//------------------------------//
// Chapter 11: Dreamtime 
// Story: Life through Love 
// by SentientHydra 
//------------------------------//

She was... taller than I remember, very different in so many tiny ways..

Luna stood on the grass of my mind, and I came to realise was a caricature of herself, with overly long legs and a slimmer, more swan-like neck.	It took me a moment of study, but I realised she looked a lot more like Celestia in an odd way. Interesting, but I kept silent in favour of watching her carefully. If the alicorn of the night and dreams was nervous on the foreign, alien soil of my mind, she didn't show it past the ice cool poker-face. "Greetings, creature. We had hope thine mind would be open enough that we may speak."

I stayed silent, stepping forward and crossing the distance between our minds in one step. She didn't rankle or flinch.

"Strong but silent, I suppose?" she queried, raising one eyebrow at me, even as I  examined her.

In reality, I was simply attempting to call up her 'file' in my mind, just suppressing a little crack of joy as what I knew of her became known to me once more. "No, Princess Luna, forgive me if I withhold my bow. I was merely studying your character, wondering what Equestrian royalty might be doing, poking around in my mind..?"

The princess made a tiny noise, one that might well be called a laugh with more volume "Checking upon my latest.. investment, as it were, creature. You would not believe how much of my political capital it took, saving thine head from my dear's sister's wroth." she smiles in an oddly quirked way.

"And why did you? what purpose could you have in saving me, especially from the 'bloodthirsty' Celestia." I stalked round her, form mutating to be the spitting image of Celestia, save the mouth of fangs.

Celestia bless her, the alicorn shuddered in revulsion but held her nerve, staring back into her sister's eyes "You are interesting, creature.."

"Changeling! I corrected, then went silent again.

the Lunar god smiled ".. Changeling. Twilight says that none of your species, which mine own records have no mention of, have ever been captured alive..." Her gaze was piercing, and I found myself going back to my amorphous black mist-form, redoubling the defenses and mental obfuscation around the innards of my borrowed mind. She finished her apparent appraisal of me, and simply turned to watch as I circled,

"We keep ourselves to ourselves, Princess. We are careful not to let much slip, have any records of such erased." I spiralled back into the changeling form that felt so much like an old comfy coat before continuing "I am.. different.. from the others of my species."

Luna nodded, summoning an image to float beside her, of a dead changeling,preserved in amber fluid. "We have noted your increased size, in both horn, hoof, body and wing, compared to what little remains our archivists have."


I nodded with a tiny smile as I continued my slow walk around her, the alicorn growing apparently bored of studying me and instead walking to take in the rolling grassy plains of my hidden mindscape.

She stopped with me behind her, and appeared to peek back to make sure I was watching.

She smirked "Your mental defenses are complicated.. 

I smiled, despite myself "I built them specially for you."

"...But crude." Her Eyes glowed Super-nova white, then without a single pipe of fanfare the Dream-walking princess of a Moon disintegrated my mind's protection with a single sweep of her horn.