I awoke three times, despite the comfortable situation I’m in. Not because of discomfort at the time or that I’m just not tired enough. No! It was because of these freaking loud snores she let out from time to time.
After the third time of trying to go back to sleep, I gave up. Now I reviewed the day before and tried to figure out why I was not panicking about my sudden gender and species change. I had a few ideas why that could be, though they were far-fetched they were still somewhat plausible. First was that because of my new body and my new memory plane--or whatever this room in my dream is called--my subconsciousness is thinking that I’ve always had this body and therefore my brain isn’t entering a state of panic. Second, I didn’t have the time to panic. Third, someone is controlling my feelings. My last idea is that I simply do not care. I’d vote for one and two.
Snooore!
Ah, there she goes again.
Growl!
…
‘And there goes my stomach,’ I thought, a little embarrassed that my belly made louder sounds than her vocal sleeping. Come to think of it, it’s even louder than a human being or any being ever existing should make. It’s almost comical.
“Turn it down,” my warden said sleepily, still holding me like a little girl or boy, fearful of losing his or her most precious possession.
Growl!
Luna let out an annoyed puff and turned over, taking me with her. As this happened the door was kicked open with the sound of armored hoofs making contact on wood. I couldn’t see what was happening, but I could feel it as two armored hooves tried to yank me out of Luna’s prison-like grip and I couldn’t try to resist because of Luna. Still trying to get me off her, they didn’t notice that she opened her eyes and her look was turning from surprise to confusion and then anger in mere seconds.
“What is the meaning of this?!” Luna demanded, and pried my attackers from me with her telekinesis.
“Your Highness, this creature tried to attack you, we heard its growls through the door.” As if on cue, my stomach let out a growl the same volume as before. All eyes turned to me, looking at me as I sheepishly smiled in return, which made the guards’ looks quickly turn from anger to confusion and then to outright fear as they realized that they interrupted Luna’s slumber.
“Well, look who is hungry,” Luna said in a soothing manner, possibly thinking that I was scared of the guards; which I am, because I don’t want to know what they would do to me if Luna wasn’t there to save me. Luna then turned to the guards who seemed to shrink a few centimeters under her glare.
“And you two should leave this instant,” she said with venom in her voice, possibly not liking these golden-clad guards before they even attempted to harm me.
Switching back to the soothing voice, she said, “I’m sorry that they tried to harm you.” Looking down to me with guilt written all over her face.
<<You don’t have to be sorry for their actions. They’re just doing their job. Hopefully,>> I reassured here. Not sure if they just want to protect one of their princesses, or if they just outright hate me. In the end it seemed to help lifting her mood, even though she couldn’t understand me.
Growl!
She let out a little laugh and said, “So, should we do something for your stomach?” I nodded.
“Maid!” she called.
“Yes, your Highness,” I jumped at the immediate reply coming from the door. ‘Where did she come from? I didn’t even hear her enter!’
“Bring me my breakfast and some food for little Glacies here,” she said and pointed to me with her hoof. As she ordered our food, I took a closer look at the maid, because I could have sworn that I saw her before. It took me a few seconds to realize that she was the maid I fled past as I was chased by the guards the other day. She was a mare with a straw-blond coat and a bubblegum-pink mane that shined when she held her head in the right angle to the sun. As she turned around to go and get our meal I could see that she had a feather duster tattoo on her flank.
‘How original. They have their job tattooed on their flank. I should ask Philomena about that when I see her again.’
“This evening, first I’ll show you where you’ll be training. After that we’ll go into town so I can order a few things and then we’ll train your ability,” Luna said with glee in her eyes and I was reminded that I’ll be her hound when I’m older. ‘Huh, from clerk to hound. That’ll make for an interesting curriculum vitae.’
It only took the maid five minutes to bring us our meal. She looked a little bit green and I soon found out why as she gave me my food. It consisted of lettuce, bread and a big red slab of meat, probably pork from the looks of it. Now there is the question of if can I eat raw meat. I took a sniff then sampled it with my tongue. A bit hesitantly, I took a small piece of it and chewed. Conclusion: I can eat raw meat. It even tastes the same as cooked meat to me. In the end I wolfed down everything on my plate.
“Now that you are finished we can go,” she said with a bit amusement shining through from my display of graceless eating habits.
…
‘Wait a second, she finished her meal, too? And she finished before me.’
“Are you coming?”
I moved over to Luna who was already at the door. I noticed that at the moment we left the room, two guards clad in the same armor as the guards in the morning moved into their places behind us. This time without a glare centered on me, but I could still feel that they had their eyes on me.
Without the hate-filled attention of the guards, I could finally enjoy the hallways in their full glory. The tapestries in the tower where Luna’s quarter is are colored in midnight-blue with silver outlining and a silver moon in the center. After we left the tower, the hallways are lined with vases with fresh roses in all colors and tapestries colored in royal-purple with golden outlining and a blazing sun in the middle.
Walking through the halls, we soon came to a place twice as big as a soccer field surrounded by big stone walls thrice the size of a pony. On the field were sparring rings, a training field for archers and of course ponies training in said areas. From somewhere, I could hear a drill sergeant shouting his lungs out, possible scaring half of the recruits back to their mommies. Luna gave none of this a glance and made a beeline to an area on the left side. What I got to see was a parkour course for dogs where guards trained with guard-dogs.
“Here we’ll train your stamina, Glacies, after we get your magic under control,” Luna said, turning to me, which got her a few odd looks from the guards around. One of these guards even voiced his confusion.
“Your majesty, you can’t possibly think that she understood you.”
“You’d be surprised how smart a few animals are, sergeant. Possibly even smarter than you.” The last part she added under her breath so only her guards and I could hear it.
‘Definitely not on good terms with them,’ I thought as I controlled myself to not let out a loud laugh.
“I’ll keep that in mind, princess.”
“Let’s go, Glacies.” Turning around, Luna went back to the entrance. Walking once again through the hallways, we soon came to the main entrance. From there we walked out into the part of town where the nobles resided. If you ask how I know that, I only need to point out the ponies and the residences around us and they screamed “I am rich”. From the looks of it, Luna doesn’t like them either.
Walking through the streets, I saw that this feeling is mutual. Don’t understand me wrong, their bowed when we walked through, but I saw a few ponies turning into an alley as fast as possible as soon they laid eyes upon her. Except for one, and Luna wasn’t happy to see her.
“Princess.” The white unicorn with a blond mane called out. The guards were on their way to intercept her, but Luna held out a wing.
“Lady Money Hoard, I hope you’re not here to give me another one-hour presentation about how to institute a lower tax rate on the nobility,” Luna said with an even but cold voice.
“Oh no, nothing like that, your Highness. I just wanted to ask who this little fella is that is following you,” she said, pointing at me.
“Her name is Glacies, the new hound of the night and we have to be somewhere. So, I bid you good night.”
Walking down the street, I noticed that the houses turned from marble to stone and wood with roofs made of straw. We soon walked into the trade district where even at this late hour the ponies were buying trinkets and goods. The ponies around us bowed down as we walked through and some threw questioning looks at me. Soon we came to the heart of the district where stores were built around a massive golden statue displaying an alicorn with a sun behind her back--Celestia, obviously--forming a big plaza. A market was currently in full action and many ponies were buzzing around the street.
Luna’s destination was an oak door on the west side of the plaza. Over it was a sign that said, “Golden Hammer” and was made of… is this gold? If yes, then, man, they are rich. If not, then it still looked good.
One of the guards stationed himself at the side of the door as we walked in without knocking. It soon became apparent that this was a store for everything that has something to do with crafting. Many goods were displayed in the entrance, from golden trinkets and silverware to simple tables and stools. At the counter stood an Earth Pony with his back turned to us.
“Welcome to Golden Hammer, the store where y-” The pony who I now know is a stallion turned around and stopped dead in his tracks as he saw who had entered his store. “Your high-” A loud thud echoed through the room and I winced as I saw him hammering his forehead into the wooden surface of the counter when he attempted to bow. ‘Well, that just happened,’ I thought as he lay unconscious on the floor and Luna let a sigh escape her lips. She walked to the counter to ring a bell that was stationed there. Meanwhile, the stallion was placed on one of the couches by the guard who followed us. Soon another pony, same subspecies, came into the lobby of the store and as well stopped in his/her--I should really figure out how to distinguish their genders from sight--tracks and bowed down while saying “Your highness” with a raspy voice that could be high for a man and deep for a woman, while bowing down. This time without an accident.
“Rise.”
“Welcome to Golden Hammer. How may I help you?” he/ she said automatically, while he/she was standing up, shakily.
“I want to speak with Mr. Rough Iron, and your colleague could use a little help,” she said, while pointing at the unconscious stallion. The newcomer shouted for his/her boss before moving to look over his/her coworker on the couch. We only waited for five seconds until the… Owner? I wasn’t even sure who owned this place anymore. Does not matter. Soon the stallion I could only assume was Rough Iron came into the foyer of the shop and it got even fuller as another pony came in through the front door. Said pony was a little bit shocked to see royalty, but she soon got herself together and bowed before trotting over to the trinkets section. Meanwhile, Mr. Iron led us to the back of the store where several ponies were working on diverse things to sell in the store. He slithered around various workstations before he halted in front of an office, possibly his. A little sweat was forming on his brow as he held open the door.
“Please enter, princess,” he said, while trying to imitate the nobles of the upper class. In my opinion, he failed spectacularly. It sounded more like a rich child that was a little too spoiled.
…
Come to think of it, he probably got the voice right, based on how I saw a few nobles acting on our way down the streets.
While I had distracted myself with thoughts of the annoying nobility, Luna and Mr. Iron had sat down around a nice-looking table made of solid wood.
“So, p-princess, it’s a rare sight to s-see you p-personally in our s-store-” Luna raise a hoof to silence him. Mr. Irons forehead, meanwhile, was turning into a fountain.
“Mr. Iron, calm down, please. I am only here personally because you need the measurements of little Glacies here and I want to make sure that she is safe.” Luna levitated me on his desk to get her point across.
“And what would you want us to make for her, your highness?” Iron was noticeably calmer now after he realized that he wasn’t in trouble. He was still sweating though.
“A few things.” Luna turned over a scroll to him, which he held in his hoofs, which left me once again wondering how this works. Nevertheless, I now found myself in the hooves of Mr. Iron, who was positioning me on his table. Then he opened a drawer in his table where he extracted a few rectangle-shaped wood blocks. Said blocks were exactly one foot long and soon he got my length and height.
“Okay, your highness, I have everything. Your order will be sent to the palace tomorrow evening.”
He and Luna talked a little bit longer over a few details concerning the order, but we soon found ourselves back at the entrance, where the pony behind the counter was again tending to the customers. He bowed down again as we walked by and apologized for his wrongdoing. Except he didn’t do anything wrong and Luna tried desperately to assure him that he didn’t do anything bad.
Meanwhile, I turned my attention to some of the goods they were selling. I saw a few pieces of furniture I would love to have back home.
Soon, something else caught my attention. This time it was not a thing, but a pony. A unicorn, to be precise, and he or she doesn’t look like he/she belong in here. What I mean is, that--I’m just gonna call them a “he” for now--was wearing a cape and a saddlebag looking like they belonged to a beggar. The cape was torn in a few places, he was missing a lid on one side of his saddlebag and his mane looked like it hadn’t seen a bath in weeks. ‘Note to self: figure out how to bathe, preferably without turning said bath into ice.’ I couldn’t do anything until he was stealing something, but from how he was acting, I don’t need to wait long. A few seconds later after he looked around to see if someone was looking at him, he picked up a golden necklace and put it into his saddlebag where he still had an intact lid, but it was still not the time to act. Why he’s trying to rob a shop when there are two guards and a princess nearby is still a mystery, but that is his problem and not mine. ‘Well, he still could just go to the– Ah, forget it.’ He is slowly walking to the exit.
<<Hey!>> I called out, which got the attention of the whole assemble in the room, including the thief. For them it probably sounded like a loud bark. <<He’s a thief!>> I called out again and made a few steps towards him until I was right in front of him.
“Calm down, d-dog.” The mare, probably thinking that I’m just a dog who’s barking at her for no reason, told me. To my dismay, the other ponies in the room thought that too.
“Glacies, let her be.” Luna was walking over to me with a stern look on her face that probably means something like this, “No sweets for you for a whole month.” So, I needed to think of a fast way to get my point across. I made my way to the side, where she stored the necklace and jumped for it, but they still didn’t get it.
“I am so sorry miss, but I don’t know what got her so riled up.” Apologizing, Luna lit her horn. Fast acting before she got me in her telekinetic grip, I jumped and bit down on the bottom of the saddlebag. Ugh!! It tastes as bad as it looks. I bit so hard on the leather that Luna alone couldn’t get me off. I wanted to let go myself because of the taste, but my will was stronger, and in the end it took the combined effort of Mr. Iron, the salespony, and Luna to get me off the saddlebag. With casualties of course.
Rip!
Every pony in the room stared at the object that fell out of the now-bottomless saddlebag.
“That is one of ours.” The salespony pointed out helpfully and everyone’s eyes turned to the mare, who raced out of the store with Luna and her guards in pursuit, followed a while later by me.
The plaza was still buzzing with ponies and because of my small body I can’t see where they are. Hectically looking around the plaza, I soon spotted Luna to the northeast. Lucky that she’s so big. I tried to follow them as fast as I could, but the ponies in front of me didn’t make this task easier.
Constantly on alert for incoming hooves, I ran through the legs of the ponies in a snake-like pattern. I got a few shrieks when I passed between their legs and one even tried to hit me before the crowd spit me out at my destiny. I ran face first into a blue-silver armored hoof with a loud clang and fell on my rump, letting out a small puff and a little squeak.
“Glacies, are you alright?” A blue face, I think it was a face, but blurry, looked down at me. Said pony, possibly Luna, my brain concluded, slowly lifted me up with her hooves.
<<Please hold the line. The provider will soon have fixed the problem.>> I shook myself a little and my vision turned back to normal. The blue pony turned out to indeed be Luna, a concerned look on her face before she kissed me on the forehead, where a bump will possible sprout in the near future. A little bit shocked that she kissed me like a child, I didn’t realize that she put me on her back. Behind me, the thief was held down by one of the Lunar guards.
“Glacies,” Luna began and I turned to look at her. “I’m sorry that I scolded you for something you didn’t do.” Guilt was displayed on her face and I couldn’t be angry at her. It was just a misunderstanding with a happy ending, but I wouldn’t be against some tea or something to get the horrid taste of the saddlebag out of my mouth.
<<It’s alright,>> I told her with an understanding voice. I was surprised that I actually got a reply from her, but it was probably just a coincidence.
“No!” Luna insisted, getting attention from all over the plaza. “A hound and its keeper should trust each other. So, can you forgive me?” All eyes were now on me, so I gave her a nod and hoped that she accepted it and we could move on. I don’t like the attention that this whole situation is calling to me.
While we waited for the thief to be escorted to the cell by the town guards, Luna and Celestia turned the day to night. I noticed that the plaza was cleared out a few seconds after the night came upon them.
On our way back to the palace we only encountered six ponies. When we finally were back at the castle, Celestia already awaited us.
“Good evening, Luna. How was your tour into town?” Luna stopped in front of her sister.
“Good,” she stated neutrally.
“Come on, Luna, I apologized for how I treated Glacies this morning. Please don’t be mad at me anymore.” Lip quivering, Celestia used “Baby-doll Eyes” on her. It wasn’t very effective.
“Tia, you shouldn’t apologize to me, but to Glacies.” She turned to the left presenting me before Celestia. “And what is with the change in attitude towards her?” Luna added. Celestia looked down for a moment.
“First, I am sorry how I treated you before.” I gave her a nod accepting her apology. “Philomena,” she stated bluntly. Luna cocked her head blinking owlishly at Celestia.
“Philomena?” she asked slowly.
“At breakfast I noticed that Philomena was interacting with Glacies and you know how she is with strangers. So, I had kind of a conversation with her. It mostly consisted out of me asking questions and her giving a nod or a chirp, but in the end, I found out that she trusted her to be a good pony, or fox in Glacies’ case.”
“So, you changed your mind because of Philomena giving her ok on Glacies,” Luna stated with a bemused tone in her voice before it turned into a fit of laughter.
“Laugh it up, Lulu. I trust Philomena’s perception,” Celestia said, trying to keep in a chuckle herself, obviously getting the joke.
It took Luna a minute to calm down. The guards meanwhile stood there like a rock in the surf, never moving, never saying a word, not even a small chuckle.
We followed Celestia until our different destinations required that we part ways. Celestia made her way to her quarters and Luna to the throne, taking me with her. Hooey, politics.