The rest of the day after kicking Blueblood in the face truly was an amazing one. Twilight and I had essentially made small talk for the rest of the afternoon after stretching our wings, and then we met up with Luna and Celestia for dinner. Sadly, Blueblood was also there that evening, it turns out that for some odd reason Celestia calls him nephew. Something about Cadance being his big sister or something, and her being an alicorn. I really didn't quite understand her logic, but hey, it's her choice.
I did have to sit through the snob glaring at me, but I had plenty of fun pretending to be oblivious about it. He was sporting a rather large purple splotch on his chin, and I did my best to keep from breaking down into laughter anytime it came into my view. Sadly, Celestia felt the need to bring it up near the end of dinner.
"Now, Aurora..." she began, a serious expression painted on her face as she turned to address me with a tone that basically said that you'd failed them in some manner, "I heard that earlier today you became acquainted with my nephew, Blueblood?"
He looked at me with a triumphant smile on his face, as if he'd already won. Not if I had anything to say about it. "Yeah, sadly. Twilight and I had just finished up flight practice, and we ran into the sleazeball on the way back in. Was pretty disgusting, to be honest, the way he was hitting on me. Seemed to have very little respect for Twilight, too." I inwardly chuckled as I imagined steam pouring from his ears as we both awaited her reply.
Celestia hummed a bit, as if weighing options within her mind. "...I see. While not the best introduction, I suppose that I can understand why that would annoy you. However," she began, causing me to sigh, "that doesn't excuse your actions. While brute force may have been an appropriate response to problems in the past for you, it can't be what you fall back on the moment your first words are ignored." She fixed her sights on me, a single brow raised as if she was hoping I'd contest her word. Kinda funny, really, but there really wasn't a point in doing so. Celestia had raised a valid issue, I couldn't very well make myself a name as the pony who kicked anyone in the face I had an issue with. Even if it was tempting.
I let out a sigh, dragging it out as long as I could manage while keeping my gaze focused between Blueblood and Celestia. "You're right, I suppose I shouldn't go around kicking my problems." For some reason, he had another somewhat triumphant grin on his face, as if he had something planned. "However, it felt good to punt him. I'm sure he deserved it a few times over, too."
Luna snickered, causing a look of dismay to cross his face while Celestia remained focused on me. "Thank you, Aurora. I know it may be tempting, but with what you are, everything you do can and will come under scrutiny at some point. I'd rather not have you be known as prone to violence over mostly harmless actions. I believe you understand my concerns, they're more for your sake than anything else." I nodded my head as I picked at the last bit of salad on my plate.
I nearly froze as words entered my mind, my eyes moving to Celestia who was calmly sipping from her cup of tea. "Besides, physical options only bring a small, temporary amount of satisfaction with them, Aurora." I nearly choked as she looked at me with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "It's much better to take a longer lasting solution to your problems. Watch and learn."
"Aunt Celestia, thank you. Now, as for matters of how Aurora can pay me back for this grave insult and marring of my beauty, I have a few ideas..." Blueblood began, a smug look on his face as a look came into his eyes that truthfully left me somewhat unsettled. It was the carnivore's glint again, and I didn't like it directed towards me.
"Now, nephew. How many times must we have this talk?" Celestia began, forcing his focus from me to her, the look from moments ago completely disappearing from face. She sighed, resting her head upon a hoof. "Guests of the castle are not there for you to proposition and hit on. How many times must I remind you of that? Besides, excessive use of that little blue spell will leave you small and shriveled, remember? I thought your father thoroughly warned you about its side effects..."
I barely suppressed my laughter as Celestia tore into his pride as if it were nothing. Exposing his performance issues in front of me was definitely something that would be a massive blow to his pride and ego. Would it be enough for him to quit hitting on me? From what I'd learned from talking to Twilight, probably not, as even she was still bugged by him on occasion. Still, it was amazing just how quickly that already white fur paled even further as he sat there in shock. However, it seems that Celestia wasn't even done yet, and I just sat back in my chair and enjoyed the show that she put on for us.
"Now, I suppose I should talk to the Duke again. It's such a shame that you cannot keep certain remarks to yourself, I suppose he might finally go ahead with his contingency plan for you." He looked at her in confusion, so she added further clarification. "Oh, you're unaware of it? I promised your father that there would always be a spot within the Royal Guard for you should he deem it needed. I hear that Trottingham has the most lovely winters... seeing how they last from September to April. There's such beautiful snow everywhere, it truly accentuates the older look of the city and lends to its rustic feel. I could always convince him to go ahead with that plan."
At this point, Blueblood looked deathly pale, which was a pretty amazing feat considering how white his fur already was. He looked at his aunt in shock, and when she asked if he would like that, he mutely shook his head. It seemed that she was done making her point, and it also had the nice effect of effectively shutting him up for the rest of the meal.
The next week was heavily filled with repetition. Wake up early to Twilight's insistent prodding for an early breakfast and my daily pot of coffee. From there, we met the sunrise with stretching, following with more exercises and gliding and flight. We almost always started with some form of wing-ups or something focused solely on the wings before she even considered going up into the sky. At the end of practice, we would stretch again and then go and have lunch. Sometimes, Luna or Celestia would join us, and then right after it was down to the crazy chamber for more magic practice. I was performing the series of mental exercises at a higher level, but still nowhere near what Twilight was hoping. When it came to the application of levitation, I slowly improved. I crushed the sphere less frequently, completely stopped zapping Twilight, and was lifting the ball much more consistently. Once we finished there, we would go to my room and study up on Equestria and various things that'd help me out on a day to day basis.
A lot of what I learned was definitely interesting, to say the least. Equestria was a female dominated society, what with the skewing of the gender ratios, but males still held a lot of power. It was simply the luck of the draw that dictated all but one alicorn in the country was female. The economy was extremely stable, due to the high abundance of natural resources, primarily gems and gold. This led to them lacking a lot of the issues Earth had to deal with, the largest one being the lack of resources backing the currency of a country. Hell, their coins, called bits and of various denominations, were made mostly out of gold with a few trace metals mixed in to keep them firm.
One thing that I was concerned about though were the nobles. According to Twilight, they were all involved in a constant power struggle that was passed down from generation to generation. Because of this somewhat petty squabbling, I would be seen as a prime target to them. It was already obvious to me and Twilight that our arrangement with Luna was only going to be temporary, even after just a week. While it was nice spending time with them, what they shared with each other made me loathe to commit to anything beyond a friends with benefits relationship. Therefore, the moment we decided to officially end it, they would be swarming me with false charm and petty gifts, all in an attempt to claim me as a trump card.
I say trump card because, after asking Luna about it, all alicorns are indeed princesses, even if they don't have an area that they are presiding over. Even Dream, who truly was an odd case, was considered a princess under their laws, even if Celestia wasn't a fan of her. That was another thing that I was going to have to resign myself to it seemed, even if I wanted no part of it. Celestia kept reassuring me that it would be some time until they asked me to take up whatever role I would end up performing, but it didn't do anything for my nerves at all.
Luckily, I got a break after that week of training with Twilight. For once, the sun's light rose before me, and I woke up instead to a small weight jumping up and down on my back. I groaned, slowly opening my eyes and yawning loudly as the weight continued to land on my back every few seconds. "Come on, human. Wake up, wake up!"
I blinked the last bit of crud out of my eyes and craned my neck around to look at the speaker. Dream was busy using my back as a trampoline apparently, a small look of glee in her face. I was very much reminded of myself as a child, when on Christmas morning I'd go and jump on my parents' bed very early so that we could open presents.
"Whas goin on?" I blearily asked her, my head slowly moving up and down to follow her movements. She stopped and rested on my back, looking deep into my eyes. Now, her turquoise orbs combined with the draconic pupils should be enough to keep her from ever being cute. However, with her being the size of a filly, and the way she turned her head just so, I was left completely defenseless to her charm.
"Luna said Twilight was giving you a day off, and I wanted to spend it with you!” she gleefully said, a smile on her muzzle. I found myself extremely confused, as this was the same pony who had previously told me that trying to kill Celestia and conquer Equestria was something that she was prevented from doing again. I found it hard to equate that remark made casually to me to the little filly resting on my back.
“...Too early. Lemme sleep in, I’ve been up before the sun every day because of Twilight…” I muttered, still looking at her as my eyelids slowly began to close again. Before they fully shut, she began to pout, resuming her jumping once more.
“Nuh-uh, Luna and Twilight are busy today, and told me that I could spend time with you! So c’mon already, ‘Rory; get up you lazy alicorn!” I groaned, slowly getting up as Dream latched onto my back and ambled out of bed. Glancing over at the clock, I noticed that I’d managed to squeeze a few precious hours more than what Twilight had allowed me, although I still felt exhausted for some reason. Knowing my luck, it was simply because I slept too much.
Dream giggled as I stretched, mimicking a cat as my forehooves reached out as far in front of me as I could get them without toppling over. My wings also joined in, splaying outwards half spread, as if to glide on nonexistent air currents. I let out a massive yawn as Dream laughed, sliding down my head and landing on the floor in front of me with a quick flutter of her wings.
As I finished my stretch, I thought back to a few details Luna had keyed me into about her Nightmare Moon incident. The how really wasn’t all that important, she claimed that she had become jealous of her sister and felt neglected, and had literally given birth to something within her. Or so she claimed, it really just sounded like she had locked her emotions within herself under lock and key until one day everything just gave. Either way, she became an alter ego that went by the name Nightmare Moon who attempted to kill Celestia, make it eternal night, and basically make everyone’s life hell in some way or form.
Celestia had stopped her temper tantrum before she could do anything else besides completely fuck up a forest, which still sounded like a lot to me, but it ended with Luna spending one thousand years on her moon. Talk about severe grounding, ouch. When she returned, Twilight and her friends that I had met cured her with the magic rainbow. After I had stopped rolling around the floor in laughter some minutes later, Luna went on to explain that the darker part of herself had essentially split off from her psyche and formed into its own entity.
This is where Dream comes in apparently. She is the entity given form, and is essentially Luna’s daughter. Celestia wanted to remove all existence of her immediately, thinking that with her around only trouble could come about, however Luna had convinced her otherwise. Apparently the sight of a small filly bawling her eyes out does wonders when gauged on the cuteness meter. So, although highly intelligent and frequently a bit blase about some rather questionable things, Dream was for all intent and purposes, a filly of no more than a few years of age. Even if she did have some thousand plus years of memories. Disconcerting, right?
I let my mind come back to the present to the sight of said filly fixing her gaze on me with a mischievous grin. I quickly brought my forehooves back underneath me and focused solely on her. “So…” I began hesitantly, dropping my head a bit to bring my eyes level to hers, “breakfast?”
She widely smiled before scrambling to wrap her hooves around my neck. I grinned as an idea came to mind, and once her hooves were around my neck, I slowly began to raise my head, stopping just before I would’ve brought her airborne. I felt her hooves tighten around my neck and continued moving higher, causing her rear hooves to dangle off the ground as I lifted her up. Her wings fluttered on occasion, and she whooped as I turned my neck into a crane, moving to deposit her on my back.
Dream let go once her dangling hooves were firmly on my back, a large smile plastered on her face. “Onward, minion! To breakfast!” And the moment was shattered. I just let out a small laugh and glanced at the mirror for a moment, making certain that I was at least somewhat presentable before I went out. I had found that with how long my mane and tail were, keeping them from looking a mess could be a very time consuming process. Fortunately I lucked out and headed out the door, very carefully closing it behind me.
Another amusing thing to note was the various reactions the guards gave as you passed by. I’ll say that whoever Twilight’s brother was, he had done a damn good job training his troops, even if some weird army of bug-ponies had almost taken over the city on their watch. Twilight has been involved in some crazy shit. Anyways, as we would pass by, the only thing that would show would be their expressions. A few smiled at the sight of the filly Dream riding shotgun on my back as I meandered to breakfast, while some showed dismay, anger, disgust, etc. She apparently wasn’t a very loved filly, although most of them had reasons that didn’t involve Nightmare Moon. One word. Pranks.
As I made my way to the dining room, I decided that some ground rules needed to be made, if only for my own sanity. Otherwise, who knew what sort of craziness might happen with her. I turned my head just enough to where I could see her perched on my back and the hall in front of me before speaking. "Dream." She turned those turquoise weapons at me, and my heart just about exploded. "I don't really know how Luna and Twilight do it, but I need to set some ground rules with you, okay?"
She immediately began pouting, sticking out her bottom lip in an impressive display. "B-but, 'Rory, I don't want to!" Dream did a near one-eighty turn with her next remark, giving me a good reminder of why I needed to set some rules. "Knowing you, human, it's going to be some boring stuff, like not plotting against Celestia or something equally fun-killing." she stated in a flat, unamused tone as she stared at me.
I stopped walking for a moment so that I could fully turn around and meet her gaze. "Yup! You better believe it, Dream. It's not really a bad thing either, keeping you from making plots against your aunt." Dream let out a sickening sound at the word aunt, and I inwardly laughed as I found one of her sore spots. "You know it's basically true, even if she really can't stand you yet. Luna told me that you're basically her kid, so that makes Celestia your aunt. And a good niece listens to her aunt... and her friends. Got it?"
My no-nonsense tone seemed to have worked, as she just mutely nodded her head. I gave her a big smile in return and carefully nuzzled her, letting out a small chuckle at her downtrodden expression. "We can still have fun, just not so much at the expense of everyone else today, okay? I'll leave that for you and Luna."
We came to the dining room only a few minutes later, and only Celestia was present. She gave the warmest smile I'd seen from her yet, at least until Dream's head peeked over mine and she waved a hoof at her. "Aurora, why did you bring... her here?" she calmly asked, although I could see the smallest tightening around the edges of her mouth.
Dream stuck her tongue out at Celestia and blew a raspberry at her as she continued waving her hoof. "Miss 'Rory says I've got to be nice to my 'Aunt Celestia!'" My groan turned into laughter as I watched Celestia's face freeze in shock, her composure blown to the wind. Dream carefully perched her front hooves on my head, one of them wrapped around my horn as I walked to a seat near Celestia.
"What? I just pointed out that if Luna saw her as a daughter, then that made you her aunt, Celestia. It shouldn't be such a shock to you, I mean you call Blueblood nephew, if you can call that cretin family I don't see why you can't call Dream the same." She closed her jaw and sighed, fixing a level gaze at us both. As I took my seat, Dream hopped off my back onto Celestia's, her little wings fluttering rather cutely as she sailed the gap between us.
She wrapped her hooves around Celestia's neck and whispered into her ear. I didn't quite catch what was said, but whatever it was caused her to sigh and relax, her head subtly shaking. "I suppose so, Dream. I will say this though. Finding poison joke in my food, hair products, comb, bedsheets..." my jaw dropped as Celestia ticked off another dozen or so items and places, and I watched as Dream did her best to keep from snickering, "...and my regalia is not a way to endear yourself to me. Please understand that everytime I see you, it brings back some painful memories. I do promise to do my best to better... tolerate your presence around the castle though."
Dream giggled and wrapped her hooves tighter around Celestia, and I quietly laughed at the awkward display of affection Celestia attempted to return back. My focus shifted to the food in front of me, and after getting coffee first I began to pile a few pancakes onto my plate.
"If I can't prank you or your guards, then who should I prank?" I heard Dream ask as I carefully topped my mountain with syrup. I couldn't help but smack my lips at the sight of the pancakes piled high with apple syrup just dripping down the sides and smothering the top. It was a piece of nirvana.
I noticed from the corner of my eye that Celestia had a glint in her eyes, and something told me that whatever she was thinking, it was going to cause someone a world of pain. So long as it wasn’t me though, I was content to just sit back and listen as she began to play Dream like a fiddle.
“Well, have you heard about the altercation between my nephew, Blueblood, and Aurora yet, Dream?” she quietly asked, and I just chuckled as she caught Dream with hook, line and sinker. I listened as Celestia rambled on about the harassment Blueblood had been giving me, as even after the kick and total embarrassment that Celestia had given him, he was right back to hitting on me just two days later. I’m not certain if he was brain damaged, thought he had a chance, or god knows what, but he just wouldn’t stop. I’d already turned ignoring him into an artform, but even then he was a pest.
“Blueblood did what?” Dream asked furiously, her cute face literally steaming as I glanced up from my pancakes. The sight of the little filly completely furious as downright hilarious, and Celestia and Dream both went quiet as my laughter broke up their talk. She must be getting to the good stuff now, and I almost feared for Blueblood’s safety. Almost, but not quite enough to derail the minor apocalypse I knew Dream was scheming.
I slid a plate over with my hoof to Dream, who had completely ignored food in favor of listening to Celestia. My heart almost exploded at the sight of her eyes going wide with glee, and then tearing into the muffin while still managing to catch every word said. I quietly observed the rest of the breakfast, and I already knew what we would be doing afterwards, given how much dirt Celestia was giving on Blueblood.
Dream bounced across the table, landing on my back as Celestia stood up, setting her empty cup on the table. She just smiled at me and turned to Dream, a wry grin on her face. “Now, I have one thing you have to keep in mind… I’d like my castle to stay in one piece, okay? Beyond that, let your imagination run wild.” Celestia turned and walked out the door, and I craned my head back to look at the massive smile on Dream’s face… Oh boy.
”I think I could get to like her, so long as the poison joke and pranks stop. I think we’ve come to an accord though.” I heard her snicker in my head for a moment, before she continued talking to me. ”I’m sorry, Aurora… but I couldn’t pass up the chance… Have fun!” Even now, she still amazes me.
I grinned back to Dream as she noticed me looking at her. “So, tell me… what do you have in mind?”
We had to explain ourselves to a guard or two in the wing that Blueblood stayed in, but after a brief from Dream, they too had massive grins plastered on their faces. It seemed like Blueblood was still stuck in his spoiled teenager stage, even though he was a young adult. Pretty much, he reminded me of a large portion of the youth on Earth. Who knows, maybe something would shock him enough into growing up. In the meantime, he was fair game.
I followed Dream into his bathroom first, and we both began snickering uncontrollably. Narcissist summed him up very well, given the various self-portraits of himself hanging in the bathroom in various poses that I only assumed were considered to be ‘stallion-y’ to ponies. It was beyond hilarious, and it took the two of us more than a few minutes to recover. Dream bounced over to the shower itself, revealing numerous mane care products and other things that I had no idea as to what purpose they served.
While Dream was busy uncorking three bottles at the same time, I took a look at some of the labels. Honestly, I was of the mindset that having only fur and hair would simplify cleaning, even if Twilight believed otherwise. I mean, shampoo should be it, right? As I read through the labels though, it was readily obvious that not everyone shared my simplistic outlook. Products for horn care, hoof care, mane, tail, coat, etc.; if there was a body part, he had two to three products for it.
“And done!” Dream said, placing the three bottles down within her magic. I simply raised a brow, and she began to clue me in. “Well, the first one I messed with was his mane stuff. When he uses it, an hour later his mane will turn a sickly green color and move on its own.” she paused long enough to fly onto my back. “His horn junk, instead of adding a shine it’s going to dull it, turning it grey. Luna really comes up with some awesome spells, doesn’t she?”
I chuckled alongside Dream, looking curiously towards the final, and largest, container of the three. “And what about the last one there? What makes it special?” I whistled before she even began talking, the look on her face saying it all. This was the worst of them.
“Well, you know how Auntie Tia,” I forced myself to keep from clutching my chest from the cuteness of it, while also thinking how the hell she had turned a one-eighty so damn fast. I mean, I’m good with kids, but not that good. “Well, it’s poison joke in his coat shampoo. I have no clue what it’s going to do, but it should be good!”
I just chuckled as I walked back into the main room, looking around at the vanity that bled into the air from, well, everything in the room. Dream directed me to the bed, and as soon as it was close enough she launched from my back, landing on the edge. I let my mind drift as she went to work turning his room into a prank-filled death trap, as it seemed like she had plenty of ideas without my input.
As I watched her, a smile crept its way onto my face. Luna and I had talked extensively about how she was a bit… complex was the simplest word to use. Having the memories of her mother, and basically being born from Luna’s hatred, malice, and basically all of her negative emotions was definitely not an easy start for her. Especially since she’d been kept isolated simply due to who she was. A thousand year mind in a ten year old filly… it really warmed my heart to see her act her physical age, something which she probably couldn’t do very frequently. Hopefully she’d have more opportunities in the near future, though.
“Okay, all done now. Ready to leave, ‘Rory?” Dream’s question brought me out from my thinking, and I nodded my head and laid down long enough for her to scramble onto my back. Back home I really loved kids, and Dream was doing her best job to remind me exactly why. As we left, the guards simply raised a brow at her and received a big smirk in return. This would probably go a fair way into warming them up towards her, at least those least affected by her antics.
I paused in the hall, quickly pulling up in my mind what I’d memorized so far. A place came to mind, and I began to weave through the halls towards the spot, Dream more than happy to make herself comfortable on my back. It only took a few minutes to arrive at the open courtyard, a nice out of the place area very rarely frequented by anyone.
I motioned for Dream to hop off my back and onto the bench I stopped next to. “Hey, Dream. Guess what?” She looked at me in confusion, tilting her head ever so slightly. I slowly reached up with a hoof, a smile coming to my face. I gently bopped her on the nose and took off, yelling over my shoulder. “Tag!”
The next hour was spent reliving some of the more enjoyable aspects of my childhood. Even adults are allowed to act like kids on occasion, after all. While I was certainly much larger than Dream, my inexperience was still enough to make us equal. We ran and flew around the large, grassy area without a care in the world.
I slumped to the ground, laying down on my side as Dream filled my vision. She bopped me on the nose with a giggle. “I win!” she breathlessly exclaimed as she walked out of view. I raised my head enough to follow her as she nestled herself into my barrel, getting comfortable before letting out a massive yawn. I chuckled slightly and rested my head on my forehooves, putting Dream right in the center of my sight.
Drowsiness began to creep into me as well, and I mirrored her yawn with one of my own. She looked at me and giggled, reaching out and bopping my nose again. “Thanks a lot, Aurora…” she whispered as she began to cry.
I carefully lowered my head, kissing her under her horn. “Anytime. I’m guessing you don’t get to do this much, do you?” She quickly nodded her head, and I nuzzled her, letting my contact with her linger. “Consider me your big sibling, I guess?”
She pushed herself against me in response, and a warmth filled my heart as I smiled, feeling extremely content. Although a lot of stuff had changed, at least I had found another reason to keep looking at the brighter side of things. Her breathing slowly steadied, and her body stilled as she fell asleep, nested next to me. I let my consciousness drift, my exhaustion helping me slip into a nap of my own as I gently wrapped my forehooves around Dream.