That's The Night The Lights Went Out In Canterlot

Fluttershy guided him out of the hospital and into a chariot to ride alongside Princess Luna. Reggie chose not to inquire as to what was pulling the cart. Three possibilities instantly came to mind. One: some humans. Two: some horses. Three: something else entirely. And none of those seemed to be an appropriate subject to breach. He just held tightly to the handrails and rode as best as he could.

Fortunately, the ride was smooth and fast after an initially steep and sharp incline. Then Fluttershy spoke.

“How do you like the flight?” her timid voice barely perceptible.

…

“Wait! We’re flying? Right now?” he exclaimed.

“Oh! Uh…are you about to panic again?” she asked.

“That would be my first choice, but I think it’s best I decline that option for now,” Reggie muttered.

“That’s a good idea,” Fluttershy said. He felt her shift her position to stand behind him, hemming him in. “You just hold on tight.”

“Don’t worry,” he said. “It feels solid, but I’ll be sure to leave dents in these handrails.” Then he started. “Uh—one question: why does this thing even have handrails?”

“Um—I don’t know,” Fluttershy said.

“Princess Luna? Any ideas?” he asked her.

“This is the way they hath always been made. Why dost thou ask?”

“Because—you guys don’t have hands,” Reggie pointed out.

“Hmm—Thee art correct. ‘Tis a bit of a puzzle,” she replied after a few moments.

By this time, there was a steep decline they were—oh, hell no! That’s not a hill! That’s our decent! he realized, lunging for the handrail and threading his arms through the bars, holding on for dear life.

Fortunately, the landing was surprisingly smooth. Even so, it took him a few minutes to get his breathing under control once again and release his death grip on the chariot.

“’Tis good to see that even in thy panic, thou keepest a level head,” Luna praised him.

“Yeah, I’m just glad I didn’t try to find the corner of the room again,” Reggie agreed with a laugh.

“We know this experience hath been stressful for thee,” Luna told him as he walked with Fluttershy guiding him. “But if possible, could thou try remaining awake ‘til sunset. We wish to attempt dreamwalking with thee. ’Tis currenly noon and we are going to retire ‘til I resume our duties this eve. And Celie will assign a pair of her guards for thy aid for the remainder of thy stay.”

“Sure. I’ll try,” Reggie replied, puzzled as to what she was talking about.

“Then good day to thee,” she said departing, leaving him with Fluttershy.

“You can come with me to get something to eat,” Celestia said, evidently joining them. “Doctor Spint informed me that you are apparently an omnivore, based on your teeth.”

“Uh—yeah—that’s true,” Reggie responded. “Is-is that going to be a problem?”

“Not too much,” Celestia said. “My ponies are primarily herbivores with only a slight amount of meat in our diet. But we often entertain griffons here at the castle and their meat consumption is closer to between a third and a half of their diet. And there are occasional visits by dignitaries of dragons.”

“Really?” Reggie asked, astonished. At least three species, with one of them having at least four widely different breeds!

“Have you ever had to contend with conflicts or wars?” he asked.

“In the ancient past,” Celestia conceded. “They were not pleasant, to say the least.”

“No, I’m sure they weren’t,” he agreed. “They never are.”

“But we’ve not had any major conflicts for over eight hundred years,” she told him.

“Oh, God, I wish we had your history!” Reggie exclaimed.

“You’ve had wars?” Fluttershy nervously asked.

“We’re still at war!” Reggie said, sighing. “We’ve been pretty much at war since before we started our written history some seven or eight thousand years ago, and we’ve practically never stopped!”

“Whatever are you fighting over?” Fluttershy asked astonished.

“Mostly stupid shit,” Reggie spat. “Usually over trade routes and acquisition of resources that various nations need, but lately there’s been a lot of societal and leadership conflict issues. Some bunch of dipshits are always popping up wanting to control other people’s lives, and somehow the idiot bastards get a lot of likeminded stupid shits to go along with the idea in order to make everyone’s lives miserable.”

“That’s too bad,” Celestia said. “Why did you ask about our history of wars?”

“From what you just told me, you’ve evidently got at least three different species of intelligent life on this planet,” Reggie said. “I can’t imagine a world with such diversity doesn’t have war as a daily occurrence. We’ve got just the one specie and wars are never ending with us. It’s almost enough to make me not want to go back,” he finished.

”To send you back, we would first need to locate the portal through which you came,” Celestia told him. “And I’m reluctant to send you back in your current condition.”

“Thank you for that,” Reggie agreed. “Yeah, I’m not in a hurry to get back at the moment. My end of the doorway was in a cavern that’s literally out in the middle of Nowhere, Kansas. Unfortunately, there’s no facility that would allow a blind person to easily find their way home. Besides, I seriously doubt you can teach me any sort of Braille that matches up to what we use back home.”

The meal consisted of a nice mixture of vegetables that Reggie was willing to try: some helpings of buttered carrots, some green bean casserole, au gratin potatoes, and sautéed kelp. He had to confirm what was what beforehand, though. They also served raw alfalfa, which he wouldn’t have minded if they had been cooked, but also hay fries, which he didn’t even trust, as well as rose salad and tulip sandwiches, which he avoided. On the options for meat, he did find they offered, for that day, some crisp cooked bacon as well as chicken-noodle soup with corn, both of which he relished.

“You’re very hungry, it seems,” Celestia observed, “although it comes as no surprise as you had been unconscious for the better part of three days.”

“Yeah, I was famished,” Reggie replied. “Luna asked if I could stay up until nightfall. Something about ‘dreamwalking’, whatever that is. But with this meal, I don’t know if I’ll be able to stay up that long. Thank you so very much!”

“You still have much healing to undergo,” Celestia acknowledged. “Even if you go to sleep right now, it’s likely you’ll still be very much asleep when my sister takes her duties tonight. But she will wish to speak with you regarding her attempt to dreamwalk with you tonight. She is sure to have specific instructions to discuss with you before she attempts to probe your mind while you sleep.”

“You people are telepathic?” Reggie asked surprised.

“Luna is able to dreamwalk with our ponies and she’s had limited success with humans,” Celestia explained. “It’s not exactly like telepathy, as the idea was explained to us by other members of your kind, but there are similarities. Dreamwalking involves Luna talking with a pony, or in your case, talking with you, while you sleep. Since you are without sight and have no idea of what is here in Equestria, Luna wishes to give you a guided tour and provide some introduction to a few ponies we would like you to meet while you stay with us.”

“I see,” Reggie said, considering. “Thank you for the offer but I don’t know how much what you intend will help me, though. I am conversant with the idea of lucid dreaming, but most of my dreams are completely random. And in my species, nearly all the details of our dreams are forgotten within a few hours or days at most. Anything that remains beyond that are usually just emotions at best. Heck, most times, we don’t even know we dreamt if we don’t wake in the middle of a REM sleep segment.”

“R-really?” Celestia exclaimed.

“Why? Is that a problem?” Reggie asked, puzzled.

“We had hoped to allow you to see us, so that you would be able to feel more comfortable being here,” Celestia explained. “I will certainly convey this information to Luna as soon as she wakes. Hopefully, she can devise a strategy to allow you to recall more of the dreamwalking experience for longer periods.”

“Thank you for that,” Reggie told her. “But just to let you know, I’m not really sure I’m comfortable with the idea of someone poking about in my head. For us humans, the idea of someone able to invade our minds gives us the willies.”

“Yes, that has been expressed to us on numerous occasions,” Celestia replied. “I assure you, we do respect your privacy, and this is why Luna wishes to speak with you before she attempts this. She can better explain exactly the process and procedures as well as the risks and benefits from doing this.”

“Understood,” Reggie said, nodding. Then he considered some of what else she had told him just now.

“You said there were other humans you met?” he asked. “Did they come through the cave and were you ever able to send them back as well?”

“No, not through that particular cavern,” Celestia told him. “There was one case where another portal was opened some distance from here, but those humans left by a starship that picked them up, as well as another, earlier visitation that had arrived and left by their own ship. In addition, there is a portal that we have used to visit a world of humans, but that does not appear to have any connection to the planet from which those humans came from.”

“Starships?” Reggie exclaimed. “Then they’re not from my world! My world doesn’t have any interstellar travel. Hell, we’ve only visited our moon half a dozen times before they pulled the plug on NASA. Are you sure they were the same species as me?”

“To the best that our medical scans can determine, yes,” Celestia replied.

“Interesting,” Reggie said. “I wonder it that might explain a few of our myths and legends, as well as perhaps a few of our religions.”

“How so?”

“Well, there’s a few theories floating about that our world may have been a lost or even a failed colony of some group of star faring humans,” Reggie explained. “I don’t know the details of such, but some of those ideas made the rounds as part of our popular stories and quite a few conspiracy fringe speculations.”

“To be honest, I wouldn’t know if that’s true until we can find the portal through which you arrived,” Celestia said. “Which is another target we desire to learn from Luna’s dreamwalking. Since your lack of sight won’t allow you to easily show us where you arrived, we hope your memories will be able to guide us there.”

“True,” Reggie agreed with a rueful laugh. “It wasn’t much fun going over that chasm when I could see it, I sure as fuck don’t want to try it blind!”

“Indeed,” Celestia responded giggling over Fluttershy’s gasp. “I should not keep you any longer, Reggie. I will have a couple of my guards and Fluttershy to see you to your room and have Doctor Splint check on the progress of your recovery. He tells me that the bruising to your brain has been healing as well as could be hoped for and you are out of any current danger from your concussion.”

“That’s good to hear,” Reggie responded. “Thank you so very much, Celestia.”

After Celestia left, Reggie reached out to Fluttershy and held onto her shoulder as she guided him about the castle.

“Y-y-you really shouldn’t use such words when talking with the Princesses!” she gently told him.

“What word?”

“Y-you kn-know.”

“What are you talking about?” Reggie asked, confused. He felt her suddenly step away from his hold on her then felt a couple hooves grab him by the shoulders.

“Wh-when you said you didn’t want to try crossing a chasm while blind,” Fluttershy said to his face. “You used a word that wasn’t very nice!”

“Oh! That word,” Reggie responded, finally figuring out what she was going on about. “Sorry,” he said. “It’s part of the common speech where I’m from.”

“That was a very vulgar thing to say to her,” Fluttershy told him.

“True,” Reggie said, shrugging his shoulders. “But she didn’t seem to take offense to it. I like her. She does seem to be a down-to-earth kind of person.” Fluttershy got down from where she had reared up to hold him and he felt her shoulder back against his hand.

“Well, she has been around for quite a while,” the pegasus said. “Of course, she must be treated with respect. But I agree, I think she does like it when someone speaks frankly to her. She might think it refreshing, b-but I-I could n-never speak to her like th-that! And what you said was way too much!”

“Yeah, sorry,” Reggie repeated.

“Well, you really should go and apologize to Princess Celestia,” Fluttershy said. “But we’re here at your room.”

“Looks nice,” Reggie muttered after they made a sharp turn and he could sense a change in the echoes of the ponies’ footsteps. Fluttershy suddenly stopped, just as he expected. He gave her a moment before turning his head to look down at her.

“Just kidding. I’m still blind,” he said to her, smiling. “I guess it’s true what I’ve always heard. How a person’s other senses begin to heighten when we lose our sight. I noticed a change in the air when we stepped through the door.”

“That’s amazing!” she said, still evidently surprised by him. “Y-you’re making a joke about y-your injury!”

“Well, I’ve got two choices I can take about this,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “One is become hopelessly depressed. The other is to make light of it and make the best of what I’ve still got. To be honest, there’s a lot to be depressed over. After all, I feel so helpless right now. And so much of the life that I trained for relies on having the ability to see. But all those skills I learned are now as useless as my eyes. In addition, I may have to rely on a guide dog, or guide pony, for the rest of my life. Also, I feel so stupid knowing I’m going to be hopelessly lost in any space or room bigger than five-by-five,” he added, gesturing to the space about them using his left hand.

“However, since I’ve chosen to survive, it means I’d better develop an attitude to learn to live with this,” he said, gesturing toward his eyes. “It’ll make it easier if I can entertain myself somehow. Or even laugh about it, somehow.”

“I think you and my friend, Pinkie Pie would get along great,” Fluttershy said to him. “But—well—just laughing about your misfortunate can be a good thing, true. But on the other hoof, it may only hide just how much you’re still hurting and it can keep you from truly healing.”

“Yeah, I am aware of that,” Reggie soberly replied to her, giving her a pat on her withers. He gave her a warm smile and continued, “It will be difficult, but I will do my best.”

“Just remember, we’re here in case you need us,” she told him.

“But you all are strangers to me,” he said after a few moments.

“But we’d like to be your friend,” Fluttershy instantly said. “As Pinkie Pie would say, strangers are just friends you haven’t met yet.”

“Not from my experience,” Reggie replied sighing. “Beside, even if you are as honest about wanting to help me as you’re implying, you’ve all got your own lives to lead. There could very well be a time I’ll need someone’s help, but they won’t be available.”

“We’ll do our best. I promise,” the pegasus assured him.

“Thanks,” he gratefully said.

Fluttershy guided him about the suite, and he had to be quite impressed based on how many paces it was taking to go from one side to the other. The first space they were in was a meeting room with a study off of one side, and the sleeping quarters on the other. She took through the sleeping quarters, showing him where the bed was located. He wasn’t surprised that the bed seemed to be at least king sized proportions.

Then she led him on to the restroom and explained to him how the facilities worked. The stall for doing one’s business seemed to be a trench design and as he recalled, there were movies of Middle Eastern countries that showed how they had a similar arrangement. Fluttershy showed him how to operate the flushing cycle. It no doubt would be awkward, but fortunately, the stall was sufficiently small and distinctive that he was assured that he wouldn’t accidentally step into the trench. The shower and wash basin, along with the supplies, were familiar enough arrangements that he felt confident to use them.

“How much longer to sunset?” Reggie finally asked.

“About three and a half hours,” she replied. He grimaced at that.

“It’s going to be tough pushing to stay awake until then after that meal,” he groaned. She giggled as he yawned.

“Oh, now you laugh at my misfortune! Where were you when I was making all those jokes before?” he teased her.

“Well, I know Princess Luna asked you to try to stay up so she could speak with you, but do you really think you should? I mean, you are still badly injured and should try to get some rest. I’m sure she’ll understand,” she told him.

“True,” he muttered. “All in all, I’m not that hard to wake up. Could you please be sure to wake me in time to meet with her? Besides, it’s not like I’ll have any problem getting back to sleep for her to try that dreamwalking bit.”

“Sure, if that’s what you really want,” she said. “I’ll inform Princess Celestia.”

“Thanks,” he said as she left him alone by the bed.

After she was gone, he stripped down to his underwear and laid his outer clothes and medallion at the foot of the bed, beyond where his feet would reach. After he climbed in under the covers, he was instantly out.