surrounding him. The unicorns had spells at the ready, while those of the other two pony races had conventional weaponry pointed at him. Namely spears and swords. And in the middle of it all was the princess of the day, Celestia, with a very serious look on her face.

Nightmare sneezed.

Half of the guards present managed to refrain from reacting. The other half had to go outside of the room as to not embarrass their princess.

Celestia now looked amused.

He grinned.

He was standing in the throne room he had been freed in, a thin layer of frost formed along the edges of his clothes and hair, simply because of how annoyed he was.

He was being sentenced.

Everyone he knew that were still alive was there. Twilight, Pinkie, and the other Element of Harmony bearers that he had not heard the names of yet. He was bound magically a good nine or so feet away from Celestia's throne. The other ponies in the room standing off to the side next to her.

The day princess had already gone through a long list of his crimes toward Equestria, and he was once again straining to keep his mouth shut. Once they listed everything, which went from slight property damage from freezing the hospital, to grand treason against the throne by attempting to assassinate their ruler princess Celestia.

Equestria was technically a principality, wasn't it? Because he had heard it referred to as a kingdom more than once in this grand speech of hers. They had been calling it that for a long time then, as it had been called a kingdom even back before his imprisonment. A principality was ruled by either a prince or a princess, and a kingdom was one ruled by either a king of a queen.

So was Celestia a queen officially, and only took the title princess to better connect with "her little ponies?" And why had he not once ever thought about these things in his millennium trapped in stone, all alone with his own mind which tended to go off on tangents at the slightest provocation to do so.

Like right now, he was so doing it now as well. Snapping back to attention he tuned in just in time to hear the most important part.

“I hereby decree that you, young human, will be sent to...” He almost screamed at her to hurry it along, only stopping because he realized she might decide to change it to something worse. “...a small town by the name of Ponyville. Where you shall serve out your time of three years banishment. You are not to leave that town under any normal circumstances no matter what.” He almost asked what the hell a Canterlot was, and he attempted to smack himself at how stupid that question was. It was most likely the name of the city they were currently in.

“Normally the sentence for attempted assassination would be much more severe, but given that we have determined you were not in your right mind,, we are willing to grant a measure of leniency.” He raised his hand to ask why his sentence would still be so short, and princess Celestia almost seemed to read his mind.

”You will also be contributing a great deal to the Canterlot library, by giving as much information on your species and culture as you can to be written down and published by my most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, with no compensation for yourself. In exchange for a more lenient sentencing.”

He almost felt like crying. He had the distinct impression he was somehow part of a cliché now. Though he couldn't for the life of him remember why that would be. Pushing down those thoughts, of course he accepted those terms. It could have been much, much worse.

He was unprepared for the amount of noise that accompanied her proclamation. The entire throne room erupted into chaos. Every single pony present was shouting and-baby dragon...there was a wingless baby dragon with the purple mare known as Twilight. Huh...he turned his attention back to the matter at hand. Namely that everyone in the room was shouting at each other.

"Princess, I strongly object to this! Why Ponyville? Why now? Why-" Her voice was then lost in the sea of shouting.

With a roll of his eyes he loudly cleared his throat. That got no reaction. With a sigh he raised his arm, his hand already glowing an icy blue.

Now that everyone in the room had a thin layer of frost covering them, and were glaring at him so hard that he could already see the frost melting off of most of them, he finally had their attention. “So I won't be returning to that awful prison of yours, great. Now where's my bunny?” He demanded, his arm outstretched as if asking them to hand his new pet over. They had taken Nightmare from him when they arrived at the palace.

Many of the ponies whom would have probably looked at him as if he were a monster couldn't keep a straight face at the sight of the scary human with a baby bunny riding on the top of his head. He had walked through the city proud and tall.

He saw more than half of the Element bearers mouth the word “bunny” to themselves in obvious confusion. Only to have looks of comprehension replace those dumbfounded expressions when the small pure white baby bunny he aptly named Nightmare scurried out out from a nearby doorway, and he picked her up and crossed his arms around her mid-section to keep her there.

Well, at least they weren't openly disapproving of the new arrangement, though they all obviously still didn't like it. They all agreed to trust the princess, especially when the yellow one with the pink mane mentioned that they hadn't actually seen him do anything bad yet. They of course added right after that they couldn't trust him either.

He almost made a snarky comment towards them when the entire conflict was swiftly avoided when the purple mare known as Twilight confidently informed them that based on the one-sided fight between the human and princess Celestia, he could easily be overpowered by herself alone.

He chose not to take the bait.

He stepped out of the throne room, a thin layer of ice forming along the way he went. He stepped passed a dark coated pony who was entering the throne room, though he didn't pay them much mind. He had a hand covering his eyes, attempting to massage them to stave off the coming headache.

Once the human was gone, Twilight Sparkle shot off question after question for princess Celestia. Who simply cleared her throat to cease the noise.

"I know this all seems very confusing, and I know you have many question." An affirmative "Yes!" was her response. "As you have likely already guessed, he is not being punished for his actions when you and your friends freed him. But I have good reason to keep him away from Canterlot for the time being."

Before the Element bearers could ask what this was, the dark coated pony whom had escaped the human's notice stepped into the room. Revealing herself to be the alicorn princess Luna.

Twilight understood instantly.

It was within the hour that he found himself back on the train that had taken him to this Canterlot. Only this time it was with eight other creatures with him. The six mares that represented the Elements of Harmony, the baby dragon, and his new pet bunny Nightmare.

None of them would sit next to him, so he gave the window seat to Nightmare. He was no longer wearing the black robe, he had that folded neatly in his lap. Everyone seemed less nervous around him now that he was no longer wearing it.

They sat in silence for several long minutes, no one daring to break the tension filled mood without good reason. Finally, it was the purple mare, princess Celestia's personal student, Twilight who broke the silence.

“So um, human.” She started in an obviously intentional business-like tone. “My name is Twilight Sparkle.” She introduced, offering her hood to shake. He hesitantly took it.

“Nice to meet you.” He stated in a calm tone, his expression betraying nothing.

Everyone was now staring at him. Even Nightmare was curious as to what his name was. He had given her a name, but never told her his own.

“Aren't you gonna...introduce yourself?” Asked the blue element bearer, he became acutely aware of her rainbow colored mane for the first time.

“No.” He admitted, though he didn't mention why he wouldn't.

“But we cannot just keep referring to you as “human,” now can we?” Asked the white one with the purple mane.

He mulled over this for a moment, before deciding to just give out something to end this conversation. He could set it straight once he remembered.

“Eis.” He gave the German word for “ice.” He pointed to the baby bunny that had now crawled into his lap. “This is Nightmare.”

They all fell silent as they realized where he got the bunny's name from.

"Oooh, he's just adorable!" The white one finally exclaimed, playing with the baby bunny's ears.

"She." two voices rang out. He had spoken at the same time as the yellow one.

“Well, Eis.” Twilight started, and he could already tell that would get very annoying having to look out for as his name. “I have already introduced myself, so these are my best friends.” She stated with pride in her voice. Pointing to each one with her extended hoof as she named them.

“Pinkie Pie.” The annoying pink mare from before waved excitedly at him, babbling about nothing. He hadn't even noticed, he was tuning her out like before.

“Rainbow Dash.” The blue one with the rainbow mane and tail grinned at him in a confident way.

“Applejack.” Th orange mare with the blonde main tide to the side tipped the, admittedly very nice, stetson she had on her head as she nodded to him. "Howdy there."

“Rarity.” The white one with the purple mane stuck a pose and turned her head to the side and up slightly. She gave off the same kind of vibe as the ponies is that “Canterlot” had about them. "Charmed, darling."

“And this is Fluttershy.” The yellow one then. Unlike the rest, she simply retreated back farther into her seat, her head hanging down, her long pink mane obscuring most of her face. She squeaked.

A few moments passed before the purple baby dragon elbowed Twilight to get her attention. “Sorry Spike.” She stated sheepishly, and finally pointed a hoof at this “Spike.”

“This is Spike.” And now the baby dragon was flexing in triumph...Strange. He concluded. They were all very strange.

He sat there for a few more moments, mulling over what he had learned. And then he was attacked by a pink blur.

“Ohmihosh ohmigosh ohmigosh!” She screamed happily. “We're going back to Ponyville which means you're new to Ponyville, which means you haven't gotten a party yet have you!? Oh you poor poor thing you, don't worry, your auntie Pinkie Pie will take care of everything!”

“I am over a thousand years old, I don't think you would qualify to be my auntie.” He stated in a serious and grave voice.

Everyone was now laughing. He nearly froze them where they sat. Didn't they understand what that meant? They couldn't possibly...but he...

With a mental kick to himself, he realized that he had barely even hinted at him being conscious in his stone prison, and he felt his anger disappear.

“Ooooh, this is the bestest week ever!” Pinkie cried out, a huge grin on her face. “First Nightmare Night, and now I get to throw a party for something I've never even heard of!” It took longer than he would later admit for the words to sink in.

“What in tartaurus is Nightmare Night?” He asked, his stomach twisting up with dread. No fucking way...

They explained. He covered Nightmare's ears and said a very, very bad word.

It was now snowing inside the train car.

Author's Note

And that raps up chapter 3. I am very sorry about the longer delay than was promised. I will try to churn out more than one a month if I can manage it. I just could not decide where I wanted this chapter to go, so I kept writing, deleting, rewriting, and changing things whenever I had the time to work on this.

So, anyone noticing the themes I've been sprinkling through the chapters? No one has mentioned them yet. I guess I can give the most obvious one away. The as-of-now Eis for all of his posturing and belief in his own calmness and cold fury, can get very emotional.

Side note. I am very happy with the length of this chapter, and I will try and set 6000 to 7000 words per chapter as the minimum from now on. If I can make it even higher, great! And I tried to correct as many mistakes as I could, but if you notice any, just point them out and I'll correct them as soon as possible.

Another side note. He is, in fact, featured in several trashy romance novels. Only they weren't pony made. They were written by gryphon authors. Let that sink in for a moment.

Like always, like, favorite, and comment.

Chapter 4: Freedom to Party

He was going to kill them. All of them.

No, not just the Element bearers. That would be too small-minded for his current plans.

Yes, plans.

He had everything planned out. He would start by stealing the Elements of Harmony, leave their bearers half frozen in some ditch until they starved to death. And then finally storm Celestia's castle and leave her head on a pike for all to see and tremble at his unholy glory.

And then he would wake up because he was nowhere near powerful enough to pull such a plan off. Oh sure, he was intelligent enough, but the best he could reasonably throw around at the moment was an ice spell or two. If he put enough force into the spell, he might even be able to hold an earth pony for little more than an hour. A single earth pony. There were two in his plan. Not to mention Twilight Sparkle, his enemy's protege.

He would still kill all of them. Them as in the mob of ponies he could no longer ignore. The ponies who had no idea his utter contempt for them all.

He had mostly kept to himself since his arrival in Ponyville. Even he knew the ponies he was traveling with found it strange that he did not speak to any of them for the rest of the train ride, unless they themselves brought him into the conversation. Thankfully for now they were content to leave it alone. And things would stay that way if he had any say in it.

He was able to tell by their stares that they were curious. Curious as to why he had decided to follow whom he did. It was none of their business, as far as he was concerned. He had tried to ignore their stares and keep to himself, fiddling with Nightmare's fluffy ears, or monologue to himself.

Even after being shown where he would be staying, a library inside of a living tree, he kept to himself. He was of course thrilled by this arrangement. A library! Somewhere he could sit alone by himself and not be approached by other people, er...ponies. Peace and quiet were the two things he desired the most now. His ultimate goal was, for the moment at least, unattainable. So he had assumed he could at least enjoy a bit of peace and quiet for the duration of his stay.

After a thousand years of continual consciousness, three measly years would go by in the blink of an eye. Metaphorically speaking. He would spend this time doing something he never thought he would need to do, before he was sealed away. He would learn more battle oriented magic than his favorite 'freeze the object you are pointing at.' He had never really needed anything else before, if any enemy had reached him, he would have been completely screwed either way. As that meant all of the other defenses had fallen. All. Of. Them.

So why was it that this peace he so desired was being callously trampled upon by the pink Element bearer named Pinkie Pie? Not even two full days since his arrival back in the town they had passed through on their way to...Camelot was it? Not even two full days and she had barged into his personal space, announced there was going to be a party, and when he refused to move so he could “Walk in and find out what kind of party it is!” she simply brought the party to him.

The room was packed with ponies. Dancing ponies. Yelling ponies. Singing ponies. And worst of all, gawking ponies. Oh by Nightmare Moon's mane was he being gawked at. He could understand their interest of course. The student of their living goddess goes into the spooky forest, comes out with a strange statue, and then a creature that looks exactly like said statue takes up residence in her library? It was only made worse by the fact that he was, while not nearly as well-known as Nightmare Moon and Discord himself, featured in a prominent role in many a bedtime monster story.

There was even music! Oh that tartaraus damn it all music. It was up-beat, happy, and most likely made with far too much sugar involved. And it was so loud that even if he were to freeze his own head solid out of desperation for peace, he would likely still hear it.

He buried his face further into the book he was attempting to read, “Amazing Practical Uses For Ice Magic.” And he attempted to tune out all of the noise in the background. 'Though everypony involved in the experiment left with a bad case of frostbite, Ice Block, the subject of our experiment, reported that after diligent practice he found it much easier to cast snow based spells overall. Leading us to further believe that ice magic is not as complex as many ice specialized mages would have regular ponies believe.'

Okay, yeah. He admitted to himself with some embarrassment. Even he sometimes fell into the pattern that many novice mages tended to make. Up-sell any aspects of your craft not completely understood by the general public. Ice based magic, or rather a mage who specialized solely in the colder kind of magic, was rather rare. If only because of how unpopular ice magic was compared to other such magic.

Like fire.

Fire based magic was extremely popular. And while his first instinct would probably be to start ranting about how it was because of how their princess had popularized the sun, and therefor fire, to the point of absurdity, even he had to admit that it probably wasn't like that at all. Ponies were more inclined to like fire and warmth over the freezing touch of ice. Humans were like that as well...probably anyway. It wasn't like he could ask any...The fact that he still could not remember why there were no humans in Equestria other than him still greatly worried him. But he didn't dwell on it too much. As far as he and the purple librarian knew of, there was no mention of any bipedal, nearly hairless apes in any of her books.

Well, humans were mentioned in one book, but that had mostly been about himself. The rest had been small speculation about humans based on what ponies knew about him. And so it came with no small amount of disappointment to discover that ponies had-”Ah! Hey!”

He was suddenly pulled to the center of the room by the object of his current hate. The pink Element bearer herself.

“All of my hate.” He stated with an icy glare, before he turned his eyes back down to the book he was holding. The skirmish having flipped the pages to a later chapter. 'So as we have demonstrated, if you apply something that at the very least feels frozen to your horn before casting, you will have a much easier time focusing on casting ice-based magic.' Huh. Interesting. He briefly wondered that if he did such a thing to his fingers, the human's equivalent to a unicorn's horn, would it display the same results? Or maybe it wouldn't. He could already tell that it could have been the ice applied to the head of the unicorn in question that helped the spell along, thereby strength-and he was spinning.

“Aw, don't be like that Icy! This is your party! Just relax and have fun!” She all but shouted into his ear. Somehow holding on to his arm as he spun wildly...If he threw up he was going to do his very best to aim at her. He could hear some of the ponies in the mob, the mob he was going to kill, start voicing their agreements with Pinkie, the bubbly pink Element bearer.

“I apologize.” He spoke in a gentle voice, mostly because he was a bit nauseous, but also partly because he realized he actually was being a bit rude.

“Aw, it's fine Icy!” God damned nicknames. He almost preferred being called “human” as a name...almost. “Now let's get started! If you want to play every game you're going to have to hurry! Duck duck goose is next! And then you have to play hide and go seek, and then you have to play pin the tail on the-” It was at this point he tuned her out. She was definitely the most friendly pony he had ever met. He didn't know if she already trusted him, or if she was simply like this with every creature she knew. Her friends certainly hadn't warmed up to him, they weren't unpleasant with him, but they didn't go out of there way to check on him, or talk to him...Either way the pink one, Pinkie Pie, was starting to both endear herself to him, and annoy him. Spotting something across the room, he silently slipped away from the babbling pink pony and made his way over.

“Twilight Sparkle.” He called out to his current landlord. When she looked in his general direction, he raised a hand to draw her attention to himself. “If you can get me out of this...party, I swear by her eminence's dark crown that I will give a full detailed report on my time at my queen's side as a bonus to my other lectures.” She merely blinked before obviously stifling a laugh.

“That won't be necessary actually.” She started, trotting over to him. “We already know pretty much everything there is to know about what happened back then. Sorry Eis.” He almost asked who the bloody hell Eis was, when he remembered that it was the name he had decided to give them. In an attempt to hide the fact that he did not remember...pretty much anything apart from his time under Nightmare Moon.

Still, he did find it a bit odd that she was passing up a full detailed report over centuries old stories that had no doubt been twisted and warped by the passage of time, and the unreliability of ponies wanting to spice up a story to make it more interesting.

He then found himself blindfolded and spun around a good number of times. Ah, looks like they were going to play pin the tail on the 'insert whatever the hell creature here.' He had seen many variations of this game in Equestria. From ponies, to donkeys, to gryphons, and even to dragons.

“I swear by all that is dark and cold.” He rasped out, staggering a bit, his head spinning. “I will bring the wrath of a thousand wendigos upon you and your kin. Never again shall you enjoy a pleasant light snowfall as long as my vengeance still thirsts. Blizzards, blizzards for all of you!” He finished as he was handed the tail. He felt many hooves press against him from all sides, seemingly steering him to a different side of the room. “Blizzards!” He shouted, a fist raised in righteous anger as he was pushed away from the purple mare.

It was several hours later that he was finally allowed to sit down again. After being forced through those childish games, he had been introduced to every pony at the party. Every. Pony. Most of them had already blended together into one big mess, though a few stood out in his mind, just because of how...interesting the meetings had gone.

He was pushed in front of a...magenta? Magenta mare pony. Maybe a shade of purple. He couldn't be sure without a closer look. She had a darker mane, and she was the only one with cider at the party. “And this is Berry Punch!” He briefly wondered if the cider was alcoholic before being forced out of those thoughts at being pushed in front of another pony.

“And this is Time Turner!” It was an average looking pony. Which in and of itself was unique. With a brown coat, and a slightly darker brown mane. He seemed surprised by the human's appearance, and he couldn't really blame him. He seemed to get over whatever it was that surprised him, and offered his hoof to shake. Before anyone could open their mouths to speak, he was pushed towards another pony.

“And this is Big Macintosh!” It was a red earth pony. A huge earth pony. With an orange mane. He just stared back at the human with an indifferent expression on his face, before offering his hoof to shake.

“And this is Time Turner!” What. He could have sworn it was the same pony as from before...Actually, it was. And if he recalled, same name too. Strange thing about it though, he offered his hoof to shake again, exactly as before. And didn't seem surprised to see him again. He briefly wondered if Pinkie had made a mistake before being pushed towards yet another pony.

He sighed with frustration. He hadn't even gotten a look at any of their cutie marks. Another one still stood out in his mind, but he didn't remember much about them other than that they were a mint green unicorn mare, and seemed very enthusiastic to meet him. Very, very enthusiastic. Pinkie had to pull them apart to push him to the next pony, as she wouldn't let go of his hand.

Turning his attention back to his book, he resolved to stop obsessing over every little detail he noticed. He needed to break that habit. It was a habit he had gained through that millennium alone with his own thoughts. He had been desperate enough to pass the time in some way that did not require any motion of any kind. And he couldn't sleep either, as whatever was keeping him from aging inside of his stony shell, had most likely kept him exactly as he was when he was sealed. And so he remained conscious.

Or he was making up complete bullshit just to indulge his habit, as he was still totally doing it.

Looking back down at his book, he started reading where he had left off the last time he had managed to sneak away from the party. “In this chapter of Amazing Practical Uses For Ice Magic, I will be discussing something that should not be read around foals of any age. Despite what I said in chapter 8, this part is not for anypony that has not become of age.” Oooh. Now they were talking. This chapter was specifically why he had chosen this particular book over others of a similar nature. Spells too dangerous to be taught to children, it had to contain a few tidbits of useful information.

Softly slapping his own cheek, he resolved to try harder in his attempts to stop himself from starting another monologue, and turned his eyes back down to the book. He skimmed a few lines, and his eyes grew wider and wider at what he read.

“If you apply spell number 3 from the diagram on page 350 to your mare's lower abdomen as you thrust in rhythm with spell number 5 applied to your...little...stallionhood, y-you can achieve a g-g-greater o-o-or-” He slammed the book shut as quickly as possible.

He sat there in the corner of the party, his head down with his hair thankfully covering his now red face from view, for a few moments before rushing to his feet, and up the stairs of the library. He handed the book back to the pony whom had recommended it with a withering glare, and continued his path to the guest bedroom.

He could hear Twilight's laughter as he closed the door behind him.

Twilight levitated the book that had been offered to her off to the side, she couldn't hold in her laughter for very long, and attempted to hide it by reducing it to giggling, only for it to erupt into laughter as Eis opened the door to her guest bedroom.

She felt a little bit guilty at having tricked him, but she just couldn't pass up the opportunity with the way he had worded his request. 'Is there a book in this library that can help me perform better?'

“I shouldn't worry about it, maybe this will help him lighten up more.” She spoke quietly to herself. She had to do something to get him to open up more, the princess was counting on her. She had been given a very important mission after all.

"I know this all seems very confusing, and I know you have many questions." An affirmative "Yes!" was her response. "As you have likely already guessed, he is not being punished for his actions when you and your friends freed him. But I have good reason to keep him away from Canterlot for the time being."

Before the Element bearers could ask what this was, the dark coated pony whom had escaped the human's notice stepped into the room. Revealing herself to be the alicorn princess Luna.

Twilight understood instantly.

“This is a very delicate situation. One I am hoping we can all pull through and accomplish without too big an incident.” Her mentor continued solemnly. “Even if he were to forget about his past loyalties and goals, he is still human.” Twilight had heard very little about humanity in her studies, but from what she had learned, she could easily deduce what the princess was getting at. Humans were crafty, intelligent, and prideful. This human's actions a thousand years ago had only confirmed their legends as being accurate.

“Humanity is the closest species on record to the god of chaos Discord.” Twilight started from memory. “Any connection between them is highly unlikely, but not impossible given what we have observed. Chaos is where humans thrive. They revel in it and bring it upon both themselves, and any species unlucky enough to get in their way. They were the old boogeypony. They were the harbingers of chaos.” She visibly flinched as she remembered the human's new friendship with one of the nurse's pets. Was this one truly like that? Even when he attempted to attack princess Celestia, he didn't...there was...He didn't at all seem like a harbinger of chaos. Princess Luna cleared her throat.

“Though his own power is considerably weak, we do not know what the last remnant of mankind could do if he were to discover what hath...has happened to us.” Started the dark princess of the night. “Mine own memory has no doubt faded slightly in my time ban...away.” Princess Luna visibly grimaced as she changed the term to something more pleasant. “But we-...er, I, remember how much he truly devoted himself to that foolhardy cause. And how much he looked up to me...her.” She finally settled on what to call Nightmare Moon, before stepping back and letting her sister finish.

“So you see Twilight, he must not be allowed to know of this until the time is right. We cannot risk such a calamity to befall Equestria. Were it not for the pitiful circumstances he now finds himself in, we would merely seal him away until an alternative measure could be put in place. That is no longer an option with what Discord revealed to us.” Discord had inadvertently, or perhaps intentionally just to mess with them, let the idea that creatures entombed in a magical stone prison were aware for the duration of their sentence, plant itself into their minds.

“Had I gotten a more conclusive answer to the question now presented to us, I may have done just that.” Princess Celestia finished.

“But princess,” Twilight interrupted for the first time since the beginning of the explanation. “If what you say is true, why not just ask him under your authority, if he was awake the whole time?” It truly didn't make sense to her, that her mentor would decline to do so for seemingly no reason.

“He himself admitted his dislike of me before I began the questioning.” Celestia explained. And Twilight's mouth opened and closed a few times in an attempt to find something to say to that. Somepony who disliked Princess Celestia on a personal level? She had never thought such a thing were possible.

She settled on “Shouldn't that have been more of a reason to use your authority?” To which her princess merely sighed.

“If it were as simple as that, I would have done so.” She opened softly. “Under Nightmare Moon he held the title of 'Royal Tactical Adviser.' He was not granted this title lightly. His nature granted to him by merely being a human let him think in ways most creatures in Equestria would find horrible to even consider.” Ah, that did make sense. He was too weak to really do anything other than to be a cook, or a cleaner, or some other job like that in an army, but he had been intelligent enough to be an adviser. His naturally brutal nature as a human had likely been what had pushed him to being a royal tactical adviser. Not exactly needed as Nightmare Moon had been considerably more than intelligent enough to accomplish what she wished, his own brutal nature that no pony could accurately emulate was what pushed him to such a prestigious position.

She opened her mouth to respond, only to close it again when Celestia started speaking again. “What you have seen of him is nothing compared to what he was like back then. He has shown more emotion in the few minutes I spoke to him than he did in that final battle where he literally lost everything precious to him. He has changed. To compare his current self to what he had been before would be like comparing a friendly pup to a timber wolf. This leads me to believe he may have very well been aware. His mind may be damaged.”

Twilight could only stare as her mentor finished her explanation. The reason they had not just forced an answer out of him, a possible enemy of Equestria, was because it was not entirely the same person they knew. They didn't know what to expect of him. And so they needed a more subtle way of gaining the information. She almost thought about asking 'If he's so different now, why is he considered so much of a threat?' but never managed as Luna seemingly anticipated this.

“Do not misunderstand. Back then he was as cold and deadly as reported in those stories that would later become legend. If he still possesses even a fraction of that ice cold, brutal mentality, he could cause more destruction and damage to Equestria that would be too big in exchange for the possibility of an answer to this question.”

“What do you want me to do?” She asked, it all didn't add up when one considered that he was being sent to Ponyville.

“All we want, my student, is for you to help nip this problem before it even starts. He has changed, and he is still changing. While I would highly encourage you to do so, you do not need to become friends with him, or even like him. But please keep an eye on him. Steer him away from information about Luna's return to my side. If all goes according to plan, everything can work out for the best if done this way. Can you do this Twilight Sparkle, my most faithful student?”

Twilight swallowed nervously. To do this, she would likely also need to attempt to keep him from becoming like his old self. But that would most likely not be too hard, and it certainly would not be an impossible task, or even cut too much into her free time, if she was understanding the assignment correctly.

She slowly nodded once, showing her agreement. “Yes...yes, I will do this princess.” She states as resolutely as she could manage.

It was a white walled room with a small desk in one corner, a bed large enough to fit almost any guest a pony could have in the other, and a wooden chair he could easily move around. A bit bland for pony tastes, but as long as it had a bed and enough room for him to safely practice a few spells here and there, he would be content.

He was currently sitting on his new bed, facing away from the wall it was set against. His hand was outstretched slightly away from himself with it's palm facing up. He chose his index finger as the focus for his spell, just like a unicorn's horn would be normally used.

“As the book said, if a creature with more than one appendage that could be used for casting can focus it into less and less, I should be seeing some results if I keep this up. Though if I-” He went on to describe to himself how the book he had been tricked into reading had explained the concept in more detail.

“And if I can keep the spell up for more than five minutes longer than I could normally, I should stop before I burn myself out, but with the direction the energy goes when used in an elemental spell I should be able to ignore that warning and accomplish much more than I originally plan-” He was suddenly interrupted by a knock at the door to his room.

Suppressing a yawn, he glanced out of the small window to what would be his new prison for the next three years. It was more of a “house arrest” kind of arrangement though, so it was at least tolerable.

The sun had long set, and it was at the very least an hour into this new night. He made a mental note to attempt to stay awake as long as possible. At least until dawn. His sleep cycle was out of whack, he would need to get used to sleeping during the day agai-and whomever was at his door was knocking again.

With a sigh, he stood up and opened the door, half expecting it to be the pink one ready to drag him back to her party.

It wasn't Pinkie.

“Ah, Nightmare.” He bent down to pick up his newly acquired pet bunny rabbit. “How did you get away from the yellow one?” The yellow Element bearer, Shutter Flutter...or something, had wanted to get to know Nightmare and introduce her to her other animals.

Nightmare made a bunch of gestures and pantomimed exactly what happened. Eis nodded throughout the whole thing.

“I'm not so good with nature based magic, so I have no idea what you're saying.” He stated in a voice almost like a monotone. Nightmare simply slumped in his arms and smacked her forehead.

“Did you eat dinner?” Nightmare took a moment more to brood, before nodding. The yellow one had fed her then.

It would take another ten minutes, in which he simply played with Nightmare until she fell asleep and then went back to reading, before he would receive another knock at his door.

“Who is knock knock knocking at my chamber door?” He questioned, though he felt that the quote was lost on whomever was on the other side...He may have messed it up somewhat as well. Some things were still a bit fuzzy in his memory.

“Um...Eis? It's Twilight.” Came the hesitant reply, quite unsure what to make of his response to her knocking. “If you would please open the door, we can get started.”

He briefly wondered what the bloody hell she was talking about, which was strange as he was pretty sure he wasn't British. And then it hit him, as part of his...rather lenient sentence now that he thought about it, he was required to share his own knowledge of humans with the rest of the world. Through the element of magic herself, and Celestia's personal student, Twilight Sparkle.

He opened the door and let her in.

“So we're starting already.” He stated, a bit annoyed at being interrupted for the umpteenth time that day.

“Actually, I would have liked to start this morning, but Pinkie asked me to help plan for your party.” She didn't need to mention that her only part had been to let Pinkie inside her home, as that was when she had found out where it was to be held. “Please start at the beginning.” She added absentmindedly, already looking through her notes and references to what were no doubt legends on humans.

He took a deep breath before leaning back in his seat “I am not going to sit here and explain to you every way we humans have theorized about our own beginning.”

“Humans aren't entirely sure on how their...I mean your, species began?” She asked, obviously quite confused.

He looked up at the white ceiling for a moment before deciding on how to answer. “Don't get me wrong, we are pretty sure on how we came to be, and how the world itself came to be.” And how what caused the world to come into existence happened, and what caused that as well.

“Then what's the problem?” She asked, tilting her head in confusion. He only thought about it for a moment before answering.

“Humanity, as a whole...we're quite the idiots.” He started with a bitter laugh, earning a surprised look from the lavender unicorn. He payed it no mind. “Oh sure, some of us like having knowledge, some of us strive to learn everything about everything we can possibly get our greedy little hands on, but as a species, most humans are generally very ignorant about many things.” Twilight opened her mouth to ask another question, before being silenced as Eis continues his ramblings.

“Where I am from, if you were smart, you were the odd one out. The anomaly in the sea of data too stupid to recognize itself as nothing particularly special in the grand scheme of things.” He finished, with no attempt to hide his bitterness.

“But I had heard that humans were quite intelligent and crafty.” She objected, thinking on what she had studied in her time under her mentor's care. Eis merely scoffed.

“We are.” Realizing she thought him to be contradicting himself, he continued. “At least, the ones who really matter are.” She was becoming even more confused...With a sigh, he prepared to explain his stance in greater detail.

“Do not misunderstand my intentions, I am not trying to paint my species as ignorant little animals picking at the dirt. As a species, we have long accomplished amazing feats yet to even be attempted here in Equestria. Yet to even be considered possible.”

“So humans are...complex, then? Smart, yet willing to become ignorant?” Hm, she was more intelligent than he had been giving her credit for. He guessed she must have been Celestia's personal student for a reason.

“That is what I am trying to say, yes.” He confirmed. Twilight consulted her notes before asking the first question she actually had prepared.

“Can you give an example of something humans have accomplished that we have...yet to even consider possible?'” She finished, obviously somewhat annoyed at having her species written off as inferior in any way.

He considered what he could tell her. The amazing ways they had found to produce food? The ways they had found to make food grow better? Their weaponry and the effects of the most deadly of them?

No, it had to be something not just any unicorn or earth pony could do...He glanced out his window again, and watched the moon hanging high in the dark sky for a few long moments before smiling.

“You see that up there?” He asked, pointing out the window. Twilight followed it to the moon, and looked back at Eis with yet another perplexed expression on her face.

“The moon?”

He nodded.

She continued to stare at him, her stare slowly turning to one of annoyance.

“What about it?” Eis narrowed his eyes slightly, and adopted small smile.

“We've been there.” And now to see her reaction when she freaks out over-

“So?” She asked, growing more annoyed by the minute. This was quickly turning into nonsense to her. “With the right spell, I myself might be able to send something to the moon. Not to mention what the princess-” She stopped cold, and almost smacked herself at her mistake, she had almost said 'princesses'. “-can do.” she finished.

Ah, there it was. She thought he was referring to some magical way to the moon using human magic. He almost felt giddy at what he was going to get to do.

“Without magic.” He stated simply. He watched in amusement as the annoyance drained from her face almost instantly.

“What?” She asked, her voice wavering slightly.

“I may have forgotten to mention this, but humans generally do not believe that magic exists. Absolutely none, as far as I know at least, was used in getting us to the moon.”

“That's...that is...how?” She mumbled, Eis understood though.

“Technology. Machinery. And we did the math correctly.” He answered simply, already dreading where these conversations would lead in the future. This was already incredibly boring, and he could already see him having to convince her that what he was saying was true on many of his future explanations on humanity's escapades.

“Elaborate.” She all but commanded, in a tone he recognized as being similar to her mentor, Celestia. He could only rub the bridge of his nose to fight back a growing headache.

“Alright, but I must warn you now, this was never my specialty. I am not as knowledgeable on the subject as you are going to want.” He warned crossly, she responded by just nodding, a quill and scroll already raised in front of her, ready to write down his every word.

So his next words were likely going to go down into the book she was going to be writing on him. He raised a hand to stall any questions as he looked to the ceiling, trying to put the words into an acceptable order.

“Homo Sapiens Sapiens is our scientific name. It means 'man wise wise'.” He started, he needed to give some back story on his species for any of this to make sense. Twilight was writing down each word as soon as he said it, and he was almost impressed by her writing speed. What was that called again? Words per minute? Whatever it was, she probably had an incredibly high one.

“In many things the average human will choose to be ignorant, but we do have quite the number of scientists, and other incredibly intelligent and amazing people working to further expand our place in the universe. We have advanced technology to the point that describing them to you would amount to little more than “metal device that provides this basic and/or advanced function.” Until your society has something similar, you would not understand how they were made. I will give more information on these machines at a later date. Right now we're talking about the moon landing.” He continued, establishing humanity's scientific community as something that exists.

“Little more than three decades before I myself was born, the scientists in a nation that had a rivalry with the one I was born in launched a massive machine made of metal called a spacecraft into on a mission to the moon. The science that went into making this spacecraft is more advanced than you could understand. And even if you could, I myself am not clear on the specifics on these machines. This is not my specialty.” He reminded.

“This machine was the first one to be successful, and was named the 'Luna 2'. No association with a certain Nightmare Moon's past self you ponies made a holiday purely to tarnish the name of.” He clarified, earning a nervous chuckle from the pony interviewing him. Perhaps he was still a bit angry about the whole “Nightmare Night” thing.

“It would be a decade before a human would actually walk on the moon.” He continued. “And this...is where my explanation ends.” He finished. Twilight dropped her quill in surprise.

“Huh?” She asked after a long moment. He motioned for her to elaborate. “What do you mean? Is that all there is?”

“The only notable thing I know about space travel outside of what I've told you is that we have put some things in orbit, and we have placed machines on planets and the moon to do...things.” He finished with a shrug. “Like I've explained, I don't actually know that much about this stuff. And I'm pretty sure what was intended to be an eternal sleep encased in stone has messed with my mind.” Twilight thought back on what princess Celestia explained about his true nature, and how his current self had been, in essence, watered down.

“I understand, that particular method of punishment was probably not meant for mortals.” Being encased in stone was not a punishment that was handed out lightly. Discord himself only warranted such a punishment, after all.

“Well, yeah. But what else could have been done? Kill him?” Twilight realized with no small measure of embarrassment that she had been thinking out loud. She thought on how best to answer his question.

“It isn't known exactly how what the Elements of Harmony does is determined. The very first reliable recording of their effects was on Discord himself.”

“And what else can they do?” He asked.

“I don't know of every one of their uses off the top of my head, but the other most well known use was their purification of-” She only paused a moment to change her speech, disguising it as her trying to remember the name. “...an evil creature?” She gave a shrug to make it seem as if she could not personally remember.

“Oh well, I guess I can look it up later. The library owned by the Element of Magic herself should have all I will need.” Twilight nodded in response, mentally making a note to double check that she had hidden all of the books featuring what happened when Nightmare Moon was freed.

“So, do you have anything else to ask today?” He asked, hoping the answer was yes.

Twilight looked over her notes again. “Actually, we've barely gotten started. I need to know everything you know after all.” Eis groaned, before nodding.

“What can you tell me about human society?”

Eis groaned again, and brought a hand up to rub the bridge of his nose, attempting to stave off a growing headache. This was going to be a long night.

“Do you want the condensed version? Or the long-winded version?” He asked. Twilight's response was simple.

“Both?”

“Death, ignorance, sex, stupidity, and the smart people carrying everyone else through their efforts at understanding the universe.” He explained with a dismissive wave.

“You don't have a very high opinion of your own species, do you?” Twilight asked, her tone indicating she just realized.

“I have great respect for those who do not fall under the title of ignorant, stupid, and arrogant in their ignorance induced stupidity.” He explained.

“Well, now for the the full explanation?” She asked, preparing to write.

“Yeah, alright.” He picked up Nightmare and placed her on her pillow/bed, before sitting back down to start his no doubt long-winded explanation.

“Alright, this story starts a long time ago on a little blue planet before the continents split...”

Author's Note

Well, here it is. This took way longer than I would have liked to get it out. I've been playing Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon, and a Rune Crossing game all at the same time. I've literally lost weeks without realizing it. I procrastinate way too much, I know. This chapter also felt like filler, even though I established some important stuff about the story, so I apologize if it feels like it. So again, sorry.

Side note. Lyra totally has a copy of "Icy Hands." One of the most well known human on minotaur romance novels. The author was a griffin. "The steamy and exciting romance of two bipeds." This will never come up in the story, but it's just something I'm going to consider if I ever have Lyra play an actual speaking role in an interaction with Eis.

So, please point out any mistakes you notice, I have a hard time noticing them as I'm the one who made them in the first place, and leave your opinion on the story/chapter if you want to. Any constructive criticism is welcome, no matter how harsh it is.

Chapter 5: Freedom to Judge

The human walked silently through the library in the dead of night, glancing at each section of books as he went. Periodically he would take one, flip through it, sigh, and then place it back where he had found it, continuing his search.

As he placed yet another book back, a few things returned briefly to his memory, namely why he was doing what he was currently doing.

Reading, eating, reading, speaking briefly with Twilight, more reading, playing with Nightmare until she fell asleep, and even more reading until he went to bed.

This was how the recently dubbed 'Eis' kept himself busy for the first several weeks of his time at the library. He could count the number of times he had left the library during the day on one hand. He just simply didn't need to do anything else, what with the one pony he had ever sworn fealty to being gone, he had nothing more to do with his time than study up on magic and Equestrian history.

Specifically the history of the last thousand years.

Not much had actually happened, as far as the books he had found contained. The Crystal Kingdom was still gone, Discord appeared again very recently, and Nightmare Moon had returned a year or two ago. Just as he suspected had happened.

Strangely, there did not seem to be many books on her return. The one he had been reading was snatched up by Twilight long before he could find out how the whole ordeal ended, and he let it slide.

He was staying in her home for free after all. Better to comply with the person who keeps a roof over your head at the moment. Besides, he could just read it again when no one was around.

If he could just find the damn thing.

Apparently the ways libraries stored their books had changed somewhat in the last millennium. It was not anywhere near books of a similar nature. He could not understand how Twilight or her assistant could possibly find anything in a library so apparently disorganized.

Thinking of Twilight brought a frown to his usually stoic face. He had remembered something unpleasant. Specifically something that happened when the baby dragon, Spike, pointed out that he was basically freeloading and mooching off of them. Twilight had agreed with Spike, and attempted to lecture him on some nonsense he didn't pay too much attention to.

When questioned about his apparent freeloading, he offered another one of the strange gems he had on him when he was freed from his stone prison, which Twilight had turned down. Saying something about how just paying for it would defeat the purpose of what she was trying to do.

He knew what she was trying to do, of course. She was trying to get him to go outside and socialize with the ponies in town. Outside. In the sunlight. He informed her exactly where her princess could stuff her accursed light.

...What?

It was a legitimate thought! If she stored it in a certain magical gemstone, it could be used in more quantities at night as nightlights and flashlights. He still didn't understand why she had stormed off before he could explain his meaning.

She had pressured him into going outside more after that little talk, and he was close to just caving in and doing as she wished.

So it was with great annoyance that he finally stepped outside of the library during the day voluntarily.

He walked around town a bit, his robe back at the library. Leaving him with just his long-sleeved shirt and pants. He got the occasional stare, but apparently the party a couple of weeks back had ruined the novelty of seeing a human

Except for the mint green mare he still couldn't remember the name of. She always just stared at him as he passed by. On more than one occasion she had attempted to follow him, only to be stopped by a mare with two different mane colors.

It was this first time out in weeks that he came across one of the most interesting sights he had ever seen in recent memory.

Not saying a lot since his memory for the past millennium mainly consisted of staring at the same wall.

He had noticed a crowd gathering in town, and followed the noise to the source.

It was a yellow filly with a red mane. She had...multiple cutie marks, and was attempting to do everything they represented all at once.

His first instinct was that she had gotten a bunch of fake ones painted on, but that theory was thrown right out when she did all of the activities on her cutie marks. All at the same time.

The rest of the day was a blur after that. He remembered something about lying and truths coming out, but other than that he had decided to put the whole thing behind him.

What happened the week after that he definitely remembered. Twilight had recommended he go and visit one of her friends, as he literally knew them the best out of everyone in Ponyville, just by knowing their names. He had not learned another pony's name since the party, and those he did know he had barely spoken to. She made a recommendation as to which one he should visit.

“So I should visit Shutter Flutter because she's the best with exotic species?” He asked, more curious than angry. It made sense when one ignored that she was most likely good with non-sapient species instead of creatures on the same mental level as a pony.

He later learned why she had gone from happy to depressed in five seconds flat at the mention of her friend's name. He had better learn them before he offended any of them, as far as she had said.

So Twilight sent him on his way over to Flutter Butter's cottage just outside of Ponyville, right next the forest that had not been there when he was imprisoned.

As he approached the cottage, he became aware of two distinctive things happening. One, people...er, ponies, were singing. It was the yellow one with the pink mane, Snicker Nutter, or something. And the rainbow maned one. He didn't remember her name either. Rainbow something. Rainbow Blast? Whatever.

Two, he walked in the middle of said song, apparently announcing himself as a candidate for the title of the rainbow maned pony's pet. Him being an exotic creature and his ability to use magic had allowed him to advance along in the competition simply by saying “Fuck you.” and freezing whatever they wanted him to do.

That was somehow cool enough for the rainbow-maned one.

He hadn't expected that. Hadn't expected that at all.

And then they wanted him to participate in a race, against flying creatures. Including the rainbow maned pegasus, whom had identified herself as an extremely fast flier.

That was where he found himself that day, at the start of said race, standing perfectly still with his arms folded in front of him. Glaring daggers at everything that looked at him. Animals were all around him, in poses to indicate they were going to give it their all. And when the race started, he simply said “Fuck this.” and non-lethally froze all of the flying-based ones where they stood, walking leisurely past every other pet candidate, as they were too afraid to run passed him now, and found the rainbow maned pegasus with her wing under some rocks.

He helped her out simply because the only other creature coming was a tortoise, which he severely doubted had the strength to get the athletic pony out of something she herself could not move. And just leaving her there would probably get him sent back into his stone prison.

When it became obvious that she wasn't flying anywhere, he froze the ground around and in front of them, gave her a solid push, and skated along behind her, freezing the ground directly in her path.

That was how he was declared the rainbow maned one's pet, and also the day the ponies of Ponyville learned a few new expletives that made them all blush.

All of the ponies involved had accepted that he had never wanted to be apart of it, except for Pinkie, one of the few he could actually remember the name of. She was all set to have him be the rainbow maned one's pet.

The tortoise seemed disappointed, but it would probably be happier with Blupper Putter. Or whatever her name was.

This became another reason why he avoided going outside for a while, the birds he had frozen still held a grudge. And had perfect aim. It took some serious scrubbing to get the brown and white stains out of his robe.

'Rise and Fall of the Crystal Empire' No. He knew the story of this. Hell, it had happened shortly before his master had come to her senses in regards to how others saw her and her night. And from what he had learned from one of the nurses at that hospital earlier, there was a new princess. She would have been the princess of the Crystal Empire, if not for the whole it being gone thing.

He had respected Sombra somewhat. Especially that dark magic of his.

Dark magic...That was something he rarely thought about. The name itself was appealing, but also misleading. Regular magic wasn't called “light” magic, and this was for good reason. Regular magic could be used for both good, and evil. It didn't have to be either, it wasn't like chaos magic.

Chaos magic was the only truly neutral magic after all. And he didn't even know where to begin listing the problems with attempting to learn it. The best reason being that he wouldn't even know where to start, if it were possible.

Dark magic on the other hand, was fueled by negative emotion. It didn't take an evil, or even a dark, person to use dark magic. He was certain Celestia herself could use it if she so desired, and even he had to admit she was far from evil. Or dark. Those that could use it that weren't evil, tended to only be able to use it during times where they would be...not thinking of less extreme measures. It would be very easy to give into rage and use it for harmful purposes, if one were enraged enough.

And so, dark magic had likely received a bad reputation simply because it was only used by evil people, or in situations where committing an evil or violent act was almost guaranteed.

Or it actually was evil and influenced minds. He didn't know for sure either way.

He wasn't too keen on trying out dark magic, he might just be able to produce the emotion required for it, but he didn't actually know anything about it. And that was one thing every intelligent mage steered clear from. Attempting to use magic you didn't understand was a quick way to wind up insane, killed, or imprisoned.

'101 Easy Steps for the Aspiring Cook' Definitely not. He didn't even bother touching that one. Or using telekinetic magic to lift it like most unicorns would have done. Though he wasn't most unicorns. Or even a unicorn at all for that matter. He had hands, and he was perfectly willing to use them. Oh sure, he could use the spell, it was a basic and simple one, one of the first ones taught to those who could use magic. But it wasn't one he used as often as most unicorns, and so he wasn't as skilled at it. He could move things around, but it would require too much concentration on actually moving it to do anything requiring being more delicate than that.

He preferred using his hands anyway.

'Tale of a Thousand Moons' Ooh, he hadn't seen this book in a while. It was definitely an old copy, maybe even a first edition copy. It was a story about a knight and his journey to recover the lost...something or other. It had taken him exactly a thousand days and nights to complete his quest, and the quest had been given to him by princess Luna herself. Hence the title.

It had been a long time since he had read it, back even before the idea of an eternal night had been presented as a possibility. Back before he had even met the Equestrian royalty. My, did that bring back memories. He took this book from its place on the shelf, and sat down in the corner of the library with it. He read the first few pages, and visibly shuddered at the chill that went down his spine as he remembered. He remembered the past.

I was a teenager back then. I was around the age of...oh, fifteen or so, when I arrived in Equestria. I'm not too sure on how I came to this place, I still blame Celestia and my stone imprisonment for these gaps in my memory, but they should return in time. Anyway, that's not important.

The very first pony I ever met was an earth pony. His name was...it had something to do with bronze, I think. Bronze Shield, or something along those lines. By earth pony, I mean earth pony guard. And by met, I mean being bucked in the face. Looking back on it now, I know why I was attacked. I was a strange creature in the castle of their princesses. I don't remember why I was there, and it probably doesn't even matter now. I was a strange creature taller than it, and I was likely panicking. So he did the only logical thing. Subdue me.

This was incidentally when I found out that humans could use magic. And what kind of magic suited me the most. One moment, I was being attacked by what I thought was an animal, and the next he was suspended in the air, frozen in place and held there by more and more ice. Everything in the room was covered in frost.

When other guards appeared to see what was going on, I was taken to the dungeons. My stay there wasn't long, all things considered, but it was long enough so that once I had calmed down, I got curious. And so I explored my little cell. One of the last prisoners must have secretly taken a few books in with him, as that's what I found, hidden away underneath a removable stone in the wall. Books. And one of them had been 'Tale of a Thousand Moons.' It had given me comfort in that time, very little all things considered, but it had helped.

It was two days before they brought in ponies to find out exactly what the hell I was. And when I told them I was a human, they flat out refused to believe it. They wouldn't elaborate, and when I refused to change my story, they brought in their best negotiator. Or more like, their best negotiator took it upon herself to find out what the hell was going on. Princess Celestia.

Now by this point I hadn't washed in days, I didn't know where I was, I hadn't eaten, as they didn't know what to feed me, and I was scared out of my mind. I had attacked one of their own with some weird powers I didn't know I had. So my first meeting with what I didn't know at the time was the most powerful person I had ever met up to that point didn't go as either of us had planned.

I was a sobbing wreck.

And I just wouldn't shut up.

She just smiled, and asked me who I was in that damned kind voice of hers.

I cracked instantly and broke down right there. I told her everything I knew, about my home, about myself, about what had happened, about everything. And I fucking cried while doing it. Thinking back on it still brings a rush of shame. I broke down and exposed my weak state to the one that would eventually become the one pony I despised above all others.

I was released soon after that, the guard hadn't suffered any permanent damage, and I was a sentient, sapient child. Well, a child in the eyes of the law. What I didn't know at the time is that humans had existed in this place at some point, though none were still around. It had been a long time, and even Celestia herself had never personally met one before that day.

I was put up into a new prison instead, one not as hard or cold. I had decent power behind me, if what I did to the guard was any indication. They couldn't just set me loose on the world without making sure I was safe to be around.

So I learned about magic, about Equestria, and about the world I was in. Even back then I did not enjoy being around other people that much, so I rarely spoke to anyone outside of what was required. It wasn't hard, I have always enjoyed the time that it is dark over daytime. So I was up when most of Equestria was asleep.

I spoke to the princesses on occasion, and they were both nicer than I could have ever expected them to be towards me. Well, they were like that to every creature they met that didn't directly pose a threat to their subjects.

It was three years later that my chosen nocturnal nature finally came to the attention of the one who ruled over the night. Princess Luna. I did not vocalize my preferences much, if at all. And it was pure luck that she had been walking by when I was speaking with Shining Emerald, one of the few ponies that I spoke to almost regularly, and explained why I was not out during the day.

Simply because I was asleep.

And so she became interested in the strange creature that was similar to her in ways her normal subjects weren't. We spoke sometimes after that. Sometimes we would meet in a hallway, or she would spot me out at night while her ponies were asleep.

When we spoke, we spoke for lengthy amounts of time.

Even I could see it coming. Her bitterness growing towards an Equestria that shunned her and her night, and a bitterness towards her sister for being what her subjects wanted.

I understood, I sympathized every step of the way, and I may have even subtly encouraged her bitterness. It was grossly unjust what was happening to her. And so when that dam finally broke, when she finally let it all out, I was one of the first creatures she spoke to about what she wanted to do. She asked me, a creature who sympathized with her cause, who preferred her night over her sister's day, to join her in creating an eternal night.

Even after seeing her bitterness twist both her form, her mind, her everything. As she became Nightmare Moon.

I agreed.

And I don't regret any of it.

What does this story have to do with that book? Simple, that had become my favorite book, I read it often. It was likely the spark that fueled my respect for the princess of the night passed what it would have been otherwise.

So without it, I probably wouldn't have joined her cause.

And I would be dead today.

With a sigh, he closed the book, having finished it already. He tucked the book under his arm, and went about looking for the information he had been looking for earlier. When he found nothing more, he started up the edge of the stairs, turning only slightly back as he stopped a few steps up.

“I regret nothing about what I did.” He spoke to the empty library, meaning every word he said. He continued up the stairs and back to his room. He ignored the tears that were streaming down his face.

Today was a rare day. He had woken up in the middle of the day.

He had been trying to reset his sleep cycle to being nocturnal again, he would stay up until daylight whenever he could help it, and he had even successfully turned Nightmare, his pet bunny, to being nocturnal. She seemed to prefer it anyway, which was good in his book.

He had largely been successful in doing it to himself. Until today. He had thought that he should have stayed in bed and found a way to fall back asleep.

The noise outside put a stop to that. There was a lot of commotion going on by what sounded like a mob of ponies.

He grumbled some curses that would make small children cry and old ladies faint in shock, and then he considered putting on his robe, but decided against it. So he walked outside in normal clothes to investigate what all of the commotion was bout.

He found out when he stumbled across a large group of ponies, just the everyday citizens of Ponyville, in a circle around...the rainbow maned Element of harmony. This was also where he finally learned her name, as it was being repeated by the mob. Cheering Rainbow Dash on.

He could still hear it for days afterward, the chanting of her name. The temperature of the room he occupied at the time was also coincidentally a few degrees less than that of the rest of the library. No one said anything on the matter, as no one really noticed.

Anyway, they had been cheering her on because she was apparently the local hero, if the information he had gotten from one of the ponies in the crowd indicated.

By gotten, he of course meant “threatened out of” when it became clear she wouldn't stop hyperventilating at the sight of him. This was also the day he learned that ponies were still just as ignorant on non-pony sentients as they were a thousand years ago. This idea was later confirmed when he heard about what they did to a zebra that lived in the Everfree Forest, the forest that contained the location of his old prison.

It kind of reminded him of what humans had done to those of a darker skin color at one point. He hadn't yet gotten to the subject of racism with Twilight, though that subject was soon to come. He was currently in what was called the “Dark Ages” of human history. And while racism and the like has been apart of human history, he was saving it until it was completely necessary to mention.

That aside, he had already spoken on the earliest human societies he knew of. And he had also yet to speak about religion.

Boy would that be an uncomfortable conversation, especially when he inevitably lost his temper and compared Celestia and the way ponies almost worshiped her like a goddess to the way cults in human society worked. He could just imagine her face as he said...

Actually, he decided right then to do just that, just to see Twilight's reaction. As an anti-social bookworm who knew no one outside of a very small group of acquaintances and one mortal enemy, he had only one thing to say about her. The girl needed to lighten up more.

There he went again, off on another tangent about nothing. Almost like exposition in a fictional story. Maybe he was reading too much fiction and not enough non-fiction?

Back to reality, the he looked off to the side to see why they were chanting her name. Apparently she had saved a group of older ponies from falling with a broken balcony.

Looking back, he could see that she was reveling in the attention she was getting.

Hm...

Good for her then. She did something good, and others were rewarding her for doing so. Even he reveled in the recognition he received.

That is if he received recognition for all he did a thousand years ago. And guessing by the side he himself was on had lost, he probably wasn't going to be recognized for it in a positive way.

Unless there were Nightmare Moon cults.

Huh, if there were, he would probably be seen as a member of importance to them.

Damn it! He was getting off track again. He looked over and saw the Elements of Harmony standing off to the side by themselves. He briefly walked over to them, before deciding against it and turned to go somewhere else. As he was turning, he caught a bit of what they were discussing, and they apparently disapproved on how Rainbow Dash was reveling in the hero worship she was receiving.

Meh, he didn't exactly see why they didn't like it, but then he didn't know any of them that well. Maybe Rainbow Dash acted this way all the time and they were just getting sick of it.

Or maybe they were jealous jerks. He didn't know them that well enough to say for sure.

As he made his way around Ponyville, he waved at a few of the ponies who gave nervous glances his way, and outright ignored the ones who tried to ignore him as well. He had yet to form a map of the town in his head, but he was sure he could find the library again if he needed to. What with it being a giant tree that towered over the other buildings.

It was a little while of walking that he started to recognize an area of the town, this was the location of that building that looked as if it were made of candy and sweets.

Sugarcube Corner was the name of the establishment, if the sign was correct. And based on the name, and appearance of the building, it probably sold food.

He looked ahead and saw the same buildings he had been seeing for the past hour or so, decided “What the hell.” and opened the door to go in.

The mob of ponies from before had apparently migrated to this spot, probably following Rainbow Dash. She was recounting the story of what happened earlier, and another story of heroism by her as well. Her name was apparently Rainbow “Danger” Dash, but it was probably just her bragging.

He saw the other Element bearers off to the side again, frowning at their friend, as they were doing back wherever they had been before. He probably couldn't find that place again without a map.

He walked over and overheard the orange, stetson wearing pony speak.

“Awesomely heroic that day, and awesomely arrogant ever since.“ She spoke quietly, which made her sound quite bitter as well. Pinkie and Twilight agreed with her.

He watched as Rainbow Dash came down from her improvised podium to grab the orange Element bearer, apparently named Applejack, with her hoof.

“Hey Applejack. How'd you like to be immortalized as my friend?” She spoke with that same grin she had used when she introduced herself on the train. He supposed he had better get used to seeing it. Applejack just seemed confused.

“Immorta-what?” She asked, before being blinded by ponies taking photographs. When Twilight, the smart one of their group, didn't speak up, he decided to.

“Immortalized.” He spoke with a monotone, causing them to whirl around and see him. He continued nonetheless. “As in, to be remembered forever.” There may have been more than one meaning to the word, but that was how Rainbow Dash had meant it.

They seemed surprised to see him. He understood why, of course. The last time he had seen most of them was back when...Shutter Flupped? When the yellow, quiet one put him into the competition to be Rainbow Dash's pet.

“Well well well, even Eis had to come out and see the great Rainbow Dash!” Once again, he almost asked who the bloody hell Eis was. Which was weird, as he wasn't English like that at all. In fact, he spoke with a slight southern accent. Nowhere near as noticeable as Applejack's, but it could be noticed if one listened hard enough.

“Actually, I was just stopping by to get something to eat.” He lied smoothly. Best not let them know he had been lost. “But I did see the mob from earlier after you saved those older ponies. Good job.” He congratulated.

He never noticed how Applejack gave him a weird look for a moment after he lied, before she turned her attention back to Rainbow Dash. He stood there in silence as Rainbow Dash pulled him into the show of the next round of pictures along with Applejack, he gave his best glare to go along with it.

He could see the headlines now. “Local Hero Befriends Ancient Monster.”

His tangent was interrupted before it even had a chance to begin as he heard Twilight speak to Spike, her dragon assistant...

What?

He remembered his name because Spike was the one who apparently made all of the food in the library. Don't piss off the people who make your food. Though he hadn't really spoken to him all that much.

“Are you taking notes?” She asked, looking over Spike's shoulders. That's when he got his first real look at what he was wearing. A pretty pimping hat, a tench-coat, and a white shirt with a tie?

Huh, he didn't even know ponies wore clothes like that. And with Spike being the only biped he'd seen in Ponyville, he had better ask where he could also get clothes like that. A nice suit and tie could be useful.

“Yep! I've been hoof-picked by Rainbow Dash herself. To write her autobiography.” Before he could cut in with what was wrong with that situation, Twilight did so.

“Um, autobiographies are supposed to be written by the pony they are about.” ...Did she just?

“Seriously?” He spoke with venom. “Hoof-picked I could understand, as you're directly talking about someone with hooves. But “written by the pony they are about.”? That's such a generic line that it could be about any creature. I know you equines control the world, but that's...that's pretty bad.“ He spoke, with less venom than before. He simply shook his head as if he were disappointed in them, only to look up and find that they hadn't been listening to him, at all.

Rainbow Dash had said something, and as the hero of the town, they paid all of their attention to her when she spoke.

“Ah! Spike's a ghost!” And there went Pinkie. What the hell did Rainbow Dash say?

The ponies of Ponyville were apparently used to such antics, as they just turned their attention right back to Rainbow Dash, who shook off what just happened in seconds.

“Aaanyway. Spike here writes down everything I say. Don't you Spike?” Spike demonstrated just how much he was, in fact, writing everything she was saying.

“Don't. You. Spike? Got it!” And went right back to writing silently again.

Rainbow Dash walked into a circle of her fans, some of whom were actually wearing Rainbow Dash wigs, and continued speaking. “This way, I can stay focused on performing those acts of bravery that nopony else has the guts to perform. Yep, takes guts.” And there it was again. God was that going to annoy him to no end.

“But it also takes brains. And sometimes a big lunch and a nap.” She then preceded to take a picture with each of said fans in rapid succession.

“Being a hero is surely not for everypony. But I'm up for the challenge.”

He glanced at the other Element bearers, sans Rainbow and Pinkie, and found three of them looking at each other and Rainbow Dash worriedly.

Twilight was giving her friends very strange looks. An almost sultry, “come hither” look...Twilight had a strange thinking face.

And then she looked at him with that face. He involuntarily shuddered.

He was later approached by Twilight, just to speak. So he agreed.

“Listen, you saw how full of herself Rainbow Dash was today, right?” He nodded. “Me and my friends are working on a plan to bring her down a peg and teach her to be humble.”

She then proceeded to explain her plan to him. She and her friends would create a costumed superhero, so they could all wear it and save the day in ways that Rainbow couldn't. They could utilize Applejack's strength, Twilight's magic, Rarity's ability to make clothes, Pinkie's ability to be Pinkie, and Fluttershy so the hero could fly. To teach her a lesson. He spoke the second thing to come to his mind, as the first was at how mean-spirited the entire thing was, but it wasn't his place to question their natures.

“Won't she assume it's an alicorn? There are only two that I know of. And I'm probably more knowledgeable on the subject than her.” Three if he counted his master, but that was probably the wrong thing to say while under his probation.

“T...two?” Twilight suddenly looked very surprised.

“Yeah, Celestia and that...other one? The one that would rule the Crystal Empire if it were still around?”

“Oh, Cadence!” And now she looked very happy.

“Her name is Cadence?” Well that broke the flow of things. Celestia referred to a celestial body, which is what the sun is. And Luna referred to the moon. What the hell could “Cadence” be a reference to?

“Actually her full title is...well...” She seemed stumped, and briefly summoned a book, flipped through it, and finally came upon the answer she was looking for.

“Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. She's my old foal-sitter.” Ah, her old baby sitter. Made sense that she only knew her by a nickname then...But...wait...

“Her name is My Love Cadence?” He asked, and Twilight nodded, smiling.

He stared at her for a few long moments as she smiled obliviously, not seeing what he was seeing. This went on until he couldn't take the silence anymore.

“Twilight?” He asked.

“Yes?” She asked.

“You ponies are weird.” He deadpanned.

She sputtered for a bit, before settling on glaring at him. But then the glare dropped as she seemed to realize something.

“How did we get so off topic?” She asked, he simply shrugged.

“I came here to ask you to help us with the plan, but now we're talking about my old foal-sitter, who I haven't even thought about in years.” She stated incredulously.

“My brain is still in the process of waking up with no new stimuli for a thousand years. My thoughts tend to drag on. It was unintentional, so you didn't notice me trying to change the subject or anything.” He explained, and she seemed to take that as an acceptable answer.

“So, will you help with the plan?”

He glanced out the window, and saw that if he went to sleep now, he wouldn't wake up until well after dawn the next day, as he tended not to be able to take naps, once he was out, he was out for the night. Or day, as he was trying to establish. So he couldn't just go to bed. He could either read, or do Twilight this favor.

He honestly just wanted to read, but he could also see how staying on the good side of your enemy's personal student could benefit him in the long run, so he decided to help. And so he asked exactly what he would need to do.

He wasn't that interested in the the beginning phases of the plan, he wouldn't even see the suit until it was time for him to do what he had been asked to do, but that didn't stop him from hearing about the new mysterious “Mare Do Well.” Which was a stupid name for a super hero, he had to admit.

It was only a few hours later that he found himself over at the Ponyville dam. Which he hadn't even known existed until he had been told of what he needed to do, but it was impressive he supposed.

He was supposed to stay near Ponyville and watch for any ponies approaching the dam that had an obvious, giant crack in it, and freeze any water that might hurt innocent ponies not involved with the plan. Which also added as a bonus “Even non-superheroes can help those in need.” moment.

His service was completely unneeded, as the water never reached any living thing other than Rainbow Dash, so he just went back to Sugarcube Corner, assuming it would be empty enough for him to actually get something to eat this time.

It took a little while to get there again, what with him having no idea where to go, but it wasn't too long. But then it happened as soon as he opened the door. He realized he wasn't even carrying any bits.

And while he may have been willing to give away those seemingly rare gems, of which he had quite a collection of as he had found out, he wasn't going to spend them on pastries.

Before he turned to leave, he spotted the Elements of Harmony inside, Rainbow Dash as well, looking, well, grumpy. Just a bit curious as to how the plan was going, he stepped in as well. He sat down away from them and listened as they complimented “Mare Do Well” on very, very specific things.

Specific things that made it quite obvious that they were the ones behind “Mare Do Well.”

And Rainbow Dash didn't catch on for even a moment of it.

What the hell.

How could she not see it? If he hadn't been in on the plan, even he would have seen it as soon as he found out that this “Mare Do Well” had both a horn, and wings. But never both at the same time. Just...how could nobody else see it?

“-that I'm a better hero than Mare Do Well!” And then she flew out of the building. He looked up, startled at how he had apparently missed an important conversation, before turning his attention back to the Element bearers, who simply shrugged.

He returned to the library without buying anything, and opened up a random book to pass the time.

He would later find out from Twilight that the plan worked, Rainbow Dash learned a valuable lesson, and everything worked out as she intended it.

“So, let me get this straight.” He spoke in a deadpan monotone. “You didn't like how Rainbow Dash was acting because the town was worshiping her for her attempts at protecting the town.”

“Mhmmm.” She hummed, nodding.

“So in response, you created a superhero to out-stage and humiliate her, to teach her a valuable lesson in humility.”

“Yes.” She continued, grinning proudly.

“So instead of stopping when your friend was hurt and humiliated, you continued and reveled in the hero worship you guys were receiving just like she did, only you did it outside of the public view so no one could judge you like you did to her?”

“Yep!” She continued, not quite realizing what he had said. He responded by turning around and walking up the stairs in silence. He made it up halfway before she finally caught on.

“Hey, wait, that's not what I meant!” She shouted, following him up the stairs.

He mentally decided to start his explanation on religion and his comparisons of Celestia and cult worship the next time they spoke of humans. It was becoming very amusing to mess with Twilight.

It was later that Twilight approached him with a question, Spike in tow behind her, and knocked in his door. She started speaking as soon as he opened it.

“For my report on your probation, I feel I should include your opinion on events like what happened today. Anything you've learned, how you feel the situation started. Anything to give a gauge at your state of mind.” She explained.

“I don't see why not. So, just, what I learned from all of this?” He asked, she nodded.

“Heroes are stupid.” He stated, before taking a step back and closing the door.

Twilight used her magic to open the door again before he could lock it.

“I can't tell princess Celestia that! There's gotta be more you've learned than that.” She said, quite annoyed at him.

He glanced at her horn, the door, and then finally looked at her properly.

“I learned that people are willing to be delusional about their own actions, and will adamantly judge others without realizing that doing so makes them a hypocrite.”

“That one is quite acceptable. That's the lesson Rainbow Dash learned as well.” She stated happily, Spike adding his quote to her letter behind her.

“I highly doubt that.” He commented, looking away.

“What do you mean? It's almost exactly what she learned. She was going too far, and judged Mare Do Well without realizing that doing so makes her a hypocrite.” She explained.

“I was talking about Mare Do Well.” He spoke, looking at her again.

"Good day, Twilight." While she was distracted, he pushed her out of the room, closed the door, locked it, and froze the handle. He stepped passed the sleeping form of Nightmare, his pet bunny, and climbed into his own bed.

“What?” Twilight questioned after her brain recovered from the meltdown it had just received.

“Me and my friends were hypocrites and suff...suffered...did the same thing as Rainbow Dash without realizing it.” Spike spoke, finishing the letter. Writing that down as well, with an innocent smile he sent the letter to princess Celestia right then and there. And then went off to go eat a few emeralds he had been saving.

“What?” Twilight questioned again, staring at Spike's retreating form in shock, before her eyes widened at what had just occurred.

“What!?”

In her private study room, princess Celestia was quite surprised to receive another letter from her most faithful student so soon after the last one.

“What could it be, I wonder?” She asked to herself, relishing the fact that she could speak out without worry of others overhearing. “Has she decided to keep up this “Mare Do Well” persona and become Ponyville's resident superhero?” She asked herself with a chuckle. After scanning the letter a few times to make sure she didn't miss anything, she found only one word that could possibly describe how she felt at the moment.

“...what?”

Author's Note

Well, here's chapter five. And I've covered more than one episode of the series.

I know, I copped out on most of them, but the rest of the chapter was dedicated to one episode, so meh. I couldn't find a way to fit him into the stories of the episodes more than I've already covered anyway. This is one of the events I can see him staying with so long just out of morbid curiosity.

Also, more on his past revealed. Not much, just the beginnings. I might do a spin-off covering the beginning of his stay in Equestria, before he was sealed in stone. Then again I might not.

So yeah. Comment, favorite if you want. If you notice any mistakes, don't be afraid to point them out. I hope I've got them all. But who knows?

Introduction: Freedom and the Resolution to an Absolution

Date: 250

I am here.

I have always been here. For as long as one can possibly remember, I have been here. Waiting.

Date: 568

It can't possibly be long now, through the crack below my prison door, I can see the passing of the days.

Date: 710

They shall aid in her escape, they must, and I shall be set free. And I...I shall serve her once more.

Date:830

I can hardly wait anymore, my perception of time has stabilized. Time has crawled to such a speed that I can hardly bear it. The time for her goal to be realized is nearly upon us.

Every day that goes by is another reminder of my greatest failure. And a reminder of how long I must wait until I can see her again.

Date: 900

The time draws near, and I must prepare. The wait has been so unbelievably unbearable.

I can't even begin to imagine how she must be feeling.

Date: 999

Please, let the days pass quicker. The time draws ever closer. And I must hurry to her side once I am free of this accursed place. It shall be a glorious reunion, and the world will quake from her wrath.

Date: 1000

I haven't miscalculated. And even if I have, too much time has passed. And I know it has already come to pass. It was quite obvious when it happened. But the days continue as they always do. Not much has changed...

I fear I must face the fact that I-I...I have been...forgotten. I have been left here.

I have been abandoned.

Date: 1001

It was a presumptuous thought, all things considered. That I would be needed. Why would she need me? With all of that power she commands, and the perfect mind to wield such terrifying power...

I am useless.

Date: ???

I have stopped counting the days, it is a pointless chore. It's funny, I never once thought about sleeping this entire time, but now...now I want nothing more than to lay my head in my own pillow in my own bed, just one more time.

Has it been days? Months? Or has it been years? I have long stopped caring, and I have stopped noticing the effects of time. For all I know, it has been merely hours since my revelation. The revelation that I was abandoned. That I was useless, not needed. Forgotten. A bad memory left to the sands of time.

A small metal room was all he could see, all that he had seen for some time. Standing in the middle of the small metal room, with nowhere to sit. It wasn't uncomfortable, at least in terms of how he was standing. Even the door was made out of metal. Whether it was iron or steel, he did not know.

This was his prison.

He had long forgotten what he even looked like, outside of the rounded, rectangular glasses sat perched on his nose. He wondered briefly what one might think of him, if they were to walk through that door right then. Would they be disgusted? Delighted? Happy? Sad? Angry?

He dismissed these thoughts as quickly as they came. No one ever walked through that door, there were no guards posted outside, he didn't even know if there were any living creatures within a hundred miles anymore. They may have simply left him there, alone. Unable to leave.

Well, that suited him just fine.

'She must have been imprisoned again.' Those few words had been playing inside of his head, over and over again. Like a broken record. Ever since that fateful day had come to pass, and not a damn thing had changed.

It was the only possible explanation. He could accept the reality of being abandoned, of being tossed away like trash. But for everything to continue on as it did...No. She would not allow that.

He did not know the exact truth behind those thoughts, and he didn't care to know. It would be best if he could hold on to the last remaining hope he had left, it was the only thing keeping him from devolving into a gibbering mess of a man...

Man...

He was male. It honestly disturbed him how easily that had slipped his mind. It disturbed him because of just how much of a shock that thought brought to his sense of self.

'I am a male member of my species. I am a...'

...What was he? He wasn't like his Master. His Goddess, the one being to ever garner his respect. He was different. He knew what he was, he knew his species' history, his general body shape, and other such things. But he couldn't remember the name.

Or his own, which was the most troubling. But that had been lost long before the name of his species.

It wasn't like forgetting your own appearance after being imprisoned without mirrors for so long, this was a vital part of who he was. A vital part of his own identity as a person.

It would be like forgetting the name of his Master. And he very much remembered her name. As clear as when he first heard it.

He could remember her goals, her personality, and her terrifying power.

He could remember the details of what she wanted to do with the utmost of clarity, and even the specifics of her appearance were still within his memory.

But he couldn't even remember his own name. Was it a voluntary purge? Had his memories been altered? He should have remembered such a thing, as easily as one would remember to breathe.

This did not bode well.

Despite his insistence to stop counting the days that go by, he was pretty sure it had only been a few days since his little identity crisis had started. The light fading in and out was still hard to ignore sometimes, even after all this time.

But this day was special, an especially different day, all things considered.

Sound. A tiny sound, one that he would not pay any mind to, under better circumstances. But he knew this sound, it was one he had hoped to hear every single day that had gone by.

*ca-clink

It was the sound of his prison door being unlocked.

With his eyes staring firmly ahead, at the same door that had mocked him for so long, he watched as it slowly opened. Revealing something he was starting to think he would never see again.

A pony.

A purple pony.

A purple unicorn pony.

A purple unicorn mare pony.

“Ah, there you are.” She spoke to him, not in the surprised way he imagined he would be found. She did not seem at all surprised at his condition either.

Knitting her eyebrows together in thought, she stared passed him, seemingly thinking of something beyond his prison.

“I should report to the Princess that I have located the human's prison.”

'Human...that's right. That's what we are called.' So many thoughts went through his head as he stared at the intruder whom had easily opened the door that had been closed and locked for his entire stay. And that was what he was most focused on?

He wanted to laugh, to cry, to lash out in anger, at the first living thing he had seen in just over a millennium. But he didn't.

You can't very well react in such ways when your entire body has been turned to stone, now can you?

“Now to get you out of here...” She had such a determined look on her face as she spoke, it was kind of cute. Well, all ponies are cute in some way to him. He felt a slight buzzing sensation as her horn lit up with a purple glow.

Yes, a purple glow. Is that a strange thing to see? It should not be. Humans were one of the few species in existence naturally able to see magic, especially when it was just being charged within the focal point of it's caster's body. Even they, the ponies themselves, could not see their own magic while it was in this stage. At least he assumed so, they always looked at him so strangely when he mentioned it...

He was being lifted, the purple glow signifying this strange unicorn's power was visible just at the edge of his vision. And for the first time in so long, he felt hope swelling within him.

He would see his Mistress again, he was sure of it. His Master, Queen, Goddess. He would find a way to rip open whatever new prison they had put her in if he had to. He vowed then and there that he would be useful to the great and powerful-

Nightmare Moon.

And it seemed as if his time had finally come. They had remembered his existence. He was not completely forgotten. This feeling...he had not felt it in so long. He wanted to express it, only his stone prison keeping him from doing so. He just wanted to tell the strange purple unicorn everything he was thinking, feeling, and seeing. He just wanted to express to the strange purple unicorn mare...

That he was absolutely livid.

Author's Note

The first thing I would like to say, is that there will be no human/pony romance.
I know how it looks, that was intentional.

The second thing I would like to say, is welcome to my first fanfiction...on this website. I have written several before this one, but none have been about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

I am an inexperienced aspiring writer, and I would hope that all of you reading this...will not let that stop you from criticizing my work and letting me know exactly what is wrong, and how I can improve. Don't hold back.