//------------------------------// // A Night Not of Nightmares // Story: In Paper and Bones // by EpicGamer10075 //------------------------------// “Well, this isn’t really what I imagined this world would be like...” The voice, slightly airy and filled with surprise and awe, shook Sunset out of her rumination of the magical mayhem that had brought this moment into existence, turning her attention to what—or rather, who—made it so special in the first place. “Like...” Skellinore started, the points of her eyes looking around the massive crystalline room they stood within, “I... suppose I thought things would look less...” She trailed off uncertainly, noticing all of the furniture in the room, from all of the safety equipment on one wall to multiple magically-shielded shelves of books on another. “Extravagant?” Sunset suggested, recalling how she had felt the same level of awe upon seeing a literal castle made of crystal. The Skeleton slowly nodded in agreement, but eventually managed to shake her head and clear her mind, turning her gaze to the living mare with her lovely, innocent smile. “So, where is everybody?” Sunset cringed just a tiny bit, remembering just how... persistent her friends had been with their questions about this whole enterprise, in all of its facets. “Well,” She started cautiously, mustering up a nervous smile, “They wanted to leave us mostly alone for the day, um, partially just so I could perform the spell without interruption or worry of hurting anypony.” Glancing around the room as well, she gestured to what stood in the relatively barebones room and added, “That’s also why.. we had this room setup like this in the first place; for spells that might blow up in our faces.” Skelly tilted her head in confusion, and asked, “Is is really that big of a deal? I’ve seen you misfire spells before, and they weren’t that dangerous...” “Those spells weren’t nearly as powerful as this one,” The Unicorn replied, looking down at the rune circle that laid across the floor, then back up the Skeleton, “And, well, the rules between this world and yours are a little different, so...” “Oh...” Skelly muttered in acknowledgement, though not with full comprehension as she looked down at the complex network of magic that made her so. Looking back over to the living mare, she asked, “Well, so what did you want to show me first, Sunset?” Said mare’s awkward little smile returned, and she deliberately turned her gaze to the magically-sealed door of the room, and replied, “W-well, you’ve always been the most interested in.. this world itself, and the castle... doesn’t really do it justice.” “Ah, so outside, then?” The undead creature questioned in turn with her little head-tilt, and got a nod from the other mare, making her cheer, “Well, that sounds nice! Though,” She added, but not sounding all that accusatory, “I do still hope I get to meet your friends.” “Oh, don’t worry,” Sunset grumbled in response, “I’m sure they’ll show up sooner or later to ‘check on us’...” “Oh...” Skellinore gasped lightly as the massive doors of the castle were opened up, revealing the quaint town of Ponyville outside, the wood houses and thatched rooves that had become so familiar to Sunset as of late being displayed below a lovely backdrop of the dark twilight sky, bands of orange and purple just above the horizon in the distance, with the void of space above it all, smattered in carefully-constructed constellations. “Yeah...” Sunset said from the Skeleton’s side, her own eyes also somewhat captivated by the sight, “It does look a lot nicer than I thought it would before I moved here...” “...You didn’t always live here?” Skelly asked somewhat absent-mindedly, still mostly taken by the sight that must’ve been so unfamiliar to she who had only lived in dank castle dungeons as well as empty forests and plains. The Unicorn shrugged silently for a time, recalling where she had lived for quite some time, but then took a breath in and answered, “Nope.” Looking towards the horizon, she could spot a lone mountain in the middle of the vast plains of central Equestria, and upon its side, an extravagant city and castle, and she gestured to it and spoke, “Up there.” The other creature glanced to her, then followed her foreleg over to the city far in the distance, then gasped a little again, and muttered a more curious, “Oh...” The both of them remained silent as they took in the sights for some time, with Sunset rather content to simply be in the innocent little Skeleton’s presence, and she eventually looked back over to her, simply observing the wonder she was going through as it passed over her face. It was strange how such emotions could be displayed on a face made entirely of bone, but, as Sunset noticed the less awe-stricken and more simply curious look she had as she looked at Canterlot... “I suppose I should’ve guessed those eyes wouldn’t be super good...” She muttered to herself absent-mindedly. However, it was still loud enough to draw the attention of the other mare, who after a moment, glanced over at her and grunted out a ‘hm?’ Sunset blushed a bit at being so out of focus, but then cleared her throat and elaborated on her thoughts, “Well, your eyes... I don’t really know how they work...” Sighing just a bit, she begun to muse, “Even with the spell that made you, I can’t tell if you’re a magic construct, a pseudo-skeleton with a bunch of extra magic, or an actual skeleton with ectoplasm for any non-bone aspects...” Skellinore blinked in response, clearly utterly befuddled by what had just been said, but then opened her mouth with a small smile and said, “Am I supposed to know what any of that meant?” Focusing back on the other creature’s eyes, Sunset flinched a bit at her foolishness, then looked away in embarrassment. “Eh... n-no, I guess not...” “Well... I guess it doesn’t matter,” Skelly then muttered, “Your magic worked, and I trust you know how it works, even if I don’t understand a lick of it. And, don’t even worry about trying,” She added with a slightly bemused manner, “I know you love to, but I’m not smart enough to understand it, even if you explained it a thousand times.” The Unicorn looked back at her, seeing the calm, lovely smile of that innocence she so coveted, but beset by the words she spoke... “Don’t say that...” She said to her almost desperately, lifting a hoof to place on her shoulder so she could look her directly in the eyes, “Don’t say that like you’re an.. idiot, Skelly...” However, instead of any somber appreciation, Skelly just laughed lightly in response. “Sunny...” She said, lifting one of her own boots to rest on Sunset’s extended foreleg, “You don’t need to feel bad about that. I’m not smart, and I wasn’t even supposed to be; I’m a Skeleton Barbarian—Tartarus, I don’t even have a physical brain!” She laughed again, pulling her boot up to knock onto her hollow skull a few times, then place back onto the living mare’s foreleg as she continued in a more sympathetic tone, “Not everyone is that smart, and I’m alright with that. You don’t need to comfort me over that, even if I do appreciate the sentiment.” Sunset just stared back at her at that, jaw slightly agape at the casual acceptance of such aspects of herself; but then again, perhaps she shouldn’t have been surprised, as Sunset herself was the main exception with how... spiteful she was about her own flaws, and how Skelly had already shown herself to to completely accepting of her existence as a fictional character with all of her facets made out of another’s imagination. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and recognized that she had been projecting with her anticipation that Skelly wouldn’t actually like being.. stupid. However, from there, she didn’t quite know what to do... except... Looking back at the other creature, she tentatively asked of her, “S-so, what do you want to do now?” Skelly smiled more happily at the question and replied, “Well, what do you have to do for fun around here?” “...and now we have this piece, the Knight, which is definitely a more unique one; it moves two spaces on one axis, and one on the other,” Sunset explained, levitating the gold-painted wooden statuette of a Horse around the few places on the board it could go according to her rules, and, on the other side of the table, Skellinore sat with an observant and slightly puzzled look on her face as she watched the board. “It also doesn’t get blocked by other pieces, like how I showed with the Rook earlier, so I can just make it hop over...” She continued, moving the piece over a few Pawns to sit in the middle of the board, “...here. Got it?” The Skeleton nodded slowly in understanding, and looked at her own pieces with a contemplative expression for some time, before then moving one of her own, midnight blue Knights over her lane of Pawns. “Is that alright?” She asked, looking back at the living mare across from her. “Yep!” Sunset nodded eagerly in affirmation, though in the back of her mind, she couldn’t help but note the less enthused demeanor of the other creature; she certainly knew how much of a nerd she herself was, and how she had hobbies to match, but... at least Skelly didn’t seem all too bothered by the prospect of a more slow-paced and thoughtful game. ...However, perhaps she should let her choose the next game, so she could actually enjoy it more than she likely would chess. Regardless, it was her turn now and she didn’t have to spend much time thinking before moving another of her Pawns forward two spaces from its starting position, with intent to free up some of the pieces behind it, and from there— Knock knock! A pair of knocks suddenly came from the entryway to the castle’s Library, startling Sunset out of her thoughts and pulling her attention over to it, where the large pair of crystalline doors was opened and Rarity trotted inside. “Oh, um, hi,” Skellinore spoke a little awkwardly at the intrusion, turning towards the mare herself, but held only a vague level of recognition on her face. “You’re... Rarity, right?” “That’s correct, Darling,” The Unicorn replied with a light grin on her face—one that Sunset knew meant she had plans—while she closed the door behind her and approached the other two creatures. “I assume my dear friend Sunset has told you quite a lot about me, no?” Skelly observed her, tilting her head for a moment, and then said, “She’s said a little. Mostly just what you look like and how you make clothes, as well as, um, how you’re a little... overdramatic?” She ended with a slightly nervous and guilty look, clearly able to tell some offense may have been made unintentionally. Thankfully though, Rarity just raised an eyebrow in intrigue and looked over at Sunset, who just shrugged and deadpanned back at her, “What? I’m not wrong, you know.” The other Unicorn tsked back at her, but after arriving before the table where the other two sat, she turned her attention back to the Skeleton in the room, and spoke, “Well, I have been made aware that you may like to meet the rest of our friends here, Miss Skellinore. Unfortunately,” She continued, sighing in a level of exasperation, “The level of work that has gone into getting you here has taken a toll on our dear Twilight, and the rest of our friends are attempting to both soothe her... shall we say, malcontent with her current situation at the moment, and prevent her from destroying anything in the process.” “Oh...” Skelly muttered in response, guilt weighing heavy in her voice, “I didn’t realize how much of a problem that would be—” “Hush,” Rarity stopped her from going further as she held up a hoof, “It’s not your fault, Darling, only that of Twilight herself for her present eccentricities and how she pushed herself too hard. I know little on the matter, but,” She looked over at Sunset and prompted, “Sunset, dear, you worked alongside her, I believe?” The other mare nodded in affirmation and sighed as she recalled what happened; “Yeah, but I definitely didn’t ask Twilight to work throughout multiple nights in a row on that spell. She may be used to doing stuff like that, but even she’d get exhausted after a while, and at that point, I don’t think she was helping the spell along much, either...” Skelly still seemed rather concerned however, and asked thusly, “So, she was just tired from working too long? Rarity looked over at her, and Sunset could practically hear the ‘Aww, how polite!’ that must’ve been spoken within the fashion-bound mare’s mind, and cut it off by answering, “It’s a bit more than that, but still hardly your fault, Skelly. It’s more of... well, working on the spell, as well as being so delirious from sleep deprivation, seemed to make her think that since your reality wasn’t truly real, neither was ours.” “That seems to be the case, yes,” The other Unicorn returned, and Sunset was thankful she had been there to console Twilight in her stead. “I suppose her being an Alicorn has granted her a greater sense of connection with.. the Universe, really, and leads her to believe that we’re all ‘irrelevant in the grand scheme of things’, as she has said, though I can’t claim to truly understand what she means by it all. Sunset?” Glancing back at her friend with a level of vexation, Sunset just replied, “Why are you asking me? You’d have better luck with Celestia or Luna. If you actually want real answers, you’d probably have to ask Faust, though.” Rarity laughed a bit in response, but Skellinore was just confused. “Who?” Both Unicorns looked over at her from the question, and while Sunset started to think of a comprehensive answer, Rarity just shrugged lightly and replied, “Oh, just a hypothetical God-Pony, Darling. Nothing to be concerned about.” That proved well enough an answer for the Skeleton, who uttered out an ‘oh’ of comprehension, but a thought was given to Sunset; that ‘hypothetical’ mare was supposedly known only to Celestia and Luna, so perhaps it was possible that Twilight may have garnered some awareness of her, and thus her own existence as a mere actor to Fate, upon her ascension... Swiftly shaking her head, Sunset realized that no good would come of that train of thought, especially given the state it had already put Twilight into. Focusing back on the other two creatures with her, she managed to catch Skelly’s words as she begun to hesitantly ask, “So, um, I guess we can’t meet your other friends today?” “Not today, no,” Rarity replied with a shake of her head, “But, given that you’re here now, I suppose you’ll be staying at the Castle, and we ought to be able to meet them tomorrow.” “Yeah,” Sunset butted in, recalling the agreement she had made with the Skeleton before pulling her into reality, “There’s a ton of other bedrooms in this place, so she can just take one of those.” Quickly turning to the other Unicorn, Rarity let out a bewildered ‘wha..?’, and the surprise was clear on her face. After a moment, she managed to ask of her friend, “Er, I presumed you two would be sharing a room?” Sunset quirked her head in her own bewilderment in response. “Um, no?” She replied, glancing between the other mare and a baffled Skellinore, “I know the rooms are pretty big, but it’d make us both uncomfortable as neither of us are used to dealing with other Ponies as we sleep—especially given that neither of us really have proper sleep schedules.” “Oh?” Rarity raised an eyebrow, looking between the others as well, “I understand that for you, but...” Focusing more on the Skeleton, after a couple seconds, a grin slowly grew on her face and she stepped back as she begun to laugh. “Ohohoho... I see...” “Rarity—” The other Unicorn started, and stated firmly, “No.” That damned grin on the romantically-inclined mare’s face as she looked at Sunset only irritated her further, and her words made it yet worse; “I do hope your proclivities aren’t such a reason behind your partner’s discomfort, Darling.” “That is not what’s happening, Rarity!” Sunset impressed even further upon the other living Pony, stomping a hoof onto the table for emphasis. “Oh, so are you two simply having issues down there?” “RARITY!” Sunset shouted back, standing up quickly and flaring her magic at the aggravating mare. Tittering more as she backed away, Rarity seemingly couldn’t help but reply, “Oh, don’t worry about me, Darling; I just simply wish the best for you two and your relationship. But do please know that you can ask me, or any of us, if you two need some help to get it on, yes?” Sunset only seethed harder, and the other mare quickly took that as her leave, magicking open the door behind her and hurrying out through it, but still laughing all the while even as she fled down the hall. “U-um...” Another voice spoke up from behind Sunset, and while she didn’t process it immediately due to the irritation coursing through, when she did, she could only sigh heavily and sit back down, letting Skelly ask of her concernedly, “..Are you okay..?” The Unicorn already found herself weighed down by the worry in that voice, and knew she couldn’t bare the Skeleton’s expression on top of that, and so kept her gaze away as she replied, “...Yeah. Just, annoyed.” “Oh...” Skelly responded, seeming to understand that much, but was a bit skeptical. “Um, I-I don’t think she meant to annoy you...” She muttered tentatively, still seeming rather worried about her friend. Shrugging, Sunset sighed in annoyance once more. “No, not quite...” She muttered to herself, and turned to see Skellinore looking at her with that damned worried expression, the one she recalled had infatuated her at the beginning of all of this. Gulping instinctively, she said, “Just don’t worry about her. Let’s just each other’s company for right now, yeah?”