Regress
“Good night, Tia. We are off to Our domain of dreams,” We say to Sister from the entryway of her chamber.
“Good night, Lulu,” she answers with a smile and, for some reason, an upturn of the brows. “See you in the morning, however briefly.”
Our muzzle droops slightly. “Yes, Sister.” We then attempt a small smile as well. “We look forward to thy pancakes in the morn.” As Sister giggles, We add, “And We will attempt to stay awake long enough to not drop Our face into them once again.”
Sister lets out a boisterous laugh at the comment. “Don’t feel bad about it, Lulu. At least now I know you do actually like them.” With a quick nod, she adds, “We really should thank Starlight Glimmer again for helping us figure out that argument between us.”
We smile. “Indeed. We thanketh thee for the reminder; We shall give her pleasant dreams tonight.”
“I’m sure she would appreciate it.”
With a nod, We begin closing Sister’s door and repeat, “Good night, Tia.”
Sister rests her head upon her pillow and yawns. “Good night, Luna.”
The thestrals at their posts nod to Us as We shut Sister’s door, and We return the gesture. “Shouldst ye hear any disturbances from Our sister’s room, do not hesitate to wake Us if ye deem it necessary.”
“Of course, Your Highness,” they both reply with practiced salutes.
“We thanketh ye. As ye were.” We smile at them, their eyes slightly narrowed in Our direction, before moving down the hallway.
As We continue Our pace, We barely hear the guards as they whisper between each other.
“Does she do that just to mess with us?”
“I dunno. Maybe. Or maybe it’s a moment of regression.”
“Hey, I’m just curious. As long as we can understand her, I don’t question it. Besides, she’s gotten really good at, well, everything else.”
It is at this moment that their conversation becomes too far to reach Our ears. The last comment fills Us with pride, but the previous guard’s muffled words puzzle Us.
As We approach Our own chamber, Our guards also give Us salutes. “Good evening, Your Highness.”
We smile and nod. “Good evening to ye as well, gentlecolts.” We take a moment to consider the comment of Our other guard. “As usual, shouldst thine compatriots come running for Us for the sake of Our sister, please do let them pass.”
“Of course, Your Highness,” they reply in unison, before glancing at each other.
“We thanketh ye.” We smirk, confirming Our decision to, as ‘twas worded, ‘mess with them,’ and place a light osculation upon each of their cheeks. “We are off to commence Our duties.” Immediately shutting Our door behind Us, We can almost hear their rapid heartbeats. Indeed, ‘tis quite amusing to keep Our guards on their hooves on occasion.
After Our usual pre-duty ministrations, We decide to take a moment to step onto the balcony before drifting to Our own state of working slumber. Looking down upon the city of Canterlot, We are pleased to see a fair number of citizens still mulling about, those that Sister dubs ‘night owls.’ Though we believe this term wouldst be more suited for pegasi due to the other races’ inability to fly, We have accepted this to be an adequate colloquialism of the times.
Our attention is then brought to a far-off hill just outside the city limits, where two small spots appear in Our range of vision. Stepping to Our instrument of stellar observation, We swivel it in the direction of the subjects of Our attention. A grin appears on Our face as We find two Earth ponies, a stallion and filly, with their own telescope upon a mount, admiring Our latest work. ‘Tis wonderful to be reaffirmed that We are indeed appreciated again since Our return.
After several minutes of watching the stallion focus their attention on Our sky, We see the filly grab the instrument and swiftly move it in Our direction, as if searching for Us Ourselves. Perhaps this is indeed the case? As the stallion attempts to change the direction of the telescope once again, Our eyes see what Our ears cannot hear; the movement of his lips create words that claim spying on Us is immeasurably rude.
We see the filly’s face fall, and she nods as she apologizes to the stallion. We, on the other hoof, have another idea. Smiling and focusing Our magic, We are able to grasp the filly’s telescope and turn it in Our direction, expectedly eliciting reactions of surprise from both ponies. After allowing the filly to glance through her lens, We lift Our head and wave with a bright smile adorning Our face. Bringing Our eye back down, We see the filly jump with a grin splitting her features, then nudge the stallion and point toward Our balcony, clearly speaking words of glee.
When the stallion places his own eye upon the scope, We once again lift Our head to become visible. With the wave of a wing, We mouth out the words, We thanketh ye for thine admiration. Expect pleasant dreams tonight.
As We return to gazing at Our subjects, We see the stallion look up towards Us and smile. He then pulls the filly, still grinning, toward his side as he responds, Have a wonderful evening, Your Highness. Whether or not he understood Our words is unknown, but Our gesture has its desired effect—the joy of Our subjects is clear.
With a contented sigh, We turn and stride back into Our chamber, ready to begin Our nightly duties. ‘Tis certainly a lonesome job, but We are the only one that can do it.
As We lay Ourselves upon Our mattress, Our thoughts stray back to the early guard’s comment. Depression… ‘Tis what he said, is it not? But 'tis simply not true. We have been quite content for the many years since We returned from Our banishment. Especially so since Starlight Glimmer helped Us resolve that quarrel with Sister. Ah, that does remind Us—We must attend to Miss Glimmer’s dreams tonight. Though not before We solve this matter of—
Wait…
That’s it. We misheard.
Regression.
…
…How long have I been in this state of mind?
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Interesting read.
This is a pretty cute one-shot. Thanks for writing it!
Good read but i don’t get it
Good idea but disgustingly misguided.
I spend a lot of time around people who learned English as a second language so "regression" for Americans is "progression" to them.
'My English is bad? Well your Chinese is dogshit!'
8890320
I don't really understand why you're comparing these two ideas. This use of regression is about Luna partially retracting to a previous state of mind—using the old language, forgetting some current lingo—but otherwise still being her normal self, a princess who cares for her sister and subjects, yet a bit of a troublemaker. In this case, Luna using the 'old language' was a symptom of sorts that allowed those who interacted with her to know what was going on. I was attempting to imply (though maybe I didn't do it well enough) that Luna doesn't like it when she regresses like that (so perhaps 'yearns' isn't the right word for the short description...I'll need to think of something else), and Celestia is the only other one who knows that, hence her reaction. Some are aware that it's regression, but otherwise harmless, while others think that it's something that she just likes to do once in a while.
Anyway, why are you bringing up the idea of people not understanding one another's languages? Aside from the challenge for me, using the 'old language' was just a noticeable difference in Luna's behavior—she was still understandable. Is that it? Are you referring to the 'At least we can understand her' line?
8890972
Because they're the same idea. Luna slipping back into her old language isn't any different from griffins speaking in their stereotypical gruff manner or yaks in their stereotypical deep loud voices.
If Luna doesn't like it when she regresses like that, why? How many people do you know hate it when they use their native language? Actually, don't answer that. I don't want to get banned. I'll just stop here.
8891079
If you're worried about me reporting you, don't be. This kind of feedback and discussion is helpful for me.
The example you just used makes much more sense to me than your previous one. Questioning why Luna doesn't like slipping into her native tongue is a question I'd be happy to answer (and really should have done so in the story, but as I was and am sitting in the hospital, I didn't put as much thought into everything that I normally would have).
If you'd like, I'd be happy to take this to PMs so I don't spoil the story for others in the comments.
This was a nice little story. An interesting look into Luna's mind.
One little nitpick though: your conjugation is off. For example, the well-known -eth ending is third-person singular, so "we thanketh" is incorrect.
8908965
Huh. I had to look that up and double-check, but you're right. Do you know what the first-person plural is, or if there even is one? I'm pretty sure [-est] is for second-person singular (thou hast), and those two are honestly the only suffixes that I know off the top of my head.
8909246
Nope, those are the only two suffixes: -est for second person singular, and -eth for third person singular.
One more thing, though: "ye" is the second person plural subject pronoun. The object is "you".
So, for example, that line should be "We thank you. As ye were."
8909405
I was under the impression that the second-person singular ('thou' and 'thee') were the only words that changed depending on whether they were subject or object, whereas the others were about formality. 'Ye' because Luna is speaking to her underlings, and if the guards spoke the language as well, they would have used 'you.'
I won't pretend to be an expert, but there are certain 'rules' I've been using when writing this style that I'd really rather not change, and since everyone else seems to have accepted them, I think I'll be fine.
Don't misunderstand—I thank you for your input. I always welcome constructive criticism, but I'm sure you'd agree it's my decision whether or not to take it into account in the future.
8909414
I see where you're coming from, and as the author, the final say is yours. Nonetheless, thank you for hearing me out, whatever you decide.
This was a nice little story. Good job.
11542111
I'm so glad you liked the story enough to do an audio version!
Oh my gosh! I've been out of commission for a while and am just catching up on things now, and I run into this? I'm flattered!
This was such a nice reading, and I love that you can relate to this version of Luna to some degree. Your analysis at the end of the video was also really cool. I actually like to write her speaking in the 'old way' as her normal way also, but I never know if readers get tired of that.
Thanks again, and great job!
11545421
Wasn't me who read it, but thank you 😃
11545610
Whoops!
Well then, thank you for bringing it to my attention!