//------------------------------//
// A Much Warmer Welcome 
// Story: My Life as a Bipedal Quadruped 
// by Snakeskin Ducttape 
//------------------------------//

I opened my eye and beheld the same room as before, this time in the middle of the night. I was lying on my side with my hoof sandwiched in between the two pillows under my head and covered by a, well, a cover. Redheart had apparently tucked me in and she must have done a good job because I was really comfortable. I burrowed my head in the pillow and started thinking about what had happened in the last few days.

‘I have been transported to another world and transformed into another being. I'm not sure how one is supposed to react to that but I'm pretty sure that it's not like this. For some reason, I don't feel any sort of actual worry. It could have something to do with the magical ponies that have been taking care of me. Which reminds me, I have to remember to ask about my size next time I talk with Twilight.’

I looked around the room. the window was closed but the thin curtains let in a fascinatingly large amount of moonlight.

Being from a northern temperate zone, pale light tended to make me feel cold. People in warm climates didn't seem to have any problem with colorless lamps in their homes. But people from my neck of the woods could stand in thirty degrees Celsius and practically shiver if someone lit a white fluorescent strip light near them.

This pale moonlight, however, felt warm and welcoming.

I lifted up my hoof and inspected it in the soft light. I was sure that I had seen the magical shapes of fingers on top of it in those woods. Not to mention some sort of aura of my missing limbs, but I couldn't recall if I had seen any fingers on them. I was tempted to try doing that thing again where I could sense magic. But Redheart had warned me not to use any magic while recovering. Something about it being unstable. In which case I should be doubly careful not to use any, because it might be like nitroglycerin. And you know what they say about unstable nitroglycerin: Don't.

I spotted the tray with apples on the bedside table, and suddenly felt the munchies. I had spent a lot of recent time eating, but I had to remind myself that it I hadn't exactly had any opportunity to eat any real hearty dinners and the meals I did had had been separated by long periods of unconsciousness.

I peered around the room again. No pony lying on the couch or standing in the corner this time. If I wanted a snack, I would have to take care of it myself.

I reached out with my hoof towards the apples on the tray, felt nothing but air, and let out a sigh. ‘I miss depth perception.’

I shuffled closer to edge of the bed and finally felt the table with my hoof, but I only managed to push the apple I was aiming for away from me. It was frustrating but I had, out of necessity, become stubborn in situations like these. I put my hoof on the table and inched myself closer to the table, noting how much traction I got.

However, I had forgotten how much of my body's volume consisted of neck, and when I stretched my upper half to try and reach further I tipped over the bed and fell down on the floor. It wasn't a crash where I slammed into the tiles, I just started sliding over the edge of the bed, landing fairly softly on the back of my neck and deciding that it would be pointless to try and stop the rest of me from following and instead tried to do it under controlled circumstances, which had the benefit of bringing down the warm cover over me.

Most other people would probably have seethed in anger and frustration at this point, but a long time ago I had learned to handle these situations calmly and with self-control. Though that didn't stop me from letting out a plaintive sigh.

‘So, what now?’ I thought as I looked up towards the edge of the bed.

‘Well, I haven't tried standing up in this body yet. Who knows? Maybe I can try and scamper up there again since It doesn't look to be as tall as the hospital beds that I'm used to, probably since people are also shorter around here.’

I grabbed the cover in my mouth and managed to throw it over me like an enormous cape, appreciating the residual warmth that was still in it. I then positioned myself on my belly with my limbless side towards the bedside table and tried to push myself up to a standing position. A standing position for a quadruped, that is.

It worked, in a way. I was standing with legs straight and leaning against the bedside table. But the position was very strange, it felt like I was looking for something that had fallen under the coach. Another strange thing was that I was standing on what I guessed was the equivalent of my knuckles, but without any fingers to form into a fist, just a huge lump made for walking and standing.

What worked very well with this position, however, was my neck. Aiming my head forward, which would have been upwards in my old form, felt natural and not at all tiring as I was used to. I could even look upwards like this, which in a way would be like looking down your own back as a human.

I wasn't cold, probably thanks to my coat of fur, but I still missed the softness of the bed. I considered my situation again and decided to try and jump up in the bed. I inched closer to the bed while leaning against the bedside table and then sat down the way that I think dogs sit. I then reached up and placed my hoof at the end of the bed, cover still over me, then stood up with my hind leg.

This placed my head above the bed's level, but I couldn't quite figure out how to best approach the next step. I shot out with my hind leg and tried to land with enough of my weight across the bed for me to lever myself all the way on top of it. It might've worked on a better day, but not this time. I started sliding back towards the ground and bit down on the sheet to try and stop myself. The cover fell off from me and landed on the floor, and then the sheet started sliding off from the mattress, and me landing on the cover with half a bed sheet covering me and the pillows landing beside me.

I let out another sigh. If I ever got up to my bed at this point, both the pillows and the cover would remain on the ground and the sheet would be too wrinkled to be comfortable. All this and I still hadn't gotten anything to eat.

‘Guess I'll have to get help if I want to sleep in a bed for the rest of the night.’ 

I looked towards the closed door that presumably led out into the hallway of the hospital. It seemed so far away despite it just being half the length of the room. Then I looked around me and thought, ‘Well, if nothing else I guess I have all that I need for a makeshift bed down here on the floor with me.’

I looked around the room again. ‘I can either crawl across the room or I can try and use the wheelchair.’

I scooted towards the wheelchair. It looked a lot more promising than the bed since it was lower than the bed and I also had what I guess around here is called a hoof-rest to work with.

Things looked promising for a while, but after I got to the part where I would try and kick off the ground with my hind leg the wheelchair rolled backwards and I found myself on the cold floor again. I let out another sigh and then another one once I realized how monotonous I sounded.

‘Yeah well, and the unicorn you rode in on!’ I thought and glared at the wheelchair. I had had enough, my composure was close to shattering, I felt that I needed to get something my way real fast before or I would be in a foul mood for the rest of the day.

I started scooting towards the door with determined... something, certainly not steps. It took a while, which was just as well because that gave me time to calm down. 

‘I tried doing something that I couldn't and got myself into an embarrassing situation as a result. But the people, or ponies, that work here are professionals, they won't judge me.’ I thought back to some of the people I had worked with. ‘Alright, Redheart won't judge me, at least.’

I reached the door and tried to push it open. It looked like one of those doors where you didn't need to turn any handles, but it opened inwards, and the rod that one was supposed to grip when opening it from this side was out of my reach. My irritation was flaring up again as I started knocking on the door, the only good thing about this being that it was very easy to make noises with a hoof.

After a few seconds of silence I heard the clopping of hooves approaching on the other side. I crawled out of the way from the door right before it opened and a lime green pony with wings entered halfway into the room.

I let out a sigh and said, "I need help, could you please..." I had to bend my neck to see the face of the new arrival since the side that was blessed with an eye was the one I was lying on, but I finally noticed her absolutely horrified expression and decided that I wasn't in the mood for this particular type of person at this moment. "... go get Nurse Redheart for me?"

The pony turned around on the spot and hurried away without any acknowledgement, and I was a bit worried that I had simply scared her off with my pitiful visage before I heard the sound of two approaching sets of hooves.

"Gabrielle! What happened!?" I heard the familiar voice of Redheart say.

With my savior nearby I let out a sigh of relief, a silent one this time, and simply said, "Fell out of the bed."

Redheart entered my field of vision with a different kind of horrified expression, it's difficult to describe but it was one I could work with. "Oh, you poor thing. Don't worry, I've got it."

As she said that I wondered if it was experience, intuition or chance that made her choose those words. It was a small thing but choice of words can mean quite a bit when it comes to patients, and “I've got it” was better than something like “Let me help you”, which got repetitive really fast and which I started reading far too much into the last time I was recovering.

She leaned her head down and held out a hoof for me. "Same as before," she said and I hooked my foreleg around her foreleg, which she used to help me heave myself over her lower neck where I used my own long neck and foreleg to hold myself in place.

I looked over to the lime green pony, her expression this time mostly one of worry. "Thanks," I said to her and tried giving her a smile, but I could only manage a very small one at the moment. She wordlessly backed out of the door and closed it.

I sighed once again, getting a bit worried that this would become my default way of breathing at this rate. "You okay back there?" Redheart asked as she slowly made her way across the room with me across her upper back.

"Fine. Just, frustrated." It was the truth. I had spent a lot of time getting used to a new body once before. I hated it the first time and I didn't like going through it again.

Redheart stopped beside the bed, it took a while before I noticed since my eye was on the side facing away from her face, but when I looked at her she had turned her long pony neck and was looking at me with a sad expression on her.

In one fluid motion she threw the sheet over the bed again, then placed me back on the bed in a sitting position, a humanoid sitting position. She then picked up the pillows and cover from the floor and dumped them on the bed.

The notion that you shouldn't bottle up your emotions and just let it all out every once in a while had some merit in my mind, but only some. Most of the time, I found it far better to accustom yourself to being calm and composed. If I had gotten used to crying every time I was sad and screaming every time my patience wore thin I would probably have been a nervous wreck or worse, even before I got turned into a talking unicorn. But suppressing my emotions did not make them go away. I was angry, and to someone like Redheart, it showed.

That's probably why she sat down on the bed next to me and put her foreleg around me in a hug and said, "It's okay."

I looked down on the floor with a scowl on my face. This was going to calm me down. I knew it, and Redheart knew it. And knowing that, and knowing that Redheart knew that, peeved me quite a bit. Knowing that the process of my foul mood was so predictable that only one short sentence and a hug could make it better left a really bitter taste in my mouth. But the funny thing was that I knew that this particular bitter feeling would also fade away from this procedure. "It's okay," she said again and once more, I felt annoyed, but slightly less so this time. 

‘Two words and an empty gesture is supposed to make me feel better!?’

"It's okay." Now my annoyance was shifting towards myself, for refusing, in a very childish manner, to let her help.

"It's okay," Redheart said again. 

‘But it does make me feel better, doesn't it?’ I thought with a strange mix of fading annoyance and growing comfort. ‘It's not just an empty gesture. She really does care.’

"It's okay," she said and I finally let go, relaxed, leaned in towards her and softly nuzzled into her chest. I would have liked to do it a bit more thoroughly but I had to consider my new cranial addition. 

‘Yes, it's okay to make mistakes. It's okay that I'm basically helpless right now. It's okay that I made myself humiliatingly crawl across the floor to get help. It's okay to hold your emotions in. It's okay to let them out. And yes, it's okay to have someone comfort you. Twilight of the Gods! I had grown into such a loner since even before becoming an adult that I had almost forgotten that,’ I thought as I blinked away a thankfully small amount of moisture from my eye.

"Feeling better?" Redheart asked after a few minutes, with a tastefully subtle amount of jauntiness.

I did. But I simply nodded instead of saying anything, in case I had to swallow back a sob. ‘I'm not completely against showing some emotion but let's do so in moderation.’

Redheart let out a soft coo and tightened the hug. "Don't worry, you'll get the hang of unicorn magic in no time, and then you don't have to reach for anything if you don't want."

‘That's true, if I can learn to do that thing that Twilight did yesterday, being a pony might not be so bad.’ 

I analyzed the events of the last few minutes before looking up at Redheart and giving her a smile. "Thanks. You're really good at this," I said as I softly leaned away from her, signalling that comforting time was over.

Redheart smiled back as she stepped down and started inspecting the bedding. "Good at what?"

"This comforting thing," I said. Compared to just a few moments ago I was practically jovial and not at all reluctant to share what an effect that little turbo therapy session had on me. "I know this dance and I almost missed your steps. Most people would either have done the 'It's okay' thing only once, which would be counterproductive, or jumped straight to the unicorn thing before I was in a mood to listen. So is it talent or experience?"

It seems that I had a positive effect of Redheart in turn, because she looked at me with a very genuine smile on her face and jiggled her hind leg with her cutie mark on. "Both," she said as she started adjusting the bed, which she managed despite me sitting on it.

‘It seems that the cutie marks really do represent special talents. Something to look forward to,’ I thought as I looked down on my own. With one word Redheart had me looking forward to learning what my special talent might be. ‘Whoa. Special talent indeed. I really can't keep up with her.’

"So, would you like another bed?" Redheart asked.

"No, nothing wrong with the bed, I was just-" my sentence was interrupted by a low growling. I had always thought that I had a decent comedic timing, but recently I had been outdone by my own stomach. "Yeah, that," I said and looked towards the apples.

Redheart immediately picked up the tray, in her mouth, and brought it over to the bed. "Oh, Gabrielle! You could've called one of us and we'd help you. Just- Oh!" she exclaimed and got a sheepish expression on her. "I'm sorry, dear. In case you didn't know, this button here calls the nurses," she said as she gestured to a hefty remote that was hanging on the side of the bed. 

‘Looks familiar enough.’

I was still fascinated by how these ponies, us ponies, I guess, could talk fluently while carrying things in their mouths. "I know," I said with a sigh. "It's just that, it's in the middle of the night and I didn't want to bother anyone."

Redheart set down the tray on the bed and sat down with me. "You're not a bother, Gabrielle," she said in a caring yet serious tone.

"Thanks. And just 'Gabe' is fine."

"That's your nickname?" she asked.

"Yep. That or 'Gabby', but I always liked 'Gabe' better."

"Well then, 'Gabe' it is. I'd tell you my own but back in school, 'Red' was already taken and the only other anypony could think up was 'Hearty', which I could do without," She said with a playful pout.

I gave a giggle which only consisted of one, single exhalation, turning it into something more like an amused snort.

"Also, it's not really the middle of the night," she said.

I looked around the moonlit room. "It looks like it is."

"It does, but it's more early in the morning. Which would turn any meal you're about to have into breakfast." She looked at me for a moment before speaking up again. "Speaking of which, I was planning on having breakfast while watching Princess Celestia raise the sun, would you like to join me?"

I knew people in school whose brains would have stopped when hearing that sentence. In fact, they wouldn't have lasted a minute in my situation. "Uh, sure. What do you mean, 'raise the sun'?"

"Well," Redheart said as she held out her neck for me to grab onto again, which I did. "Every morning, Princess Celestia uses her magic to raise the sun."

I had enough questions about myself but this could not go unaddressed. "The sun doesn't raise itself?" I asked as I plopped down into the wheelchair, which I still wasn't very happy with.

As Redheart picked up the cover from the bed and threw it over me, then placed the tray with apples in my lap she said, "Well, I'm not sure what the sun does without Princess Celestia, her being the princess of the sun and all. But everypony knows that Princess Celestia raises the sun." She noticed my curious expression and then seemed to come to a realization. "Ah, that's right, your world didn't have any magic. So does your sun raise itself?"

"You could say that. So a princess? Is this a monarchy?" I asked.

"Yes," she said before stopping herself. "Or, no, it's a actually a diarchy now that Princess Luna, Princess Celestia's younger sister, has returned."

"And I suppose that Princess Luna is the princess of the moon?" I asked.

"That's right," she said as she started wheeling me towards the door.

"And it was a diarchy since there were two princesses?" I asked as we reached the door and Redheart pushed a button on the side of the wall that opened it. I felt annoyed that I didn't notice that but I quickly figured that I wouldn't be able to reach it from the floor anyway.

"Oh, I see what you're getting at," she said as she wheeled me out into a very standard looking hospital hallway where I gave a wave towards the lime green nurse sitting at the nurse's station who carefully waved back. "No, there are no kings and queens here, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are the highest officials in Equestria, despite sharing that title with non-alicorns and Princess Cadenza to the north."

"So no kings and queens but lots of princes and princesses. Must be confusing at high society gatherings," I observed. "What's an alicorn?"

"Well, there are three, or rather, four types of ponies. Pegasi with wings, unicorns with magic horns, and earth ponies like myself with neither."

I felt like Mr Berg as my brain scrambled for something appropriate to say about that, but Redheart continued before I could think of anything. "Then there are alicorns, who have the qualities of all three types. Only better, most ponies say. They have both wings and horns as you might've seen on Princess Twilight."

My brain was trying to multitask by trying to think up something tasteful to say about earth ponies' apparent handicap and taking in Redheart's little crash course in magical ponies 101 when that last sentence completely derailed everything. "Wha- wai- wh- Twilight is a princess?"

"Yes, she didn't tell you that?" Redheart asked curiously.

I thought back to the events of yesterday. "Uh, no, she, uh, as soon as I woke up she went and got you."

"Aw, she's a sweet one," Redheart said as we reached a small, deserted lounge area down the hall. "But she's still a bit awkward sometimes. I guess one shouldn't talk that way about royalty but she admits it herself." She looked at my curious expression and said, "She's only recently been crowned a princess and she's anything but haughty about it."

"I noticed," I said and thought back with some concern to how I practically made her cry yesterday. "So," I carefully started. "Is there any stigma associated with being an earth pony?"

Redheart studied me for a few moments and I was starting to wonder if I had said something inappropriate. "You use a pretty advanced vocabulary for somepony your age," she said. "And no, at least I haven't noticed anything. Of course, I'm not sure how much you remember of Ponyville, but that's where I'm from and it's mainly populated by earth ponies," she continued before setting out the tray on a nearby table.

I remembered, well I guess I remembered parts of a hospital room and a corridor in Ponyville. "And right now we're in Canterlot, right?"

"That's right," Redheart said as she walked over to a fridge and brought out another tray with two glasses on it and a container of a drink. Seeing what was on the tray and thinking back to what I had just heard, I realized that across the universes and dimensions, or whatever I had been transported to, the laws of reality such as gravity and all the associated physics were less consistent than the design and shape of milk cartons. "The capital of Equestria, the location of the royal palace and the home of Princesses Celestia and Luna. Speaking of which," she said and picked up an apple in her hoof and handed it to me, which I carefully grabbed with my wrist thing, making Redheart look proud. "They're probably about to raise the sun and lower the moon any minute now."

Redheart looked out the window and I followed suit as I carefully brought the apple up to my mouth and took a bite. This would only work for about half the apple before I had eaten everything that I wasn't grabbing. ‘Ah, it seems we are on a mountain. That explains the fresh air. Oh, look, and waterfalls. I always enjoyed the salty coastal air back home. Appropriate, considering my pirate traits. But mountain air will do nicely, too.’

As I looked out I saw Canterlot in the late night/early morning glory. "Ah, that's them," Redheart said and pointed towards the shapes of two distant ponies standing on the balcony of a magnificent spire that was part of an physics-defyingly magnificent palace.

I couldn't make out any details but they seemed to be in the middle of a conversation when their horns lit up and the moon, which was already near the horizon, hastily but gracefully descended the rest of the way, and the sun peeked out from behind a distant mountain. The already breathtakingly magnificent city of silvery moonlight looked as if it was infused with gold as it was hit by the strangely soft light of the morning sun. I was sure that no human had witnessed anything comparable to this since Jurij Gagarin first beheld Earth from orbit. It was hauntingly beautiful.

I sat there, covered by a blanket in a wheelchair in another world, in the body of a unicorn filly with a half eaten apple held in my hoof-wrist, marveling at the sight, when the shorter of the two princesses seemed to notice something. She said something to her sister and they both turned towards my general direction. They stood there for a moment and I got the sense that they knew about me, and that they were looking straight at me.

Then they bowed.

It wasn't submissive kowtowing, it was something between a casual nod of greeting and those bows that you might associate with a duel of honor. At least that's what it looked like from here.

Redheart turned to me, saw my shocked reaction and laughed softly. "If I saw what I just think that I saw, then somepony's got the attention of the majority of all alicorns in Equestria. By the way, you should probably close your eye."

I realized that I had opened my empty eye socket and closed it again as the two princesses turned around and walked back into the tower.


-


The train arrived at Canterlot Station and the former Bearers of the Element of Harmony stepped out to the platform.

A bunch of other ponies and a few non-ponies stepped out as well, but that's not relevant.

Princess Twilight Sparkle was reading a book while waiting for them, oblivious to the pair of royal guards that had been searching frantically for her since their lieutenant had learned that her Highness had left the palace this morning without an escort, without any form of ceremony, without anything.

Princess Celestia had told Twilight that her talent for ignoring distractions while studying would serve her well as a princess, but had not elaborated when Twilight asked her too, only saying she should take breaks from studying every now and then so as to not give the guardsponies ulcers. Twilight had been very confused.

One of the guards nudged the other and pointed towards the five arrivals from Ponyville. The Bearers had performed legendary feats of heroism and skill before, maybe they could help them.

So it was with some dismay that before the guards could act, the group casually trotted over to a bench and greeted their friend, the princess. A bench they had both searched, twice.

The guards looked at each other and then discretely took up position behind the Bearers and pretended that this was how it was supposed to work.

It was not the place of the royal guards ponies to listen in to the conversations of the targets of their protection, but they learned to start paying attention when they were referred to.

"So, you have royal guards following you these days?" the Element of Loyalty asked the princess.

Princess Twilight Sparkle pretended to seem surprised when she looked at them. "Oh! Looks like I do," she said with a smile. "That's impressive, you two. I didn't even notice you."

Internally, the two guards sighed and shared a look. Princess Celestia's mischievous streak could be the stuff of legend if she so chose, but it seemed she had quite a rival in Princess Twilight.

The Elements of Laughter and Loyalty were giggling like crazy behind their hooves while looking sideways at them.


-


I was half lying, half sitting in the bed again, reading a book on Equestria that Redheart had given me. It concerned a lot of things, but never got into details, and there were plenty of pictures. I assume that it was intended for fairly young readers.

I was alone at the moment. Redheart had been in here earlier with Curl Staff, who I noticed, with a small twinge of envy, had the staff of Asclepius as a cutie mark and suddenly her name made a lot more sense. ‘Do these ponies have prophets naming their kids?’

I had just finished reading some fun facts about Canterlot, where a lot of unicorns (like myself) lived. And Cloudsdale, the great pegasi city in the sky, with its artistic marble-like pillars and amphitheaters, when I skipped ahead a bit to the stuff about Equestria's neighbors, like the minotaurs, and the gryphons. ‘Huh. Maybe the whole thing with ancient religions stemming from misunderstood encounters with aliens isn't just a cute pop-culture notion after all? There's a fascinating amount of uh, what's it called? Hellenism, or something, going on around here. But in the words of one of the most awesome fictional characters of all time: On the other hand, it could just be an amazing coincidence.’

The door suddenly opened to reveal Curl Staff, who said, "Gabrielle? Are you in the mood for some visitors?"

Twilight- No, Princess Twilight, had said that she was bringing some friends. I was not the type who craved social contact at all times, but I wasn't quite a hermit either. 

‘I arrived in a strange, new world literally a double-digit amount of hours ago, making friends sounds like a plan, especially since my instincts might get ornery about it if I don't.’ I also quickly added a few things together and realized that these people, ponies, probably had to travel to see me. I couldn't have said no even if I wanted to.

"Sure, happy to," I said and closed the book.

Curl Staff entered and after her followed Princess Twilight and four other ponies of varying colors and, uh, types, with Redheart forming the rear.

The four new ponies all looked at me and I suddenly felt very self-conscious. I was about to attempt a greeting when the most pink thing I've ever seen jacked-in-the-boxed me from under the bed with a huge, toothy grin.

"HI! I'm Pinkie Pie! I was gonna throw you a welcome party when you came to Ponyville but then you took the train to Canterlot instead and now I can throw two welcome parties but now that I think about it maybe you should have one big welcome-to-our-world party and considering how big my welcome-to-Ponyville parties usually are if you make a welcome-to-our-world party on a matching scale then we're gonna need at least-" a very observant listener might have noticed about a tenth of a second pause around here, "-seven thousand, three hundred and fifty acres reserved for it and about a year and a half worth of all of Equestria's agricultural yield-"

A nudging on my left shoulder made me raise my head with a jolt and look around. It was very disorienting since I hadn't realized that I had dipped my head to begin with.

"- but since you might come from another reality altogether we might actually need-" the pink was suppressed, but by no means interrupted, by Princess Twilight shoving a hoof in its mouth.

Twilight looked at me with some concern. "Are you alright?" she asked. I looked around and saw her and the new arrivals, sans pink who was still making muffled noises around the hoof, looking at me with worried faces.

I looked at Redheart, who had been the one who nudged me, with a lost and somewhat confused look. ‘I have no idea what's going on. Please help.’

Redheart was on the ball, another saying that never made any sense to me. "You fell asleep again, dear. Don't worry, it was just a few seconds," she said before giving the pink a displeased look.

I looked around at the gathering of ponies and was a bit grateful to the pink who was helping me by diverting some of the attention I was now getting. "Uh, hi again, Princess Twilight."

Twilight realized that saliva was dripping down her leg and turned to the pink. "Pinkie, please, we can't keep up with you when you get like that," she said and took her hoof out of the still talking pink's mouth, who finished up her attempts at communication.

"I was just saying that I don't actually know how to measure the area we'd need, but the number ends with a nine!" Pinkie said. 

‘I've heard that name before.’

"Don't worry, everypony, Gabrielle here just nodded off from stamina fluctuations. No doubt triggered by being overwhelmed," Redheart said and gave Pinkie a meaningful look.

Twilight spoke up at this. "Oh, just like the last time we were talking. I'm sorry, Gabrielle, we'll try and be more considerate," she said as her ears drooped a little. 

‘Hey! Surly might be one of my defining characteristics, but I try and hide it most of the time and mostly voice my complaints inside my head. Like this.’

The blue pegasus had lifted off sometime during all this and were currently hovering in place when she got very large smile on her face. "And what were you talking about last time?" she asked us in a raspy voice.

"I was telling her about unicorns and magic," Twilight started before being interrupted by a loud guffaw from the blue pegasus and the pink earth pony who had turned over, in midair in the pegasus' case, and were hugging themselves while laughing

"Fell asleep in the middle of a lecture!" the blue one managed between laughs. "Not even here for two days before getting the full Twilight Sparkle experience." 

‘Is this the six million dollar pony who got rebuilt with an old hi-fi needle for vocal chords?’

They eventually calmed down and the blue one landed beside me and held out her hoof. "You're alright, short stuff, give it here."

I held out my own and she punched it, producing a loud “clop!”. I got that strange and slightly disorienting feeling one gets when it feels like a few synapses suffered from friendly fire. ‘I just got a fist pound, bro style, and it went “clop!”. Also, that didn't hurt. but then again I'm supposed to run around on this thing.’

"I'm Rainbow Dash! Fastest flyer in Equestria."

"Gabrielle." I said, relieved that we were now getting on with actual introductions, more familiar waters.

Next up was the earth pony in the hat. "Applejack. Pleased to meet you," she said with a charmingly thick accent.

"Likewise," I said. She settled with grabbing my wrist in hers and shaking it firmly in a way that made me think of old-school business men who claimed to be able to tell a person, by his or her handshake.

A unicorn who interestingly enough seemed to be decorated with make up was next. Like the earlier she extended her hoof and I shook that too, much more delicately. "Rarity, a pleasure to meet you, my dear. And I must say I adore your mane, such boldness!"

"Uh, thanks," I said. 

‘It's true, considering that as far as I know, this hairdo is not the result of products, making it pretty impressive. At least by human standards.’

She then turned around to the only one in the room I had not been introduced to yet. "Fluttershy, dear, come and greet our new friend. After all, we never got the chance the first time," Rarity said.

The remaining pegasus clopped forward and in a very quiet voice said, while hiding most of her face behind her mane, "Hello."

‘”Shy” seems about right. But I have nothing against shyness. After all, I would consider myself to be shy myself if that part of me wasn't overshadowed by my ornery, passive-aggressive, and snarky sides.’

"Hi," I said and turned to Rarity. "What do you mean, 'the first time'?"

"Well," Rarity said. "The first time we met you were not awake. We, and dear Zecora of course, went out to look for you when you arrived in Equestria. Fluttershy here noticed how cold you were and draped her wings over you to keep you warm on the way back to Ponyville."

I imagine that was a bit like holding someone close to you in their arms to share body heat. I didn't really like needing help in that way but that wasn't their fault and I was still grateful, well actually it was sort of Twilight's fault but I had already told her that I wouldn't be angry at her. I looked at the yellow pegasus and with a smile that I made as soft as I could.

"And I baked you those cupcakes that made you feel all better!" the pink one said. Loudly.

I shook my head and tried to remember if she ever gave me her name but my mind was clogged with all the sight, smell, taste, sound and feel of pink. "And your name was... Pinkie Pie, right?."

"That's right!" she said.

"Well, they were really good. And as far as I can tell, they helped. Thanks."

Pinkie looked as though she was about to explode from happiness and I got the feeling that if she did we would be covered in party decorations and frosting.

Curl staff, who had been very quiet, looked as if she tried to clear her head by shaking it. "Oh, that's right, I came in here to take your temperature before leaving you with your visitors," she said as she walked up to me and put her wrist over my forehead. "Well, everything seems to be in order. You might be able to start using magic again sooner than I thought. I imagine you're quite excited for that. Now I have to go fill in some paperwork, I'll be right down the hall if anypony needs me," she said as she walked out of the room.

Twilight looked excited at that. "Oh, that's right. If what happened in the forest was any indication of your abilities, you might qualify for Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns."

"A school for unicorns only?" I blurted out in a slightly accusing tone before putting my hoof over my mouth. I could tell that I was acting before thinking because I tried to do so with my right hoof as well, the human counterpart of which had not existed for some time.

Six of the ponies in the room looked confused but Redheart seemed to understand what I was getting at. "It's not actually only for unicorns, anypony can go there." She paused a bit to consider something. "And by anypony I mean non-ponies as well," she said and gave me a sheepish smile. "I guess that's a bit confusing."

Twilight nodded. "That's right, the school started out as training for unicorns but as it grew more prestigious school it became a place for higher learning for all creatures. If you're interested I really recommend that you go there, it's really nice," she said and got a slightly dreamy look on her face.

"So don't worry about that," Redheart said in a reassuring tone before turning to the six newcomers. "Gabe and I were talking earlier about the different kinds of ponies and she asked if there were any discrimination against earth ponies."

Rainbow Dash gave me a confused look and asked, "why would you worry about that? You're a unicorn."

I wasn't sure if her very genuine sounding question came from her level of intelligence or ignorance but I hoped that it was the latter. In any case the question threw me off balance. How many people are ready with a verbal answer to why social injustices are terrible? You very rarely need to explain that to an adult. "Well, wouldn't that be, you know, awful? If some people were allowed education and some weren't," I said with a bewildered look on my face.

Something dawned on Twilight. "Rainbow, she's talking about the kind of injustices like in the Hearth's Warming Eve story."

Rainbow got a look of comprehension. "Oh, you're talking about that sort of discrimination. Yeah, don't worry about that," she said with a wave of her hoof.

"Is there any other kind?" I asked, genuinely curious about what was considered discrimination around here."

Rarity was the one who answered. "Well, there is the business of unicorns always being placed in back rows in theaters so as to not obscure the vision of other attendees with our horns," she said with a harrumph.

Twilight looked at me with concern on her face. "I, you... you have no way of knowing any of this," she said and looked down again, as she often did when talking to me. "I've taken you from your world into a place where you don't even know if you can be treated with basic dignity."

I was about to protest that when I remembered that the first being I met in this world abducted me to work as a slave in a mine. "I," I started. "I, uh..." 

‘Man, my brain just doesn't work very well today. Hopefully it's temporary.’ 

I shook my head and tried again. "Well, so far you ponies have made a very good impression."

"You're not forgetting what we talked about, are you?" Redheart asked me.

"No, I just. It takes some time to get used to," I said.

"What were you talking about?" Rainbow asked.

"That's not very polite, Rainbow," Rarity said sternly.

"It's nothing," I said and waved my hoof dismissively. "I'm just getting used to being in this form."

"Oh, yeah. Twilight said that you became a pony when you came here," Pinkie Pie said excitedly. "What were you like before?"

"Well, I was a human and- hey!" I exclaimed as I realized something. "Twilight said that there are no humans around here but what if you have a different name for us?"

"Ooh! What do humans look like?" Pinkie said.

All eyes turned to me in curiosity and Twilight said, "yes, I never got the chance to ask you about that the last time," as she levitated a scroll and a quill from her bag which she apparently had left on the couch.

"Well," I started, trying to figure out where to start when giving concise information on humans. "We're bipedal, about one hundred and sixty five to one hundred and eighty five centimeters long on average, plantigrade, omnivorous descendants from apes with vestigial fur."

All the ponies were looking at me in fascination except Twilight, who had started scribbling furiously at the parchment, but slowed down during my description until she came to a complete halt. She reminded me of a fish as she opened and shut her mouth a few times with eyes wide before she noticed the politely questioning look I was giving her, and which the others were joining in on. "Uuuh, continue, please," she slowly said.

"Wwwhhh..." I carefully started. She looked as if she was going to shout something. "... hhhat do you want to know?"

"Oh! Do you have any good fliers?" Rainbow asked.

"We, uh, we don't have wings but we've made machines that can fly fast enough. Also, there are only one type of humans," I said.

"No wings?" Rainbow said with a slightly sad look on her face.

Before I could continue, Twilight spoke up. "But you have manes?"

"Yes, but we just call it hair," I said, wondering what brought that up.

"And you wear clothes all the time?" Twilight asked quickly, sounding either agitated or excited.

"Pretty much."

"And have five long digits at the end of each upper limb?"

"Yes."

"And five shorter ones at the end of your lower ones?"

"Yes."

"And no tails?"

"That's right."

"And rounded, immobile ears that's artistically shaped to channel sound?"

"Mine were always pretty pointy, but yes we-"

"And you drive self-propelled metal carriages, make roads out of tar and gravel and you have devices that you use to share books and music and moving pictures with?"

I had to give this some thought. "... Yeah, I guess that's a good way to describe it."

"By Celestia! I know what you are!" Twilight exclaimed.

The rest of the ponies looked at her in surprise and exclaimed "You do!?"

"Yes, I was transformed into Gabrielle's species when me and Spike went into that mirror in the Crystal Empire," Twilight said and then got a sheepish look on her face. "I, uh, it slipped my mind to ask what the species I was was actually called."

My face was scrunched up, trying to figure out what Twilight had said the day before. "But you said that you were looking at other worlds when you brought me here," I said, letting my question be implied as I couldn't think of a way to ask it tactfully.

"Well, the scrying orb doesn't provide you with any visual or auditory information, it actually-" she was interrupted by Rainbow Dash coughing into a hoof, "... well, it more or less gives you information straight into your brain, so it takes a while to get the same impressions from a world that one would get from looking at it. So it was less that I didn't recognize humans when I saw them and more that I couldn't get enough information related to the inhabitant to remember them."

"But you didn't go to Earth?" I asked.

"Earth?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah, that's the name of my world," I said before waving a hoof and continuing. "Or Terra, or Tellus, or whatever."

"You seem to have a lot of names for the same things, Gabe." Redheart said.

"Gabe?" Rainbow asked.

"That's my nickname, that or Gabby," I said.

"Gabby?" Rarity asked.

"A misnomer, most of the time," I said. "I like Gabe though, so feel free to use it."

"Use it!?" Pinkie Pie asked. I looked at her with an eyebrow expertly raised but the rest of the ponies just ignored her.

I shook my head. "Anyway! I've lost track of what we were talking about, can we go back a few steps?"

Rarity spoke up at this. "Oh, yes darling. Maybe you can tell us about yourself?"

I shrugged, and realized that I have to remember to do that in a mirror since I've never seen an equine shrug before. "Okay, sure, I'm twenty-six, I'm a professional radiographer and specialist in magnetic resonance imaging, which is an anatomy scanner, I was actually the head of a small department where I worked," I said, with some pride in my voice.

Redheart looked especially interested at that. "You mentioned that before and I was wondering, did you work at a hospital?"

"Sure did. Though I'm not a doctor, so don't refer to me that way."

"But you're a foal," Redheart said in disbelief.

‘Oh, yes! Time to finally solve this mystery, once and for all.’ 

"Thank you for reminding me, I've been wondering about that. Why am I like this?" I asked and gestured down at myself.

"Like what?" Twilight asked.

"Like this! A 'foal', as you call it here. Like I said, I'm twenty-six."

There was a pause as the ponies stared at me before Rainbow slowly said. "Yeeaah? Looks about right to me."

My eyebrows were jumping up and down as if on an elastic string as my expression alternated between frowning and questioning. "What do you mean?"

"That you look your age," Applejack said. "About the same as my sister, and she's twenty-four."

My expression was shifting in such a rapid pace it felt like my face was pulsating. "How old are you as an adult around here?"

"Fifty-six," Applejack said.

"I... So I'm...? Uh... How long do you ponies live for?" I asked.

"Around three hundred years or more. Uhm, when are humans adults?" Twilight said.

"Legally? Eighteen. And we usually live to be about eighty-five, though healthy enough people live to be over a hundred." 

‘Like both my great grandfathers. My family could never claim racial superiority even if they've wanted to, seeing as how we're related to them. My parents speculated that thanks to them we were half-human, half-mooring rope.’

"Isn't eighteen a little young to be an adult?" Rainbow asked skeptically.

"Well, we're grown up by then. By the time we're fifty-six we're past our physical prime," I said with a shrug.

"Oh, how dreadful!" Rarity said.

"So you were an adult?" Redheart asked me with a voice full of nouns I couldn't quite place.

"Yeah, with a pretty respectable career," I said, without really managing to keep the pride out of my voice.

"That's pretty impressive there, short stuff," Rainbow Dash said. "So how do you like being a pony?"

I gave this some thought. "I haven't really been awake for it a whole lot but it seems alright so far. Am I really going to live for hundreds of years?"

"I'd like to run some tests about that but seeing as how you're physically your age I'd say yes," Twilight said.

"Physically my age for you ponies I guess," I said.

"Gabe, remember what we talked about," Redheart said kindly.

I nodded as I realized what I said. "Alright, alright. I just- oh! Am I gonna be in puberty until my fifties?" I asked with a voice full of dread.

"Well, that's pushing it," Twilight said. "More likely around forty-five."

That was objectively better, but my mind was running on emotions at the moment. ‘Alright, calm down. You've done it before. It's easier if you know what to expect. And who knows? Maybe this time you can come out at the end of it with the same amount of limbs you started with.’ 

"It... still doesn't sound great," I said.

"Oh, come on! There must be something that you like about it," Rainbow insisted.

"Look, I really hope so. But so far it hasn't been a great experience. I've been suffering from copious fatigue, I can't grasp anything with this-" I waved my hoof for emphasis "- And I can't walk around with only two limbs. Plus I've lost my glass eye," I said while desperately trying to keep my mood from turning sour.

Rainbow was about to answer but Twilight's voice stopped her. "Did," she started, cautiously. "Did that happen to you before you came to Equestria?" she said gestured towards my right side.

"Uh, yeah," I said while trying to figure out while she sounded so nervous. "When I was sixteen," I said and eyed her worried face. "You alright?"

"I... I was afraid that I had done that," she said with ears drooped.

"That you had... oh!" I said as I realized that she was talking about when she brought me to Equestria. "Ah, no. This happened ages ago."

"... It must have been awful," Fluttershy said a small voice. The mood in the room was turning pretty somber now.

I gave a facial shrug. "Well, I would guess so but I can't remember a thing. Apparently, I hit my head pretty hard, as you might suspect," I said and opened my right eye for emphasis. They all cringed and I suspected that these colorful, magical ponies might not be used to dark humor. "On a bright note, my facial muscles all survived. Anyway, the days before it happened are a bit hazy, but as far as I can tell they were like any other, and then I woke up, sort of, in a hospital where I was told I had been in an accident."

The ponies all looked stunned at that little story and I decided to leave the part about my parents for another time. "So, that's that," I said. "Not a happy chapter in my life, but I learned to manage."

The ponies still weren't saying anything so I decided that I should be the one to move the conversation forward. "So anyway, that's one of the reasons why I'm a little iffy about being a pony," I said to Rainbow Dash. "Learning how to use prostheses once was enough."

"You had artificial legs?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah. Or, well, leg, singular. Bipedal and all that," I said.

"So it wasn't so bad?" Pinkie asked.

"Well, it wasn't great. It was just sort of made to use the momentum of my walking motion to create something approaching an acceptable replacement."

"And your foreleg?" Applejack asked.

"Arm, I had one of those lying around too, but that's mostly what it ended up doing, lying around. Since there wasn't much left to control it with -" I gestured to my right shoulder "- it ended up very situational. There was more advanced stuff available, but learning to use the ones I had took enough time and I don't think I would get enough use out of them to make it worth it."

"You said you used your leg to walk. How did you run?" Rainbow asked.

"I didn't," I said a slightly too flat voice.

It seemed like this conversation was set on being of the somber type, with all the ponies looking really down at everything I had to say. That is, all the ponies except Redheart. "Well, at least as a unicorn you can use your magic to help you," she said.

Twilight perked up at this. "That's right. Once you learn how to use that, I'm sure everything will be much easier."

‘That's actually a very good point.’ 

"Well, if you're sure I didn't hurt my ability to use magic or something in the forest."

"We're sure," Redheart said.

"Speaking of learning to use magic," Twilight said. "I talked with Princess Celestia yesterday, and she and Princess Luna would like to meet you."

Redheart and me raised our eyebrows. Me in slight shock and Redheart in amusement at my reaction. "Why?" I asked.

"Oh, one shouldn't presume to speak for a pony in Princess Celestia's position," Twilight said.

"Darling, you do realize that you are Princess Celestia's peer these days?" Rarity said and Twilight's face became very red as her friends laughed softly at her unintentional haughtiness.

"When?" Redheart asked with an amused expression of her own.

"This afternoon," Twilight said. "Do you accept?"

"I, uh, yeah, sure," I said.

"Are any of you in a hurry to get back to Ponyville?" Redheart asked.

There was a general murmur that could be summed up as a general "No, not really."

"Then I won't feel bad for cutting this meeting short. If Gabrielle is going to have an audience with the princesses, she should be in a fresh state."

I realized that I probably hadn't been washed in days. "Oh, Thank you," I said and rolled my eye as Redheart pulled the cover off from me. "Why stop at telling the whole room? I'm sure there's a public announcement system you can use to make sure the whole neighborhood hears it," I continued as I grabbed Redheart's neck and she carried me over to the wheelchair with a good-hearted smile at my comments. "Got any other flattering things to say? No? Alright, see you later," I said and waved to the other six ponies who stood there with confused looks on their faces as I was wheeled into the bathroom. I wasn't actually annoyed at Redheart, but something about her made me want to respond to her light jab in kind.

As we entered the bathroom, Redheart commented on what she had learned during the whole conversation. "So, you're twenty-six and you're an adult?"

"Yeah," I said. "Or I guess I was. I'm actually a bit nervous about that. What if I have the mind of a child with memories of being an adult?"

"We can ask Twilight, or maybe even better, Princess Luna, to look into that. But I have a thought," she said. "What do you think one would be most uncomfortable with, needing help to wash oneself as an adult or as a foal that's old enough to want some independence?"

I gave this some thought. "You mean that you want me to say how embarrassing I think this is going to be? That might be a moot point since I had to have help relearning how to wash myself for a long time as an adolescent. I'm a contaminated specimen," I said jokingly.

Redheart sighed. "Do you always speak about yourself so contemptuously?" she asked as she turned on the faucet in the modern looking bathtub in the far side of the room.

"What? That was a joke," I said.

"But not a nice one," she retorted.

I let out a snort. "Another sign of worrying behavior?"

"... Yes," she said as she tested the temperature of the water.

"Well, you don't need to worry about that. If you think that I'm showing signs of self-loathing, or whatever the medical term is, let me remind you that I made it through the most hormone-intense period of my life being recently mutilated." At those words she whipped her head around to face me with a look of horror and sorrow. "Sorry, that came out a bit harsh, even for me," I said and hung my head. "But you bring out my social side and it's a little rusty."

"It's part of my special talent," she said soothingly and walked up to me. "It's not always easy to hear what ponies say but I hope it helps you to talk about this."

She leaned her neck over me and I grabbed hold like before. "We have professionals to talk to where I come from, too. But I still think it does help. Thank you," I said and caught a look of myself in the mirror. 

‘I think I'm gonna miss this hairdo. But maybe I can learn to redo it. I'm gonna learn magic, after all.’

She slowly lowered me into the tub and I lied down on my stomach. "You don't have to thank me, I'm happy to help."

"Yeah I know. But I'm still grateful and you seem to go out of your way to help. But if you want me to I'll stop of course," I said as she grabbed a shower head in her mouth and started showering me in warm water.

"No, it's just that you don't seem comfortable with giving thanks. It sounds a little... resigned," she said. Still with no noticeable difference despite the shower head.

I sighed, part from muscles relaxing from the warm water, part from laying out personal shortcomings. "Like I said, my social side is a bit rusty. And I grew pretty sick of needing help over the years. It was difficult to feel grateful after a while" Redheart said nothing and I continued. "Still, it just feels proper to do so. Even so, it's pretty easy to thank you, so I hope I haven't made anyone else nervous by thanking them."

"Well, I normally wouldn't be this blunt with a foal. But you do seem a bit rough around the edges," Redheart commented.

I considered this for a few moments. "I can't tell if that's me or if it's you guys. No offense but so far ponies have seemed pretty uh, I dunno, tender? Socially I mean."

"Perhaps, it's just disheartening to see somepony so young being so... bitter."

I raised my eyebrows at this but quickly brought them down again so as to not let anything enter the enormous cavity that was my eye socket. ‘If these ponies are as soft as they seem, well, maybe I should try and adjust myself a bit to their level.’ 

"Listen, Redheart, I'm not gonna try and say that I'm not bitter, and I might not be the happiest person in history, but I'm also not unstable. Don't wear yourself out trying to change that."

Redheart grabbed a brush and started working on my coat. "It's just... difficult for me to see somepony like this and not helping."

"You're helping, believe me. I might show it with a hug some time, but not now. Interesting feeling, by the way. I've never had a coat to brush before." I was already plenty relaxed by the hot water, but this was like having a massage.

Redheart smiled behind the brush. "Did you say humans have manes?" she asked.

"Well, we just call it hair, but brushing it feels nothing like this."

Redheart chuckled and said, "let's see how you like this then."

"Why, what are- Oh! Oooooh!" I said as she started running the brush through my voluminous mane. I let my head rest over the rim of the tub and closed my eye. One would think that a hairdo like that would have tangles like a... like a clever analogy that one simply does not care about while having one's mane brushed.

"... Gabe? Gabrielle? Are you awake?"

I softly opened my eye and looked around. I was in the bathroom, wrapped inside a pink, fluffy towel and sitting in the wheelchair. I let out a content sigh before answering. "Yeah. Did it happen again?"

"Mmm," Redheart answered. "While I was brushing your mane. I let you sleep as I finished washing you."

‘And managed to place me in the wheelchair by yourself, it seems.’ 

"How long?"

"Not long. About fifteen minutes," Redheart said and took the towel off me and hung it up on a rack, leaving me with still slightly damp, straight hair so long that it almost counted as a towel in itself.

‘Not nearly as long as in the beginning.’ "That must mean that it's wearing off?" I asked.

"If you mean the Wisp-Shimmer Syndrome, then yes," she said and I felt something like an enormous electrical charge building up in my scalp.

I brought my hoof up to feel around my neck. "What's going on?" I said, trying not to sound nervous.

Redheart looked as she was about to answer when I touched my mane and it, along with my tail, practically exploded into the same shape as it had before the bath. I let out a startled "Ah!" and Redheart actually laughed loudly at the sight. As her laughter died down I softly touched my hair with a wide eye.

"So," she said after a while. "Are you ready to meet the princesses?"

I rallied from the surprise of my mane spectacle. "You tell me," I said with a small smirk. "You're the one who insisted that I stank too much and I haven't had time to judge the results yet."

"You know what I mean," Redheart said and I could hear that she was smiling as she wheeled me out of the bathroom.

"Well, what are they like?" I asked.

We exited the room out into the hallway. "The princesses? I've never met Princess Celestia myself but everypony knows that she is as kind as she is wise," Redheart said before hastily continuing with, "and that she's very wise."

"Okay," I said and gave an even nod. "That's comforting. By the way, do you have prosthetic eyes around here?"

"We've actually got an expert coming in to make you one," she said as we got to the end of the hall where Princess Twilight and her friends were waiting.

"You've got an expert coming in just for one person?" I asked.

"Well, yes," Redheart said like it was a matter of course. "There's nopony on-hoof for serious eye injuries since they're not very common."

"They're not?" I said in a dubious tone. 

‘How can they not be? Eyes around here are huge!’ I wondered as I waved to the waiting ponies. 

"Hey, guys."

"Hi!" three of the six ponies said while Pinkie and Rainbow instead went with, "heya!" and Applejack with a "howdy."

"So what's not what?" Rainbow asked as she suddenly hovered a few inched from my face.

"What's not what's not what?" I asked

"I dunno, that's why I'm asking."

"You've lost me, Rainbow Dash," I said and she suddenly flinched away. "What now?"

"Sorry," she said and landed. "It's just, your eye is kinda creepy." I realized that I had brought up both my lids and closed my right one again. "I was just wondering what you two we're talking about. Also, just 'Rainbow' or 'Dash' is cool."

"Oh, okay, uh eye injuries, actually. Redheart said that they're not common and I thought that was strange. People around here have enormous eyes compared to back home," I said. "They're like tarsiers."

"What's a tarsier?" Twilght asked.

"Oh, it's a nocturnal monkey," I said. "Or no, they're probably primates. Anyway, they've got huge eyes. I think they probably live tranquil lives with such huge vulnerable spots on their faces."

"What vulnerable spots?" Twilight asked in confused voice.

"Their eyes," I said and looked dubiously at her. "What, eyes work differently around here?"

"Well, I don't know about Tellus, but eyes aren't very vulnerable around here, they're just very sensitive," Twilight said.

"Pff! Speak for yourself," said Rainbow, who had taken off again and was seemingly lounging in midair.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Most creature's eyes are sensitive. Pegasi and other flyers often have a higher tolerance."

Rainbow was suddenly grabbed from the air, with a startled "Hey!", by Pinkie who held Rainbow's face up to me and said, "Yeah, wanna see?" before shoving her hoof into Rainbow's eye and rubbing it lightly.

Rainbow showed no signs of discomfort at having her eyeball massaged by a lump of keratin, her only sign of displeasure being an exasperated "Pinkie..."

Pinkie let her go with a defensive "What? She was curious."

"Yeah, but your hoof was dirty," Rainbow said and started rubbing against her eyeball with the back of her hoof.

"Don't worry, Dash, I've got it." Applejack said as she removed her hat, picked out a handkerchief from it, spat in the handkerchief and used it to scrub Rainbow's eyeball.

"Oh yeah, that's so much better," Rainbow said, her voice thick like a sarcastic milkshake.

Her tone was one-upped by Rarity, however, who said, "Yes, darlings. Please get the brutish mannerisms out of the way before we visit the castle."

I could only watch the scene with my mouth hanging open in disbelief. After a moment I heard Redheart's amused voice behind me. "Does that answer your question, Gabe?"

I didn't answer straight away. Instead I brought my hoof up to me eye and considered. People are always careful with their eyes, people using their spare are even more so. I closed my eye and poked it through the lid. It felt like a hard rubber ball. I opened my eye again, thought for a moment, then lightly poked myself in the eye. I immediately brought down my eyelid out of reflex but the action didn't hurt nearly as much as it would've as a human. "Yeah," I said slowly in the darkness. "Yeah, that answers my question."

"Anyway," Twilight said loudly. "We should probably get going now unless we want to hurry."


-


We were walking down the streets of Canterlot on the way to the castle. And by that I mean that six of us were walking while I was sitting in a wheelchair looking slack-jawed at the eighth member of our group.

Rainbow was lying on top of a small cloud which was cruising along about ten feet of the ground. The altitude I could understand, after all, not only was Canterlot impossibly beautiful, as it turns out it was also on a mountain. But the cloud was about the size of a bed and managed to look Fluffy.

"You see?" Rainbow said triumphantly to me. "Nothing to it! You should see me clearing an overcast sometime."

"Did you get to the part about Cloudsdale in the book I gave you, Gabe?" Redheart asked.

"Well, yeah, I skimmed to it," I said slowly. 

‘I thought it meant that it was a city among the clouds, not made of clouds.’ 

"That's, that's really cool," I said, not able to hold back my awe.

"Yeah," Rainbow said nonchalantly. "Being a pegasus, especially one as awesome as me, is pretty cool, I admit."

When learning about the different types of ponies it seemed that I had been handed, or hoofed, the long stick, with alicorns seemingly off the table. But seeing Rainbow just being herself as a pegasus made me think the other options might not have been so bad. Earth ponies were apparently incredibly skilled and adaptive despite having no wings or magic horns. ‘Unicorns suddenly don't seem that superior to pegasi, it might turn out the same way about earth ponies.’

The streets were made of cobblestone but they were almost completely flat and I couldn't tell if it was by design or from wear. We crossed peacefully rippling rivulets on small bridges decorated with flowers and ribbons. The hospital and the castle were unsurprisingly located in central parts of the city, connected by large roads. But occasionally the scenery opened up and I could see picturesque parks and landscapes among the gently gleaming buildings, with lots of stylized shrubberies and those trees you see in movies in ancient Rome or Greece that I'm pretty sure are called cypress trees.

No smog, no incessant din of tires on asphalt in the distance, no groaning old air conditioners. Those sounds you don't realize were there until they go away? There were so many of them gone from this magical equivalence to an urban landscape and I took in the fresh mountain air of Canterlot and thought, ‘Good riddance.’

"Gabrielle? We're here."

I opened my eye and yawned. "I guess you're gonna laugh now, Rainbow. You seem like the type to do that," I said dejectedly.

"I won't say that you don't look absolutely adorable when you sleep, darling," an amused Rarity said as I turned to face her, with Fluttershy nodding in agreement. "Nor will I deny your assumption of our dear Rainbow Dash. But if she would laugh it would make her something of a hypocrite," she continued and gestured to the side where I saw Rainbow Dash snoozing peacefully on the cloud from earlier with Twilight apparently tugging it along with her magic.

"I can laugh if you want me to, though," Pinkie said. "You looked mostly cute and cuddly but it looked pretty fun too!"

"I'm okay with not being laughed at, thanks," I deadpanned.

"Okay, then I'll just cuddle since you looked so cuddly!" Pinkie said as she shot forward and hugged me, seemingly completely covering me in pink hair. I was about to protest but all my attention was drawn to all the knickknacks she had lying around in her mane. Things like a joke nose, a monopoly hat, a spanner, a picture of a gray pony with straight hair and something that looked like a driver's license.

We apparently started moving again and I heard Fluttershy's voice say "Uh, Pinkie, I think you're making her uncomfortable."

The pink was pulled back and I saw that we were standing in front of a large flight of stairs leading to the entrance of a great hall. Someone else might have used the word “vestibule”, but having gone to medical school, I refrained from doing so.

"Alright, we're here," Twilight said, magically lifted Rainbow off from the cloud, placed her in a standing position on the ground and gently shook Rainbow's head.

Rainbow stumbled a bit as she woke up. "Wha!? Hey! What gives!?"

"Oh," Twilight said and grabbed my wheelchair in her aura. "That was just a small payback for all the pranks you come up with all the time."

Rainbow looked thoroughly embarrassed as the other ponies sniggered at her. "You have no idea how much I had to practice that," Twilight said quietly to me. "The cochlea of pegasi makes them incredibly sensitive to the wrong sort of movement while they sleep."

"I believe you," I said absentmindedly as I took in the surroundings we were passing through. It wasn't the type of cramped medieval castle in grey bricks you see in pictures. It was bright, open, and somehow not cold like you might suspect a very open building almost entirely made of stone to be. 

At the end of the hall was another flight of stairs and I looked back to see that Redheart was still with us. ‘No ramps on these stairs. As wonderful as this place seems so far, that's one point in Earth's favor.’

My heart jumped so hard it hurt a little when two mannequins in armor standing at the sides of the foot of the stairs brought their forelegs up in a salute. The guards had been standing so still I thought they were part of the decoration.

When we had ascended the stairs, I got another, slightly smaller shock as Twilight nodded to two more guards I had thought were mannequins who opened the large doors in front of us.

"This is the royal gallery," Twilight said as we entered. "It's where- oh!" She stopped herself when she saw who were in front of her.

Two regally tall, winged and horned ponies turned away from the stained glass windows on our right to face us. All the ponies except Twilight and me bowed to them.

I had seen plenty of magical ponies by now, but none that looked as magical as these. One majestic, graceful looking, midnight blue with a swirling mane made out of cloudless night, and the other an even larger, white, with a mane of an ethereal rainbow. Based on Redheart's description, and on Twilight's mannerisms, I assumed that it was okay that I didn't fling myself out of the wheelchair to bow as well. ‘It looks a bit submissive, but going down on your knees as a pony around here seems more akin to casually sitting down, and just bowing your head doesn't seem to cut it. So yeah, I guess folding ones forelegs is all that's left.’

"Please, rise," the white one said. 

‘This must be Princess Celestia.’

The ponies did so. Redheart a little more hesitantly than the rest. Twilight just dipped her head respectfully. "Princess Celestia, Princess Luna. Allow me to present Gabrielle of Tellus."

The book I had read said that Celestia had ruled Equestria for what would probably be called “an age”, or more, seeing how this was a magical world and all. And her smile was one that you probably would have to practice for millennia to achieve. "A pleasure to meet you, Gabrielle of Tellus. I am Princess Celestia. My sister and I bid you welcome to Equestria." She stepped forward and offered her hoof, which I slowly shook.

Princess Luna stepped forward, not to be outdone. "We hope the day finds you well, We are Princess Luna." Another hoofshake.

I could keep a stoic face, I think. I could also whip up a good response in a respectable time. Doing both was harder, though. But after struggling a bit I rallied. "Gabrielle Desrochers," I said and swallowed back my nervousness. "It's an honor to meet you, your majesties." 

‘Is it “majesty” if it's a monarch even though they're princesses? Argh, I should've asked.’

My trail of thought was broken by Rarity's voice. "Hmm," she said. "Such fine manners, but I must ask: 'Desrochers'?"

"Uh, my surname," I said, feeling a bit sheepish that it never came up before now.

"Just how many names do you have?" Rainbow asked.

"Well," I said. "If we start counting 'of Tellus' as one it'll be four."

Rainbow was looking of to the side and seemed to be counting quietly to herself. "I'm counting five."

"What?" I asked.

"Yeah, 'Gabrielle', 'Gabe', 'Gabby', 'Desrochers' and 'of Tellus'."

"Does two and three count?"

"No, they're nicknames. Anyway..." Twilight said before trailing off and looking at her fellow princesses.

"Ah, yes," Princess Luna said, sounding a bit pompous. "The royal banquet awaits." The two princesses turned around and walked down the hall.

‘Oh, well this was a short meeting. At least I got to see some interesting sights on our way here.’ The princesses' manes flowed in an nonexistent breeze and as Celestia's substantial, rainbow colored mane swept over her sister's moon adorned flank I had to put in an effort to not snigger at the impromptu Pink Floyd reference. Luckily I was distracted by being wheeled forward fast enough to catch up with the diarchs.

‘What? Am I gonna be on this banquet?’ 

"Uh," I started carefully and looked around to make sure that the rest of the ponies were still with us. "Royal banquet?" I quietly asked Twilight, who was walking along beside me.

"Yes, of course," she noticed my confused look before continuing. "Don't worry, it'll all make sense soon."

I hadn't learned much about Equestria at this point, but it seemed similar enough to Earth that I could make qualified guesses about many things and it made me worry that this banquet was going to be of the baroque fashion. The thought of doing anything other than playing along at this point sounded like a terrible idea, however. We moved down the carpeted corridors of the castle with guards constantly saluting our group and the occasional other pony moving out of the way and bowing deeply. Despite the apparent size of the castle when seen from the distance, we didn't have to walk long, or climb any stairs, before arriving at a large hall with a long table and several very large, cushioned chairs around it. 

‘That was convenient. But come to think of it, this is probably far from the only hall that's suitable for a banquet.’

I was helped by Redheart into my chair, glancing around and seeing the others taking several different positions. Rarity was lying like a dignified cat, which the chairs were large enough to accommodate, Twilight much like Rarity except in a more casual manner, Rainbow lying on her back while leaning her elbow against the arm of her chair, and Pinkie was for some reason sitting like a human. ‘I wonder if arm chairs are called foreleg chairs around here.’

"Nurse Redheart," Celestia's soft voice said. "I'm a bit embarrassed to say that we did not think to invite you to this event directly, but you are welcome to join us."

Redheart dipped her head to Celestia. "I'm honored, your majesty," (‘Ah, that should answer that’) she said before taking a place beside me and giving me a smile after taking off her hat.

I was a bit relieved by the casual ways a lot of ponies were sitting in their chair. That, coupled with the apparent tenderness of at least Princess Celestia, gave me the courage to speak up. "Uh, I just wanna say that... I have no idea how to behave at a royal banquet so, I'm sorry if I do something inappropriate."

"Even should you offend intentionally," Princess Luna said. "It would behoove us to show you lenience."

"It would?" I asked with all the subtlety of a tornado.

"What my sister means, in this case" Celestia said. "Is that you are the only visitor from your world. A world which has been connected to ours, however fleetingly, and could be so again."

I was about to ask more questions before Celestia continued. "As such, you are the font of all knowledge of your world of Tellus, or Terra, which, and I'm sorry to put such a responsibility on one so young, places you in a form of an ambassadorial role."

I was silent for a few moments as I considered this. ‘Well, yeah, that makes sense I guess. Even so, an ambassador is a pretty high rank. How much do they expect of me? I'm not much of a people person.’

"Gabrielle, do you understand what I am saying?" Celestia said.

"Uh, yeah. I think I do," I said, a bit more absentmindedly than I would have liked to, seeing as how I was addressing actually ruling royalty.

"Of course; nopony expects you to perform all the duties of an actual ambassador," Celestia said in a calming yet apologetic tone. "Which would not be possible as there is no current correspondence between our worlds. I would never ask a foal to do such a thing."

‘That's a relief. Even so, I should address the age issue right away.’ 

"Uh, about that," I said, "I'm not sure you know this, but I'm twenty-six and by human standards that means I've been an adult for eight years."

The two princesses were looking at me with wide eyes in silence for a moment, before Luna said, in a very pedestrian tone, "It does?"

"Yeah," I said. "I thought it might be best to get that out in the open quickly. I think I've been worrying a few of your... subjects with my behavior."

"That still amazes me. I didn't see much, but I couldn't help notice how advanced humans of Terra seemed when I was studying them," Twilight said and before anyone could answer, a small train of carts with metal-covered food plates were rolled in from a door on the opposite side of where we entered by ponies with neutral expressions.

Everyone around the table went silent and looked in anticipation as they we had large plates covered in metal bowls placed in front of us by very gracefully moving ponies dressed in fancy clothing. From the waist up at least.

"We have received some information about your diet, Gabrielle," Celestia said. "And after consulting with a dear friend of ours, a diplomat called Arnfried, we asked our chef to prepare an old favorite of visiting gryphons."

I realized that I was in the presence of royal herbivores. Seeing as they were magical I wasn't sure how close they were to horsies back home, but I knew I had eaten horse meat and hoped that no one would be terrified or offended if that ever came out. Fruits and vegetables and nuts are fine but I tend to prefer a lot of it uncooked. I was starting to dread that I was going to have to sit and pretend to enjoy very small amounts of expensive salads. ‘Would that be a banquet in magical pony land?’ I thought. But before I could start fretting for real, the chefs removed the bowls to reveal...

‘Halloumi? Hey, I love halloumi!’ 

Back home, people wouldn't count this as a center part of a dinner, which I would have disagreed on. Score one for Equestria. I gave a smile and decided I should turn to share it with the ones who had brought the food in but they had already turned away and were heading back the way they came. There were other foods of course. Mostly salads but I was accustomed to salads in fancy locales being mostly decorative.

Everything was silent, I looked around to see that everyone were facing me with expectant looks and then jumped as I felt something brush against the side of my head. I looked around but there was no one within reach of me.

"Gabrielle?" Celestia asked. "What's wrong?"

"Uh," I started, a lot less sure about the situation than I would've liked. "I just felt something."

"Felt what?" Applejack asked.

"Something brushing the side of my head."

Everyone was silent for a moment before Twilight spoke up. "Oh! That's right, Gabrielle, since you were a human you're probably not used to mobile ears." Then looked around at the others and said, "Human ears are in a fixed positions."

I reached up and tried to touch my left ear, but I had to look for it since it was folded down. Rainbow apparently found this royally amusing as she was trying to stifle a laugh with her hooves, Applejack was chuckling, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Redheart were giving me looks that one would give a sleeping puppy while Luna was looking at me with an utterly neutral expression and Celestia was giving me a comforting smile.

"Yeah, well, you were all looking at me," I grumbled a bit indignantly.

"It is proper custom to let the guest start with the meal," Luna said with no amount of impatience or disapproval that I could detect.

‘Oh, that's right! There are still meals in front of us.’ I looked at Redheart and gave her a look.

"Your majesties," Redheart said. "Gabrielle is unable to use her manipulation field at the moment and has no experience with unicorn magic, or magic of any kind, and I feel that this might not be the time for a lesson in basic magical manipulation. I'll take it upon myself to help Equestria's guest with her meal."

Celestia smiled at her. "Your dedication is admirable," she said and her horn lit up.

Redheart's chair and her own food was brought into the air and landed close enough for her to help me. I gave her a grateful look and held out my hoof. She took my fork in her mouth and held it out for me to grab it with my wrist.

As she did, I considered the role of the hooves versus the role of the mouth as the primary ways ponies seemed to interact with the world around them. Humans had the handshakes and the hugs (mostly for people who aren't me), while ponies seemed to have the hoofshake. But at least Earth Ponies and probably pegasi as well seemed to also used their mouths to use tools and carry things around. I found an amusing thought in that if ponies decided to greet each other with their other primary manipulator, there would be a lot of casual kissing going on all the time. That turned the amusing thought a bit somber as it reminded me of my mother. With a name like mine I guess it's not very surprising that I grew up being constantly pecked on the cheeks.

I shook some bittersweet memories away and focused on my food. I managed to stab a piece with my fork and bring it to my mouth. It might've been considered a bit of a mouthful as a human, but it was fine with a muzzle. There was probably a joke in there about having a long face but I didn't bother thinking one up, I was too distracted by the food. It was fit for a king, or in this case a trio of princesses.

"So, Gabrielle Desrochers," Luna said a minute or so after everyone had started eating. "Would you mind telling us about yourself?"

I looked around at the magical, talking ponies that were looking at me. ‘I'm the interesting one around here?’ 

"Well, in short I'm a twenty-six year old radiographer, specializing in magnetic resonance scanning. It's a technology for scanning people medically," I said.

Luna nodded while looking politely interested before continuing. "Pray tell, in what situation were you in when you moved from Terra to Equestria?"

Twilight's face grew red. "I... can't believe I forgot to ask that," she said in a low voice.

She had assumed the worst before so I decided to give her the unexciting truth. "I was just preparing to go home for the day, closing down shop at the department where I work. An MRI machine requires special rooms to house it and everyone else had already left. I was just putting out the lights when suddenly I was here in Equestria, in the body of a pony." I tried to remember the details about it but it just seemed so mundane of a situation, before I remembered my state after arriving and letting out a small, slightly horrified laugh. Everyone around looked at me wonderingly. "I just remembered, I got here without my clothes, if they stayed behind, the only thing people would've found of me the next day would be a set of clothes and a prosthetic leg and eye lying beside the machine... they must've freaked out," I said with a nervous chuckle.

Luna frowned ever slightly at this. "Not the ideal first interaction between our worlds," she said.

Twilight's ears drooped and she seemed to struggle to find something to say. I decided to help her out. "I'm sure it'll be fine." 

‘Not the most reassuring response, but it's the truth.’ I absentmindedly reached for the glass in front of me.

"May I steer the conversation in a more pleasant direction?" Celestia said in a cheerful voice while turned to her sister.

"If our guest does not disapprove, sister dear," Luna said as I took a drink.

Celestia faced me with a cheery but questioning look on her face. ‘Ugh. Please don't say that we have to dance around issues like this in order to be polite,’ I thought as I took a gulp of some very nice soft drink or other. I shrugged noncommittally.

"I just thought I'd point out that Gabrielle seems to adjust very smoothly to being a pony," Celestia said and gestured towards me.

At first I was a bit confused until I realized that I was looking at her through the bottom of a glass. I carefully removed the glass from my mouth and looked at it as it was pressed by some invisible force against my hoof. Worried that I might mess up by thinking about what I was doing I carefully placed the glass down on the table and simply opened my fingers. The glass was released and I looked at my hoof.

"I have to say, Gabe," Redheart said and gave me a smile. "It took the rest of us a lot more time than four days before we learned to use our hooves to grip things with."

‘Don't cheer too loudly yet, I've only managed it once.’ I brought my hoof to the fork and tried grabbing it. ‘Science is repeatable, after all.’

I hovered with my hoof over the utensil in what I assumed was like holding a hand with your palm down, and grabbed simply willed my fingers to close, grabbing the fork in the process. The fork was lifted from the table and looked as if attached to the hoof. My "fingers" for lack of a better word, felt... not exactly numb. It's difficult to describe to someone who has not felt it themselves, but receiving signals from non-existent parts of your body was something I was familiar with, and so was this sensation. Luckily, this time it didn't seem to include periods of pain and spikes of outright agony.

I felt pleased about what I had achieved though. ‘If I can move around with magic and practice some telekinesis, I'll be ahead of myself as a human.’ 

I looked around and saw the others around the table having surprised and impressed expressions. "What?" I asked.

"That is an impressive display," Luna said. "How far does your reach extend?"

"I'm sorry?" I asked. 

‘I'm guessing she's not talking about how long my foreleg is, she can probably tell.’

"How far from your hoof can you hold your utensil?" Luna said.

I simply shifted the fork between what would have been my index and middle fingers.

I noticed that Twilight's horn had lit up and she looked concentrated. She “powered down” and spoke up. "No wonder she couldn't use her field, it's been reshaping to look like human digits."

Princess Luna looked on in interest and her sister looked pleased. "A joyous development," Celestia said. "I certainly hope that this helps you during your time in Equestria."

"No doubt," I said and speared another piece and put it in my mouth. 

‘Aaah, that feels satisfying.’ 

"People seems to have gone out of their ways to help me since arriving here, it's gonna be nice to regain some independence. I felt like I was taking up a little too much of everyone's time."

"Please do not think anything of the sort, dear Gabrielle. I wish for you to feel welcome among my little ponies."

A pang of sadness shot through me and just managed to keep back a small grimace. Or at least I thought I did, but not thoroughly enough to fool a millennia-old divine monarch. "Gabrielle? What's wrong?" Celestia asked.

‘This is one of the many reasons I like alone time. Every now and then something comes up and I get emotional, sometimes I don't even know why.’ 

"Oh, nothing. Just remembering."

"Was it something I said?" Celestia asked.

I'm not as fast of a learner as I might've sometimes liked, but I had already figured out that fooling Princess Celestia required more than my measly skills of deception. I nodded. "Well, yes. What you said reminded me of my mother," I said and winced inwardly. This might not have been much for someone else but for me this was like pouring my heart out to nine almost strangers.

"I'm sorry," Twilight said and looked down. "I've taken you from your family."

‘Ah... I had gotten the feeling that something was chewing at her. Well, I would've preferred to not have a heart-to-heart with, well, anyone. But if Twilight is beating herself up about something that's no longer an issue then I really should intervene.’ 

"No, you haven't," I said.

Twilight looked at me and for a second I saw a flash of relief across her features before her eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

‘Alright, time for sharing, I guess. Let's see, do not sound bitter, sad, apathetic or angry...' 

"They're gone," I said. 

‘Well, I guess melancholic will have to do. It's better than that time I tried sounding flippant about it. Never doing that again.’

"That accident I told you about?" I said and looked around at the shocked ponies. "They didn't make it."

I was growing a bit sick of the looks of utter horror I got from ponies whenever I revealed anything about myself so tried to get the conversation over with as quickly as I could. "And to clarify, your majesty," I said and turned to Celestia and tried to give her my best don't-worry-about-it expression. "When you said 'my little ponies', it reminded of my mother who used to call me 'my little Koh-I-Noor' when I was younger."

Celestia's head dropped a little and she gave me a sad look. "I see. I hope I did not tear open old wounds with my remark."

"Mm, Poked a tender spot, perhaps," I said and took another bite. "Anyway, if you're gonna show me lenience, I'm gonna show you some back."

"Even so," Celestia said. "I'm sorry."

"If you feel that it's something that merits an apology then I'll accept it," I said. "but I prefer it when... how do I put this? I don't like it when people react like me losing my parents is the end of the world. Because It felt like it, at the time. And it would be nice to not be reminded of that as often."

"Then I hope you'll accept my apology for doing so," Celestia said.

"I'm not going to hold it against you for showing me empathy," I said.

The sadness in Celestia's smile lessened somewhat. "You are interestingly mature for your age."

"Like I said, I've been an adult for years," I said and looked around. Most still looked very sad at the news about my parents. "So no," I said with emphasis to Twilight. "You have not separated me from my family. No siblings and with parents that didn't have any siblings either. Now, I'm not gonna say that no one will miss me, but I had just moved to a new town to run the department where I worked and I don't make friends fast, so I only had acquaintances."

This did not seem to help. "You didn't have any friends?" She asked.

‘I just can't win, can I?’ 

I let out a sigh. "I'm trying to cheer you guys up, can you start going with the program already?"

I felt a hoof touch my foreleg and turned to see Redheart looking at me. "I told you earlier, Gabe, this is difficult to listen to. And as you told me, yes, we ponies are emotionally tender."

I rolled my eye. "I've noticed. And that's why I'm trying to tell you not to worry." I turned to the other ponies and said, "look, I don't like telling people off, especially when they're showing that they care, but it was a long time ago and nothing can be done about it."

Everyone around the table looked sad but Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were practically looking heartbroken. "We're just trying to make you feel better," Pinkie Pie said.

"Yes, I appreciate that. And if you guys would cheer up then it would work, too. I get that you care, but making everyone feel down is not helping me cheer up," I said.

"We understand," Fluttershy said.

"And I get it that you guys came all the way from Ponyville just to visit me. So, seriously, thank you."

And that's when almost everyone got out of their seats, walked up to me and gave me a big hug. ‘No! Too much. Abort. Abort! Agh! We're all technically naked, too!’

The princesses had moved up behind us and were standing there with satisfied expressions when the hug finally broke. "It seems that the dinner is drawing to a close," Celestia said. I looked down on the plates and saw that they were all empty. "And evening is drawing nearer. Perhaps you would like to view your new living arrangements, Gabrielle?"

"New living arrangements?" I asked.

"Of course," Luna said. "We spoke with Doctor Staff earlier and she approved of releasing you from the hospital. And through no fault of your own you now find yourself without means. We will provide for Equestria's newest diplomatic visitor."

"Provide how?" I asked.

"We're giving you a suite in the castle, Gabrielle," Celestia said. "And possibly arranging for medical visits," she continued and looked a bit uneasily at me. I sheepishly closed my right eyelid.

"Shall we?" Luna said and started moving towards a door.


-


We moved through the castle and I realized that I had been too stunned to express my gratitude for the princesses offer. But being as perceptive as the princesses seemed to be, I assumed that they got the gist of it.

"By the way, Gabrielle. Why did your mother call you 'Koh-I-Noor'?" Rarity asked.

"The Koh-I-Noor is a famous diamond. And she called me that after my middle name, Eleanor," I said.

"More names?" Rainbow asked.

As before, servants bowed and guards saluted as we moved through the magnificent castle and we ascended two fairly significant flights of stairs before we reached a large door on the side of a decorated hallway. Beside the door stood large vases with flowers and the floor was covered by a red carpet which I assumed was very soft but I never touched it as I was wheeled along in my chair.

Princess Luna opened the door with her blue aura and we filed in. "Would these accommodations be to your liking?" she asked.

I looked around the suite. It was very large but still managed to look cosy. The orange sun illuminated a large bed with bed posts and nightstands which took up one side, surrounded by a large number of cushions in different sizes, some of them looking like comfortable sleeping spots, themselves. A vanity and changing area with wardrobes on another side, which seemed a bit superfluous as I had seen very little in the way of clothes so far. A large, decorated window and glass door took up one wall which led out to a balcony and could be covered by a set of curtains. A door on the far side of the wall obviously led to a private bathroom and in one corner was a study area that could be covered by another set of curtains. Strategically placed to be enjoyed while being located in several of the room's areas was a large fireplace with an armchair in front of it. Add to it all was a lot of carpets and a few potted plants. In short, it was almost unnervingly luxurious. "I'm not sure anyone could ever have a problem with this," I said quietly.

"Oh, what a marvelous room, darling," Rarity said. "You have to let me stop by sometime and let myself get some inspiration."

"Yeah," Rainbow said. "There's not a lot that beats a cloud home, but this is pretty close. Nice pad, short stuff!"

"Please excuse us, everypony," Luna said and she and Celestia opened the door to the balcony and stepped out. The sun had turned a pleasant orange and as the princesses' horns lit up and the sun descended beyond the horizon and the castle was instead covered in moonlight as the stars shone brightly in the night sky.

The princesses walked back in and Celestia spoke up. "Everypony, Gabrielle is still suffering from the later stages of Wisp-Shimmer Syndrome. The more she rests up the sooner she can start learning magic."

I didn't need any more motivation than that. "Thanks for everything today, you guys," I said. Which turned out to be something of a mistake as it resulted in another group hug.

"We'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Twilight said as they all walked out, except Redheart.

"I'm just gonna help her into bed, your majesties," she said. and moved me up to the bed.

"Of course," Princess Celestia said. "Gabe, if you ever need any assistance, just say the words “Room service, please.” This will summon somepony to aid you."

I shifted my eye as I tried to figure out how that was supposed to work. "What, really?"

"Of course," Luna said as Redheart positioned herself over me and I grabbed hold. "Our little ponies pride themselves in their diligence. Visiting dignitaries leave Canterlot with high thoughts about the castle staff."

Redheart put me down on the bed. "So it works through magic?"

"Indeed," Luna said. "And similarly, the guards will respond when you say the word “guards” thrice in short succession.

"Uh, cool," I said as Redheart threw the cover over me and I looked dejectedly at the princesses. "And now your latest diplomatic visitor is being tucked in in front of you."

Princess Celestia put her hoof to her mouth and held back a laugh. "This is not the first time that's happened."

It sounded like an interesting story there but it might be another time for that.

"Also, thanks today, Gabe," Redheart said.

"What for?"

"I got to attend to a royal banquet thanks to you," she said and winked at me. "Goodnight."

"Yes, we wish you a pleasant night," Luna said as the three ponies started moving towards the door. "We shall continue to keep your dreams peaceful."

I had been about ready to call it a day when that caught my attention. "Wait. What do you mean?" I asked. Celestia gave us a smile and she and Redheart walked out while Luna stayed behind.

"We are the Princess of The Night and the guardian of the astral realm. We watch over our subjects' dreams and keep their rest calm and joyous," she stated proudly.

"You mean you've watched over me in my dreams before?"

"Well, not exactly," she said. "When you first arrived we noticed that somepony had suffered from a rabidly feverish dream. It turned out to be you, no doubt because your affliction as well as your transformation into your current form."

"I think I remember that..." I said.

"Yes, so we quelled your troubled mind and let you deal with your predicament subconsciously, without interrupting your rest and waking you with disorienting images."

"You helped me come to grips with my situation in my dreams?"

"Yes," she said and failed to stifle a yawn. 

‘Well, that explains a bit.’

"Long night?" I asked.

"More like short day," she said. "Please don't tell our sister we slipped out of royal decorum."

It was actually a bit comforting to see the up until now no-nonsense diarch act a bit casual, if only for a moment. "You, uh, work night shifts?"

Luna nodded. "That is one way to put it."

"So you got up early to attend the banquet?" I asked.

"Certainly. It would be poor form to refrain from attending."

"Wow. Thanks. But, uh, does that mean that you see what people dream about?"

Luna looked at me for a second. "Well, we have ways of telling whether our presence would be welcome or not," she said and rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof. "Even so, when visiting dreams, one should be careful not to reveal one's presence too soon. More than once we have made a discreet exit when mares and stallions dream of each other."

I thought for a about a second about that before I burst into a furious snigger. Luna no doubt thought it was a girly giggle but it had more to do with me being reminded of last week when I sat down on my remote control and zapped on my TV, whereupon I ended up watching a very humorous documentary about Fabio, where the word “stallion” was extensively used.

My “stamina fluctuations” acted up again and I fell asleep on a bright note, even though I didn't notice.