My Life as a Bipedal Quadruped

by Snakeskin Ducttape

Sharing and Caring (With Some Idiocy And Indolence On The Side)

I looked up from my reading to the royal ponies comparing notes to each other. "Maybe we should've brought my TV, as well? We could have used that as a control device," I said.

"Does it operate using the same amount of electricity?" Twilight asked.

"Yes and no. Like I said earlier, when you plug this into a standard electrical socket, the thing in the back takes as much as it needs from the power grid and distributes the required amount to the different components. Pretty much every device has electrical adapters like that, most devices wouldn't be able to handle the full amount from an electrical socket, they'd fry out or catch fire all the time," I said before thoughtfully putting my hoof to my chin, appreciating that Equestria was really into hardcovers that you didn't need to constantly hold open. "In fact, I wonder if you can be charged with arson if you distribute devices that fry themselves."

Twilight was again taking notes from what I said with breathtaking speed, making me appreciate just how adept she was at magic. Luna, on the other hoof (I was getting into the swing of things with pony expressions) looked thoughtful. "Yes," she said. "That might've been a good idea. Should we accidentally destroy this device, I do not relish the thought of taking another one without permission. And I must confess that I am looking forward to taking part in the fine arts from another world."

I smiled to myself. ‘Video games, you mean? Luna's a gamer, I can tell.’ I looked over to Armor to see him standing dutifully in the background. At first I was a bit uncomfortable with the fact that he was just standing there all the time when he could be doing something a lot more pleasant, but the fact that he was A: military, and B: equine, meant that he was probably a lot more comfortable with standing around than I was on principle.

"Same here!" Twilight said excitedly. "I've been to other worlds before, but there was always so much to do, I never had the time to study the cultures very closely. This is gonna be so exciting! What do people from other worlds make stories about?"

I didn't manage to hold back an amused snort. "Often other worlds, ironically enough."

"Really?" Twilight asked. "Is that a particularly respected genre?"

"Well, no," I said. "But it's still ironic, and I have some movies about just that."

"I suppose it is," Twilight said. "But I'm looking forward to analyzing human stories in depth. Especially to see if humans' eagerness to create technology also applies to art and expanding their culture... ah sorry, your culture."

I gave some thought, too. "Well, making entertainment easily available seems to be a winning strategy when it comes to commerce, at least," I said. "Equestria's been really nice, so far, but I think I'm gonna miss the internet. At least some of the time."

"There was entertainment available there as well?" Luna asked.

"Of course," I said.

"What kind of entertainment?"

"All kinds, actually. Most commercial things either are or are becoming available through the internet. And lots of people are making their stuff available for free, instantly available to almost everyone. That's a thing to keep in mind, actually," I said. "If you do make contact with Earth, or Terra, doing so publicly will mean the majority of all the people on the planet will know about it within a day, perhaps even just a few hours."

"Hmm," Luna hmm'ed with a thoughtful look on her face. "What would this mean, to humans? We would not relish the thought of our subject suddenly all being aware of visitors from another world. Rumors and falsehoods would no doubt run amok."

"Yeah, it means everyone can potentially gossip with everyone at the same time. I recommend that you prepare a powerful statement with your arrival. Keep in mind that you would also be able to address the entire world by the same means."

"We are not entirely pleased with the idea of more mere machines surpassing our Royal Canterlot Voice as a means of mass communication," Luna said and rested her chin on her forelegs with a somewhat somber expression.

"Alright, I think this might work," Twilight said.

I switched to “horn mode” and inspected the crystal she had been preparing. Compared to the simple swirling in the topaz I had seen the day before yesterday, this looked very complicated. The sapphire on the table did not only have more swirling colors, they were in more complicated patterns, shifting speed in strange intervals, and giving off a soft light which pulsated at irregular beats.

I shook my head lightly as I switched back. "Looks complicated," I said.

"Keep studying and you'll be able to do this yourself," Twilight said jovially. "Okay, so this thick wire here... the current goes into here, and here?" she asked and held the socket part of the cable up to my face, a bit over-eagerly, and pointed at the metal pins.

"That's right," I said and recoiled slightly. "But I think we should try it on the display first."

"Why?"

"Because less data would be lost if this disagrees too much with the enchantment."

"Oh, okay, that makes sense," Twilight said and instead retrieved the end of the display's cable.

She simply placed the metal pins towards the sapphire and waited.

"Is it working?" Luna asked. "What is it supposed to be doing?"

I had noticed that the small lamp next to the power switch had lit up and wheeled over to them and stretched out my hoof. I couldn't quite reach it, me being so small these days, but Luna lifted me closer with her magic when she saw what I was trying to do. I wasn't in a state to take in many sensations the last time I was held by magic, but this felt kinda nice, like a full-body hug. "Thanks," I said as I pressed the button. "That's it, you can put me down now," I continued, feeling a bit silly that I didn't think to do this simple task with magic.

As she did, I gave the display a few more seconds, and true enough, after a while it lit up in white and declared in glaring colors that no signal was found. "That's what it's supposed to be doing."

"So it's working?" Twilight asked and I nodded my head. "What does it mean?"

"It means that it doesn't have a job to do. It's basically saying that it's not, uh, receiving instructions from any device."

"So what do we do?" Twilight asked.

"We've already plugged it into the computer, but that's not switched on. It also needs electrical power. But it seems like your enchantment is working. So if you do that again... twice, actually, if you want any sound, everything should work."

"Do all these devices need electricity?" Luna asked.

"Yes, but we only need enchantments for sound, display and the actual computer. The rest of these smaller devices only need a small amount from the main device."

Twilight let out a small sigh. "Alright, I'll get to it. This isn't really my specialty, though."

Luna turned to me as Twilight went to work. "Gabrielle, We would, or uh, I would like to speak to you about something."

"Okay, sure?" I said, a bit uncertain.

"We informed you-" she started before shaking her head slightly "I informed you that I was to look after you in the realm of dreams, as I would all my little ponies," she said as she slowly led me away from Twilight's muttered recital of her work.

"Ah, yeah, you did."

After hesitating a bit, Luna continued. "I am somewhat ashamed to admit it, but... it would seem that I might not be very successful."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"In the days after your arrival in Equestria, I noticed your dreams in the astral plane. They were chaotic and troubled, feverish even, but reason for their state was an outside force, a mostly physical malady. I simply calmed them and moved on."

I wasn't sure where this was leading. "Sounds fine, so far," I commented with a small shrug.

She slowly shook her head. "But yesterday, I decided to visit you in your dream, and I could not. At least not properly."

I just tilted my head in confusion and waited for her to continue, Twilight all the while being completely absorbed in her work.

"It was an unclear and confusing place," she said. "Strange landscapes obscured by a thick fog. I searched for some time and I could not find you."

"And that's not how it's supposed to be?" I asked and Luna shook her head. "Is it because I'm not really, or uh, I've only recently become a pony?"

"It might," Luna said. "But we can enter the dreams of beings besides ponies. I feel that it's impossible to say for certain. But rest assured that I will not give up, Gabrielle. As a pony in Equestria, you are under the protection of myself and my sister, whether in the physical world, or otherwise."

She said those words with such conviction that I felt a little humbled, and felt some sympathy at her supposed failure. "Don't worry, your majesty. I've handled bad dreams for years by myself," I said and gave a comforting smile.

It didn't really have the intended effect. "And so you would be high on our list of priorities," she said forcefully and immediately looked a bit rueful as she realized that she was getting upset over me. "I apologize. But I would want you to inform me of any distressing things you notice in your dreams."

"Like nightmares?" I asked.

"Of course," Luna said.

‘Luna's supposed to be a protector of dreams. Does that mean...'

"Are nightmares dangerous here in Equestria?"

"They can be," she said, a bit ominous.

"Alright, sure" I said. "This is making me worried, though. This is a... bit of a strange concept for me."

"And I shall get to the bottom of this mystery, trust me," Luna said.

"Whew! I think it's finished," Twilight said.

"Well done, Twilight," said Celestia, who had recently joined us. "Now, Gabrielle, I think we're all curious to see what this device can do. Would you please demonstrate?"

"Alright, uh. Don't connect anything to the crystal yet, I'm gonna make sure all the parts are plugged in. Could you lift me up on the table?"

After Celestia's horn lit up I was lifted up beside my old computer and got to work. ‘With the princesses and Armor, I guess everyone in this room has been lugging me around at some point, now,’ I thought as I scooted to the back of the devices and started fiddling with the cables.

"I could never remember which one this goes into," I muttered to myself when I plugged in the speakers. "Alright, connect the crystal to the cables now."

"Okay," Twilight said and levitated all the parts to each other.

I scooted back to the edge of the table and was about to drop down on my chair when Luna instead placed me in it magically. I said a brief thanks and reached out and pressed all the relevant switches.

The royal ponies were absolutely captivated by what was happening on the screen.

"Well, it looks like everything's working," I said.

"What is it doing?" Twilight asked.

"I think it's loading the operating system, which is some form of control program, into the, uh, primary memory, from the... secondary memory, so that it's, sort of, keeping that in its mind, with the help of... the central processing unit... you know what? That's pretty much how far my knowledge of computers go," I said and gave up. "The processor calculates, secondary memory is the long-term memory and the primary memory is the... is how much the computer can concentrate on, I guess. Sorry, but that's all I know."

I looked over at Twilight and again I saw her scribbling away with lightning speed on a parchment. "That's okay," she said, a bit distracted. "This is already fascinating!"

"So what happens now?" Celestia asked as she looked at the screen.

"What you're seeing now is the operating system. With this, we can use the interface devices and access and change the content on the computer. Lemme show you."

I launched the music player and picked a song. Nothing played, though.

I double-checked that the speakers were on and fiddled with the volume knob a bit. "Hey, I might need to adjust some things. Can you lift me up to the back again?"

Luna was the one to do so. As her night-themed magical aura faded, I tried using my own magic to pull out the cord from the back. Precision work wasn't really my strong suit, however, and after a few moments I gave up and used my hoof instead and went through all the compatible holes. Why there were so many of them, I don't know.

When I plugged the cord into the last available hole the speaker came alive with one of those loud thumps and the music started spilling out into the room. All the ponies, except me, of course, jumped in surprise. Even Armor, I noticed.

"It's singing!" Luna said excitedly as I scooted back towards the edge of the table.

"Yup. Or, well, it's playing a recording of a song," I said.

"The singer, why is he singing about doing that? What's being sticky have to do with love?" Twilight asked.

"It's euphemistic," I said simply.

"About what?" she said and listened on for a few moments. "Oh!" she suddenly said and blushed through her fur.

‘That looked interesting. I'm gonna have to do that again sometime.’

"We are not sure we understand, either," Luna said while looking thoughtfully at the speaker the song was coming from.

I looked at Celestia, who just looked at the ceiling with an innocent little smile on her face. "I'd like to see Cadence listen to this," I heard her say to seemingly no one in particular.

"Well, now you've seen one thing that a computer can do," I said. "Let's move on."

I don't know how many hours we spent on this. All the ponies being very content with letting me use the computer, while still being eager to see what it had to offer.

"So this is human entertainment?" Luna asked.

"One type, yes," I said.

"Is this like a play? That you can participate in yourself?" Armor, who had given in and joined us after I asked if he wasn't bored just standing there for the third time, asked. "There doesn't seem to be much consequence to being hit with a sword. Or are humans that resilient? I would think more effective weapons would be used in that case."

"No I guess you can say it's like a play. It's like stylized violence."

"We would assume fulfilling a fantasy like this, one would take on the role as a peacekeeper of sorts, but with the jolly theme, I can see the appeal," Luna observed, utterly captivated.

"So yeah," I said and paused the game. "This is what a personal computer can do. I can't really show you how computers can help when it comes to science or medicine or commerce. But maybe you get the idea."

"Yes, this is absolutely fascinating," Twilight said, yet again scribbling away on more parchment.

"Anyway, maybe we should continue this another time?" I asked.

"Yes, let's," Luna said with a yawn.

"Oh, okay. But I'd like you to tell me about the internet, sometime," Twilight said.

"Sure," I said. "Maybe I can show it to you someday. Careful, though: anonymity makes many people very strange."

"This is true," Celestia said quietly to herself as we made our way out of the chambers. I was starting to suspect that my hearing might be a bit sharper than other Equestrian ponies', being used to much smaller ears.

I looked at Armor with a skeptical expression. "Are you sure that's fine?" I asked as the two of us made our way through the halls of Canterlot Castle.

"Ngo fprofhlem," he said, though there was a small pause before he managed the m-part.

"It's just that, as a human, I'd be very worried about my teeth if I was carrying around a hardcase in my mouth. I know you're magical and all that, but Redheart didn't have any problem speaking with things in her mouth."

"Fhe'fh fprofhlafly hafh a lofh mo' pfactifhe," (She's probably had a lot more practice).

"Why's that?" I asked after deciphering what he said.

"G'wehll, pegahfi a' ofhten fhwee to ufhe au ffhont hoofhes a logth mo' shingsh we'fhe go' aou wingsh," (Well, pegasi are often free to use our front hooves a lot more since we've got our wings).

"Alright, sure. Just don't hurt yourself."

"Gongth wo'y," (Don't worry) he said before his eyes went wide and he gently but swiftly set the hard-case down on the floor and saluted. "Sir!" he said smartly.

I had been focusing on Armor this whole time and hadn't noticed that another guard, an earth pony, had been walking up to us. I'm gonna blame not hearing him on the carpet and the conversation.

"Neglecting your duty in favor of parade-ground compliments, are we, private?" the stallion and apparent officer said in a calm but judging voice. He was clearly older than Armor, but not by much, it seemed.

"No sir!" Armor exclaimed before slightly shaking his head. "I mean, yes sir! Sorry, sir."

"It's not me you should apologize to, private," the officer continued.

"Of course, sir. My deepest apologies, miss," Armor said and turned to me.

I took a moment to gather my wits. ‘Now I see why he was so nervous about the stairs thing,’ I thought before turning my attention to the officer.

"Because my business might be delayed, you mean?" I asked.

The officer nodded.

"Well, zealous adherence to protocol doesn't really help that matter, does it?" I asked calmly, with just a hint of venom.

There was a shadow of a smile on the officers lips. "How true," he said before turning to Armor again. "In addition, private. The ceiling of the castle's eastern wings are only twenty-seven trots in height–" Armor suddenly lowered his foreleg from the salute in lightning speed, "–other than that you were fine," he said with a suddenly much softer voice before turning to me and clarifying. "One of the prerequisites for a salute is being in a location with the proper amount of vertical space. Nice save there by the way, madam. So how's the rookie been treating you? Not stumbling over himself in nervousness, I hope?" he suddenly said in a soft conversational tone, to which Armor just groaned.

Confused by this sudden shift in mood, I just gave him a questioning look.

"Captain Plate Armor," he said and extended his left hoof without hesitation. "Studded's grandfather."

‘Grandfather? I'm never gonna be able to tell ponies' age at this rate.

‘I take it back, now I see why he was so nervous.’

"Gabrielle Desrochers," I said and extended my own left hoof, which he bumped casually, but carefully measured force. "Did you say 'captain'?"

"That's right," he said jovially. "Stationed here in Canterlot for, oh, 'bout seventy years now. Strategically placed to keep an eye on as many of the little beasts as possible. Dress says 'Hi' by the way." That last part was obviously aimed at Armor. The younger one.

"Thanks," Armor said. "Tell her I say 'Hi' back. I might be in Ponyville for a while."

"Ah, I heard that. Check in on Scrap for me, will you? And tell him that if he keeps over-powering the equipment, I'll make him kick his own flank all the way here next holiday. Anyway, enough talk of family in front of the ambassador. How has Studded been treating you, madam?"

"Just fine," I said, now that family talk was apparently over. "But I want to go back to 'captain', Armor, or uh, Studded said he wasn't related to the captain."

"In those words? Very perceptive of you. I am a captain. His majesty, Prince Shining Armor, is the captain. I believe you've met his sister, Princess Twilight?"

"Uh, yeah, I have."

‘Man, I'm hanging out with all the big shots these days, it seems.’

"Been a bit boring around here without her," Plate said and picked up my hardcase in his mouth while Armor, or “Studded” as I might as well call him now, started wheeling me down the hall. Which was just as well, because I was a bit uncertain on how to handle the stairs if he was busy with my stuff. "But I shouldn't complain. It's not an easy thing to sneak extra training to relatives while following regulations, lemme tell you. One less source of excitement might not hurt."

‘Earth pony equals no problem talking with stuffed mouth,’ I observed. ‘Rule thirty-four probably means that someone finds this disappointing... rule thirty-four also probably means that someone's found a way around that.’

"Training was plenty tough as it was," Studded said.

"And I even made sure you went in well prepared," Plate said and managed to smile. "You liked sparring with Dress, don't deny it."

"I never have," Studded said. "I haven't seen her in a while. I'm starting to miss her."

"Most ponies who've met her do," Plate said before jabbing Studded lightly on his shoulder. "But now you're ahead of her, career-wise."

"Please," Studded groaned. "She could've been a captain by now as well if she wanted. Training would've been nothing for her."

"Ah, don't sell yourself short, Stud. You're a fine guard," Plate said.

"Thanks," Studded responded in a small voice.

"Sounds like quite the pony," I said. "That's a lot of talk about captains, though. Is that a significant rank? I'm under the impression that it's not always the same back home."

"Same here, but in many branches of the Equestrian military, captain is by tradition the highest rank possible in peacetime," Plate said.

"Really? why?" I asked.

"Old traditions. Leads to some confusion sometimes. Shining Armor is a good example, if the changeling invasion had lasted long enough for the paperwork to go through, his highness would've been general Shining Armor. And during King Sombra's return, his majesty would've been marshal Shining Armor. Quite impressive for a colt who's barely out of his eighties."

‘If you say so.’

"You don't sound envious, though," I said.

"Heh!" he said in response. "We've gone muzzle to muzzle on the training ground. Colt was so tough, I swear he's part dragon, and he's got the brains to back up his brawn."

"Are there any ponies who aren't impressive?" I asked.

"Oh sure," Plate said. "But they're not as fun to talk about. At least for an old soldier like me. Wait until I get to talking 'bout his wife!"

"Who's his wife?" I asked as we ascended a flight of stairs.

"Princess Cadenza, the alicorn of Love with a capital L," he said.

‘I wonder if that includes love with an umlaut? "The princess of löööve"!’

"Wow," I said. "Sounds like a lucky guy."

"So I've heard before. But remember what I said about him on the training ground? I don't think he's the only lucky one in that relation," Plate said with a mischievous smile.

"Celestia, Gramps!" Studded said and I looked around.

‘What? Where? Oh right, yeah, people around here just say that.’

"Can you have a bigger colt crush? What does grandma say?"

"Pretty much the same thing," Plate said with a chuckle. "She's sparred with him, too. Anyway, now you can tell me that I'm not acting properly around the young lady here."

"Actually, Gabrielle's a- or uh, forget it."

"Forget what?" I asked while Plate looked on in curiosity.

"It's not my place to say, miss," Studded said.

"Oh, is this about my age?"

"Well, yes."

"Alright, I guess it's not a secret," I said and turned to Plate. "Well, Captain. Up until recently I belonged to a species that reached adulthood at age eighteen. So if you're trying to fluster me or something, you're gonna have to do better than that."

"It's true," Studded said. "I heard some of their music."

Plate let out a laugh that I almost considered a guffaw. "I knew I sensed something about you, young lady. Not everypony's tough enough to come out of that with a disposition like yours."

"Come out of what?" I asked, realizing how stupid that must sound less than a second later.

"That of course," he said and gestured to my right shoulder. "Whatever caused that wasn't something just anypony can shrug off."

My face hardened for one small moment as I stopped the pang of annoyance from becoming anger. "I wouldn't say I just 'shrugged it off'," I said.

‘It was about as pleasant as you'd imagine,’ I almost said, but I didn't want to continue discussing this matter. Luckily, my chambers were in sight, and there waited a very pleasant bed where I could calm down.

As it turned out, I didn't have to worry. Plate looked at me for a moment before his face fell a bit. After a while, we reached the door and Plate set down the hardcase and said, "I'm sorry, madam, that was highly inappropriate of me."

I took a moment to let out a small sigh before answering. "It's okay. Thanks for your help," I said and gestured at my things.

"My pleasure, madam. With your leave," he said.

"Goodnight, Captain Armor," I said with a small nod.

Plate Armor gave us a small and not all that joyful smile, turned around and started marching down the hall. Studded opened the door and wheeled me in before retrieving my things from the corridor.

"Sorry 'bout him, Gabrielle. He's just... well, he's been a tough old stallion for a very long time now. He didn't mean anything by it."

"I understand," I said and let out a small sigh. "I've heard this before, actually."

"I hope you're not angry. He might be a bit callous but he actually meant it as a compliment," Armor said with a worried look on his face.

"Yeah, I know. And I'm not angry. Just a bit annoyed. And don't worry, I don't dislike your granddad for something like this. Princess Celestia actually did something similar when I met her. Unintentionally, of course."

"I'll tell him that, if you don't mind. Now, uh, do you need anything else, tonight?"

I looked around my room. ‘Reading material and lamp within easy reach, curtains drawn, stomach satisfied...’

"Could you put my things on the bed?" I asked.

"Of course."

After that short task, I simply said, "Thanks, that's it. Goodnight, Armor."

"Goodnight, miss Gabrielle," Armor said and walked out the door.

I wheeled into the bathroom and took care of all the preparations for going to bed for the night, feeling a bit satisfied at being able to both grab the tube of toothpaste, squeeze, and hit the brush with my magic.

As I lay in the bed a short time later, I opened up the hardcase and took out my guitar. Luckily, the bed was enormous and there was no risk of me or any of my things falling off during the night. I carefully placed a blanket so that no turning of little spasms would nick the finish and placed my guitar so that the neck rested on a pillow. Then I lied down beside it and carefully embraced it.

‘I guess that means that there are all kinds of ponies as well,’ I thought as I gently reached around and strummed the strings, thinking about my reaction with Plate Armor. ‘He made light of your- no he didn't... I know that, and there's no reason to get angry. Just a different kind of person with a different way of expressing himself.

‘But you're still upset.

‘... A bit,’ I thought and snuggled into the pillow.

‘It's been happening less and less, but there's still a ways to go.

‘That was a pretty good session with Redheart in the hospital, and it's not been long, but after today, it might be time for another one.

‘... Maybe.

‘It's okay. You know it is.

‘Sometimes.

‘Just get it over with already.’

I closed my eye and lay in the comforting darkness and relaxed in that specific way for a while.

After a little while, only slightly longer than usual, I leaned my head back and saw one, single, small stain on my pillow.

‘That was a good session with Redheart,’ I thought before remembering that I still had my eyepatch on. After removing it and placing it on the bedside table, I scooted back and placed my foreleg around my guitar, occasionally softly strumming the strings as I slowly drifted off to sleep.

The next day was a calm day. Royal schedules kept the princesses busy and I had a bunch of reading material to keep myself occupied before a magic lesson later with Twilight, who had stopped by earlier and somewhat nervously made sure that I didn't feel neglected. The best way of handling a Twilight voicing baseless concerns, I had noticed, was a reassuring smile and a very casual sounding thanks. Exasperated tones were counterproductive and would not be tried again. If you want Twilight to calm down, try and channel Princess Celestia.

Have you ever tried lying on your belly while reading a book placed on your pillow? It's no use trying to keep that up as an adult. It works better as a child, when you can twist yourself into weird positions all day without feeling uncomfortable. It also feels pretty natural for a pony. So as a pony child it's no big deal to spend a few hours lying on your bed and reading a heavy book placed in front of you. Good thing too, because this was a big and heavy one that I wouldn't be able to hold up with magic and concentrate on the content at the same time.

Book reading by candle light is something I can recommend, by the way. It was very comforting to read the old-fashioned way, snuggled up in a comfortably decorated study with a book printed with a press and natural light. Though perhaps that's just me and my single eye, and I was increasingly grateful to Rarity about the eyepatch being a white textile version, as earlier this morning I realized that with my new hairdo, a classic black one would just have reminded me of Pete Burns circa 1986.

I had read through the basic theoretical parts twice now and was studying a practical section, even though I didn't have any material to work with, when I heard a knock at the door.

As an acclimatizing exercise, I took note of how I didn't have a thread on me before I confidently said, "Come in."

The door opened and Celestia walked in. "Hello, Gabrielle. How are your studies coming along?"

"Well," I said. "I haven't tried out any of the things in the book yet. But so far, it all kind of makes sense. How about you? How are things?"

She actually seemed a bit taken aback before her face mellowed into a smile. "Quite well, thank you for asking. Kibitz is quite the organizer, all important tasks were done ahead of schedule and except for one thing later I'm free for the rest of the day."

"Always a treat," I said and nodded in agreement. "And a rare one in hospitals, take it from me," I continued and Celestia smiled in amusement. "So, what can I do for you?"

"You make it sound like I'm here on official business," Celestia said with a slight smile.

"I know if I had some sudden free time, spending time with me wouldn't be the last thing I'd do, but it's not all that high up either."

"Gabrielle," Celestia said with a bit of disappointment in her voice and actually managed to make me feel a bit bad about saying that.

"Sorry," I said and struggled with how to proceed. "Anyway, what's up?" I asked after a pause, hoping that Celestia's earlier assurances that pedestrian ways of talking were fine was still standing.

"I spoke with Private Armor earlier. He told me, at my insistence, of when you encountered his grandfather yesterday." she said with a slightly resigned tone.

"Oh yeah. Not what I expected but he seemed alright."

"Do you mean that?" Celestia asked. "I was under the impression that you did not find it pleasant."

I bobbed my head with a skeptical thinking face for a second. "I guess," I said before giving up trying to deflect the probing of the godlike being in front of me. "Ah, look. He said something that kind of hurt, but it's not his fault. I don't even know what's gonna make me feel all emotional half the time. I can't expect anyone else to, either."

Celestia gently shook her head. "I'm not here because of what he said. I'm here because of what you heard."

I gave her a puzzled look and thought fruitlessly for a moment.

"That was vague, I admit," she said quickly before clarifying. "I mean that I am here to make sure that you are alright."

"Oh," I said. "I'm fine. Like I said, sometimes, things come up, and I get a little sad. It's not a big deal, I can handle it."

"I'm sure you can," Celestia said and walked closer to the bed. "You are very mature for your age. But having the ability to go through something like this alone does not mean that you should. Let those around you help you."

"I didn't have anyone left to help me," I blurted out before I could stop myself. I looked at Celestia's sad eyes before quickly looking away.

‘Subtlety, thy name is Gabrielle. Why don't you send a telegram asking for help while you're at it?’

Celestia sat down on the bed and put a wing over me and I tensed up. "You do now," she said.

I laid there for a few moments, unable to look her in the eyes.

"Are my concerns unwelcome?" She asked.

She was about to remove her wing when I convinced myself to relax. She kept her wing over me while I mulled over what to say.

"No," I finally said. "I'm just... I've..."

‘Yeah, yeah. You're opening up and making yourself vulnerable and all that jazz. But this is a goddess we're talking about, or something close to it. Gabrielle, you are rational, and you realize that Celestia is not a mean, manipulative bully, so suck it up and spit it out!,’ I thought before letting out a sigh and just putting it out there.

"I almost convince myself sometimes, that I like not having anyone's help. That it's better to handle things on your own because, and stop me if you've heard this story before, if you don't rely on anyone else, you can't be hurt from being left alone."

Celestia pulled me closer to her and softly nuzzled my neck. "I have heard this story before," she said softly.

"Well, I guess you would've," I said.

‘Seeing as you're thousands of years old. "So how did they end?"

"In all the ones I have witnessed, always, the pain eventually faded."

‘These ponies are really good at curing cynicism,’ I thought and smiled.

"The pain has faded, mostly."

"Yes, mostly. You cannot fool me if you cannot fool yourself, Gabrielle."

I pulled away a bit from her, she raised her head and I turned to look her in the eyes. "How about you?" I asked. "Are you ever in pain?"

"Oh yes," she answered earnestly. "I have lost ponies dear to me. And let me share something I've learned over the millennia: the pain does fade."

I had heard her using that tone very recently. "That mirror shard..."

"Reminds me of somepony I've lost, yes."

I couldn't think up anything to say to that, so we stayed like that for a while. ‘I wonder if this is appropriate behavior for a sovereign? Because this is a pretty close moment. Then again, it's probably fine. After all, she did say that she's had others dear to her... that she's... lost.’

My brows furrowed. "Princess Celestia?" I carefully said. When she gave a "hmm" in response I continued. "You're here because you are concerned about me. Why are you that concerned about me?"

"I am concerned for all my little ponies," Celestia said evenly but kindly.

‘Yeah, she might be a saint, but the best way to show that is not cuddling someone who can handle herself. How do I phrase this? Ah, she's not gonna be fooled by prose anyway, just say it.’

"Have you lost... anyone like me?"

"Have I lost-" Celestia started before stopping herself. After a pause she continued. "No, Gabrielle, I have never been a mother," she said and took another pause. "I am sorry for this," she said and relaxed her wing's hold over me. "You are indeed wise for your age. You are not my daughter and..."

I looked up in her eyes as she trailed of. She looked back before continuing. "I have had many good friends, and many good students. I took great joy in helping to form the lives of bright young ponies like Twilight. Had I not stopped myself, I would often had tried to be more than a teacher, and trust me when I say that most would have allowed it.

"But I have never seen a pony in a situation like yours before. I know that you are an adult human, but to me you feel like a lost foal who has had to... fend for herself, with nothing but her own determination. Broken and alone, when she needed her parents the most."

I was feeling pretty happy about those little crying sessions the last few days. I wouldn't be sure I could keep my composure otherwise. "I understand," I said with a sigh. " And it wasn't quite as bad as you make it sound, but I guess it's natural to be, uh, concerned about me."

‘I know I am sometimes. It faded over time, but there was a nagging feeling for years when my recovery was picking up and I was feeling happy again, that maybe it was because I had gone crazy.’

"And I'm sorry for..." Celestia said and trailed off again. "It would be most thoughtless of me to try and be your mother."

She seemed to be feeling disproportionately bad about this. I decided to smooth it over with a little Gabe-style smooth bluntness. "You'd have your work cut out for you. You look nothing like her," I said. Celestia's lips formed into a small smile. "But thank you. I like my independence, but I'm not holding it against people for caring."

She once again held me closer. "You're welcome."

I smiled at that. "And thank you for, all this, as well," I said and gestured to the room at large. "So yeah. I'm a little old to be adopted but-" I looked her in the eyes again, "-friends?"

She gave a larger and more genuine smile at that. "Friends."

‘Well, you've told her about yourself, think she might do the same?’

"Princess Celestia?" I asked after a while.

"Yes?"

"Who does that mirror shard remind you of?"

"... King Sombra," Celestia said after a while with a heavy voice, but with a faint smile on her lips.

I racked through my brain at this. "The same King Sombra that Twilight and her friends told me about?"

"They told you about the usurper of the Crystal Empire, yes?"

I nodded.

"Then no, not the same King Sombra," she said. "You remember how Twilight told you about how she was using an old artefact of Starswirl the Bearded when she brought you here?"

I nodded again.

"A long time ago, he and I traveled to many different worlds in search of knowledge, friends, and perhaps a little bit of adventure. We came across one particular world that was much like a mirror version of this one. King Sombra ruled that place with wisdom and kindness, and my own counterpart was a wicked tyrant."

"Really?"

"Oh, yes," she said. "It was a terrifying thing to see. I had given up going to great lengths to show my little ponies the extent of my patience and lenience, and seeing that world was a good reminder of why many find me intimidating."

At that moment I wondered if I should've felt sheepish about my own relatively casual behavior around her. I found her awe-inspiring, sure, but not intimidating. "... So you must've had some things in common. You and that other Sombra, I mean."

"Indeed. I visited him many times over the centuries. We were, ah... oh whatever, if you're an adult, I'll be blunt, we were in love."

"That wasn't blunt, that was very family friendly," I commented.

Celestia gave a small giggle at that. "And then," she continued, suddenly growing somber. "He was taken from me."

"Oh! I'm sorry, Princess," I said. "If you don't want to go on, I understand."

"No I... I thank you, Gabrielle," she said. "These events are not a secret, but still the only ones who know of them are the ponies who experienced them. Unless you'd like me to stop."

"No don't worry. I know how much this helps sometimes," I said as comfortingly as I could.

"Mmm," she said and gave me a grateful nod, then looked away again and continued. "After my counterpart attempted to execute a most vile scheme, Twilight and her friends tried to use the elements of harmony to subdue and imprison her. But at the time, what would happen to her would also happen to me. So in the end, the love of my life sacrificed himself and took all the evil of my sister's and mine counterpart into himself."

After some hesitation I put my hoof on her wither and tried patting her comfortingly. It didn't really work all that well with the difference in size, but I think she appreciated the gesture anyway.

"In the end, the mirror used to travel between the worlds was destroyed. The shard you saw is the only remaining piece," she said. "I am truly fortunate for having my sister, my student, and my friends," she continued and looked at me. "The pain was great, but in time, I recovered."

‘For centuries? Yeah, sounds like the love of one's life. If I was gonna be thousands of years old I'd like to have someone with me, too.’

"He didn't... die, did he?"

"No," she said. "But he is now a vile being, one that I cannot help."

‘Couldn't magic help? This was caused with magic to begin with, after all. Is this the kind of world where that could happen? I would think so considering the stories that Twilight and friends told me. But, the timescales are really long around here. As is befitting of a fantasy-like world I guess. The other Sombra, the one in this world, had been locked away for... I don't even know how long before he came back. Before Princess Luna was corrupted.

‘Maybe there's a happy ending to this story waiting sometime in the future? Do I say that? 'Princess Celestia, this sounds like a fairy tale that should have a happy ending, so I don't think you should be all that sad that you've lost the love of your life.' Yeah right. Try convincing her that you're an adult again after saying that. Get a grip, woman.’

"I'm sorry, Celestia," I said. "I don't know what to say."

Celestia nuzzled my neck again. "You said that sometimes it helps to talk about these things. Listening is enough."

Just like with humans, ponies' voices can hint of the expression they have, and I didn't feel quite as useless when I heard Celestia smiling towards the end there.

We stayed there for a moment. I didn't feel like it would be tasteful to break it up, and besides, I didn't have anywhere to be right then.

Celestia did, however, when she suddenly said, "Oh, curses. I have to prepare the arrival of someone," and rose up. "As always, you're welcome to join me at dinnertime, but just so you know, there will be more individuals present this time."

"Oh, uh, sure," I said as Celestia headed out of the room.

We made our way down the hall after some fairly rewarding magical practice. It was pretty fun, all in all. I couldn't yet turn my horn into a flashlight like Twilight could, but I had learned how to make several different kind of gems glow in several different colors. I had never been this talented at anything earlier, at first I had thought that my affinity for enchantments had stemmed from my proficiency at magnetic resonance, but now I was starting to think that it might've been the other way around.

"Are you alright, Gabrielle?" Twilight asked me as I wiggled a bit in my chair.

"Yeah, don't worry. Just a little restless. I kind of miss my... well it's a portable music player, but I'll manage without."

"Why do you miss that, specifically?" Twilight asked.

"Some people, when they're feeling the kinks in their legs, go out for a walk. I didn't really do that very often but, well, getting some exercise is important and it felt easier when I was alone with my music."

"How did you exercise?" asked Armor.

"Awkwardly, but it worked," I said. "And that's why I'm feeling restless. I don't know about ponies, but humans who sit still on their butts for too long runs a risk of suffering something very unpleasant," I said.

"Oh my!" Twilight said. "It sounds dangerous."

"Well it's not healthy, but people mostly find it really embarrassing," I said and looked for comprehension on their faces but there was none to be found. "It begins with an 'h'," I continued but still nothing dawned on them. "And ends with 'emorrhoids'."

I looked at Twilight who stared at me blankly. "Hemorrhoids," I clarified.

"Oh. What's that?" Twilight asked.

"You don't have that?" I asked.

"Never heard of it," she said.

"How long were you a human, by the way?"

"A few days."

"Hm, I guess it never came up then. It's not the most common of topics outside of very specific circles, I guess."

I wiggled my backside a bit. ‘Maybe shape and blood circulation in ponies is such a way as to prevent it, or maybe that it's so rare that they don't have a term for it. Or maybe it's just magic, because that particular malady is one of the least magical things I can think of. I wonder what else ponies might be immune to,’ I thought as my eye was drawn to my muzzle, so far away from the rest of my face.

"Does sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia sound familiar?"

Right before Armor said, "No?" Twilight happily said, "Yes, actually!" and looked at Armor. "It's brain freeze, private," she said helpfully.

"Oh."

"And why wouldn't it sound familiar?" Twilight asked.

"Well, I figure that with ponies having their, our mouths positioned away from the rest of our heads, there might be too much tissue to cool down with ice cream."

"Well, it's a thing here too," Twilight said.

The conversation died out with that as my attention was drawn to the two... figures not far ahead of us. A white-coated unicorn stallion of fairly large physical stature standing in front of an open entrance through which entered something I instantly recognized as a gryphon in a traveling cloak. The book I had been leafing through a few days ago had, despite its many pictures, not depicted any beings, it was mostly shots of landscapes and skylines.

I could still clearly remember a show at a park I had been to that showed birds of prey doing stunts as they were trained to manage themselves in the wild, and I had seen several up close, including the really big eagles. My brain couldn't help but add a few things together back then. You were not allowed to touch the big parrots and cockatoos flying around at the park as they were a bit unpredictable and might bite, but that looked outright pleasant compared to being bitten by an eagle. If one of those eagles snapped and attacked someone, those claws and beaks looked like they could be lethal. Here was a combination of a lion and an eagle that was several times my size and I realized several things, chief among them were: gryphons look more than a little awesome (especially with capes), and, unless I become a martial artist with this magic of mine, I shall be very careful around them.

As we made our way closer, the conversation between them became audible. "So, your highness," the gryphon said in a voice that seemed naturally raspy but steady. "May I ask if you're awaiting somepony in particular?"

"Why, I'm waiting to give you a proper welcome, good sir. And don't worry about the title, just 'Prince Blueblood' will do," the apparent prince said in what I can describe as a popinjay manner.

After a very short pause, the gryphon (‘Tercel? Rooster? Gander?... Cock?’) smiled in an uncanny way and I didn't know if it was because it was disingenuous or because gryphons' smiles didn't reach their eyes. "I see, how... gracious," he said as we made our way closer to the crossing of hallways they were standing in.

"Now, if you'd let me summon some servants to take your baggage to your quarters and show your entourage their rooms, I can guide you to the dining hall," Blueblood said.

"Ah, that won't be necessary, I traveled lightly... and alone," the gryphon said as we drew nearer.

The prince looked shocked. "Did you journey all this way by yourself?"

"I did indeed," the gryphon answered evenly before giving Blueblood a questioning look.

"Through dangerous lands? Surrounded by bandits and ruffians and commoners?" Blueblood continued.

"I took the train," the gryphon answered neutrally but with a slightly raised eyebrow, which looked kinda cool on a big bird of prey. "A train like any other."

"How absolutely dreadful!" Blueblood exclaimed and put a hoof to his chest. "Never fear, we shall treat a po- eh, gryphon of your stature with the respect he deserves. You shall bask in luxury your kind could not possibly imagine!" he continued, seemingly happily oblivious to the patronization and waved a foreleg around dramatically. "Now, please let me show you to the dining hall were you can meet Princess Celestia, she's my auntie, you know."

"Capital," the gryphon managed to say with a somewhat weary look on his face.

Blueblood turned around and was about to walk down the hallway to our side when he did a double take upon seeing us. His eyes widened and only managed to say "What is..." before tapering off.

The gryphon shot him a sideways glance before turning his attention to us. "Excuse me, madam," he said and walked up to Twilight. "But you must be Twilight Sparkle."

"I am indeed, sir," Twilight said with a smile and extended her hoof.

"I had heard that Equestria had a new Alicorn Princess. It's a pleasure to meet you," He said and gently shook her hoof, his practically chivalrous behavior putting me at ease. He didn't kiss her on the back of the hoof, however, but I would've liked to see how that would work with a beak. "Arnfried, at your service."

"Well then, Sir Arnfried. Allow me to introduce you to Gabrielle Desrochers and Private Armor," Twilight said with a smile and gestured towards us.

"A pleasure," Arnfried said with a smile as he shook the Armor's hoof, who only acknowledged him back with a stiff nod and a frozen expression like he'd tasted earwax, apparently having spent all his self-consciousness extending his foreleg.

I was next and after I realized that having your hoof shook by razor sharp talons large enough to envelop your entire limb didn't mean having it eviscerated as well (it wasn't even unpleasant), I gave a smile of my own. "Likewise."

Blueblood seemed to have recovered from whatever state he was in during this time and turned to Twilight. "Oh, good evening, miss Sparkle," he said.

"Good evening, Prince Blueblood," Twilight answered in a voice where only those that listened for it could hear the strain, which I did.

"Arnfried!" Celestia's voice happily rang out through the hall in perfectly measured volume before anyone could say anything else. "How wonderful to see you again."

"Celestia, your majesty," the gryphon said and managed to stage bow without looking ridiculous. Like the ponies, it was very easy to tell when gryphons were smiling judging by their voice. "Thank you for having me."

"And I see you've met our newest resident in the castle," she said as she came up to us and nodded towards me. "Arnfried, Blueblood, Gabrielle Desrocher here is the Diplomat of Terra."

"I have never heard of such a place," Blueblood stated loudly, and the confidence and slight affront of his exclamation would've made me think that there had been a mistake somewhere that could be traced back to me, if not for my very pleasant and friendly banter with the nation's absolute monarchs.

"A fascinating place, from what little I've seen of it," Celestia said. "And very good subject of conversation, but I'm afraid that this evening is reserved for talk about the gryphon realms."

"Not intruding on prior topics, I hope?" Arnfried asked.

"Not at all," Celestia said. "In fact, I'm sure that both Gabrielle and Twilight would be fascinated to hear about your home."

That was the truth. Arnfried looked almost as awesome as I looked adorable, and if it wasn't for my rapid progress in magic to compensate for my arm and leg, or just legs these days, I'd be disappointed in not becoming a gryphon instead (also my mane, I'd miss that too).

Celestia invitingly held out a wing in the direction of the dining hall and we filed forward. As we did I heard Blueblood whisper to Celestia. "Auntie, what in the name of the tribes happened to that filly?"

"It is not my place to say," Celestia answered calmly.

‘Talk behind my back, will you?’ I thought with a trace of glee.

I turned my head towards Blueblood and said, "Metal, glass and high speeds happened."

He paled a bit at that, making me think I might've gone overboard as this was just before dinner.

Dinner was fascinating, I never thought that listening to regents and dignitaries discuss political and economical issues would be interesting, but I'm in the magical land of Equestria, after all. Apparently the Gryphon realms were going through a rough spot, perhaps even the avian feline equivalent of a depression.

"But why would gryphons be against accepting help from our superior society?" Blueblood asked, tactful as ever.

"Because that would acknowledge our need for aid," Arnfried said, exasperation slowly corroding the proud monolith that was his patience. "Gryphons do not like the idea of relying on help from others, and that our own hard work has not been good enough."

"But the efforts of your people is clearly not enough to sustain them in the long term," Blueblood countered without a trace of conciliation. I was tempted to try and come with some mollifying suggestion or steer the conversation in another direction, but I had never seen anyone so eagerly dig themselves deeper with such reckless abandon. It was hypnotizing.

"Perhaps the Princess of Friendship could offer some suggestion?" Celestia said and gestured to Twilight who suddenly looked very nervous.

"Oh, uh," Twilight started and let out a nervous chuckle. "Are you sure we can't convince everygryphon to accept our offer? When my good friend Applejack was too stub- eh, proud to accept our help, she eventually almost hurt herself before realizing that she can't do everything herself."

"I'm very happy for her, your highness, but how long did it take for her to accept your help?" Arnfried said without a hint of condescension.

"Pretty long, I admit," Twilight said.

"I'm afraid that neither of us have time to try and convince every gryphon in Gryphonstone to accept charity from... superior ponies," Arnfried said and shot a meaningful glance at Blueblood, who seemed oblivious to the implications. "We are simply not open to the idea of being reliant on others."

A few warning signs popped up in my brain at that. "Uh, can I say something?" I blurted out.

The proud eagle-and-lion combination didn't seem phased from my blunt intrusion into the conversation. "Of course," he said. "And I doubt anypony else would object."

True enough, everyone, even Blueblood, seemed interested in what I had to say. "Well, uh," I said, suddenly a bit more self-aware.

‘Come on, prove to everyone that you're not the little girl you look like.’

"It's just that this reminds me a bit of some history from back home," I started and everyone looked at me expectantly. I mentally slapped myself out of my nervousness and pressed on. "Of course we'd be here all day if I tried to give the entire historical background to this particular situation, which I'm not sure I know anyway, but here it is:

"A long time ago, ages really, a revolution in a powerful nation led to a series of huge wars that swept across a continent where a whole pile of empires originated, and beyond. Afterwards, all the powers of that continent regularly came together to compromise every time war was near and after a long time of relative peace, many factors and a complicated net of alliances turned one small war into a huge war. The land empires of eastern Europe, that’s a continent, by the way, which had been slowly stagnating at that point, fought in what was the greatest armed conflict in history up until that point."

My audience only consisted of four pairs of eyes, but I was happy with that as that meant I could easily see that everyone was paying rapt attention, so I continued.

"After the dust cleared, the old land empires of the eastern part of the continent were pretty much unmade, and with it, a large chunk of the world order. Now, uh, Princesses Celestia and Twilight no doubt remembers what I said about the industrial revolution, and the industrial revolution relied on trade, goods, and resources from across the entire world. Okay, bear with me, because now I'm getting to the point of all this: the nations that used to be those land empires found themselves vulnerable, unstable, and millions of people were now poor and uncertain what type of nations their homes would turn into, in this confusion and desperation followed another war, both larger and longer than the last."

I made a pause here to let them ask questions they seemed very eager to ask.

Twilight asked the one I hoped to hear in the first go. "But how does that compare to the gryphons?"

"There are many factors when it comes to a war of this scale, of course, but one nation had put up a fierce fight for a long time before being defeated, and most people blamed them for the entire war. They turned their backs against a world that shunned them, and tried carving out their own world order. What I want to get at is that people tried to be self-sufficient in an age where everyone relied more and more on international trade, and so this could only happen by taking what they needed by force."

Arnfried leaned back in his chair with a thoughtful expression on his face, everyone did (except Blueblood who seemed a bit slow on the uptake), but Arnfried especially so.

"So my point is this; if your people are in, uh, dire straits, they might eventually become desperate enough to rally behind a leader that attempts to solve their problems with conflict, which would be a tragedy whether they'd succeed or not."

The ponies and the gryphon seemed to contemplate what I had said, and I was starting to wish that they looked at someone other than me while they did so.

Eventually, a smile formed on Arnfried's... beak. "I would very much like to visit your home someday, Gabrielle Desrochers, it must be a fascinating place to create fillies like you."

"Indeed," Celestia said. "A very interesting tale, if you'll excuse me for saying so about what sounds like a time of great tragedy."

"Well, it was before my time," I said. "I'm too young for that to have affected me personally. Which I'm very grateful for, because the two most destructive wars my home had ever seen, and the poverty, disease and famine that followed them is not something I'd wanna witness, even from a safe distance."

Arnfried once more had a look of contemplation on him before nodding. "You are right, young Gabrielle. Desperation can lead to poor decisions. Desperate gryphons' first target would be Equestria, and I am only a diplomat, serving my people regardless of their decisions. I would not be able to stop them."

"I am convinced," he continued and turned to Celestia. "My people will have to accept your aid. I am not sure what kind of madness might cause my people to attack the ponies of Equestria, our old friends, but I would do everything in my power to avoid it. We will just have to swallow our pride, for now."

"Perhaps you don't have to," Twilight said thoughtfully while looking at her food.

"I'm sorry?" Arnfried asked her.

Twilight looked up, almost startled that she said something. "Oh, well, you see, I was thinking about how Gabrielle said that everypony where she came from relied on each other and that becoming self-sufficient couldn't happen without war. So, if we solved it in a way that relies on both ponies and gryphons, nopony's, or nogryphon's pride would be hurt?"

"How would you suggest that happens?" Arnfried asked.

"Land leasing," I said, grateful that I had been paying attention to the discussion earlier about what the gryphons lacked and what the ponies could offer.

"Yes, exactly," Twilight said with a mix of happiness and nervousness. "You could share some of that fertile but unused territory that you mentioned with us for a limited time, then ponies can work the land while Equestria pays for the use of territory and share some of the yield."

"Making both money and food flow into the cities," Arnfried said with a thoughtful and pleased expression. He looked at Twilight again with a satisfied smile on his face. "You make a fine princess, Twilight Sparkle, and you make a fine diplomat, Gabrielle Desrochers" he said and then addressed the rest of the table, "I accept."

Celestia looked pleased and I detected just a hint of smugness in her expression. Some quick thinking made me realize that it was probably because she was proud of Twilight and not for something more sinister. "Excellent, I am glad we found common ground so readily."

"Yes, let none of Equestria's friends find themselves in need," Blueblood pompously declared, slightly raising my opinion of him despite his ridiculous mannerisms.

"With that taken care of, I propose that we discuss more pleasant topics," Celestia suggested.

"Yes," Arnfried said and looked at me. "When I visit Equestria, meat substitute is very rarely eaten by ponies, and when it is, it's often by ponies that force themselves as a show of acceptance. I have never seen a foal eat it with such gusto."

I looked down at the almost-beef. "Mm, I was confused at first, what gave it away was the perfect lack of tendons but the taste is excellent," I said.

Arnfried smiled with a slightly raised eyebrow at me. "You mean that you can compare this to actual meat?"

Twilight gave a nervous little laugh. "Ah, Sir Arnfried, so far we've mostly spoken of the gryphons' issues and not anything about Gabe or her home and uh," she trailed off before looking at me. "Gabrielle, I hope you don't mind of me telling Arnfried about you and your home."

I simply gave an inviting nod.

"Well, Gabrielle here is from another world called 'Terra', and until I accidentally brought her here, she was a member of another species, the humans. The humans are Terra's apex predators, their civilization stretches over the entire world and is very technologically advanced to compensate for the lack of magic in the world. They are in fact the only sapient beings on their entire planet."

Arnfried slowly turned away from Twilight to look at me. "I see," he slowly said. "I thought it strange that a society of ponies would have a history like the one you described, if you'll forgive me saying so."

I was about to answer when Blueblood spoke instead. "Ah, yes. That is true, sir Arnfried. Ponies have nobility which would never allow anything like that to happen."

‘And my respect for his highness drops again.’

"We've had nobility and ruling classes ever since the first humans decided to settle down and form civilizations over ten thousand years ago, your highness," I said, not caring enough for his opinion to bother injecting any venom in my voice. "What we haven't had however, are life spans of hundreds of years, magic, and ageless deities with millennia of wisdom and experience to turn to. We had to make due with mundane things, muscles, organization, and plain old thinking. Not even claws or wings."

This shut Blueblood up pretty good for a moment. It looked like he was about to stammer some response, but Arnfried stopped him with a laugh. "And you've conquered your entire world?" he said and gave another laugh. "That is a lesson that many gryphons, and no doubt ponies as well, have to learn the hard way. A sharp mind is a greater weapon than any talon, blade, or spell."

"Perhaps, though your talons still look very effective," I said with a small smile.

Arnfried let out another laugh, a chuckle this time. "And how long have you been a pony?"

"For," I started, and had to pause and think, "about five days."

"Then let me share this bit of information: Equestria is a peaceful land," he said and gestured with his glass to Celestia who nodded appreciatively at him. "And few ponies need to learn how to fight, but those that choose to anyway are not to be underestimated."

Blueblood looked pleased at that, but I didn't pay him any mind. Judging by what I had heard about Twilight and her friend's exploits, and also just using common sense, I figured that as a unicorn, magic spells would be my primary weapon if I found myself in trouble again. ‘Self-defense without punching and kicking and all that? Count me in.’ I laughed a bit internally. ‘Yeah, of the three base classes, I always pick the wizard.’

I was never helpless, or no actually, I take that back. After years of physical therapy, I was never helpless, but I often felt defenseless. I neither lived nor worked in a dangerous neighborhood and nothing alarming ever happened and probably never would, but not being able to run properly or defend yourself is not exactly doing wonders for one's general sense of security. I turned to Twilight. "Could I learn? To defend myself, I mean,"

Twilight cast a worried glance at Celestia, who chose to answer instead. "Few unicorns learn to use their magic for combat," she said, "and foals that do almost always do so in schools of martial arts to teach them proper conduct and responsibility;" she continued and I refrained from drooping my ears as I felt a "but" coming up, "however-"

‘Ah, close’

"-and this is something we should establish in detail soon, you were a grown adult in your home and I do not feel it is appropriate to constrict you because of your age. Should Twilight choose to do so, she can teach you quite a bit on how to defend yourself. She may not be a formally trained warrior, but she is still a powerful combatant."

Twilight looked down on her plate and blushed a bit before looking up at me. "Of course I can teach you what I know," she said.

I smiled in response. ‘This could be fun. Man, Equestria really is the place for me, isn't it?’

"If you'll forgive my curiosity, miss Gabrielle," Arnfried said.

"Uh, sure," I said.

"Did whatever cause you your injuries happen to you as a, 'human', was it?"

"Yes," I said. "A long time ago. At least by human standards," I said.

"Mm," Arnfried said. "Now, I hope you are not offended, but you are clearly still accustomed to eating meat, despite your setbacks."

It took a moment before I realized what that had to do with anything, then I let out a small laugh. "Because Twilight said that we're 'apex predators', right? I guess we are, but very few of us have had to hunt for food for a long time. We raise livestock, or stick to meatless diets if it suits us. Unintelligent livestock," I said pointedly.

"You're fishing for recipes, aren't you?" Celestia said to Arnfried with a small smile.

"Guilty," Arnfried admitted with a mock sheepish expression.

This last part made me pretty happy, as I found the laid-back mood was great for appetite.

"Oh, speaking of food with a fellow omnivore around herbivores, Arnfried."

"Yes?" he answered while holding back a chuckle. "Sorry, but I just noticed your teeth."

"Ah," I said and continued. "Well, I was thinking. Since plants are the staple food of herbivores, is drinking tea for them like drinking broth for us?"

Twilight and Arnfried looked confused, Blueblood did as well before looking mildly offended while Celestia just laughed.

"I feel like a third wheel," I said the next day as Twilight made a check-list of all the things we were bringing with us to Ponyville

"How so?" Twilight asked.

"I'm not gonna be able to carry anything," I said. "And someone already needs to push me around in this thing," I continued, referring to my wheelchair.

"Oh, don't worry. We're getting help to move this down to the station, and after that I can handle this myself," Twilight said and pointed to the handcart with the enormous wooden crate on it. When I had told Twilight that computer components were fragile and would be really difficult to replace, she had made sure that any minor accident wouldn't ruin anything, and in her enthusiasm had gone a bit overboard and made the packaging practically bombproof.

"Gabrielle, are you alright?" Armor, dressed as a civilian (as in not dressed at all), asked me, bringing the attention of all the ponies and gryphons who'd come to see us off, which was the princesses, Arnfried, and Captain Plate.

I looked at him confused. "Uh, of course."

"It's just that you've been obviously groping around your mouth with your tongue for almost half an hour now," he elaborated, then looked a bit abashed he realized that it was something I might not have wanted attention drawn to.

It wasn't anything embarrassing, though. "Ah, yeah. I was just feeling around and my teeth seem pristine," I said.

"Is, uh, that a surprise?" Armor asked.

"Actually, yeah," I said. "I'm not sure how dental care works around here, but back home, if we got cavities in our teeth, we, that is to say our dentists, grind away the decayed parts and replace it with plastic fillings."

"Does that not hurt?" Luna asked, looking a bit shocked.

"Oh, it'd be agonizing if we didn't have anesthetics," I said. "Anyway, I'd done that a few times and I didn't notice until now, but they seem to be gone."

By now, Twilight had turned away from the checklist. "Oh, does that mean that parts of your teeth are gone?" she asked, sounding a bit horrified.

I felt around in my mouth again to be sure. "No. Like I said, they seem pristine. But I'm just wondering, where did the fillings go?"

"Hmm," Celestia said and put her hoof to her chin. "You came here with all the microorganisms of a living being your size, but since those fillings are not alive, perhaps the magic that brought you here didn't consider them to be you and left them behind?"

‘That never came up in The Terminator. Then again, they probably didn't have time to fill in people's cavities in the future.’

"Ugh," I moaned after realization struck me. "So not only did my clothes and prostheses end up in a pile where I worked, now my dental fillings did as well. My disappearance is gonna be internationally famous at this rate."

The royal sisters held back amused snorts while Twilight looked sheepish, which was nice as I didn't want her to keep apologizing.

"Well, I think this will do it," Twilight said after she tested the last strap around the box. "We'll see you later, everypony."

I shook the hooves (and talons) of the collection of ponies (and gryphon). Celestia was last and pulled me into a light hug with her wings. I didn't return it but I gave her my most genuine smile.

"Your commander in chief told you to behave as a civilian, Private," I heard Plate remind his grandson teasingly.

Armor (the younger) tensed up for a moment before proceeding. "Uh, right. Ah, bye... everypony, see you later," he said and stretched out his hoof to Arnfried. "It was nice meeting you, sir."

"Likewise," Arnfried answered calmly and shook the offered hoof.

"Alright, shall we get going?" Twilight asked.

To this, Plate reared up and loudly clapped his hooves together. "That means you two!" he barked at two inconspicuous stallions standing in the doorway. "C'mon, hop to it!."

The two stallions were also guards undressed in plainclothes, and they scrambled at Plate's shouting and ran over to the large package, one of them wheeling the cart... I wasn't sure what the other was there for.

We started moving out of Canterlot castle and I was happy that we weren't standing on more ceremony since Equestria obviously wasn't a nation that handled itself.

We started moving through the castle ground, with paths that curled like viking symbols across the landscape, like the most tasteful and relaxing tourist-trap ever, except you didn't get trapped there since it was so open.

I turned to the two other guards, the one pushing the cart didn’t seem to be struggling very much. “So, I don’t know if we’re gonna see each other much, but I’d feel dismissive if I didn’t bother introducing myself to anyone who’s carrying my stuff,” I said.

They looked at each other and then to me with a mix of surprise and humour. “Hah! And we’ve been trained to be indistinguishable from the background for years, well, if it pleases you, madam,” the one not pushing the cart said.

Armor sidled up to him and whispered something, and the guardspony nodded slightly and quietly said, “Gotcha.”

“So yeah, miss, we’re just troopers, but If you’re actually curious, I’m Tree Fire and this here’s Sam.”

“Sam?” I asked.

“Yup,” Sam answered simply and gave me a nod.

‘Alright, sure,’ I thought and extended my hoof to offer a shake, feeling slightly dumb when I realized that he’s using all of them to walk around with...

‘What do you want him to do, dummy, lick it?’

... But he saved me from embarrassing myself and reminded me that a quick bump is also a greeting here.

"Pleasure to meet you both," I said.

Sam just nodded again. "And you," Tree fire answered then turned to Armor. "You're lucky, Codpiece. Somepony else might've ended up guarding Madam Floribunda's lunches with the committee of the week."

Armor groaned at the use of his nickname. "Any of you?"

"Almost. But the brass just decided on increasing the support personnel in the modernization project in the Empire. We're among them," Tree answered, sounding pleased.

"Is that a good post?" I asked.

Tree chuckled and said, "Well, let me put it like this. I didn't join up just to see the world, but that sounded like a nice bonus, and now it finally happens."

Twilight decided to join in here. "You realize that my brother still likes drilling, right?"

Tree and Sam suddenly looked at each other with worried faces. "Eh," Tree shrugged after a while. "Still beats guarding nobles' brunch meetings, your highness," he said and the conversation died off.

Canterlot Castle is huge, but it didn't feel like a very long time as we moved through the impossibly beautiful gardens and walkways. Time flies when you're having fun, and when you're fascinated by the scenery, so we pretty soon found ourselves walking through the streets of the actual city.

That wasn't as pleasant, and I have no way to put this succinctly without sounding a lot more sulky than I felt, but it was because it was full of ponies, ponies that looked at me. I still found it strange that in this magical land of unicorns and pegasi and, well, fantasy, I was such an interesting sight.

I wasn't completely unused to this, but I could never remember it being this bad. Some people see someone obviously handicapped and it's the most fascinating thing in the world. I mean they really stare. People often compare something fascinatingly awful to a car crash or a derailing train as in that you just can't look away. Seeing people react to me in the same way in my formative years was really unhelpful and I found myself missing my old therapy sessions.

"Gabrielle, are you alright?" Twilight asked me in a concerned voice.

"I'm-" I started before realizing that it was obvious that I wasn't. I didn't know Twilight very well yet, but it was obvious that waving away concerns isn't something she's comfortable with. "With clothes and cosmetic prostheses, I could walk down the street without people staring at me, but even without that, it was never like this."

Twilight looked practically devastated and put a wing around me. "I'm so sorry, Gabrielle, I should have known. We can turn back and get a pegasus chariot."

I made sure my voice was firm and asked, "How much farther is it to the station?"

"Not far," she said.

"Is Ponyville gonna be like this, too?"

Twilight didn't answer right away. "A little while, I think. But they'll get used to you soon."

I nodded and then steeled myself. "Then I'll be fine."

"Okay," Twilight answered a bit uncertain.

Twilight kept me covered with her wing and without speaking, Tree, Armor, and Sam moved to cover me as much as possible from the pedestrians around us.

I liked the view of Canterlot, and what little I saw of it when we made our way to the castle, but I was pretty eager to get away from crowds by the time we made it to the station.

The train was already waiting when we arrived and promptly moved to board it. The corpulent unicorn stallion in a conductor's outfit didn't look up at us when Armor hoofed him three tickets, he just took them and cast the most fleeting glance at the big package that Sam was pushing before looking down again. "Large luggage goes in the boxcars," he muttered uninterested.

Tree walked up to him and looked back at us and gave us a smirk. "And there's no way to change your mind?" he asked with a mix of accusation and condescension in his voice.

"None, sir," the conductor managed to drone in a smug voice, still without looking up.

"Even if it's really important," Tree asked, the intensity of his voice increasing slightly.

"No, sir."

"I don't think you realize how important it is to keep this package close to the owners," Tree said.

"I said that your luggage goes in the boxcars... sir," The conductor said and finally looked up at Tree with a mix of anger and smug superiority without giving the rest of us a glance.

Tree suddenly gave him a genuine-looking smile. "Can we please keep this luggage in the passenger cart?" he asked.

The obvious anger faded from the conductor face, leaving only the infuriating superiority. "No, and if you don't stop bothering me, I'll call the guard,"

Tree's smile was so enveloping that it looked like his eyes were jumping for cover behind his eyelids. His horn slowly lit up and with a shimmer around him and Sam, their royal guard armor suddenly became visible on them. "What seems to be the problem?" he asked sweetly.

The conductor's ears dropped and he looked at Tree with horror in his eyes for what felt like a full minute while we were just giving him wondering looks.

Finally, Sam cleared his throat. "Open... the door," he said overly clearly like he was talking to an imbecile.

That finally made him act and we immediately moved in and found a car with only two other passengers sleeping in the far end. The package stored safely beside us.

"Are you sure you didn't go a bit overboard, Corporal?" Twilight asked Tree.

Tree looked a bit sheepish at this. "Just trying to teach him to be friendlier, your highness. I think he needed some tough love," he said before turning to Armor. "Now, are you sure you're gonna be alright?"

Armor just gave him a look and nudged his head towards Twilight. "Oh, right," Tree said and punched himself lightly in the skull. "Duh."

"It was nice meeting you," I said to them and shook hoof with Sam who simply gave me a nod and a small smile.

"Yeah, take care of Codpiece for us," Tree said with a little smirk, to which Armor pouted a bit.

"Later, Stud," Sam said and gave Armor a single wave and left with his corporal.

They didn't leave the platform yet, though. They both paused to glare at the nervous-looking conductor before pointing at a pretty skinny stallion who was struggling with an overfull cart of luggage. As I turned away from the window, I heard Tree Fire shout "You work in the service industry! Am I gonna have to come down here and remind you of that every time a train comes in!?" Then the voluminous shape of the conductor wobbled past the window as fast as it allowed. Twilight looked torn between worried and amused at the whole thing.

The only thing that happened before the train left the station was that a mare entered the car by herself. Her eyes went wide when she saw Twilight who had her back to her. Then she saw me, her expression becoming slightly horrified, then awkwardly stood there, making very animated sways with her head between Twilight and a booth behind her. After a while, she sat down in the booth, looking embarrassed. ‘Hmm, at least Twilight didn't see that, or I would have started feeling sorry for the mare,’ I thought as Armor and I shared a look at the behavior

I fished out the book on enchanting I had tucked in beside me, but I didn't start reading it right away. As the train started moving, I asked, "I forgot to ask, how long away is Ponyville by train?"

"Just a few hours," Twilight said. "But you can squeeze in a nap if you want."

"Hmm, perhaps," I said. "What's Ponyville like? I didn't catch much of it the last time I was there."

"No, you were out cold the entire time I saw you there," Twilight agreed. "By the way, Armor, perhaps you should have a less obviously vigilant bearing."

Armor quickly dropped his countenance and looked a bit embarrassed. "Sorry," he said.

"It's okay. Perhaps you could try and join in on our conversations?" Twilight said.

"I'll try my utmost, your highness," Armor said.

I gave a small laugh at this. "More casual, please," I said and turned to Twilight. "Anyway, back to Ponyville."

"Well," Twilight said and her smile dropped a notch. "The ponies of Ponyville are very accepting, but I hope you can stand some more stares until they're familiar with you."

I kept a sigh back. "Sure," I said.

"And there you can socialize with colts and fillies your age," Twilight continued.

‘After the accident, I didn't get to meeting people my own age until I was seventeen, and by then most people have developed enough to have sympathy for the disabled. Children, on the other hand...'

"Do you know any?" I asked.

"Of course," Twilight said happily. "You saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders, right? They're always up to something... interesting."

I thought about that for a while and didn't realize that I had my thinking face on, which is a very distinctively light scowl. ‘Well, Armor said he entertained the thought of redoing childhood with what he knows as an adult. It's an interesting idea, even though I'm not getting to do exactly that and I don't actually have more life experience, quantity-wise at least, than other foals here in Equestria.

‘Well, let's consider my situation more thoroughly: My old home is not home anymore, in more ways than one considering how little was there for me to say goodbye to. I am gonna live in Equestria, and while sitting around in the castle and studying enchantment has been nice enough, what would be the point in doing nothing but that? Face it, girl, it's time to say goodbye to the social near-vacuum you lived in. Buckle up and make the best of this situation, make friends and stuff. You know you ~wanna~.’

Twilight and Armor were looking at me with slightly worried looks and I realized that my face had combined my scowl and a smile into a smirk. I turned my face into a less creepy smile and said, "Alright, let's meet new people."

"I'm happy you think so," Twilight said with a smile, "because Pinkie throws surprise parties for every new pony that comes to Ponyville."

"Ah," I said and let out a nervous laugh. "Let's not go overboard here."

"Sorry Gabrielle. I might've been able to stop her if it was just you, but now Armor is moving to Ponyville as well."

Armor looked up in surprise at this. "But," he started before sputtering a bit. "Your highness, I'm not supposed to draw attention to myself."

"Can't be helped, Armor," Twilight said with a smile. "Skipping out on a Pinkie party is too peculiar."

Armor looked dismayed as I looked out at the passing landscape for a while before turning to my book. ‘Ah, whatever. You're planning on making friends anyway.’

"Speaking of meeting new people, how does my legal status work?" I asked Twilight.

Twilight scratched the back of her head a bit awkwardly. "Ah, well, you see. You're not actually an adult here, but your position as a royal guest and dignitary sort of overrules just about everything that you need to be an adult to partake in."

"Meaning what, exactly?"

"Uh, that you're an adult but that I could uh... restrain you if need be on a case by case basis. You could for example buy property if you want, but Celestia and Luna sort of hopes that you won't try and do anything crazy like trying to qualify as a foster parent or something like that."

The absurdity of that turned my laugh into an amused snort. "Yeah, don't worry about that," I said.

‘Alright, as interesting as it would look, I just hope I won't get a bunch of kids after me begging me to buy booze and cigarettes for them...

‘Alright, party coming up, with lots of people. Let's try jumping in the deep end.’