//------------------------------// // Dreams // Story: Coin's Face // by Silent Quill //------------------------------// I could see… forever. The world around me stretched on into blackness in every direction, yet was filled with what I can only describe as windows. Windows filled with movement, other ponies or creatures moving about, talking, playing… I don’t remember ever being here before; my sleep was always uninterrupted, black nothingness. What in the wide world of currency was happening? Nearby I could see a bubble which rippled and shimmered with a strange purple, and I could only watch as its contents played out before me. It had something to do with dogs. * “How long has she been asleep?” Princess Luna asked firmly to the stallion by her side as they strode through the infirmary’s corridors. “About an hour, highness; but it’s only recently started.” Doctor Steady replied as he struggled to keep up with her. “She’s been tossing and turning in distress for about twenty minutes though; I didn’t want to let any of my staff get too close in case she reared. She could put an eye out with her horn if she did.” “Well, it is nice to see that you think so much about your staff’s wellbeing, but strange that you would think to throw your Princess into the ‘line of flames’ as we believe ponies say these days.” Luna replied with a snap. “’Line of fire’ Princess, and you don’t need to get that close; I just needed somepony who could see what is troubling her sleep. Mind magic is illegal except your dreamwalking, highness; I don’t just have ponies sitting around waiting for me to call on them in these sorts of situations. Tartarus, a few hundred years ago the mental ward down in Ponyville was filled to near bursting when some genius pony thought he could just wander through ponies’ minds. His spell caused immeasurable damage and your sister had all of his work locked away in the deepest parts of the Royal Archives.” “We think we recall reading about said pony; ‘Mental the Mindsnatcher’ we believe he was dubbed.” Luna said quietly as they approached the door. “My sister showed me his work. It was quite brilliant, but there was a massive flaw that anypony experienced in mind magic would know: mind magic must be subtle and gentle. Barging into the mind of another is akin to throwing a Minotaur into a glassware store, which is why his work caused such incredible damage to those he used it on. “Also, you were incorrect in saying that it is illegal in every case except our own; we shall be training Miss Coin in Night Magic soon, and it works very much so on mind magic.” She said before opening the door to Coin’s room and staring at the flowing mane that floated from the sleeping alicorn’s head. “Like now.” She said alarmed, before hurrying forth. Coin’s mane did, indeed, float freely about her head. Unlike Celestia and Luna’s mane and tail, however, there were no small sparkles of magic within the flowing hair. Instead, the thick strip of white mane shone brightly while the rest of her hair merely levitated. Luna gave the sleeping mare a studious appraisal. “She’s more magic than we thought.” Luna mumbled. “’Tis either that or she has been kept in check due to the Vault’s wards…” Her attention turned to the stallion standing worriedly in the doorway. “Doctor, what was used to incapacitate her for her aciurgy?” “… Her what? Aci… oh, her operation, yes; we used a powerful sleep inducing spell to put her into a deep sleep, and then we used a sedative to keep her asleep while we worked.” “Tell me, Doctor; what affect does the sedative you used have on a patient’s magic?” He gestured at the bed. “Not this!” Luna gave a quiet titter. “No, Doctor, this is most likely because of the sedation. Miss Coin has Night Magic, our domain. Sleep and dreams are our realm, but without the ability to connect to others through the dreamscape her sleep would be empty, black. A void, if you will. The Vault is protected from outside, and inside, magical influence. As such, while down there she would have had no connection to the dreamscape. Her sedation will have kept her magic from expressing itself normally, as we assume that you used a sedative which would be specifically designed for my sister or ourselves. “Such a sedative would have to be powerful enough to control huge amounts of magical power; as my sister and I can move the sun and moon this would be a precaution to ensure that we do not harm those about us during medical treatment. This,” she gestured to the mare glowing on the bed, “is not a medical emergency or something that will harm others –though it has been known to happen for others. She’s been magically restricted her entire life,” “Princess, are you saying…” “She’s surging.” Luna stated firmly. “Somewhat like a foal. Instead of surging in a physical or unpredictable way, she’s connected to the dreamscape; connected in a way we’ve not seen in anypony besides ourselves.” Doctor Steady blinked. “I was under the impression that nopony but you could connect to the dreamscape.” Luna chortled. “Oh heavens no; there have been dream walkers for as long as we have lived, we merely personified and perfected it to the point where few, if any, need do it these days. During my thousand-year banishment I was too far away to connect to the dreamscape. My sister took up the mantle during that time, but she is our opposite; her skill in Night Magic is terrible and we’ve been working to correct her mistakes since we returned.” There was a pause as the sleeping alicorn made a short series of noises. “… Did she just bark?” Luna sighed. “Yes; we believe we know what has occurred. Please, leave us some privacy; we shall call the nurses upon completion of our task.” “Of course, Princess.” Steady said with a bow before backing out of the room and closing the door. Luna sat next to the bed and leaned her head forward, taking in a deep breath before joining the sleeping mare in the dreamscape. * I’d been watching for what felt like an eternity, this strange vision with dogs and ponies. It just didn’t seem to end, and I could feel myself growing more and more… engrossed in the vision as time passed. That was, until something grabbed my shoulders and pulled me away. “Keep away from there, Miss Coin, that dreamer is in turmoil.” I blinked and pulled my head back faintly, frowning in confusion. What had I just been doing? Did I bark? What in the ten colours of gemstones was going on? “You need not panic, Miss Coin; you are in the Dreamscape.” The voice said a second time. I turned to see who it was, only to come face-to-face with Princess Luna. I yelped and scooted away from her, trying to make myself appear smaller and hopefully less of a threat to her. “You needn’t be afraid, Miss Coin. We’ll explain everything, but you need calm down.” Explain everything? What was she talking about? “Where am I?” I asked. She stepped a little closer and waved a hoof vaguely. “This, Miss Coin, is the dreamscape. It is a realm between realms, if you will. From here, we can see every dream being dreamed by sleeping ponies, gryphons, dragons… whatever. As a being of Night Magic when you sleep you will be brought here, as this is our realm. It is where our magic is strongest and where we can hide away from the world should we need to. Our sister, Princess Celestia, knows how to come here as well; as a being of Solar Magic, however, she cannot be here for long and it will exhaust her to be here on subsequent nights.” I blinked at her confusedly. “What are dreams? And if I’m a creature of Night Magic, would I not have come here when I slept down in the Vault or when the doctors did whatever they did to me?” “The easy question first, I believe; you were unable to connect to this dreamscape because of the wards within the Vault. It is magically sealed off from the rest of the world, and as such your connection to the dreamscape will have been blocked off. Should another pony have been sleeping within the Vault with you, their dreams would have created a very limited dreamscape for you to dwell within. “As for what dreams are, well, that is a slightly loaded question. There are many explanations for them, but for you we’ll give you a simple one: when beings of magic other than ours sleep, they enter dreams. It is something within their mind that allows them to enjoy their time resting. Take this one, for example;” she waved a hoof and a blue-rimmed window pulled off of a nearby wall and floated nearby. Within I could see what appeared to be a massive party with thousands of ponies. “This is a dream being ‘hosted’ by Pinkamena Diane Pie. She loves to party and make other ponies smile, so her dreams are usually akin to this.” “She looks like a hoofful of excitement, sugar, and headaches.” I mumbled, watching the dream cautiously. I could feel a smile spread upon my face as it went on, but it was soon torn from my vision as Luna put it back where it had come from. “Too much of a good thing can be bad for us, Miss Coin; try not to become engrossed in a dream from out here. Observe them critically, keep your mind in the knowledge that they are not real and no harm can come from them. Should you wish to partake of a dream, we can simply enter the dream with no harm to ourselves; I shall teach you how to do so at a later time. There are, however, other types of dreams, such as nightmares. Nightmares are a sort of antithesis to dreams; they cause suffering to those who dream them, usually in the form of fear.” A red-rimmed dream floated down the rows towards us and stopped nearby. Within this window I could see what looked like ponies missing flesh chasing another pony through halls. “This dreamer is suffering a nightmare involving the undead; it is something that the dreamer finds terrifying. Nightmares are a strange phenomenon, something that we cannot fully understand or explain. We don’t entirely know what causes the brain to create them, not always; sometimes it’s a one-time fear brought on by reading a scary book, eating something that has muddled brain chemistry shortly before bed, or some other such event. Others, it can be something more emotional. Most nightmares are a one-time thing which frightens their host into awakening. Others… “It is important, Miss Coin, to observe nightmares over time. Never should we leap into a nightmare lest it is more serious. After a few months of being within the dreamscape you will become attuned to the individual dreams and be able to remember their hosts, as they always seem to occupy the same location. Something reoccurring for at least a week is what we must search for; in these examples we then aid the dreamer in their troubles by guiding them to see what they are truly fearing.” I tilted my head as I let the lecture settle into my head, thinking over what she’d told me. Dreams? Nightmares? I suppose there is more to me than what I originally imagined, it certainly explained why I felt… incomplete whenever I’d slept within the Vault. I turned back to the strange purple-rimmed dream that Luna had pulled me from. “What about that one?” Luna sighed sadly. “That is the dream of one who has been Broken. She was afraid of dogs and was an introvert, somepony who does not like to socialize much. After a few nightmares caused by her starting to date another pony, of which her fear of social hurt and difficulty trusting her special somepony, our sister attempted to help her. Our sister, as we have stated, is not as skilled as we are in such matters and unfortunately she… drove this pony mad. Since we returned we have repaired many such incidents, but this pony is a difficult case. She has been improving, thankfully, but she is prone to relapse. We warn you, Coin; these dreams are dangerous and we implore you to leave their care to us.” “Dangerous how..?” “It takes time and patience to repair the damage that Trampling –the act of incorrectly managing others’ minds from within the dreamscape- can cause. We have been working with Miss Screw for many months, and she has been steadily improving and has even been moved back home from her ward, but as you can see she still has some… issues which need resolving. In dreams such as this one, we have found that being firm with her has worked best. If you’ll excuse us a second,” I nodded and she strode to the window before passing right through it and into the dream. She sat and sighed before clapping her haunches with her forehooves. “Heel!” With that word a blue pony with a silver mane and a screw cutie-mark bounded over like a dog, stopping just short of Luna. “What is your name?” “Screw Loose!” “Are you a dog or a pony?” “Pony!” “Then why in Tartarus are you acting like a dog, Miss Screw? We’ve talked about this; Redheart will be most displeased to hear that her special somepony has relapsed this badly.” At that the blue pony paused and stared at Luna in shock for a few moments, before she sat down and brushed her left foreleg with her right. “Ah, right, sorry Princess; I just…” “You slipped, we understand. Remember what we talked about, if you feel that you might be slipping or you’re worried you might?” Screw Loose nodded. “What did we say?” “Tell Redheart.” “That’s right; now, I’m going to leave you with a dream less likely to cause you to relapse. Do remember to talk to Redheart in the morn about this, she’s sure to want to help. Until next time, Miss Screw,” Luna stated firmly. The dream window suddenly vanished, and Coin could only stare incredulously at where it had been until Luna came strolling out of the window that she had shown to be filled with party life. “Our apologies for that; we have left her in the capable hooves of Miss Pie. A party with other ponies should be beneficial, and Miss Pie is unlikely to be unhappy at having a guest. As far as she will know, there will be nothing different.” Again I blinked at her confusedly. “Are you saying that you just put a mentally unstable pony –whose dreams you told me were dangerous- into the dream of another pony?” “Yes, but Miss Pie is… a special case. We would explain, but it can’t be done.” “What can’t be explained? That you put two ponies dreams together..?” “Miss Pie, she cannot be explained.” Luna stated. “We have seen her break the laws of physics on many occasions. Trust us, she is… special.” She looked away for a moment, as if checking to ensure that the party pony hadn’t followed her. “In any case, we believe that you should be safe within the dreamscape for now; provided you keep away from dangerous dreams. On occasion you may encounter other ponies within the dreamscape, though they are extremely rare in this day and age; Night Magic has fallen into decline in my absence.” I nodded a little as I let this information settle into my head. I still had questions, though they seemed somewhat insignificant compared to what I’d been told. Magic that allows ponies to enter the dreams of others? It was almost… too much to comprehend. “Princess, though it may be impertinent of me to ask, but… is there anywhere in this… ‘dreamscape’ where I can just rest?” I asked, cringing at her questioning stare. Oh I hope I’ve not made her mad. “Don’t get me wrong, Princess, I’m honoured to be included, but this is… this is out of my league. I’m under hospital care myself; I don’t think I’m ready for this yet.” I shuffled my hooves and muttered, “I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready for this,” under my breath. Wait… Did her ear twitch..? Oh Bits, did she hear that? The princess sighed and nodded. “We suppose it is a bit much to press on a new, and admittedly taxed, mind all at once. Come, we know of a dream that you can safely rest within with no damage to others.” She waves a wing for me to follow her, and of course I do so. The, uh, ‘world’ around us -a seemingly endless sea of dreams- drifts by with splashes of colour and sound. Small explosions of noise which catch my ears and raise both my interest and annoyance; I want somewhere quiet to think and rest. Do I really need to go through all this just to get there? Can’t we just, I don’t know, teleport? Soon enough we came upon a window that was significantly larger than the others, this one rimmed with a golden glow. Luna continued in, and after only a moment’s hesitation I followed. Entering the dream, passing through the window, felt like when I stepped into the bath only from head down instead, and it was a peculiar and queer feeling that I admit myself unsure that I would ever grow used to. The dream around us was a beautiful meadow spring. A small river a few dozen metres to my left fed into a nearby pond. A pleasant breeze would run through the grass and my fur every so often. “We created this dream solely so that we might have somewhere quiet to tend to those who cannot care for their own mind any longer centuries ago, back before we became corrupted by the Nightmare.” Luna stated matter-of-factly. “You may find us entering now and then for these therapy sessions, but pay us no heed. We, also, shall be placing a small tap on your magic to keep you from creating potentially dangerous surges for the night; once you are in a more healthy state we shall begin teaching you how to restrain your magic more effectively. We shall also advise your nurses on your condition, and they may place a Discharge Inhibitor on your horn before you sleep each night. This dream is a stable point in the Dreamscape, and as such it will always be available should you want some time to yourself.” “How do I return here once I wake?” I ask. “I mean, I was in the middle of a crossroads when I fell asleep before.” Luna smiled back at me calmly. “Returning to the Dreamscape instead of within a dream is a default for Night Magic; if the dreamer is not asleep when you return, you’d have nothing to enter into. As an Alicorn, and as this dream is permanent, you can make this dream a point you return to whenever you fall asleep by pressing your horn to the ground within the dream and then channelling some magic. It’s relatively simple, but often the simplest things are the ones we do not consider.” She gave me a curious look, as if considering something. “You do know how to channel your magic, yes?” In honesty, I was not well versed in my magic but I did nod. How could I not know how to channel my own magic, right? … Right..? After placing my horn to the ground, I closed my eyes and channelled some magic into the dream soil beneath our hooves. When I heard the princess startle I opened my eyes and looked up. A swathe -about the width of my wingspan- of what looked like black, dead grass rolled away in front of me for dozens of meters. The air over the dead zone was darker and appeared thicker, small particles of what I can only call black stuff floated through the air lazily. I blinked at the damage I’d done so easily and without even knowing I’d done it before glancing worriedly to the princess alongside me. She sighed and her horn flared, her magic restoring the field to its prior beauty. I lowered my head and ears apologetically. “It would seem to us,” Luna began calmly, “that your Night Magic is a tad darker than we had initially forseen, and we did not think it could be so similar to our own.” “I’m sorry, I didn’t-” She waved a hoof and silenced my apology. “It is no problem, Miss Coin. We were simply not expecting your magic to have such an impact on the dream. It would seem that you have picked up more than just your eyes from our dark past.” She sighed and smiled faintly. “This is fine, your magic is dark but uncontrolled, and this will not take much work to remedy. Night Magic comes in grades of dark, with some being more shadowy than others; Equestrians are not natural night-walkers like we are, so their magic tends to be lighter. Our magic, and your own, is of nocturnal creatures tied to the night itself; it is for this reason that we grow stronger during the night or in the dark, as those are our element. We simply did not imagine that you could be so similar to us, though since you are essentially a very close biological match to us, we should have taken it into account.” “How close do you mean, princess?” I asked curiously. It would be nice to know exactly how closely related I could be considered to her. She only seemed to think for a moment. “Almost twins, according to your doctor; we are… somewhat sceptical of their methods but our sister assures me that they have an extremely small margin for error. If they are right, you are more closely related to us than our sister Celestia is, despite not having our mother or father.” She smiled down at me as if seeing the question that was forming in my head. “And yes, Celestia is our sister. She is a few years senior to us maybe, but still our sister.” I nodded in understanding and looked off across the field. All I wanted right now was to rest; all of this talk of magic and dreams was beyond any care I could really give right now. “For now, we shall leave you to your rest. A farrier has been called to the hospital to outfit you with some Mithril shoes which have been smithed to fit your hooves. Have a pleasant evening, Miss Coin.” Luna said with a smile, before dipping her head and vanishing from the dream. I blinked at where she had been before sighing and trotting over to the pond’s edge, where I lay down and simply let my mind wander for a few hours. *&*&*&* I awoke a few hours later, not remembering what I had thought about for the time I had been resting in the dream that Princess Luna let me into. I yawned and stretched, remembering to spare my injured leg from the action, before becoming painfully aware that my stomach was giving me an uncomfortable rumble. I quickly reached over and grabbed the clean metal bowl from the bedside cabinet. What occurred next I refuse to detail; I will only say that it felt and tasted bad. I will never get used to that. Remembering what I’d been told to do, I pushed the call nurse button next to my bed and I didn’t have to wait long before a nurse attended my call. She was a different nurse from the night before, though she did have the same little cap on her head. She smiled warmly when she saw the bowl in my lap and the pitiful look I was giving her. “Ah, Miss Coin; first purge of the day I see.” She said with a playful tone. “It’s alright, you’ll have a few more of those in the coming days I’m sure.” She gently took the bowl from me with her magic and whisked it off to the bathroom where she flushed its contents and washed the bowl out in the sink. She returned it to the bedside cabinet next to my bed. “Now, we’ll give you an hour for your stomach to settle before we try giving you some soft breakfast. Nothing heavy, just some light porridge and juice. Would you like anything to read in the mean time?” I shrugged, not sure if there would be anything of real interest for me to read. “I suppose I shouldn’t just lay here with nothing to do, or I might just fall back asleep.” She nodded. “Alright, miss; I’ll go and see if I can find a few books you might like. A doctor should be along soon to check on how well you’ve recovered overnight. I shouldn’t be gone long, is there anything you need before I go?” I shifted in the bed, a familiar feeling of pressure in my stomach making me aware of other needs, and nodded to her and held out a hoof. “Could you help me up so I can get myself to the bathroom please? I can move over on my own, I’m sure, but I don’t know if I can get up.” The nurse smiled and took my hoof, gently pulling me up and out of the bed so that I could stand on my own. I staggered for a moment before I managed to grab the wheeled stand which was standing next to my bed with my injured leg, wincing faintly as the muscles around my wound shifted. I thanked the nurse and let her leave before shifting to the bathroom, leaning on the drip stand to hold my weight up. * Natural bodily functions relieved, I returned to the bed and climbed back into it heavily, pushing the drip stand back where it had been previously. I’d just gotten settled when the nurse returned with a book and a Pegasus doctor wearing a white coat and readily visible nametag. “Nurse Apple, if you could assist me in my assessment?” He asked her before she could scoot off. “I need you to remove the bandages from her leg while I do a quick check of her wings. I want to see how her feathers look before I check her wound, see if we need to assign a preening session.” The nurse complied and stepped around the bed, gently removing my leg from the blankets and beginning to unbind the wound. Meanwhile, the doctor nudged my left wing with a hoof. “Miss, if you could just extend your wing for me?” He asked, to which I unabashedly complied. He seemed a bit taken aback and blushed when I spread my wing so willingly, but, well… he’s a doctor! The nurse, Nurse Apple, flicked his nose with her hoof after he stared for a bit long. “Hay, do I have to report you, Doctor Clip?” She snapped irritably, “Stop ogling her wings.” He coughed and shook his head. “Right, my apologies,” he said more to the nurse than to me, “let’s see…” He trailed off as he nudged my feathers, inspecting both sides of my wing before moving around the bed and tapping my other wing. “You may fold your left wing and extend your right, Miss.” As I closed up my left wing and extended my right, I noticed that he looked away from me and focused on a far corner of the room. The nurse nudged him with a hoof, prompting him to return to work, and I waved her around the bed before whispering into her ear. “What’s with the..?” She giggled. “Wings are a big thing to Pegasi,” she said calmly, “and being on your back, unfurling a wing or two is considered a sign of submission. You’re ‘bearing your all’ so to speak. He’s just… a little distracted by it; most patients are very reserved when we ask them to present their wings, so such a show is, well, almost explicit despite the circumstances. Attending to the wings of another pony is also a huge thing; it’s a sign of trust from that being attended. Preening is often considered intimate, so we’re likely to have one of the princesses come down to preen you until you learn how. They’re essentially your family, and we’d like to see you form bonds with somepony.” I nodded, not having noticed what the doctor was up to until I felt a sharp pain and tugged my leg away from him with what I can only describe as a yelp of pain. “You still feel the wound, so that’s a good sign;” he said nonchalantly, “and it appears to have healed up rather nicely overnight too. You shouldn’t be here longer than a week or so, depending on how you handle your infection. Sepsis is nothing to shake a stick at, and we’re thankful that you’ve not got any swelling, but you seem to be fighting it well.” He held up a little glass stick, having taken it from a coat pocket. “We’d like you to hold this beneath your tongue, please;” he said, and I promptly let him stick the thing beneath my tongue, “we’re just going to get your temperature with this thermometer before your breakfast so we know if we have to add any medication to it to help with your infection.” He idled for a few moments, looking through the information written on the clipboard at the foot of my bed, before taking the thermometer from me and looking at it. “One-oh-three; not too bad, considering that yesterday you were apparently at an impressive one-thirteen –well beyond anything we’ve seen in a patient that could still walk. You’re still running a slight fever, but other than give you a quick and powerful curative spell you shouldn’t need much more assistance to fight that down. No hot liquids, and few –if any- hot foods will be given for breakfast; we don’t want you to increase your temperature any higher. Try and stay in bed and get rest. A farrier, somepony who will give your hooves a check-up and fit you with some shoes, will be here just after noon and you’ll need your strength for that.” I nodded faintly, and the doctor let Nurse Apple re-bandage my leg before he walked out to attend his next patient. The nurse gave me a polite farewell before leaving herself. I sighed comfortably as I settled back into the bed and lifted the book which had been left for me by the nurse, studying the cover before beginning to read. Something called ‘Lunar Heart’. *&*&*&* I hadn’t gotten far into the book, a delightful little tale involving Princess Luna, before I was interrupted from my reading by Doctor Steady and another stallion. I put the bookmark that the book came with into the place where I’d been reading so that I could continue later. I assumed that Princess Luna was aware of the book to at least a small degree, in which case I would test the waters of teasing her about it next time I met her. I’d eaten breakfast and lunch some time ago, each meal little more than soft oatmeal with different flavouring, breakfast being bananas and honey and lunch being strawberries and maple syrup. They were flavourful yet blandly textured, supposedly being simple enough for my stomach to accept without overloading my digestive system. The stallion that had joined the doctor dipped his head to me faintly in greetings and I returned the gesture. “Miss Coin, it’s good to see you awake. You’ve stopped shaking even; a good sign!” Doctor Steady said with a cheerful tone. “This is Caramel. He hails from a small town south of Canterlot, the city we’re in now, called Ponyville. His family have had prized farriers for almost every generation for the last, what is it now, Caramel, ten generations?” “Twelve, doc,” the tan pony replied with a smile, “my grandfather fitted Princess Mi Amore Cadenza’s adult horseshoes, and I learned my trade from him directly.” He smiled over at me warmly, yet with a slight blush. “I… can be a little butterhooved with other tasks, but where hoofcare is involved there’re none finer.” I nodded calmly to him before shifting in the bed. “Is there anything specific you require of me, sir? Do I need to stand or..?” He shook his head. “No ma’am, I can fit you from the bed, provided I’m allowed access to your hind hooves. The doc’s here to ensure that I stick to business,” he then gave Doctor Steady a sidelong glance, “not that I would get distracted; I have a mare all m’ own back home I’m keen to return to. Sassaflash would be mighty upset if I missed dinner.” He sighed faintly and stepped up to the bed, taking my left foreleg into his own and looked down at it before humming thoughtfully and then continuing to inspect my other hooves. “Not too bad, your hooves are in fair condition for somepony who walks hard surfaces without shoes. Bad nutrition though, you’d be gettin’ splits and cracks if’n you kept at it too.” He said matter-of-factly. “You’re healthy enough for me to shoe, though, so we can keep to the schedule. All we’re waitin’ on is the shoes and nails. I didn’t smith them m’self; some bigwig smith up here in Canterlot went and made you Mithril shoes, and they’ll be bringin’ some tools for me to work with along with the shoes. You’ll likely never need another shoe, provided you keep your hooves in good condition, ‘cause Mithril shoes don’t wear. Never handled them m’self, but all of the Princesses have them ‘sides from Princess Twilight Sparkle. She’s still got her steel shoes until she needs a refit.” A clattering of a trolley and shoes came echoing in from the corridor outside, and a trio of ponies entered. One, a Unicorn guard wearing full armour, pushing the trolley with a set of silvery blue horseshoes and nails resting on a red silk pillow alongside a set of similarly made tools. Behind him, a tall white unicorn stallion with a blonde mane and brilliantly blue eyes talked almost without end about how thrilled he was to be getting new Mithril shoes, something that would elevate him above the common pony and their simple metals. The third pony was Princess Celestia herself, and she looked to be taking the rambling of the white stallion quite well. That is to say, she was ignoring him altogether. After a moment of pause, the white stallion noticed me on the bed and stopped, staring at me as if he’d never seen another pony before. He turned to the Princess, “Auntie, who is that… peasant, and why is she occupying the bed in which I’ll be fitted my shoes?” For a moment, it was as if Celestia were thinking about the question herself. At least, to everypony else she was. Me? I could see the most minute of irritable sighs leave her before she replied. “Prince Blueblood, this mare is Miss Coin Counter. To be more precise, this Alicorn mare is Princess Coin Counter, and she is to be receiving Mithril horseshoes today.” The prince seemed taken aback. “'Princess'? Really, Auntie, are we throwing that title to just any riff-raff these days? Your student" he practically spat the word, "is one thing, but I do hope that you’re not letting your years-“ “Finish the sentence, young Prince, I dare you.” Celestia interrupted without ever looking in his direction. “This mare has been created from the remains of Nightmare Moon, and as such she is a direct relative of my sister. That makes her, on the little totem-pole of power that you adore so much, higher than you. I, also, would like to point out that you are not entitled to Mithril shoes, as your titanium shoes are the highest grade available to the masses.” She looked down at him grimly. “And no, nephew, you are not above the common pony. We will discuss this later, please return to your suite.” The prince stared at her in a state of mild shock before giving me a scathing glare and retreating from the room. I only blinked at his retreating back in confusion before looking up at the princess. “What was that all about?” I asked. “He looked like he wanted to boil me alive.” Celestia sighed. “That was all about an issue that shall be dealt with at a later time. He’s likely to have told every noble he knows by the time I get my hooves on him, so I suppose I’ll just have to deal with the flak as it comes.” She smiled warmly at Caramel, who was still deep in a bow to her. “And it’s a pleasure to meet you again, Caramel. I can only hope that your skill can live up to your grandfather’s.” “W-we’ll see your highness. H-he certainly thought so when he was training me.” Caramel stuttered. He took the tools into his hooves and exhaled heavily, seeming to steady himself before setting to work. I was so tired that I fell back asleep before he even started nailing.