The little princess looked happy to see me, which quelled my fears of an interrogation somewhat.
“What do you wish for us to discuss, your highness?” It was better to be too formal than not formal enough.
“Our title is ‘majesty’,” Luna corrected, “But your mistake is understandable. Sister certainly makes a show of her authority.”
Luna’s tone was neutral, but in the dream realm I could feel her dissatisfaction; there was an invisible aura that positively bristled.
On the filly princess this attitude was positively adorable, but it would likely not behoove me to mention that out loud.
Note to self; find a book on royal etiquette.
“We sense that you do not wish to speak with us.” Luna said.
“No!” I said quickly, “I mean, I’m not scared, I’m just tired.”
Luna remained silent.
“I mean, I guess I’m a bit scared, but not because I’m afraid of you, it’s only because I don’t know what you’re going to say.”
“My little pony, if you always knew what was going to happen life would be frightfully boring.” The little princess said. “All this standing and talking; this is a dream! Let’s have some fun.”
With her sudden change in mood the serious atmosphere of the dream had dropped away. The filly sized princess spread her wings and took off, hovering in anticipation. I mentally shrugged as I looked at my back and willed wings to appear. Since this was a dream, they did.
Luna giggled as she watched me.
“To think you hath told everypony you did not wish to be a princess.” She said.
I blanched as I realised how badly this could have gone - surely masquerading as a princess in front of an actual princess was a breach of etiquette? My wings evaporated.
“Relax, child, twas merely an observation, not admonishment.” Luna consoled. “There is no wrong way to fantasize.”
My fatigue was washed away by the cool night air as we flew above the clouds. The full moon was bright and cast the landscape of Equestria far below in silvery light. With Luna’s reassurance I regrew my wings and tried out some acrobatics, my wingtips creating contrails that traced my path with complete disregard for the laws of aerodynamics.
The filly sized princess was matching me to the wingbeat, flying in formation as if this was a well rehearsed routine.
After a time I grew tired of flying so we landed on a cloud and gazed up at the stars overhead. Despite the bright moonlight innumerable stars and even some nebulae were visible to the naked eye. I didn’t recognise any constellations.
“Are you feeling better, Green?” Asked Luna.
“Yeah,” I said, my mood dropping to a more neutral level, “I’m sorry for taking so much of your time, Princess. I’m sure there are other ponies whose dreams need your attention.”
“We have not forgotten why we came to you this night.” Luna said. “Didst thou?”
“No.” I sighed. “I just... I’m sorry.”
A mug of tea had appeared in my hooves and I took a sip from it just to have something to keep more words from spilling out.
“How was your first day with the Apple’s?” Luna asked.
“It was alright I guess.”
“You guess?”
“Applejack is going to tell Pinkie that I was frightened by her party.”
“Were you?”
“Well, yeah, but I don’t want her to know that!” I said. “She tried to do something nice and now she’s going to feel terrible because of me. I can’t even apologize because that will just make it worse!”
I huffed at the unfairness of it all.
“Why were you afraid of her party?”
“There were so many ponies I didn’t know and they were all looking at me and - I just panicked okay? And I didn’t want them to see me panicking.” I said “And apparently I kicked Scootaloo in the face back when they were rescuing me even though I can’t remember so Rainbow doesn’t trust me and now AJ is angry with her.”
I was hoping Luna would say something, but she remained silent. After a few moments I realised how I was coming across.
“But please don’t take me away!” I pleaded. “I know it sounds bad but really Applejack is doing a good job. It's just - I keep screwing things up.”
As the silence stretched on I stared into my tea, watching as the liquid flowed back and forth, keeping level with the ground below as I tilted the cup. In a dream there was no need for it to obey gravity, but it did so simply because I imagined it should. With a thought gravity ceased to exist and the surface of the liquid bulged outwards; naught but surface tension keeping it inside the cup. Moving the cup, a ball of brown liquid was left hanging in the air, undulating slightly in the air currents.
“Green.”
The tea and the teacup vanished as I lost focus on what I was doing. Right, Luna was still there.
“We won’t send you back.” Luna promised.
“Sorry, I-” I said, “I’m having trouble focusing, I don’t know why it’s harder this time.”
“When last we met I was stabilizing the dream for you.” Luna explained. “The sleeping mind is naturally very distractible, but through practice it is possible to exert control. It is a rare talent, but you have demonstrated at least some aptitude.”
I was caught off guard by the direction the conversation was turning.
“When first we met we had meant to make you as our apprentice.” Luna said. “It is an opportunity which few have been afforded; we do not seek to take you from a place you feel safe, but we hope that one day you will be ready to take our offer. It would be a great shame to see your talent go to waste.”
“Thank you, your Majesty.” I said. “I’m sorry.”
Dammit stop saying you’re sorry! Now she’s going to feel bad and tell me not to say sorry.
Luna paused for a moment, then said something I wasn’t expecting.
“The place you came from,” Luna said, “We won’t send you back.”
The white fluffy clouds formed jagged crystalline tendrils of ice reaching through my chest to tug at my heart. The stars winked out and the moon became an enormous all seeing eye.
Luna reasserted control of the dream to save the filly from the physical manifestation of her anxiety. Green’s control over her dream was impressive for one without training, but only for as long as she was able to keep her focus.
The scene shifted to Luna’s chambers in the castle. A fire crackled in the fireplace and the furniture looked comically oversized for their filly sized forms. They sat wrapped in a blanket with a tea set between them. Green had stopped shivering.
Her reaction to Luna’s guess added more weight to Twilight’s theory that the filly had escaped to Equestria from another reality. Green’s lack of coordination, her inexplicable magic problems, her claim that her parents weren’t ponies, the fact that there was no trace of her existence before last week; it all made sense if she was from a reality without magic, without ponies. It was unlikely that she was from the ‘human’ reality that Twilight had traveled to; the mirror portal was guarded.
She didn't want to be too specific with her questions since attacking the topic directly seemed to make the filly intense distress, to an almost unnatural degree.
If she did come from another reality there was no purpose in continuing the investigation. Great though Luna’s powers were, she could not police the entire multiverse. Yet some being had transported her here, given her at least a primer on important ponies in Equestria, and told her not to reveal her origins to anypony. Luna was unsure of his motivations. It would pay to keep a close eye on this filly. Complicating matters, the existence of other realities was a state secret so her suspicions of the filly's true origin could not be shared widely.
Wherever the child hailed from it would be a simple matter for the princess to grant her asylum. If she gained an apprentice out of it, all the better. Whatever she was fleeing from, whatever she had endured to make her the way she was now, no good would come from returning her.
Fate had conspired to give her sister a student and now it was her turn; it was only fair. The filly wasn’t ready yet, as she had been counseled by her subjects at the hospital, but she could begin to set things in motion.
“We do not wish to frighten thee.” Luna said. “Answer these three questions and we shall pry no further until you are ready.”
“Ok.”
“Art thou from another nation?”
“...yes.”
“Dost thou wish to live in Equestria?”
“...yes.”
“Wilt thou make an oath of fealty to the crown and country?”
“Do I have to?”
“If you wish to become our subject, then yes.” Luna explained. “Ordinarily the oath could wait until you come of age, but since you are a foreigner you must take the oath to be granted legal status.”
She did not mention that the oath superseded any other magical contract the filly may have entered into. If a geas was preventing her from speaking freely, or from recalling the one who sent her here, it would be broken.