Pillow Thoughts II

Pillow Thoughts II

Chapter 8
Celestia’s oldest student

Rainbow lazily opened an eye. She thought she heard a seagull. She slowly shifted her gaze upwards, blinking a few times, adjusting to the afternoon light. The sun was shining, making her frown. She covered her eyes with a hoof and sighed as she pieced together bits and fragments of last night’s conversation. Her ears pricked up when she recognized the distinct faint scent of apples. She nuzzled her way up the orange coat and snuggled her little orange cloud.

Applejack mumbled something incoherent as Rainbow’s muzzle gently bumped into hers. She stretched out her forelegs and hugged her pegasus as they both enjoyed the warm rays of the sun, shining over them. The big boat didn’t completely dried after last night’s storm but at least it was safely anchored near the island’s shore. On board, a few hooves away from the two lovebirds, the other four ponies were still sleeping and, not far from them, the old sailor was beginning to wake up.

“Oh, my head,” he grunted as he got up from the hard floor surface. He quickly checked his vessel for damage, but everything seemed in order. He glanced over to his passengers, then his gaze took in the beauty of the shore, with its golden sand and huge emerald jungle-leaves that spread as far as his good eye could see.

Adia, my dear, your name truly does bring beauty to everything, he thought, with a smile softening his boney face. Wasting no time, he jumped right near the little pile of ponies. “Rise and shine, or however you young ponies call it nowadays! We made it, we reached our destination and we surely won’t celebrate that by sleeping, so everypony up!”

Twilight lifted her sleepy head and yawned with all her heart. It took her a few good seconds to put her thoughts in the right order.

Ophil… we must find Ophil Gryasa…

She looked around for their bags and noticed that some of the contents have been thrown around the deck during the storm. The unicorn started gathering them as her friends slowly got on their feet.

“How are you feeling, Mr. Timber?” Twilight asked.

“Never better!” the response came quickly as the old sailor still gazed at the beautiful island.

“You took quite a hit last night… do you want me to check that for you?”

“Nah, I’ve had much worse! …but thanks for the offer,” the colt replied. “What truly baffles me is the way you managed to keep this boat floating! Ya used magic, didn’t ya?”

She thought it might be better to leave the details out for a while, until they started their return trip, so she just nodded, smiling, and left the story to the sailor’s imagination.

A few satchels reorganized and a few teleportation spells later, the mane six found themselves on the beach. Mr. Timber preferred waiting aboard for as long as it took. They left him food and half of the settled price, as they agreed upon.

“Well, Ah’ll be…” said Applejack, almost not believing her eyes. Just a few hooves away from them, half buried in the sand, was her hat. “Ah’ll never really understand how this always finds her way back to me, but Ah sure appreciate it!” she continued, placing it on top of her head.

“Well, don’t look at me,” replied Rainbow, smiling. “I had nothing to do with it this time.”

Rather typical of her, Rarity immediately ignored the uncouth behavior that was manifesting around her and took out a pair of sunglasses and a bottle of sun lotion. However, she soon regretted the fact that she told everypony how her favorite brand used orange peels and cocoa tree bark to enhance the protective layer of sun screen. She had to spend the entire rest of the trip hiding the bottle from Pinkie’s grabby hooves.

The jungle was pretty dense and Twilight had to use her magic on several occasions and move the big leaves aside to clear their path.

“Twi, I could take a quick look above the jungle to see if I can spot something,” said Rainbow, stretching her wings.

“Good idea,” replied the unicorn.

“I certainly didn’t expect all this vegetation and having a sense of direction would be very much appreciated,” added Rarity, using her magic again to levitate the bottle higher than Pinkie’s reach.

The blue pegasus bolted upwards through the foliage. The other ponies remained silent for a few seconds. Suddenly, Dash landed behind Rarity and grabbed her sunglasses.

“Sorry, I need these for a sec,” she said, before dashing again.

“Hey!” protested the white unicorn, while Pinkie managed to grab the sun lotion and took a big gulp out of it. Watching her face turn green was something they didn’t see everyday and Pinkie was probably wishing she had tasted rainbows again, only to wash the bad taste out of her mouth.

Rainbow placed the sunglasses on her muzzle so she could see farther away. “Aha!” the pegasus shouted, as she noticed smoke rising in the distance, near the base of a tiny rocky hill. She turned back to her friends and, pausing for a moment to understand why Pinkie was brushing her tongue with a coconut, she pointed them in the right direction. “Someone is having a barbecue or something over there.”

“Might be the mare we’re looking for. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting this to be so easy!” replied Twilight, smiling.

“Ah wouldn’t call sailin’ a boat through a storm ‘easy’, then again… this jungle did look discouraging at first,” remarked Applejack as the group started moving along.

“Well, yes, I meant the jungle-part. Also, think about it: We’re probably the first ponies from Ponyville who got this far and lived to tell the tale! I bet the Canterlot cartographers would give their right hoof to be able to complete a little more of their maps,” she replied, even though nopony else shared her excitement.

“That sounds a bit… dark,” said Fluttershy as Rarity was starting to actually enjoy Pinkie’s torment. The poor pink pony was now rolling up her tongue, trying to squeeze out the bad taste.

The group walked and walked, Rainbow occasionally popped up over the trees to reassess their position and Applejack kept looking after her. The earth pony was glad, very glad, that they talked… but they still didn’t really have had some alone-time to themselves in the past days.

Well, not THAT kind of alone-time… but that couldn’t hurt either, she thought to herself, hoping that the slight blush on her face would go unnoticed by the other mares. She hoped that they could find this Ophil-pony so they could all go home faster. Evil-alicorn or not, she couldn’t let this unfortunate situation get the best of their lives after all.

“Oh, look! We’re here!” said Twilight, pointing at a tiny cave entrance.

That was fast, concluded Applejack, half-heartedly, as they approached.

Outside the cave, something that looked like a hoofmade grill had various fruits and quite a few coconuts engulfed in smoke. Twilight read about this kind of cooking in one of her camping-books and knew that the purpose of this technique was not to actually fry the food, but rather ‘boil it from a distance using the heat and the smoke’. She never had the chance to eat such a special type of food but she guessed it would’ve—

“It’s an acquired taste,” said a voice, making them all jump a little. An old greenish-gray colt came out of the cave, carrying a coconut with his blue magic. “You’re free to try it, if you want, but save some coconuts for me. I love these,” he continued as if this conversation didn’t take place in the middle of a jungle, on an island, but rather in the comfort of a very luxurious home in the middle of Canterlot.

“Oh, uh… thank you, very kind of you. I am Twilight Sparkle and these are my friends. We came a long way looking for a mare, a certain Ophil Gryasa. Does she, uh… live here?” asked the unicorn, looking at the old colt who was carefully and slowly placing the coconut on top of his grill.

He didn’t even seem to have heard her. After he checked his grill again to make sure everything was in order, he slowly turned and started walking towards the cave entrance. The mane six exchanged glances and, before the purple unicorn could say anything else, the colt spoke. “I’m old, Twilight Sparkle. There is a reason for which I am here and not somewhere else… Even so, I can’t say that I do not enjoy having some company. Not that I mind my solitude, but talking to the trees can lead up to some rather rude conversations,” he concluded, more to himself.

“I will take you to meet Ophil,” he added, resulting in a general sigh of relief from the ponies who received a confirmation that they were on the right track. “…but for a price.”

“Of course,” replied Twilight, not missing a beat. She started rummaging through her saddle packs when she heard the old colt laughing his hair off. Since he didn’t have much hair to begin with, his laughter was rather prominent.

“What in the great big world of Equestria could I do with your bits, Twilight Sparkle?” he asked as soon as he got a good breath of air between laughs. “My wish is priceless and you have the exact amount to fulfill it… should you want to, of course.”

The mares were not sure if he was speaking words of wisdom or if he was just babbling whatever came into his head. Still, he was the only lead they had. “Then name your wish, sir…” she said.

The colt’s pale-blue eyes widened, after which the shadow of a frown was casted upon his wrinkly face. He knew he had to reply to her, but so many years of isolation made him react rather slowly to anything involving social skills. He opened his mouth and, after a few seconds, he managed to ask: “Why are you looking for Ophil?”

The entire conversation seemed eerie for some reason. It was as if the lines were not spoken in order. Even so, Twilight continued, hoping that this wasn’t a huge waste of time. “We have a problem, a big problem, and we think her wisdom might help us find a solution.”

The colt glanced at the ground, then lifted his gaze towards the sky, as a lost cloud covered the sun, casting its shadow over the ponies. He mumbled something to himself then turned towards the cave. He started walking towards it, then stopped midway and turned towards them again. “Yes, yes, I see…”

“Can we see Ophil, please? We’re kind of in a hurry,” said Rainbow who was already starting to lose her patience.

“Are you some sort of guardian, mister?” asked Pinkie who was not really paying attention to the conversation, but rather was asking herself if the taste of smoke would be better than the taste of sun lotion.

“Guardian?” repeated the colt, rubbing his chin. “Yes, yes… I am guarding Ophil and you have to play a game with me if you want to meet Ophil,” he told them, as if he was trying to remember some ancient rules written a long time ago.

“Is this some sort of game of riddles?” asked the purple unicorn and then she turned to her friends. “I read about this in several books, seems to be some sort of ancient game.”

“Riddles? Yes, yes, maybe… not sure… here’s the first one anyway,” he replied as he lifted all the food off the grill and placed it on a wooden tray nearby. “Ah, let’s see… you all travel far, far away and you reach an island.”

“Like this one?” asked Pinkie who was already enjoying this much more interesting conversation.

“Yes, sure, like this one… and on this island you meet an old colt who was preparing his food. Now this is the question: how can you make his food taste better?” He looked up at the sky again and promptly concluded: “You have until the passing of this cloud.”

Twilight blinked in utter confusion. “Wait, what? Until the cloud passes?! This isn’t even a real riddle!”

“I don’t make the rules, Twilight Sparkle. Or maybe I do, I can’t really remember… or if I do remember, I don’t think I want to make the rules anymore, hehehe!” chuckled the guardian. “Cloud is passing.”

Twilight groaned, stomping her hoof. “Listen, we haven’t put our lives in danger just to play some idiotic game with you!”

“Twilight!” gasped Rarity.

“I never said you have to play it… I said ‘only if you want to’, heh!” replied the colt as if he’d done this hundreds of times before. To the best of their knowledge, maybe he actually did.

“Fluttershy,” shouted Rainbow, “help me keep that cloud in place!”

The pegasi were ready to take off when the old colt stopped them with his magic. “No, no, sorry… that’s not how it works. That’s cheating.”

“Are y’all serious?!” snapped Applejack and took a few steps menacingly towards the colt, who started backing away.

“If you hurt me, you’ll never find Ophil. That cave is not big, but only I know its secrets!”

“You can’t just throw a made-up question that none of us can answer!” shouted Twilight in frustration, while keeping an eye on the passing cloud. This was ridiculous. They would fail their mission just because an old idiot was in the mood to play games with them.

“Use condiments?” tried Fluttershy as she was still floating along with Rainbow in a blue bubble of magic.

“Good idea, but I don’t have any!” said the colt as he continued to chuckle, obviously enjoying the situation he created. The cloud started revealing tiny rays of sun as it almost completed its passing.

Pinkie looked at the tray of food, then back at the colt… then at the tray and she suddenly had this really weird idea. She quickly grabbed Rarity’s bottle of sun lotion and, before anypony could react, she violently squirted a considerable amount straight towards the colt’s face, making the poor guardian fall on his back.

“Pinkie!!”

“Oh my…”

“My expensive sun lotion!!”

“Pinkie, what have you done?!” asked Twilight, rightfully, seeing how the colt stopped moving.

“Darling,” intervened Rarity, “I think you killed him.”

Pinkie ignored them and grabbed one of the coconuts from the tray, smashing it against a rock on the ground. She quickly grabbed the steamy contents and approached the colt, who started to rub the lotion off his face, parts of it inevitably entering his mouth. “Oh, pffff! What is this?!” Before he could say anything else, he woke up with a mouthful of coconut-flavored treats. “Oh! Oh my, what… what is this? It’s delicious!”

“After eating Rarity’s sun screen, even DIRT would taste delicious,” said the pink pony, smirking. “This is just your plain old food… Everypony knows that if you want to make a good cupcake taste even better, you need to eat a bad cupcake before it!” She turned towards her friends. “Good to see it actually makes sense!”

“I strongly feel that’s a first for Pinkie… you know… making sense,” Rarity whispered to Twilight. Even so, she had to admit, her quick thinking was rather brilliant.

The colt rubbed the lotion from his eyes as the sun started shining on them again. He chuckled as he ate his food, while nodding his head. “Well, first riddle passed, two more to go!”

Twilight wasn’t sure if she should confront the colt right there and then, making him tell them where Ophil was, or play along, hoping that they would somehow succeed. Fluttershy and Rainbow were released from the bubbles as Pinkie spat out the smokey-food she just tried.

“It’s an acquired taste,” repeated the guardian, wiping his mouth with a hoof. “Now, let’s see… second riddle-thingy. Are you ready?”

“As ready as we’ll ever be,” mumbled Dash, crossing her forelegs.

“A little foal is opening a door, peeking into a dark room. ‘I am so scared’, he mutters to himself. What is he afraid of?” asked the old guardian, finishing up his coconut. He glanced over to the tray filled with other fruits and yummy stuff. “You have until I finish my lunch,” he smiled to them, encouragingly.

Twilight facehooved. We skipped from ‘Make my food tasty’ to ‘Tell me stuff about somepony you haven’t even met’! she thought to herself, wishing that the guardian would stop doing this.

The colt started eating slowly, thank Celestia, as the purple unicorn gathered her friends in a circle. “Okay,” she started, “any ideas?”

“How in the hay are we supposed to know what the kid is afraid of?!” whispered Rainbow, annoyed.

“I don’t know, but I’m willing to hear any idea, no matter how silly or stupid it may seem. Don’t hold back on anything.”

“Oh, a brainstorm! I love these! I usually do that with myself, for new clothes-designs, but I heard it’s much more entertaining in a group,” exclaimed Rarity, drawing a few awkward glances towards her.

“Okay, I’ll go first!” shouted Pinkie. “What if it’s a giant monster?”

“The colt did say that it was a room… maybe a monster, even if it’s not giant,” replied Twilight. “Applejack?”

“Ah’m thinkin’ of the darkness itself. ‘twas a dark room, right?”

“Good point. Noted. Fluttershy?”

“Oh, I don’t know… it could be anything…” the pegasus squeaked. “I don’t like this riddle.”

“Maybe it’s a metaphor?” asked Rainbow, not really knowing what she was asking about.

“I hardly think this colt is sophisticated enough to give us riddles in metaphors,” replied Rarity.

They all looked towards him. He had about three more coconuts to eat, so they quickly turned back to their little meeting.

“What if the foal is not a foal, and the room is not a room?” asked Twilight, who was getting a bit desperate. She did not like losing at a mind game, not after all the books she read all her life. It was frustrating for her to see how this old guardian wasn’t playing by normal rules.

“Or maybe it’s all just as simple as that… no fancy stuff, jes’ a foal scared of who-knows-what,” replied the orange pony, adjusting her hat.

A small crack announced that the colt had only two more coconuts to eat.

“What if the foal is… us?” asked Pinkie.

“All of us?” asked Rarity, not really believing this was the answer.

“Well it can’t be just one of us… we were all asked the question,” replied Twilight. “What if it is a fear that we all have… that everypony has.”

“Spiders?”

“Snakes?”

“Sun burn?”

“No, it must be…. ‘sun burn’?! Really, Rarity?”

“Well, to each his own, darling!”

“As I was saying, it must be something that we all share… something deeper than that.”

“Well, ah reckon that these days we’re all scared of that alicorn and what it can do to us and our friends.”

“Yes, but why are we scared of it?” asked the purple pony as another crack told them that they had only one coconut left, time-wise.

“It can hit us with that truth-magic,” replied Rainbow.

“It exposes us,” added Rarity. “Everypony needs secrets, needs intimacy. It’s what makes us function normally.”

“If you get exposed, what happens?” insisted Twilight.

“Well, that’s just dreadful!”

“Thank you, Rarity, but I’m referring to the consequences, not how you feel about it.”

“Well, um… I think…” started Fluttershy, rubbing her hooves together and looking down, “I think some ponies might not like us with our secrets…”

“So is it the fear of being rejected?” continued Twilight.

“Or casted out,” replied Rainbow, throwing a quick glance over to Applejack.

“Or not being loved anymore,” the orange mare said, returning Rainbow’s gaze.

“These are too many fears… what do they all have in common? What is the common fear that includes all of these?”

Crack! went the last coconut as the old colt started eating its contents, quite happy with rediscovering the taste he loved so much, and asking himself if the sun lotion aftertaste will last for more than a week. Then again, it wouldn’t be so bad as long as he still had coconuts.

“We only have a few more seconds… let’s turn this around,” said Twilight, quickly. “Who doesn’t fear all that?”

“Uh, somepony who doesn’t care?” replied Rainbow.

“Okay, who doesn’t care? Why wouldn’t that pony care?”

“There is no such pony, darling… it’s impossible not to care!”

“Humor me… the perfect pony doesn’t care, why?”

“Well,” started Rarity, “I suppose one wouldn’t care when one needs nopony else to agree with one’s own existence.”

“Ouch, mah head is spinning”, complained Applejack.

“Fearing our way of being… that’s just a consequence. A foal is growing up to become himself…”

“So the only thing he can fear most is himself…” whispered Fluttershy almost inaudibly. Five pairs of eyes were instantly drawn towards her, making her feel really, really small. “Did I say something wrong?”

Instantly, Twilight turned towards the colt who was just chewing on his last bite. “Himself! The foal fears himself!”

The colt’s eyes widened as he choked on his food and started coughing. “What?!”

“The answer to the riddle… the foal fears himself! The fear of rejection is only a consequence of fearing and not trusting yourself,” said Twilight, her eyes demanding an answer.

The colt got up and started pondering. He took a few steps and mumbled something to himself. Finally, he turned towards the mane six. “Actually, I can’t remember the answer to that one…”

Twilight never felt such a strong need to strangle somepony in all her life. Luckily for the colt, he quickly added, chuckling: “Hehehe, I’m joking. Yes, the answer is right.”

He yawned and stretched under the ponies’ semi-relieved, semi-furious gaze. “You know why riddles are not so much fun nowadays, Twilight Sparkle? You all know the answers anyway. They are more like questions, rather than riddles. Redundant questions, which will soon end up being rhetorical.”

The guardian looked towards the cave and then turned to them. “We are all alike, Twilight Sparkle. The sooner we learn that, the sooner we’ll be able to live in harmony. True harmony. So let me ask you this, as one final fake-riddle: I am presenting myself as a masked alicorn. My greatest fear will be my downfall. What do I fear most?” He turned his back towards the group and entered the cave. “Ophil will see you tomorrow if you’ll figure out the answer to this one. You have until sunrise.”

***

Applejack was watching the moon and the diamond-filled sky, thinking of home. She used to tell Applebloom that, no matter where life would take them, they will always have the same starry blanket above their heads. She couldn’t write to them, she couldn’t even let them know if she was alright or not. Her life could’ve easily ended in that storm the other night and they wouldn’t even have known about it. Besides, when she would return… if she would return… she’d have to find a way to easily tell them, one by one, about her and Rainbow.

As if summoned, her marefriend softly landed a few hooves away from her. The wind was blowing gently, caressing their coats and manes. “Hey…” she said, approaching the cowpony.

“Hey,” replied Applejack. “Are the others alright?”

“Yeah… they all went back to the boat. I told them not to wait up for us. Rarity started giggling at that thought.”

“Heh… she earned her right to giggle all she wants. She was mighty helpful today, in more ways than one,” said the orange pony, smirking.

“Who would’ve thought… two more of these adventures and we might even let her make us a pair of frou-frou dresses!”

They chuckled, alone, together, on top of that hill on a forgotten island. Applejack slowly buried her face under Rainbow’s muzzle, seeking comfort, as the pegasus wrapped her hooves around her. “Hey, AJ, everything okay?”

“Not sure, sugarcube… Ah lied to mah family and our friends about us, we’ve been so terrified of ponies findin’ out, it almost destroyed our relationship.”

“I… I thought I was the scaredy cat here…”

“Well, Ah am as scared as you. I just hide it better, Ah guess.”

Rainbow nuzzled her marefriend, stroking her mane gently. “I think we both are losing touch with our elements, AJ… that’s why we’re going through this.”

“Ah know… that’s why Ah think we should start telling our loved ones. But Ah’m so scared of that. Maybe it’s a stupid idea.”

“I know how you feel and I don’t think it’s a stupid idea. Believe it or not, this alicorn-trouble did something good after all,” replied Rainbow. “It made me realize that love is not something you can just have as a bonus when you find a marefriend. It’s something far greater and more complex that you can imagine… and it’s definitely something that you can’t learn how to deal with overnight. It’s an ongoing process… love is to be learned and gained, not won in a flying contest.”

“Y’all started sounding like Twilight,” chuckled the earth pony, hugging her blue pegasus. “But yeah, Ah couldn’t agree more.” She paused for a while and lifted her head to look into her marefriend’s magenta eyes. “But what if we will be casted away? What if our loved ones won’t approve? So many fears, Rainbow…”

“Forget those fears, AJ. We are together now. We can fill out any void left by others, together and through each other… I don’t know how to explain this. You are like… like flying to me, AJ.”

The earth pony knew that, coming from Rainbow, it was the most beautiful thing anypony ever told her. It was getting a bit chilly so she snuggled in with her marefriend as the leaves and the grass around them started to move in a faded rhythm.

FAST ENOUGH

Rainbow:
The wind ruffling my mane
The speed, the sky, the rain
I still feel them constantly
When we're together

Sometimes, yes, it's tough
But I Can't rush fast enough
To stand by your side forever...

Applejack:
Oh Rainbow...

Fears and threats
RD: Don't worry AJ: Will we
BOTH: Defeat them

AJ:
Lies, regrets
RD: Forget those AJ: Will we
BOTH: Outwit them

RD:
Can't you see
All that
Really matters is
BOTH: You and me?

AJ:
Rainbow streams
RD:
And apples
BOTH:
Are turning

RD:
Honesty
AJ:
Loyalty
BOTH:
Returning

RD:
If friendship is magic,
BOTH:
Imagine what
Love can be.

AJ:
Family an' sky above
The land Ah know and love
Ah always see them in your eyes
When we're together

AJ:
Diamond in the rough
BOTH:
Ah can't rush fast enough
To stand by you, forever.The night slowly faded around them as they retreated into their own perfect little world, sealed with a kiss.

***

Before the first ray of light made its way through the dense jungle, Twilight and her friends were already in front of the cave.

“Come in, Twilight Sparkle”, echoed a voice from the inside. Carefully, led by Twilight’s lit horn, they entered the cold, rocky place. As the guard said, it wasn’t very deep. After just a few seconds, they reached a room that had a bed, many tables made of either rock or wood, covered in various scrolls, and one large chair in the center.

On that chair sat the old guardian, looking at them, waiting.

“You asked us three riddles, guardian,” started Twilight, “and yet the biggest one was yet to be asked.”

The other ponies looked at each other, wondering what Twilight was talking about. Despite their confusion and the lack of an answer, the unicorn did not back away. “You asked us the third riddle only to take our minds off the most obvious one… so, instead of a repetitive answer, I shall ask you a riddle.”

She took a few steps under the gaze of the guardian, approaching him.

“Who are you really guarding?”

The guard chuckled, his voice echoing throughout the cave in an eerie way.

“Ophil Gryasa,” came the answer from him.

“That’s only half the answer,” said Twilight.

“You asked only half the question,” replied the guardian.

The unicorn nodded. “Then, let’s put an end to this game.” She looked him straight in the eyes and asked, without hesitating for a second: “If we are all scared of our true selves, then who is Ophil Gryasa guarding?”

A smile spread across the old colt’s face as he replied.

“Himself.”

- End of Chapter 8 -