For the second time since coming through the portal, I felt my mind start to completely shut down. My vision was somehow both fading towards black and turning blood red at the same time. My mother wasn't Celestia. I had very distinct memories of growing up. My mother was Sunny Skies, a white pegasus with pink hair who passed away shortly after my acceptance to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. But, it wouldn't pay to tell Princess Luna that. Not now, not yet. I needed to stall...
"I... I don't know, Auntie."
By Celestia did that sound odd coming out of my mouth. Referring to a Princess as 'Auntie'? What was I, some blue-blooded royal descendant of Princess Platinum? But, it seemed to work for now. Princess Luna seemed to smile ever so slightly at hearing those words, even if her eyes seemed to close slightly.
"I... Princess Luna... It's just..."
I let a sigh slip out. Perhaps the 'truth' was in order on this one. Properly spun, of course...
"I don't remember ever even having wings. I remember being born to a pegasus mother, and a dead-beat unicorn father than I never even met. I remember being taught by Princess Celestia herself. And I remember getting trapped in some alternate world beyond the mirror. But, Princess Celestia as my mother? And me as an alicorn? That... I just..."
"Fret not, dear niece. We suspect being gone for so long may have fractured your memories. Hoping you would know why you are now a mere unicorn was but a stretch of faith We had. Rest now. We shall return on the morrow."
With that, Princess Luna threw her wings around me in an attempt at a familial hug, before heading out the doors to my room.
'Only hours here, and I'm already calling my old room in the castle mine again.'
For a brief moment, I allowed myself some small bit of joy as I looked around. It was naught but pure nostalgia, especially given nothing here truly looked like where I use to rest my head under Celestia's care. But, something about this room being one and the same, at least in placement in the castle, just seemed... right.
Princess Luna hadn't been gone long before the rose-tinted glasses shattered and I began plotting my escape. There was no way I would be remaining here a moment longer than I had to. I came here with a mission, and just laying around on my old bed wouldn't get it done. Getting back on my hooves, I made my way over to the door and quietly opened it. Taking a peak into the hall, I promptly found myself snout to snout with a white Earth Pony mare who blinked in surprise.
"Ah, Miss Shimmer! You shouldn't be up and about just yet! I was certain I asked Her Highness to convey that you were to remain in bed for the remainder of the night. A black out like the one you had in the throne room is no laughing matter."
Well, this certainly made things tricky. I tried to will up a small blush, while looking down at the other mare's hooves and speaking softly. "I was just a bit peckish, Miss..."
"Second Lieutenant Redheart, Miss Shimmer. At the Princess's service as primary nurse attached to the 1st Night Guard. Which means I will be looking after you for the duration of your stay in the castle. Which means you are to return to your bed now. I'll have one of your guards collect some light refreshments for you."
I rocked back in a slight state of shock. I had this mare pegged as some goodie two-shoes maid in the castle that would be jumping at the chance to aid a personal guest of the Princess. Assuming word hadn't gotten around that I was, apparently, the daughter of Princess Celestia, that is. Instead, I got a face full of hard-line military nurse.
"You don't have to do that, Miss Redheart. I can make my own way to the kitchen easily enough."
The mare in front of me just shook her head. "Bed rest. Doctor's orders. Now, back to bed with you or do I have to ask for a guard to be placed in your room instead of just at the door to ensure you will follow orders?"
I sighed in annoyance, hoping it was masked as acceptance, and turned around to retreat back into my room. If I was to get out of here, it seemed that the front door simply wasn't an option. But, there were others...
Sleep was finally starting to claim me. The front door wasn't an option for escape, as it was perpetually guarded by at least three Night Guard. I'd tried escaping out the window, only to be found out by a passing flight of pegasi that came by the 'help me sneak back into my room.' I wasn't trying to sneak into the castle after a night out, bird brains! I was going down the makeshift rope, not up it. I tried to teleport out of the room after that, knowing even before I felt the familiar tickle of a fizzled out spell that the room had likely been warded. And, on top of all of that, it seemed whomever had used this room as their own never bothered to install the secret passageway behind the third bookshelf from the right.
As my eyes started to close, I couldn't help but chuckle to myself, a slight madness starting to set in.
'I always knew that returning to Equestria would mean time in the dungeons if I was caught. I just never expected it to be such a gilded cage...'
At this point, the only thing I could really hope for was that, maybe, I could get a better idea of what to do after a good night's sleep and seeing the first light of Celestia's sun. After all, it had been so long since I slept under the Equestrian sky...
'I wonder if I'll dream differently here...'