Groaning, Frederick sits up and brushed the sleep out of his eyes and yawned. "I see we're back here..." He muttered, turning towards Luna who was sitting in a leather high-back with her legs crossed. As was the usual, she had changed into her human form and wore her petite blue dress.
"Indeed," Luna replied, "the garden is... relaxing, don't you think?"
"I'd have to agree... though, something tells me you'd enjoy it more if I showed you something." Frederick stood up and brushed himself off from laying on the stone bench that he usually wakes up on.
Luna looked around at the flora before nodding. "As you wish. But if it's your bedroom..." she says with a sly smile.
"Can't you think of anything else?" Frederick laughed. "Have you even met anyone special?"
Luna blushed and waved a hand, "Don't you worry about me, I have plans."
Frederick nodded and closed his eyes, thinking of a place that he could show Luna. He flicked through his memories before he smiled and projected it outward.
The scenery changed around them, slowly fading out and materializing into a bustling town center.
"Where are we?" Luna asked, spinning around and taking in the site of so many human in one area. "It's amazing."
"This is Shregrove, the place we first met. This is the main road that runs from there," Frederick pointed to a large cathedral shaped building at the top of a steep hill, then turned and pointed towards the other end of thr road that led to the main gate of the city, "to there."
Staring at the cathedral, Luna asked, "What building is that?"
"That," Frederick started as he moved closer to Luna, "is the Academy for Rune Research and Augmentation."
"I see... did you study there?"
Frederick burst out laughing, "T-there, oh hell no. I could never afford to go there."
Luna stared at the building for a few seconds longer, before she turned her attention to the people around her. "Such detail," She mumbled, then looked to Frederick. "It's been a very long time since I have seen someone with such detailed dreams."
"What about yours?" Frederick asked, raising an eyebrow.
Luna rolled her eyes and chuckled, "I don't count, I am the princess of the night. It goes without saying that mine are the best."
"Modest as ever, I see."
Grinning, Luna bowed. Rising back up, she walked up to one of the nearby women and poked her, freezing her instantly. Luna took a closer look at her clothes and changed her own to match.
Instantly, she was wearing a long-sleeved cream colored shirt with a pale yellow cardigan and a brown ankle length skirt.
Twirling, Luna looked to Frederick and asked, "How do I look?"
"Like a real New Haven resident," He replied, walking over and picking up an apple from one of the vendors. "You know, I used to walk this road almost everyday..."
"I can tell," Luna said, looking around at all the shops and vendors. "How long did you live here?"
"Only for a couple of years. We moved from High Prez due to some reason my mother had; I can't remember." Frederick took a bite out of the apple and smiled, he always did like the ones from this cart. "My sister stayed behind as she got a pretty good job in the castle. I saw her a couple times a year, but it never seemed like enough, you know."
Luna nodded, knowing exactly what he meant. She walked over and gently took his arm and pulled him along, slowly walking down the road towards the gate.
"As time went on, we... I don't know, grew apart, I guess. Long distance will do that to anyone. She didn't have enough time off and I was busy with experiments." Frederick sighed and glanced to Luna, who had rested her head on his shoulder, listening intently to him. He chuckled despite his mood and said, "Sorry, I get carried away talking about family."
Luna raised her head and looked him in the eyes, "It's okay, really. I don't really get a chance to listen to others. They usually want to hear some kind of wisdom or answer." Luna rested her head on his shoulder again and tightened her grip on his arm, "I'm glad I met you, Frederick."
"As am I, Luna."
The pair continued walking until the road opened up into a large park. The cobbled road roughened up and soon they were walking on grass.
"Where are we now?" Luna asked. She made her shoes vanish and enjoyed the feeling of cool grass in between her toes.
"This is the park where I uses to spend my time with Angela." Frederick lead her over to a wooden bench off to one side and sat down with Luna next to him. He pointed over to a small pair of children playing in the middle of the park, "That's the two of us. We were maybe about... eight or nine there."
Luna smile grew as she took in the image of a younger Frederick. She grinned and turned to him, "Your soo cute!" Reaching up, Luna pinched his cheek, much to Frederick's displeasure.
Frederick swatted her hand away and slid across the bench, his cheeks red with embarrassment.
Luna grinned, "Some pony's embarrassed!"
"I am not," Frederick quickly replied.
Luna slid across and leaned in. She got closer and closer, their faced almost touching. After a few seconds, she smiled and said, "Okay!"
Jumping back, Luna twirled around and sighed as the grass made its way through her toes. "I like this, but I'm going to change back. If that's okay with you?"
Frederick crossed his arms, "Sure."
Luna rolled her eyes and in a flash had changed back into an alicorn. She trotted in place and flared her wings, rolling them in their sockets as she let out a relaxed sigh. "Much better..." she said, scrunching her hooves into the ground. "It may not be real, but my hooves don't know that."
Frederick's curiosity was peaked. He leaned forward, rested his arms on his knees and asked, "Why are you doing that?"
"Hmm?" Luna asked, opening an eye. "Oh, this?" She opened both eyes and smiled, "Alicorns are made up of all three races of ponies. This means we have a special connection to the earth as well as the sky, or magic.
While it's not as obvious as a unicorn's spell, most earth ponies have an inherent understanding of the earth and enjoy being in touch with the ground."
Frederick leaned back and raised an eyebrow, "Okay, so its relaxing."
Luna nodded, "In a manner of speaking, yes."
Frederick looked around before asking, "Is there anything else you wanted to know?"
"Hmm...," Luna pondered. She walked over and laid in front of Frederick, "What did you want to show everyone?"
"I don't know... It would spoil the surprise..."
"Ooh please," Luna pouted.
Frederick sighed then reached behind himself and brought out the book he had found. "I found this in the library, the other day."
"A book?" Luna said, frowning. "It's a library, there's hundreds..."
Frederick opened the book to the page with the Black Bolt spell and pointed to it, "This is a human spell, in a human book, in the library."
Luna blinked then realization hit her, "Oh..."
"Indeed." Frederick threw the book behind him and crossed his arms, "The best explanation I can think of is that it was thrown through when other experiments went on, regarding time travel or something..."
"That would suggest that our two world's were connected and it wasn't a miracle that you arrived here."
"Yeah."
"Others could come through..." Horror made to way onto Luna's face and she stood up, "You said other human's hate magic... they could hurt my ponies!"
"Whoa, easy. This is just a guess. This could all be some strange accident as well."
Luna thought for a moment and hesitated before slumping down, "I guess so..." She rested her head on her legs and looked up at Frederick.
"Besides," Frederick smiled, "That wasn't the best part..."
Luna raised an eyebrow, "Go on..."
~~~
Frederick was awoken by Luna shaking him violently, "What is the best part!"
"Pu-u-ut me-e dow-ow-own!" Frederick shouted, as he tried pushing Luna away, but her strength kept her on him.
Twilight walked out of her bedroom and gasped, her horn alight and levitating Luna off of Frederick. "Are you alright?!" She asked, rushing down the stairs.
Frederick turned to Twilight, "I'm fine, Twi." Then her turned to Luna and asked, "What was that about?"
Luna blushed and gave a sheepish smile, "Sorry... I get excited about surprises..."
Frederick sighed and shook his head, "Put her down." Twilight dispelled her magic and let Luna float to the floor. "If you'll let me, I'm getting everyone together first, then I'll show you." He turned to Twilight and let her nuzzle his cheek, "Good sleep?"
She grinned, "In your arms, perfectly."
Frederick rolled his eyes, before looking around the room, "Where's Smart Glass?"
"She's upstairs in my bed. I was checking on her when you woke up." Twilight walked around and jumped up on the couch, "She couldn't sleep down here, so she woke me up with her tossing and turning and I let her sleep upstairs."
"Ah, that's nice of you."
Twilight stuck out her tongue, then grinned, "Well, she's a friend, right?"
Frederick though for a moment,"I would think so."
Luna coughed and the pair turned to her, seemingly having forgotten she was there, "I don't want to break this up, but I have a schedule..."
"Oh right," Frederick said, then turned to Twilight, "Can you wake Glass?"
Twilight nodded, "Sure, don't be too long, I want to talk..." She let that hang in the air as she walked off and up the stairs.
Frederick glanced to Luna; the corners of her mouth turned up, "What do you know?"
Luna raised an eyebrow and brought a hoof to her chest. She fluttered her eyelashes innocently and replied, "Thee dost not knowest what thou means."
Frederick stared at the Princess for a few seconds before giving up and sighing. He felt a headache coming on.
Twilight and a yawning Smart Glass walked down he stairs and over to Luna, who sat waiting for Frederick to say something.
Frederick rose and walked over to the door, before turning back, "We're going outside for this."
The three ponies looked to each other before shrugging and following the human outside and round the back of the library. They ignored the pile of building materials that were now under a tarp which some pony must have left for them and carried on around, until they stopped behind Frederick in front of his make-shift firing range.
"What are we doing outside, it's quite cold..." Glass mumbled, shivering.
"We are outside for this." Frederick held up his hand with the crystals in and grinned.
"Your... Hand..." Luna deadpanned. "We're outside for your hand!" Slowly, realization struck and she squealed with excitement. "You learned a new spell!"
Twilight's eyes widened and she grinned, "Ooh, which one?!" Then she frowned and looked down to the ground for a few seconds before raising her head again, "Was it out of the homework I gave you?"
"You gave him homework?" Glass asked, chuckling.
"Shush you!" Twilight scolded. She turned back to Frederick, "Have you been learning in your free time?"
"Kind of," he admitted. "I learned this from a book that I found in the library. I told Luna earlier, so to save her time, I'll tell both of you after this demonstration." The other two ponies nodded and Frederick spun around to face the block at the far end of the range. He lifted his hand up to aim at the block and channeled magic into the crystal, forming the magic glyph in his head.
A few seconds later, he exhaled and the bolt flew from his hand, sizzling its way through the air and exploding against the brick block. The block cracked and shattered, showing the surrounding area with shards of glowing brick.
The ponies stood there with their mouths agape. Frederick turned around and grinned, "Cool, huh?"