The Voice of a Stranger

Chapter 1

Dusty Trails

======

Coalblack rushed down the hallway, swerving past, dodging around, and even jumping over servants as he ran along. He was late and he knew it, that’s why he was running.

It was his lessons, it was always the lessons. For the past six months he’d been working with some of Equestria’s finest scholars, trying powerful magic, mysterious potions, and suspicious herbs, really everything anypony could think of to restore his memories. Hours upon hours were spent at these lessons, and very little was ever accomplished, but it was the will of Celestia, and it was by her orders he attended these sessions.

Not all of his time was spent among these dusty old stallions, with their dusty old books and dusty old bottles. No, when these dull meetings had run their course, he spent his time with Princess Luna.

Through these frequent rendezvous the two had become fast friends. The princess shared her experiences of life as co-ruler of Equestria and of time spent banished for a thousand years on the barren surface of the moon; of ancient history, and of bitter solitude on the lunar wasteland; of joyous times, and of her slow descent into madness as nightmare moon. Of the joy of finally returning to her place on the throne, and of the feelings of isolation that shortly followed.

All this she shared, while expecting nothing in return. She knew that no matter how many stories she told, she would never get one in return. She knew Coalblack had no stories to share.

She didn’t mind. She was tolerant of his inadequacies. She understood his lack of knowledge in the fields of Equestrian culture and social interaction. To be honest, Luna found herself lacking in these areas as well, still adjusting to normal life after her time spent on the moon.

Despite his lack of a history, Coalblack was no dry font when it came to conversation, no, he had a good deal to say. These words were not directly his though. They came from deep within him, from a place even he didn’t truly understand. Ever since he’d first woken up, with those thorns piercing into his side, he’d heard a voice. It started as an inane buzzing that had slowly grown into coherent thoughts, sharing little bits and pieces of intriguing information.

The source of this voice was unknown to him, yet he could somehow tell it was internal. He and Luna often spent hours on end speculating its source. She often suggested it may be his memories resurfacing. He would always tell her that was a ridiculous notion.

On the matter of the princess, that’s what Coalblack was late for. They had planned to meet after Coalblack’s most recent session with the scholars, once again an unsuccessful venture. However the old foals had kept him longer than intended, something about proper refocusing of his latent magical energies. All he knew was that it was a very complicated spell, and that it had failed.

It seemed that everything was failing. Spells, potions, simple exercises. Each meant to restore the memories he’d lost, but none had succeeded. That was a bit obvious he supposed, if any had worked the lessons would have stopped.

He turned his thoughts from this digression and back to his meeting with the princess, and once again remembered that he was late. He decided to put on a little extra speed to make up for lost time and began a quick trot, right into a solid stone wall.

He fell back on his hindquarters, cursing his mistake. He’d neglected to keep an eye out for walls and paid the price. This was a frequent occurrence for him, he quite often found himself lost in introspection and would find himself running into things, notably walls and centuries old priceless art.

Coalblack’s eyes had crossed after the impact and as the world in front of him came into focus he noticed one of the palace servants was staring at him. She was a member of the maid staff, as was evident from her uniform and the feather duster perched comically in her mouth. It was evident from the crinkling of her nose and the expression in her eyes that she was suppressing laughter, and just barely so. It was against etiquette for a servant to laugh at a royal guest, this policy was not one Coalblack approved of.

In an effort to dispel the tension, Coalblack began to laugh himself. He shook his head and looked to the maid. She still wasn’t laughing, just standing there staring at him. He decided to press the issue.

“I must look ridiculous lying down here,” he said. “Don’t I?” He looked into her eyes, hoping to get a response.

She looked away nervously, mumbling something indecipherable with the feather duster in her mouth.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that,” Coalblack pressed.

The filly sat the duster down on a nearby table and mumbled again, this time it was slightly more understandable.

“It’s not my place to say, sir,” Her dockney accent was quite common among the palace servants, most were immigrants from Trottingham. Her reserved nature was even more common. Few servants were willing to talk to him, hoping to avoid a confrontation with the princesses’ guest.

The only staff member truly open with him was the palace chef. The old zebra would only talk to order someone out of his kitchen, or to not dip their hooves into the soup he was cooking, no matter how delicious it smelled. He and Coalblack did not get on well at all.

Coalblack shook his head and jumped to his feet. He’d given the maid up as a lost cause. He rushed off, swearing to himself that he would keep his eyes open this time. As he galloped off he heard a soft cackle, hardly suppressed behind a hoof. He marked that up as a victory, a small step in winning over the castle staff.

======

Luna stared at the clock. He was late. It wasn’t unheard of for Coalblack to be late, and it wouldn’t normally have bothered her, but today was different. Today was a day special to her, the worst day of the year. Ironically it was also the one day dedicated solely to her. Yes, it was the day of nightmare night. The day young foals across the land would dress up in costumes to shield themselves from her eyes and offer treats they’d spent the night gathering in an attempt to appease her hunger for souls.

Today was a day of fun and joy for the children, yet a day of dread and pain for her. A day for communities to come together in a greatly beloved festival and enjoy feelings of love and friendship, but also a day for her to lock herself away and avoid the public eye.

She looked over her kingdom and thought, as she often did, about how much things had changed. The land she saw was quite similar to the one she had known. Much of the area around the castle had remained unchanged. The town of Canterlot had remained relatively untouched; a bastion of the old world, but beyond that though things had changed very much. Things like the Everfree forest were of course untouched by time, no force of nature or ponies could affect that dark and ancient place. Even the technology had remained relatively the same, a few innovations could be seen here and there, something that was no trouble at all for Luna, she was always one to encourage progress, but things had remained relatively similar to the archaic practices she remembered. No, the true change was in the ponies.

Culturally they were much the way she remembered, eager to accept the doctrine of friendship and love Celestia gently pushed on them. They were still trusting and also trustworthy, even the least morally upright of them still an upstanding citizen. They even clung to the old art and architecture she remembered so well. No, the change was deeper than that, more internal. They were afraid.

Afraid of her, afraid of the pony that had scorned their beloved day and tried to push the night; afraid of the change she could bring, despite all the change they’d seen so far.

But their fear was of no concern to her, for deep within her heart she shared and also reciprocated their fear. She feared the mare she had become those thousand years ago. She feared the pain, the anger, and the jealousy she had felt. She feared the disaster she could have brought on Equestria, and she feared another thousand years of banishment.

More than any of that though, she feared her subjects; she feared their scornful glares and mocking laughter. Not that she had experienced scornful glares or mocking laughter, it was just something she expected after all that had transpired.

No, it was better to remain locked away, isolate herself from her subjects. Better to protect herself from those ponies she feared, and who feared her back, at the cost of friendship than risk injury at their hooves, or a return to her madness as nightmare moon.

In the middle of her introspection Luna heard a clatter and a rattle and turned to see Coalblack stumbling through the doorway, evidently trying to be stealthy but quite miserably failing.

He paused, one hoof pushed forward, the other raised, obviously he was caught but still he jumped into a more natural standing position to cover his mistake.

“S-Sorry I’m late,” he stammered, trying to regain his composure. “I er ran into a pressing engagement on the way.”

“By 'pressing engagement do you perhapse mean, 'wall'?”

“Maybe.”

Luna sighed, it was typical of Coalblack to avoid responsibility with these little mind games of his, and most days she found it at least a little endearing, but today was not the day for it. Today was not the day for anything.

Coalblack walked up and put his hoof on her shoulder, he looked deep into her eyes and she could feel him probing her soul. He had an odd way about him. She could feel his eyes piercing deep into her. She brushed his hoof off her shoulder and turned around. She was not in the mood to have her innermost thoughts examined.
Luna sighed and turned around again, it was unfair to take her hostile feelings out on Coalblack.

“We apologize for that act of coldness, we are currently experiencing an absolutely dreadful mood,” It would do her no good to alienate her one true friend; in fact, his assistance may prove quite useful in overcoming these feelings of dread.

“Is something wrong?”

Typical of him to offer assistance without proper understanding of the situation, Coalblack always sought to be helpful to her. This was one of his more endearing qualities, but at the same time she occasionally found it quite annoying. Still, she was trying to be open to support today.

======

Coalblack could never understand Luna, one moment she was cold and reserved the next she seemed ready to open up, now she was staring at him, absolutely silent. To describe her behavior as erratic would be quite the understatement. He knew there was nothing truly wrong; he’d have seen it in her eyes. Over the past several months he’d noticed a certain sort of empathy between himself and the princess, the two could understand each other’s feelings with remarkable accuracy. She was often curious about it, but he dismissed it as an oddity, and he saw no sense in worrying over such small matters.

No, whatever this was must be far simpler than any problem he would have detected. This was both wonderful news, and horrible news. It meant that Luna’s problem would have a simple solution, but also that Luna would have to be open with him for that solution to be found.

“Today is… not a good day for us, we must admit,”

Perhaps Luna would be cooperative on this issue.

“Could I get some eh- details?” Coalblack pressed, hoping she’d elaborate.

Luna sighed again; she furrowed her brow and once more stared at Coalblack. Coalblack stared back. He was getting a little sick of this start stop conversation, and was considering giving it up as a lost cause, something he’d only ever done twice before, when Luna finally spoke.

“It’s nightmare night.”

Coalblack didn’t know how to respond to that, honestly. He had no idea what she meant by ‘Nightmare Night’, but apparently it wasn’t good.

“Nightmare night is an Equestrian festival,” Luna explained, accurately reading Coalblack’s confusion, how did she always manage to do that? “Once a year, the children all across the land don their costumes and go around their communities, stopping at each house to collect a small portion of candy; they then offer this candy to a statue of us. All this is done in an attempt to save their souls from our supposed ‘hunger’ for them.”

Coalblack stared at her.

“That… has got to be the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

“And how would that be?”

“Well, for starters, I’ve never seen you eat a soul, in fact, the only thing I’ve seen you eat was soup, and that was only once, on a dare.”

“Well… I-er-we have to maintain the royal figure, it is important for the princess to look presentable.”

Luna stumbled over her words, obviously mortified at the thoughts Coalblack must have had of her. Truth be told, Coalblack had no such thoughts, he simply enjoyed seeing the princess’s reaction to such accusations.

“Y-you really feel that their fears are unfounded though?”

Luna’s small moments of apprehension were one of Coalblack’s favorite things about her. For an immortal god-ruler, she truly was absolutely horrible at conversation.

“Absolutely,” He reassured. “If there were anypony I knew who ate souls, it wouldn’t be you. No, it would be that creepy zebra in the kitchens.”

Luna laughed; she was always susceptible to even the worst of Coalblack’s humor.

“Don’t let Wapishi hear that, or you may well find he really does eat souls.”

Coalblack smiled, he’d finally broken down the mental wall she’d built up. She was now truly open to conversation.

“So you really feel those ponies have nothing to fear in me?”

Coalblack sighed; this was probably Luna’s greatest fault: when something came to her mind, it really stuck. Things like this ‘everypony’s terrified of me because a thousand years ago I tried to take over the world and blot out the sun and almost destroyed everything’ kick she was on were quite common, such drama.

“Without a doubt,” Coalblack promised. “In fact, if you were to head over to one of these celebrations, you may be able to convince them there’s no need to fear you.”

“You really think so?” Luna beamed, her smile had grown so wide in such a short span of time Coalblack was worried her face would literally split open.

“Absolutely, why don’t you head off to one of these celebrations and show them the real you, I’ll be fine here.”

Luna smiled even wider and thanked Coalblack. She whirled around on the spot and spread her wings wide, and with a single, powerful, surge she was off. Coalblack watched as she flew off, waving and smiling widely at the thought he’d helped a friend.

He dropped his hoof when she was out of sight, and turned to walk back along the hallways. He’d gone a measurable distance down the quiet hall before he realized this left him with nothing to do. Luna was the only pony in the castle he could speak to. The only pony he could confide in. The only pony he called a friend.

Coalblack shrugged, as best as he could while still maintaining his balance, and decided he’d branch out. It did him no good only ever seeing one pony outside of his lessons, and those hardly counted as interaction. Perhaps he’d track down that maid from earlier…

======

Coalblack groaned, he was bored. It had been hours since the princess had left and he hadn’t found a thing to do. He’d tried tracking down the maid who’d laughed when she believed him out of earshot, but to no avail. She was nowhere to be found and the few inquiries he’d made as to her location were met with awkward stares, it was quite difficult to find somepony when you had no details to give about them.

After that little disaster Coalblack had retreated to the library, the public access section, not the special private areas he often visited with the scholars. But he found no entertainment there, any books of any real interest to him had been checked out already and the only remaining texts were dull informational texts, census accounts and tourist guides for the city of Canterlot, typical nonsense that would be left after any tome of any interest had been snatched up from the library.

After that he’d paid a visit to the kitchen. Partly in hopes of getting some small snack, but more that he’d exhausted any avenue of amusement and even spending time aiding the royal chef seemed more interesting than the alternative of doing nothing. This particular attempt was met with less success, if that were possible, than his two previous attempts. The minute he stepped into the kitchens and was spotted by the less than hospitable zebra chef he was forced out. To be more accurate he was chased, with a large cleaver, and followed by a stream of what he assumed to be obscenities in a language he didn’t understand.

After he’d tried every possible thing he could imagine, within the bounds of the castle of course, Coalblack had resorted to pacing the halls, faintly hoping someone would stop him to strike up a conversation. His efforts, however, proved fruitless, all due to the damnable shyness of the palace staff.

So, over course of the past several hours, he’d made a complete loop around the entire castle and found himself once again in the hall just outside that familiar terrace. As he neared the end of that empty hallway he could see quite clearly through the door he had neglected to close that it was indeed late, much later than he had realized actually. The sun had set hours ago and the moon was already high in the sky, and Luna hadn’t come back yet.

It wasn’t that he’d expected her back so early, it was just a faint hope he’d held, a faint hope that had now been dashed quite completely. Coalblack stepped out onto that familiar balcony and looked out over that tired view and realized that this terrace made a horrible meeting place. It was near neither his nor Luna’s personal quarters and there really was nothing to do here. So why did Luna choose to meet with him here, despite…

A distant pinpoint of light broke Coalblack’s train of thought. A beam of moonlight had cast itself over a distant figure, reflecting shades of midnight blue and illuminating an already brightly glowing mane of pulsating energy. It was… Luna! Coalblack beamed out as his friend finally made the return journey from Celestia knows where. She had clearly caught sight of him as she put on a good deal more speed and quickly closed the gap between the two of them. She snapped her wings back at the last second and pulled off a landing that would have put the greatest of Cloudsdayle’s fliers to shame. Luna’s flying skills always impressed and mildly disturbed Coalblack, where did she learn to be that good?

Luna snapped her wings back and smiled up at Coalblack. Something had clearly happened that she was happy about and Coalblack doubted it was as simple as her successful landing.

“You seem happy,” He said, bluntly revealing his internal musings.

Luna nodded, smiling even wider.

“It was wonderful! It was fantastic! It was… it was… fun!” Luna declared, now literally beaming. Her mane had begun to glow with a brilliant light in a way it never had before. Never, not even since the bizarre shift in her coat and mane a month ago, had her mane done something quite so odd.

Luna didn’t seem to notice, still caught up in her happy reverie.

“There was candy, and games, and…”

But Coalblack wasn’t listening, still staring at the odd glow coming off her mane, what was causing that?

“And… are you listening?” Coalblack shook his head turning his attention from the odd glow and back to the princess herself, whatever it was, Coalblack was sure Luna would explain it if it were important.

“I’m sorry,” Coalblack apologized. “Could you tell me again, from the beginning?”

“Of course,” Luna smiled. “Well when I first arrived there was this mare, she was dressed as Starswirl the bearded you see, and was the only one who didn’t flee at the sight of me.”

Coalblack nodded, only barely registering Luna’s sudden drop of her usual formal tone. He was more focused on the story his fellow alicorn told.

======

Coalblack stirred as a soft light broke across his face. He opened his eyes wondering where it could possibly be coming from, for his room had no windows. As his eyes slowly fluttered open he saw the source of this light. A unicorn mare stood there, conducting some decidedly necessary maintenance on the cleanliness of this room. The light of her magic was quite intense as she had to simultaneously juggle several objects through the air. One facet focused on a comically large feather duster, another on a pile of refuse left from Coalblack’s ignorance as to the purpose of a wastebasket, and one final spell was centered on a rag cleaning several smudges off of Coalblack’s mirror.
When she caught sight of Coalblack’s open eyes she jumped a little and the yellow brilliance of her magic faded, causing the things she was levitating to clatter to the floor. Coalblack chuckled when he saw her shocked expression, she clearly had orders not to disturb the princesses’ guests, and she was worried about the repercussions such a breach of contract may bring.

“No need to worry,” Coalblack reassured, making the mare jump once more. “I won’t tell the princesses about this.”

Coalblack’s smile nearly faltered when she just kept staring, nearly, but not quite. He reached a hoof up to his head, ready to dismiss it as a casual scratch if his suspicions proved heedless, and patted down on his uncovered mane. He quickly shot his other hoof up to join the first, patting around his head for the hat he knew wasn’t there. With a quick glance to his left he saw the hat in question sat, mockingly, on the small table next to his bed. He slowly reached out a wing and balanced it over his unruly mane. As his horn slowly disappeared under its magic the unicorn mare simply stared at him, her mouth wide open, absolutely confused.

Coalblack jumped out of his bed, steadying his hat as it was in danger of tipping off, and made his way towards his door, nodding his head at the still very confused mare on his way out. He stepped out the door and into the hallway and immediately stopped at the sight he saw. A clock on the wall showed the time to be noon, far later than Coalblack was normally woken, and long after his lessons were to begin, so why hadn’t he been woken?

Coalblack poked his head through his door towards the mare still inside his room. She had returned to her work and seemed almost over her horribly frayed nerves, Coalblack felt bad about what he had to do next.

“Excuse me, miss?” He called in, seeing her jump, a little less this time, and turn her head to face him.

“Yes sir?” She replied, clearly not wanting to speak with anypony right now, but also not wanting to seem rude by ignoring him.

“I was expecting a wakeup call a few hours ago but one never came, do you have any idea why that might be?” Coalblack tried to be calm, it wasn’t that he was particularly irritated, just that were he to startle this mare one more time he feared the consequences it would have on her health.

“Didn’t hear nothing ‘bout a wakeup call mister, I was just told by the princess to clear this here room out.”

Coalblack opened his mouth to speak then paused. Clear the room out? What in the name of… Celestia would Celestia do that for?

“Do you have any idea why you were ordered to clear out my room?”

“Princess said the previous occupant was ready to clear out. From what yer sayin’ sounds like yer the last to hear it.”

Coalblack shook his head, still in the dark but deciding there was nothing more to be gained from this particular mare. He pulled his head back out of the door way and decided he’d speak to Luna, perhaps he’d learn something about this horribly confusing situation.

As he made his way down the empty hall Coalblack heard the unicorn mare release a sigh she’d clearly been holding for a while. He heard the faint echoes of a mare whistling a cheery tune as he walked along.

======

Luna focused her magic on the pile of books before her, reordering them into a neat stack. She took careful notice to ensure that they were alphabetized, something the librarian would be quite thankful. Truth be told, she could really get away with just about anything, the work she was performing was fully of her own intention, she’d never been asked to aid in the reorganization of the library, she simply wished to.

Luna inhaled deeply through her nose, savoring the dusty smell of the old books. Luna loved books. Each was like its own small world, containing a collection of the knowledge and information of the pony who wrote it. Each was like a little friend, one who could be visited over and over again with no fear of change. For the words within a book were static, unchanging, only the observer was prone to change. Different experiences could bring on different ideas about what these old friends were truly saying, allowing a million facets to the same idea, and this was something Luna loved. The constant mental struggle over the true meaning of the author’s words between herself and nopony else was something greatly beloved by her. There was no condescension between the pages of a book, no judgmental remarks, no negative opinion of her character, unless the author chose to write that way, and if that were the case Luna could simply close the pages and leave the book where she found it, with no second thoughts. Books held no expectations of their readers, allowing her to be herself with no fear of mocking, not something that could be said about ponies. No, ponies did judge, ponies did mock, ponies were to be feared.

Luna was pulled out of her reverie by a loud crash at the library door, followed by a muffled voice shouting something unprintable. The door swung open and Coalblack stumbled in, his legs a chaotic tangle of activity. She watched as he righted himself and slowly began to make his way towards her.

“Luna,” Coalblack stammered, obviously trying to calm some horribly frayed nerves. “I’ve been looking everywhere, what exactly are you doing here?”

Luna looked about sheepishly; a little embarrassed she’d been unable to tell Coalblack about this change in plans.

“I-We volunteered to assist in the library. We’ve always held a passion for this room, something about the smell of books, and hoped for an excuse to make ourselves useful and also spend some time in here.”

Coalblack frowned, processing this information. Luna knew she couldn’t properly express her feelings for this room, that would take hours and most likely end in Coalblack’s utter confusion, something she was hoping she wouldn’t have to deal with anytime soon.

“I just wanted to ask you a question,” Coalblack finally said, causing Luna to release an internal sigh, her fears of having to explain her internal feelings to Coalblack were unfounded.

Luna smiled and, after checking to make sure they were alone, turned her attention to the stallion before her.

“Yes, what is it?”

“Well,” Coalblack began. “There was a bit of odd business this morning. Firstly I never received my morning wakeup call for my lessons, and then the mare who finally did come to my room said she was there to clear it out. She said something about me clearing out today. Have you heard anything about this?”

Luna scratched her head, thinking on this for a moment. Suddenly the realization struck her, without any warning. She did know what the meaning of this was, and she had hoped to put off this conversation for a while, get some work done and clear her head. That was why she’d really volunteered to aid the librarian, in hopes of distancing herself from Coalblack for a while. Had she been at their regular meeting spot he’d have found her almost immediately. As she thought back the library was not the best place she could have chosen to hide. No, that would have been the kitchens, and she had no wish to go there, not after the threats she’d received the last time she’d been caught there uninvited.

But the issue here wasn’t how she’d intended to avoid Coalblack. No, it was why. The time had come to explain the predicament, and there was to be no more hiding, or cowering in fear of this pony. If she couldn’t even confront the pony she considered her closest friend she’d never be able to confront anypony again, a flaw that could be fatal to a princess. She steeled herself and stood up straight, facing Coalblack directly.

======

Coalblack stared at Luna, utterly nonplussed. She’d been sitting there, with an expression of utmost confidence for a while now, and Coalblack had started to worry about her. He waved a hoof in front of her and tapped it against the ground a few times in an effort to gain her attention. It seemed to work as she shook herself and began to speak.

“My dear Coalblack, We are afraid we have some bad news for you,” she began. Coalblack sighed; bad news most likely meant he’d be moved to a new room, a smaller one, probably with no mirror. “We are afraid Celestia has ordered that you must depart from the palace.” Perhaps it was worse than a smaller room. “No need to worry, arrangements have been made. You are to stay in a small little town called Ponyville.”

Coalblack’s ears perked up at this, he’d heard that before, he was certain of it.

“Wait,” Coalblack said. “You’ve mentioned Ponyville before. Last night, that’s where you went, wasn’t it?”

“Indeed,” Luna confirmed. “It is the home of one of Celestia’s students, a promising young unicorn named Twilight Sparkle. You may remember that name as well; she was the mare from that same night.”

Coalblack nodded, he did remember hearing that name the night before.

“You will be staying with her,” Luna continued. “And your lessons will continue there, as a part of her own studies.”

Coalblack nodded, it made sense for Celestia to do this, she could save resources by consolidating her educational efforts, kill two birds with one stone as it were.

“There is one… complication though,” Complication? “You’ll have to leave immediately, and we cannot spare a royal chariot.”

Coalblack grimaced, he’d been hoping complication had meant a small delay, or something equally inconsequential, but to fly from the castle all by himself? That was ridiculous!

“We have packed some supplies for you,” Ever thoughtful Luna, of course she was concerned for him. “And we have a map, which should make your journey much easier.”

Coalblack smiled; perhaps this journey wouldn’t be so bad. Suddenly his expression dropped, wiped clean off his face by the sudden realization of what was really happening. He was leaving the one home he’d ever known, and the one friend he’d ever known. His head dropped and his hat tipped, coming dangerously close to falling off, but it was saved by quick action on Luna’s part. Her wing reached out, catching the unstable headwear and securing it once more on her friend’s head. Coalblack looked up to see her smiling sadly. He realized this must be affecting her as well, and if she could put on a brave face, then so could he. He smiled back and stood up just a little straighter.

Luna’s horn glowed and a pair of saddlebags floated up from the wall they were resting against and set them across Coalblack’s back. She began to fasten the clasps but he reached out a hoof to stop her, he wanted to do this on his own. His own horn glowed, momentarily freed of its magical shroud, clumsily fastening the straps of the bags. The work was messy, Luna could have done it much better, but it was good practice. Coalblack wished to get as much practice in magic as he could, his experiences with the scholars had taught him that the key to his memories may lie in some hidden facet of his magic, and if such a secret existed he hoped to discover it through careful practice, and if he hoped to manage such a complicated feat of mental manipulation he must first understand basic telekinesis.

With the saddlebags secured Coalblack knew there would be no delaying his departure any longer. He leaned out and kissed the princess on the cheek, meant only as a gesture of mild affection as he’d seen many of the palace staff show each other and their children. Luna, however, didn’t seem to take it the same way, for she blushed a deep crimson, and even her glowing mane changed colors, lightening into a soft pink. Coalblack stepped back, he was more than a little confused, this wasn’t his intent, he had only meant to show his friendship, not to hurt or embarrass the princess. So why did she react in such a manner? He reached out a hoof to draw her attention but she only squealed and jumped back. She levitated out the map she’d mentioned before and just waved him off while stammering something incoherent. Coalblack shrugged and tucked the map into his left saddlebag; he turned and trotted off to the palace doors, ready to make his exit, leaving Luna behind, a twitching, stammering mess.