//------------------------------//
// Chapter 27. Truth be Told, Part 5. 
// Story: Meta Gamer in Equestria: Odyssey 
// by reflective vagrant 
//------------------------------//

The dark blue princess entered the room with some bundle in tow.  When she turned to me, she called out something.


I didn't hear what it was, just that it was directed towards me.  My mind was paralyzed in a primal fear.  It wasn't the kind of logical fear with not knowing what was going on, like when I first arrived at the castle.  That kind of fear I could still keep a grip on to some degree and eventually work through with enough logic.  Even when I ran from Zecora the first time, my mind was still doing its best to assess the situation with what information was available, and consciously chose to run from what I didn't understand to buy time to process, albeit with a continuous loop that kept me up through most the night.
No.  Processing wasn't even an option at that moment.  What I was dealing with was the kind of fear you might expect a child to have towards the closet they think has a scary monster in it or a person exposed to something that they have a phobia of.  The kind of fear that made all rationality jump straight out the window and leave nothing but panic in its wake.  I didn't really have any experience with that kind of nightmarish fear piercing my psyche since I was five or so, so it hit me pretty much full force.


She stepped forward and put her hoof out in what I realize now was probably a gesture of greeting.  When that happened, all the tension in my mind finally snapped into action.
I quickly skittered away on all fours with my belly up in the opposite direction, kicking the cushion I had been sitting on into her face by total accident.
I screamed at the top of my lungs, "Get the hell away from me, you unhinged, psychotic bitch!" 
With my eyes locked on her as I moved, I bumped into more things than I could clearly recall before I finally registered the wall on my back.  I slid along the wall until I hit the far corner and finally stopped to cower.
The other ponies in the room had stood up in worry, but I barely even registered it.  The dark blue princess made a single step closer to better see me around a bit of furniture.
In response, I curled up and hung my head. "For the love of all things sacred, no more!  Please, no more!"
I could hear somepony approach slowly.   Words were said, but I didn't register what they were.  When they finally stopped, I shook from their proximity.  They were so close I might have been able to throw my hand out and touch them.
"Please, just go away..."  was all I could whimper to whoever it was in front of me.
When I felt a hoof on my shoulder, I started screaming.  I threw my arms up over my head, causing that hoof to scrape hard against the back most ridge along the top of my head before getting flung away.
I screamed long, I screamed hard, and it seemed my lungs had no intention of stopping, save to draw another breath to keep going.


* * *


I had no idea how long I was screaming.  It could have been just under a minute, or well over an hour.   All I know is when it finally stopped, it stopped abruptly.
I found my breathing steadying on its own.  I looked up and saw the smaller princess giving me a look of worry alongside Sunburst.  Both their horns were glowing.
"It's OK.  She's gone now.  Are you alright?" the princess called to me as I stood up.
I did a quick assessment of the room.   The guards were quickly loosing a gleeful look on their face,  Fluttershy was holding a bundle as if it where a baby on the couch and the princess that set me off was nowhere to be seen.
"Calming spell?" I asked as unemotionally as could be.
Sunburst nodded. "Not normally allowed without a court ordered prescription or your permission, but since Fluttershy is your RRE officer, that grants her some extra authority over you when you are in an irrational state and so she gave us the clear."
"We don't cast it on a whim if that's what you're worried about," the princess added, "Do you think you can stand on your own now that she's gone?  We shouldn't keep you at this level for more than a few minutes."
She gestured up to her horn with her eyes.
"I'm not sure, to be honest.  But it is a bad idea to be dependent on something like this.   As a matter of principal, I have to try to stand on my own without crutches where possible or I'll never get stronger.  We can try talking again another day after I calm down if need be, right?"
The princess nodded and just about let up the spell before I held up my hand to stop her.
"Just one thing I need to say while I'm not afraid."
She tilted her head. "OK, what?"
"I don't think I'd manage to say it clearly with my normal mind, being so closely related to my fear, so I am taking the opportunity now."  I spoke in a flat voice, devoid of emphasis.  "Princess Luna.  Only a part of what makes me fear her is the fact that she did the astral judgement.  The other part is how forwardly she was trying to comfort me afterwards without realizing in the slightest that it was unwelcome.  If I were to give advice from my own experiences, have her practice learning to read the room and not act on impulses of forwardness that may or may not be welcome until she knows for sure.  Being a leader of your nation, in whatever way she does lead, I think this will aid her greatly."
I lowered my hand and nodded.  "I'm ready now.  End the spell."





Back in the dream realm.
"A piece of advice I treasure to this day."  Princess Luna smiled.  "The first step we took to realizing we struggled with many of the same things at one time or another.  Indeed, where it not for the advice Sunburst delivered, that day would have been one of my saddest moments."
"What was it that you said, anyway?  Before I panicked?"
"I was happy to meet you face to face, in the physical world, and that I was sorry for what I had to do to you and your familiar."
"Oh, right.  Archimedes...   He and I didn't start on the best of terms either, but we worked it out in the end."
"Indeed.   He counseled me in your absence during your early adventures, and I pay the debt I owe him forward to you on his behalf now."
I shot her a raised eye brow look.  "You'd do it anyway."
"True."





With all of us situated, the lower ranking guard sent out of the room and the book glowing to show a message had been sent to Sunburst, we finally got down to business on explaining to me why I was even here.


Fluttershy gave me an uneasy look as she held what now appeared to be a very weak owl, wrapped up in a blanket in her hooves. "We need to give you a little history of our world, but this is classified information.   The common populace would panic if they knew.  So don't repeat this to anypony that you aren't certain already knows."
I looked at the one remaining guard, the door where the other had left and back at her. "And you?"
"I was a friend of Twilight's before she was a princess.  I was also a part of the events that made her a princess and continue to help her where I can.  I may look humble and stay out of the politics, but I have clearance."
Fluttershy then looked to the princess, who then passed on the floor to Sunburst.
"This isn't the first time we've been invaded by bipedal ape like creatures from another realm.  It's the second."