//------------------------------// // 51 - Overdue Talk // Story: Perchance to Dream // by David Silver //------------------------------// We had food in the fridge, with plenty of water stocked to tide us over until we could stop living like savages. The house felt just a step closer to being a place I could call home. I felt... accomplished. Sure, we still had so many questions, but my fatigue was greater than even them, so I rest my head to sleep, and asked Equestria my soul to keep. It obliged me. I awoke to the soft bell and the feel of cool, comforting, stone. I missed being able to relax and listen a moment for hints of conversation, but I knew whoever was there would be aware I woke up. Stupid bell. Twilight, sometimes you are too clever... I shook free of the stone to find myself parked at a table. Celestia was already at the same table, sipping tea and nibbling on a cookie. "Good morning," she called. "And it is, morning that is. You're really with us this time, I hope?" I glanced around the large room. It was finely appointed and glittering. The food smelled great and my belly reminded me that I would like some. "Good morning," I echoed. The fatigue had faded from me, and I assumed I hadn't been disturbed while I was sleeping, but I wondered how close it was to waking time, in the human world. I hated not knowing. "Celestia, I'm sorry. I didn't meant to just abandon you like that." "I know you didn't." She reached with a wing and brushed my side. "You live a troubling life, but I could say much the same. Twilight mentioned Starlight had been spotted, and they are aware of her pony status?" That shook me. Twilight... She was adorable, and a pain at times. "She has. Actually... It seems ponies on my world are not as impossible as I thought it was." Talking about my 'waking' life while I was True Shot felt somehow wrong, just as talking about True Shot while I was Linda felt off. I kept things sane by keeping them seperate, but this was not a situation where that would be wise. "My government wants that portal, to send ponies home, but I doubt it ends there." "Oh? If you have lost ponies, getting them home would be a high priority," she agreed. "I'm glad they see it the same way, but what more would they want?" Oh god... "With the current administration, I imagine they'd want firm control over the comings and goings of it. Then they'd send people through to see what's there. They'd get a good look at your fertile fields--" She blushed. "--the other kind of fertile fields, dirty mare." I rolled my eyes. "Your mineral wealths. Given enough time, I bet they'd check for oil and uranium deposits. End result, if it looks easy enough to take, they'd make up a reason to come and take it." Celestia stiffened. "You come from such a warlike place? You didn't give the usual... signs." I let out a weary sigh. "On our world, our nations are kept in a sort of... balance, by each other. We have weapons enough to destroy the entire planet a few times over, and fear that anyone will start using them keeps everyone else from using them. On the other hand, what they do here won't be known by the other powers, and if they don't see a reprisal worth talking about among the colorful ponies..." "The... entire world you say?" she asked, restrained fear in her voice. "You have... brought grave news. I thought we would be able to talk of more pleasant things, but I'm glad you brought this to my attention. It would have been a disservice to my little ponies to put this off even a moment." She stood up from the table. "Are they threatening you?" "No." I stood up to stay at approximately her level. "I mean, they did, but that was just posturing. I'm fine. They want me to work with them, actually, to talk with the others and help get ponies where they belong." Celestia shook her head slowly. "I have no objection with that, but it seems we will need to prepare a... show of skill for the first humans to pass through. More than that, we must make the first move." First move? "You don't mean to attack, do you?" "What?" She recoiled. "No. I refer to politics." She thrust a hoof at me. "You are singularly the best qualified. You are clearly a child of your world, yet you eagerly embrace this world. You are stuck between them. You love both, do you not?" I nodded stiffly. "I don't want either to hurt the other. What am I qualified for?" "You can be our spokespony. Not the last, but the first. One who can explain our world and speak on our behalf, but also who can bring their needs and desires to my ears directly. An ambassador." Oh... Well crap. "That usually goes two ways." "Hmm?" "Ambassadors. If, and I didn't say yes, I were to try to approach the United States and proclaim I was ambassador from a country they knew nothing about, I see two problems immediately. First, they'd need to know, without doubt, that such a place existed, was large enough to recognize as a nation worth talking to, and then they'd likely want to have one of their own ambassadors here, to speak their opinions, make their demands, and so forth." My mouth felt dry. I was sinking deeper into a hole that had no bottom that I could see. "If I made a demonstration large enough to convince them, the entire world would likely know." "That would be good, would it not?" asked Celestia. "They would all take an interest, and that balance that kept them from rash action would come into effect." I sank to my haunches. I needed time. "Can I think about it?" "You may." She stepped forward and leaned in. She pressed her forehead to mine, angled so our horns did not poke the other. "I cannot force you, nor would I want to if I could. You must do as your heart bids. If you take this task, you will be a hero to Equestria, less flamboyant than Twilight's tales, but no less important." "I think I want to see Canterlot today." I rose back to my footing. "I want to see Equestria." Celestia gestured for a door. "You may. Do you desire company?" Part of me did, but... "I think I need space to think." If felt an urge and did not fight it. I suddenly darted forward and kissed Celestia on the cheek. "Wait for me?" "Waiting is a skill I have," she said, a sad smile on her face. "Go." I suddenly didn't want to. I wanted to grab Celestia and hug her until everything else went away. That wasn't a very mature thought, and I knew it. It wouldn't solve a damn thing. "I'll be back." I trotted out and away, the door opening at my mental willing. I trotted easily through the castle. The guards mostly ignored me, though some nodded as I went by. I wasn't an unknown there. I emerged into the bright light of the outdoors, as Celestia had made, raising the sun earlier. I gave a soft chuckle, wondering what strange celestial events would cause the sun to be needed to be raised manually in the first place. The very idea was quite silly to what science I did know, yet there it was, and it worked for this world. I would be better tasked with figuring out why, instead of questioning the fact before me. Wandering the streets of Canterlot, I breathed in the fresh scents, smiled at the people that went past, and for the first time in a few days, just enjoyed living and breathing. I remembered my wish to open a relationship counseling office and sighed deeply. If I accepted the task of being an ambassador, there would be precious little time for that. Or for being a lawyer, come to think. By day, I would be a visiting ambassador. By night, a returned one, sharing what I had learned and keeping up to date with what Equestria needed. There would be no room for my old position. A little smirk played over my furry snout. There would scarcely be room for the Director and her wishes. Still, I'd see her. As an ambassador, it would fall on me to handle and assist exactly those sorts of things, even if just to help. It was a mess. It was also my life. I could mope and whine, or I could take it in my hands... I lifted a hoof. That would have to do. I had to be the one deciding what I did, not just casually accepting what others demanded of me, no matter how nicely, or not. With a sudden flash, Twilight was beside me. "There you are!" Her wings were unfurled. "We have so much to go over. Are you about to wake up?" I glanced at my hooves again, but they seemed unchanged. "So far I can tell, no. What's wrong, Twilight?" She folded her wings back to her sides. "What's wrong? You know the answer to that. I signaled you and got Starlight. She told me you were asleep so I hopped over to Canterlot Castle, where Celestia brought me up to speed and told me you had gone wandering off. You tell me, what's wrong?" Oh the many ways to reply to that. "Ever have the world set on your shoulders unexpectedly?" She gave a wry laugh at that. "You're talking to an expert." She extended one wing and pointed a hoof at it. "I didn't ask for these. I didn't ask to save the world over and over, and here I am. So... yeah... I've felt that before. I have and it stinks a little." She set a hoof on my chest. "But I did it. I'd do it again." I was talking to a local hero. I smiled a little. "How did it feel, the first time?" "Terrifying. The second time, also scary, but I had friends... You have friends too, don't you?" She canted her head a little. "Kevin seemed quite ready to be at your side." "But he's a he." Twilight squinted. "Look, at least in part, he's hoping for romance." Twilight shrugged. "Does that make him not a friend? The happiest married couples I know count each other as their best friends. Most of them were that first, friends. Then they became that and more. Hay... I'm jealous a little..." She tapped at her cheek. "I never really made time for that, and if one of the girls approached me for anything like that, I think I'd pass out. The one time I felt my heart prick up like that... I was on an alien world, being a slave to my immature hormones at the time for a male that was too young for the thinking me to even consider!" She let out a loud sigh. "Nevermind me and my romantic life. This is about you."