The little princess looked happy to see me, which quelled my fears of an interrogation somewhat.
“What do you wish for us to discuss, your highness?” It was better to be too formal than not formal enough.
“Our title is ‘majesty’,” Luna corrected, “But your mistake is understandable. Sister certainly makes a show of her authority.”
Luna’s tone was neutral, but in the dream realm I could feel her dissatisfaction; there was an invisible aura that positively bristled.
On the filly princess this attitude was positively adorable, but it would likely not behoove me to mention that out loud.
Note to self; find a book on royal etiquette.
“We sense that you do not wish to speak with us.” Luna said.
“No!” I said quickly, “I mean, I’m not scared, I’m just tired.”
Luna remained silent.
“I mean, I guess I’m a bit scared, but not because I’m afraid of you, it’s only because I don’t know what you’re going to say.”
“My little pony, if you always knew what was going to happen life would be frightfully boring.” The little princess said. “All this standing and talking; this is a dream! Let’s have some fun.”
With her sudden change in mood the serious atmosphere of the dream had dropped away. The filly sized princess spread her wings and took off, hovering in anticipation. I mentally shrugged as I looked at my back and willed wings to appear. Since this was a dream, they did.
Luna giggled as she watched me.
“To think you hath told everypony you did not wish to be a princess.” She said.
I blanched as I realised how badly this could have gone - surely masquerading as a princess in front of an actual princess was a breach of etiquette? My wings evaporated.
“Relax, child, twas merely an observation, not admonishment.” Luna consoled. “There is no wrong way to fantasize.”
My fatigue was washed away by the cool night air as we flew above the clouds. The full moon was bright and cast the landscape of Equestria far below in silvery light. With Luna’s reassurance I regrew my wings and tried out some acrobatics, my wingtips creating contrails that traced my path with complete disregard for the laws of aerodynamics.
The filly sized princess was matching me to the wingbeat, flying in formation as if this was a well rehearsed routine.
After a time I grew tired of flying so we landed on a cloud and gazed up at the stars overhead. Despite the bright moonlight innumerable stars and even some nebulae were visible to the naked eye. I didn’t recognise any constellations.
“Are you feeling better, Green?” Asked Luna.
“Yeah,” I said, my mood dropping to a more neutral level, “I’m sorry for taking so much of your time, Princess. I’m sure there are other ponies whose dreams need your attention.”
“We have not forgotten why we came to you this night.” Luna said. “Didst thou?”
“No.” I sighed. “I just... I’m sorry.”
A mug of tea had appeared in my hooves and I took a sip from it just to have something to keep more words from spilling out.
“How was your first day with the Apple’s?” Luna asked.
“It was alright I guess.”
“You guess?”
“Applejack is going to tell Pinkie that I was frightened by her party.”
“Were you?”
“Well, yeah, but I don’t want her to know that!” I said. “She tried to do something nice and now she’s going to feel terrible because of me. I can’t even apologize because that will just make it worse!”
I huffed at the unfairness of it all.
“Why were you afraid of her party?”
“There were so many ponies I didn’t know and they were all looking at me and - I just panicked okay? And I didn’t want them to see me panicking.” I said “And apparently I kicked Scootaloo in the face back when they were rescuing me even though I can’t remember so Rainbow doesn’t trust me and now AJ is angry with her.”
I was hoping Luna would say something, but she remained silent. After a few moments I realised how I was coming across.
“But please don’t take me away!” I pleaded. “I know it sounds bad but really Applejack is doing a good job. It's just - I keep screwing things up.”
As the silence stretched on I stared into my tea, watching as the liquid flowed back and forth, keeping level with the ground below as I tilted the cup. In a dream there was no need for it to obey gravity, but it did so simply because I imagined it should. With a thought gravity ceased to exist and the surface of the liquid bulged outwards; naught but surface tension keeping it inside the cup. Moving the cup, a ball of brown liquid was left hanging in the air, undulating slightly in the air currents.
“Green.”
The tea and the teacup vanished as I lost focus on what I was doing. Right, Luna was still there.
“We won’t send you back.” Luna promised.
“Sorry, I-” I said, “I’m having trouble focusing, I don’t know why it’s harder this time.”
“When last we met I was stabilizing the dream for you.” Luna explained. “The sleeping mind is naturally very distractible, but through practice it is possible to exert control. It is a rare talent, but you have demonstrated at least some aptitude.”
I was caught off guard by the direction the conversation was turning.
“When first we met we had meant to make you as our apprentice.” Luna said. “It is an opportunity which few have been afforded; we do not seek to take you from a place you feel safe, but we hope that one day you will be ready to take our offer. It would be a great shame to see your talent go to waste.”
“Thank you, your Majesty.” I said. “I’m sorry.”
Dammit stop saying you’re sorry! Now she’s going to feel bad and tell me not to say sorry.
Luna paused for a moment, then said something I wasn’t expecting.
“The place you came from,” Luna said, “We won’t send you back.”
The white fluffy clouds formed jagged crystalline tendrils of ice reaching through my chest to tug at my heart. The stars winked out and the moon became an enormous all seeing eye.
Luna reasserted control of the dream to save the filly from the physical manifestation of her anxiety. Green’s control over her dream was impressive for one without training, but only for as long as she was able to keep her focus.
The scene shifted to Luna’s chambers in the castle. A fire crackled in the fireplace and the furniture looked comically oversized for their filly sized forms. They sat wrapped in a blanket with a tea set between them. Green had stopped shivering.
Her reaction to Luna’s guess added more weight to Twilight’s theory that the filly had escaped to Equestria from another reality. Green’s lack of coordination, her inexplicable magic problems, her claim that her parents weren’t ponies, the fact that there was no trace of her existence before last week; it all made sense if she was from a reality without magic, without ponies. It was unlikely that she was from the ‘human’ reality that Twilight had traveled to; the mirror portal was guarded.
She didn't want to be too specific with her questions since attacking the topic directly seemed to make the filly intense distress, to an almost unnatural degree.
If she did come from another reality there was no purpose in continuing the investigation. Great though Luna’s powers were, she could not police the entire multiverse. Yet some being had transported her here, given her at least a primer on important ponies in Equestria, and told her not to reveal her origins to anypony. Luna was unsure of his motivations. It would pay to keep a close eye on this filly. Complicating matters, the existence of other realities was a state secret so her suspicions of the filly's true origin could not be shared widely.
Wherever the child hailed from it would be a simple matter for the princess to grant her asylum. If she gained an apprentice out of it, all the better. Whatever she was fleeing from, whatever she had endured to make her the way she was now, no good would come from returning her.
Fate had conspired to give her sister a student and now it was her turn; it was only fair. The filly wasn’t ready yet, as she had been counseled by her subjects at the hospital, but she could begin to set things in motion.
“We do not wish to frighten thee.” Luna said. “Answer these three questions and we shall pry no further until you are ready.”
“Ok.”
“Art thou from another nation?”
“...yes.”
“Dost thou wish to live in Equestria?”
“...yes.”
“Wilt thou make an oath of fealty to the crown and country?”
“Do I have to?”
“If you wish to become our subject, then yes.” Luna explained. “Ordinarily the oath could wait until you come of age, but since you are a foreigner you must take the oath to be granted legal status.”
She did not mention that the oath superseded any other magical contract the filly may have entered into. If a geas was preventing her from speaking freely, or from recalling the one who sent her here, it would be broken.
Thank you once again
Hell yea, another chapter.
Keep doing the good work
HELL YEA ANOTHER CHAPTER!
10517013
You referencing the lone dark?
another chapter! just what I've been waiting for!
Very nice touch there, Luna. Very nice.
Awesome to see another chapter!
10517013
As some readers have pointed out, if I wasn't in such a panic I would have realised that I could use horse hair from my tail as cordage.
Not what i what I was thinking but now I'm really interested to see where you take this.
Well that was an abrupt end.
Well that makes things far more interesting. A few of them fully understand that Green isn’t an abused foal but one that has been shifted to a new reality. Hopefully they can tip off Red Heart so she can not go to far the wrong path on her investigation.
She has a point.
Also, HA! She said it!
Oh, really?
Great job once again! Hearing Luna's perspective on green was really interesting, especially that last bit about the oath and potentially undoing magic done to green, which potentially could have effected her memories. I guess maybe we'll see if she actually has been an unreliable narrator regarding her origins up until now!
Not 100% on this, but I think that's missing a d.
"You may cross the bridge of death. But answer me these questions three, ere the other side ye see."
Wait, did I miss that this was a suspicion of Twilight's already?
S H E K N O W S
Another great chapter, keep it up!
10517795
She suspects...
I'm fairly sure that that's 'Wilt thou".
such a grate story , this is a real slice of life that just keeps growing.
Well good to see at least some of them realize Green isn't an abused foal and is something else entirely. Hopefully that means the misunderstandings will get addressed a little.
You can tell when there is something wrong with your brain when the statement “There is no wrong way to fantasize.”, initially provokes the reaction of, give me a minute.
The proper form of address is Her Royal Highness, not majesty. Majesty is for kings and queens.
And thank you for another update.
10517880
There are no queen's in the Equestrian system, so ruling princesses are addressed as Majesty and lesser princesses are Highness.
(In my version of Equestria)
Hence why ponies always refer to Luna as 'Majesty' and Twilight as 'Highness' in "A Little Greenhorne"
So to free Green from a possible geas you will make her swear an oath that is apparently magically binding
So worth the weight
10517759
Honestly, as sassy as Green can sometimes be, I actually expected her to mouth off with something like: "Really? Do you think you can look me in the eye and say that again when I hit puberty?"
And I thought it was pretty interesting that not only does Luna suspect, at least in part, Green's origin, she's also contemplating Green becoming her apprentice. It'd certainly be an interesting angle. Green is already pretty much set on nursing as a career, adding dream healing/counseling on top of getting her medical certification could be something she works towards. It's honestly not something seen very often, so I'm kinda looking forward to seeing how you do this.
10517944
i.postimg.cc/8cfq5Y8M/1951015.png
10517959
Its 1:30 am im sorry green
Good chapter, can't wait to see how this unravels... maybe after whatever panic ensues, green can finally let go of some of that anxiety.
AN UPDATE?!?!! YASSSS!!
10517938
Better the devil you know.
10517989
Especially if the devil is you.
10517875
I believe that "Challenge Accepted" would be how I'd phrase it.
Followed shortly by my brain going straight to here:
allhorror.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/event-horizon-eyes.gif
(... Well DANG. I honestly was not expecting them to ever get it right, I was expecting them to act on their initial set of assumptions the whole time. So I'm surprised and... a little disappointed? Yeah, just a little, because I was kind of enjoying them theorizing and working off a false set of assumptions. Now that they know 'the truth' or a version of it, there'll be less careful tiptoeing and opportunities for comedic understanding.
Still, at the same time, there's only so long you can play that. And if anypony was going to put the pieces together with what workable knowledge she had, it would be Twilight Sparkle. That she's already been exposed to another reality would prevent her from dismissing that option... a little surprised she jumped there instead of 'non-Equestrian transformed into a Pony' though, as that would occur to me before the alternate reality.
In any case, this is probably the best for Green. The weight of secrets won't weigh so heavily now.)
10518025
Well... Luna still hasn't told anyone. Including Green.
yes new chapter tank you :D and it was realy good "go luna" finally the bit has drop'd
10518001
There are a good number of potential responses.
“Hold my beer.”
“I’ll show you.”
“There are more things on heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your current philosophy.”
Luna you clever girl... I love it!
Neat. They found out the truth... Kinda out of nowere but still... Neat.
Lovin the fic
Very interesting. Luna has a firm inclination of the truth and is already engaging machinations to accommodate some rather interesting plans.
A devious little ploy to expose a possible geas, that will accomplish many things regardless of the response. It's all the little things that add up and support everything else.
Poor Green needs to invert her default point of view, from "this is what I did wrong" to "this is how everyone else is trying to help me do right". Darn little filly brain messing with things keeping the rational workings from turning.
Keep going! ;)
10518001
Meh... Here is my take on it.
Yay another chapter. Intresting. Sneaky Luna is sneaky. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next.
10517710
Hmm... I'm not sure that they're going to rethink the abused foal (or foal-equivalent) bit just yet. When people get something in their minds it's very hard to shift it, and all the evidence which pointed to child abuse hasn't exactly vanished. My guess is that Luna and co will now think that Green came from another reality... but was also likely abused in that reality, or by the supposed being who dumped in her Equestria.
Perhaps most tellingly, they haven't cottoned on to Green having previously been an adult. And with Green panicking about nearly everything, trusting nearly nopony, and nopony being willing to press her on her previous life, it's quite possible that this quite important little bit of information could stay concealed for quite some time. Which, to be honest, is one of the major story drivers - if one of the Diarchy knew the whole story, they could simply say "So you're an adult from outside reality in a foal's body; do you swear fealty; right then, you're a citizen and I deem you a legal adult (and here's some paperwork and a wearable token with the royal seal saying so); given your circumstances here's a stipend, a place to live, and some tutors to bring you up to speed on everything Equestria for the next year or so," and the story would take a sharp right turn into very different territory.
As it is, Green can't be accepted as an adult, or it breaks the story. So either that information has to remain concealed (by fear and distrust and lack of communication and, here, a bunch of ponies jumping to false conclusions, admittedly fairly logically based on the information they've been presented with), or it has to be revealed but dismissed (not believed, or ponderous bureaucracy forces Green into a child's role anyway, or something like that). Given that ponies here are being written as genuinely kind, and Luna in particular doesn't seem excessively confined by red tape, the latter options aren't really suitable for this story. So it's the first.
Which, don't get me wrong, isn't necessarily a bad thing. It does allow for the exploration of that particular story space, and it's not even unrealistic - people carry fearful secrets for years or decades when it would have been better for them the entire time to speak up, and people do jump to incorrect conclusions based on incomplete information.
Oooooooh...
And here...we...go!
10517958
Oh, same here. Still, she's not exactly on the mark with that statemet.
10518237
Wonder where she learned that?
Somehow, this sounds much better coming from Luna than from Celestia.
Oh. Clever moon horse.
The boundary between those worlds is more porous than they realize, but this is still a reasonable assumption.
Even with Green, Luna is still owed at least one more student to even things up. Though I'm sure she has no intention of letting one run away to another universe. Indeed, there's a nice symmetry between Sunset and Green.
Well, if nothing else, this will demonstrate that the only thing stopping Green from peaking freely is Green herself.
Fascinating chapter. You do great work with the interplay of different perspectives with different sets of available knowledge. Looking forward to more.
10517959
SOOOOOO CUTE BLAYTGWAASDFGFBB X_X
Now she’s going to realise that Green’s lying of her own volition.