The Book of Fearwing
Chapter 2: Black and White
Night time in the castle. Celestia layed down nice and cozy in front of the fire place of her study, reading the latest letter from her faithful student and all her friends. It was a lesson well learned. Celestia let out a sigh, she still couldn't believe Twilight would do something so reckless like abusing the want-it-need-it-spell. To cause such mayhem and for what? Because Twilight was afraid she would react without mercy if she was late with one letter? That part hurt her...afraid of her. Like when Fluttershy took Philomena into her care without telling her. Celestia couldn't believe what harsh punishment was being anticipated of her. Was she really that cold, did all her subjects think of her this way?
Another long sigh and a saddened look came over her. Celestia sprawled out, chin to the rug as she moped. Then something strange occured. A cold breeze brushed by her, sending a shiver through her. She sat up and looked to the window, which had been blown open. "That's odd." She said with a confused look. "It didn't seem that windy while I was out earlier." Celestia fixed her gaze on the window and her horn began to glow. The window shut and Celestia returned to her relaxation.
She took a sip of tea and used her magic to pull a good book off the shelf. However something caught her attention from the corner of her eye. It was a small, dark cloud. It floated around the room, did a few loops, then hovered in front of the princess of the sun. Celestia didn't know what to do with it, she just poked it with her front-right hoof. When she did, Fearwing popped out and got right in her face. "Good morning sunshine. The dark says hello."
Celestia was surprised, but smiled. "Fearwing, I thought things seemed a bit spooky."
He exited the cloud, brushed it until it vanished, then did a mid-air roll over Celestia. "Oh, no, nothing spooky. That would suggest I broke my deal with Luna. I was just being creative while hiding from the guards." He came face to face with her. "But let me get out of your mane." Said the black pegasus as he playfully brushed it with a flick of the wrist. "I'm taking Luna to a late double-feature at Silver Screen's theater. Temptation:Queen of The Vampires, followed by Frankenstallion: The Colt Who Made a Monster. Not the classic black and white, but the remakes that more closely follow the novels. It's going to be so awesome."
Celestia seemed kind of down. "I hate to tell you this Fearwing, but Luna isn't home. She's on important buisness in Trottingham, she won't be back until Nightmare Night."
Fearwing looked crushed. "What? Wh...why didn't she tell me?"
She looked away. "Well, it's a very crucial meeting to decide on a replacement for the corrupt sheriff, who's fighting tooth and hoof to hold his position. She knew if you knew, you'd follow and she thought that romance would distract her."
He just plopped on the rug looking sorry for himself. "My fillyfriend ditched me. I already got the tickets and I had to pull to get the second. Now it's going to waste."
Celestia felt sorry for him. She draped a wing over him to console him. "I'm sorry. Look, why don't you ask one of your sisters?"
Fearwing kept his gaze to the ground. "All busy. Octavia has a concert, Photo Finish has a string of cover shoots to do, and Pinkie is helping the Cakes with a big order of snikerdodles. Who orders 5000 snikerdoodles in one order?"
She smiled and hushed a giggled trying to escape her lips. "A certain princess, who has a powerful sweet-tooth, is able to eat as much as she wants and not gain an once, and controls the night."
He laughed. "Ah, she is just wonderful. When she gets back I'm gonna love and tolerate the heck out of her. Ohhhhh, what am I gonna do Tia?"
Celestia thought for a moment. "What about Twilight and the others. Maybe one of them would like to go with you."
Fearwing puzzled for a moment. "Twilight and Rainbow are already asleep, Applejack would probably think it wasn't worth the time, I'm pretty sure Rarity would make a pass at me when the lights go out,"
This was a shocker to the solar princess. "Excuse me?"
He smiled. "I know right? I'm not gonna lie, it has crossed my mind. She's beautiful, but my heart belongs to Luna. That just leaves Fluttershy and well...I'm gonna be honest, that poor little dear wouldn't last the first few minutes.
Celestia felt bad for him. Fearwing seemed to be getting shot down at every turn. Then, an idea popped into her head. "What if...I went with you?"
This made Fearwing shoot up in attention. "Say what now?"
She smiled. "Yeah, it'd be fun. I can't remember the last time I got away from royal buisness and did something random and fun."
He thought for a moment. "Well...Luna is always saying that she'd like us to get better aquainted. Maybe a night on the town is what the doctor ordered. However, we're gonna have to set a few ground rules.
Celestia was puzzled. "What do you mean?"
Fearwing started to walk around her, examining her. "First off, we're gonna need to disguise you. If you wanna have fun without the royal treatment, then no one can know it's you. I show up with the great princess Celestia following in line, then either everyone's gonna pay attention to you instead of the movies and ruin all the fun, or they'll think I'm planning to ambush you with one of my epic pranks and then they'll just go home and then Silver Screen shuts down the viewing because no one showed up. Either way, it'll end up a terrible night with wasted bits. So how can we make you...less you?"
She got this look about her that beemed with another idea. Her horn began to glow and soon a bright light enveloped her, making Fearwing turn away. It held for about thirty seconds, and then dimmed into non-exsistence. When Fearwing looked back, he was amazed. Celestia now looked about as young as Luna. Her flowing, multi-colored mane was now settled and light pink. She smiled at his dumb-struck reaction. "How do I look?"
Fearwing had trouble finding words. "Wh..how the...when the...What the?"
Celestia let out a small laugh. "It's a spell I picked up a century or so back. A girls gotta manage her looks some way."
He nodded, then started to think again. "Lose the crown and the rest of the gold trinkets. And one more thing." He flew out of the room and came back a minute later. He flew around her in a blur and wraped her in some black curtains. It hugged her form tight and concealed her wings. Fearwing never thought he'd ever hink it, but Celestia actually looked good. "Perfect. now your just a bad girl unicorn looking for an entertaining fright-fest to fill the thirst for a good shock."
Celestia felt a little snug in her new outfit, but she felt good. This was a good idea. "Hmhmhm. Okay, then. So I gues we're off then?"
Fearwing smiled. "Yep," He flew over her and slipped his front legs under hers, then lifted her into the air and out through the window. "Just you and me on a wild night on the town."
She was surprised at the ease he was able to lift her with. "Fearwing, do you wanna grab a spare chariot? I think we have one less conspicuous. I wouldn't want you to strain yourself."
He didn't pay it much mind. "Tia, my projects require me to move very large pieces of lumber in some crazy places. you're not a strain, if anything I feel like I should take you over to Sweet Apple Acres so they can feed you." Fearwing shot her a slick smile. "Afraid I might drop you?"
Celestia stuck her nose up at the question. "Of coarse not. Such silly little fears are nothing to the princess of the sun."
He rolled his eyes at the remark. "Well aren't we special. I just hope you constitutions strong enough for the show, it's gonna be a real scream fest.
She giggled. His amusement reminded her of an excited colt at his first amusement park. "Oh, how bad could it be?"
About an hour later...
Celestia was in a wide-eyed state of sheer terror. She cringed as the shadowy form of the vampire queen slided off the wall and took shape. Her heart raced as Temptation crept up behind her victim and bared her sharp fangs and as the screen turned blood red as she reared up to bite on the neck of the unsuspecting pony, then came down with dreadful force and then...
"Ahhhh!" Screamed celestia. She got real cloe to Fearwing and his under his wing, shaking like you'd expect from Fluttershy.
Fearwing was too entranced by the movie. "Wow! What a woman. Such a sweet, sophisticated mare and a beauty to look at, but once she's ready. Rawr." He turned his attention to the frightened princess and lifted his wing from her face to greet her with a smile. "Is this awesome or what?"
The petrified princess of the sun covered her eyes. "Or what. How in the world can you watch this?"
He smiled and raised an eyebrow. "What are you so freaked out about? Temptations biggest weakness is the sun and you do make it rise. Shouldn't that make you naturally un-afraid of vampires?"
Celestia just pulled his wing back over her eyes. " Just because I have a millenia or two under my belt, dosen't mean I didn't grow up afraid of the boogie-mare."
Fearwing's exspression drooped. He finally caught that she was really afraid. He took on a compasionate smile and gave her a gentle nudge. "It's okay, it's one more hour and that's it. Fankenstalions a lot lighter than this. And...if you need to hug me for security..." She latched on to him. "Okay then."
She shivered some more. It was like a bad flying accident. It was terrible, but she couldn't take her eyes off the screen. "P-Promise me you'll stay."
He draped a wing around her. "I promise."
The rest went off easily. Celestia survived Temptation and Frankenstallion was easier to handle. She actually liked the later, the creature's tragic story tugged at her heart strings.
They discussed it as they walked through the dark streets of Ponyville. "It's amazing." Said Celestia. "Can anypony really be so heartless? To reject somepony just because they're different."
Fearwing kept a serious tone with the topic. "I've seen it first hand. They can't handle something unique in their perfect little worlds. Try being the only pegasus in an all earthpony family."
Clestia was surprised by that. "Was it really that bad?"
He looke to the stars. "I got the occasional dirty looks. Whenever I tried to stretch my wings, ma and pa had some chore that kept me grounded. The twins resented me for it, but Pinkie, heh, I got to her first. We were as close as a brother and sister could get. Even after all the time between when I left and when we reunited that night in the forest, it didn't need explanation, she just got right back into being my favorite sis." He stood up on his hind legs and fell back into some flowers.
Celestia mirrored him and fell beside him. She looked over as he just looked into the sky with a vacant look of happiness. "You really are an odd fellow Fearwing." She caught his attentiom, then they both gazed into the night. "You long for the compassion of others, yet you're mad at the world because of how you grew up and you use your talent to get back at everypony and it drives them away."
Fearwing smiled. "I'm complicated and I love it. It's fun dancing on the edge of being the bad guy. I do some of the craziest stuff anypony has ever seen and they beg for more because they love it so much.
They were content to just sit there and stare into the night, then after a minute or two, Celestia posed an odd question. "Fearwing...do you not like me?"
This was a bit of a shocker. "Um, wow. where did that come from?"
She twiddled her hooves. "I just...I get a weird vibe from you on a regular basis. It's like you just put on a happy face when Luna's around and then when her back is turned you give me the evil eye. Is this about that thing with the cave bats, because we took care of that. Fluttershy set up that curtain that blocks the sunlight. I thought we were all squared away."
He let out a sigh. "It's like this. I don't like it when anypony pretends to be more than what they are. I don't see you as the great princess of the sun, to me your just Tia. The massive crowds gathering to hear you speak, the escorts of golden armored guards, the flashy chariots carrying you around, when you have your own two wings to get around on. Tonight was wonderful, because it was just the real you. No over-the-top entourage, no fancy tiara or other little garments. It was just a fun night with my girlfriends sister and it was awesome. To answer your question, I like you Tia, you just need to tone it down with the royal thing."
She giggled a bit. "I think I can manage that." She gave him a hug. "For the record, I had a great time too. I was terrified out of my mind, but I had fun."
Fearwing returned the hug, then looked back to the sky. "I wonder what Luna's thinking about right now." His question was answered by the sudden stirring of the stars. They swirled around and soon began to spell out a message. It simply spelled out in glimmering lights, 'I miss you.' Fearwing put his front hooves behind his head and smiled. "And now it's the perfect night." He got up and offered Celestia his hoof, then, her wings un-bound, they flew back to the palace together.
