The World I've Come to Know

As soon as I stepped outside, the guards outside of the room noticed me and started holding back the urge to laugh. I looked at all of them and chuckled.

"You all should be more hardened than this, gentlemen. You're guards, not bystanders. Besides, woud you rather me not wear this?" I said. The guards immediately stopped laughing and straightened their backs and resumed their duties. I smiled and started walking down the hall in the pink robe. I didn't mind the colour, it's just a robe after all. I looked over the railing of the upper floor of the main hall. There was the hustle and bustle of ponies down on the floor. I had to be careful not to look too far off the railing, otherwise, it would end pretty badly. The rail was only up to my thighs, or tall enough to where average ponies didn't fall off. Too short for me, though.

"I've been looking for you," a voice said behind me. I spun around and looked into the eyes of Princess Luna.

"Well, hi there," I said, surprised. "...Something you need?"

Luna looked away. "Not necessarily. I just wanted to talk," she said, taking a few steps back.

I furrowed my brow and started to lean on the rail. "You know, I'm curious...Why is it that you're so nice to me? I mean, Celestia told me that if humans try colonizing, I'd go to the dungeon; yet, here you are. Coming to talk to me so late at night and so early in the morning. Hell, not even people back in my world would do that. I don't understand it," I said, curiously, putting my hands in the pockets of the robe. They were a bit low, so I had to sag my shoulders to put them in the pockets. They were likely around the area of Celestia's flank. "You've been more friendly and open than the others."

Luna smiled warmly, "That's because I know what it's like to be..."shunned", so to speak. I know what it's like for everypony in Canterlot is scared and curious of your very being, your existence. I know what it's like to be avoided by others and, trust me, you will be." I scowled.

"Why is it that anyone would be...scared of you? I mean, you're nice to me, what reason would anyone have to dislike you?" I said, confused.

Luna sighed, walking over to the golden railing that I leaned on. She closed her eyes, "I'd rather we speak about this in private. It's not something I like to publicly talk about," she said, a tone of depression in her voice. I tilted my head back in confusion.

"Is there anywhere we can go to talk about this?" I asked.

"Yes. Come with me," Luna sighed before walking away and down a hall. I followed her obediently . We traveled down the hallway and down three flights of stairs before walking down another large hallway. We're obviously below the ground level and in some sort of basement. From there, we entered a room whose doors had one large crescent moon on the front of each f them. The room behind the doors had dark purple carpet and midnight blue walls. There was a large fireplace on one of the walls and in front of it where two couches and a lounge chair, all made of some sort of synthetic leather. Of course, they wouldn't use actual leather, I mean, they're ponies, I thought.

Luna sat down on the lounge chair, "Sit down, I'll tell you the story." I sat across from her, on the couch and looked at her. She didn't return the gaze, only stared into the fireplace. "A long time ago, a whole one thousand years," she closed her eyes as she spoke, "I had been corrupted. By what, I'm not certain of. As the tale that ponies used to say, it was due to the ponies shunning the night that I bring. Nay, I do not believe it is that. Something as simple as that could have possibly changed me like it did. It was with this corruption that I changed into Nightmare Moon, a bitter, hate-filled being that tried to bring night to this world. It was then that Celestia, despite trying to reason with Nightmare Moon, was forced to banish Nightmare Moon and I to the moon for a millenia."

Luna opened her eyes and looked to the floor, "I was still conscious of what was happening. It was as if I could see what was going on, but, I was unable to act upon it. It was like a dream I could not control. Something else acted in my stead and there was nothing I could do about it. I didn't do any of that and I was still punished anyways." Luna looked up to me. "Upon my return, the ponies feared me for the longest time because they thought that I would become Nightmare Moon once more. They even made a whole "holiday", if you will, of it. "Nightmare Night", they called it. They would leave candy for Nightmare Moon so she would not return to...eat...all of them." Luna shook her head at the thought.

I frowned. "So, me being here causes fear?" I asked.

Luna nodded, "Yes, it does. We've had tens of hundreds of letters from the ponies here about you. Whether or not you are evil. You see, the last bipedal we've encountered was Discord, a draconequus. A mishmash of multiple different animals. Pony, deer, dragon, bat, and pegasi. He had a type of magic that would cause sheer chaos. He appeared before I became Nightmare Moon and my sister and I sealed him into a stone prison using the Elements of Harmony, which was used to put Nightmare Moon and I on the moon. The prison looked as if it were a statue of Discord, which sat in the labyrinth for so long, until about three years ago when he was released. The six current bearers of the Elements of Harmony had resealed him back into his stone prison and was let out once again about a year ago, where he was reformed into an ally."

I thought over this "Discord" character. "Hm, well, that certainly would be cause for them to have prejudice against me. Well, at least she didn't turn me into a statue upon my entrance to this world," I chuckled.

"Yes, well, do you see the reason as to why I would be so kind to you?" Luna asked, evading my joke.

I thought it over quickly, "I suppose...and thank you for it. I'd be lost here without someone's guidance."

Luna smiled at me, "Thank you, Raymond. I appreciate that." We sat in silence staring at the fire for a good thirty minutes, just enjoying each other's company. Soon enough, Celestia walked into the room.

Celestia coughed, "Good afternoon, Luna, Raymond."

I craned me neck over to her, "Is it already? I couldn't tell from the...lack of windows." Luna mouthed a sorry over to me.

"Yes, it's already three in the afternoon," Celestia smirked. "But, that's not quite why I'm here, I'm here to converse with you two about the Summer Sun Celebration tomorrow." Celestia walked over and sat on the empty couch. Luna and I sat up in the chairs and turned to Celestia.

I coughed before speaking, "Okay, well, what's the plan?"

"Well, my idea is that we go through the celebration as normal and we finish with Twilight, as we did last year. We continue on with and do our small speeches as we normally do, and then Luna and I turn to each other and nod. We go off in different directions, Twilight with me. Then, horns start to sound again, drum roll, and you stand up on the stage, Raymond. Horns and drums stop, and you take a moment let them calm down and, when they are, deliver a speech that will assure them that they can trust you. Don't make it too long, don't make it too short. Don't be rude, either."

I soaked in all of the information and then started to nod. "Yes, okay. I can do that. Just wait for the horns and drum roll and go on the stage. Easy enough."

Celestia stood from here seat, "I expect you to be up at 5 o' clock sharp. The celebration starts at 6. It will be here in Canterlot this year."

"You'll see me then," I said while she left the room. When the door closed, I heard another voice speaking to her and they carried a small conversation. Soon enough the door opened and Wish Wash stepped inside and walked over to me.

"Your clothes are all clean, Mr. Frederov!" Wish said, gleefully pulling my clothes out of her saddlebag. "I'm assuming you wanted me to hoof wash them instead of...erm..."Hand wash" them."

I thought about it and realized my mistake. "Ah, yes, yes. Whoops. I meant..."Hoof wash". Just for future reference, if I ever say "Hand" anything, I mean "Hoof". These are hands," I said, putting up my hands and moving my fingers a bit.

"Oh, I see," Wish said.

"Well, thank you anyways, Wish. I greatly appreciate it," I said, picking up my clothes.

"You're very welcome, Mr. Frederov. If you ever need me again, just ask!" Wish said smiling.

I patted her head and stood up. "Luna, where is the nearest bathroom. I'm going to change."

"It's outside the room and to the left," Luna said. I nodded and walked away to the bathroom. It was almost exactly the same as the other bathroom, save for the color pallet being less gold and more purple. I removed all the things from the pockets of this robe and put them on the counter next to the sink before taking off my clothes and putting on my new, clean ones. I put all my things in their respective pockets once more before walking back out and going back to Luna.

The rest of the day went on like I'd expect it to. Exploring the castle, talking to Luna and whatnot. Later that night, while I waited for me to sleep, I thought about what might happen tomorrow. Hm. I wonder how exactly this is going to work tomorrow. I'm going to either have to make up the speech as I go or write it out right now...Ah, I'll just figure it out later.