//------------------------------// // IV. Well... What now? // Story: In Lumine Lunae // by ParaNomaly //------------------------------// A knock on the door echoed throughout the room, startling John. He must have fallen asleep during his contemplation session. Truthfully, he had lost track of time as it ticked by. He barely remembered his thoughts during the period he was awake. ‘Must have dozed off early, I guess,’ he mused. It wasn’t unlike him to fall asleep when left to his own devices and nothing to occupy his time with. Then again, the existential crisis he remembered going through could be the leading cause. Another knock came from the door. This time slightly more forceful. It seemed like whoever was knocking didn’t have much patience. Then again, neither did he. “What?” John spoke up in an annoyed tone. The least they could do is let him get in some damn sleep after beaming him into another dimension against his will. There was a period of uncomfortable silence following his response, followed by what sounded like someone nervously shifting outside the door. “Come on; you said you were going to be the one who was going to do the talking part!” “I said I was going to knock on the bucking door, not do the talking! I remember the last time I-” John had no idea who the hell was behind the door, and neither did he care very much. He was able to hear them, however. He wasn’t quite sure how he could pick up the voices. They were whispering, and the door was pretty far away from him. He gave it a few seconds of thought before blaming it on his new ears. They certainly looked the part, from what he remembered of his reflection. The voices continued to argue on the other side, and it quickly began to annoy John further. After giving it a few more seconds, he decided to interrupt their conversation. “Ya know I can hear you, right?” His voice shut the two of them up almost instantly. He guessed he had startled them quite a bit if the four-second pause that followed immediately after was of any indication. “Erm… P-Princess Celestia requested your presence in her chambers, your highness.” A mare's voice came through the door. Oh, right. He was supposed to be royalty or something here, wasn’t he? “Eh, not like I have anything better to do,” he muttered before scooting to the edge of the bed and standing up, making sure to maintain his balance and not fall flat on his face while doing so. He didn’t directly answer them until he had reached and opened the door, which was easier said than done. Hooves made it particularly hard to get a proper grip on the doorknob. It took him a few seconds of minor frustration to turn the knob and open the door. Upon doing so, he was greeted with the sight of two mares. Seeing as they were both wearing maid outfits, It elicited a raised eyebrow from him. Weren’t the guards supposed the ones that did that sort of stuff? Maybe they did it differently here. The one to his left was coloured a bright cyan, that was accompanied by a darker shade of navy blue on her mane and tail. Her eyes also seemed to be a tone of blue. Teal, if he remembered correctly. The one to his right had an entirely different set of colours, with her coat being a soft pink, and both her mane and tail were a light shade of pink. Her eyes were also teal. Was this a favourite eye colour in this crazy world? Even he had teal eyes now if his memory served him right. The two ponies seemed to shrink back ever so slightly as they looked up at him. They were nervous, if the facial expressions were anything to go by. The fact that he towered over the two by a fair margin may have been a contributing factor. “I’ll follow,” he plainly said. He wasn’t in the mood for any conversation at that moment. They seemed to pick up the hint, as they replied with a feeble, synchronised nod and began walking. John, true to his words, started to follow them, making sure to give the door enough of a push with one of his back legs to close it. He stopped for a moment there and blinked, surprised at why he had done that. What was even more surprising was the fact that he hadn’t fallen on his ass at the attempt. He just did it subconsciously, like he had done that before. He shrugged it off once he noticed the two mares had already covered a significant stretch of hallway, leaving him slightly behind. He shook his head and caught up with them quickly enough. It didn’t seem like they had noticed that he hadn’t been following, which he was thankful for. Pursuing any more dialogue with them would have resulted in an awkward exchange. God knows there’ll be a lot of those down the line. They led him down a long spiral staircase and down to what he assumed was ground level. From there they travelled numerous corridors, taking more than a handful of turns as they did so. John had lost track of how to get back the room he had been left in within the minute. How they even knew the way around this labyrinth of marble and granite was a complete mystery to him. “How big is this fuckin’ place?” he muttered as he continued to follow the maids. He hoped that they reached ‘Celestia’s’ room soon. The corridors had already begun to feel smaller as they went on. He had always been a bit claustrophobic, and the complete lack of windows was not helping. Either these ponies didn’t believe in windows, or they were still nowhere near the outside, and neither of those two was a good thing. After what seemed like hours, the seemingly endless expanse of corridors finally opened up to a much larger room, this time featuring large, coloured windows to his right with numerous designs imprinted on them. There was still smooth marble to his left, however, with the occasional pillar to spice things up. Glancing down, he noticed he was walking on a thick, red carpet. Typically he would have felt the sudden change, but he supposed he had gotten too distracted at admiring the scenery to take full notice. They left the large hallway and almost immediately came across another flight of stairs, where the maids stopped and turned to look at him. “Follow these stairs up, the first and only door you’ll see is Princess Celestia’s room,” the pink one stated, now with a bit more confidence, but the nervousness was still there. He should have bothered to at least get their names, now that he thought about it. Summoning his inner niceness, he put on his best smile and set his word vocabulary to match his supposed Royalness... Ess. “I thank you, miss…?” She seemed to realise they had forgotten to introduce themselves and quickly responded. “Oh, how rude of me! Pardon for not introducing ourselves, your highness. My name is Sweet Sorbet, and this,” she gestured to the maid on her left, “is Sapphire Breeze.” The now identified Sapphire gave John a sheepish smile and bowed her head slightly, but otherwise remained silent. “We’ll leave you to your own devices now, Princess,” Sorbet said as she gave him a bow, nudging Sapphire to do the same, who quickly followed. True to their words, they stopped bowing and walked past him, off to do god knows what. Now all that was left for him to do was get up these stairs. If they were anywhere near the height of the ones he’d had to go down, he'd be in for a ride. He had almost fallen four times on the previous one. Maybe he can break that record. He let out a loud sigh as he began his uphill battle. Luckily, there was no one around to judge him if he somehow fell. Sure, that would mean no help, but he doubted he could hurt himself if he only slipped. It was a spiral, after all. Moreover, the middle was covered up by a thick pillar. He’d have to be drunk or asleep for him not to prevent injury by merely grabbing onto the railing. “Fuckin’ hell… This has to be higher than the last one.” He cursed out loud as he finally reached the top. He used the railing as support as he panted slightly. Did this place know nothing of lifts?! If he really was a ‘Princess’, he’ll make sure to introduce them before he went back to Earth. This was ridiculous. After taking a few more seconds to catch his breath, he took the last step up and walked up to the large door. He lifted a hoof and knocked on it a few times. "Come in!" he heard Celestia call out from within. John hesitated for a second or so before lifting his hoof up and slowly turning the doorknob, albeit with slight difficulty, and slowly pushing the door open. Upon taking his first few steps into the room, John noticed Celestia laying on what looked like a weirdly shaped mattress laid out on the floor near a lit fireplace. A book rested on the aforementioned mattress in front of her; he couldn't make out any details, however. The rest of the room itself was decorated with a multitude of designs and with different variations of purple on both the floor and the walls. "Erm..." Gears turned inside John's head as he tried to formulate a good conversation starter. "So... you called?" Could have been worse. Celestia lifted her head up from a book she was currently reading and looked up at him, a smile creeping up on her face. "I'm glad you decided to come. Here, have a seat." John blinked as her horn began to glow a soft yellow. Suddenly, a circle-shaped purple pillow surrounded by an equally yellow aura came into view and set itself down in front of him. ‘What the fuck?’ John thought to himself as he stared confusedly at the pillow. He had somewhat of an idea that these people did some Harry Potter shit after all those claims earlier but seeing it up front was something else. Celestia noticed his confused expression and followed his gaze, chuckling slightly as she figured out the cause of his confusion. "Right, I forgot you... Don't remember anything about our world. I'll explain if you allow me." She spoke softly, motioning for him to sit down. John slowly nodded and carefully took a seat on the pillow, still not entirely used to the way his new body worked. Once he was seated, he shifted his gaze over to Celestia. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it soon after. He had so many questions he wanted to ask, but he couldn't find out how to. Thankfully, Celestia seemed to have it covered. She sighed and closed the book, now turning her full attention to the blue Alicorn in front of her. "I'm sorry... For all of this, I should have been more direct with Discord and told him not to bring you here immediately. I–" She was quickly cut off by John. "Look, are you completely sure I'm the person you're looking for and this isn't just one big bloody mistake?" John questioned. "Discord told me that you are indeed my sister, but due to the long amount of time spent on the other world, you've lost any recollection of who you once were. He said they would all return between now and a few weeks. I cast various spells, and they all told me that what he was saying was right. I understand that-" "No, you don't fucking understand! That twat just ripped me from my home and dropped into a new body and a completely different world! God knows I should be having a goddamn mental breakdown right now at the mere thought of this whole situation!" John's previous calm tone suddenly turned to anger and frustration, causing Celestia to flinch slightly. "Less than a day ago I had a normal fuckin' Saturday going, wasting my time playing video games and doing fuck-all, now I'm who the fuck knows where talking to someone that I don't supposedly remember who claims to be my 'sister', so I doubt you 'understand' anything, all right?!" John finished as he glared at her. The glare soon gave way as he sighed, and lifted both of his hooves up, rubbing his face with them. Celestia frowned and closed her eyes for a second, shaking her head while doing so. "I'm sorry, Luna. I didn't..-" "John. my name's John Carter," John interposed, his voice muffled slightly by his hooves. "...John. I didn't mean it like that. All of this must be difficult for you. And while you don't remember me, and most likely don't trust me, I want to be there and help you in any way I can. I'm sorry for being so forward, but I..." She stopped, a few tears now running down her face. "I was just so afraid of losing you again I didn't think properly, at the first chance of you returning home I immediately jumped on it, not stopping to think what sort of situation you could be in. I'm sorry, sister..." She sniffed, not caring to stop the tears from flowing anymore. John peeled his hooves away from his face and set them down, his previous anger forgotten at the moment as he looked down at Celestia. ‘I know I shouldn't feel bad, but... Ah, fuck.’ He didn't know what it was but seeing one of these ponies cry tore out his heart, burnt it to ashes and then shit all over the remains. This was a universal trait they all possessed, as he would find out later down the line. He sighed. He had every right to be angry, and every reason to demand that they send him back to Earth, yet... He couldn't help but feel bad for her. If what she'd told him was right, she had just gotten her sister back from her 'banishment' and losing her again must have been hard for her. Slowly, he reached out with his right hoof and set it on her shoulder, causing Celestia to peel her eyes from the floor and look up at him. "I won't pretend I'm not mad. Hell, I'm furious, but... For what it's worth, I'm sorry you had to go through this." John's hoof remained on her shoulder as their eyes locked. He was never good at reading others’ emotions, but one didn't have to be an expert to see the numerous mixed emotions that ran through her. John held it for a few seconds before retracting his hoof and taking a step back, his eyes casting a glance towards the nearby balcony, the soft glow of the moon seeping through and illuminating the spot he stood in. "Honestly? I'm still in shock at all this. I don't know how I haven't broken down yet. This feels so surreal. Every time I look down I expect to see my normal, human hands. Instead, I see a pair of hooves. Every time I talk, it's like someone else is talking instead of me." John mumbled as he began to slowly pace back and forth. "I just want to close my eyes... " John closed his eyes and stopped, staying still for a few seconds. "And once I open them, to see myself back in my house, going over the same shitty routine I've been doing for the past six years." He opened them again and directed his gaze back towards Celestia, an expression sadness clouded her features as she looked on, remaining silent. John remained silent with her as they made eye contact. He broke it a second or so later, shifting his gaze over to the balcony and looking at the full moon. "What exactly do I do now? Sit in a room and wait for something to happen?" As much as John hated to admit it, he had no control. He was stuck in an alien world, and in an alien body where he just learned how to walk properly. Celestia stood up and slowly made his way next to him. John didn't say anything, his eyes remaining locked onto the moon. "I–, We can help you. There are many ponies that are more than willing to help you adjust as your memories return to you." She stopped as she chose her words carefully. "I'm here for you, and I'll do anything to help you... If you let me." John tensed up slightly as he felt a large appendage be draped over him, a quick glance to the side confirmed it to be Celestia's wing. He was about to ask her to remove it but stopped himself. "Can I... at least see my home again?" John murmured. He tore his eyes from the celestial body and looked up at Celestia, who replied with a slow nod. "Discord will be more than glad to help you in that regard, I'm sure," Celestia replied, her wing softly stroking his neck and lower back. John sighed. At least that was a start. "You still haven't answered me," he added. Celestia tilted her head slightly. "Hm?" "What do I do now? I don't know anything about this place. I'm more or less an outsider here." He went on as he broke eye contact with her and looked over to the door. Celestia followed his gaze before looking down at him. "Let me show you." "This is... big," John blundered out as he took in the sight. Celestia had guided him to a decently big 'private' library, as she had called it. There were enough books to fill a normal library twice over, and that's counting the ones he could see. Celestia stood some distance from him, looking over a few books that floated in her magic grasp. "I used to come here weekly, but after... what happened with Tirek, I found myself with much less free time." She separated a few books and put the rest back in their places. "Is this your personal library? There's no one else around." John glanced around as he walked over to what looked like a fancy looking bean bag chair. As it turned out, it was extremely comfortable. 'Jesus, what do they make this stuff from?' John shifted on it as he sat down. If he didn't know better, he would have guessed the thing was made out of clouds. Celestia trotted over to him and sat down on a similar bean bag next to him, laying down the books on a small wooden table in front of them. "These will help you familiarize yourself with Equestria and its history." John looked down at the books and read the titles, 'Basic History of Equestria', 'The Formation of The Three Tribes', and 'Magic for Beginners'. The last one caught his eye. He'd seen Celestia use magic numerous times. If she could do it, didn't that mean he could do it too? "What's this one?" He pointed to the magic related one on the far right. "I thought if we tried some basic magic spells, that would help you remember a bit better." She clarified as the book was surrounded by a yellow aura. The book opened a few pages in, with numerous symbols and some weird hieroglyphics. It took John a few seconds to process exactly what that meant, and a couple more to find the right words to vocalize what was in his mind. "...What does this say?" John carefully pointed at a random sentence on what he guessed was the second page. Celestia glanced down at him with a puzzled expression before redirecting her attention to the book. "It says, 'The levitation spell is one of the easiest ones that many unicorns master at a young age.' Why?" "I don't know how to read this." He plainly stated. 'Great, now I don't even know how to read. Go me.' He had to suppress a sigh from escaping. "That... complicates things. But don't worry! I can read them for you." She smiled at him as she set the book back down and closed it. "Shouldn't I learn how to read? God, that's not something I'd thought I'd say anytime soon." John muttered the last part, but he was sure Celestia had heard him, either way, he scanned the books in front of him once more, going over each of their titles. ... Wait. How the fuck could he read the titles, but not the content itself? He was pretty sure most books didn't come with a title that was a completely different written language, even if it was a completely different world. "Hold on... I can read the titles, but not the things inside the book." John reached forward, gently grabbed a book with his hooves and slowly opened it, making sure not to drop it in the process. He had gotten the hang of using his hooves to pick things up pretty quickly, all things considered. Thankfully it wasn't nearly as hard as he thought it would be. He squinted his eyes at the symbols, and sure enough, they began changing into English letters right in front of his eyes, leaving him in awe. "What the fuck?" he blurted out, a dumbfounded expression soon finding its way onto his face as he stared at another impossibility for what felt like the hundredth time in the span of less than a day. "What's wrong?" Celestia blinked as she looked at John with a slight tilt to her head. "This... I can read this now, in English. Less than a second ago this might as well been bloody Egyptian for all I knew, now I can read it perfectly!" John marvelled, his eyes scanning the contents of the page. He had picked up one of the books that touched on history, but he was still at a loss at what 'Windigos' were. "That's... strange." She furrowed her brows and looked on ahead for a second or so, seemingly in thought. "Perhaps it could be what Discord said earlier regarding your memories. Although I can't say that I know why the letters would change for you, I can't see any changes," she guessed, sounding a bit unsure. John continued to read over the page he was on, paying more attention to the fact that he could read it rather than the contents itself. His gaze lingered for a few seconds before he lowered the book back down and glanced at the mare next to him. "I guess I don't really need you to read this for me anymore." He shook his head in disbelief. He had a feeling that things were only going to get more confusing from here on out. Celestia looked back down at John, he swore he saw a faint frown form, but it was quickly replaced with a smile. "That's good! I can imagine that it'll be easier for you if you read for yourself." She paused for a second before her smile widened and her horn shone, the 'Magic for Beginners' being covered in her yellow aura as it made its way in front of both of them. "But you might still need help with learning some basic magic." The book opened on the second page, which now that John could read what it said, talked about the usage of magic and levitation. 'Oh, right. Magic,' John thought to himself as he watched the book float gently in the air. He could use magic. Fucking magic. And he didn't need wave a stick around to do it. As bad as things were going for him so far, he couldn't help but admit that the fact that he could do magic was pretty fucking cool. "What kind of magic? Am I going to be learning how to summon Shenron or something?" "Who?" asked a now very perplexed Celestia. "Oh, it's nothing. I'm guessing levitation for the moment, right?" He had to hold in a chuckle when he looked at her face. At least he could get a kick of confusing ponies from time to time. She shook off her confusion and nodded. "Yes. Most fillies learn levitation by the time they turn ten. It should be remarkably easy for you to accomplish." John nodded and scooted closer to the book. "Okay. How do I start?" Celestia's smile broadened as she cleared her throat. "Just listen closely, and you'll have this in no time." "First, I want you to pick an item in this room, preferably one of the books on the table, and visualize it in your mind. Set it apart from the rest of the world and focus on it." She began. John nodded again and did as he was told. "All right. What now?" "Now, I want you to concentrate on channelling your magic. Visualize a force travelling through your body and into your horn." John closed his eyes and followed her steps. He imagined an unseen wave of energy traversing his body and gathering at his horn. A few seconds passed as he did this and Celestia had remained silent, he was about to open his eyes and ask how to proceed until he felt an unfamiliar sensation coming from what he presumed to be his horn, a tingling of sorts. "Very good! Now, imagine an invisible line between your horn and the item of your choosing." Celestia beamed. He opened his eyes and looked at the book he had chosen as he followed her instructions. He guessed what he was supposed to do next, but abstained from doing it in case he was wrong and fucked it up by accident. "And finally, picture the book gently levitating into the air." She finished. 'I guessed right.' He smiled lightly as he imagined the book floating into the air and swirling on its axis. The book itself was suddenly enveloped in a light blue aura and began to both levitate and swirl on its axis. John stared at it with wide eyes as he gave it a few more commands, to which it followed perfectly. "Fuck me..." he muttered as he watched the book, still not quite believing that he was the one doing that. He heard a clopping sound next to him, followed by a slight squeal. "You did it! The fact that you did it so quickly is quite impressive!" she praised, setting her hooves back down from was he guessed was a clapping motion. "Yeah... It was pretty easy," he said distantly, still staring at the levitating book. 'This... is fucking cool,' John thought as he marvelled at what he had achieved. Granted, he had just been told that anyone past ten could do it, it still didn't stop him from feeling proud of himself. How many people from Earth could say that they used magic? Not a lot. "What else can I do?" John asked as looked over at Celestia, who replied with a chuckle. "Magic can be used in many ways, and there are thousands of spells that can easily be performed by either me or you. But for now, I think we should leave it off at that one and continue on with the other books." She nodded towards the book John was holding in his telekinetic grasp. John was about to push her to try and teach him more magic but stopped himself before he could do so. He probably should get up to date with the place he had found himself stuck in, and if his fears did come through and he was stuck here forever, it wouldn't hurt to get an early head start. "I guess." He sighed. He looked over at the book and commanded it to lower itself and stopped concentrating on it. The results were immediate, as he heard the soft jingle of what he assumed was his magic disappear and the tingling sensation on his horn vanish, along with the aura that had covered the book seconds prior. Celestia chuckled as she picked up on his disappointed tone. "Don't worry, I can teach you more magic after we've covered the basics. Does that sound good?" John leaned back and looked around the room, taking in the thousands of books that surrounded them. Hopefully, the basics were covered in the other two books on the table. Otherwise, this was going to be a long session.