Whispers

Whispers is a fan novel by Chrono_Ryono, hosted on FiMFiction and featured on Equestria Daily.. It was originally posted as a one-shot short story called As Night And Day, and several months later (with the posting of chapter 2) was expanded into an ongoing story with As Night And Day reworked as its first chapter.

Set a thousand years before the series begins, it follows the story of Arcanus - a well-mannered, isolated student of Princess Celestia - as he goes on to learn what's really important in life.

The story is unfinished and marked as such, but its update schedule barely qualifies as a schedule, despite the author's prior statements to the contrary.

Style
The story is written in third person limited perspective, but dips into brief moments of omniscience on occasion. Its tone is not particularly dark, but it definitely lacks the humourous touch of the show proper.

Summary
Early one morning, Princess Celestia dismisses her senior magic class for a one week break, and invites Arcanus - her prize student - to a private audience in her chamber. After some brief small talk regarding his study progress, they confide their family-related stress issues in each other, just in time to learn that Luna is "throwing another tantrum" by keeping the moon locked in the sky.

Celestia and Arcanus go together to confront the princess of the night, only to discover she has transformed into the wicked Nightmare Moon by the use of some unidentified dark magic tome. All attempts at civility fall flat, forcing Celestia to fight with her sister. A vicious battle ensues, with Celestia eventually emerging victorious and using the Elements of Harmony to banish her sister to the moon.

Exhausted and emotionally drained from the ordeal, Celestia reveals the real reason she wished an audience with the colt. She tells him that an immortal's life is an unfulfilled one. She can never live out her days with friends or even a lover. She will live beyond his lifetime, and the lifetimes of his furthest descendants, knowing what she did to her sister. She believes he should experience the joy of the here and now, and asks him to study the magic of love for both their sakes.

Arcanus returns home to Canterlot and relays the news to his mother Lady Silvermane, eventually bringing up his new assignment. Despite finding it utterly hilarious that her son's been issued a royal decree to find a girlfriend, she agrees the idea has merit and they get to work.

A brief time skip (roughly three months) passes, and Arcanus attends a debutante ball for the upcoming Lady Stella at his mother's advisement. He meets with his friends Aurora and Moonthistle, an enigmatic duo in his mother's eyes, who catch him up on the latest goings on in their class before egging him on to chat up Stella. Despite his nerves, Arcanus succeeds in making a good first impression on the lady, and later staggers his way home in a state of drunken bliss where he spills the beans to his amused mother.

Characters
The story is set in the time of Nightmare Moon and thus lacks any of the present day cast with the exception of the immortals. However, the author has stated that the mane six will eventually be featured, so a large time skip is expected to occur in the future.

Arcanus is a unicorn colt, "modestly" built, with an "ash-grey coat and a short, neatly-kept black mane." Very similar to his eventual successor Twilight Sparkle, he is the princess's favoured student, displaying a keen intellect and eagerness to learn coupled with a lack of social skills or interest in developing them. So far, the story seems to be following his life in general, and his development (again, similar to Twilight) is a large part of it.

Moonthistle is a unicorn filly with a "cheery smile of unshakable enthusiasm, deep-blue mane held together in a moon-shaped clip, verdant green coat and gorgeous obsidian eyes." Although she is also a student of the princess's senior magic class, she is outright stated to be a laidback socialite. She appears to have a fondness for innuendo, is implied to be bisexual, and has an obvious crush on Arcanus.

Aurora Borealis is a golden-eyed unicorn filly that "shines with a scarlet coat, sporting a lengthy, unstyled crimson mane that touches the floor." She has a history of athletics, apparently once holding the title of Red Mare - the fastest gallop in the kingdom. However, she plays down her accomplishments and carries herself rather self-consciously, in stark contrast to her best friend Moonthistle. She is hinted to have resentment issues and an inferiority complex toward her (as yet unseen) older sister Belphegor.

Reception
The story passed the requirements to be featured on Equestria Daily, but doesn't enjoy a great deal of traffic. Nonetheless, it appears to be fairly well-received among its small readership.