//------------------------------//
// Waking Up 
// Story: Natureshy: RotE Episode 11 
// by Dream Volt 
//------------------------------//

	I woke up in my cottage, Whispy hovering next to my face.  When I opened my eyes she smiled.  Then I frowned.

"It wasn't a dream, was it?"

She shook her head.  "Sorry my queen, but no."

"Uh, can't say no right?"

She nodded.  "Yes.  Vorry not, I think you will make a great queen."

"Uh, I could be wrong since I don't pay to much attention but Rarity talks about royalty a lot and, well…"

"It is a fey quirk.  Empress might be more accurate, but the fae are no empire, and most are not queens of nations, but of people.  Such an oddity is minor compared to some things in the fey courts."

"Okay, you've seen she's fine.  Now get out of here you crazy dame."

I looked around for the voice, but saw nothing.  It was male and coarse, but something sounded really odd about it.  It was like I was hearing it but at the same no one was talking at all.  Whispy nodded.

"Of course.  You know her best, and I'll respect your position on this.  However my queen vould do well to remember not to trust lightly."  Then she flew away.

"Uh, where are you exactly?"

"Not telling you that yet.  See we gotta get a few particulars all lined up nice and tidy first or things are going to go real bad for youse."

"Oh my are you…"

He sighed.  "Ah mean you'll freak the hay out Shy.  Now listen up.  First off you seem to be answering me so youse can hear me right?"

I nodded.

"I can't see ya right now so ah need me a real answer, capiche?"

"Oh, sorry.  Yes, I can hear you.  Why wouldn’t I be able to?"

"Cause I been talking around you for years and youse ain't said a thing about it."

"Oh my, I'm so sorry."

I heard a little thump of some sort followed by a groan from under my bed.  "Ugh, look.  It ain't like that see?  Right now if Pinkie came in here she…"  He paused.  "Okay, scratch that.  That mare ain't a good example of normal, and that big orange enforcer ain't a good example right now either.  At least she might not be."

"Huh?"

"Lets go wit Dash.  That lame brain…" he paused.

"Did you stop because you realized that wasn't a nice thing to say?"

"Nah, it's not that.  Let's just forget your friends and go with, say Cheerilee.  Thing is if she came in here right now she would hear you yapping just fine, but would think I'm making normal animal noises."

I got a huge smile on my face.  "Oh my gosh?  You're an animal and I can really talk to animals now."  I took off, hovering just above my bed.  "That's so amazing.  I can't believe this.  I mean I thought…"

"Whoa."  I stopped talking when he said that.  "Okay, I guess it makes a bit of sense for youse to be really excited about that, but that ain't quite right.  See right now I'm using fey speak.  You ain't, but you probably could be."

"Oh, so you're not really a cute little animal?"

"That's sorta a judgement call there, and getting ahead of ourselves.  Okay, so if Whispy used fey speak it would sound like a bunch of random animals making noises, but for less pony like fey it tends to focus on something specific."

"Oh, but it's not really those noises it just sounds like it?"

"Nah.  Fey speak ain't exactly a language, it's more of a spell.  Though it ain't no spell neither really.  I so ain't some magic muckity muck, so don't go asking me bout no specifics.  Wynn would be a good choice."

"What about Chrysalis?  She seems nice."

"Yea, I ain't real clear on what she actually is, but I am pretty sure there ain't no such thing as blood flutterponies.  Which means she's probably lying.  So sure she seems nice, but it don't mean she is."

"Oh."

"Okay, now Shy the thing is Whispy is letting me deal with this cause I know you.  You think you ready to see me?  I'm under your bed right now, just using a little trick so you can't be too sure where I am."

"Uh, I think so?"

"Yea, that's about the best I'm getting."

Then Angel came out from under my bed.  For a while neither of us said or did anything.  Then I swooped up angel in a big hug.  Normally I like staying on the ground, especially inside, but I was just too excited.  I just had to stay in the air.

"Oh this is the best thing ever.  You can talk back to me.  Even though it's just you that's still so amazing and…"

Angel put a paw up to my mouth.  "Shy.  Calm down.  We gotta lot tah talk about, but I guess we're starting with this.  I ain't really your pet."

"Oh."  I felt my ears droop.  "I should put you down because you hate it and…"

"Wait."  He looked around.  "Look, a little hug ain't no big thing, but it's more like Sparkle and that jerk Spike."

I put Angel down and looked him in the eyes.  "And what exactly is wrong with Spike."

"It ain't something I can explain real easy, and we have way more important things to discuss, starting with what I am."

"Oh, you're not really a bunny are you.  The fey are tricksters in stories and…"

"No, I am a bunny."  He shook his adorable little bunny head.  "I mean rabbit, but at the same time I ain't.  I'm a Pooka."

"I don't understand."

"Okay, the not a rabbit thing is easy.  In some ways I am a rabbit.  I eat like, move like, and in lots of ways just am a rabbit.  But in the same way that a phoenix is a bird, but just calling it a bird like all the rest don't quite work."

"Oh.  So you don't mind that I treated you like a rabbit?"

He nodded.  "Sure thing Shy.  I am a rabbit, just a special one.  Though when it comes down to I'm sorta special in the other sense when it comes to magic."

"Huh, what do you mean?"

He laughed, though his little mouth didn't move much.  "Ah mean Pookas have quite a few tricks, but the main two are changing our size and turning invisible."

"So Pookas are giant invisible rabbits?"

"Sometimes yea.  See now I'm good enough at the first, but I'm rotten at the second.  Couldn’t hide myself if my life depended on it.  It once did too I just got lucky.  So since I was impaired I left the city and came out to the country."

"Oh, and that's when I met you?"

"There were a few more steps in there, but we can fill in the details laters.  Now thing is all fey got some thing they have to do for one reason or another.  For some it's for food, for others it's just a thing ya do, youse get me?"

"Uh, maybe."

"Okay.  So thing is Pooka's are house spirits.  We gotta clean and cook and whatnot for some pony.  For me this was a bit of problem since most pony's think it's weird if they actually see a rabbit dusting the furniture."

"Oh.  So that's odd?  But it's not just you it's…"

"Yea, but that has way more to do with you than them.  They don't really do it on their own it's just your thing.  A fey thing I guess, or at least nature magic."

I gasped.  "You mean I'm forcing them to work when…"

He shook his head.  "It ain't like that.  I mean you're making them able to do what you want them to, and they're happy to do it even if they don't understand nothing."

I sat there for a while.  I guess Angel was the only one that was so active when I wasn't around.  I think he got the animals to help him clean sometimes, but I guess while they looked eager to help, they did only do things once I told them too.  At least when it came to things like cleaning.  It also made sense animals weren't normally quite as capable as the ones around me or we wouldn’t need to take care of them at all.

"I'm a silly pony, aren't I?"

"Nah, not really.  It ain't like some fancy book writer is gonna think to mention that sorta thing, and you have evidence to the contrary.  It ain't like there were a whole bunch of stuff up in the clouds."

Then I blinked.  "But wait, I don't think about it but if you can cook why is it you always beg me for food?"

"Oh, that's another Pooka thing.  See since I can't ask you if you don't give me something it's stealing and I can't do that.  Usually it's just in the house, but your home extends outside.  Now it's the whole glade, and a good bit of the Everfree too."

"Why am I different?"

"Ah dunno.  I ain't no highborn fey.  Yer special, that's enough for me.  Being the high Queen just makes you even more special."  He gave a little bow.  "Yer majesty."

"Oh, well, I guess that makes sense but why were you so, um, demanding?"

He looked down, ears sagging.  "Yea, see, about that.  I figured you could use a bit of toughening up.  Youse know what I mean.  I'm sorry.  Over time I got way carried away, and then I pushed you over the edge and…."

I was hugging him again.  "Oh it wasn't your fault Angel.  I should have been more firm from the beginning.  That way I would have said no to Iron Will to begin with."

"It ain't your fault Shy, and you've apologized to me plenty even if it was.  Now…"  Angel pushed at me with surprising strength, for a rabbit, and I let him go.  "We got other things to talk about."

"Oh, you mean the fey?"

"Yea.  First thing, fey take oaths real serious, but don't trust a one of them."

"Except you?"

He shook his cute little head.  "No, not even me.  I ain't gonna try to get anything more than some fancy food out of ya, but the fey got some issues with morals.  It varies from race to race, and fey to fey for that matter, but the short of it is trusting fey is dangerous business.  Though you got it easy."

"I do?"

"Yes, see yer queen now.  You have power over them.  You can make them do what you want somehow.  I never used to have clue how that could work but…"

I went wide eyed.  "Oh my you think that…"

"Yea, maybe some of that ain't just you being fey.  Though I know some other stuff a little clearer.  They can't try to hurt you, or even do anything that might hurt you.  No, the main problem, is the problem all queens got.  They'll want things from you."

"You mean like bits?"

He shook his head.  "That is far too simple for the fey, some loot is probably yours by right, but the really important stuff is magical junk and whatnot.  The big one is favor.  As in one of their plans requires your help in some sorta way, or maybe just you not mucking it up for them which you can do real easy like, see?"

"This sounds kind of scary."

"Yea, well it gets worse.  Youse gotta figure out your powers before you can even think of keeping them in line.  That's why after we're done here I'm gonna take you to Whispy's village in the Everfree and you are gonna get some more training."

"Oh."

"Second really important thing is you are gonna hate the two courts more and more the better you understand them."

"Hate?"

"Yea, trust me on this.  Hate reflects hate though, that's just the way it is.  Point is you're going to want to do something.  Don't.  The courts are older than old and unless you're real careful they'll grind you down.  There are worse things than mere death."

I gulped.  "Oh my."

"But as bad as it is it also ain't really that important, and maybe even for the best.  I'm just a simple unaligned lowborn Pooka so I sure don't know fer sure either way, but unless you're really sure you get them, don't go meddling."

"Unaligned?  Lowborn?"

"It's a caste thing.  It's complicated and sorta meaningless really, though the highborn pooka sure think otherwise.  Unaligned means I ain't put my lot in with either court."

"What are they like?"

"The dark will stab you in the back if you let them.  They might actually be sad about it.  The light will smile at you as they stab you in the chest because they're following their accursed rules."

I blinked.  "Uh, what?"

"Nevermind."  He shook his head, ears flopping about.  So adorable.  "The best way to really get a feel is ask each side what they're about, and why they think the other side is wrong.  That should give you a clear enough picture."

"Uh, okay."

"What else."  He tapped his foot.  "Oh, oaths.  Be really careful about oaths.  Not just if they ask you to make a promise, but if they promise you something."

"Um, Angel, this is really bad, isn't it?"

He laughed.  "It might be stressful, but you gotta understand something here Shy.  A lot of the most dangerous things will now not only never think of harming you, but bow down if you ask them too."

"Oh, so, more power."  I sighed  "Yay."

"I think that literally could not have been less enthusiastic."

I hung my head.  "I'm sorry."

"Kid, I ain't the sort to do it without some serious push, but that includes me.  This is confusing and there are lots of mistakes you can make, but in the end no one can ever force you to do anything ever again if you don't want."

I whimpered.

"Okay, look.  Lets take this one step at a time.  I think I'm done fer now, so lets just go."

"Uh.  Okay."

Angel then hopped away just like always.  But everything was different.  I don't understand this at all.  I don't know how to feel.  What do I say, what do I do, what does all of this really mean?