The Great Equestrian Journey

The wonderful bliss of sleep still tugs at me, but it's too late. My eyes open.

I hate waking up.

I also hate waking up under unfamiliar white sheets in an unfamiliar white room with an unfamiliar window(not white). The stupid sun is thankfully blocked by a curtain of a predictable color. I'm under these warm, soothing sheets, and they make me really want to go back to sleep--but I can't. Wherever Celestia has taken me, I need to escape.

So I kick back the covers, and the whiteness of the room nearly blinds me. Heh, Celestia was smart. I'm a jet-black figure against a pale setting. Can't exactly hide anywhere.

Already my senses have shifted from 'groggy' to 'let's get out of here real fast or we'll be sorry'. I try listening. No hoofsteps, no talking. Celestia must want to talk to me, so I figure there's a door. She probably won't use her magic because this place must deflect magic if it's keeping someone like me.

And yes, ponies like me embrace who they are. You're very lucky if you lie to yourself instead of having the face the stone-hard truth, which, on very rare occasions, includes being a criminal who has possessed a royal figure.

There must be a door. I climb out of the bed--I notice right away that it's comfier than a dungeon bed--and start at the wall adjacent from it, running my hoof along the wall to find any cracks. No success on the first half. I start on the second half.

And that's when I finally not just feel, but see. I see that I have no armor on my hoof. No armor at all, actually. Great, I have no way to--

The second half of the wall swings open, making me stagger back.

I was going to say defend myself.

Standing there in the doorway is a familiar white figure. Her.

Her name rings through my head. Celestia, Celestia...on and on. I was able to think steadily about her before, but now that she's here--now that she's here, she'll what? Execute me, here and now? That seems to be the only valid option.

I can't even move, much less stay calm. I never thought I'd be this terrified when I had the chance to kill her once and for all.

It's quiet. Way too quiet. Like in that cave. I wonder briefly. Was it all a dream? Then I nearly smack myself. I need to focus on me or Celestia's inevitable doom.

She's the first one to speak, saying that cliché phrase. "I see you're awake."

She takes a step in, and I have three separate reactions: my heart says tackle her, my rational half of my brain tells me to keep my current stance, and my other half of my brain tells me to RUN.

I stay put, trying to summon my death glare, but it doesn't come. I probably look stupid to her. Pathetic, easy to kill. I'm pretty sure she'll kill me. Will she? What's going on? Did I really see a purple crazy looking thing die in a cave in the middle of the Everfree? Am I already dead? What's the meaning of this? Life? Death? Is life just a million questions? How did I get so off track? What's even going on with my mind?

I'm pretty sure I'm alive. The thudding of my heart confirms that. But the rest of these questions are twirling in my head.

I need to stay calm and answer diplomatically. So I take a deep breath, not so exaggerated so Celestia can see it. She's searching with her eyes me up and down, and something in her gaze relaxes me even more. It's not hate or malice, it's...something else. Anything else, really. She's not going to kill me. That eliminates another question.

It's too silent again, so I decide to speak this time. "I...yeah."

And I mess up. Great. At least I didn't hide the disgust. Disgust at her imprisoning me like this, getting me to trust her. I bet her eyes lied. Do eyes lie?

No more questions. Please.

I re-phrase. "I'm awake and very aware of the many questions I have about this." The this I'm talking about turns out to be about the dying thing and not in the least anything else.

Celestia knows what I'm talking about, because she nods her head and replies, "Yes, the changeling. I bet you're confused."

Changeling?

Celestia also knows about the number of questions I have right now, because she just added one more.

And one more is far too many. I find myself demanding, "What was that?"

Celestia seems even calmer than I am. "The changeling died of a rare unnamed disease."

Another question. Will there ever be a point when all the questions in Equestria have been answered? And this disease. I remember the changething mentioning a disease.

"Do you remember anything else?" Celestia asks.

And it's the pity in her voice that sets me off.

"Do I remember anything?" I exclaim. "Yeah, I remember my confusion. I remember you knocking me out--"

"That was one of my guards," Celestia says, like she's talking to a filly. I can't take this anymore.

"Knocking me out, and then waking up here like--like royalty! You're fooling me so you can stab me in the back. I know you." I'm not exactly yelling, but I'm not exactly quiet either.

She averts her eyes. "You don't know me. You don't know what's going on."

"Indeed I don't. And I need answers. Not while I'm lying in a pool of my own blood. Tell me now." And then I grate out the name in between my teeth. "Celestia."

"Luna--"

"Don't even get me start--"

And then she interrupts with two words that make the bright walls dim, the sadness in her eyes pronounced. Time seems to slow down, but at the same time I feel this sensation like I've been going way too fast. This is the slow time that I may need.

"Luna's sick."