CHAPTER 11

Letters and Letters

“No!”

How could this be? I stared at the book, sweat rolling down my brow. How was this possible? How did it come to...this?! I slowly closed the book and looked down to the filly snuggled up at my side. It’s been about an hour since she had fainted and she was now sleeping peacefully.

I could hear the meticulous workings of Cheerilee through the wall of the nurses room, the nurse herself was working on some papers. What was her name again? Nurse Angel Heart? Something to that extent. I had to admit, her name suited her. She had a velvety white coat with a golden mane. A pegasus too, so the wings added to it. So friggin cliche.

I groaned and push the book away, catching the eye of the nurse. “Is there a problem, Miss Blossom?” I started to shake my head and then stopped. I groaned again and let my face fall to the bed, nodding into it. “What is the problem?”

“I...I,” Oh this is too embarrassing. “...I can’t...read.” I lifted my head to look at the nurse with one eye, keeping the other side of my face buried in the bed. The nurse blinked a couple time and then shook her head.

“I’m sorry?”

“I can’t read.” I said louder this time, raising my head fully up. “I mean I can but not in this. I can’t read Equestrian. This is Equestrian isn’t it? I mean that’s what my head is telling me but I don’t know if that is a stray thought or something that mare has implanted in my head.” Now that’s a disturbing thought. What have I done so far that was based on the information she has implanted and what was of my own initiative? I let my face fall back into the bed, disheartened by the fact that my achievements might not be fully mine.

The nurse must have mistaken this action as more grief about not being able to read. “Oh dear.” She put the papers she had down and walked over to the side of the bed. “That is-” I could tell she was struggling to find the right words even though I couldn’t see her. “- unfortunate? What are you reading?” I could hear her flip the book open. “Oh...oh my.”

I brought my head off the bed to look at the nurse. To my surprise, she wasn’t blushing or acting awkward. “So, why are you reading about this stuff now? I mean, there must be something I don’t know but a mare looking of your age must have already been through this.”

I shook my head. “No...this will be my first time...ever. I am not from...Equestria.” The nurse slowly nodded. “It’s a complicated story and let’s just say that I am not what I look I am...wait no.” I rubbed my chin with a hoof. “More like, I was something else than what I am now.” I nodded. That was much better.

“Oh. Okay then... would you like me to teach you on what you should do?” Her question caught me a bit off guard. Picking up on this, she continued on. “I usually am the one who helps Cheerilee with this sort of thing when the fillies in the school come of age. She says it’s nice when someone with a medical perspective talks to them.”

Oh. That makes sense. I sighed and nodded. I wasn’t really up for much talking at the moment. I couldn’t read. I am not sure how that is looked upon in Equestria but I doubt it’s good. Not only is that an embarrassment to myself but what will ponies start to think when they learn that Luna knighted me. Her reputation was already less the shining but now this. I have to get ahold of Twilight and see if she could teach me.

“Now, when your cycles starts and it’s your first time, like I am assuming it is, you should probably keep yourself locked inside somewhere with a close mate or platonic friend to watch after you. Usually it would be the parents but in this case you could see why I chose otherwise.

“Now I will not lie. It will be bad. First time always is. It is the first time your brain will have to deal with these chemical and hormones so it will throw you for a loop. I have hardly seen a pony act like themselves for their first time. It will take maybe a day or two for your brain to sort out itself but even then, the urges you have will not just be simply at the back of your mind. Most mares tend to stay home during these times.”

The nurse thought for a bit. “Don’t try to take care of these urges by yourself. Trust me, it just makes the situation that much more irritable. You can do things to sooth yourself that aren’t sexual in nature. For instance, I find it relaxing to take a cold bath while my friend likes to work on her painting. Not everypony elses solutions will work for you but it doesn’t hurt to experiment with others.”

A splash of red crossed her face. “I meant their soothing technique, dear. Well, there is also getting relief that way, which is the best way to do it but it is only recommended with trusted partners.” She looked like she was hinting at something but what, I could not tell. “I am not sure what else to tell you. Just try to stay alone or with friends when out. If you have any questions, just drop by anytime during school hours and don’t worry, going through estrus is nothing to be embarrassed about. Even the princesses themselves go through it.”

“They do?! They go through things us normal ponies do?  That is, like, so amazingly cool! I mean...what is estrus?” My gut wrenched as the light voice next to me spoke up.

The Nurse froze, surprised as I was that Snow Dew was awake. “Um, well honey, Estrus is what some older mares go through. You will go through it to but until that time, I think it is best you don’t know what it is.” She must have gotten caught in these situations a lot. She handled that with ease I have never seen before.

“Oh kay. This is like one of those grown up things right. Don’t worry though, Crystal.” The filly nuzzled up to my side. “I will help you through your estrusey thingy. I mean, the nurse here did say to stay with friends and I am your friend so it’s perfectly normal to hang out together during your...your...estrusey thing.” The filly took a moment to gather her thoughts on something.

“Snow Dew. I appreciate your eagerness to help but I don’t think this is the kind of thing a filly could help me with.”

The filly nodded slowly. “Oh kay! I understand that but can I teach you how to read. I could, like, so totally do that!” Her giggled was just as chipper as her tone. I was not however. Never in my life did I want to be invisible or fade away as much as I did now. Snow Dew took no notice in my demeanor, just happily tittering on on something about how she was the best reader in class.

The nurse just sat there silent. I don’t think she knew what to say or if there was anything she could say. She definitely picked up on the awkwardness of the situation. “Um, Snow Dew. Don’t you think you should be getting back to class? You really shouldn’t be missing Miss Cheerilee’s lessons, dear.”

“Aaaww.” The filly grumbled a bit. “If you say so, miss nurse pony.”

“Nurse Angel Heart.”

“Nurse Angel Heart.” She looked up at me. “Crystal! Come to class with me! I wanna show the class how super awesomely awesome you are!” I could feel her trembling with excitement.

“Umm. Sure. I need to ask Cheerilee something anyways.”

“Yay!!!” The filly suddenly bounced up like a jack-in-the-box, horn sparking, and started bouncing around. “Oooh come on, Crystal. Let me show you to everypony!” She grabbed my ear and started pulling on it. “Come on!”

I couldn’t help but laugh at 33 the little filly’s enthusiasm. “I will talk to you later, Angel Heart.” I waved at her as Snow pulled me out of the room.

“Oh this is going to be sooooo awesome. Everypony is going to be so jealous I got and awesome best friend! Then, maybe the other ponies will start being my friend and we can do sleepovers and go to fairs and play together and everything!” She pushed open the door to the classroom. “We’re heeeere!”

A silence fell over the classroom as we walked in. Snow Dew was nearly bouncing with joy, not noticing that everypony’s eyes were on me. “Hello, hello everypony! I want you all to meet my super duper bestest friend in the whole world! Crystal! I met her this morning, well face to face. I saw her yesterday when she beat up that super mean dragon that came to town. It was so awesome! She was all like swoosh and bam. And then she went woosh! And then she was like HA and then whack!” Snow with through a lot of hoof motions as she describe my fight. “And then, this morning, I saw her sitting here and it was, like, so awesome. I didn’t know it was her at first but when I saw her do the little crystally thing with the....crystal, I knew for sure who it was and I just had to say hi! But we did more than just say hi, we became bestest buds. Isn’t it so awesome?!”

She finally looked up to notice the dead silent class and that their eyes were not on her but on me. I just sat there with my head down, trying to let my mane cover most of my face. Yes, in the excitement of this little filly, I may have forgotten that the whole class just saw me get my flank practically handed to me on a silver platter. The silence must have gotten on Snow Dew’s nerves.

“Oh kay. Just what the hay is going on?”

“Snow Dew!”

“Sorry Miss Cheerilee but why is everypony staring at Crystal like she is some freak?!” My eyes fell on the little filly. I could actually see the anger building in her.

“Hey hey hey!” She stomped her hooves on the ground. “I said stop staring at her like that!” The filly’s horn started to glow a vibrant pink aura. “Just stop it!”

“Snow?” The words came softly to my lips.

“That’s not fair! Just because she can do something different doesn’t mean you get to act like she is just some sideshow freak! She is a pony just like the rest of us and it hurts her just as much when ponies stare!”

“Snow.” I said this a bit louder as the filly’s horn started to glow brighter. Where is Cheerilee in this? Why is she staying behind her desk? Is Snow Dew crying?

“I won’t put up with this. She is a great pony and she saved ponyville! You need to be nicer to her or I’ll...I’ll!”

“Snow Dew!” I quickly bent down and scooped up the filly, removing my armor to hug her against my chest. I heard the crest hit the ground but didn’t care. I knew this kind of speech. Self projection on someone else.

I heard her soft sobs as I stroked her mane. “It’s alright. Everything is ok. We have somethings to talk about.” I turned back to Cheerilee, making sure it showed in my face how disappointed I was for her letting it go this far. “Cheerilee. I am taking Snow Dew with me to Twilight’s. I trust you don’t have a problem with this.”

The school teacher shook her head. She seemed a bit shaken. “N-no. I don’t. It was a pleasure to have you visit us today, Crystal Blossom.” She gave a little bow.  I was caught a bit off guard until I realized why. I am a Knight of Luna now. Besides Twilight, I may be the highest authority figure in Ponyville. No, scratch that. There is also Lyra and Vinyl. They probably have a higher ranking than me.

“Thank you, Cheerilee.” I grabbed my crest with my wing before making my way to the door.

I held Snow Dew against me with one hoof so walking through town was a bit awkward. I made it to Twilight’s place without any extra twists or turns. I was impressed how easily I remembered how to get to Twilight’s before immediately wondering if it had to do with Daemon’s tampering with my head.

I sighed as I knocked on the door lightly, hoping she was home. “Uuh...come in? Seriously, who knocks on the door at a library?” I was answered by Spike gruff mumbling. I guess he did have a point, though. I pushed the door open and walked in.

“Welcome to Golden Oaks Libr...Oh, it’s you.” The dragon eyed the filly I was carrying. “I guess you’re wanting Twilight. I’ll go get her. Twiiiliiight! You have a visitor!!!” He walked to the next room.

I found a spot to sit down and hold Snow Dew, looking down to see her staring up at me. I gave her a smile. “Let me guess, you were transferred out of your old school because you were having problems?” She gave a slight nod. “The ponies there were bullying you because you were different and you-”

“No!”

I blinked and looked down at her. “Hmm?” She looked away and snuggled back against me a bit. “Come on, Snow Dew. You can tell me what happened. I am not going to judge you. We’re bestest friends, remember? I won’t tell anyone ok?” That got her looking back up at me.

“Well...I wasn’t bullied. I had friends too. But...when I got my cutie mark, everypony started avoiding me. Even my teachers started avoiding me.”

“What happened?”

“Well, one day, Frigid Air came in on pool day showing off her new cutie mark. She was freezing little patterns in the pool. It didn’t look like anything special. I thought I could do it too. I mean, I could already start levitating things around. So I told her I could do it too and then I tried to do it...and.” The filly went silent, frowning.

“It’s alright, Snow. You can tell me.”

“Well...I caught the water in the pool on fire.”

“Oh.” I blinked a couple times. “Was...was anypony hurt?”

Oh no. Wrong question. I watched as the filly’s eyes started to tear up. She nodded and hugged against my chest. “Frigid and her friends were in the pool.”

“Shh.” I pet her mane. “It’s ok. It was an accident.”

“I...I know but Frigid had to go to the hospital and when it happened, I got my cutie mark for it. Everypony started thinking my talent was setting other ponies on fire. They all stayed away from me. No pony would talk to me, not even my friends.”

I hugged the filly tightly. “Well, they’re wrong. Your cutie mark has nothing to with fire, any half-brained dimwit could see that. I think all that happened was a miscalculation and that you have a very beautiful special talent, just like your cutie mark. Now I want to dry those tears. You have no reason to be crying. What happened was just an accident and nothing you should blame yourself over.” I set the filly down.

“Now, I want you to smile.” Snow Dew looked at me weirdly. “Oh? Not going to do it willingly?” I gave a dark grin that made her take a couple steps back.

“Crystal...What are you- Aaahahahaha!”

I tackled Snow Dew and began tickling her until she was blue in the face. I chuckled myself as I sat back up. “I can’t stand to see little kids sad so cheer up ok? Or are you going to make the newly appointed Knight of Luna sad with you?” I showed off my new crest, watching her eyes light up.

“What?!” The filly didn’t have time to say anything before the yell across the room.

I was tackled in a burst of lavender light. “You were knighted?!” Twilight was on top of me examining the crest. “B-but how? Why?” She pulled away from me, looking down with an expression of confusion and something else. “Luna knighted you? Why would she do that? Princess Celestia probably doesn’t know of this. Spike! I need you to write a letter.” The dragon, who was standing by the kitchen door, pulled a quill out of nowhere.

“Dear Princess Celestia,

          It has come to my attention that Crystal Blossom, the mare found in the Everfree by a team of Lunar Guards led by Applejack and myself, has recently been knighted by Princess Luna. As I know you have no knowledge of this happening, may I recommend confronting your sister about such a decision. It is highly unprofessional to promote an unknown quantity to such a rank on a whim, let alone somepony who hasn’t even been a pony for a week. Given Luna’s past, I fear this may only tarnish her good name even more. Therefore, I believe it is a good idea for Princess Luna to revoke Crystal’s Knighthood. Crystal may be a good pony at heart but she is inexperienced as a soldier, a noble, and a pony overall. I trust you will take into consideration what I have suggested.

                                                                                               Your Faithful Student,

                                                                                                        Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight smiled earnestly. “Send it, Spike!” The dragon did just that.

“What the fuck was that?” I glared at Twilight who only looked back at me with a questioning gaze. “What was that? Why did you make a letter like that?! It was a petty and jealous thing to do! The twilight Sparkle I know would be happy about this.”

She wheeled around on me. “The Twilight Sparkle YOU know? The Twilight you know is a fictitious character in a show! This is not a show and just proves my point more. You are getting in over your head, Crystal.”

I opened my mouth to rebuke but a cloud of azure, sparkly smoke swirled in front of me. With a soft *POP*, a scroll fell at my hooves. We all sat there for a moment staring at it. I slowly picked it up and unfurled it. I felt stupid. I couldn’t read anything on it. “Err...Could you read this for me, Snow?” I hooved her the letter. I got a wary look from Twilight.

“Dear Crystal Blossom,

           I have received Twilight Sparkles letter and we understand her concerns. I regret to inform her that my sister has gone missing on notions of conducting an investigation in some private matters. Crystal, your knighting was not on whim like Twilight suggests and both my sister and I put this decision under much scrutiny. We both agreed it was the best choice under Daemon’s thoughtful guidance. I do hope you remember your appointment with Vanilla Lynn this evening. I look forward to our training session tomorrow.

                                                                                                    Princess of the Moon,

                                                                                                                              Luna.”

Twilight snatched the letter from Snow’s grip as soon as the filly was done reading it. I was surprise Snow was able to read scrutiny without any hiccups. I could see Twilight’s face grow with more disbelief as she read further on.

“This letter is not possible.” Her eyes focused on me. “This has to be a fake. There is no way Princess Celestia would agree to letting Luna knight you. Who is this Daemon? Who is Vanilla Lynn? I don’t know either of these ponies!”

“Yes you do! Daemon is that weird purple unicorn that’s been popping up and Vanilla Lynn is Vinyl Scratch. Princess Luna just prefers to use her full name. Like how Pinkie’s full name is Pinkamena Diane Pie. You really just need to calm down.” Ooo. That hit a nerve.

“Calm? Calm?! I am calm! Actually, I think I am the only one acting calmly. This whole situation with you has spiraled out of control. Ponies and now even the princesses are acting extremely carefree over the situation! We are going to be going to WAR! Doesn’t this mean anything to anypony?!” She was actually panting now, a few wisps of her mane out of place.

She was actually starting to get on my nerves. It was weird because I would have found this adorkable in the show. “Twilight! You need to just chill out. You are getting yourself all in a bind. The princesses know what they are doing so relax. Why don’t you come with Rarity, Fluttershy and me to the spa. I am sure it can do you some good.”

“Give me that!” Twilight began walking to me as a lavender aura engulfed my crest.

“Whoa! What do you think you’re doing?!” I quickly covered it in crystal. I saw her visibly get angry at her magical connection to the item getting cut off. “This is mine. If you have a problem with this, take it up with Luny or Celestia.” Oookay. Probably shouldn’t have referred to Luna as Luny.

Twilight’s whole face furrowed into some weird look. “Give that to me! You are not responsible enough. I do not trust you with it!” She reached out with her hooves for it.

“Whoa!” I pulled it away while using another chunk of the crystal to push Twilight back. Her hooves making a grinding noise as they scraped across the floor. “You really need to back off, Sparkle.”

This did nothing but infuriate her more. She teleported to my side, actually leaning on me to help her reach for my crest. “Crystal! You do not deserve something that gives you so much power. Now give it to me so I can take care of it until you are really ready.”

While this pissed me off greatly, I still got an idea from what she said. I wrapped a bit of crystal around one of her hind legs and pulled her off of me. “Twilight Sparkle!” I said this with as much authority as I could muster, causing the unicorn to freeze. “As a Knight of Luna, I command you to cease your current actions! You dare defy the decision of your princesses? Such acts could be considered treason against the crown.”

I watched as Twilight went rigid. Her eyes showed me the battle in her head with her own logic and the command of a higher authority. Suddenly, a look of defeat washed over her. “Get out.”

“Twilight...Look, I-”

“I said, get out!!!” Her horn was ablaze as everything in the room not nailed down or alive floated into the air. I took that as my welcome expiring.

I scooped up Snow Dew with the crystal and ran for the door. I barely made it outside before the door slammed shut behind me. After setting Snow down, I turned back to the library and sighed. This visit turned out horribly. I did not expect Twilight to react that way. She did bring up a good point, though. No matter how good I knew the ponies from the show, there were still things I didn’t know about them in this world. That being said, I am still left with one big problem.

Who is going to teach me how to read?