> The Forgotten Library > by Ponyess > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Girls Hospital: 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- . I had been admitted to the hospital. Apparently it was an exclusive Girls' Hospital. Maybe I shouldn't complain, the Doctor who's seeing me is quite nice, as are the nurses. Of course the Doctor was a girl, even if she had grown up, since then. At this point, I'm here for observation. They claim they need to see how I recovered. If I was to have any complications. Even though they claimed my surgery had gone according to plan. To be on observation for a week is incredibly boring, for a girl like me. I had nothing to do. They wanted to observe me at all times, day and night, apparently. At least my sister had been allowed to entertain me during the visiting hours. I had been allowed to read, what they had in the official hospital library, that is. I had managed to cope with them, for this entire first week, just by reading, and my sister. Sadly there wasn't much else I could do, by their admittion, that is. They had even sorted out what they considered the more exciting, and otherwise emotional books. Now I was on the last leg of my patience. I need something, something new. In the end, I decided on slipping out of the room, just to do something differently. Just a slow paced walk, to see what was outside of my door, it should keep me sane for another day? Naturally, in a hospital, everyone wear a uniform, patients, nurses, doctors, the physicians, and the Surgeons. We're all dressed in uniforms. With that, you're easily identifiable. I have a tag on the right side of my right chest, with my name and picture on it. They even bothered putting my status in there. They missed nothing. A slight glance, and you know exactly who you had before you? I felt as if I had been a prisoner, for all it is worth. No wonder I'm bored out of my skull? I just couldn't take another instant of this. Every type of uniform came in a different colour. The surgeon is green, that's an old tradition. I could even see the reasoning behind it. The doctor is white. Nurses are yellow. I'm apparently blue? Since we're all girls, there can be no differentiation between sexes or genders. Personal, Patients and visitors alike, we're all girls. Just the same, there is no differentiation in age either, even if I'm a little girl, age nine, the doctors are in their thirties, and some patients and visitors may be as old as ninety? Topping my problems off, the walls are a clinical white, on the florescent side of it. The lights are bright. There seems to be nothing to see. Not even a potted plant in my room. The window doesn't have much of the view either. As a patient, my bed is blue, identifying it as me? Maybe this is the one bright spot, since it is a clear blue. Electric blue, to the point. As I slipped out of my room, I noticed the hall is lined with doors to the right and left. The wall is still white, it is starting to get to me, and stick in my eyes. I had to get away from it all. I just couldn't take this. There is a wooden rail along the walls, just three feet up the wall. Nothing else to see. I chose the right, more arbitrary than anything. Just a chance, as if there is any difference? Thankfully, I made it to Ellie, the waitress, otherwise known as an elevator. > A Discovery: 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- . Once inside, the double sliding doors slowly closed shut behind me. Quietly, as if whispering deep secrets? Then I found the dial, as if it had been a phone, all the twelve buttons are there. The numerals, from one to nine, then the zero in the middle, under the eight. There is the go, for making the elevator go to the chosen level, and the stop, for changing your mind, or if something happened? I guess even this was exciting me, anything out of the ordinary is preferable to the none life I had had here, for the past week. Anything short of getting myself burned to death felt like it had been worth it. Actually, there is a choice to go below ground level, and I wanted to go as far from where I am, I possibly could, opting for the lower levels. Once I hit go, the lift started to fall. Duh, I'm going down, so the elevator had to be falling? This started off slow, then going faster and faster. For a brief moment, I was panicking, but even this was worth the price, if I was to fall to my death, it would be a short agony, and it would all be over and done with. I noticed it was slowing down, mainly because I started to feel heavier again. It's a sure sign the elevator is slowing down, right? As it finally did come to a full stop, the door slide open. I spill out into the dark hall. For a moment, I wondered where I was. The walls are not white, not even blue, or the uniform colour at all. It is paneled in Cherry. The luxury of it all. If I had seen spider webs, I had imagined the level was simply abandoned. Down here, a nine year old girl in a blue top and skirt would be spotted instantly. I'm as out of place here, as a whale in the middle of the Sahara desert. Up there, it was just the nurses in their yellow top and skirt. Then the patients in blue, unless it was visiting hours, when you could see visitors. My skirt reaches half way down my thigh, and improvised panties are integrated into it. It's easy to put on and slip out of, just as it makes everything easily accessible, if and when it needs to be, while preserving the dignity and privacy at all times. The top is tight, covering my body down to just an inch below my rib cadge, it reaches down five inches on my arms, and cover my neck entirely. It has a zipper through the entire back, in order to make for easy access. It is at least, how I understood it, even if I may have misinterpreted this fairly well. I wear no socks, they apparently found it pointless. Just a pair of indoor boots. They reach half way up towards my knees and make me feel taller, older. As if it had been a pair of high heels, but without the problem caused by the small heels on these. I never did wear such, I'm not old enough to find them alluring. The sole of these boots are in the shape of a crescent moon, almost like the horse shoe and four inches by six inches. At the end of the hall, there is a wide double door. It looks as if there are two windows, like the frames of a painting on the wall. I could see something behind it. If it is the library, but why would they hide a library down here. I did not even have an idea, just how many levels below ground I am, I had forgotten to look. I would know, when I got back to the door, wouldn't I. > The Hidden Library: 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- . The first to come over me, is the surprisingly fresh air, and the equally fresh air about the room, passing for a library. From the abandon I had seen, it should have had the air of a mausoleum, at best. Now it is close to the air of a greenhouse. It made me trip between surprise, disappointment and shock. It is a frightening feeling, when what looks as if it had been a dead, abandoned room had the feel of a living entity? Is it what you expected, it sure isn't what I had expected. What kept me in the room, is the fear of going back, and the boredom of what I had expected to face, where I had so recently escaped from. Instead of the still, stale and dead air the room had promised at first glance, it is a living breathing air of a slight breeze in a warm summer's day. The doors had slipped closed behind me and I had failed to notice, in part because it gave of no sound to speak of, just as much as it was my fascination of an exploration, never mentioned. The act none had told me about, as if it had been my very own surprise party. It promised me something. Any little girl in my place would have claimed the same, even at the risk of death, or it is how I had felt. The one scent on the air, is the fresh print of ink on newly bound pages of numerous books. It was as if someone had stored a year's production of newly printed books in the room. Each and every book as new and fresh, as if they had all been printed just the day before, for all I could say. Who am I kidding, I'm not the expert of books, or how a new book should smell. There is a path, maybe several lines of double-sided shelves of books, four feet between each shelf. The shelves reaching all the way up to the ceiling, somewhere up there, maybe ten feet up? I can't say, it is simply too tall for me to measure accurately. By the looks, the oak wood shelves are as sturdy as the trees they had been made out of, it may have been deceptive, to a girl like me, merely nine years of age. I couldn't tell, and I had no intent of finding out. Looking to the right and left, the shelves would be twenty feet to each side, by my estimate, and there is one or two behind it, I couldn't say. I guess it is irrelevant. I simply walked forwards, to the end of the path. There is a grand door before me, and I promptly opened it. There, before me, is the reading chamber. I see a reading pulpet in the centre of the room. It is a dark red oak, but I can say nothing more of it. What I could say, is that there is a massive tome, resting squarely on top of it, closed, as if just waiting for someone to read it. Me, possibly? What was I to do. There was but the one thing, and I walk to the book. Standing before it, as if it had been someone of great import. Someone whom I cared about, who cared about me in turn. It is but a feeling, a feeling I had, but couldn't quite place a finger on. I'm stuck, trapped. I had to take that one final step up to the book. It is just an ordinary book, or it is what I tried to tell myself. Of course I was wrong, and I knew it. It couldn't be just an ordinary book. There could be no ordinary book in this library, in this room, and most certainly not on the reading pulpet. Simple as that. I had found the book, almost as if I had been summoned here, and I couldn't turn back. Not now. I had no choice, and no alternative. I had gotten this far, only to turn back to what I had escaped? No, not really. When I finally set eye on the cover, looking closer, I see what could be expressed as an ancient, or arcane diagram, it is what I'd say, by how people talk, even if it may be a common misconception of silly mystification? Under the image, I made out what could only be taken for letters, text, making out a title. I tried to read it, but failed. I changed my mind and tried to open the book. To my surprise, it wasn't all that hard. Why should it be, it is but an old book, for all I could say. What I found, is a picture of a girl, and a horse. That is what I saw. Under it, I see more text, so I make a foolish attempt to read it. Pronouncing the words, the way I thought they were pronounced, from the letters I see on the page, from the left to the right, in part, because it is how I had been taught, and in part, because it is how the letters had been lined up. I had no idea what the words were, or what the text said, it made no sense to me. First after I had red the short text I actually look up, the black bangs before my eyes. Yes, my hair is still the same raven black, shiny after the shower I had earlier today. Just the same, my skin a fairly light complexion you may call pink? I'm just another regular nine years old girl in a blue hospital uniform. My eyes are green. Just as you expected, I had my nails cut short, I'm still too young to care for the stylish of manicure. I feel something on my back, trying to turn my head far enough to see what it was, before I gave up, reaching back, for a new attempt at what ever it was. Good thing the top is as short as it is. There is enough room between top and skirt. Finally, as I slipped the skirt down about two inches, I realized what it is. I'm growing a tail. A few minutes later, the tail is a foot long, now I could clearly see what kind of a tail it is, a horse tail. Exactly what the image had said. My tail is the same black as my hair, or mane, was it? Aside from my now considerably longer bangs, my hair grows down my neck, in a typical mane, just like the horses had. In a fit, I slammed the book closed and walked out of the room. On my way I noticed the boots I had been wearing. They now stand just inside of the door to the library. I left them there, as if they had never been mine, never been worn by me. I had never seen them before. I did not look down, and I did not look back as I walked back to the elevator. I was in a haste, I did not want to be remineded of what had just changed, forever. I'm no longer the girl who had been signed in here, just these few days before. That girl does no longer exist. I'm what she had become. Dare I face the looks of my parents, let alone the doctors, or the girls I had taken for my friends, looking like this. The doors promptly opened and I stepped in. Punching the numbers to the level I was supposed to be at, and go. Hoping I was going to be back, where I should have been all along. I had failed to realize the significance of the boots inside of the library. It's my boots. Yes, I'm still taller than I had been as I entered the room. Good thing I had been wearing the skirt. > Back in my Room: 4 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- . The uniform had been designed with considerable care, both to comfort, and accessibility. I could sleep in it, or I could have an examination with the doctor, still wearing it. I'm fairly comfortable wearing it. It does exactly what it is supposed to, I'm warm in it, and it covers what needs to be covered. It is even decent for a nine year old girl like me, even if I wouldn't go as far as to go out, outside of the hospital, wearing it. In part, because I had had enough of it already. I had gone to bed, just as I got back to the room, my room. I sleep in a single room, and alone. There is but the one bed in the room, and nothing more. I could ask for a new uniform each and every day, or they would ask me to change after a week. I had asked on my own accord, every other day. This saved me the awkwardness of them insisting on it, besides, it feels fresh, when I got the new one, even if it is identical to the one I wore the day before. It is fresh, and had been washed out, it is all I need. I guess I could have slipped the boots off. Yet I can sleep in them, just as easily as not. I'm sure I've slept in them a few times. They felt surprisingly natural to wear an entire day, and I could imagine I was 'barefoot', while wearing them, short of the small detail with the tactile sensations I had, while wearing them, I just can't compare it, in a way that would make sense out of it. I feel the floor under the boots, more as if it had been hooves, even if my experience isn't quite to the point I can claim I knew. What I could say, is that I feel anything under the soul of the boot, in a fashion that feels as if it is how it would feel, had it been hooves, rather than the boots on my feet. Having my feet bent in an angle, adjusting my posture didn't bother me, not from the second day here. If it had, it was already overshadowed by everything else. I guess I was starting to be bored by the place already. As I woke up, I pulled the quilt off of me, just as I had the day before, and the week before. Just as I had, every morning. I didn't think of it at first, but I guess I did notice it, as I was setting my hooves down onto the floor. It was something that just did not feel as it had the day before. If it is the boredom making me sensitive, or it made me less sensitive to this, who's to say? What happened, as the hoof hit the floor, is that I felt the floor, as if I actually had placed a hoof on the floor, not a foot in a boot. Looking down, I noticed what had happened. It isn't just the lack of the boots I had worn the day before. I could clearly make out the hooves, now the same four inches wide as the boots had been. Only the tactile sensitivity is entirely different. Where my heels had been is several inches higher up from the floor, the same goes for my knees. The most interesting thing is that my hooves are blue, I guess, but not just electric but now with a metallic hue to them. Looking and feeling as if they had been more elastic like rubber, if I had to put it that way? I purposefully ignored the lack of boots, the once I had left down in the library the day before. I can't wear them now, they were made for a little girl with regular girls' feet. I have no such feet now. These are pony hooves. As unusual as they may look, even if you ignored the fact that they are a part of the same girl as I had been the day before. I nonchalantly walked around, pretending I was wearing the boots, just for the joy of seeing how long it was to take them, before they realized I'm not wearing them. I was in fact bare hoofed, just as I had been since the day before. Would they notice, and would they realize what had happened the day before? Even if they noticed it, recognized what had happened, could they reverse it, if they wanted to. Did they in fact prefer me the way I am now, rather than how I had been when I had been signed in. Now, as I look back at it, my tail had grown to its full length, which is a foot from the floor, while standing upright. I can move it as if I had been born with it, if and when I so chose to, which amused me greatly. My skirt had to stay pushed down in order to go with the tail, which was amusing. I had to admit to that much. The top isn't affected in the slightest, since nothing had changed above my waist. In a way, I guess I am thankful for it, after all. The one thing that had to stand out, is the colour of the hide sticking out under my skirt, since it hardly could be taken for the natural skin tone of a little girl. It's a vibrant cerise, and a nicely florescent at that. I'm going to stand out, no matter what. I guess I did enjoy how quiet my hooves are, compared with the boots I had been wearing the entire week before. I'd compare it with walking bare foot, since it is the closest I could come up with. Maybe that would be a comparison as to how it feels to walk too. Just like any hooves, the soul is sensitive, but the outer surface is hard, and not all that sensitive. I guess it is something I just had to get used to. It is a bit like the nails on my toes, before my feet changed into what they are now. I never had started painting my nails. At age nine, I guess it wasn't that common. I can still paint the nails of my fingers, when I get to the age where I may feel inclined to do so, but I will never have my toe nails painted, since I have none, I have hooves in their place, and I had no need to paint them now. They are already blue. Besides, I like them the way they are, and I doubt regular nail polish would work, aside from the fact that I'd use up more than a bottle, for each hoof, if I wanted to try. > In the Morning: 5 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- . I had enjoyed my breakfast, even more so than I had expected, but not so much because the food was better than the day before, it's the same. What had chanced, is my venture out of their control. I had found an element of freedom. Even if I had not exactly exhausted myself, in doing so. Of course, then there are all the tests. Starting with a series of scans, from the X-rays and to gods knew what. They never explained it to me, maybe this made my boredom even worse. If they couldn't explain the test, what were they good for? I couldn't ask, since I knew they wouldn't answer. I had tried, a few times the first two days, then I gave up. They had merely managed to finish the tests just before lunch, that's because they wanted to have lunch themselves. I had enjoyed my lunch but felt alone, confused, not quite knowing what to do. In the end, there was but the one thing to do, I slipped out of my room and walked to the elevator. As it turned out, I found it slipping down to the bottom, and I spill out, back where I had come from. I had been here, just the other day. It's my only refuge at this point. Maybe the book could spell my salvation after all, despite the initial fear. I had managed to go from the elevator, to the door hiding the secretive and mysterious library the other day. If the library isn't there as I open the door, it would shock me to the core, a room just doesn't disappear or have a major change overnight. That's what they do in films, but not in a library. I was relieved as I finally entered the room, the library is still where I had left it. Every last detail as I had left it, as if the air had stopped as I closed the door behind me. Had there been dust in the room, it would have stopped dead in space, but there still is none of that nuisance. What I find, is all the same books, at exactly the same places. Not that I bothered looking at them, it wasn't these books I had come for. Maybe they're holy and enchanted, like the one book I had been reading the other day, but it is the book in the next room I'm interested in. I walk through the room, to the next door. Behind the door, everything is as if it had been a long lost tomb, and a pharaoh's curse had stopped the time. The book as I had left it, and I walk the few remaining steps up to the book. It's still the same meanly large book I had left here last night. Apparently I had closed the book on my way out, or someone had closed it for me. It left me wonder which page I had been reading, before I left the room. If it had any relevance, but I guess I'm not quite up to the level of seeing it to be, or not to be the case. Now I merely lift the cover, opening the book in order to see more of it. I wanted to see what is in the book. I know I had seen a picture, and I had red a text, even if I had no idea as to what it was all about, I didn't understand what it was. I still have no idea. I recognized the image, and flipped the page. Then I found another image, and curiously enough, there is more text under this image. I guess I shouldn't have, but I still did read it. At first, nothing happened. Had the book lost its power, or had I merely red the words wrong. Maybe I shouldn't have asked. “Greetings, my little foal!” the voice spoke, but I couldn't make out from where the majestic voice came. The room is empty, and I knew it. There isn't anyone in here with me, I'm alone with the book, besides, who would speak like this, and the words were all wrong. No human, male or females speaks like this. Not in this day and age. Was it a repressed memory, but I'm not quite this old. A chill slowly started to advance up my spine. Making it shiver, as if it had been frozen from the inside and out. “Whom am I speaking to?” I pondered, not quite realizing I was pronouncing the words, and in her dialect, to be exact. “I am Luna, Princess of the night. The one to comfort you, in the darkest hours, when your dreams are oppressing you, my dearest little filly!” she just responded. “Luna? I know I don't know you, since we've never actually met. We still haven't. By the sound of your voice, I think I may like to, some day, when it is right!” I pondered. “No, we haven't. You will see me, soon enough. You've found the gate, and you're holding the key. Just be patient, and you will see me soon!” Luna assured me with utter confidence, like only a Princess of the Night could. > A New Day: 6 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- . I had walked out of the library, only after I carefully had closed the book behind me. I didn't like to leave anything behind me, linking back to this event. Something had happened, something I couldn't and wouldn't explain to anyone. I had apparently been addressed by a Princess named Luna, and I had even been speaking with her. I had enjoyed speaking to her, and she had been nice to me. Not that she had overly excited me, not more than I dared express. Leaving the library with light steps, 'Clip, Clop, Clip, Clop'. I've come to know and expect these sounds from when I'm walking now. Just the few hours of experience, but it's me, I couldn't reverse it. I can't ask for it. As if I wanted, if I could. I didn't know if the book contains a reversal spell, or if I could find it in any of the other books, but I guess I just did not care right now. Why should I care, considering it is the only thing that actually happened to me here. Following the same path as I had come, and the same path as I had been taking the previous day, walking to the elevator, and out of the elevator to my room. Since nothing had actually changed in me this time, I guess I don't need to fear anyone detecting it, even if the first change still is all there, for everyone to see. Then I realized I had almost missed my lunch, which would have been bad, considering how they were to react. They had made it clear, they were not appreciating anything from me. My problem is that I need something to look forwards to, and they denied me. With that, I'll be quiet about my day. I had barely had the time to slip into bed, before the cart came into my room, the same nurse pushing it before her. I guess she is a bit cute, but she's still just one of them. I couldn't give them as much as an inch, they sure didn't give me anything. “Here's your meal!” she simply declared as she had placed the plate on the small table by my bed. There is a glass, and a bottle of milk, just the same things, right. Only today, I'm even more impatient than usual. I wanted her gone and out of the room. Faster than usual. I just couldn't through a temper, or she would report back to the doctor. I couldn't take that. I had done it once, but it wasn't exactly exciting, or rewarding on my end. “Thanks. I'm a bit tired!” I simply moaned, as I saw her leave. “If only the door could be locked. It isn't as if I'm expecting anyone, right now!” I then scolded the door in contempt, just as the door had finally closed after her. “Maybe I could help?” a voice soon suggested. “Either I'm mad, in which case I'm doomed, or you are the one I was speaking to earlier?” I inquired curious as to who could possibly be in my room at this time. “I can assure you, you're most certainly not mad. Yes, it is still me, I'm the voice you heard. Maybe now is the time for you to actually see me, finally. I suspect you have at least an idea, as to who, or at least what I am!” the voice pronounced, now with an increasingly regal tone. “If it is as you say, and I'm not mad, I guess that's a relief at least. If you are still the one I heard earlier, since you came as I read the book in the library, then you had to be some kind of pony?” I inquired. “Yes, pony would be your word for what I am, at least, the beginning of it. Since the door is locked, and none is to enter the room, now is the time!” Luna spoke. “Wait, that can't be you? But, then you're the Princess of the Night?” I uttered in disbelief. “Yes, that's me. My name is Luna, but I'm also known as Nightmare Moon!” she filled in. “I guess that's appropriate. I've had enough of the nightmare here already. Your presence here is something of a dream, and a wish fulfilled!” I pointed out. “A dream and a wish fulfillment? If only you know. But these words does warm my heart more than you dare imagine. If only I had heard them, a thousand years ago, but it wasn't permitted at the time. There is one thing for you to consider, your sister. Are you trusting her, enough to allow her in on your little secret?” Luna spoke. “Would you have been here, if I had not asked you? I did ask you over, right? That's the dream coming true, and a wish fulfillment. I'm glad I could do something right, at least by you, since nothing I do seem to please anyone here. Wherever did you come from? That is a pretty long time, isn't it? My sister? Yeah, I trust her, you suggest I should bring her in too? I guess it would feel good, someone whom I don't have to lie to about our relation!” I responded, now feeling warmer. “Here, in the room, most certainly not. What I am, would have been lost to the world. Though I still am, who I had always been. Actually, in one sense over all else, my thankfulness has no limits, just for you calling me back down here. If only I could have expressed this to you. That is what I was saying, if you trust her, if you care about her, you should bring her in. After all she just did for you. Besides, she is coming over soon, very soon!” Luna pointed out. “Now you're telling me something more, something you're not allowed to say? There is something I can't quite grasp in this. And there is something to your name, something calling to me. I think she is coming over today. Now as you mentioned, she would be coming with my dinner today, I think I was told. Maybe you could just let her in, when she does come? Am I permitted to let her see you today? I think it may be the best way to let her see!” I responded. “My name was Luna for a reason. Back then, a thousand years ago, I was controlling the moon, I was responsible to rise and lower it. Only this was not giving me the respect, or the love I needed and craved, back then. I grew depressed, and acted out upon my feelings. I was younger then, and I just couldn't take the situation. Since I'm already here, I guess I could grant her this small favour in your name, in gratitude of your kind gift. Yes, I'll let her in, if it is your desire!” Luna pointed out, her eyes alight with passion I haven't previously seen. “You couldn't possibly ask her to bring in dinner for three? I know she is coming alone, and it is what is expected, but for some reason, I think you should share the meal with us. If it isn't too much to ask?” I responded. “Thanks, that's only too gracious of you, but consider it done. She'll bring in something for me too. I'm sure she can come up with a way to explain away what she is bringing in for me!” Luna expressed warmly, with a touch of a new warmth. Something in her voice touched me on a new level. Deeper than I had been prepared for, thus leaving me quiet for a few minutes. I know only what she told me, and what I thought I had picked up on, from how she expressed herself, and carried herself, but I refused to doubt it in this case. I just couldn't allow the doubt slipping in, as if it was to openly admit I had lost it all. “It's the least I could do for you, isn't it! After coming over, and just for me?!” I responded, still taken aback. “Maybe we're more alike, than I wanted to hope for!” she just spoke in a mysterious tone of voice, veiled even further. The door quietly slid open, apparently unlocked for a moment. I could see the girl walk in, my sister. Only the door quietly closed behind her, as she pulled the dinner cart with her into the room. Just as quietly as the lock opened, now it closed. --- --- --- > A Dinner For Luna: 7 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- . “I had a hunch you were hungry!” I pronounced, before I had had the time to look at the room, it wasn't as if I had expected to see anything, or anyone, let alone a large horse in the room. “Yes, I picked up an appetite lately. I'll have to explain all about it. But first I'd like to introduce you to a new friend of mine. You could say I found her the other day, in a long forgotten library, which I'll also show you later. Right now, I'm hungry!” I told her. “Then I'll start to prepare for the meal. I hope your new friend will enjoy what I swiped for her. Since I was just picking up a meal for us, it isn't easy to explain taking a third plate. A new friend, I hope she is as nice as you make her out to be. Now I'm curious. Who is she?!” I pondered on in curious tones. “Meet Luna. Luna, this is my sister!” she pointed out, in a traditional presentation, clearly indicate who she was presenting. “Greetings. Nice to meet you!” Luna spoke, just after she stepped out of the shadows. “Hi, Luna. How do you do!” I responded in kind, trying my best in responding to my sister's new best friend, from all I could see. “I think I can see the family resemblance!” Luna mused, looking deep into my eyes, making me feel I was fearing she was to drawn in my eyes, or I was to drawn into hers. I may be a few years older then my sister, she is nine, while I'm fifteen years of age. I had managed to miss the detail of her changes. It isn't just the way she is around the mare Alicorn she had in her room as I came. There are all the other details, but I never really looked down onto the floor. Why should I have? “The salad would be yours, I hope you'll enjoy it. It isn't exactly a royal chef at our hospital, but at least it is good, I hope!” I suggested. “Sure do look delicious. I haven't had a descent meal for a while longer than you may imagine. I'm looking forwards to something to just remind me of what it feels like. To share my meal with friends, it's simply divine!” Luna interjected with a smile on her face, suggesting she actually means it too. I cast her a sudden side-glance, before I look at the salad I had carried up for me and my sister. I found all sorts of stylish vegetables. Hoping they were not just eatable, but also tasty for a pony, and an Alicorn Princess at that. The two portions of salad was the only thing I could come up with sneaking with me. Now it seems a grand idea, since she was bound to be vegetarian, after all. I looked at the black mare as she sat down with us, me and my sister, that is. Just to see her sit down, wings on her back, and a fully equine form, it made me feel strange. Something just made it feel as if it had all been a dream, but the one I didn't want to wake up from. The meal was practically enjoyed in quiet contemplation. I did not mind, just making due with enjoying the meal, observing them before me. Observations of this kind is after all best performed in silence. I didn't need to come up with a reply, or follow a conversation. I'm quite happy as it was. Just looking at Luna, most of the time. Yet, my eyes frequently did wonder off towards my sister, as if there is something I had missed, something important to see. I just couldn't put a finger on what it may have been, hoping she was to explain it later. Maybe the meal takes me half an hour, if it is a few minutes more or less, but I finished my meal with a happy smile on my face. I had seen the same smile on our new friend. I can't say I regretted it, why? “What was it you wanted to show me?” I inquired curiously, still with the smile I maintained during the entire meal on my face. “Yes, this would be the time to let her in on my library!” Luna pointed out. “The library, yes, this would be the time. If you lead the way, Luna?” she responded. “Right this way, then. I'll take you there. For this show, we'll take the ordinary way so that you can go there on your own!” Luna pointed out, obviously enjoying herself royally. “I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. I hope the salad was as good as you expected!” I responded. “Oh yes, it certainly was. I'll carry this experience and this day with me for time to come. Probably much longer than either of you could imagine!” Luna mused as the door slip open as she walked out into the hall, leading up to the elevator. As if by a miracle, but rather by magic, the doors had already opened as we arrived. I guess I couldn't quite be surprised. Not once you see a black horse with wings and a horn in her forehead, siting by the table, dining. She had managed her feat pretty well. The fork and knife no challenge for her, the level of her magic staying on top of the situation. I had enjoyed watching her as she ate. I could see she enjoyed to demonstrate her class. Even when she knew we're not the ponies who used to be around her. A human of two didn't really flatten her spirit. I followed the two into the elevator and noticed the buttons glow as she managed to choose our destination. I could see the magic in action and it is always the same colour, it is her hue, as clearly as my fingerprints, by the looks of it. > The Library: 8 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- . I had seen Luna, the equine Princess of the night. I'm fascinated by her, I am to confess truthfully. I couldn't lie to myself, now could I. Besides, what's the point. I had seen my sister smile, for the first time of the entire stay at the hospital. I mean, she may smile, but it is no real smile, when you see a true smile, you know the difference, at least if it is your sister. It is what I had told myself on the trip down. Then something hit me, and I couldn't quite place it at first. Not only did I hear two sets of hooves moving from her room and to the elevator, but I clearly felt a second tail in the cramped space of the elevator as well. There is no way around what I had noticed. There is just one actual human here, and that's me, but I still knew my sister to be with me. It is the first time I noticed the changes, the differences in her. Something is strange, but it still does hold together. As boring as the uniforms are, I guess I could see the point, even if it feels a bit too militaristic on me. My sister is wearing her blue skirt and top, like always when I see her. I've grown to associate her with the uniform by now, which is bothering me in some ways I just can't quite put a finger to. Only now something stick out, did she have a tail, and were these her hooves? She certainly isn't wearing the blue shoes, or boots now. I guess I finally had noticed it. Naturally I wear my complete uniform as a visitor of the hospital, the top, skirt and shoes. The nurse had made sure of it as she watched me signing in for the visit today, just like was customary. It was just the nurse assigned for this duty. I'm not sure of her name, I don't really care. On the front of my red top, the tag reads Hitomi, which is my name. The picture clearly identifying me, the long black hair, with bangs and a braid on my back, the green eyes and a cute smile, aside from the light complexion plaguing our family. “You may as well take your shoes off, and leave them by the door!” Luna pointed out as we entered the library. “It isn't as if anyone is going to find them. I have never even seen a black suited janitor down here!” my younger sister Risa exclaimed, as the doors closed behind us. For a moment, I was tempted to look at all the wondrous books to both right and left. But since my sister ignored them, I simply followed her example. As fascinating and wondrous as they may be, I felt a scent of something that was to top the combined scope off by a land slide. How ever this was even possible. Looking back at my sister before me, I quickly revised the point. There's the living proof of what is simply incomprehensible, right there before me. I need but see her tail, or hooves before I know it to be the case. I can't refute what's before my very eyes. “Right this way, children. Oh and Hitomi, you will have enough time to study these volumes, as priceless as they are, after your visiting hours are up. I'm giving you several days to enjoy them!” Luna put forth in a generous tone of voice, yet hinting to a deeper amusement. “Then I wasn't wrong in my initial assessment of what we're just walking by, right now? Is that what you're saying, Luna?” I inquired, curious and hoping for the inevitable confirmation from the Princess of the Night herself. “Oh, but they certainly are. More precious then you may imagine!” she just put forth. “Wait, this room feels as if it had been brand new. Yet I sense you indicating it is more or less ageless, ancient. It isn't a long lost trove of treasure, as valuable as if it had been gold, stacked line by line to the brim of the high ceiling?” I responded. “Gold is a mere natural mineral, but I can follow your line of thought. This does indeed contain treasures, far outreaching mere mineral wealth. Maybe time itself withholds these, for the same of preservation?” Luna teased on, igniting hope and confusion within me. “This looks a bit like an old time library, belonging to a Noble. I still recall reading of these things in history class. Though I have missed a few classes by now, and these memories aren't quite as vivid as they were in class!” Risa pondered. “We read about these too, but that's a few years back now. We've moved further back in time in our studies. I think a library like this would be an adventure all of its own. Now I'm asked to pass it up, to see another book?” I inquired. “This isn't just another book, but you'll see it with your own eyes. I'll have you read it, and see the engravings!” Luna pointed out with a sinister grin on her face. “Engravings, did you just say engravings? These are only found in very old books. I haven't even seen a true engraving!” I expressed in shock and expectation. Now I finally got to the doors, to see them open, and allowing us entrance. I follow my sister into the room. It is the inner sanctum of a lord of some kind, from some ancient culture. I walk up to the reading pulpet, looking at the book. I can recognize the Latin alphabet, but vaguely, as if it is so old, the letters are barely recognizable. “This isn't Anglic, Russian, French, or Arabic. I'll see if I could pronounce the words?” I pronounced as I opened the book, only to see the image of a horse and a human. “Looks like Equestrian, by what I can make out!” Luna suggested in a supportive voice, suggesting what had to be said. “Equestrian?” I stumbled. “Yes, Equestrian. It's the Language of my ancestors, from my native lands. Equestria is a nation of Equines, just like myself. Most of us are considered ponies, and come in three common types. Earth ponies, like your everyday horse, Pegasi, winged ponies, and finally the Unicorns, with a horn in the forehead, with which we weald magic. I'm an Alicorn, thus I have both the horn, and the wings. Incidentally we Allicorns grow considerably larger then the common ponies of our lands!” Luna summarily explained, thus spilling a large can of beans all over the both of us. Just like my sister, I stumbled on with pronunciation of the words, and I'm not sure if I got this right, or what it actually was I was saying, but I still had to try to read this short text. “I think you got that down pretty well, good thing you did remove the shoes, as beautiful as they are. I wouldn't like to see you ruin them, not so much for the shoes, but for how I imagine it'd pain you as your feet change!” Luna pointed out. I looked at her face curiously, then momentarily at where I had left my shoes by the door, before I looked back at her. Then I have a new and unaccustomed sensation at the base of my spine. Momentarily pushing the skirt a few inches down, as I realize what happened. I had just sprouted a tail, just like my sister. I just couldn't see it. I noticed I had changed stance, just at the time I was pushing my skirt down, something more had apparently changed, so I look down, only to see a pair of hooves, identical to my sisters. Only my hooves are red, and with that, I guess so would be tail be, even if I couldn't see it. Then it hit me, my hair had also changed into the same ginger red. I laughed out in amusement. “Of all colours, Metallic bloody red, for my hooves!” I pointed out. “That's exactly what happened to me too!” Risa pointed out with glee, and a smile on her face as she looks at me. > Left Behind: 9 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- . ”I need to go up, before they miss me!” Risa pointed out. “I'll follow you up, your sister can easily find her way, when she feels she likes to go!” Luna declared. “Just two levels to keep track of, so I'm sure I'll make it up. Finding the lift should be just as easy!” I replied as my sister followed Luna out of the room. I followed my sister with my eyes, for as long as I could see her, before the doors closed behind the two of them. Then I follow the sounds of them as they continue towards the elevator, but about this time I lose track of them, not because of noises but just because they are simply too far away. Now I cast a glance back at the book I had just red from, before my sister walked out of the room, with Luna in tow. I guess Luna's mere existence amused me, just as it is fascinating. I had a few questions for her, though these will be for later. Right now I had an entire library to myself, and none to tell me what book I could, or couldn't read. Yet, I decided on keeping all the books within the four walls surrounding me right now. In all of the library, there are way too many books to look at, how was I to choose. I ended up looking at the one book I had been reading. It may have been the one phrase in Equestrian, but I had red it. I have no idea what I had said, but I imagined I was saying something that had to make perfect sense. I had to have been a very clear point. Or it could never have made this to me. Unless I'm dreaming, or just out of my mind and utterly crazy? I refused to take in this final possibility for now. Placing my hand on the still open book, allowing my fingers to taste the fabric, the texture of a book I know to be ancient. Possibly older then human history, for all I knew. I could accept that the history I had been reading about and thus taught may have been distorted or even flatly wrong, maybe in part, because it didn't challenge me in person, I have no invested interest in what happened more than a millennia ago. I feel what I had taken for regular paper, but taking the age into consideration, I was starting to question the initial notion of the material, but lacking references, I allowed the notion to fade, in part because it changed nothing. What I felt is a fairly smooth surface, so it could have been paper all along, which could have changed history a great deal. The indents of ink in the fabric made me think it had either been written by hand, or printed old style, rather than modern means, but this made perfect sense, considering the age of the document before me. Only I had no idea as to the actual, or physical age, in part due to how this room had slipped sideways in time, permitting it to stay as it is, for untold amounts of time, ignoring time, until someone, just like me entered the room. Looking only to see the vivid colours, as if it had been written a mere few days in the past, yet knowing it couldn't be the case, even if I knew nothing of how the choices of hues changed with time, or how time itself did change them. Maybe I could ignore all these quandaries and details, at least for now. What baffled me, is how the book doesn't feel as if there are pages onto pages, but merely a solid mass, almost as if it wasn't an actual book, but something very different, and something that is entirely out of time. Maybe my only clue is magic itself, since it was clearly imbued with a great deal of fairly powerful magic in the first place. In the end, I close the book and leave it where I had found it. There are so much more to see here, even if I had next to no time to actually see it all. For now, I could make due, just looking over the room itself, it is enough for the time I had on hand. Just this reading pulpet alone. What kind of wood had it been crafted out of? I have no idea, in part because I did not know woods. Then again, it looks good, feels solid. I see a crafter behind it. Someone had put great effort into the craft I found the book on top of. I guess I should have expected this, considering the book alone, not to mention the setting in which I find myself within now. The room now completely silent, since I stand in a single place, not moving around, putting a hoof down or even moving my hands. The moment startled me for a short while, then I came back to myself. Staring into the room. I had seen everything about the book, so it felt as if it was the time to move, to walk around the room for a while. Hearing the sounds of my very own hooves wouldn't ruin the moment, now would it? I just couldn't see it happening. Once I started to walk, something in the sounds of my hooves woke me up, not so much that I had been sleeping in the literal sense, but I suddenly felt more alive. The sound isn't that of the shoes I had been wearing, just as it isn't that of a pony, or even that of Lunas' hooves as she walked out. It may be the same sound as my sister made, just more and stronger, since I'm taller and heavier than her, but it definitely is the same sound to it. There is something radically different from what one had expected, if not for the fact I had already heard my sister walk around. My walking makes an excited 'Clip, Clop, Clip, Clop', as I move around the room. What I had not realized, until now, is just how much these sounds express. How am I to explain it, since I probably would never have even noticed it before I changed, and unless I was on my own, alone in a room like this. Just walking alone lifts my spirit, if only I could ever put words to, or explain how it could possibly work. Knowing I am under ground, there could be no windows, but it is almost as if the light in the room tried to make me believe I'm on the second floor. This could only be due to the strange magic, keeping the room in the pristine order, in which I had found it. I had found three groups of baroque furniture in comfortable group arrangement. It is almost as if it had been a room where I could read a decree to gathered friends, if I was to go by how the furniture is arranged. Yet, the chairs are also standing in groups, in such a way as to allow separate groups converse intimately, while sitting in divine comfort. It is a room belonging to someone with great wealth, and someone who is holding great taste, for all I could see. I walk over to the group of chairs to the right of me, opposing the door through which I came. Standing before the elaborate table for several minutes, just gasping at what I had before me, before I chose the first seat to the right. Only once I had sat down did I notice the odd thing about the chair in which I am sitting, it is as if it had been crafted for someone just like myself. Someone born with a tail, just like mine. It would have been intended for people who have an equine tail, not a feline or any other tail. I also found the chair quite comfortable siting in, it holds me comfortably in place, without encroaching on me, or feeling too tightly. Just the same, my arms rest comfortably on softly padded armrests. > Leaving: 10 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- . I sat in the chair, enjoying myself. I knew I could go back here every day, and any day I so please. Now I just enjoyed the moment. Lifting a hoof up, examining it, I was enjoying to just look at it. The smooth shiny surface, looking as if it had been made out of a hard plastic, or rubber, which I knew couldn't be the case, or, could it. I place my hands on the smooth surface, slowly, gently stroking it, only to experience just how smooth it felt under my fingers, just to realize how sensitive it is for such a hard looking surface. While stroking it, it felt almost as if it had been wet, but when I was trying to kick the table, I noticed it was quite sturdy, and didn't feel a thing. Thankfully the table did not take any hint of my action, I would have hated to see such a precious table being destroyed, just because I'm curious and try to examine myself. Moving my attention back from the table and to my right hoof, only now the soul, rather than the horny surface up front. It feels soft and elastic to the touch, even when the colour, the hue and highlights are all the same. Whatever made it so hard and durable on the front, and so soft and elastic underneath. I guess there is a point to the magic I had invoked upon myself. I just don't know what it is, or how it works, but I still do enjoy it all the same. I had sat down and enjoyed the chair for several minutes, as I examined my hooves. I guess it had been just a bit more enjoyable than I had initially expected, but I started out doing it, because I'm curious. I guess it did explain a few things, but didn't make me any less confused about any of it in the first place. Not so much because I really was confused in the first place. As I finished examining my hooves, I rose to stand up, then slowly started to walk around the room. Looking around, poking at anything and everything that I could put a hand on. Curiosity getting the better of me, and for now, there is nothing I could do about it. Besides, why bother. From what I could tell, these chairs are feeling as if they had been made out of the finest leather, but who am I to say. Yet, it feels right, considering what I had seen in the room. Since I had seen her tail, then my own, there was little to no point spending more of my precious time exploring my tail at this time, it could wait. I had seen both hers and my hooves, just as I had explored mine, as well as I had any need for at this point, no point in more of the same. I do however have an entire room to explore. A room in which I am currently sitting, aside from the rest of the books, laying just outside the door, waiting. I rose to my hooves, slowly walking along the room, only to stop, right where I had been sitting. The chair and table was curious, even if it isn't the most important things in the room to examine. Then it hit me, I had seen all there is to see in the room, short of the contents of the book, from which I had been reading. As grand as the furniture looks, I have seen all there is to see. I have sat in a chair, why spend more time, doing that once more and all over. There was nothing more to learn from it, for all I could see. I can look at the wood, but since I have no experience and no frame of reference, it wouldn't tell me anything. Nothing worth the effort. With that, I started up, walking to the pulpet, once more. I open the cover of the book, looking at the inside. Seeing the paper, the colours, the indents giving shadows and shadings. Reading the text, even if it told me next to nothing. Only now I knew why. It is all in Equestrian, ancient Equestrian at that. No wonder I could barely make out anything. I kept reading the text, more out of curiosity, tasting the words. Maybe it did give me something later. If I sample enough, maybe I would learn and understand. I did it more for the fun than any actual hope to learn enough from the few hours I had remaining to me here today. I flipped the page, looking at the image with the Pony and Human on it. I did not read the text once more. Imagining there was nothing more to learn from it. I had already read it once, why read it again? What I need is a dictionary, if I truly desire to know what it tried to say. I read the other text. Nothing happened. It apparently told me something. What ever text isn't associated with an image is mere inanimate information. Only the images does hold spells. What ever they had to offer. From the assumption, I refused to read or pronounce the text under any image. I can still safely read the text in the book, aside from what was associated to an image. Just as I can safely look at any one image, without any consequence. No change will occur, no spell will be released, unless I read the text under the images. That would be self-contained spells. It is at least what I assumed, I did not test the theory. The first spell had changed me and my sister into this form, a half by half equine, while still keeping the other half of who we are. I scrutinized the second image, finally realizing who was in the image. That is Luna and her other form as Nightmare Night, though there is a third form of her in a more resent time, where she was hailing from. The spell invoked her form and person in the flesh, from what I could figure. My sister Riku had invoked the Princess. Maybe I should tell her, if Luna had not already explained it? I left it at that, for now. I just flipped a page, only to find more text to read. It told me nothing. There is also an image to see. The image gave me an idea as to what the third spell would be, but I refuse to read it. I don't want to test my theory at this point. I closed the book, quietly, before I walked away from the pulpet, leaving it behind and turning my back on it. There is something I had to tell my sister, but I couldn't let on at this time. I have no right to allow others to know. It isn't anything I had been told or something I had read. I just had the feeling. With that, I left it at that. --- --- --- > A New Morning: 11 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- . To my surprise, I found a sealed envelope by the bed in the morning, How odd, I never did get mail at the room. In fact, I had not gotten as much as a post-card at the hospital. Maybe the Nurse had stolen them from me. Only now, the white envelope is clearly laying before me. I could read my name on the envelope, aside from that, it is clearly blank. Who was it from? How did it get to my room? When had it gotten there and how. I had no idea, just an endless line of questions. I chose to table the questions, the content would let me know, if it was of any import. Besides, I had an idea as to where to dispose of it, once I had read it. I have no intent to allow anyone to know of it. Least of all the Nurse and Doctor. At this point, I don't give Jack for the Doctor's confidentiality. If she was to learn of it alone, it would ruin the day. The entire stay I had remaining to me here. She would keep me here even longer, just because of the one envelope. I knew it, even if it had never happened, to the best of my minimal to none existent knowledge, anyway. I don't chance it. I want home and out of here. I don't stay an instant longer than I have to. Sadly, I still had to stay here for a few more days, as they had told me. They just never gave me a good reason. Keeps up the vague nonsense story about uncertainly and observation. Maybe I could ask Luna to take me out of here and away from the grip of their filthy claws? I just have to make sure they can never shut the doors to the path to her. Maybe I could use an ink pen and write the line that invoked her. Would it work, if I repeated the line outside of the library? I never tried, maybe I should. I know next to nothing about the world outside the hospital in which I feel trapped and imprisoned at this time. I haven't really seen the world and haven't had the time to study it at school either. Maybe I should have paid more attention in class while I had the chance, had I known what just trashed my life as I knew it. As little as I knew of my own world, Earth, I knew I know even less of magic and Equestria. Where is it and what is it like that. Who are these ponies and what are they like. Question upon question and no answers. I guess I could ask Luna about her world, if and when I had the chance next. Speaking of which, I believe she visited me in my dreams this night. I can't say for sure, but it feels as if she did. Maybe it is merely a feeling I have, as fleeting as it may be. I can after all recall next to nothing of the dreams I had during the night, although I am sure I have several dreams each and every night. I recall only bare fragments of the last dream of the night, if I woke up from inside of it. I do have these experiences from time to time. Who doesn't? Out of boredom, I had been desperate. Out of hope, memories were starting to surface. Maybe I could actually get out of this place alive and with my sanity intact. I finally have some pony I could trust, aside from my sister who came here fairly regularly, when her schedule would permit her to be here on my visiting hours. The one thing she is lacking, is the power to pull me out of here. Out is the one thing I desperately need. I had realized, my uniform is due for washing in two days. If I don't go down with the uniform myself by the lights out on the due date, they will change the garments for me. I had been told of it. I haven't seen it done, mainly due to the fact that I sleep in a solitary room. Maybe they chose it in order to isolate me. Just as it prevented me from seeing if and when someone actually had their uniform forcibly changed? I am still glad I have never seen it. Even if they would do this while I sleep? Maybe it is a good excuse for me to take a stroll down there. I may have preferred to go to the library, but it is an official excuse to leave my room. Something I could refer to, if and when I was asked, questioned as to why I had left my room. I like to have fresh garments. Though I was commonly changing the skirt each and every day. It is the most intimate part of my uniform. The top is still intimate, so I changed it fairly regularly. As luck had it, I had not cared to change the boots all that often. Maybe I had even forgotten them an entire week, without anyone questioning my forgetfulness. I'm not sure, I haven't really bothered to ask. The less I say to them, the better. Even if I try to make casual comments on common everyday details, like if it is sunny, or it is raining. Aside from anything that had bothered me. Thinking of it, it seems a pretty clever move I found convenient, lucky and comfortable. Although I had to point out if something bothered me. Maybe they would actually try to make the particular detail better. Like the carrots, if they were not fresh enough, or just tasted funny to me. Maybe funny tasting carrots doesn't sound like a very big deal. It could be due to medication I had just taken. Yet, it could as well be a sign of bad food. I had been told to look out for less than fresh vegetables. It isn't as if this was common or expected, but it is nonetheless important to be ever so watchful of it. Strangely, when I had pointed out this one detail, they had been very happy to change the vegetables. Even told me, I was a good little girl who told them. I had not pondered it at the time. Maybe I should have. Now I had to go change my uniform. I just couldn't for my life figure out, where the boots were. I can't take them off, if I am not wearing them. I just hope they wouldn't ask me, even if I signed for a partial change. It isn't as if I changed the entire uniform on the same day all that often, thankfully. If I had, they would notice something was off. Oh, wait, it is time for breakfast. I guess I am hungry, after all. I had just heard the first sign, the girl who pulls the cart from room to room with the meals. It is the sound of wheels and the door opening and closing in orderly fashion, one room, then the next. There goes, my door opened up and the cart slides in. I guess I don't mind. I could see the vegetables and the juice. She had bread and serials, milk and the lot. I had never cared to name each and every detail she carried with her. “Morn', morn'. A lovely day!” she proclaimed as she came up to the side of my bed. “Morn', morn'. I guess. Good thing you came with my breakfast, I'm starving. I could eat a Horse!” I put forth in response without thinking of what I had just said. “Sorry, we don't serve horse here. Even if I guess the horse would be content with what we do serve!” she teased. Good thing she did have at least some humour. She placed a plate, a glass and a bowl on my table by the bed, before she poured up the juice. Then she managed to fill my bowl up with a selection of fancy looking vegetables. Maybe she had noticed how much I had supposedly been eating the other day. Half of which was for me, half of which had been for my sister, although Luna happily had enjoyed the lot of it. Either way, I did not protest, it all did look fairly tasty. Aside from my currently good appetite. Maybe her presence was making me feel better and thus giving me more of an appetite than I had expected. She had actually left the pitcher of juice on my table, aside form one with milk. The real milk, no poor excuse for a substitute, thankfully. Apparently, little girls like me deserves actual milk, by the looks. I can't say I am too fat to enjoy it, thankfully. There is a slice of bread on the plate. I guess it is what I always had for breakfast here. That's one of the few things that didn't bother me to know they kept tabs on. I know they have what I actually eat for me. “I'll pick up the scraps when I get back. Bon apetite!” she pronounced as she left for the next room. “Thanks. I see you by then!” I merely responded. I watched her walking out the door, closing it as she left, before she moved to the next room and I could safely forget about her. It isn't so much that I like to forget her, just that I like to be alone. I know none was coming, while I had my breakfast, thankfully. Maybe they had decided on allowing us to have breakfast undisturbed. I don't make a fuzz out of it, so they did not feel the need to observe or guard me while I ate. I had come to enjoy my meals in solitude, in part, because the only one I had wanted to be with me is my sister and she could only be with me about once a day. I guess I could hope for Luna to be with me, but I couldn't ask her in on this short a notice, as much as I may have enjoyed her company right now. Of course she would be back for the bowl, plate, glasses and pitchers. I was done with my meal by then. As a matter of fact, I had already left the room as she was to return. The thrice damned tests. The doctor seems to love them. I don't. The vegetables were just great. Maybe I should ask for more of them for my next meal too. The juice is good, just above what would be considered average, which is good. The rest mainly fill my belly up, I know I need to eat and I was hungry enough to enjoy every last crumb of the food as well. I shouldn't be complaining, right? I just mentioned. Once it was time for the tests, I guess the good morning is over. No longer morning and not quite as good either. Oh well. I could as well have it done and over with. I can have my lunch, but first after these tests.