I walk out of the door to Luna's room and stand aside so that Shield can show me where to go.
He walks past me and down one of the corridors, so I follow him.
I start wondering where I am. If Luna is a princess then maybe this is her palace? Or a castle maybe? Where is here compared to my home? I decide to ask Shield. "Hey, Shield? Where are we?"
The bat pony looks over his shoulder while still walking, Not walking into the walls of the otherwise empty corridor. "You don't know? I thought everypony would recognize Canterlot castle." He sees my deadpan and takes a moment to think about what he just said. A moment later he blinks. "Oh right, Not a pony... Canterlot castle is the current home of the Royal Sisters. It holds a lot of big events like the Grand Galloping Gala and acts as a fortress in our times of need."
Trust a solider to know it's strategic value. Lets not ask about the 'Grand Galloping Gala'
"Who are the Royal Sisters?" I ask
I hear Shield sigh as he replies "Either your dumber than you look or you're playing stupid." He decides to tell me anyway. He starts with "The Royal sisters, Two sisters, Luna and Celestia. They rule over all of Equestria, Celestia by day, Luna by night." Ah! Pictures of the moon on her wall, Stars in her mane-... Now that I think about it, Doesn't 'Luna' mean moon or something? Like solar? Anyway, Zoned out, Best get back to Shield before I miss something important...
"- And that is everything you need to know about the Royal Sisters." Damn it!
"Uhhh... Shield? Can you say that again?" I ask with a small amount of uncertainty. I take a moment to notice that the once empty corridor now has several other ponies in it, A few maids in the traditional maid outfit, Several guards in varying armor from Golden with stars to the bat pony's armor. I also see a few ponies in suits, They must be the 'High and mighty'.It seems that everyone one of them stops and stares at me for a while. I shake my head and I refocus on Shield to see him with his hoof in this face. Kinda like a facepalm, Facehoof maybe?
"You weren't listening to a word I said were you?" He said accusingly. He shook his head and put his hoof back on the floor "It doesn't matter now, Were here." I look to my side and see a massive golden door with two golden guards -I'm guessing these are the day guards, Since the bat pony's are the night guards and they look about as opposite as you can get.- who both seem to be unicorns yet neither have wings. I'm starting to think that some ponies are unicorns, some have wings, Some have both and some have neither. -stood at either side of it.
I walk up to the door and it starts to glow. It slowly opens. It seemed a bit overly dramatic but I guess being a princess in general is overly dramatic. I'm about to ask how it opened itself when I remember that both of the guards outside were unicorns. Unicorn = magic. They must have magicked the gate open. Because that makes sense!
I look around the room and immediately recognize it from the painting in Luna's room. It is very colorful, Has a very large red carpet which I now stood on and in the walls on both sides of the throne room are massive stain glass windows showing off many ponies in overly dramatic poses.
I am stood at the end of the throne room for a nation and at the the end of the room is just the winged unicorn I want to see. She looks up from a floating scroll in front of her and smiles at me. That smile quickly vanishes when she sees how annoyed I am.
"LUNA!"I shout across the room.
I don't have time to say anything else before I float backwards, out of the golden doors and right in front of a very annoyed looking Shield with the two day guards behind him.
"What was that about?! You were in there less than a minute and you were already shouting at the Princess!" You would be shouting too if she tricked you out of your world like she did to me I think to myself darkly. The only reason I don't say it is because I know he wont let me near the Princess if I did.
"I'm sorry, I just needed to vent for a moment. All done now!" I say with a smile. He growls in return.
"If you so much as look at the princess in the wrong way, I'll get that guard to levitate you out of the nearest window you dumb ape." Down to petty insults now are we? Well... Floating out of a castle window doesn't seem like a 'petty' threat... I know he's bluffing about it but still... I don't want to call him on his bluff , Just to be safe.
I walk back into the throne room. This time I'm smiling and Luna looks annoyed, Oh, how the tables turn.
I decide to speak first. "Hi there Luna, Hows things?"
Luna's reply shocks me, Both in tone and in words. She practically screams at me:
"You dare challenge the princess of the night?! Do you think I cannot defend myself from thee, without the need for my guards?!
I flinch. I look behind me to see Shield kneeling down behind me. Maybe I offended her by not bowing? Nah. I bow my head slightly, Just low enough that she takes notice and lows her voice to just over her normal volume. Wait, Why am I thinking about her normal volume? I've talked to her twice, I've talked to her guards more than her. Maybe she's just naturally this loud?
"I'm sorry for returning to the Royal Canterlot voice. I was just slightly annoyed by you shouting my name in such a tone." She said to me as I lifted my head.
"I would say I'm sorry for shouting too... But I think you deserved it" I could practically feel Shield glaring a hole in the back of my head. Luna, however, Didn't respond how I expected her to. She simply smiled and waved a hoof towards her, Gesturing me forward.
I took several long steps towards the throne until I was closer to the throne than the door. "Tell me human, What have I done to offend you so?"
"Apart from tricking me into leaving my family and home... Not much really."I told her, Annoyance clear in my tone. She frowned
"I did nothing of the sort, I clearly gave you the option to come live with me. There was no trickery involved. I've been watching you're dreams for a while now and I know you were unhappy with your life, So I gave you a chance of a new one, With me." For a moment I questioned the 'With me' part of that sentence but quickly let it slide.
"I thought that was a dream! I didn't think it was real!" I raised my voice slightly. Luna bowed her head slightly and looked at me, Confusion in her eyes.
"It wasn't a dream, It was a nightmare. It wasn't real, But what does that have to do with it?" She asks, Trying to figure out what went wrong.
"Dreams are dreams. The're made up, I thought you were made up, I thought your offer was made up. I didn't know you were real!" I tell her, Raising my voice yet again.
All of a sudden it made sense to Luna. Realization spreading across her face. She looks away from me. I allow myself to smile at finally getting the point across to this winged unicorn. Luna hastily said "Don't worry, I'll send you back! I can fix this, I just need to let my magic replenish. That wont take long, Then I can send you back."
She looks me straight in the eye and says "I ask that you reconsider your choice though. Be aware this is not a dream and I'm extending the same offer to you now as I did last night."
Her eyes turn almost pleading as she say's "You can have a new life here, Bob. Please will you stay?"
Her eyes almost make me say 'Yes Luna! I'll stay with you forever! I'm sorry for shouting at you, I'll never be mad at you again!'
The key word in that sentence being almost. "No" I say simply.
She pouts, Silently pleading me to change my mind. "No way, No how." I say.
She finally get's the message that I'm going to go whether she likes it or not. She sits on her golden throne with a frown upon her face and her head titled downwards almost like a sulking child.
We stay in silence for the next few minutes before I ask the obvious question. "How long until I can go home?"
"One week" she replies sadly.
"A WEEK?!" I shout at her. She looks up and shakes her head, Probably signaling Shield behind me that she's doesn't want human pancakes in her garden. She looks at me, The frown still on her face.
"Yes a week. Transporting living beings between dimensions is taxing you know." She replied flatly.
I stare at her. DIMENSIONS?! I'M IN ANOTHER DIMENSION?! I'M GOING TO KILL HER! I'M GOING TO RIP HER HEAD OFF AND - But before I get the chance to finish that thought I notice that she's still talking. I tune back into the conversation as she says "- And of course I will compensate any inconvenience and you will be given temporary accommodations in the castle..."
Her frown gets a little big bigger as she says "I almost forgot, The castle is hosting the griffin ambassadors this week. I'm afraid all extra accommodation will have been given to them." All of a sudden Her frown turns into a massive grin. This grin is outright creepy and kinda scary. She sits on her throne starring at me for a few moments before she continues.
"There will be no spare rooms in the castle while the griffin ambassadors are here."
"Don't worry though Bob."
"You can share my room."