Cause, Effect, and Consequences

by Coltsguy

Mistakes Have Been Made

I was casually observing as Rarity got a group hug from the other ponies present. I was more interested in the fact that Princess Luna had shown up. It was the first time that any of the princesses had taken a personal interest in the current problem. That wasn't to say that they weren't concerned or anything. I just was surprised that she came now instead of earlier when they were notified by Twilight Sparkle. It just felt like if either of came at some point it would've been more prudent to have come sometime after the beginning of the mess like around the time we got back from the first world. Then again the response from any of the princesses on these kinds of matters was hit and miss anyway. I guess I should be glad that they actually came to take a look. Now that I think about it they probably didn't show up earlier because there wasn't anything that they could do in the first place. Only we were capable of fixing the current situation.

"How art thou doing Seth?"

"Eh, I'm alright."

"Good, good," she said almost... bashfully? "I came to discuss something... troubling I saw in a dream of yours last night."

Yeah, I didn't like the sound of that... Which is exactly what I told her.

"Yeah... I don't like the way that sounds. I don't really remember too much about the dreams I have most of the time. I mean, sometimes I have prophetic dreams that I can remember when they are occurring in the non-dreaming world-"

"Yes, you have shown us one of those before."

"I have?"

"Yes, thou hast. That is not what I wished to talk about. It is about the contents of the dream you had last night."

"Okay then. Should we talk here or somewhere more private?"

"Privacy would be better for this."

I nodded and looked to the others.

"I'll be back in a minute. Luna and I have something we need to discuss."

"Don't take too long," Rainbow Dash said. "It's my turn next and I'm getting tired of waiting."

"Alright, I get it," I said with while moving my hands in a placating manner. I tuned to Luna next. "Come on your majesty."

Princess Luna's horn lit up and with a flash we had teleported to a new location. Oddly enough, she had moved us to the living room in the cabin. Thankfully I didn't spot Discord or anything that could resemble Discord. She wanted this to be private so him not being there was kind of paramount.

"Okay. So... you wanted to talk about something..." I said trying to coax out what she was trying to tell me.

"As I said before, this is about the contents of the dream thou hadst last night... I... am not quite sure how to address this."

Is she fidgeting? She was totally fidgeting. Why is she fidgeting? I need more answers and less fidgeting now please.

"You see, I came upon the dream realms last night as I am oft to do. For some reason, I kept hearing my name in yours and decided to check in to make sure everything was alright. I remember you saying in your dream before that I was to knock before entering and only afterwards do I realize that you may have been correct in such matters."

"This is taking an odd sounding turn here Luna. And yes, you should always knock before entering. Anime rule of funny 101."

"We are not sure what you mean, but it is not the issue here. When I appeared inside of your dream I came upon a rather peculiar sight. You were standing on a balcony wearing only a pair of shorter pants than those you are wearing now."

"They're called shorts Luna."

"Yes, well, you were only wearing these shorts and instead of your normal build looked quite conditioned if I am to believe. There with you was a woman who was also dressed in very little clothing. I thought not much of it until I realized something. Her hair was exactly the same as my mane."

I figured out the implication of that pretty quickly. Still, I held my tongue. I didn't remember it so I needed to make sure I wasn't in some kind of trouble. That would suck... probably a lot.

"Now I have seen many a dream over the time I have been the guardian of the dream realms and as such I was aware that sometimes mares and stallions will have dreams that tend to be more... personal in nature and that I do not venture into as such. However, It has been such a long time since there was a dream that had included myself in dream form that we admit we were too curious to leave immediately. As such, we witnessed quite a nice lovely scene where you and ourselves staring out into the ocean as the moon rose over the horizon."

"That's sounds pretty nice," I decided to interject with.

"It was. That is until you moved us closer by grabbing our hindquarters. 'Twere it not for the dream coming to an end we suspect that you moving closer was to mean that you were 'making the move' on us."

"Celestia taught you that expression didn't she?" I asked dryly.

"Where I learned it is of little importance. We have not been dreamt of favorably in over a thousand years save for the children that dreamt of us on Nightmare Night in Ponyville. No one has dreamed of us in thine manner in an even greater period. We will admit that it was... pleasant to see. However, we must tell you-"

"Let me stop you right there Luna," I interjected. "If you had said that you saw yourself there in pony form I would be more concerned about what you were talking about. The fact was that you were in a human form there. To me that indicates that it was merely lust and not love."

"We do not see the difference. Love is not something that does not cross special lines after all."

"I can agree somewhat with that, but not in this instance."

"Are you telling us that you know more about dreams than we, the Princess of the Night, knows?"

"That isn't the point. I've never been in love and I don't think that I could feel that for someone I've had less than a few hours of interaction with. I mean if you want to try a date or something I suppose I-"

"I believe it is my turn to interrupt," Luna stated. "As flattered as I am to see a possible interest of the romantic persuasion from another, I do not find myself sharing this type of interest in you. Although, it is my wish that the two of us could become friends."

At that point I wasn't even focused on why she kept slipping out of royal speak. I wasn't even relieved that she got me out of the situation that she had caused herself. Instead, I was actually stricken with dismay at how I was brushed aside so quickly and casually. I mean, damn. Was I really that undesirable? I know she probably had time to think about it, but I barely even had time to consider it at all before I was shot down in flames more fierce than the sun.

"Are you feeling okay?" she asked after a short period of time.

"Yeah, yeah I'm good," I lied. "I'm just glad that nothing bad came out of this."

"As are we," she replied with a smile. "Come now. We need to return so that you can continue your quest."

Luna's horn lit up and with a flash the two of us were back where we started.

"Are you both done?" Rainbow Dash asked me impatiently as she got into my face. "It's my turn to help save Equestria!"

"Before you both leave I'd like to have a word with him," Rarity cut in.

"Aww, come on!"

"It won't take long dear, I assure you."

"Alright," she huffed and plopped down on the ground in front of me.

Rarity walked over and pulled me aside to chat privately.

"Now Seth, while you're out on this excursion I want you to take the time to apologize to Rainbow Dash for what you did."

"You're going to have me do this now instead of after we're done? Why?"

"Because if you didn't want to talk about it before you are not going to want to talk about it at all unless somepony pushes you to do it. I'm going to give you that push. Either you tell her while you are alone with her during your trip or I'm going to tell her later."

I felt like I could go without the ultimatum. Unfortunately I also knew she was right. I tended to procrastinate over things I didn't want to do. This definitely qualified in that regard.

"Alright I'll work it in somewhere along the line while we're there."

"Good. Remember, I'm going to hold you to your word."

"I get it. I get it," I said disarmingly.

I really didn't want to hear her drag on with that. Fortunately she dropped it there. That led to the both of us heading back over to the two remaining rifts where Rainbow Dash was eagerly awaiting her sojourn. It was pretty obvious just how impatient she was getting.

"Hurry up!"

Things like that were big clues.

"I keep tellin' ya Dash, there ain't no need tah be so impatient."

"I just want to go back and kick some tail while we fix up what's wrong. I wasn't even awake for very much and all I remember was being in that building for a short bit before Seth came in and saved me. I want to see if I can get some payback."

"Sorry to say this Dash, but if you don't know who was behind it then I'm not sure how you'd be able to do it. No one is going to tell you they did it just so they can get in trouble for it. Besides, didn't you beat up that one guy who shot me?"

"Yeah, but that was one guy who probably wasn't even responsible for it. I still say I can find them. I mean how hard could it be?"

"Do you want that list in alphabetical or statistical order?" I deadpanned.

"I believe a good, proper list is done in chronological order," I heard Twilight comment.

"Only in checklist form Twilight. A regular list requires situational knowledge to be made properly."

"While that may make some sense I-"

"Will you two stop being eggheads so we can get a move on?" she asked while flying up in between us.

"Right you are!" I yelled bombastically. "Actions speak louder than words!"

I then grabbed her out of the air and pressed her against my side.

"To the next adventure!" I yelled and reached out to touch the rift.

My vision was filled up with the usual bright light that I was getting used to. It faded soon like it always did. Where I found us was quite different than usual despite it being similar to last time. We had appeared on the Watchtower again. The difference, other than Rainbow Dash being with me of course, was that we had appeared on the bridge surrounded by about thirty people. Half of them were heroes. I immediately had my hands up.

"Not here to fight!" I yelled to try and disarm the situation.

Most everyone relaxed somewhat upon hearing that. One that was not included in that number was Batman. Oh joy. I was worried that he would think that I had been dishonest with him. Another one which was more of an immediate problem was Rainbow Dash who was now hovering in place.

"Come on! I think we can take 'em! I mean look at some of these guys!"

"Dash," I said casting a sidelong glance at her, "we do not fight the good guys. Understand?"

"Aww, I haven't gotten to do anything fun," she replied crossing her forelegs.

Like I expected, Batman came over to address us. I wasn't quite sure what he was going to say. Therefore I just preempted him before he could say anything.

"I know. It's complicated. I can tell you what you want to know. Is my usual room available?" I finished jokingly.

He didn't rise to my humor of course. He simply pointed in a direction silently. I gave a salute and we three started heading that way.

"What are we doing now?" Dash asked with some annoyance.

I let out a sigh.

"Explaining things... again."

Author's Note:

Ha! You thought I was going to go all romance with Luna trope weren't you? Nope!

Comments

[D48]

Well, I believe the question on everyone's mind now is who will Rainbow talk into a sparring match?

[Kevin Lee]

Oh, but it would've been SOOOO much fun to see Dash up against Wally West. Him and Supes would be the only ones faster than her.

Annnndddd....where's his camera?
Coltsguy: "D'oh!"

7887635 Yeah, that comment was in Chapter 6 here (as posted). I'm in #53 at the moment, so I'm sure I'm getting there.

7892648 Except when I read that dialog and the narration, it doesn't make sense she'd talking about Seth spacing out since it was Rainbow who went blank...
It makes no sense as it's currently written as Seth wasn't the one to space out.
Plus, there was the "color lightshow" she told him she saw.
It was more like she was hypnotized and speaking to him in a robotic fashion--which means for the dialog to make any sense would have that first "You" should be "I", as this would continue that robotic-like reporting Rainbow was giving him.