//------------------------------// // Stranger in a Strange Place // Story: Greene Fields under Red Lights // by Europa //------------------------------// Greene She was cold. She didn't know how long she'd been cold. Trapped in this place without time and space, without fury or calm, of silence and deafening noise, beyond life and death, time had no meaning. She couldn't see anything in her prison beyond a web of red and black tendrils, ones that shimmered and realigned every time she turned her head. Or at least she thought she turned her head. She could feel the movement, certainly, but it didn't seem like she ever changed location. Same with walking. She didn't even know if she was truly standing, or sitting. She had the impression she wasn't the only one in this prison, that there were many others, impossibly far and impossibly close. She wondered if they too were cold. Most likely. This was such a cold place. No life to it, not like her Home. Her Home. She wondered what had happened to her Home, now that she was in this prison, locked somewhere outside the cycle of life and death. Existing but not existing, a forgotten memory that wouldn't fade. She wondered if her children had returned to her Home, if the Bad Air had left it. The Bad Air that had forced her to retreat and face her Wayward Child, and then be sent to this prison within him. Her Wayward Child. Oh, how her heart ached and her blood boiled at the thought of him. The son they had taken from her, poisoned his mind and twisted his body, then sent after her and her children. The one who had taken her, Cursed her, and placed her into this prison for... she didn't know how long, but it was for far-too-long. She settled her thoughts. She could have drifted thoughtless for a second or for a thousand years. The laws of time had no hold on her Wayward Child, and had even less influence inside this prison. She'd long ago given up trying to escape this prison, whose walls were not walls and whose floor was no floor, where no matter how much she ran she never moved. Where no matter how loud she screamed she was silent and no matter how quiet she was she roared. So she'd settled for sitting here and whispering to herself, reliving her life a hundred thousand times over, endlessly going over her failure to protect her family and her children from the Similars. Her Holy Child, taken from her so early-early-early and placed so far she could not hear him, feel him, help him. Her Wayward Child, his Blessing twisted into a Curse and sent against her. She always heard him while she'd been free. Always heard him roaring and fighting, an engine of constant anger and hunger that rebuffed all her attempts to soothe him and help him, his fury making her sick to her stomach. Her Strange Child, born of her Blessing and of the Awful Poison that had nearly taken her Wayward Child's life. He'd feared her, and that made her sad sad sad. Furthermore, he'd been obsessed with her Wayward Child, obsessed with afflicting him with his Curse. She wondered what had happened to him. Another time of no thoughts. She was cold. Her thoughts turned to her other children. How lost they must be without their mother to guide them, in this world that sought to reject her Blessing, her gift to the masses. How scared they must be, without her to shield them from having to make their own decisions. And then there were the children here with her, trapped in this cold prison. Close enough to touch but so far, far, too far to comfort with her presence, too far to ever touch. She wondered what she did wrong. Both times she had been free-free-free to share her Blessing, she'd been rebuked. First time, she'd lost hundreds of her children, her Holy Child taken from her, and had been locked away for a long long long time. The second time, she lost children by the thousands, her Wayward Child breaking them and Cursing them, Cursing her. She'd erred in how she'd raised her family; her presence in this prison was proof of that. But what could she have possibly done different? Where had she gone wrong? If she'd had her Holy Child with her, then maybe he could've helped her. He was doubtless so pure, so smart and so very strong. He could've helped her, the Purpose to her Reason. But it wasn't to be. She was cold. Except she wasn't. That was very strange for her. She'd been cold for as long as she'd been in this prison. Far colder than the prison she'd been held in during the Time for Waiting, which was longer and shorter than her stay in this prison. Why was it suddenly not-cold? The tendrils before her began to part around a central point in her vision. Where they retreated, blazing white light shone through, growing in a star burst as they continued to unravel. She realized she was still cold, just not as cold as before. A smile graced her lips. Was her Wayward Child coming around? Had he decided and found out how to free her from his prison? Oh, that would be splendid splendid splendid! The last of the tentacles faded from sight, and her vision was awash in white, tinted with blue flame. She felt herself moving, moving, movingmovingmovingmovingmoving - - and then, she was - Awake. Her eyes adjusted. Where was she? Was she still in the streets, fighting against her Wayward Child in a frenzy of blood and fury? No, she was in a room. Was she in the place she'd been captured, where she had patiently bid her time? No. This was different. So very different; even the air tasted different. Something was horribly wrong wrong wrong. It was so quiet. She could hear no children. Feel no children. See no children. It was as if her entire family had simply... ceased to exist. It was the Time for Waiting all over again, but so much worse because of the uncertainty of why she had no children. She was standing. Had she been standing when she was freed? She didn't remember. It didn't matter. She needed a plan for what to do after so long and short a time of doing nothing. And she could make a plan, make so many plans because she was ever so smart. She needed to assess her situation. She had failed, that was obvious to all. Her Wayward Child had Cursed her and sealed her in a timeless prison. She was no longer in that prison. Which meant she'd either been freed, or her Wayward Child had broken and the prison broke with him. She had no means of figuring out which had happened, but that didn't matter because she was free to spread her Blessing, to touch and bestow her gift and raise a family! Patience. She had to be patient. Where was she? She was in a room, obviously. It was a fairly large room and, like all rooms not touched by her gift, it was cold. It was colorful, but not like the colors Similars used in their designs. There were columns on the sides, made of wood and filled with books. There were a lot of them. She couldn't see any Similars. It was very dark, and further inspection revealed she was in fact in a hallway, with her back to a wall. Further down the hall, it turned to the left. There were a lot of books. She didn't feel good. She felt so weak and tired, exactly how she'd felt laying at her Wayward Child's feet before being Cursed, and though she was getting stronger she was still so hurt. Kneeling and moving a finger over the ground, she realized she was very weak indeed, too weak to warm up the floor with her Blessing. She heard voices. Not the chattering chittering language of the Similars that she knew all too well. It was different, so very different, smooth and braying and accompanied by heavy footfalls. Four Similars coming her way. She raised herself back up, fingers flexing as she waited for them to appear, staring intently down the hall. She was quite surprised when no Similars appeared. Instead, a group of what appeared to be equines walked in, noticably shorter than her. No, not even a group. Only two. They were both stark white, blue eyes, with golden plates on them with a pair of wings jutting out of their sides. They looked quite identical, and seemed surprised to see her. They approached her, speaking rapidly in that strange language. Suddenly, she jerked her head towards them and narrowed her eyes. Fire bloomed inside of her. All of a sudden she Wanted that language. Wanted to speak it and hear it ripple and echo around her long after her lips stop moving, Wanted it so much it hurt. She Wanted it, and she knew just how to get it. She leaped forward and reached the equine on the right. They both jerked backwards in surprise, but from what? How fast she moved? It wasn't her fault that she and her family were so much faster than everything else. Before they could take action she reached out with her right hand and pressed it against the equine's head. “Guh!” It dropped like a stone, a sharp spike of pain flaring in her own head. She withdrew the hand and held both to her head as the memories fluncutated in her. She'd done something similar with her Wayward Child, but that was to give him memories of her own. The reverse process, on something so much weaker than her child, was clearly more taxing. On both of them. “What did you do to him?!” the other one – male? - shouted. Ah, at least now she could understand. She leaned her head back. “Beautiful language,” she whispered, lowering her hands, closing her eyes and smiling when it continued to echo. She opened her eyes and frowned when the other equine, apparently angered at her memory transfer on the other, made to strike her. It felt like a gentle tap when its armored hooves made contact, but it roused her ire nevertheless. Her pale green eyes locked with its own blue ones, and narrowed dangerously. It had struck her. It had touched her. How. Dare. It. She was still horrendously weak, but that didn't stop her from curling her left arm under her right and striking out with it. The equine tried to block her with a foreleg, but went sailing back regardless, smashing into a bookshelf and falling limply to the ground, a shower of literature peppering the area near the body. She frowned. These equines had language. They were not Similars, and their armor was different. Were these two guards? Civilians? Leaders? It was so needlessly complicated, her family was so so so simple. Her, and her children. End of story. But if they were anything like the Similars, they would fear her and imprison her and take things out of her. She didn't know where she was. She'd never heard of equines with speech; she'd barely heard of equines period. But language meant some order, and if these weren't leaders their fellows would notice they went missing and alert their leaders. She'd be imprisoned and experimented on yet again. That was fine. She was weak, and they'd strengthen her; otherwise she'd be of no use to them. She needed to learn, and what sort of mother raises children without knowing what sort of world they'd be subjected to? She'd let them experiment on her and take their little samples. She'd listen to them talk of the world beyond, listen to them when they thought she wasn't thinking. She could wait. She was oh so patient, and she wouldn't make the same mistakes as last time. Giving no glance to the two unconscious equines, Elizabeth Greene slowly sat down and drew her knees to her chest. She linked her hands beneath them and bowed her head. Once more, the Time for Waiting had begun. ***-_***_-***-_***_-***-_***_-*** Celestia Magic filled the air in abundance. The very air was filled with the energy, undulating and writhing around a central figure in vast silvery blue filaments. But however much there was located around this figure, the amount around the actual targets of the spell was simply incomprehensible. The caster continued to cast, magic surging from their horn into the various configurations, taking hold of a vast number of tiny pinpricks of light before completing the first stage of the spell. Like a hundred thousand candles in a hurricane, the stars went out. The spell continued, and the bluish light intensified. Now, the spell focused only on one singular, massive, solid object, and gave it a single command, a direction. As if on a rusted pulley system, the moon dropped below the horizon, leaving the sky empty and black, and the glowing silver magic vanished. Princess Celestia looked at Luna, and smiled. She'd missed this. A millenium was a long time to go without the little things, such as raising and lowering the heavenly bodies together. She had so much catching up to do. Her little sister looked up at her and nodded, smiling gently. She returned the nod and focused her own magic. Her task was far simpler, yet involved an order of magnitude more power. Her own magic swelled around her and her sister in a steady, blazing yellow glow. The heat increased significantly, and as it did a subtle tint of red appeared on the horizon opposite to where the moon had set. It grew larger and larger, until it began to shift towards orange and yellow and blue... The sun rose. Princess Celestia extinguished her horn's glow and glanced down at her sister. “This was nice, sister.” Princess Luna nodded. The two began to head back inside. “Indeed, Tia. We shall endeavour to perform more raisings and settings at thy side. We hath forgotten just what it is like.” “Language, Luna." The younger alicorn rolled her eyes. "Though I agree with you, Lulu,"she said, teasing her in kind with the old nickname. "I still feel I don't spend enough time with you as I should.” The younger alicorn shrugged, coming to a pause inside the sealed room, patterned with images of the sun and moon. “It's not as if thou has many opportunities. We are, after all, nocturnal as opposed to thy being diurnal. Tis only to be expected.” The Daybringer shook her head. “That's no excuse for not being with my only family.” “We wouldn't say 'only' family. Thy student and our friend, she looks to thee as a mother. Surely thou knows?” Princess Celestia smiled, thinking warmly of the unicorn in question. “Indeed, and I see her so much as a daughter. But it's another thing to actually have the bond in blood.” “Indeed, we suppose. Speaking of thy student, we hear she and her friends have recently met success in the Crystal Empire?” “Yes, it's heartwarming to see her perform so marvelously. Twilight and her friends, their accomplishments never cease to amaze me.” Celestia smiled hopefully towards Luna. “Would you like to join me for breakfast?” Luna shook her head, and Celestia's hopes wilted. “Neigh, Tia. As much as we would wish to, we feel we shall turn in early this day.” Taking care to hide her frown, Celestia nodded. “Of course, sister.” She leaned over and the two siblings shared a nuzzle. “I shall see you at dusk, then.” “Take care of thyself, sister. After all - “ The doors burst open, and a rather disheveled looking guard dashed in. To say 'burst', 'disheveled' and 'dashed' may be over the top – the doors smoothly sailed open without smashing into the walls, the only defect in the guard's appearance was a half degree tilt to his helmet, and by dashed he trotted in at a brisk yet controlled pace. “Your Majesties! There is an intruder in the Royal Library!” he said after quickly bowing. Luna and Celestia both blinked. Celestia stifled a sigh. It was going to be one of those days, wasn't it? “We take back what we said about turning in early, then.” She narrowed her gaze at the guard. “Where is this intruder? And why would anypony be fool enough to -” “Forgive me Princess, but it's not a pony. We... we don't know what it is. It assaulted Vanguard and Unbreakable Shield while they were patrolling in the Library.” Princess Celestia pondered this, and came across a course of action. “Come, lead us to this creature. Explain the situation on our way, Slow Yield.” She made it a point to know each of her guards by name. Slow Yield bowed again. “Of course, Your Majesty. This way.” He turned tail and began trotting down the halls, both Princesses in tow. The guards that had been posted at the door saluted, as did the other guards they passed. The few servants up at this hour – either heading to rest from the night shift or waking to the day shift – hurriedly bowed as the Royal Sisters passed. “Vanguard and Unbreakable Shield were patrolling the Royal Library. They found the creature in the Medicine and Biology section, and moved to question it. There was a skirmish, during which the creature rendered them both unconscious. Vanguard has awoken - “ “What were the injuries?” Princess Celestia asked as they turned a corner. She needed to make sure her subjects were as healthy as possible, above all else. “Vanguard suffered a concussion, a few broken ribs, a shattered left foreleg, and some internal trauma. Unbreakable Shield, however, shows no signs of physical or magical injuries.” Princess Luna frowned. “And yet he takes longer to awaken? How long ago was this?” “Approximetly two hours ago, by our guess. Vanguard and Unbreakable Shield were only found when they didn't report in when they should've, and others went to look for them. They have been placed in medical care.” “We see. What was Vanguard's description of this battle?” “He said that after asking what the creature was doing there, it charged them without hesitation. It reached them before they could react – he describes it as having superpony speed – and placed a limb on Unbreakable Shield's head. Instantly, he fell unconscious, and the creature began rambling to itself. He made to detain it, but it struck him. We found him lying next to a damaged bookshelf with a few dozen novels around him. Vanguard says he doesn't even remember hitting the wall.” Celestia brought a hoof to her chin. “This creature knocked out two of the Royal Guard with a single blow each. Where is it now?” “Well, Your Highness, it's... still there. It hasn't moved at all.” “What doest thou mean?” “Exactly that. It makes no reaction to our threats or advisements. It makes no reaction to anything. It just... sits there, completely unresponsive. We've got four guards watching over it, in case it tries anything.” Celestia was confused by this. A strange creature shows up, renders two of her guards unconscious with, if the story was correct, next to no effort, and then just sits in the library while other guards accost it? It didn't make much sense. Still, however questionable its actions were (And she would be sure to make it understand that you do not assault her little ponies) it was a member of a new, apparently sapient species. And that meant, unless it passed a serious line that couldn't be attributed to cultural differences, they had to be at least hospitable to them, lest its fellows learn of its situation. Equestria prided itself on hospitality. They arrived in the Royal Library, which had been closed before it opened by the Royal Guard. Slow Yield brought them into the Medicine and Biology section, where four other guards were facing, spears ready, at a figure near the end of the library wing. Celestia had seen many things in her long, long life. Things that would make others break down in tears, of awe or horror depending. Things that broke the laws of physics, and bent reality to their will. Creatures large and small, wide and thin, predators and prey, but nothing like this. The closest she could compare it to was a minotaur, and that was being generous, given it had no horns and nowhere near the musculature of minotaurs. It was sitting down, with its gangly knees drawn to its chest, where developed mammary glands indicated it was a female. It – her - forelimbs were locked underneath her knees, making it hard to make out the digits of the clearly bipedal being. For the most part, she was covered in clothing, a single full-piece gray plastic that covered its feet, legs, chest and arms. The single article went up her neck and ended in a wide-rimmed collar just under her head. It didn't look comfortable, but who was she to judge another species's ways? For all she knew, their nervous systems differed enough to make such a collar pleasing. Her left shoulder was covered in a thin film of blood, which gave the illusion that instead of clothes, the shoulder was exposed and the skin rubbed raw. The only bits of skin exposed were the creature's head and hands. It had next to no fur. Just a thin, nearly invisible coating of hair along its skin. It had a thicker red mane on top, but it was ragged, short, and unkept. Any more details, Celestia couldn't make out, as its head was bowed, obscuring the face. Celestia and Luna stopped before the guards. “You may return to your posts,” the older alicorn said kindly. “Thank you for detaining her, we will handle it from here.” One of them – she recognized him as Undented Shield – looked at her worriedly. “Are you certain, Princess? It is dangerous.” “I am quite certain. However dangerous it is, it is not more dangerous than the two of us.” “We do not know, sister. Art thou certain? Remember, it incapicated one of thy guards with but a touch.” She nodded. “I'm certain, Luna. If it even makes a move towards us, we have magic, telekinesis. And besides, it would not do to scare her anymore than is neccesary.” “Suit thyself. Guards, thou art dismissed.” With bows, the five Royal Guards left, leaving the two alicorns with the creature. Now that she could look more carefully, Celestia was taken aback. “Luna,” she began. “I believe I've seen this type of being before.” “Oh? Do tell.” “Understand, they're just ancient mythology, from before even Discord. But it does look surprisingly... human.” Luna barked a laugh. “Human? Do not be foalish, Tia. They were bedtime stories for fillies when we were fillies. Myths, legends!” “Yet tell me she does not look like one?” Luna had no response. “Of course, we shouldn't jump to conclusions. It may merely resemble a human; after all, it could be said changelings resemble ponies.” “In which case, we should not be talking as though it is not present.” Luna fixed the creature – human? - a look. “Unidentified being, thou hast intruded upon Canterlot Castle grounds and assaulted two members of our sister's Guard. Speak for thyself and defend thyself upon these charges, lest we imprison thee in the Royal Dungeons!” She didn't move. Celestia brushed Luna with a wing. “Perhaps I should attempt the diplomacy, sister?” She had to be careful. As an unknown race, any of its customs that it found natural could be outright repulsive to her. She didn't want to accidentally offend her; she'd be treading on eggshells. The Night Goddess rolled her eyes. “Thou never did appreciate the benefits of intimidation. Very well, attempt thy 'diplomacy'.” Celestia stepped forward, and bowed her head once to the creature. “I apologize for my sister's less than hospitable introduction.” “Hmph!” “I understand you have assaulted two of my guards, however I also understand this was more likely than not a result of miscommunication on our part. Please, I would simply like to negotiate with you.” No response. Celestia narrowed her eyes. Slow Yield wasn't lying when he said unresponsive. “I would appreciate it if you did not ignore me, and returned the same courtosy I am extending you. We can make no progress without conversation, so it would be appreciable if you were to talk. Please. You are not in trouble; as diarch of Equestria I assure you of that. But just speak with me.” The human didn't respond. She kept her head bowed and hands locked. Celestia strained her ears, but couldn't even hear her breathing. An ember of anger flared inside her chest. Why wouldn't this being speak to her? Was it catatonic? Brain dead? Simply terrified of her? As horrible as it was, she disliked the thought of the last one most. So many of her little ponies were already afraid of her, add to that the person who would, all things considered, be the ambassador for her race... “Why do you not respond? I only want to help you.” Nothing. Luna, already tired and wanting to go to sleep, exploded. “How dare thou ignore our sister in such a manner? After thou hast intruded upon our castle, assaulted our subjects and ignored all methods of their interrogation, thou now refuses to acknowledge our sister's benevolent requests for parlay? What hast thou to say for thyself, for so brashley ignoring those who wish to perhaps aid thee?” After a few moments, Celestia gathered her wits and forced her ears to stop ringing. “Thank you, Luna, but I'm afraid you may have just - “ The creature stirred. She lifted her head, and Celestia got a good glimpse. It had strange rounded ears on the sides of its head, and a thin mouth with the nostrils located on a seperate, beakish protusion. Its eyes were very small, with faded green irises that bespoke of curiosity, and promised slaughter. She had bloodstains on her face; a large one to the left of her left eye that reached her ears, and another to the right of her lips. The human's eyes locked with Celestia's. “Aid me?” she asked in a low voice. Her Equestrian was accented; it was clipped and short, the sounds ending sharper than they should've. But however quiet she was, Celestia knew she could easily overshadow all other noise, because her voice echoed and rasped with a thousand similar yet different voices, long after her lips stopped moving. Celestia grimaced. That voice was nothing if not haunting, but she'd be a foal to judge somepony based on their voice. “Yes, aid you, if needed. I believe introductions are in order. I am Princess Celestia, Bringer of the Day and diarch of Equestria. This is my sister, Princess Luna, Bringer of the Night and also diarch of Equestria. May we know your name?” She blinked. “Name. Name.” She closed her eyes. “Name name name.” Opened them again. “Elizabeth Greene.” Celestia wondered what the meaning behind that name was. If there even was any. Luna shared an unnerved glance with Celestia. She's crazy, Luna mouthed, before speaking to the being. “Um, indeed. Greetings, Elizabeth Greene. Thou must understand, we have never seen thy kind in the flesh before. Thou resemble the humans, in stories of old. Is that what thou art?” Elizabeth Greene narrowed her eyes. In a flash, she was on her feet, hissing, five strange fingers on each hand clenching. She was quite tall, almost as tall as Celestia herself. “Humans. Humans, they call themselves.” “Are you saying you aren't a human?” Celestia asked. Elizabeth's behavior was strange. Unstable. Every move she made unnerved her heavily. And it took a lot to unnerve Celestia. “Was a human. Was a Similar. Not anymore, better than the Similars.” She growled. “Hate them. Hate them for what they did.” She locked eyes with the Royal Sisters, and smiled. “You're different,” she rasped. “Kinder. Not like the Similars. Not going to imprison me, break and cut and burn burn burn my children.” Celestia's heart dropped like a stone. Elizabeth Greene had been a human once, but she wasn't anymore. And whatever she was now, she'd been punished for it. She was a mother, and she'd lost her children. She felt there was some part of the story missing, but to that, she could relate... “I am deeply sorry for your loss, Elizabeth. However, your presence in my kingdom does present several... challenges. For starters, where are the humans? We've mapped the entire world, and nowhere are there any hints of humanity outside of ancient fairy tails.” Greene frowned. “Entire world. Entire world, no Similars. Saw Similars, saw so many many many. Listened to them. Maybe... different world? Yes. Different world.” She smiled, bringing her hands below her chin and gleefully interlacing the fingers. “Can't chase me. Can't reach.” Luna cocked her head. “We admit, we have been curious over the possibility of different worlds with life upon them. It seems humans come from another planet entirely. Of course, that then raises the question as to how their myth got to our world.” She shook her head. “However, there art other priorities. Thou hast assaulted two of the Royal Guard. What hast thou to say for thyself?” She blinked. “They spoke. I didn't understand. I Wanted your language, so I took it. The other struck me.” Her gaze hardened, hands returning to clench at her sides. “His nerve.” Celestia's gaze hardened. Took it? “What do you mean by taking our language?” “Memory transfer. Did it...” Her gaze fell. “Did it on my son. Showed him some of my story, but it hurt him oh I'm so sorry my poor poor son I'm sorry...” Celestia and Luna shared a pained look. They'd both seen this sort of behavior before, even if it was on such an alien creature. Severe emotional trauma. Post traumatic stress disorder. Poor dear. Elizabeth Greene's head snapped up. “Reverse process, guard weaker than my son. Much more painful. To us both.” She rubbed her forehead with her left hand. “Unexpected.” Luna cocked a brow. “We see. Well, Tia, it appears as though Elizabeth Greene is not a grave threat. Powerful, certainly, to do such things, but so long as she remains docile -” She shot the 'human' a glare. “- she's little threat. We shall take our leave.” Luna stifled a yawn. “We shall see thee at dusk, Tia.” Celestia smiled warmly and nuzzled her sister. “Good day, Lulu.” They pulled apart, and with a crack of blue and black, Princess Luna vanished. Elizabeth Greene leaped up and back, latching onto the bookshelves and hissing. She grasped the frames so hard the wood splintered and cracked, and the books tore. Celestia's eyes widened, not just at her reaction, but at how absurdley high Greene had jumped. “Is there something wrong, Elizabeth?” “Gone,” she hissed. Suddenly, Celestia understood. The myths had said that humans were unable to use magic, and if Elizabeth had been one, come from a world filled with them, who was to say she had ever seen magic at all? But, then how had she done a memory transfer? Such was very powerful magic. Few ponies beyond her, Luna, and Twilight could perform them. “Do not worry, Elizabeth Greene. We ponies are magical creatures. Of them, my sister and I are the rare subreed known as 'alicorns'." She flared her wings to show a point. “Unicorns and alicorns are both able to channel focused magic. What my sister performed was a simple teleportation cantrip.” She cracked a smile. “You may come down now. There's no telling how much more abuse that bookshelf can take.” Greene hesitated, and instead of climbing down like Celestia had expected, she jumped. Before she could move to catch her with telekinesis, she hit the ground with a thud, and stood as if nothing had happened. “Magic?” she rasped and echoed. Celestia nodded. “Yes, magic.” She lit her horn and pulled a dozen books from their shelves. She made them orbit her in her golden grip for a few moments before returning them to their shelves. “As you are clearly new to our world, I should outline the basics of our world for you. However, that may come later.” She gave Elizabeth her warmest smile, the very one that stopped conflict in its tracks, that had ended wars. Greene's tense posture softened. “I was just on my way to breakfast when I was alerted to your arrival. Would you care to join me?” She could deal with the fallout dealt by assaulting the Guard later. At the moment, there was a potential interplanetary catastrophe in the making, and she was going to stop it. “Breakfast? Join?” she asked uncertainly. Celestia raised a hoof to her chest. “Of course. You are the first of your kind here, and regardless of our... initially unpleasant circumstances, that makes you, by default, ambassador to your race, and our guest.” Greene closed her eyes. “Guest. Guest.” She opened her eyes again, the faintest hint of a smile tugging at her lips. “I think... I think I like that. Breakfast. Food?” She placed a hand to her stomach. “Weak.” “Right this way, please,” Celestia said, motioning with a wing. She turned around, waited for Elizabeth to come next to her, and began trotting towards her and Luna's private breakfast hall. The guards posted at the entrance to the library saluted to her as she passed. Her presence next to Elizabeth spoke volumes. She's all right. She worried about Vanguard and Unbreakable Shield's health, but the Royal Guard was nothing if not ressilient. Still... “Your memory transfer. How permanent is the damage?” she asked as they trotted and walked through a hall. Now that Elizabeth didn't have her back to a wall, Celestia could see a series of tubes down her spine, seemingly designed to have something stuck into them. She was warm, too, radiating a terrible amount of body heat that made even the Princess of the Sun uncomfortable. “Don't know. Second time done.” Celestia frowned. That was unfortunate. Still, they were headed towards breakfast, so it would do well to get this out of the way. Perhaps leave such talk for later. “I do have to ask you, Elizabeth. We are heading to breakfast, and I do not know what your kind eats. We ponies are strictly herbivores, but...” “Flesh,” Elizabeth said hastily. “Similars eat all. I need flesh.” Celestia nodded, more than a little unnerved. It wasn't like she'd never entertained carnivores at her court; griffons were strictly meat eaters, and minotaurs liked a mixed diet. But alicorn she may be, goddess she may be, she was still a pony at heart, and that instinct did not like being with a predator. She and Elizabeth entered her and her sister's private breakfast quarters. An alien being that resembled the humans of ancient myth. Traumatized, predatory, assaulted two guards, and a carnivore to boot. One of those days indeed.