//------------------------------// // To 22 // Story: Fresh from the Forest // by Divem //------------------------------// Day 11; Continued I'm back in my room, it's late, and though I'd really rather go to sleep in a bed for the first time in what feels like ages, I'm going to finish up the last entry: When I interrupted, mortification was immediate of course, but more concerning than embarrassment was the wave of exhaustion that arrived with the noise my stomach had made. I sat myself down before my legs gave out, and then started waving off the concerns of the other eight beings in the room. That's when Fluttershy leveled this look at me, and asked a question with more force than I had ever heard in her voice previously. “When did you last eat?” I shrugged and replied with 'a while ago.' Applejack (the orange one with the most literal interpretation of 'ponytails' I had ever seen in my life) snorted through my feeble claim, and then Fluttershy repeated her opening word. “WHEN?” It was like being chewed out by a parent or teacher. You know, the kind of lecture where they proceed to make you feel a few inches tall or as if you had tried to intentionally hurt infants? I had one teacher who was particularly good at it, and he could give me a guilt trip even when I had no guilt to trip over. Fluttershy had just set the ability to new standards. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, and mumbled 'a couple days.' And the look then stopped focusing on me, and shifted to the rest of the people in the room. Even the uber-powerful princesses weren't immune, and it was very, very quickly that we had gone from the ruins to the nearby town of 'Ponyville.' The Princesses had a kind of impromptu parade, and a nice PR moment. Which ended when Celestia mentioned me to the town. Apparently, because I had been with the 'wielders of the elements of harmony' when they did their thing, I was deserving of the Princesses', and the kingdom's thanks. I looked at the crowd, sneezed, and that's when I discovered the rather peculiar talent of a large group of ponies: Panic. In fact, I'd have to say that the town did it so well that it seemed almost orderly. A few seconds of dust being thrown up, obscuring the view while the entire group pulled off an impressive vanishing act. I guess I should have been a bit insulted, but the speed with which the ponies had gone from everywhere to nowhere with everything in the town locked up left me spectacularly awed. I'd say that it was probably less than fifteen seconds, and ALL of the town was out of the streets, with any carts, children, or chickens safely packed away. I apologized to Celestia and Luna for spooking the town, and then they asked that I come with them back to their palace/castle/place of habitation/domicile for a discussion on what the long term plans for dealing with my presence would be. I agreed, as refusing would have been another one of those easily avoided stupid mistakes, and then waited in a well-furnished...lounge, maybe? I don't actually know what the room was, but it was a comfortable place to stay until I was summoned. When I met with them privately, Celestia informed me that for the short term, I'd be housed in the castle until the Princess and her sister finished their plans for me. She told me that I would be under the protection of 'Cobalt Thunder's squad' during my stay, and that I'd only need to ask the pony outside of my room for any reasonable requests and they would do their best to provide. It was a very nice and tactful way for the princess to keep her eye on me, so I graciously accepted, and then came here. And as you can tell from all the scratch outs in that last paragraph, I'm rapidly loosing my ability to write legibly, so I'll stop here for the night. I'm exhausted, and that bed is really calling my name. Day 12: The morning after This morning I woke up with four guard ponies staring intently at me. They were only a few feet from my face, and when my mind caught up to my eyes, I jumped back. My startled reaction knocked my head hard against the wall, and as I rubbed the sore spot, I returned the attack with my best 'not impressed' stare. Apparently, my stare was nowhere near as effective as I had hoped, as they broke their composure with amused faces. One had even started laughing at me. Thankfully, one of his buddies shut him up with a rather forceful nudge, while another cleared his throat. “Sir? We've been assigned as your security detail, and as such, I was hoping you wouldn't mind taking the time to discuss arrangements while you ate.” He turned to the pony who had laughed, gave a glare, and then continued. “We are, of course, sorry for the intrusion on your privacy, as it was an inexcusable lapse on our parts.” I shrugged. “I don't mind if we talk while we eat. Where to?” Talker had smiled, and then led me to the kitchens, where we picked up breakfast for the five of us. I was then led to a small dining area so that we could talk and eat. We had introductions, and I, for some reason I no longer remember, wrote out a note with their names and descriptions. I don't quite know what to do with it anymore, so I guess I'll put it here, recorded for all time and then move on. Talker's name is Cobalt Thunder, the dark bluish grey pegasus (slightly off white mane) in command of the security detail. The black on black pony who laughed is named Tourmaline Schorl (Tours is preferred name). The dark green pegasus's name is Airlift (blue and teal mane; no second name). The light tan unicorn with the light blue mane is named Oval (also without second name). After the introductions, Cobalt informed me that so long as I stayed out of trouble, I would be allowed free reign of a majority of the more private parts of the castle, like the kitchens, the library, the gardens, and a few other places. I just had to make sure I had one of the four guards as an escort. Cobalt then began to spout off the usual kinds of 'you're so lucky our rulers are such wonderful people' propaganda, so I tuned him out and focused on stuffing myself with more oatmeal. I don't think I missed anything important, but if I did, Cobalt seems devoted enough to Princess Celestia that he'll probably go out of his way to stop me from causing a diplomatic incident while I'm her guest. I'm currently on the balcony that's attached to the room that I'm staying in, and I can see the garden that Cobalt mentioned. They're nice looking from a distance, and I bet they're even more beautiful up close. I think I'll put this away for now and see if I can still enjoy a walk in the woods. Day 16; Against a tree I've found that I've been playing board games a lot, mostly with my guards. It's not like any of us know exactly what Celestia will decide, so there's a lot of waiting for all of us. Normally, this kind of long-term boredom can be eliminated by a number of means, none of which are available to me right now. Internet? It doesn't exist here. Reading? Turns out that, though the spoken language is the same, the written one is different. I'm very slow to pick up languages, so it'll be a while before I'm fluent enough to start reading as a form of entertainment again. Wandering about? Though I may technically have the ability to go almost anywhere in the castle, it's been subtly discouraged by my guards, probably to avoid running into panic prone ponies that don't know about me. So, in between sorting through equestrian language primers, I've been playing plenty of a kind pseudo-chess with Oval. Essentially, it's the same game, with the pieces playing the same, but the pieces are shaped and named a bit differently. Oval started out very confident, but as I'm going about five or six wins for every one of his, I wonder how long it'll be before he does something drastic. “And, Checkmate.” There we go, another win for me, and... Ah hah, knew we'd have to listen to some sort of outburst. Apparently, Oval's 'special talent' (apparently its different from a regular talent?) is chess, so the fact that I'm walking over him and his skills is irritating. I'd be a little more sympa— Day 16; Game night Sorry for the abrupt cut off, but though Oval was OK with me writing in-between moves in our game, I don't think Princess Luna would react in quite the same manner. The princess had heard Oval's rant from another part of the gardens, and she came to see just what was going on. We then played a few games, and I have to say that she is a much better opponent, no offense to Oval. I figure that a couple hundred years of experience at a game trumps a 'special talent.' Luna enjoyed herself, and asked if I would mind having a game night with her. Right now, the only royal duty that she has is raising the moon, and that leaves plenty of free time during the middle of the night that she can't easily fill. She's in more or less the same situation as me, as she's trying to avoid spooking her subjects. She stays out of sight, and that leaves pretty much just her sister and the guards to talk to. I think a game night could be fun, though I warned her to keep it in a well lit area to avoid me falling asleep on her. Also, I'm no psychologist, but I think that the game night will be good for her as well. Luna had plenty of guilt in her body language (enough to cross the gap in species), and she was using really formal language. Interacting with people can only be a good thing, so why do I suddenly feel uneasy about accepting? Why do I get the feeling that Luna's a few steps away from an emotional breakdown, and that I'm going to be there when it happens? Day 17 Emotional interruption I'm really starting to hate when I'm right. Luna, myself, and our guards (I made the suggestion to include them, as games are more fun with more people, and she agreed) had plenty of fun with the game night, until I made a comment on how beautiful the night sky looked. Not an unusual thing for me, as I've always enjoyed going out and watching the stars with my parents on really clear nights. It's one of the reasons I don't like living in the city. I was aware that here, Luna was in charge of the night sky, so the amazing display was more or less because of her. I thought it'd be like a subtle thank you. However, I didn't know at the time just WHY Luna had been all evil sister when we were in the ruins. Apparently, being a uber-powerful unicorn-pegasus hybrid is like being a Jedi: powerful, serene, and if you start harboring negative emotions, you become all evil/psycho. Luna's fall had been started because no one had appreciated the amount of work she had put into making the nights so beautiful, and she had gotten jealous of the fawning adoration that had been given to her sister. It wasn't like she wanted to be tripping over mindless admirers, but planning the night is apparently much more mentally taxing than moving the sun. Which makes sense, one has lots of little variables to take care of, while the other is more of a brute force motion: Very taxing, but not in the same way. Luna had wanted recognition for her hard work. And I, with my comment, had ripped open the guilt she had felt for falling to the dark side over a little jealousy. Then, as the rest of us awkwardly tried to soothe the crying princess, her guilt over the past moved to apprehension over the future. “I have a thousand years to catch up on!” Luna had cried, “How am I going to help sister rule Equestria if I don't know Equestria anymore?” All in all, it was much like I had expected when I wrote my last entry. Guilt and fear of the future. I may not be an expert on the mind of a horse, but I figure that the same sort of comforting reassurances would help. I reminded Luna that her sister had accepted her in the Ruins, and that the ponies in ponyville had accepted her. I told her that though some things can change, other things remain the same, and that wisdom can be true regardless of when it originates. It was a few hours, but eventually Luna cried herself to sleep. Problem. Luna was clearly not in a state to be doing anything right now, and with the magical nature of the world I'm in, the moon probably wouldn't go down by itself. I rubbed my forehead, and then gestured to Luna's bat-winged guards. “You guys go take her to bed. She obviously needs some time to recover.” I said, and then turned to Cobalt. “Cobalt, I'm assuming that you know where to find Celestia at this hour? Could you go tell her what's happened, and that she'll probably need to lower the moon tonight? I'm guessing as Luna's not been here for the last thousand years, that Celestia is capable of doing so.” Cobalt left, and then the other three guards and I left to follow Luna's guards. Even if Luna wakes up calmer, she's still going to need someone to talk to. Day 18; More crying So, writing this while I eat some lunch. Celestia handled the moon and the sun, but also came to Luna's sleeping chamber for her sister. She let me stay, canceled any previous plans she had, and then Celestia and I started putting Luna back together. I don't think much will be done today. Day 19; On the road Being the shoulder to cry on is both easier and harder than people would expect. You do a lot of listening, a lot of agreeing, and lots of hugs, pats on the back, et cetera. You have to be on their side while they lash out at the unfairness of the world, and you have to mean it. You need to empathize with the person hurting. But at the same time, you need to be objective, apart from what's happening. The person needs to understand that though the universe can be unfair at times, it isn't out to get them. You have to carefully take the pauses that the person gives you, and get through to them. It's a hard balance to make, and not everyone can do it. However, I've been in that role more times than I ever wanted to be, so I've got some idea of what to do. Princess Celestia, on the other hand... I think that I'm starting to really comprehend just what it means that Celestia and Luna are Immortal. It means they've had more time than anyone else to work on improving themselves. Its not like they have no flaws, but that they've had centuries to fix, bit by bit, the parts of themselves that they wanted to. Celestia knows her sister, and knows how to help people. I felt like an intruder as Celestia comforted her little sister. No, I felt like a child trying their hardest to mimic a masterpiece with a set of crayons. It wasn't that I wasn't helping, but that Celestia's ability to do so was so much greater than mine. I think that Luna's going to be OK now. Sure she'll probably have more breakdowns in the future, but she's definitely on the road to recovery. Day 22; Black tie affair I'm very grateful to the princess for giving me playmates... I mean Guards, of course. They've made the time I've spent at the castle so much more enjoyable than it could have been. All the same though, I am also very glad that Celestia has finally worked out what she's going to do with me. Tonight, after dinner, Celestia will actually tell me her decision is. I suppose that I should look my best then. I think that a declaration counts as Royal Business, so I'll need to clean up and get one of those outfits out of the closet before going off to the dining room. The outfits are actually one of the more intriguing things about my room. They're all dreadfully formal, so I only wear them long enough to get my clothes washed and dried, but every one of those things is tailored to me. Just when did some pony get the time and measurements to make the things? They were here from when I walked into the room, so whoever made them had less than half a day to do so. They're all rather nice, other than the fact that they make me look like I'm getting ready to meet the Queen of England... Oh… I just now put one and one together. No wonder they're all so formal. I guess that with my situation, I kind of forgot that the princesses are kind of, you know, the Rulers of an entire Country. Of course normal people would think that formal attire is needed. So. A quick shower, and then I grab the nicest looking suit that's still comfortable. I really, really hope that I end up liking the judgment that Celestia gives me. Wish me luck!