We See
Luna smiled down at Rain as he opened his eyes. He shut them again when the hospital’s harsh lights hit his dilated pupils. “Where am I?”
She raised her wing to shade him from the overhead lights. “Somewhere safe, Rain Shadow. Perhaps not as picturesque as as the castle gardens, but safe regardless. Within these walls, I am your helmet, your shield.”
His body convulsed beneath the bedsheets, and he moaned. “Still hurts… Hurts everywhere.”
“Then be still. Open your eyes when you can.”
Luna waited for several minutes, her smile broadening as his forelegs twitched and then finally began to move. She watched his hooves gently inspect the body he’d woken up in, not the burly frame of a seasoned Royal Guard, but that of an emaciated pony connected to monitoring equipment and wrapped in white bandages.
When his shaking hooves finally found the bandage around his forehead, his tear-filled eyes opened. “Princess Luna?”
She smiled as she met his gaze. “A respectful address, even in greatest turmoil. Please call me Luna.”
Rain’s hooves returned to his torso. They caught on the ribs bulging against his skin. “What happened to me?”
“Look around you. Something here might stimulate your memory.”
After staring at her for several seconds, seconds she would forever cherish, his eyes found the many bouquets, cards, and balloons piled on every available surface in the brightly lit room. A small banner over the door read “Canterlot’s Hero.”
“There was… an accident… something about the wedding… and changelings…”
“You described the incident to me quite accurately: rubble from the damaged castle wall fell, and you flew to the rescue of many civilians who would otherwise have perished. In so doing, you took their place… nearly dead, and rendered unconscious for months.”
His whole body convulsed again, and he returned his gaze to her. “Months? The invasion was just a few days ago… I know it was!”
“You merely have no memory of it. The doctors assumed you would never wake again, and so I… attempted to rouse you myself. I entered the dream world your mind created. Do you remember?”
He nodded, this time without wincing. “Unwanted fraternizing.”
“The mind is very adept at adapting to new situations, sometimes to its own detriment. Yours mistook deep sleep for constant wakefulness and locked you into a familIar place and a familiar routine. As for my presence… my methods… Had I merely inquired into your duties as a guard and the finer points of your accident prior to entering your dreams…”
“I'm awake now. Thank you.”
She turned away. “Regardless, I must apologize. Princesses have a code of conduct as well, one that I set aside all too quickly. I could have been more direct once simple suggestion failed to further invigorate your mind and reconnect it to your body. Instead I toyed with you… I adopted your fantasy for my own selfish pleasure rather than adhering to my duty. I chose to live and relive our private evenings together rather than doing all that I could to immediately return you to the waking world by forcing you from your routine.”
Out of the corner of her eye she saw his foreleg slowly rise, the closest he could come to touching her. “But it was my pleasure, too! It’s not like I'd ever get stationed under your balcony… especially not now. I’m pretty sure my left wing is broken… I can’t even feel the other one.”
Luna gave a quick nod. “Yes. Your injuries… healing will take time. A medal of valor and a less physically demanding assignment await you, Rain Shadow, Hero of Canterlot. You have fulfilled all that could be asked of a Royal Guard, including weathering a Princess’s unbecoming conduct.”
“I never wanted to be a hero… but I’m thinking about becoming a painter.”
Luna flinched. She glanced at him, blushed, and looked away. “Surely you can not end your family’s generations-long tradition… not on account of me.”
“Then I’ll start a new one, and I’ll do it for me. I like painting, I’ll get better at it with practice… and there aren’t any fraternizing rules for painters and Princesses. We could talk as much as we wanted.”
A smile crept onto her face. “True. There are also no provisions for painters standing beneath a Princess’s private balcony, alas.” She pushed the happy thought away just as quickly. “But I still must protest. I will not condone you doing such a thing in the foolish hope of you and I continuing… whatever we may choose to call this. Such is the difference between dreams and reality.”
“Protesting is about all you can do, Princess. Keep the hero medal… I’ve got painting to do. It’s my turn to be the spear… or brush, I guess.”
She wrinkled her muzzle and frowned. “Insolence does not suit you. Are you truly determined to follow this dream of yours?”
His smile remained, albeit with waning strength. “You should try it sometime. Do something for you… just for you. Don’t let the wall you’re paid to stare at… control everything… be everything.”
“I can hardly abdicate my throne for personal whims, nor will I ever, not even if this… this interest I’ve taken in our conversing so regularly persists.”
“I didn’t mean that. I just hoped you’d come visit… Come by my studio once in a while. I can’t promise my work will be any good… but I’d like to share the experience with you. I’d like to share… everything.”
Luna stared at him, and soon found herself leaning in closer. She stared directly into his eyes, into the world she’d spent so many wonderful hours within. Peering in through these twin amber pools was every bit as wonderful. This was the one element all their previous evenings together had lacked. He was no longer a phantom voice in her ears. He was pony before her eyes: strong, frail, endearing, and troublesome all at once.
“Luna?”
A warmth filled her, a sensation that banished all lingering guilt and misgivings. She smiled a smile that felt as natural, and unshakable, as her desire to breathe. “Perhaps I could spare a few hours at the close of each day, provided you continue to look at me as you are now… and provided that you never stop.”
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Very entrancing.
wow…
Aw.
An interesting premise.
Well done.
Well done!! So good to see this posted! And thank you again for the opportunity to assist.
Aww.
This was quietly touching — although I do have to gripe about the letter from the Royal Staffing Agency, which ends up being a huge red herring that makes no sense in the context of the reveal. Still, an enjoyable read, and I'm proud to have been the grain of sand that itched you into producing the pearl.
7638159
In a way it makes sense. The changelings attacked and all you ever saw were day guards. He may really be a day guard but he constructed his dream to be of a night guard.
7638159
I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that at first Luna entered his dreams not realizing the situation, and had to use his dream world's rules to put the puzzle together. As the evenings went, she discovered what was happening and acted on it.
Just a thought.
Anyway, fic wise this was very moving. I enjoyed it.
The bones haven't set in months? No surgeons bothered to patch up such obvious injuries?
Or did the doctors not know they needed to set the bones quickly or they'll regrow all wrong and then you have to break them all again to set them properly?
(Biomedical dude here... this sort of thing catches my attention instantly.)
7639381
There needs to be a profile page marker that auto displays if someone is a professional in some craft.
7638982 7639143
Well, the thing is, we as readers have no idea what's going on outside the dream, but there is no possible way that Luna can't know. There's the whole "hero of Equestria" thing — and if he saved several ponies' lives, there's no way she would only have heard about it from entering his mind, because the ponies he saved would have told her (and everyone). In fact, that almost certainly is why she's in his dreams — surely Luna doesn't intervene with every single comatose patient, especially after such a huge incident as the changeling invasion; there's a lot of extra incentive here because of his sacrifice.
And especially given that this takes several months, it's beyond ludicrous to say that she doesn't know his true identity as a day guard. I mean, they have his identity from hospital and guard records and there's more than enough time to talk to the waking-world RSA for background. A major plot point is her discovery of a fact she already knows in a way that makes it hard for me to read it as doing so for his benefit. That doesn't sit right.
7639453 It's less about her 'finding' out and more about her confronting him about it.
7639453
Luna says herself why she was doing what she was doing. She was enjoying herself.
7639474 7639505
Look, the point is:
The wedding was canonically during the day. He was on duty at the time. He was found in Day Guard armor.
How could that have fooled her even for a second?
Why is she acting all story like she doesn't know?
Yes, she has to confront him about it, but the point is Luna's acting like this is a surprise to HER.
And her enjoying herself doesn't come into it. This is about what she does or doesn't know.
7639538 Likely when she went into the dream she noticed it was just him standing around in armour, at night. Knowing that he was a day guard she was curious and went along with the narrative, including starting it out not 'knowing' him and acting how she should react properly. Her 'sending' a letter in the dream sets it up so she can 'get' a reply to learn the truth.
7639538
7639719
Or if you come at it the other way, she knew less about the accident than she thought: she knew a guard saved some ponies at the wedding and wound up in the hospital. The rest of the details about him were in the letter, which she convieniently left unopened until guilt forced her back on track
Perhaps I should add a word or two to that effect...
7639381
Excellent questions, to which I have no firm answers
I would imagine that pony physiology, especially when it comes to wings, is complicated. Maybe his wing is mostly healed, but still heavily bandaged
7639188
Thanks for pointing that out!
7639907
Yeah, some extra exposition could probably fix that. This has kind of taken over the thread for what started out as a nitpick over the story's implied chronology.
Anyway, congrats on the featurebox!
Nice twist. I approve.
Dem feelz tho...
*Single manly tear slides down*
10/10 feelsy.
7640157
Wow, this was a surprising twist. I really liked it and I don't give a damn about the logical errors. This was a nice, entertaining story and 7639719 's post explains everything perfectly btw
D'aww!
im not crying, its liquid pride...
Amazing story, with probably my favorite rep of luna to date.
That was awesome. What a read.
Heart wrenching, sweet and sad all in one. I just adored this story of yours.
Beautiful!
Dude.
Woah.
If there was ever an inception crossover, this'd be it. Holy damn that was good.
Oh.
My.
Celestia.
I love it...
OOOOOOOOOOH he's in a coma
7643705 Thanks for spoiling the story.
7646069 Your welcome.
I kinda feel bad. I actually didn't mean to spoil it but then again, you have to learn not to read the comments before reading the chapter somehow. I guess you learned the hard way.
Tell ya what, I'll put that block text thingy on the words so no one else accidentally spoils the story for themselves.
7646711 The thing is, I have a high computer screen, so the moment I clicked on the story I view the whole page including a small part of the comments. Your spoiling comment was the first thing the screen loaded to since it was the top comment. Thanks for covering it anyway.
7646950 Again, I wasn't actually intending to spoil the story for anyone. I used to compulsively read the comments after reading each chapter and sometimes I ended up spoiling everything for myself lol. So, my bad for doing the same thing to you and apparently several others.
I enjoyed this. The reveal caught me off guard, and I like how it played out. Well done. :)
Wow. That was surprisingly well written. It just caught my attention and wouldn't let go 'til the ending reveal. This kind of stuff is what keeps me coming back for more.
Wow, this is written like a drama in a play
Nicely done.
Awesome job. This was a pleasure to read. Thank you!
A very enjoyable read, thank you for that.
Can we get a sequel please? Like of them slowly falling in love or something, please writer!
I am loving every second of this.
7640497
I'm just now reading this, and I have to agree. Some outside justification for a real-life happening that manifests as the letter would be needed. But it goes beyond that for me. In the early story, where Luna internally expresses her annoyance at this guard stubbornly remaining below her balcony—he doesn't even witness any of that, so it's completely unnecessary for his benefit. What he can witness is one thing; what he can't is completely another. She'd have to have some other reason for being annoyed at him for that to make sense, and under the circumstances, I don't see why she would, and none is supplied anyway. It's another instance of her not knowing something she should.
7639719
The biggest problem with this is that she only needs to act like she's playing along. Yet her internal thought processes and the things she does when he can't even see or hear her place her as oblivious, and there's no way she is. She's immediately annoyed by the guard under her balcony, and not just by outward appearance—she actually is annoyed—and given the bare minimum of what she should know about the situation, there's no reason for her to be, namely that he's not actually doing the very thing that annoys her. And sending the letter isn't necessary, since he's completely unaware she did so. She doesn't have to role-play to get that information, because sending the letter achieves nothing, only to justify why she receives one in reply. There's no reason for that mechanic to exist. She could as easily have said she'd speak with his commanding officer, and it would be far more plausible, because that could be precisely what she did. Yes, she could write an actual letter too, but it wouldn't be the complaint she penned in chapter 1, and it would be a rather slow process for getting an answer, at a time she doesn't know yet that she wants a slow response: she hasn't lost herself in the narrative yet and is still inexplicably annoyed at him.
In short, it's always possible to reason out some way for a situation to work, but if it gets too convoluted, then it's asking a lot of the reader to overlook it.
Outstanding work! I loved every word and look forward to more of your work in the future.
Y'know, I'd remembered the first reveal, but forgotten the second. :) Pleased to enjoy this again.
That was quite well-done.
My word, that was something. Good story author!
That was fantastic, the dialogue between your two characters was intelligent and really piqued my interest.
Thank you for the story!
I liked this story. Their conversations were enjoyable to read, and the twist was unexpected. A pleasant piece. Thank you kindly for sharing.