Royal Interest and a Revelation

Adrian was dreaming, the number of dreams Adrian had in a year could be counted on one hand, so it was never hard for him to tell. But he had never had a dream like this: he was in a house on top of a hill, a vast moor spread in all directions. Adrian could see skeletal trees and shrubs surrounded by either black water or green peat moss and here and there crumbling tombstone's protruded from the water. The house was a gothic style mansion straight out of a horror movie, the view was provided through a window in a library filled with ancient books. He knew what the house looked like because the whole setup was exactly how he envisioned the setting for "The Hound" by H.P Lovecraft, a short story he was fond of. A roaring fire illuminated the room's only other occupant, a pony. Adrian smirked "You know princess Luna I haven't even spoken to you yet and I already like you.".

"How did thou know who we are?" Luna asked, deciding not to use the royal Canterlot voice since they were alone.

"Well aside from the crown and you being an, 'Alicorn' was it? You have the grace of a dancer and the beauty of the night sky and were meeting in a dream that I'm guessing you pulled out of my head, am I close?"

Luna was nicely put off balance by the fact that no pony had ever been so relaxed in her presence, let alone brave enough to give her such a direct (if over-dramatic and slightly corny), complement. Luna felt a sensation she hadn't felt in over a thousand years, "Am I blushing? and why do I suddenly feel nervous? You're a princess Luna get it together and do your job!". Luna's attempt to regain her composure was utterly destroyed with Adrian's next comment.

"You know you're name is really pretty, it makes me think of the full moon in winter I love looking at those.". Luna had been complimented before, but never with such informality, though he was definitely being sincere, it was such a wonderful feeling to have somepony speak to her like an ordinary mare, she suddenly felt like a shy schoolfilly trying to talk to her secret crush.

"Y-you think I'm b-beautiful?" she asked dropping the royal "we" out of a sudden case of nerves.

"Yes." Adrian answered, no deception or hidden meaning just an honest straight answer.

Luna felt like her face was going to burst into flames, "Why am I reacting like this? He isn't even from the same universe or even the same species but. . .". Ever since Luna returned from her banishment she had been ostracized by everypony but her sister, when she walked into a room everypony ran or coward in fear. Even those who addressed her in the royal court did so with hesitation, and often they left court the instant they saw her saying that the matter needed to be handled by Celestia. Luna had tried to show that they had nothing to be afraid of but every attempt had met with dismal failure. This creature however was not at all frightened of her, and obviously didn't care about her station. Luna had been prepared for adrian to be like everypony else who saw her and try to run. Instead he had greeted her with a smile and if she didn't know better Luna would swear he was flirting with her, she had no idea how she should respond.

"I-I j-just wanted t-to meet you I-I need to return to my duties I-uh.......goodbye." luna vanished returning to her physical body. The purpose of Luna's trip into Adrian's dream's was to get a sense of his character in order to determine if he might be a threat. Unfortunately Luna encountered a problem, she had tried to enter his mind but was unable to find a way past his mental defenses. Normally dreamwalking into a mind was like diving into a calm pool of water, but with Adrian it was akin to trying to swim in a whirlpool. Adrian's mind was so erratic and unstable Luna was amazed he wasn't stark raving mad. Emotion and logic, good and evil, chaos and order, all vied for dominance in an endless war of thought's and ideas. The most Luna had been able to get was the image of the creepy house and the swamp around it, she had determined that it was a place of comfort. How anypony could be relaxed in a setting like that was beyond Luna's understanding, Luna considered forcing her way into Adrian's mind but doing so could end up making them both insane. After a little thought Luna decided to use the image she had seen to create a lucid dream where she could interview Adrian. Luna had not expected him to understand her plan, let alone know who she was, and she definitely had not been prepared for his odd "though flattering" greeting.

"Well sister, how did it go?" Celestia asked sensing her siblings return to her body, but was surprised when Luna started blushing with a nonplussed look on her face. "Sister? are you alright?" Luna mumbled something in response, "What? I can't hear you lulu.". Luna took a breath before replying.

"He called me beautiful" Luna whispered.

Adrian woke the next morning half expecting to find himself back in his apartment. Rising out of bed he stretched and rubbed sleep from his eye's, "Well it look's like I really am stuck here." he said to himself. He had to admit that this was all a little scary, but his fascination with this world of talking pony's and magic was far greater than his fear. All his life Adrian had been different from those around him, he had always been a big picture type so he often could see connections others couldn't. This combined with a complex moral code and rigid adherence to logic and strong opinions and emotions, made him seem contradictory or even crazy to other people. He was very blunt about what he thought and almost never sugar coated anything, he had spent his entire life in the pursuit of knowledge and had a gift for "seeing the truth" as his friends had called it. Unfortunately this meant that the comforting illusions that allow people to ignore the evils of the world and function, never worked for him.

During his first talk with twilight he had learned that pony civilization had never had a true war. There was conflict and even violence, but unlike humans, pony's seemed to lack the capacity for true cruelty and bloodlust. Adrian was also amazed by the fact that the pony's seemed to have near complete control of their environment, thanks to the three pony types (Pegasus, Unicorn, and Earth Pony) working together. Simply put, the pony's had created in less than a thousand years what humans had been unable to in over a hundred thousand, a true utopia. Adrian decided that he should refrain from telling twilight too much about how humans generally treated each other on a grand scale, deciding that he didn't want to scare her. Adrian's thoughts were interrupted by Twilight calling him upstairs.

"Adrian get up time for breakfast!".

He replied that he'd be up shortly, As Adrian walked up the stairs he could hear the voices of Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Pinky, and Spike, and he smiled at the thought of enjoying their company further. He opened the door silently and walked toward the kitchen following the sound and smell of pony's eating breakfast. The girls and Spike were all sitting around a table talking, but upon noticing him stopped, greeting him warmly. Rainbow zipped up from her seat and practically dragged him onto the seat between her and rarity, where spike had thoughtfully set a place for him.

"So Adrian" rainbow began immediately, "You promised to tell me more about flying in your world, so how do those jet things you mentioned work?."

Rarity interrupted him before he could answer.

"And you promised to tell me about the fashions where you're from, you told me that humans always wear clothes, so they must have amazing designs.".

"Now why couldn't I be this popular with girls back home?" Adrian wondered.

"Ok, ok, but can I eat first? I'm starving." he asked laughing.

"Ooo, ooo, try these, I made them especially for you" squealed Pinky pie, shoving what looked like a small mountain of cupcakes into Adrians face.

"Uh, thanks Pinky but there's no way I can eat all of these, so why don't we divide them up between us?"

"Oh you don't need to do that silly, I made enough for everpony!" Pinky vanished and a split second later there were seven more equally large piles of cupcakes on the table with Pinky somehow reappearing in her seat so fast that Adrian would have sworn she teleported.

"How did-"

Before Adrian could finish the question rainbow placed her hoof in front of his mouth.

"Don't ask, trust me"

Adrian nodded deciding that he was too hungry to care, and bit into one of the cupcakes. His eyes widened, the cake part was warm and moist not too sweet, and not too bland, the frosting was sweet and creamy with a hint of vanilla, even the sprinkles were amazing adding a slight taste of cinnamon.

"Soooo, how are they?" Pinky asked looking at Adrian expectantly.

"There amazing! I've eaten pastries from gourmet restaurants that taste like cardboard in comparison."

Pinky's smile could only have been wider if she unhinged her jaw.

"If you think that's good just wait till we visit Sugarcube Corner, they make the best sweets in Equestria." she stated proudly.

Adrian would have replied, but was too busy devouring his second cupcake. As he ate he wondered how such a ditsy pony could be so talented a baker. Eating also gave Adrian a chance to reflect on his midnight encounter with the Princess, "I hope she didn't leave so abruptly because of how my complement's sounded. I did mean what I said but I should probably apologize for making her uncomfortable.". As he finished his third cupcake Adrian noticed that Twilight wasn't eating. The look Twilight was giving him seemed odd, she looked nervous and whenever Adrian looked at her she quickly shifted her gaze to the half-eaten cupcake hovering in front of her. Deciding to ask Twilight about it later Adrian began his promised explanations to Rainbow and Rarity on human flight and fashion respectively.

Two hours later after a wonderful meal and helping the girls clean up, Adrian was in the main part of the library with Twilight asking her more questions. The other girls had wanted to stay, but as it was a weekday they had to attend to chores, jobs, etc, but promised to be back in time to say goodbye. Rarity also said she had a surprise for Adrian before he left for Canterlot, although the fact that she asked to take some measurements of his body made it easy to tell what the surprise would be. Celestia had sent word that she and Luna would be arriving in Ponyville at about 4:00pm, so Adrian wanted to learn more about them and the city of Canterlot (although he had to suppress a snigger when he heard the capital's name). Twilight was very helpful telling him all about her time as the student of Princess Celestia, for good measure Twilight related the story of Luna and Nightmare Moon.

"She was trapped on the moon for how long?"

"A thousand years." Twilight repeated.

Adrian was horrified at the thought of anyone being confined to a desolate airless rock for so long, death seemed like a far more pleasant option, yet Twilight seemed unconcerned.

"How could Celestia do that to her only sister?! That's monstrous! How is it that Luna didn't go insane from sensory deprivation?"

"Well for one she was asleep the whole time, so it probably didn't seem that long to her. Second Celestia told me that the spell she used was meant to separate Luna from Nightmare Moon before sealing Nightmare away, but something went wrong and instead it banished them both. Also for the record, Celestia told me she cried herself to sleep for over 100 years after it happened. She was miserable, but couldn't show it because of her station as Princess."

"I'm sorry Twilight I jumped to conclusions, in my world you can't trust anyone in a position of power so I assumed the worst."

Twilight looked at Adrian in surprise.

"Surely that's not true, how can a society function if they can't trust their leaders?"

Adrian let out a mirthless laugh.

"How? Badly, thats how."

"but what about all the things you told me your species has created? How could you manage such feat's if your society can't function properly?"

Adrian was about to answer but thought better of it.

"Twilight I think it's best if I don't answer that."

"Why?"

"Because it's a very long and complicated story not to mention depressing, I will tell you when I get back, I promise."

Twilight wanted to protest, until she saw how sad and tired her friend looked, his eye's held a look of sorrow and anger that convinced her to drop the subject. For the next few moments neither of the two spoke until twilight thought of a question that had been bothering her.

"Hey Adrian I'm curious what's your family like?"

"Well they're smart, kind, and very thoughtful, my mother is a psychologist with her own practice and she loves gardening. My father is a writer of books about the outdoors and loves biking. I have a brother who I prefer not to mention, and loving grandparent's." The description was rather short because Adrian did not want to focus on the things he lost by coming here. He did a good job of hiding it, but he did miss his family so he made an effort to think about them as little as possible

"Sooo, do you have a marefriend?" the words came out of Twilight's mouth before she could stop herself.

"A wha-oh you mean a girlfriend, no but I wish I did." Adrian replied apparently oblivious to the implications of Twilight's question.

Twilight felt her heart jump, she was dying to ask him out, after all they both shared interests in book's, magic, science, food, and more, they even liked the same colors. The only problem was she didn't know if Adrian would be open to a relationship with a different species. Equestria was a very tolerant place, the only thing two beings needed in order to date was mutual love and to be of age, so dating another species was rare but hardly taboo. Still Adrian was from a very different world and he might find the idea less than appealing, twilight decided to try hinting at her interest and seeing how Adrian reacted. Unfortunately this was one subject she knew next to nothing about, she needed to research the subject. "But how can I research something like that? Wait of course Rarity, she's great at things like this, I can ask her to tutor me.". Twilight wanted to go see Rarity right away but spike had gone to run some errands for her and she couldn't leave Adrian by himself. "I guess I can ask her after Adrian leaves then I can practice while he's in Canterlot.".

"Uh, Twilight? you ok?"

Adrian's voice brought Twilight out of her internal planning session and she blushed realizing that she had completely forgotten where she was.

"Oh I'm sorry Adrian, I was just trying to remember if I put quills on the list of things I wanted spike to get." Even Twilight was surprised that she had come up with an excuse so fast, for a moment she was afraid Adrian didn't buy it.

Adrian smiled sympathetically.

"That's alright I space out like that all the time."

For the rest of the day Adrian and Twilight talked about Equestrian culture and terminology although at one point they discussed "Cutie Marks", and Adrian nearly died laughing. Adrian had wanted to ask twilight about the mark on her flank's before, but he had trouble thinking of a tactful way of doing it. Twilight frankly didn't see what was so funny but decided to let it go without comment.

Adrian stopped laughing when it occurred to him that offending a girl who could turn him into a salamander might not be the smartest thing to do. After apologizing to Twilight he decided to make a suggestion.

"You know if those marks tell what a pony's talent is then why not call them 'Talent Marks'? I mean, 'Cutie Mark' just sounds so. . . girly, no offence."

Twilight's expression turned thoughtful.

"You know that does sound better you should suggest it to the Princess, but without the, falling down laughing, part."

"Sorry Twilight, I guess I still need to get used to thing's being different when it comes to wording and names"

All too soon it was 3:00pm by that time the rest of the girls had arrived, spike was already there having returned around lunch time. Rarity levitated a box into Adrian's hands as soon as she entered the library.

"Surprise darling, I hope they fit I wanted to make more but I had an order that needed filling, but I promise I'll have more when you get back."

Inside was a set of human clothes, a white dress shirt with a red vest along with black dress pants a cloth belt and even white socks and boxers. It was a testament to Rarity skill that she had managed to do a perfect job at something totally new in so little time.

"Wow rarity these are amazing, give me a minute to change."

As Adrian headed to the bathroom the girls sat down and made small talk until they heard the bathroom door open again. A second later Adrian walked into view.

"So how do I look?"

Rarity put a hoof to her chin critiquing her work.

"You look smashing darling, but I feel like it's missing something."

Adrian nodded.

"I think you're right, it need's a certain je ne sais quoi, I think a black jacket might work what do you think?"

Rarity looked at Adrian with a surprised expression as Adrian had gotten the same idea she had.

"That's perfect darling, it seems like you have a fashion designer's eye for detail."

Adrian gave an elegant bow.

"I am but a humble student in the shadow of your mastery my lady."

Rarity and the others laughed.

"You should go into acting Adrian, you're a natural."

"Thanks Twilight but I try to avoid the spotlight, it makes me nervous."

Adrian paused for a moment as a thought occurred to him.

"Rarity I really love the clothes, but I have no way to pay you for your work. I know these are a gift and I am grateful, but I don't want you to give me more cloths if I can't pay for them." Rarity smiled.

"Darling you will find it difficult to find employment wearing rags, so you could think of it as me investing in a future customer. So with all due respect dear I am going to make you cloths for free and you are going to like it, or I will put you in a dress while you sleep.

Adrian couldn't tell if Rarity was being serious or not so he decided to err on the side of caution by responding with a simple "Yes mam". Rarity did have a point, he had nothing but his clothes at the moment, so he was in no position to refuse charity of any kind. Still Adrian vowed to do something to pay her back as soon as possible. Adrian had been taught that if someone does you a kindness you must repay them in some way to show your gratitude, no exceptions. He decided that while he was with the Princesses he would try to find what kind of work he might be able to do, maybe he could work in the library with Twilight. He had grown quite fond of the bookish pony she was so like him yet so different, when they were talking Adrian felt like a part of him he never knew he was missing had been returned. "I hope the princess's will let me stay, this place is already starting to feel like home" Adrian's internal dialogue was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"I'll get it" said Spike.

Hopping off Twilight's back where he had been perched he walked the short distance to the entrance throwing open the door. Adrian's back was to the door, so he was momentarily confused when the girls eye's widened slightly and then they suddenly bowed low. Adrian stood up turning to face the door, before him stood what could only have been the sun princess. She was as beautiful as a sunrise, her mane a kaleidoscope of colors that fluttered in an invisible breeze, her coat was pure white and around her neck was a jeweled torc made of gold. From her back sprouted a pair of stunning white wings and her violet eyes were almost hypnotic.She radiated wisdom and authority like a fire radiates heat, she was a good bit taller than Adrian and on her head sat a golden crown. Any doubt of her identity was banished by her cutie mark, a blazing sun. Adrian had to work to maintain a neutral expression, but he would not allow himself to be moved by a flashy entrance. For a good minute the sun goddess and the human stared into each others eyes, until Celestia smiled and made a polite bow.

"I Welcome you to Equestria Mr. White I am Princess Celestia I hope you are enjoying your stay."

Adrian carefully searched the princesses words for the faintest trace of insincerity or a hidden threat, he found none. Adrian gave a slight bow never taking his eye's off the princess for a second, suprised to find nothing but warmth in her expression, finally he smiled.

"You're student and her friends speak the world of you and your sister, I now see the praise was very much deserved, and please Princess call me Adrian."

Twilight let out a hidden sigh of relief, from her conversations with him, Twilight knew Adrian would never show respect to somepony unless he felt they deserved it. She had been more than a little scared that Adrian would anger the princess and she would never see him again, but it seemed the princess had met his expectations. Twilight ran forward to greet her mentor but stopped when Celestia started speaking again.

"You left quite an impression on my sister Luna, she has been eager to meet you in person, I have to say she was right, you are quite handsome."

There was a horrified cry of "sister!" apparently from out of the air on Celestia's right followed by luna appearing in the same spot with a mortified expression on her face.

"Hey Luna, glad to finally meet you face to face, well outside of a dream anyway."Adrian greeted warmly.

Luna had been about to say a few choice words to her dear sister, but the words died in her throat when she realized that her invisibility spell had been disrupted. Luna for the first time since she had come home found herself wishing she was back on the moon. Luna had a sudden case of nerves when she and her sister had arrived and decided she should "Observe the human from a concealed position". Celestia however wasn't going to let Luna hide from her social anxiety, and decided a little "Tough Love" might help her get past it.

As luna tried to regain some of her shattered dignity Adrian was admiring her appearance, as with many dreams Adrian had lost his memory of certain particulars. He knew Luna was beautiful, but despite that his memory of her exact appearance was fuzzy and indistinct, but now it all came flooding back. Her mane was like a cloud of black mist filled with twinkling motes of light and like her sisters it was moved by an ethereal wind. Her eyes were the blue of the sky after sunset but before the stars could be seen, a crown of solid darkness adorned her head and around her neck was a torc of the same material emblazoned with a pearlescent moon. Her wings were smaller than her sisters but no less grand and her dark blue coat along with her cutie mark of a crescent moon over a splotch of black made her seem mysterious and alluring. Adrian had to wonder how he could forget such an amazing figure without sustaining head trauma. Finally he stopped gawking long enough to reel in his emotions and speak to the night princess.

"I'm glad you came I wanted to get to know you better, we didn't have much chance to talk last night."

Luna's gaze immediately snapped to Adrian, trying to control her maelstrom of emotions she cleared her throat to greet him as a princess.

"WE ARE PLEASED TO SEE YOU AGAIN ADRIAN WHITE,FORGIVE OUR RUDENESS."

Adrian and everpony but Luna and Celestia was forced to cover their ears to avoid being struck deaf, now it was Celestias turn to be embarrassed. She had forgotten her sister's tendency to slip back into the customs of a thousand years ago, Celestia gave Luna a slight nudge and whispered in her ear while everypony was still recovering.

"Luna you are using a bit too much volume."

Luna wanted to crawl under the nearest rock and die of embarrassment, how could she have forgotten yet again? She was close to tears as she watched Adrian get to his feet, "Luna how could you be so stupid! The one time you find somepony who is willing to talk to you! Now he will run like all the others, and all because you are too stupid to remember a simple fact.". Lunas internal rant was interrupted by a completely unexpected comment from adrian.

"I guess I deserve that for embarrassing you last night, but next time could you just turn me into a beetle or something?"

Luna had no clue what Adrian was talking about.

"I do not understand when did you embarrass me last night?" She asked making certain to control her voice.

Now it was adrians turn to be confused.

"Uh isn't that why you left so abruptly last night?"

As Luna began trying to explain the misunderstanding, everypony struggled to avoid laughing, or almost everypony. Twilight had felt an increasing level of anger and sadness building since seeing the look Adrian gave Luna. Twilight had never been a pony who got angry easily but she was now feeling an intense anger toward the night princess. Twilight felt like somepony was ripping her heart out "I can't believe this! He only just met her and she is acting like she's known him as long as I have! She just shakes her flank at him and thinks she owns him!". Only one pony noticed the way Twilight was acting, Twilight had been Princess Celestia's student for many years, so she was well aware of how Twilight looked when she was angry but trying to hide it, and it wasn't hard to guess what the cause was. Celestia cursed herself for a fool that she didn't see this sooner, she knew that if nothing was done then her sister and her student would likely come to blows. Fortunately there was a way to stop that from happening, it was risky but she had no choice, clearing her throat Celestia asked Adrian to join her outside for a moment. She also asked Luna (who fortunately had not seen the look Twilight was giving her.) to go check to see that the mayor of Ponyville didn't have any matters to discuss.

"Adrian, I need to ask what do you think of Twilight Sparkle? Please be as honest as possible." Celestia asked as soon as they were out of earshot of anypony. Adrian thought it was a strange question but the answer was easy enough.

"Twilight is amazing she's smart, kind, gentle, polite, and generally wonderful."

Celestia nodded.

"And what about luna?"

Adrian smirked.

"Well I haven't known her for very long but she is really something."

Again Celestia nodded.

"Then you should know that they are both romantically interested in you, and Twilight thinks you have chosen Luna over her." Celestia hoped she was right about how Adrian would react, she was not disappointed. Adrian's expression went from shocked to grave and resolved.

"I think I better speak with Twilight, now."

Author's Note

Corny and melodramatic, but that's not always a bad thing if only because it's fun to laugh at.